Ok, figured it was time to take a crack at my version of “a” perfect agency vis-à-vis quality of instruction. As others have done, I will factor in certain commercial realities - and take some liberties regarding others - regarding implementation.
To me, the delivery of high-quality instruction that produces high-quality divers is a function of three things, in ascending order of both importance and ease of implementation/change.
1.) Standards & Performance Requirements
2.) Training Structure & Progression
3.) Business Model & Organizational Structure
STANDARDS & PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS
This is the easiest thing to change. Because, big picture, nothing really needs to be changed. My perfect agency will happily take the existing standards and performance requirements from any agency and work with that. Once we got a hold of them we might skim through them for some minor tweaks. But, as written, I don’t think there’s agency with standards that are particularly deficient or incapable of producing skilled, proficient, safe divers. FULL STOP.
TRAINING STRUCTURE & PROGRESSION
With the assumption that we now have good standards in place, this isn't terribly difficult either.
All any agency needs to do is determine what what DIVERS - existing and new - actually want to get out of diving… and then use that to shape training progression. Note that I specifically did not say “get from the agency” because we know what they want to get from the agency: “the card.” They don’t want to “get certified” they want to “go diving.” They just happen to need training to do that.
Because people want to “go diving” it’s easy to understand that getting certified is simply something that is in the way of their actual goal. Currently there appears to be a fairly decent demand – or perhaps tolerance – in the marketplace for merely “adequate at best” instruction. When “adequate” satisfies the customer, I'd suggest that a "perfect" agency that creates a “perfect” Open Water course that’s ten weeks long, $1,500, and is designed to turn out navy seals - but that NO ONE signs up for because it doesn't meet their needs or expectations - is not perfect.
What I find interesting about most of the posts above is that no one really started by stating any sort of objective for what their version of the perfect agency is trying to achieve. Although it’s pretty clear that, for most, their version of a perfect agency would have the singular objective of creating more divers just like them.
I’ll buck the conventional wisdom and tell you that my perfect agency would make it EASIER for people to get certified. We’d start by doing the necessary market research to understand the wants/needs/desires of new and existing divers. With that, we would position diving as fulfilling those things in a way that people would come-in “pre-conditioned” with a mindset and expectation that would be best met by high-quality training that produced high-quality divers.
The training progression (let’s just focus on recreational training) would recognize the diversity of divers and dive expectations. From those for whom "Being a diver” singularly defines them… to those who see diving as an important part – but not the entirety – of their lives… to those who see diving as “something they do once in a while”… all the way to "Diving is something I want to do once before I die." The perfect agency would have a training progression that embraced the once a week, once a year, once in a while, and once in a lifetime divers. All are valid... all are valuable... all are welcome.
For ease of conveying the idea I’ll relate/modify steps in the progression to known PADI entities, if only because that’s my familiarity. The names I propose here would need work from a marketing communication standpoint.
Try Scuba – This would be a slightly watered down version of the current “Discover Scuba” program, targeted to the person who is considering getting certified, but isn’t sure if they can handle it. Literally not much more than just seeing if you can put the gear on, submerge, and breathe off a regulator without freaking out. If so… you can move on. There would be a charge for this, credited toward course fees if they do.
Discover Scuba – This would be a more in-depth and rigorous version of the current DSD. Targeted to people who want to really experience what scuba diving is… beyond just breathing underwater. Maybe they’re not sure about getting certified, but want more than the “Try Scuba” approach above. Maybe this is the guy that just wants to to check it off his bucket list. Figure something like a classroom session, two CW dives – where they need to meet some performance requirements – and one or two closely-supervised OW dives. Maybe a half-step below PADI Scuba diver. This program would be a valuable and desirable experience in and of itself; both the bucket lister and the guy who might want to move on need to say “Wow, that was so cool!” and tell all their friends “and you should try it!” No certification would be issued, but participants would get what would essentially amount to a “referral certificate” that would enable them to step into the next level course within 12mo.
Scuba Diver – Figure essentially midway between the current Scuba Diver (accompanied diver) and OW courses from a certification level. Students will go (or would have gone through the previous) "Discover Scuba" phase and now need to need to refine those skills and meet the majority of the rest of the performance requirements of current OW course, maybe with some basic rescue skills. This course recognizes - and would be geared towards the fact - that a great many people only want to be vacation divers and do a few dives a year… and realistically they will only ever do them in ideal conditions, 60ft or less, and with an instructor/DM or guide. Their cert would enable them to dive in conditions in which they were trained… no more. They can't rent tanks. They must always dive with a pro… whom they will need to pay… that will help them plan and execute their dives. Maybe throw enough info in to allow “supervised nitrox” use as well. The cert would need to be renewed every 12mo – either by conducting two or more dives or participating in a refresher program.
Open Water Diver – For simplicity, consider the current AOW but with training and evaluation of greater proficiency in all dive skills. Would also include a bit of rescue, including at least one dedicated “rescue scenario” dive. A minimum number of dives that are “indirectly supervised” by an instructor would need to be completed in order to ensure that an OW diver is genuinely able to plan and execute dives independently… and is comfortable doing so. The instructor that does that evaluation should possibly be a different “higher level” instructor than the one who conducted the class and signed off on everthing else. Sort of like drivers ed. Your driving instructor says you’re ready to get your license… but you don’t get it until you’re evaluated by someone from the DMV.
Advanced Open Water Diver – I’m losing steam here, but this would essentially be the current “Master Scuba Diver” rating plus the rest of the Rescue Diver course. You'd be expected - and evaluated upon - have even more proficient skills. You'd actually be an "advanced" diver in some meaningful way.
You get the idea of where I’m going, right?
The progression makes it does make it easier to get into diving, largely by matching the training to the diving the diver will actually do. It doesn’t lower the standards… it raises the expectations at earlier phases and enhance what the student actually gets out of the “intro” level classes (my new Discover Scuba and Scuba Diver programs) so more people will come in. It will also make it much more attractive and desirable to MOVE UP once you’re in because as you get better and better… you can get more access/autonomy/opportunity. Currently, there's really little incentive for most divers to do more than OW.
Another key feature is that the whole thing would be modular. Not only letting people continue easily… but allowing people to stop a certain point. Say you sign up for OW but, after what essentially amounts to completing the Discover Scuba and Scuba Diver programs you realize that’s the extent of your skills and desire. No problem… you get your Scuba Diver cert and everything that comes with that. And if you want to give it another try in a few months… c’mon back. I think having that sort of “escape clause” will make it easier for people to commit to starting.
One last thing on training, and I hate to say this, but it might be a good idea for instructors to be licensed by their state. When you really think it through, it’s kind of absurd that I can’t cut your hair without a license from the NJ Department of Public safety… but I can certify you as a scuba diver?
BUSINESS MODEL & ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
This is where the hard work and hard decisions need to be made, especially as relates to quality of training.
The reality is that in order for an agency to control (not just mandate) the quality of instruction being delivered… the instructors must “work for” or “work on the behalf of” the agency. In the current model, the breakdown occurs because the agency’s customer is the person/place that DELIVERS the training rather than the person who ultimately RECEIVES the training. The agency works for on behalf of the instructors. Think about it, you would have very little control over the quality of service you get from the guy who mows your lawn… if HE was paying YOU.
I think the agency needs to go from merely being a decal on the door or a banner in the window… the agency needs to be the name on the building.
My perfect agency would be a BUSINESS first and foremost. It wi be a VALUES-BASED business (quality training, safety, protection of environment, etc, etc) but make no mistake... it will be a FOR-PROFIT business
​Because it will be a for-profit profit it will be structured and run as a for-profit business, with a business model that is actually capable of ensuring delivery of a high-quality product in a uniformly standardized fashion. We can all go on and on about higher standards and QA and whatever… but those things can never really be implement in a “big agency” setting under the current agency business model. The agency currently has no control over the instruction.
There are a few business models that could make sense here, but gun-to-my head I’d suggest an owner-operator/corporate management type setup. With both corporate-owned and owner-operated options. Call it the “International Dive Excellence Association” or IDEA if you like. Once all the details about training standards, etc are nailed down, the business model is what the corporation really drives. Everything from the marketing approach to materials and especially the training... is
set in stone.
If you want to open an IDEA Dive Center... you agree to follow the IDEA process that ensures delivery of uniformly standardized products and services in a uniformly standardized fashion. You get IDEA training, you have other IDEA people checking in on you from time to time. You perform to IDEA standards. And, like in any real business, if you don’t perform to those standards you’ll get bad reviews, no raise, and remediation. And if that doesn’t work you go on a performance improvement plan, and if that doesn’t work you will be “pursuing opportunities outside the organization.”
I don’t know if the scale is there for this to work economically in the dive industry, but if you want the agency to be able to control the quality of the training… the agency needs to actually own or directly manage the delivery of that training. A corporate/owner-operator franchise would make it possible to do that.
People of course think “McDonald's” when they think corporate franchise, and immediately assign a "franchise = low quality" judgment. Forget what the product is, look at what the business model is: delivery of a product or service of defined quality in a uniformly standardized fashion. The French fries that boulderjohn gets at a McDonalds in Denver are exactly the same as the French fries that I purchase in Princeton. It’s the complete opposite of the current “it’s not the agency, it’s the instructor” mindset. At McDonalds “it’s not the fry-cook, it’s the franchise.”
“But RJP… a franchise can’t possibly deliver high-quality goods and services. I don’t want McDonald's scuba training!”
I won’t wait for someone to say that, suggest that I’m advocating cheap and fast training provided at a drive-thru window by some high-school kid, or otherwise stick their nose up in the air about how
high-quality their training is and that they are far “above” the level of a franchise.
Sure McDonald's is a corporate “franchise” restaurant… but so is Morton’s or The Capital Grille. Just like the McDonalds fries… the phenomenal Kona Coffee Rubbed NY Strip at The Capital Grille in San Francisco will be the same as the phenomenal Kona Coffee Rubbed NY Strip served at the Capital Grille in Miami. Why? Because everything that either restaurant does is developed, overseen, and constantly evaluated by “headquarters” according to very specific, high standards. The kitchen will be overseen by a highly-skilled chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. The Sommelier at any Capital Grille will be a well-trained professional. The place will be run by someone who graduated with a master’s degree in hospitality management from Cornell. Even the waitstaff will be professional, well-trained, well-managed… and well-compensated.
Compare a Capital Grille restaurant to the average family-owned restaurant for a great example of what the dive industry SHOULD be. A friend of mine is the Managing Partner of the Capital Grille in Manhattan (Cornell ’92). She will tell you that - although she might perform many of the exact same functions as the guy running his family’s restaurant – there’s one main difference between independent restaurants and corporate-owned restaurants
- The independent one is being run by people who are “in the restaurant business”
- The corporate-owned one is being run by people who are “in the business of restaurants”
In the current model, instruction is delivered by people “in the dive business.”
In my vision the perfect agency would,,,
- Start by understanding the wants, needs, and desires of potential and existing divers
- Develop and promulgate a high-quality training offering that is designed and structured such a way that those people would see as innately attractive and intuitively valuable
- Deliver that training in a uniformly standardized fashion through agency owned/managed locations by people who are “in the business of diving.”
I'm sure there's plenty of nits to pick, but that's the best I could do in under 2,500 words.
:shocked2:
