Candidate: Berit Black
Details
During this meeting we discussed the purpose of the mentorship program. I explained to Berit what I did for my mentorship last year(breaking the stigma of the “us vs them” mindset by creating a FAQ of common fears/unknowns and continuing pool families) and she explained to be some of the ways she is passionate about improving the pools which include improving cleaning efficiency and building confidence in first year guards during their saves. Berit was extremely passionate about continuing my previous mentorship. She explained to me that it is important to build the relationship between new guards and returning guards so that breaks/shifts in general can be more inclusive. We brainstormed some “tasks” to do for this goal: bringing back pool families, and creating a FAQ from the first year guards of their fears and questions they first had when coming into the pool and having the returning guards answer those questions.
Related Tasks:
Berit: Task
Was the task completed: Yes
Task evaluation:
Berit B: Reshaping EOM nomination form and creating consistent nominations
Guide to creating consistent and valuable EOM nominations
I have created a guide with expectations to make EOM more valuable and consistent. The ultimate goal is to create a more supportive work environment where it is important to value shouting staff members out when they do well.
Explain to leadership members that provided specific details why this person was nominated is very important in the voting process.
brainstormed task:
Previously, leadership members have done shoutouts at the end of our weekly in-service; hearing from a member of leadership can be very beneficial for our employees, which is why I believe bringing this back can be very helpful. I want these shoutouts to be people who have not only stood out to them at the in-service, but more specifically, throughout the week.
With this, I believe creating a form where our staff can shout out a coworker if they see them stand out and do something well can also be very beneficial. Hearing from a colleague can improve the confidence of that employee and overall make them a better staff member.
This can be about scanning, rotating, VAT drops, whistles, cleaning, etc. This should be something to make our employees proud to work at the pools!
I have provided the link below: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=b35GRCxGok6CP3gA3lQ043Q8vZ5nQpxLoGtQox3w1bFUN0NIT1BQVFVKRFZQUFRFVDlLUExHUUFENC4u
Was the task completed: Yes
Task evaluation:
- created step by step guide
- emailed Jeff this step by step guide including more details
- reviewed during meeting
Related Meetings:
Berit: Meeting 1
Over the past week Berit has taken initiative and asked first year guards on her shifts questions that they had when first starting to work at the pools. Berit also messaged many other first year guards via group me asking the same question about what some of their common misunderstandings were coming into the pool. Our next step is to compile these questions into a FAQ and publish it to share point.
The task worked in service of the goal because Berit gathered data from the first year guards about their common misunderstandings/questions and how that can help lead to a more inclusive environment for the first year guards.
Action items:
Our next step is to compile these questions into a FAQ and publish it to share point.
Berit: Meeting 2
The next task to help achieve the goal is the compile all of the most frequent questions from the first year guards into a organize FAQ document that can be published onto share-point. Berit and I met and worked on this together, we went through the lifeguarding manual and even recruited Katherine for answers to the questions. Our next task is to finalize the FAQ document with Jeff and publish it to groupme.
This task worked in service of the goal because by having the first years most common questions answered by returning guards and having it all in one organized place it allows for more comfort in the first years when coming to work.
Action items:
Our next task is to finalize the FAQ document with Jeff and publish it to groupme.
Berit: May 5 Meeting
First, I realized that there is a stigma between first-year guards and returning guards, and that this needs to be changed. First-year guards shouldn’t be intimidated by guards who have previously worked at the pools. This sparked ideas to make less of a separation between different year guards.
After I brainstormed task ideas, I decided that my first task would be making an FAQ for the first-year guards. This could be available at all times in group-me or on Humanity, specifically a training section.
I interviewed first-year guards in person and on group me, asking them to provide me with questions they have about many different topics revolving around working as a lifeguard at DPD.
Then, I took these questions and created an FAQ that is separated into 8 different sections. These include scanning, rotations, cleaning, vat drops, equipment, whistles, general, and mentorship.
Here is the final FAQ for first-year guards that I created.
Action items:
- I will send Jeff an email to hopefully place this FAQ for first-year guards in the Walkthrough training and Lifeguard training section on Humanity.
- I am going to brainstorm ideas for task 2, maybe discuss the idea of bringing pool families back into place, and participate in mini games with this family to bond. These families would hopefully include a leadership member, a returning guard, and two first-year guards.
- I am going to meet with Chloe next week in person when we are both available.
Berit B – May 20 Meeting
Implementing manager shoutouts at the end of Friday In-Service’s and creating a form where colleagues will shout each other out, and leave a positive note in hopes to increase the confidence of our staff.
Previously, leadership members have done shoutouts at the end of our weekly in-service; hearing from a member of leadership can be very beneficial for our employees, which is why I believe bringing this back can be very helpful. I want these shoutouts to be people who have not only stood out to them at the in-service, but more specifically, throughout the week.
With this, I believe creating a form where our staff can shout out a coworker if they see them stand out and do something well can also be very beneficial. Hearing from a colleague can improve the confidence of that employee and overall make them a better staff member.
This can be about scanning, rotating, VAT drops, whistles, cleaning, etc. This should be something to make our employees proud to work at the pools!
I have provided the link below: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=b35GRCxGok6CP3gA3lQ043Q8vZ5nQpxLoGtQox3w1bFUN0NIT1BQVFVKRFZQUFRFVDlLUExHUUFENC4u
Action items:
- Email Jeff form to implement
- Post on bulletin boards
- Announce at in-service that this is a thing and has started
- Explain the process to everyone
- Explain goal
Berit – May 27 Meeting – Task #2
Brainstorm: Figuring out a second task took some thinking. My original idea was to create a shoutout form for guards to nominate other guards, but this was too similar to employee of the month nominations. I worked with Chloe and Jeff and decided that creating a guide to valuable and consistent nominations was a better choice.
After I realized that this improvement was a better idea than my original idea, I decided to create a new guide to help managers and leadership improve these nominations. Nominations like these can be very beneficial for an employee.
So, after I decided this was a better idea my second task was creating a step-by-step guide to improve the consistency and value of Employee of the Month nominations.
This started with expectations then continued with the process. The expectation part of the guide explains how often these nominations need to be as well as explaining that detail matters. It is very important to provide as many details as possible because these details will determine votes for this nomination.
Next came the process of the nomination form, this was specific to what needs to be done and how to fill out this form, which is kind of common sense, but we provided instruction is helpful too.
After these two sections, I completed my second task.
Action items:
- email Jeff completed guide
- announce to leadership this new and improved way of nominations
- explain how these are completed, every leadership member once a month
Berit – Meeting May 29
Managers:
Leila:
Hope: I spoke to Hope on May 28th and described how the new process involves one nomination each month and the importance of details.
Elena: I spoke to Elena on May 29th and explained that it is essential to provide details and justify why they deserve this nomination. I also addressed that each leadership member needs to nominate one person a month.
Samuel:
Katelyn:
Liam:
Maddie:
CC:
Headguards:
Brady:
Joe:
Autumn:
Jacob:
Chloe:
Action items:
complete all conversations
Berit – Meeting June 5
I created the message I’m going to send to leadership to introduce the “new” EOM nomination system. It’s not a whole new system, but instead new and improved expectations.
This is the message that I am going to send into Main Leadership Chat, “Hi everyone! For my mentorship project, I am reshaping the value and consistency of Employee of the Month Nominations because I believe that Employee of the Month is a great concept that can help build confidence in our employees. With that being said, I ask that every leadership member nominate one staff member every month. This includes Managers, Head Guards, LC’s, and Concession Managers. I will be sending out weekly reminders. I want to emphasize the importance of providing details in these nominations, this can also be very beneficial and will help with voting process. If you have already nominated someone for that month, disregard the weekly reminders but I will be checking the EOM form at the end of every month so if you haven’t nominated anyone I will message you! Thank you in advance for your participation!!”
I would like to send this message out today (6/5)
Action items:
- Following this “meeting”, send out this message to the leadership group chat
- Weekly reminders to the leadership group chat
Related Updates:
Information about the Goal
Berit Black arrived at their goal through a series of meetings and refinement. Learn how that process happened.
What should we improve?
The candidate chose items in the aquatics program and department to improve. Goals are broad targets that we will work towards. Every meeting and task done will be in service of that goal. Goals should be large enough to encompass many tasks. Goals may not be attainable. Goals are our guiding direction; our North Star.
Berit Black's brainstormed ideas:
Improve the focus and attention of guards during vat drops/real rescues
Improve efficiency of cleaning and improve communication while cleaning
Breaking the stigma of the "us vs them" mindset by ending the barrier between 1st year guards and second year guards
Improve confidence in guards abilities to do on land and in water rescue/care
Goal Evaluation:
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