Summer Debrief Questions with Lifeguards

A key piece to wrapping up the summer is debriefing and gathering feedback from your staff. By stopping to reflect on the summer, you can not only recognize the hard work that your staff has accomplished, but also identify areas of opportunity and improvement as you move into a new season.

Challenge your lifeguards to really take the time to reflect on their summer and identify personal and department-wide goals for the fall, or for next summer. Below we have identified a few questions to ask:

• Overall, how do you think the summer went for our aquatics department?
• What do you think went well this summer?
• What led to our department’s success this summer?
• What challenges did we have this summer?
• What would you change about this summer?
• Were there certain weeks or sessions that went better than others? What do you think led to their success?
• Did you feel empowered to take action if something didn’t look right in the water?

• When you walked on the pool deck, did our staffing model set you up for success? Is there anything that we could do to improve the staff schedule/structure moving forward?
• If you needed a break, were you able to get one?
• How do you feel our Test. Mark. Protect. process went this summer? Is there anything that we could do to improve this moving forward?
• Did you run into any challenges enforcing our pool rules this summer? What support do you need moving forward?
• Were you positioned properly throughout the summer to see your entire zone? Did you feel confident moving positions if needed?

• Are there any programs that you felt went really well? Why?
• Are there any programs that didn’t go well? Why?
• Are there any programs we should try moving forward?

• Overall, how do you think training went?
• Did our training adequately allow you to practice your skills?
• Did we provide you with enough resources and training to be confident in quickly identifying any individual in the water that needed assistance?
• How can we improve training to be more effective moving forward?
• What topics could you have used more support/practice/education on?