I am old school. When I was a tender and breakout dive in early 80's the dive supervisor was the most experienced man on the job who had proven himself worthy of the position. He knew all aspects of the job. He had many years of experience. He knew how to handle emergency situations. He looked out for his crew and made sure the paperwork was correct so everyone got payed properly. It is a shame how things have changed.
Oh there are still some good ones out there. Guys that know Job 1 is: Get'em down and back out the chamber safe. 2 get some work out of them that you can tie to the next divers work. 3 fill out the damn paperwork. I always say don't supervise unless you have the sack to tell the customer, god, your wife and the project manager NO and stick to it.
Wow, John,
I thought I might be qualified to be a dive sup, until you mentioned the wife thing. She scares the hell out of me. Guess I'll have to go back to diving.
MW
mark miedecke has been in the industry for about 30 yrs. he is very calm, very collected and is always on top of the job. he always knows every aspect of the job and always has plan b, c and d ready at the toss of a dime. he is a hard worker, but gains the admiration and respect of his crew that makes his crew want to work for him all the time. he's friendly and shows concern at times and is easily approachable. he has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that has allowed him to get certain jobs done where others couldn't or slacked at. he thinks things through but at the same time he can react quickly with confidence. he's seen alot and been through alot. i'll go anywhere and work for him. and no, this isn't an ass kissing. it's just my description of the man.
Since I can still dive, I'll chime in. I want a Sup. that can keep his eyes on the gauges. Keep the crane operator in check. Give the tenders an earful when they get lazy on the hose. I also want a Sup. that will be quiet when I'm working, like Bob Boles use to say "if you're talking, you aren't working". If I'm doing a job that I've never done before, then walk me trough it. Test the ga**** yourself, don't trust a tender to do it, they usually f it up. Give some good advise and praises when ever you can. Chew their ass and run them off when they deserve it. A good Sup. is a cross between a father and a drill sargent.
Another good thread would be - what Supervisors want out of their divers. Seems to me there are alot of lazy premadonas out there that are not being true to the trade.
Thanks Toby as to you Mr. Wolfe I have know you at all levels of your career and believe when it comes to the dive station you would tell the wife NO F-ing way, then take your LUMPS. I am one of those 90% NO Problem my Love guys. The dive station falls with in the 10%.
The description of Meidecke pretty well covers a sup's job done with professionalism and good management style. I do not agree with those who shout at their team members. If they aren't worth working with, run 'em off-otherwise the sup should work WITH the team. An experienced sup can guide a diver to some extent in the water, but I firmly believe that each diver should be prepared for each task BEFORE he gets into the water. This points to James Leach's comment about the diver's role. Each diver should contribute to each project. There is no place for primadonnas on a diving job. A diver is only as good as his co-workers think he is - brag on the barstool, but PRODUCE on the job.
Long time no see. I will have to agree with the exception of those that think if you speak to them with a little passion you are hollering.
I one time had a young hand come to me and say how much he liked to dive for me but would I please not holler at him. We were in the office at the time and I could not convince him that he had never heard me HOLLER, let alone at him.
Well I walked around to each office and explained that what they were about to hear was only a demonstration, I then I hollered at him. He had to admit that I had never hollered at him before.
I have heard that and I tell them go join the military and then they will know what hollering is. Besides that with all the noise on deck, how else can you be heard.
when i was LT i had a guy that didn't like to be hollered at. he also didn't like to work fast, didn't like to meet deadlines and didn't like to do anything without questioning it first.