Everything we do sends a message about us, whether we intend it to or not.
We’d better make sure we send the right message and maintain control over the outcome.
Sending the right message
In diving, we must transmit confidence to our teammates about our abilities. It has nothing to do with the ego, and it doesn’t matter if we feel like doing it or not.
We have the responsibility to be an asset for our team, and not a liability. The competency we project through our actions and statements must reflect our real skills and intentions, not merely be a façade.
This level of confidence, backed up by real skills and experience, will instill certainty in our mates and help them to operate more efficiently. In other words, our attitude will directly influence the morale of the team and overall performance.
Sending the right message is a big responsibility, and if you don’t want to bear this weight, quit now!
Your business cards as a tech diver
The way you plan your dive, prepare your equipment, and perform the pre-dive checks at the surface are all good indicators of your attitude and performance. But the action that defines you the most in front of a new teammate is the S-DRILL.
The S-DRILL is composed of the valve shut-down and the gas sharing. During the first part, we demonstrate how to isolate a failing point in our regulators, and during the second exercise, we demonstrate how to donate gas to our mates.
We do it every time we dive with a new buddy, or periodically, based on a schedule with our team, or if we want to refresh our skills after having been out of the water for a while.
The S-DRILL is truly our business card to introduce ourselves as divers.
We are demonstrating just two basic skills, but in reality, we are performing three distinct actions, and each one sends a very important message:
- Valve shut-down drill: “I can take care of myself!”
- Gas sharing drill: “I can take care of you!”
- Maintaining buoyancy and formation with the team: “I am self-aware and situationally aware!”
Now our teammates can decide if they feel comfortable diving with us. When everyone can help anyone, but no one depends on anyone, the team works! It’s not about personal opinions; it’s about fairness and survival.
The S-Drill is the demonstration that you dive like you mean it!
We are always responsible
Whatever we do sends a message. We are responsible for it, even if we didn’t want to send any message!
In case we are not doing anything, we are still responsible, as doing nothing is a very strong message!
But at the same time, we cannot be sure about everything. If we don’t know what to say or what to do, we cannot pretend to know it, and then cause a problem. This is a typical case of ego-threat.
If we take credit for our achievements, we have to do the same for our mistakes and lack of knowledge.
Admitting that we don’t remember a procedure, or that we never learned it properly, is the best way to demonstrate self-awareness and responsibility.
We are demonstrating a safe and mature attitude by exposing our weaknesses, and if we are in the company of good people, they will help us to get better at doing what we love!
Maybe you will plan with your mates to do a refresh of the emergency procedures, instead of diving to 200ft next weekend… You will prepare together for that dive, and maybe you will do it next month.
Reviewing the procedures before diving prevents most problems.
Here is my card!
I am an asset, not a liability… and I expect the same from all of you!
