New Skills

I concluded today that one of the downsides of working for the same string of companies for almost 28 years is that I have no experience with rapid changes in what I do. I have watched lots of things change over the years at work, but dramatic, environmental, and technological changes tended to occur over time. Even when my company has been bought out, things changed slowly.

So today I found myself in a completely foreign setting where I had to rapidly learn and practice new skills. Boy is my brain tired tonight.

It reminded me of June 2008 when I was part of team of folks who spent a day in New Orleans helping fix up a house that had been damaged by Katrina. I spent the day glazing windows (one window to be exact; but it had 12 panes!) Although I have done some hobby trades work in my life, glazing windows was new to me. After a three minute lesson we were off glazing. I felt satisfied at the end of the day that we had done some good work and that I had picked up a new skill that might be transferable some day.

Well it won't be transferable to my Olympics work.

In our four hour job-specific training session today we learned how to work as members of a Venue Communications Centre. As the "brains of the venue" we learned how to read the huge tables that told us everyone's function, call sign and the duties assigned to each functional area at the venue. We learned how to log everything that happens on the communications channels.

OK, I can process information and use tables for accessing information. It felt all too comfortable after too many years of occupational data work for our products at work.

But when it came to "radio speak", this was all new to me. There is a protocol for talking that must be followed. Of course it is not like the conversational style that has served me well for the last 50 years. It is not like the radio protocol that we have seen in old war movies. We played out sample scenarios, but I have a lot of practicing to do. Now I have some anxiety about work day one. I just hope that people are nice to those of us that are new to this. Fortunately I was not the only one struggling at my training session.

On top of that, we had to spend a great deal of time learning what to do in medical and safety situations. Don't say "bomb" over the radio, say "item of interest". Medical emergencies are likely to arise in a stadium with 50,000 people. Hopefully the other situations won't. At least they better not happen on my channel.

I think at the end of the day we all had a bit of anxiety. The trainers reassured us that it all comes naturally after the first shift. I'm afraid I may return from the Games saying "over" at the end of each sentence. Now you will know why.

In the end the training was well organized and well-executed. They even had Hershey's Kisses! It was typical of the good things I have experienced from VANOC. One of my trainers was the woman from VANOC who has been my main contact since I was offered a position last July. It was great to meet her in person.  I also met a woman from Peterborough, Ontario (back east in Canada between where I grew up and where we lived before we moved to Kelowna) who has come all this way to volunteer at the Games. While today we were all from different venues, she is part of my team at the Stadium.

I left with the start of a completely new skill. It will take some practice over the next few days. I think glazing was easier.