Even if a staff member has been around for decades, providing them with opportunities to better their knowledge in all areas leads not only to improved decision-making, but also to more productive ways to streamline their workflow, allowing them more time to dedicate to you, the customer.

I have paid for numerous staff development opportunities for years. One that most of my senior staff takes advantage of is unlimited yearly access to the American Management Association (AMA) catalog of online and in-person training. AMA is used by most leading companies and has an extensive course catalog that ranges from management to accounting, communications, sales and—most importantly—customer service.

In the scuba diving industry, it’s essential to ensure that every staff member is up to date in every facet of the dive business. Many Aggressor destinations don’t have full-time internet access, so it’s crucial that we have the latest training materials on board and in digital format so that we can deliver a full program for our customers and their training requests. As PADI achieves its targets of moving more of its training to online and downloadable forms, our instructors’ ability to ensure that our customers get any and every course while pursuing the adventure they want has increased significantly.

A year ago at DEMA, I met with PADI President and CEO Drew Richardson to review the PADI opportunities for my staff and destinations for the coming year. With Aggressor Adventures having such a diverse customer base, having my staff trained in all levels of the PADI system is critical to meeting our customers’ demands. I commend PADI for quickly working around the COVID lockdowns to allow us to continue staff training online and in small groups, so we did not fall behind in our training goals for the year.

Even reviewing material that we all first learned decades ago helps to refresh our knowledge and understanding, so we are always delivering the proper standards and safety to our customers. I will always ensure Aggressor Adventures staff has the most up-to-date knowledge, training and skills to welcome you at every point on your adventure with us.

Watching my staff and the scuba industry continue to challenge themselves, and to adapt and change to keep up with customer habits and technology, is exciting to witness—it keeps me motivated just seeing how well the scuba industry evolves every year.

Wayne B. Brown is CEO of Aggressor Adventures and a PADI Staff Instructor.