Sunnys Days Of Disney: Audits

Showing posts with label Audits. Show all posts

Friday, July 15, 2016

Let's take a minute to talk about the thing all CP lifeguards fear coming into the program - audits. If you know what you're doing, and you do it well, audit's are quick and simple. Basically, and audit is a test to make sure you're doing your job the way you should be, to the standard Disney and Ellis hold us accountable to. Easy right?

Who does audits?

There are different groups of people who can do an audit. There are coordinators, Tier 2[Managers], Tier 3[Disney Higher Ups], and Ellis. Coordinator audit's don't count unless a manager is present (which usually makes it a Tier 2 audit), which means they rarely audit.

What is an audit?

There are multiple types of audits. The first, most common, is a VAT, which stands for Visual Awareness Training. Then there are visual audits, technical audits, and audit's that test your knowledge of the resort and the pool deck (a.k.a. the once a year Tier 3 audit).

What is a VAT?

A VAT is a weighted silhouette that gets laid at the bottom of the pool. There is a tan (light) side and a dark side. When a VAT gets laid you have to respond to it as if someone was drowning in the bottom of the pool. This means spotting it in 10 seconds, reaching it in 20, calling the coordinator, activating your EAP, everything.

What is a Visual Audit?

A visual audit is when someone come's out and watched you on stand. If it's a manager or a coordinator, they'll just watch you for a while and maybe take notes. If it's Ellis, they'll record you with a video camera. They're looking to make sure you maintain your 10/20, that you're not falling asleep, making sure you're in Disney Look, you don't hold extended conversations, that you rule enforce, everything.

What is a Technical Audit?

A technical audit is the big scary that hardly anybody ever has to deal with, also known as a 3 Whistle Audit. This is where you respond to a VAT, reach it, and someone says "This is an audit". At that point they start enacting one of our "worst case scenarios" and we have to treat it like it's a real situation. Clear the pool, do "CPR", the whole 9 yards. Technical Audit's are a big deal, and Ellis only does them once a quarter per pool. In some regions, the managers do technical audits, but those aren't quite as big of a deal (still a big deal)

That being said, most CP's spend a lot of time freaking out about VATs. VATs are usually relatively easy to spot (in fact, I've seen them in other people's water before...) and they only do the bare minimum each month. Once you've been on stand for a month or so, you'll be able to recognize your managers and coordinators in the pool and know a VAT is coming.

Personally, I've been through several audit's. I have been visually audited by Ellis, one of my managers, and a manager at Art of Animation. I was technically audited by a manager in my region. And I was Tier 3 audited at Coronado a few months ago (Did you know Coronado has the longest resort water slide on property?) Once you know what you're doing, audit's seem like nothing. In fact, there are days when you'll be on stand wishing someone would VAT you because it's so hot or you're so bored. Getting in the water is the quickest way to cool off, and no one looks at you funny when you do it to get a VAT!