PROBLEM SOLVING

I read recently in the New Yorker about the contrast between organisations that go in for problem solving (good) and relationship conflict (bad). Problem solving is everybody talking about an issue and resolving it before going to the pub. Relationship conflict is people bitching about each other because of rivalry, personal animosity or ambition, even when there is actually little to divide them. I think we are in danger of sliding into relationship conflict over the issue of the Westminster Course, a kind of sub blue badge guiding course for the Westminster area.

The idea of this course has provoked howls of protest from London guides who see it as a threat to their income and status, as it will train guides in London but not to blue badge standard, thus potentially opening the door to less fully trained and potentially cheaper guides than those with a blue badge. Alan Cross, who was former chairman of APTG and is now joint president of the Institute of Tourist Guiding and has given up a lot of time to guiding organisations (get a life, Alan) has come in for some flak recently over this issue. He was chairing the recent Institute AGM when many London blue badge guides (including me) expressed their disquiet over the new course, particularly as one of its main tutors is a trustee of the Institute and, therefore, in a position to help decide whether the course is accredited, ie given official status, by the Institute - obviously a conflict of interests.

A letter was written to the Institute trustees and signed by several guides. I declined to sign it, not because I dsiagreed with its contents, but with its tone, which was critical of Alan's chairing of the AGM. However, the Westminster course was not an item on the agenda and its status can only be determined by the Inst's trustees, a necessarily bureaucratic process, not one that can be decided at a discussion forum. I felt a certain sympathy for Alan who had to allow several London guides to air their grievances, listen to some frankly batty woman going on about Stonehenge, introduce all the new trustees who had to do their beauty queen acceptance speech and still make time for the all-important raffle draw. Criticising him for not giving more time to London guides to essentially air the same opinions repeatedly is not fair - it is relationship conflict rather than problem solving.

Is the Westminster course actually a major problem for London guides? I suspect not, in practice. A similar course has existed for years in the City of London without being seen as a threat to the blue badge and most tour operators are surely smart enough to know that the essential difference between a blue badge and an unqualified guide is that one with a badge can take them into the all-important sites like Westminster Abbey, St Paul's, the Tower and Windsor castle and give them a decent tour of the interior, which an unbadged guide is neither qualified nor competent to do.

The fact is that anyone can stand up in front of a group of tourists and say, "My name is Eddie and I am your tourist guide." It is what happens afterwards that is important. You might be able to bluff your way around the sights of London without a badge but you will soon be exposed once you have crossed the threshold of the major sites.

DRIVER AND GUIDE

I worked with Richard on my last tour. He took over from Adrian at the beginning of the third day of a six day tour so drove two thirds of the tour and received most of the financial benefits, although I organised a whip round for A, which we don't normally encourage - it in turn encourages people to organise a whip round at the end of the tour, which can be financially fatal (or damaging,a t least).
The point is that R was an ideal driver, quiet and undemonstrative, he just got on with the job, made tactful suggestions if I was making an obvious mistake (not unknown) and kept out of harm's way. Most guides/directors like a quiet driver who knows his job and does it efficiently without drawing too much attention to himself. What they hate is a know-all who interferes with the commentary while driving a dirty coach badly. I have - this sounds rather Hollywoodish, but is true - been very lucky and worked with a lot of very good drivers over the quarter of a century (God!) that I ahve been guiding. You do appreciate how they can help you out on a tour. I have learned a lot from them - although you should never take what they say as gospel truth - and the beginning of a tour especially is always easier if you have confidence int he man behind the wheel.
Sometimes you have a novice, which is OK, as he (almost always he) usually does just what he is told, but sometimes you get someone who has enough knowledge to sabotage your approach but not enough sense to see that he is undermining the tour by undermining you. People are very reluctant to turn against a driver because they have a deep-seated need to believe in him - he holds their lives in his hand and is the one person of the group who can never be lulled into sleep on a warm afternoon and a straight road. As my ex (also a guide) said, passengers always side with the driver against the guide if there is conflict. The trick I suppose is to make sure that there isn't without allowing him to set the agenda. In this I have been very fortunate to work for Trafalgar Tours who allow the tour director to set the agenda and fine tune the tours in the way they see fit, but make it clear to drivers who is in charge.
Some drivers, particularly the ones who are experienced in running their own tours as driver-guides, find it hard to work with guides, whom they may consider wet behind the ears, and insist on trying to set their own agenda. Some drivers are just contrary by nature. All of us have to face down an awkward beggar at some stage in our careers and give him a bollocking. I hate doing it and feel bad for days afterwards (well, hours, or at least minutes) but you know that, if things go wrong on a tour, it is the guide/tour driector who gets the blame while the driver is long gone counting his tips.
And the final solution for the driver who is persistently unable to do what he is told? Turn him into a guide or tour director himself...

WINDSOR UPDATE

I don't normally wear a collar and tie unless I am working (when I usually do) but I thought I should for the Queen, or at least her representatives. We have an update at Windsor every couple of years and I missed the last so it has been four years since I have been there and it feels like almost as long since I guided there.
This seems to be because the Castle introduced sound guides - automated guided tours given through a wand (a device like a large mobile phone) - and this seems to have persuaded tour operators to skip the expense of a guide, which is a shame as I enjoy doing a quick Windsor and then having an hour to browse through the shops in town or a cup of tea in one of the many olde tea rooms. Usually we can live with these machines but here they seem to be replaing us which is a shame for our income and client's visit.
Windsor also has an airport style security procedure which can take ages to get through - several guides complained about this - and if you only have a few hours in the town you can easily waste half of one going through these barriers. it would, of course, be simplicity itself to leave a bomb outside the castle if you wanted to cause chaos.
Last update had a lot about the town and its shopmobility scheme for the disabled which was useless for tour groups, while today had a talk on St George's Chapel which we are virtually unable to guide in at all unless our group is seven or less and Saville gardens, which Iam ashamed to say I have never visited.
Of most interest was the Q's assistant Press Secretary, an elegant lady called Samantha Cohen, who fielded questions about The Queen film starring helen Mirren and indicated that it got it more or less right, although she could not possibly comment on what the Q thought of it, even whether she had seen it. I thought it was a great film and true to life, showing how the old stiff upper lip monarchy had to be transformed into a touchy feely one - quickly and not v comfortably with a bit (a lot) of help from T Blair and team.
Some guides are republicans, of course, and are under no obligation to defend the institution but, as I said in Walk This Way, a tourist guide supporting republicanism is a turking voting for Christmas...

GOINGS ON AT THE INSTITUTE

Institute, not Institution. For those not in the know The Institue of Tourist Guiding is the supervisory body which now owns and supervises the blue badge and other guiding qualifications.
Or does it? There has been a new guiding course set up in Westminster which will qualify 'guides' for (most of) the west end of London. Many will already have the well established City of London qualification and some London blue badge guides think that they will start to slip into work that they have had a virtual monopoly of up until now. In fact, there is nothing the Institute (or anyone else) can do if someone calling themselves a tour guide picks up a microphone on a coach that is doing a panoramic tour of London (or anywhere else). The police are not interested and there are no laws on guiding except to say that drivers cannot talk on the microphone whilst they are driving - not that the law stops them. The only real clout comes at the entrance to the sites that blue badge guides have pased their exams on and which insist on qualified (or in-house guides) only conducting tours therein. These are Westmisnter Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, The Tower of London and Windsor Castle - two churches and two castles, at least one or two of which wil be on the itinerary of most serious tourists coming to London.
It is the Blue Badge monopoly on these places which give the badge its real value, as well as the knowledge that most people who have studied for the badge will at least have a fairly serious and professional approach to the job. Some guides pass dozens of exams but can never master the art of communicating at the right level and tone - others scrape through their exams but develop an effective spiel which they stick to and succeed with.
There was a lot of feeling in the Institute AGM - from London guides, but not from those outside - but it is unlikely that there will be any major repercussions. The Inst, like every other guiding organisation, cannot afford to alienate too many members, some of whom are involved int he alternative course, and there will be no boat rocking just yet.
Off tomorrow on the first of the six day winter tours and staying overnight in Bath, which should be fun, although the single rooms are tiny at the Lawnsdowne Grove. The things we worry about...