by Michael Weiland, Class of 1984
In her recent article, Susan Pappas described the Standards Committee and its role in ensuring the quality of our tours. Much of its work is “reactive”, responding to problems and issues. In contrast, the Docent Performance Review Program is “proactive”. The idea is to periodically review docents, ideally everyone, and not in response to any complaints.
Who is eligible to be reviewed?
Any docent who has been serving for three years or more. As of 2023, the class of 2019 is now in its first year of eligibility. After a successful DPRP review, we take you “off the list” for the next three years. The certification for the River Cruise is similar to a DPRP review, so newly-certified River Docents similarly have their DPRP eligibility reset.
What happens in a DPRP review?
When you are selected for a DPRP review, you will be contacted by a reviewer who will let you know which of your already-scheduled tours will be reviewed. We ask that you acknowledge the scheduled review and be prepared to stay up to 30 minutes after the tour for a discussion with your reviewer and to complete the review form.
The DPRP reviewer will observe you on a regularly scheduled tour and will use the same certification form used for tour certifications.
Note that the reviewer might or might not be certified on the tour being reviewed. That’s by design, as the reviewer will experience your tour like a member of the public. The reviewer will be focused on your tour-giving skills.
Who are the reviewers?
The DPRP reviewers are docents who volunteer to help the program. Any docent in good standing is welcome to join the review team. All we ask are two things: 1) Take (or refresh, if it’s been a while) the docent “Feedback Training.” And 2) agree to perform at least three reviews a year. If you would like to volunteer, please contact the DPRP co-chairs Michael Weiland and Matt Sheffer. The reviewer can record Service Hours for the time spent.
What happens if I don’t pass the review?
The reviewer will discuss the pertinent issues with you after the tour, and you will be prioritized for a follow-up review. Any specific mitigations are handled case-by-case, and confidentially.
I’m eligible; why haven’t I been reviewed lately?
Don’t take it personally! – it’s just a question of numbers. We have hundreds of eligible docents but fewer than 20 reviewers at present. So we can’t get to everyone as often as we’d like. We also put reviews on hiatus in 2020 after the COVID-19 shutdowns, and only re-started last year.
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I’ve been reviewed two or three times over the years, and I’ve appreciated the feedback. Such peer review is yet another beneficial program we have, valuable directly to us docents, indirectly to our tourees, and generally to our credibility and reputation.