Best Practice
/noun
commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.
A phrase often thrown around, but rarely given the attention it should. It is not just about doing things a standard way, or do what others do, or doing just enough to comply with recommendations, regulations, codes of practice or law, but taking it several steps further by looking at your industry colleagues, competitors, both domestically and internationally, and identifying the best current approach, and then asking the question “can we do better” and does doing better improve our customer experience with a better service or experience, improved safety, greater enjoyment, reduced impact, better value or added peace of mind. We have also looked to completely unrelated industries and sports for ideas we could adapt or implement, and have never been too proud to say it has helped us stand back and operate outside the bubble of the diving and tourism industries.
In a time poor world, we look to create the best outcomes, whether it be a simple online order, or a bespoke dive expedition.
Since being founded back in 2003, Tech Dive has always approached the ‘business of diving’ a little differently, and it is in this uniqueness, now nearly two decades later, has made us the leader in Bespoke Private Training, Curated Dive Expeditions and solutions based Equipment Sales and Support, all while flying largely under the radar to those who don’t know us. We like that.
What we do isn’t just about what happens underwater, it’s an entire progression of engagement from the first contact to the final farewell, delivered by a team with global knowledge and a passion for LUXE Travel, Great Food, Bespoke Dive Experiences and Brilliant Dive Gear.
In 2017 we introduced digital paperwork, and became operationally paperless in the training, guiding and travel aspects of the business – reducing by a staggering 91kg annually the amount of paper created. Since that time we’ve worked to enhance and improve that, and looked to ensure we didn’t create a new e-waste issue in its place (iPads don’t like seawater it turns out).
The advent of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, saw us activate our BCP as early as mid-January for some international guests, and as part of this we introduced face masks and sanitiser to our famous guest welcome packs. We had some stock on hand as part of our preparedness, and while limited single use masks were available for last resort use as part of that process, we supplied guests with reusable (repackable) N95 masks. Sanitiser and Soap provisions were refilled from bulk supplies, and we introduced Clean Tech early at the warehouse and offices to reduce the need to use disposable wipes etc, all while meeting the best practice advice being provided to us by our Compliance Risk and Diligence Advisors. In the early stages there were some mixed messages, so the Best Practice approach was critical, and the same processes will be applied when in-water activities return, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Our single-mindedness for Best in class products from the leading brands around the world has lead us to our goal “to avoid getting lost in the chaos of mediocrity, of ‘cheap’ or of doing things because everyone else is”. We are not necessarily the most expensive, but we focus on products that perfectly fit your needs and in 2019 our Curated Collection was born from this, through our new online store, offering a specific collection which has been a hit with our customers.
In our approach to best practice training, based on the principals set for us by co-founder John Bennett, the training agency standards and requirements were always seen a minimums, not the benchmark to be reached, but rather exceeded on an individual basis, and we focus on creating divers for life, equipping them with the skills and knowledge for the journey ahead – we take great pride in the fact that after nearly two decades we still are in contact with our divers, sharing in their photos and stories and join them once again from time to time to help them on the next step of their journey.
Our focus is on developing the diver’s principal piece of equipment – themselves – a knowledgeable and sophisticated diver.
Other areas where we focused on Best Practice early, before it became a commercial mantra were an effort to be genuinely ocean and planet friendly – a huge challenge we are still working on to this day, there will always be room for improvement, as technology changes – from simple steps like stopping printing brochures over a decade ago, supporting organisations like Reef Check, to a rubber recycling programme, reef safe products (sunscreen for example), and in recent years changes like limestone based neoprene for our rental suits, and upcycling materials within the business.
We are currently trialling more major changes in these areas, which we will share with you over the next year.
These are all actions we take behind the scenes, as we believe you should be judged by the actions you take when no one is looking.
Currently we are working with suppliers and manufacturers to remove unnecessary and inappropriate packaging at the source from the supply chain. In 2021, we will continue to bake sustainability into our business model and are working to implement a ‘provenance programme’ with our suppliers and manufacturers – this will be no small task and we will be looking to our industry colleagues and partners to engage on this with us to continue to drive change.
Till next time. Happy Diving.
MORE READING
You can read more about us and our History here.
To find out more about our Operational Home Base here in Port Douglas, and how we fly under the radar.
To read ‘The 100’ our training Philosophy
An example of our best practice solution for onsite air when a portable compressor solution would create unnecessary impact or is impractical.
