Lessons in Management
Over the last month I have grown much closer to the other supervisors at Iqaluit Aquatic Centre (Rubina, Nick, and Marcus), which is nice, but came about in a very interesting way. We have a new manager, and if I say too much about her I'll have to make this blog private (don't talk bad about the city online, and all that), but she has... made some waves. Her arrival was highly anticipated, and each of us hoped her presence would make our jobs easier. Although my workload has decreased, my stress levels have increased greatly since her arrival. Tension is high. I'm just fighting to remain neutral to my staff (I have to relay her messages to them, but I also have to stand up for them to her). My current biggest struggle is with requiring the lifeguards to enforce new rules that I can't justify. They're finding loopholes, and I can't tell them no because the rules make very little sense in the first place. In a way, it was simpler without a manager. I did what I wanted, and I told the lifeguards to do what I wanted, and it all kind of worked out. Now my job is easier (sort of), but I'm still spending a lot of time verifying that she has situations under control (because if I don't, she doesn't always have it). There is some consolation in the certainty that she cannot afford to lose me as a staff member. The supervisor position has had one official applicant, and he wasn't even a lifeguard. If I were to quit, it would be yet another position for her to fill, and the Aquatic Centre would have to cut programming to make it without my position filled. Our only other full-time staff member is leaving at the end of January, and if we don't fill her position quickly, we will already be very short. The Aquatic Centre cannot afford to lose me right now, so even if the manager does things that push me away, my fellow supervisors will hold on tight. I'm doing the same with them. We can't afford to lose any more of our constant staff, and, if we all threatened to leave, the city would definitely consider our plight. It is a bit nice being in a workplace where you are not at all dispensable. However, I don't want to leave. I like my job, and I like the people I work with. I want to stay. It would make me very sad if this continues until I feel the need to get out, but for now I am working on standing firm on what I need, but being flexible with everything else.
In other news (of the more pleasant type), I am now a certified pool operator! That means that not only can I add chemicals to the pool and feed systems, but I also understand what I'm adding and what it will do the pool water/piping/decks. I am now well equipped to be Marcus' backup operator. My next training plans, which I will hopefully be fulfilling when I'm back from Lac La Biche in February, are to become a National Lifeguard instructor, swim instructor trainer, lifesaving instructor trainer, and first aid instructor. With those courses, I will be set up for truly any aquatic job that I could want (aside from manager, which I don't want yet). I don't want to be a manager yet because I like to work on the pool deck. I would miss lifeguarding and instructing if I moved up that far, although I think that I will probably eventually want to get off deck. It's a natural progression, and I don't want to rush into it. I have been thinking about getting a certificate with Red Deer College in Aquatic Facility Management though. All in steps.
I'm having a hard time with my new manager, but I am really happy with my job, and I don't want to be pushed away from the best opportunity that I've ever had by her. I can gain experience here, and that experience will also include "Dealing with Difficult Managers 2.0" and "What Not To Do: Management Edition (version 3)". Of course (thanks to Conor and Stephanie), it will also come with "Senior Management 101" and "How to Keep your Staff Happy and Heard Volume IV and V: an Analysis".
And the worse she is, the better my staff feel about me. I think I was doing a good job before her, but now the lifeguards realize it 🤷♀️
Things are still good. A week from now I'll be on a plane on my way to Edmonton.
Also, an update on 'Food in Iqaluit': there are no more inexpensive apples. I bought an orange for $2.50. This week there are no eggs.
- Aliya
In other news (of the more pleasant type), I am now a certified pool operator! That means that not only can I add chemicals to the pool and feed systems, but I also understand what I'm adding and what it will do the pool water/piping/decks. I am now well equipped to be Marcus' backup operator. My next training plans, which I will hopefully be fulfilling when I'm back from Lac La Biche in February, are to become a National Lifeguard instructor, swim instructor trainer, lifesaving instructor trainer, and first aid instructor. With those courses, I will be set up for truly any aquatic job that I could want (aside from manager, which I don't want yet). I don't want to be a manager yet because I like to work on the pool deck. I would miss lifeguarding and instructing if I moved up that far, although I think that I will probably eventually want to get off deck. It's a natural progression, and I don't want to rush into it. I have been thinking about getting a certificate with Red Deer College in Aquatic Facility Management though. All in steps.
I'm having a hard time with my new manager, but I am really happy with my job, and I don't want to be pushed away from the best opportunity that I've ever had by her. I can gain experience here, and that experience will also include "Dealing with Difficult Managers 2.0" and "What Not To Do: Management Edition (version 3)". Of course (thanks to Conor and Stephanie), it will also come with "Senior Management 101" and "How to Keep your Staff Happy and Heard Volume IV and V: an Analysis".
And the worse she is, the better my staff feel about me. I think I was doing a good job before her, but now the lifeguards realize it 🤷♀️
Things are still good. A week from now I'll be on a plane on my way to Edmonton.
Also, an update on 'Food in Iqaluit': there are no more inexpensive apples. I bought an orange for $2.50. This week there are no eggs.
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| The egg fridge at Ventures |
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| Unrelated: the pool vacuum doing things it shouldn't do 😒 |
- Aliya
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