Sierra Samaritans - National Ski Patrol

commentary
BY BILL SACHS, NSP NATIONAL CHAIR
upping the
quality quotient
“Success is not the result of spontaneous
combustion. You must set yourself on fire.”
—Reggie Leach (former player for the
Philadelphia Flyers hockey team)
I
I drove an old Buick in high school, hoping
against hope that my folks would
present me with a brand-new car some
day. Eventually I realized it wasn’t going
to happen, so I got a job and started saving
for a Corvette. I never did get the convertible
of my dreams, but I did learn an
important lesson: Don’t let wishful thinking
cloud your grasp on reality. The NSP
board has demonstrated the same wisdom
by committing to quality assurance
efforts in all education programs.
Patrolling requires us to be disciplined;
to constantly learn, re-learn, and
fine-tune our patrolling skills and knowledge
so we can continue to provide value
to area management and the general public.
It is incumbent upon us to instill in
them the confidence that we can and will
meet expectations. If our programs aren’t
known for their quality, however, we cannot
assure area management, the general
public, or anyone else of our worth.
“Average” doesn’t suffice in the realm of
emergency care, and that’s why the NSP
must provide outstanding programs and
products to help its members be successful.
We are challenged to do so in our
vision statement: “. . . to be the premier
provider of outstanding programs and
services benefiting the global outdoor
recreation community.”
In accordance with that mandate, the
national board has resolved to focus its
education programs on giving members
the tools they need to be successful
patrollers. This is not a new philosophy
for the NSP. Educational excellence has
long been a standard for the organization,
and we constantly work to invigorate
our various programs with the most
up-to-date information available. NSP’s
leaders fully realize that when you are
confident in your knowledge and skills,
you can be confident in your actions,
and that makes you a tremendous asset to
the area.
Although the focus on quality is not
unprecedented, the snowsport consumer’s
expectations continue to rise. To
address those expectations (and remain
in business), resorts must constantly
work to improve the quality of their main
product—the skiing/snowboarding experience—which
obviously includes patrol
services. Resorts cannot be isolated from
the things that make their patrols successful,
and neither can the patrollers. We
have a duty to become trained so that
what we do is in accordance with standards
of care set by the resort.
So, the NSP must zero in on the practical
aspects of developing and delivering
high-quality educational services. If we do
this well, we will attract the interest of
other outdoor groups, lending further
value to NSP training and increasing the
demand for NSP-trained people.
The NSP’s role in training patrollers
is indisputable, hence the need to assure
that in all cases, our courses are of such
high quality that they consistently engage
and educate patrollers. The organization
must address any and all weaknesses in
the process, regardless of whether the
course material, the instructor, or even
the course setting is to blame. The lines of
accountability in our organization occasionally
get skewed and, unfortunately,
our programs and courses suffer as a
result. To keep things in better focus, the
NSP board has taken on the direct
accountability of the Outdoor Emergency
Care Program. In December the organization
sponsored a meeting that brought
together division directors, national program
directors, and OEC division supervisors.
The meeting—the first of its
kind—had one purpose: to unite the various
groups in meeting member needs.
Our hopes are high for the outcome of
those discussions.
We have direct responsibility for the
material and courses offered, and to instill
quality assurance in those areas, the
national level will have direct control over
the instructors too. Beginning with
OEC—and eventually with other programs—the
national organization will
directly oversee the instructors. As delegated
by the NSP board, the delivery of
NSP programs will remain the purview of
the divisions and the individual patrol
representatives, but instructor accountability
to the national level will increase the
chances of maintaining excellence in
NSP’s educational offerings.
The board of directors is charged
with making the National Ski Patrol a
premier provider of outstanding programs
and services, for each and every
member. The organization must be
accountable, flexible, and inventive in all
things, and yet individual patrollers must
also do their part to remain well-trained
and current in their knowledge and skills.
I am truly optimistic that our collective
efforts will heighten our commitment as
much as our perceptions of what we must
do. Patrollers have never been known to
shy away from hard work. The fact is, our
organization and our members are highly
valued in their respective roles, but we
know we have to earn it. ✚
4 Ski Patrol Magazine | Winter 2005