Last Post

This will be the last post I make for the Lifeguard Blog. I have copied most of the posts I have to an announcements page on the lifeguard website at www.ymcalifeguard.org. If you wish to continue to follow the lifeguard posts that I upload, please follow it at: http://www.ymcalifeguard.org/announcements.

Thank you.

Performance Reviews are Coming Soon!

Greetings Lifeguards,

As we start the new year, we also reflect back on the year that has passed. For the Y, this means reflecting on the past year's performance. Every year, the YMCA does a Y-way performance appraisal. This process reviews the performance of each employee with respect to his/her specific job responsibilities.

When I accepted my current position in the Y two years ago, this was one of the first major projects that I had to tackle. I spent many hours reviewing lifeguards files, making notes, and brainstorming about how this task could be more efficient. Working through this process, allowed me to envision many improvements. As I worked on this project, I began working on other projects directed at improving the quality and efficiency of the lifeguard program. One of my first Ideas was to have a central, easy-to-access location for all information pertinent to the lifeguard staff. You now know this as "the website." Another area of improvement was to have clear objective standards for the lifeguards. This is still a work in progress, most of which is reflected in the Lifeguard Manual. This resulted in a total revamp of the manual from a 20 page ad-hoc booklet to an 80+ page beast. There have been a handful of other changes over the last couple years including changes to record keeping and training.

Another area for improvement was giving the lifeguard staff more objective feedback. Although you receive periodic evaluations and drills throughout the year, most lifeguards don't really know what their performance is until it is time for the official Y-Way performance Review. Starting during the Christmas break, I began working on a project to change this. A new database was created that pulled information from 7 other spreadsheets. It includes over 10,000 independent functions (if you don't know what those are, don't ask). Anyway, I'm saying it took a lot of work and a lot of mistake-fixing (as much as I try, I'm not perfect). This database has live, up-to-date information based on such things as drills, evals, write-up, etc., with a yet-to-be-determined lag-time.

What does this mean for you? Now you can ask me at anytime what your score is. The scores are based off of the YMCA's arbitrary max of 167 points. With just a couple of clicks, you can easily see what areas are your best and what areas could use some improvement. If you haven't worked here for very long, it will calculate your scores at a 50% proficiency rating until such a time as you start collecting data like drills and evals. It also ranks you among your peers. I won't tell anyone what your rank is except you, with the exception of one...currently the number one rated lifeguard is Michelle Christensen. Way to go!

The Headguards are going to receive some training about this database. It will effectively allow them to see which lifeguards need another drill or eval with much more ease. They will also be able to look up your information, if you ask them.

How do you get a better score?

The best thing about this is...with a couple months left before the review, you have time to improve your performance rating.

Helpful hints:

• Study your skills
• Study the 7 new drills that will be rolled out next month (now you can know exactly what you have to do to get a perfect score)

• Study what you need to do for each score on the lifeguard Evals.
• Show up to shifts
• Attend the in-services
• Attend required YMCA trainings
• Check you email by Friday each week. - periodically you will be sent invites to the trainings you need to attend, tips for improvement, and contacted if your certifications are close to expiration.
• If you don't have access to email at home, ask a Headguard to let you check yours on the new computer at the lifeguard desk.
• Know exactly how your score is calculated:

How the score is calculated (so far):

• 10% - YMCA Values and Mission (100% from Evals)
• 10% - Member Involvement (100% from Evals)
• 10% - Safety, Policies and Procedures (50% from Evals, 50% from Certifications being current)
• 10% - Member Engagement (50% from Evals, 50% from Strong Kids completion)
• 35% - Scanning and Safety (50% from drill scores, 25% from Evals, 25% from YMCA trainings attended)
• 10% - Cleaning and Maintenance (100% from Evals)
• 5% - Branch and Department Leadership (100% from Evals)
• 10% - Teamwork (50% from Evals, 50% from In-service Attendance)
• Some positive and negative notes are collected and alter the corresponding category

If you have any questions, as always, please ask me. Be on the look-out for further improvements to the way we do work. Happy New Years!

Lifeguard In-service Posted

Today's in-service has been posted to the website. You can find it at: http://www.ymcalifeguard.org/staff-information/in-service-training/january-9-2010-in-service. The presentation is posted on the page. There is also a link for a print-out of the presentation that also has notes for some of the slides. Below the presentation, there are the 5 practical stations that were practiced. The practicals in today's in-service served as a practice run for a new format or drill assessment documentation. The new drills should be more objective. The print-out can be easily studied by the lifeguards, so that a perfect score can be attained. More on this to come...

If you missed the in-service, be sure to meet with a Headguard on your team to discuss what you missed. Go over the information presented on the in-service page. Be sure not to miss future in-services unless absolutely necessary.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Michael

Secret Santa

Secret Santa

Yes, this year we will be doing a Secret Santa gift exchange! Hopefully you know what the Secret Santa gift exchange is, because if not, you’ve been missing out on a lot of fun.

Rules: If you choose to participate,

· Fill out a form located in the office; asking you for your name and some of your favorite things.

· This will help your Secret Santa choose an appropriate gift for you.

· After you turn one in you will be participating in this fun activity.

·

By December 12, 2009 (the next inservice) your headguard will let you know who you will be giving gifts to.

· You must give a minimum of 3 gifts

· Gifts must be a minimum of $5 but do not spend more than $10!

· You will have from December 12-19 to distribute these three gifts. At the lifeguard party, you will bring your final gift and will find out who your Secret Santa is. Sounds fun, huh?

When you bring your gift, we will have a cabinet in the office to store these gifts; you can often check this cabinet to see if a present for you arrived.

You must have your form filled out by December 9, 2009 to participate! Let’s only have participators who will take this seriously and actually get gifts!

Christmas Party/ DINNER !!

Christmas Party/ DINNER !!

What: This will be an Ugly Sweater Party….So head to Saver’s or a Thrift Store to pick up an ugly sweater. Prizes will be given!!

When: December 19, 2009 8-10 p.m.

Where: Aquatics Center

Why: There will be many fun activities and will be watching a movie while feasting!

* Santa will Reward you a whole months laps for coming!

Website Renovation

Hello Lifeguards,

As you probably have noticed, the Lifeguard website has been undergoing some changes. It has a new blue look. To match the color theme of water and winter (two birds with one stone). Also, many of the files that are located on the website are being moved to Google Docs. The links will still remain on the website. This move will make is easier for viewing. Now, you won't have to download these files onto your computer to view them; you can just view them right on the internet. Some of the more common links have been moved to the top of the homepage from their old spot on the sidebar.

There is also a whole new section. See the "New to Google Apps" link at the top of the homepage. This is a help page for new users and people with questions. This outlines many of the features that are accessible to you on the lifeguard webpage. You have access to calendars, email, Google talk & more. You can even build your own site as part of the ymcalifeguard.org domain. This page has quick tips, shortcuts and video tutorials about how to use these features.

I hope you find this information useful, and as always, let me know if you have any questions.

Michael

Work Comp and Safety

As we near the end of 2009, I want to thank everyone for your focus on safety and risk management. Jeni and Malia have done a great job of promoting a safety culture and the results are showing. Most important, fewer people are getting injured on the job or in Y activities. We are all about enhancing the quality of life for all we serve and for each of us as staff members. When someone is injured at the Y, we take a step backwards in meeting our mission. This also has major impact on our costs.

In workers comp alone, if we can stay safe and prevent injuries through the end of the year, this will bring us a savings of at least $50,000 in 2011. With budgets tight, these dollars are extremely important to us.

Please stay safe. Be careful as it gets icy outside.

Drive defensively.

Lift appropriately.

Get help, if a job needs an extra hand.

Being safe is a win, win. We stay healthy, our friends stay healthy and we have more dollars to put toward things like compensation and meeting our mission in this community.

Jim Everett