Having been a part of multiple organizations throughout my life,
so far one of the more impactful experiences within an organization came in
high school when I worked as a lifeguard for an aquatics center over the
summers. This experience, although technically a first job and not as
professional as most internships/jobs in the real world, will forever leave a
lasting impression on my mind for how an organization /business is structured.
I had the opportunity to have a leadership role in multiple other organizations
around the time from being a captain of my football team to holding officer
positions for a variety of other clubs, which would serve as groundwork for my
expectations of further organizations, I would become a part of.
After an interview process, I was hired after my freshman year
of high school. Most people believe, and it might actually be the case at other
pools, that the job of a lifeguard is a complete joke. I would even work for
another aquatic center later on that was much more relaxed. However, my
experience from initial job as a lifeguard was one that taught me values within
an organization that I will take with me to each and every job I hold down the
road. From learning valuable life skills like CPR to working with team members
you might not be able to relate to well to experiencing how a business was
supposed to be ran. Unlike many simple swimming pools, this center had a
variety of features that presented dangers to people who weren’t familiar with
the facility. In my five years working there we were fortunate not to have
anything supper serious happen, but I definitely expected having to make some
sort of save in the water on a daily basis. This aspect alone was unique to the
organization as for many of us lifeguards it was the first time we would be
tested with this level of responsibility.
The management of this organization was set up in the following
format: a park commissioner, who was a publically elected official, a head
manager, an assistant manager, and then two head lifeguards, and around 30
other lifeguards and other workers that helped the facility function on a daily
basis. Each level would manage over the next, and the lower levels would all
report to the upper levels. For the most part, the park commission was rarely around
and the manager and assistant manager would split time on the premises to act
as a mature resource in case of emergency and dealing with scheduling. After
two years of having the same management, a new park commissioner was elected,
which brought with it a variety of changes for the entire organization. Other
than that, the Head lifeguards were in charge of everything else from customer
relations to managing the lifeguards who were watching over the aquatic
facilities. From my first day on the job I realized they were the glue to the
organization that kept everything running smoothly. Then there are all the
lifeguards ranging from young freshman in high school to students in college.
After two years of working as a lifeguard, I realized I was
being scheduled much more than my peers and being asked to take on tasks that
required more responsibility. Towards the end of my second summer working
there, I was informed that I would be promoted to head lifeguard the following
summer. At first I was unsure of how I would like this as I was still pretty
young and much younger than the previous head guards. However, this taught me
early on that doing things the right way in an organization should be the only
way to do things. You can “half ass” your job and think people won’t notice,
but realistically there are multiple people that do notice. Later on working as
the head lifeguard for three years taught me even more about how the
organization was ran. I believe this leadership opportunity taught me crucial
work lessons that I will benefit from for many years into the future.
You said the experience was of consequence in your development. You stuck with it for quite a while and were promoted during that time. That much I was able to digest. Much else I was not. So most of the rest of this I will devote to posing questions about definition and about asking the 'why' question.
ReplyDeleteLet's begin with what an aquatics center is. Is it different from a swim club in any meaningful way? How many pools were there? Who were the typical patrons. Did people pay a membership to join or was it part of living in that community?
Then you said there were a variety of dangers at this place, but you never described any of them so I really didn't know what you were talking about. There is one typical question I've learned from my time in the Campus IT organization - is it a feature or a bug? I'm guessing that there were some offsetting features to counter the dangers. But it is hard to tell from my perch. You really need to discuss that more.
Then you talked about the number of lifeguards, but you didn't say anything about the hours of the place, how many hours per week a lifeguard would work, and how many lifeguards needed to be on at any one time. So getting a sense of that would be useful.
You did describe the hierarchy of the organization, but didn't discuss at all the nature of the interaction between different rungs in the hierarchy. I gather that when you were head lifeguard you supervised other lifeguards and, in turn, you were supervised by either the manager or the assistant manager. What does supervision entail in this context?
Then I'd ask you to tie this back some to our course. Your comment about doing your job half ass perhaps was a reflection on how some of the other lifeguards performed their work. What if anything might you do to make them take the job more seriously? That would be worth explaining in some depth.
William,
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoyed reading your post as I was a lifeguard in high school for many years as well. However I only ever worked at a small, neighborhood pool and not at an aquatic center like you have described. I am assuming that there were many different stations for the lifeguards to preside over in the aquatic center like kiddie-pool, splash area, diving area, slide pool, etc. Also, congratulations on being promoted half way through your tenure at the aquatic center. It must have been a pretty hectic place to have so many people on staff because at the pool I worked at there were easily under 20 employees overall.
Willliam,
ReplyDeleteInteresting to learn about the structure of a life guarding because that is something I have never had experience with. Reading another blog from this week, they explained how they were apart of smaller country club pool which only had a handful of employees on duty at all times. It was interesting to read how the aquatic center is on such a bigger scale than the small pool that it almost has a completely different structure than a life guard at a small pool. To be promoted so quickly during your time there is very impressive and a testament to the job you did under the hectic structure you were under