![[Taiwan Diving | Dylan Chen Column] 3 Essential Qualities of a Competent Divemaster Assistant Instructor (The Right-Hand Person)](/_images/cf296cccf789-1440w.webp)
The Importance of a Divemaster's "Right-Hand Person" Is Greater Than You Think
To judge whether a company is capable of growing, you don't look at the CEO — you look at the second-in-command. The question is whether that person can perfectly support the leader in every aspect, and whether they have what it takes to step up when needed, rather than letting everything fall on the CEO's shoulders.
The same logic applies when assessing whether a dive shop or instructor can handle large-group teaching: you look at their second-in-command — the Divemaster (qualified assistant instructor). Being able to teach students doesn't automatically mean you know how to develop a Divemaster. Those are entirely different skill sets. So if an instructor can cultivate a great Divemaster, it's a sign that both the number of students they can train and the quality of that training will improve significantly.
3 Essential Qualities for a Divemaster Serving as an Assistant Instructor
When a Divemaster takes on the role of assistant instructor, they should embody three qualities: stay grounded, keep sharp eyes, and be warm with words.
1. Cultivate a "Grounded Mindset"
Throughout a course, the Divemaster must learn how to support dive students — enhancing safety, improving efficiency, and making the whole experience more enjoyable.
In doing so, you need to understand that as the number-two person, your job may actually be harder than the instructor's. You must maintain a grounded mindset: fulfill your duties as an assistant, support the instructor's decisions and approach, neither overstepping your role nor going absent from it.
2. Develop Sharp, All-Seeing Eyes
What do you think an assistant needs to do?
The answer will probably frustrate you, because the answer is essentially: everything. You need to anticipate the instructor's needs and deliver them before they even have to ask.
Be a great right-hand advisor — act on the instructor's urgencies, meet the students' needs, and give more and better than what's expected.
For example: overseeing equipment distribution and collection; supervising students the instructor can't attend to at that moment; handling logistics; leading underwater tours.
3. The Most Important Quality for Winning Hearts — "Be Warm with Words"
For me, the most critical role of a Divemaster in a course is to serve as the bridge between the instructor and the students. Instructors can't always attend to every student individually. That's when the Divemaster steps in — relaying student performance back to the instructor and helping students overcome challenges in their learning.
To make the course more well-rounded and enjoyable, beyond the teaching itself, having students get to know you and genuinely like you comes down to your approachability and your care for each individual student. When every student who walks in feels that the atmosphere is warm and that both the instructor and Divemaster truly care about them, it makes an enormous difference to the learning experience. I believe that is the greatest value of the Divemaster course — and along the way, you get to make a lot more friends, too.
Finally: Make Students Remember Your Name
Professor Ping-Cheng Yeh once said, "The most important label you have is your own name." No matter what title you hold at any given moment, you must perform that role well — because what we want people to remember is us as a person: what kind of support we provided, how we made a difference, and why our name is worth knowing.
Don't become someone who is dispensable — someone who offered no help throughout the process, showed no care for any of the students, and couldn't even remember the students' own names. If that's the case, how can you expect students to remember yours, or feel any warmth toward it?
No one stays in the second seat forever. One day, you will stand in the position you've always wanted. But right now, in this stage, what you need to do is stay grounded, keep sharp eyes, and be warm with words — and all the while, accumulate your strengths, build your personal brand, and grow into someone with the capability to do everything well.
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