20 Feb. 2011
To The Exceptional Staff at Wilderness Adventure:
First, I hope this letter finds you all well, and that WAEL is flourishing! I’m writing to you to thank you, and the organization itself, for impressive integrity and genuine care for employees.
I worked for WAEL Summer 2008. I had just spent 6 months in Africa, and Pete hired me in January. Already I had a good impression of the company thanks to his easy going nature and bright personality. When I arrived, I was met with such warmth and kindness it was wonderful. I didn’t know how remarkable the welcome was until years later, after I had something to compare it to. The staff training embodied everything that WAEL was about—close bonding, all skill levels coming together and sharing, skills that would last, practices that are tried and true, etc. They truly fostered an environment where everyone felt comfortable, welcome, and included. Furthermore, the concept of the staff manual being a critical resource was so helpful. We would be taught everything we needed during training, then if at any point we forgot something, we had the staff manual to rely on. Because of that consistency, I always felt comfortable in any situation. Furthermore, as long as we followed the policies in the staff manual, we knew we would have full support of the company in the event of an accident or something of the sort. WAEL truly does have an impressive, unique training period. It is to be recognized as outstanding and its meticulous organization does not go unnoticed.
Last summer, after deciding to lead wilderness trips abroad, I worked for another company. That experience is what prompted me to write this letter. I felt none of the positive, inviting warmth that was present at WAEL. The training was like an impersonal, cold bootcamp where the goal seemed to be to shove lots of information at us, and they were shocked when we did not retain every detail. They didn’t trust us enough to give us a staff manual in the field, they thought we would copy their mandates and structure for ourselves. There were too many of us to have any meaningful introductions. Furthermore, we literally didn’t cover hard skills once. The abroad trips are almost all outfitted, so they never talked to us about hard skills. And, they didn’t teach us how to teach skills like WAEL did. At WAEL, we learned exactly how they wanted us to teach the kids how to set up/take down camp, cook dinner, etc…so that everyone got the same information regardless of experiences in the past. With the other company, we were never taught how to teach, which led to so much confusion due to the fact that people were from everywhere and had totally different backgrounds.
In summary, it was truly a world apart from WAEL. While the program was bigger, I found it to be much less informative training-wise, far less organized during the trips themselves, and perhaps most importantly, it lacked support. I never felt that if I were to use my judgment in a situation and it went poorly that I would have the company’s support. I always felt like they would let me go if anything happened, no questions asked. This experience really brought all the work that you do at WAEL into perspective in the moment, during the Summer of 2008. I even questioned whether such attention to detail was necessary, but after having something to compare it to, I’m so grateful for the level of time and work that went into it.
Overall, I simply wanted to highlight the main differences between the two companies as well as to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all your hard work. While you may not hear it often enough, you have a unique and exceptional program that really does change people’s lives. As someone who has seen the interworking of 2 companies, I can certainly vouch for the superior quality of WAEL’s treatment of its employees. I thought it was important to write you a letter telling you to keep up the good work! You have only my best wishes and encouragement!
Truly,
Sam Hoeffler
Trip Leader 2008
