Timing and Opportunity: They Matter

I felt I was so ready for the change - to become a parks and recreation director, but had started thinking that maybe it just wasn't in the cards for me. Every interview (if I got one) was ending with the same result; "it just doesn't seem like a good fit for us".  Right when I had pretty much given up, it happened.  I get a call from a City Manager who wants to talk about his Parks & Community Services Director opening (thanks to a strong recommendation from a colleague).  We chat briefly and he asks me to send him my resume and complete an application, which I do.

Then I wait.

And I wait.

If you've ever waited for something to happen (movie to arrive in theaters, package to be delivered, Red Sox to win a championship), then you know it can seem like forever to get any news . . . not just good news . . . ANY NEWS!  

I finally emailed the City Manager to ask if he received my resume and application (Do you need anything else?  Any questions?).  He said yes, it looked fine, and we should talk soon. "OK, when's good for you?"  We agreed to meet at City Hall for a very informal discussion. Two weeks later I'm in his office with him and the Assistant City Manager and, while the discussion was informal, it felt anything but informal.  It went well and I felt good leaving the building (almost a bat-flip moment after hitting one out).  He asks if I could attend a meeting to meet with the rest of his executive team so they can get a feel for my style and if there's a fit.  Of course!

Two weeks later I'm meeting with the executive team.  I want to seem confident, articulate, knowledgeable, friendly, and professional.  The City Manager asks me to introduce myself. Not one-minute into my spiel he says, "Andre, this isn't an interview."   Oh, OK.  So I do my best to shift gears and be a bit more casual.  I don't know how I did, but left feeling good. Afterwards a few of the department heads stopped me and said "hi, nice to meet you", including the Public Works Director who told me he hopes we get to work together.  Great! Now what?  The City Manager said he'd be in touch.

So I waited.

And I waited.

Now don't get me wrong, the City Manager is on top of things, but when you're anxiously awaiting news . . . any news . . . it can seem like an eternity. In the meanwhile, I'm interviewing for an executive position in my old department. Truth is, I didn't want to stay in that organization - I was ready for a new adventure and I think the organization needed a change, too. Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear from the new organization - will they be my new employer or will this end as another disappointment?  Have they forgotten about me? Have they met someone else?  Did my meetings with them not warrant a bat-flip?  Had I unknowingly ruined my chances and didn't know it?  Did I have something in my teeth? What? What?  WHAT?!

Right before the holidays I get a call from the Assistant City Manager asking me something - I'm not sure what it was.  She asked me if I was excited. "Yes!" I replied, "I just wish I knew where I stood with the City Manager."  Not three-minutes after that phone call I get a phone call from the City Manager "I hear you're wondering about the position.  I don't want you going into the holidays wondering about this - you got the job."  Finally - I knew. I'm not alone in all this. If you've ever tried to get a job anywhere, you've felt the same anxiety and doubt. We've all experienced this.

Looking back, all the signs were there; I'm just too dumb to connect the dots and have some faith.  It was that way with my wife, too.  She pretty much thought I was an idiot before we started dating because she says I couldn't pick up on her signals.  She's right, I pretty much am an idiot.

Back to becoming a director.  I'd been trying for over five years to get a director's position.  I knew this agency was hiring, but when I saw the job posting months ago I dismissed it. "Too far to drive (takes an hour) and I'd rather work in the area I live."  The position never got filled.  The City Manager decided to going looking for someone and asked my good friend and colleague if he'd take the job. "No, but I know someone who you should talk to about it." Looking back, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.  As much as I wanted to be a director, I just wasn't ready until the time came. Timing and opportunity are so important! And so are friends who think you have what it takes.

So to all those people out there who are wanting to make that career move, hang in there. Do what you need to do to prepare yourself.  Rehearse your elevator speech.  Write out your terminal and instrumental values . . . and know them. In my case it wasn't my knowledge, experience, or professionalism (or lack thereof) that were holding me back, I really believe that the right opportunity just hadn't come along at the right time.  Now that I'm here I'm so happy (one-hour commute each way and all).  And it's not what I thought it would be - it's better!  It's also early in my career here, so I'm sure things will get busy, hectic, and challenging, but I'm ready for it.

And about those 2004 Boston Red Sox . . . prior to 2004 they had always had talent, fan support, history, and a modicum of success, but even when they had it all, timing and opportunity were necessary to win that elusive World Series after an 86 year championship drought.  At least that's how I see it. Timing and opportunity - key ingredients that are necessary to make happen what you thought might never happen.  Or as my old boss always said, "when the stars align . . ."

And . . . . . . . . bat-flip.

Do You Want to Be a Director?

    Recently I visited another parks and recreation agency in the state of Georgia.  It was a very productive trip and I learned some things about best practices and leadership, which is one of the reasons I participate in accreditation visits.  On our getaway-day, the parks and recreation director drove us to the airport, and before we had traveled very far he asked me, "do you want to be a director?"  While I do, I found myself struggling to answer.  I've pondered this question more times than I can count, but for some reason I was put on my heels and started to down-play my desire.  I love the role I'm in right now with my current employer; I'm in no hurry to advance; I feel I still have a lot to learn; If it never happens I can live with that.  Perhaps I'm not director material.  When I finished he said simply, "Well, I think you'd be a great director."  I did not expect him to say that.  While extremely flattered I was also stunned.  In short, I was making excuses for not already being a director.

    At 54, I sometimes worry that my opportunity has passed me by.  When looking for a new director, I believe most agencies screen applications looking for those with prior director experience.  I have about four (4) weeks experience as an interim director - not really the type of time-on-the-job most agencies are looking for in their next leader.  I know what I'm good at and I rely on my staff to help me in those areas in which I'm not talented or proficient.  After 25 years in the field I know that most of the folks who work for me are smarter, better, and faster than me.  I truly love my work family - they get things done and make a difference in the community.  I believe I've has a positive impact on my staff and that's what I bring to the table.  I've tried to inspire, I've taken risks, I've admitted failure, I've tried again, I've put people first, I've set the tone, and I've shared my passion.  I truly believe I know the kind of director I could be.

    I've had a fantastic mentor in my director, Bob Johnston.  He's even-keeled, very slow to anger (in fact, in the 12 years I've known him I've never seen him angry or raise his voice), and he gets things done.  He's also a non-conformist - a creative-type who does things his way.  He's very knowledgeable and demonstrates good common sense.  He's not a brown-noser. While I'm an extrovert, Bob's an introvert.  He knows this and doesn't try to be something he's not.  In fact, he expects me to be the front guy most of the time, which to me means his ego is not a major driver in his being the director.  Have I had a great role model for what makes a great director?  You bet I have!

    In her blog article, 4 questions every leader should be able to answer, Alaina Love identifies four (4) questions regarding leadership qualities that really resonated with me: Who am I? What are my passions? How am I impacting others?  Where are my edges?  I think these are questions every leader, director, CEO, etc., needs to ask themselves, and if you're not there yet now is a great time to begin this self-reflection.  Read her article - it's well worth it.  Being able to answer her four (4) questions can better help you articulate your response if ever you're asked, "Do you want to be a director?

9 Qualities all Good Bosses Should Have

    Few articles I have read sum up in such a short piece what I think being a boss should be.  While chapters and volumes and text books have been written on the subject, the brief article, "Being a good boss means doing the whole job," by Wally Bock, does a great job of getting to the point succinctly.

    I'm not saying being a boss, a leader, a manager, or a supervisor is so simple that all skills, theory, practices, and nuances can be described in less than 500 words - it can't.  But if you're looking for a place to start and information to help you get on track or back on track, this article could be very helpful.

    For me, this blog post was both affirmation of my style and approach, as well as a reminder that the development and evolution of being a boss is never ending.  Plenty to learn, including learning from my mistakes.  While a boss/leader/manager/supervisor needs certain competencies, here's a short list of qualities that all future and current bosses could benefit from:

1. Be kind . . . always.
2. Show compassion.  We all have issues and some have real challenges.  Treat them the way you'd want to be treated.
3. Don't be afraid to admit you don't have the answer - chances are you're not the smartest person in the room.
4. Don't be threatened by those who are smarter than you (you want those people on your team).
5. Think globally.  While your staff will focus on their projects and responsibilities, you'll need to think about how those projects and what they do fit into the bigger picture.
6. Pitch in where you can and show your support.  My staff really appreciate when I help with set-up, clean-up or in some other way as long as I don't get in the way or slow them down.  Often time just showing up to give my support is what they need most from me.
7. Show your appreciation.  Saying thank you privately or publicly, giving a hand-written thank you card, or some other sort of recognition, can go along way towards improving an employee's morale and will make their day.
8. Protect your reputation.  What you say and do matters.  Small indiscretions, careless words, or inappropriate actions can send a message that taints or damages your reputation, which could follow you in your career for years. 
1. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently,” Warren Buffett.
2. “Be careful what you say and do; they are watching you and judging you,” Priscilla Cockerell.
9. Lead.  You're their leader.  They want and expect you to lead.  This is not the same as telling them everything they have to do everyday.  Rather it's articulating the vision, helping them understand their value and purpose in the organization, and helping lead the way toward being successful.  Leaders set the tone.

    In short, don't be the pointy-haired boss.  Be the type of boss they deserve and that you'd want to follow.

Need Help? Leaders Know to Ask

    I work part-time teaching at Sacramento State University.  G (that's what I call her) is our department secretary and she is wonderful.  She gets things done, takes care of faculty and helps a lot of students.  My dad always said of his office secretary, "she runs the business, I just work here".  That's how I see G.  Knowing how busy she is I always try to avoid asking her for help or adding to her workload.  I'm just a part-timer, so I figure she has other things to take care of for other (full time) faculty.

    Recently, at a small get-together for a colleague's retirement, the retiree publicly thanked G for her help and devotion to the office and for helping him whenever he needed it.  I echoed his sentiments and then asked other faculty if they ever felt guilty about asking G to take care of things for them.  One person answered, 'absolutely' while others nodded.

    G sent me an email a few days later and here's what she said: "On Saturday you asked if anyone else in the room felt guilty when you ask me for help with something. Please don’t feel that way. I’m busy, but so is everyone else. Besides, it’s my job to help you and I’m happy to do it.  Helping you helps our students, and that’s why I’m here."  By not using G for things I need, I deny her the ability to do her job - to fulfill her position's purpose.  That makes perfect sense to me.  That said, I still get stuck on "am I giving her something I could easily handle myself " while trying to be sensitive to her workload and schedule.

    Nice guy, perhaps, but I failed in two areas. The first was in communication.  I'd always assumed she was too busy to help me, but never bothered to ask her if my need for her help was appropriate or an overloading her plate (turns out it is not). If I was really that concerned I should have asked her - even requested a time to talk so I could better understand what type of projects or tasks I could give her or the clerical staff.  

    The second failure was in delegating, but it's more than that.  One cannot simply view delegation as giving tasks to others, rather delegation should be viewed as giving others the opportunity to help you/the organization succeed.  By holding back on asking for G's help I did not allow her to help me succeed, which she clearly connected to an organizational goal when she said, " . . . it’s my job to help you and I’m happy to do it.  Helping you helps our students, and that’s why I’m here."  By not communicating I did not allow her the opportunity to contribute to my/our department's success, and by not delegating I devalued my role as an educator (which she values because of the positive impact it has on students).  

    In my day job I have several people are subordinate to me and I have no problem asking for their help because: 1) I want them to be part of our department's success; 2) I want them to gain experience and grow, and; 3) I genuinely need their help - often times because they have the knowledge or skills to do what I can't or don't know how to do.  I need to be able to do the same with G, as well as in other situations where I find myself in a leadership role.  

    In her article, Why Asking For Help Is One Of Your Greatest Strengths, Andria Corso says this ability "is a sign of great strength to not only admit that you are in need of help but also to accept help from others."  Trying to avoid burdening others demonstrates poor judgment and leadership; asking for help can be a powerful tool for including team members in the organization's success and is a strength that leaders need to develop.

  

Okay, Brain, Your Mine Now

  If you're like me you get stories in your head about people, situations and alternate realities.  In fact, if you're a human being (if you are not this is truly amazing) you probably do this a lot.  I have stories in my head about what friends, family and co-workers think about me.  I have stories in my head about social and professional situations where I imagine unfavorable or worst-case scenarios.  I even have stories in my head about what life would be like if I was unemployed, incapacitated, or left alone in the world.  The brain, even mine, is a powerful, imaginative machine, but there are times that it generates conspiracy theories and some pretty discouraging forecasts . . . or just seems to mess with us.

    In the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree, in the post How to Stop Worrying, the author reminds us that our thoughts are not reality.  "Just because we think it, doesn't make it true."  These thoughts distract us from the here-and-now.  We drift off into thoughts and theories that undermine our real life situation instead of paying attention to the world around us and being present - being mindful.  My real life situation isn't perfect, but I do love my life - all of it - so why would I allow myself to entertain these negative, unreal thoughts?  Eric, the blog post author, provides a list of strategies to help you stop worrying and start being mindful:

1. You are not your thoughts. Sometimes they’re downright ridiculous. Just because you think it, doesn’t make it true.
2. Observe, don’t judge. Acknowledge the thoughts, but let them float by. Don’t wrestle with them.
3. Don’t distract, immerse. Do not check your email for the 400th time. Take in the world around you. Turn to your senses. That’s real. Your thoughts and the stories you tell yourself about the world aren’t.
4. Note or label intrusive thoughts. Yeah, the thoughts fight back. Acknowledge them. Give the intrusive ones a funny name.
5. Return to the senses. Really pay attention to the world around you.

    As the author points out, being mindful takes effort and practice, but it's a fairly simple and easy to remember list, so it's doable.  

    I'd like to add one more step.  Avoid picking and choosing which thoughts to let go.  What good will it do me to work on some negative thoughts and misconceptions, and not be willing to set myself free from all of them?   You and I need to recognize when that thought is not beneficial to us and/or those around us, and apply one or more of the above tactics to stop worrying and be mindful.  Ready?  Here we go . . . 

Me Version 5.0: Time for an Upgrade

    I'm overwhelmed, but I'm pretty sure no one knows it.  I try not to let on that I'm unhappy with my self-discipline and lack of focus.  I simply am not the recreation superintendent and educator I want to be. Everywhere I turn (in my office and with my schedule) I feel that I can't make any significant headway.  Every good intention seems to be thwarted by my own disorganization, stacks of things to read, and desire to handle work projects and obligations with professional efficiency and mastery.  In short, this sucks.  I suck.

    Don't get me wrong, things are great at home and with my health, but this current version of "me the professional" is not cutting it.  It's not the jobs - I love what I do.  I have great staff/co-workers who do great work.  My students are great and are very responsive in class and in the work they turn in.  My boss is supportive and happy with my performance . . . but I am not.  I know I can do better and, just like I'm typing this with only two-fingers, I know I am not making the most of my time, resources, and basic organizational skills.

    Wally Bock's Leading Yourself: A Baker's Dozen of Things to Master provides a simple list of actionable things I can do to help move myself into a more productive, efficient, and engaged mode professionally.  I know this will take time and that new habits must be practiced (30 days for it to really take hold and 10,000 hours of committed practice to demonstrate mastery), but I don't want to look back a week from now, a month from now, or a year from now and say, "If only I had started back then . . ."  It's going to take time to get organized and practice to stay organized, but like Walt Disney said, "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing,” and “The secret of juggling many responsibilities is organization."
   Let's get started . . . . 

TWO VIDEOS YOU CAN USE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING AT WORK

In my Brand+Aid blog article, Six Helpful Hints to Get Your Social Media Up and Running, I talk about how we developed a team approach to social media management in my agency. It wasn't something that we implemented overnight.  It took time and we learned as our strategy developed, experiencing both successes and failures, but always trying to do it better and efficiently.  And it's been fun - a necessity if anything's going to keep my interest for the long haul.

For me, learning how to use social media involved trial and error, reading articles and books, and attending educational and training sessions.  Another great source is YouTube videos.  One of my favorites is The Social Media Revolution.  This video makes a compelling case for businesses, like parks and recreation, to use social media.  This link is for the 2014 version, but you might enjoy some of the earlier versions (my favorite is from 2010, but that's because I love the rockin' soundtrack).

Another really good video was produced for a government agency in Victoria, Australia, that we've simply . . . 'borrowed".  Like them, we use it for staff training for social media in the workplace.  It's brief, engaging, and high quality.  In my agency every employee is asked to watch this video, participate in a discussion about social media in the workplace, and sign a social media user agreement.  Signing the agreement is not required, but necessary if they want to participate on our official Facebook department newsfeed, which is our ongoing department newsletter and is well utilized.

Social media isn't going anywhere.  It will continue to grow and evolve.  Leaders need to come to grips with that and use it to their advantage as opposed to avoiding it and banning it from the workplace.  It's the next step in the evolution of communication. Those who resist evolving run the risk of becoming obsolete and irrelevant.

I Want To Change The World, But Am I Qualified?

    In the article, "Why Great Managers Are So Rare", the author talks about how "Gallup finds that companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time."   That means less than 20% of the time people hired or promoted to a management position are actually ready or capable of high performance in a management position.  Yikes! 

    I'm a manager, so of course I'm now worried that I'm one of the 82%.  I'd like to think I'm doing pretty good, but truth is I'm certain I am deficient in certain areas.  Perhaps that's an advantage for me.  By being aware and asking my boss and subordinates (I hate that word) for feedback, such as, "what do you think I could do better?", I think helps me look at my skills and actions with a critical eye.  I believe we should always look to improve our competencies and that we will never be perfect or ideal.  I will always be a work in progress.  So does this mean I'm not a good choice to be a manager?

    The article talks about five (5) traits common among great managers: they motivate every single employee to take action and engage employees with a compelling mission and vision; they demonstrate assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance; they create a culture of clear accountability; they build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency; and they make decisions based on productivity, not politics.  No argument here that these five traits are important, but I think there's so much more that needs to be included - additional traits if you will - and some of them are learned, while others are not.

    Here's the additional traits I think all managers should have or try to develop: a passion for the work to being done; demonstrating professional pride through discussions on core values, mission and collective impact on the community; care and respect for bosses and subordinates; a good life - work balance, by placing family first, having fun, and being active, and encouraging co-workers, especially subordinates, to do the same; patience with staff and the process (probably the greatest skill I've learned from my boss); a calm demeanor, especially when others worry or panic; a positive attitude each day and in every encounter with staff and customers; the ability to laugh at yourself (as Mike Veeck says, "we take ourselves not seriously at all . . . we take our business very serious."); a willingness to 'pitch in' when others need help or are short-handed; walk the talk by modelling the type of behavior they want to see others emulate; be professionally engaged with others in the industry (network and give back to the profession through service and leadership), and; a mindset of curiosity - always wanting to learn, grow and improve, and encouraging others to better themselves, even in ways that might not seem to be directly related to the business.

Mike Veeck at the 2013 Brand-Aid Conference in Arlington, TX.

    That's my list for now.  What am I missing?  Is there anything on the list that you think doesn't belong?  I know some items could be combined with the original five traits, but I don't believe the author meant that the list was finite. 

    I love being a manager.  I love my staff, working for my boss, and I can't think of a better organization for whom to work.  I love field of parks and recreation.  I love teaching part-time at the university in the recreation, parks & tourism department.  And of course I love my wife and kids.  So while I may not be the perfect manager or in the 18% of great ones, I sure hope I'm good enough to lead my team in the direction of doing great things for the community, and that they are each able to enjoy their lives at work.  Perhaps that's what managers need to do in order for their staff - the ones doing the really important work - to make a difference in the community.  Perhaps that's what's needed to change the world.

Quit Talking and Begin Doing

    Last spring I was feeling down about a new skill I was trying to develop.  I was beating myself up for not having learned this skill when I was young, as I figured most people would normally do.  After an in-depth discussion with a friend about my frustration I was feeling better and decided to tweet a thought to serve as a reminder to myself (and to actually use Twitter).  It said, "Don't let a late start keep U from enjoying the journey. So U didn't start when U were young, big deal. You're going now. Enjoy the ride. " 

 

   I still get those feelings of disappointment and have to continually remind myself that it's OK to be a beginner.  Better to start now and do the best I can rather than be 10 years older and regret not having started 10 years ago.  Plus, I don't have to play catch-up.  Those feelings I have of being 30+ years behind - it's all in my head.  I am where I am.  If I keep at it for another year I'll be another year along and hopefully another year better.  I gotta enjoy the ride . . . and some rides aren't easy.

 

    So what do you want to try?  What's keeping you from taking a chance?  I took Walt Disney's advice: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”   Whether it's in your personal life or your work life, give it a shot and don't live with the old adage:  “For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'” – John Greenleaf Whittier.

    For years I have been collecting quotes I find online, in books and articles, and even in places of business.  This set is from my 'taking chances" file.  Enjoy!

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Thomas A. Edison

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.”
Henry Ford

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”
Vince Lombardi

“If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's OK. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot.”
Confucius

“The limits of the mind are often mistaken to be the limits of the world.”

Immanuel Kant

"If we never took a risk our children would not learn to walk, climb stairs, ride a bicycle or swim; businesses would not develop innovative new products, move into new markets and create wealth for all; scientists would not experiment and discover; we would not have great art, literature, music and architecture."

Sir Digby Jones

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure ... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

 

“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
Nelson Mandela

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
Andre' Gide

“I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.”
Lucille Ball

 "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Stay hungry. Stay foolish..."

Steve Jobs

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage.”

Walt Disney

“You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is.”
Will Rogers

“After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery.  It's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe.  Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.”
Sophia Loren

Leadership and Customer Service - Key strategies for the business of parks and recreation

    "Government should be run more like a business," is a line I've often heard, and is mentioned in the article, Comparing Business to Government, by Arnie Biondo (from the February 2012 issue of Parks and Rec Business magazine).  I've struggled with what this means, but Biondo's article does a very good job laying out the differences between business and local government, as well as detailing some strategies professionals and agencies can do that are, as Biondo states, "more business-like practices." 

    The first strategy mentioned is the delivery of excellent customer service, which is something we strive to provide at the West Sacramento Parks & Recreation department.  Just to say you have great customer service isn't enough, and it can't be inconsistent (great by one staff member, but poor by another).  It has to be a cultural norm, but it can only be the norm if the leaders are working on setting the tone and nurturing the culture to help it grow and mature.  I'm pleased to say that just this past Saturday I spent some time with some of our recreation center front-line staff (front desk, lifeguards and child care staff) as they participated in another leadership/management/customer service training.

    William Davidow and Bro Uttal, in their best-selling book, Total Customer Service: The Ultimate Weapon*, provide a list of three (3) principles that they say leaders of customer service oriented companies do:  

1.      Foster a service oriented culture. Leaders help create and nurture cultures by communicating use. They put values into action by treating employees exactly as they want employees to treat customers.

2.      Make customer service everybody's business. Unless every employee assumes responsibility for the customer’s experience, service dies.

 

3.   Declare war on bureaucracy. To produce effective, efficient Customer service, leaders keep policies, procedures, and other formal control mechanisms to a minimum, relying instead on cultural control.

    As I go down this list of strategies, I find that we are applying these business strategies.  Leadership is key (and we are fortunate to have a department director and City Council who provide solid leadership) and having and implementing a thoughtful and deliberate customer service strategy is critical if parks and recreation agencies are to deliver on their vision and mission and not run like stereo-typical government.

*This is a great book, but was published in 1989.  While some of the examples given are antiquated, the definition and strategies are still very relevant. 

Sir . . put the iPhone down and step away

It needed to happen.  I think I started to feel it was becoming an issue over the summer, but it finally came to a head on Christmas Day.  "You're always on your phone or tablet when we're together," my wife told me.  She was right.  If not for Alene speaking her mind (not something she has trouble doing by the way) I don't think I would have made the decision.  And while her words did sting a little, I decided to turn this issue into a positive.  I would make a decision that shows her that I respect her feelings, while trying to strike a balance in my life.  This knuckle-dragger may evolve a tad!

Social media, personal and work email, videos, a few games, news, and blogs - it had become a problem and she was right to point it out.  Having a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and a PC at both home and work have made it very easy to be online almost every waking moment where I am sitting down, standing around, and, occasionally, while walking.  I had become one of them . . . one of the people who had become too connected . . . one of the people I hear others comment about.  I see this behavior lampooned in Facebook posts . . .

as well as the old fashioned way - the comic strips . . .

So, the day after Christmas I developed a strategy to not only minimize using my devices when around my wife, but I developed four (4) simple guidelines for how I want to use technology out and about during my day, as well as while I'm at home.  I want to make sure I strike a balance and don't go to the other extreme or set rules that will result in my failure.  While I suspect this list will be modified over time and possibly grow, it's a start .  Check it out and let me know if you think I missed something or if you think something should be tweaked a bit.

• Be present for them (even though they may not be). When with the wife or family don't be checking your smartphone or tablet for emails, texts or social media. Save that for when everyone's gone to bed, especially your wife.  Exception:  if asked by a family member to take a picture with my smartphone or to check something on Facebook, do so, but then put the device down when finished - don't continue to stay on checking statuses or emails.
• Place books you want to read (in most cases this means books you mean to finish) in places where you sit around the house.  Time spent checking Facebook posts or emails could be spent reading some books you've wanted to finish and finally start some books you'd really like to get into.  You could also practice guitar more . . . which you enjoy and really need to do.
• Challenge yourself to not check your smartphone when you are meeting with other people.  Wait until you have time to yourself afterwards or are back in your office.
• It's so easy to check your smartphone when standing in a line, walking around, as a passenger in a car, in between sessions at a conference or during baseball or football games.  Challenge yourself to not do so because you've got nothing else to do or are bored.  Exception: you like taking pictures and using filters (often times for work purposes) - as this is one of those great features of your smartphone continue to do so, but be sensitive that you are not missing something or are a distraction for others who are trying to enjoy the moment or your company.

Mobile devices are fantastic, but like watching too much television, mobile devices, I believe, can have an adverse affect on my ability to engage in daily living and take away from my quality of life.  But the pendulum does not need to swing all the way to the other side.  I can find that balance.  I do not want to be dependent on mobile technology or social media.  Instead I want these things to serve my interests and enhance my life.  

It needed to happen.  Using these guidelines to shape my own behavior will be a challenge, but making these changes may help me be more engaged with others, give me time to read more books, and practice guitar more.  Who knows . . . by this time next year playing an F7 may be a piece of cake, and both China Grove and Sweet home Alabama may actually sound like music.

Make No Mistake . . . Work Should Be Fun and Passion-driven

    As 2012 starts to wind down, so too does the semester at Sacramento State, where I've had the privilege of teaching a graduate course on the advanced administration of parks, recreation and tourism.  I taught this course once before 6 or 7 years ago and focused on management, but this time I took a different approach.  This semester the areas of focus were on leadership and customer service.  While it is fun to teach this class (and I believe I have the experience and qualifications to do so) I find that I am as much a student during the semester as any of the dozen graduate students I have.  The course is billed as a 'workshop', and it is very much an open forum during class and we supplement discussions using our class Circle on Google+.  Using social media to further our discussions and share new information and experiences has really added value to this course - so much so that I will use Google+ in all my classes in the future.

    One shared post that really hit home with me was called the 9 Crippling Mistakes CEO's Make (thank you Jen Smith).  For me it was affirmation on my leadership and management beliefs and practices, but it also made me think that it is some of these very points that may keep me from ever becoming a parks and recreation director.  

    I see a trend in our profession that concerns me: director and administrator positions being filled with people who may have a strong business or finance background, but lack a true understanding of, and passion for, parks and recreation.  While I would agree that it makes sense to apply smart business practices to what we do, we are not the same as a small business, a large corporation, a non-profit or just about any other department found in local government.  Leading a parks and recreation department around by the budget as a means to make it perform (a.k.a. - avoid going over budget), isn't how a leisure service agency is going to excel.  Squelching the creativity of people whose jobs are to create opportunities for their customers (residents) and whose jobs are to help foster positive emotional connections within the community is a sure way to under-perform.  The role of parks and recreation is to help improve the quality of life for the people living within that community. Do that and your customers are likely to talk about how much they love their community and others will want to make that community their community.  That's how you grow and maintain a healthy bottom-line.  I've seen this happen.  It's has happened in the community where I work (West Sacramento) because of the vision, talent and love my staff have for the community and work we do.
  

Whether it's celebrating Stars Wars Day (May the 4th), Talk Like a Pirate Day, or some other reasons to play with our customers, community and staff, setting the tone for a fun work place yields positive business results.

   And it's not just my department.  The other department's in our organization are similar in their passion for their work and commitment to serving the community. Beyond that there has been the political-will to take West Sacramento in a positive direction.  It really is a wonderful place to live, work and play!

   So back to my point.  Our department - Parks & Recreation - is successful because we follow our mission and strive to deliver exceptional customer service.  Item #3 in the linked article is You ignore the importance of company culture.  I'm big on company culture and feel one of the main roles of a leader is to help set the tone, then get out of the way and let your talented staff do their jobs.  You foster an atmosphere where people want to work because it's fun and challenging and the customer feels it.  Make the customer 'part of the show', and they become a partner in your success.  Not sure about that?  Look at Disney theme parks.  Need I say more?

    Item #4 is You focus too much on the numbers; I review our budget once a month to see how we're doing on expenses and revenue, and I see purchase orders almost daily - that's about it.   Unless I see something that's not trending as it has the past couple of years, or see expenses higher than normal, or revenue lagging lower than projected, I don't worry about it.  My staff know what they have to spend and they know their revenue targets.  It is working because once again we came in under budget and exceeded revenue projections (we did have a rough few years due to budget cuts, but the City has managed this challenge very well).   Here's my thinking about managing a budget.  It's a tool (as my Director likes to say) to help me do my job.  That means the budget is not my job, but a means to help me do the business of parks and recreation.  

The last point in this article is the most powerful: #9 You forget the noble purpose.  Why did we get into parks and recreation in the first place?  Why do we put so much time and effort into programs and events?  Why do we design, build, and maintain parks and facilities for people to use?  The answer is passion.  I've heard colleagues describe their career in parks and recreation as 'a calling'.  Like me, they can't see themselves doing anything else.   It makes us happy.

How about you?  Are you passionate about what you do?  If you're a leader in your organization, work group, or team, do you see yourself as a successful leader or are you hindered by some of the 9 Crippling Mistakes CEO's Make?

The Future is Here and the Future is Mobile

By now you may have heard that most people access the Internet, especially social media, via their mobile devices. You may also have heard that Smart phones have more computing power than NASA had during the entire Apollo manned space program. Huge rooms filled with huge computers that were so limited back then, but for nerds like me the world of the USS Enterprise made communication technology better, faster and smaller.  As a kid watching Star Trek reruns on weekday afternoons, I couldn't wait for the future to get here and start using things like the communicator and the tri-corder We now live in the age of the Star Trek communicator . . . only better.

It's not hard to understand how so many people have moved away from the desktop and have exchanged it for a more mobile means of electronic communication, at least when it comes to their personal lives. The power of the desktop computer is right in your hand and just happens to be a phone, a camera, a calculator, and a game console, et al. It stores your music, your pictures . . . everything that is of value to you that can be stored electronically can be kept on your Smart phone.

With all this in mind, it makes sense that the people at Facebook have developed a strategy that puts mobile first.  The savvy iPhone or Android device user knows all this. We download music, pictures, and apps like crazy. One app I absolutely love is AppsGoneFree (thank me later). There are thousands of apps, perhaps tens of thousands. I'm not really sure how many, but I do know this, the future of electronic communication is the handheld device - and the future is now.

For people in the parks and recreation profession who see the importance of social media and have developed their agency Facebook account, start thinking about how you can put mobile first, because that's what Facebook is doing, because that's what our society is doing.

By the way, this post was done from my iPhone using Siri.

21st Century reality vs. 23rd Century fantasy.

The Science of Service

I'm always encouraging my full-time staff to ask part-time staff for their opinions on how programs are running and how facilities are operating, and I encourage all staff (full and part-time) to be asking our customers questions.  What do they like, what would they like to see different?  What do we do well and what are we missing that would make their experiences better?  Studying our customers is what Disney calls Guestology.  They define guestology as the study of the people for whom we provide service.  Of course, they have it down to a science (see diagram).

For Disney, identifying the amenities, services, and experiences that satisfy and dissatisfy their guests is what helps them understand their guests' wants and needs, and helps them meet and exceed guest expectations.  If it works for a multi-billion dollar company like Disney (for over 60 years I might add), it can work for little West Sacramento Parks.

We will always know what we want and need, but finding out what customers want and need takes time and effort.  Focus groups, public hearings, electronic surveys - these are all ways we can gather input to better understand customer needs and wants, but nothing beats that impromptu, on the spot chat with a customer.  We all find ourselves in conversations with customers when we're visiting programs or on-site at a facility.  We need to add the questions, 'how are we doing, what do you like, what would you like to see different, and how could we make this a better experience for you and your family?' to our conversations.  I'm always surprised by what I hear (and often pleased, too).  Come up with your own questions and begin the study of your customers.

"You don't build it for yourself.  You know what the people want and you build it for them." - Walt Disney

Want to know more about Disney's approach to customer service?  Check out 'understanding your customers using guestology' and add their blog to your reading list.

Wanted: Expereinces and Memories

JULY 22:  It's 6:35 am on a Sunday and I'm on a plane about halfway between Sacramento and Phoenix. I'm traveling on business and will spend the next 5 days as a member of a visitation team to another parks and recreation agency.  It's for a re-accreditation visit where we will evaluate the evidence and report our findings.  We are the eyes and ears of a commission that will determine if the agency we are visiting remains in compliance with standards our industry has identified as best practices.   But that's not why I'm writing this.

In the late 1990's, I let it be known that I wanted to travel and see the United States. When I was a kid in the late 1960's and thoughout the 70's, our family took several family vacations by car and motorhome to places throughout the West - Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, etc.  We saw Yellowstone,  The Grand Canyon, and Disneyland.  We rafted down the Snake and Salmon Rivers, toured Butchart Gardens, the Olympia Brewery and the old Shipwreck Aquarium.  We saw lots of things, but once high school ended, my travels ended.  For about 20 years I stayed close to home.  College and work were, for the most part, limited to Northern California.  I'm not complaining.  I met my beautiful wife here, got my college degrees here, have family here.  Sacramento and the north state are home for me.  But I always felt I was missing out on seeing other parts of the country, other adventures.

So here's the point of this post - I made it known that I wanted to travel to other parts of the country.  I once heard a person say 'let the universe know what you want and it will . . . . something, something'. I honestly don't remember how the rest of the saying went, but I interpreted it as this: if you want to do something in your life, you have to let others know.  I don't think of this as rubbing a magic lamp or praying, but rather as sharing with others your desires as a means of setting your own will in motion.

Example:  I never had the opportunity to play organized baseball.  I love the sport, but it was not something my parents considered for me when I was young.  In my mid-forties I shared with a buddy my regret over having never played and told him that I would love to play in a camp just to see if I could handle it.  I had played in a few softball leagues, but it just wasn't baseball.   For my birthday (I think it was my 44th) he gave me a garbage bag with about 50 baseballs in it - discarded baseballs from games he had officiated.  The very next year he told me about a fantasy baseball camp that was starting up in a nearby town.  So I had put it out there - I wanted to play baseball - and the opportunity presented itself .

Okay, so I'm romanticizing this whole process (I could just as easily searched the Internet for baseball camps and probably found something), but this wasn't the same as searching for songs on iTunes.  It wasn't a thing I wanted or a place I wished to visit.  It was an experience. More than that, it was an experience I felt I needed in order to: 1) say I had done it, 2) know if I was both physically and mentally capable of handling it, 3) know if it was an experience I would look back on and ,'I'm so glad I did that' or 'well, now I know I don't want to do it again'.  I felt I needed this experience in order to be a better person.  Honestly, I don't know if it has done that, but it's nice to say I've done it (especially at middle age) and I've made some great friends through that experience.  Plus, I got to play ball with my son!

Travel was the same way.  It's hard to afford travel when you have family and all the financial obligations that go with paying for kids' sports, college tuitions, music lessons, mortgage, cars payments, and on and on.  But the universe seems to have responded to my need and brought both the people and opportunities into my life that have made traveling possible.  Not a lot of travel, but enough to take me to places like Canton, MI, Grove City, OH, and Bellevue, WA - places I might not ever think of going, but have had the pleasure of visiting.  Getting to see really cool museums in Kansas City and Atlanta, the campuses of Ohio State and University of Michigan, and to have an office for 4 days in the first ever office of NASA in Houston were all pretty cool experiences.  Walt Disney World, Fenway Park, New York's Central Park, and Gettysburg are all places I wanted to see and fate has taken me there (for those of you who have travelled extensively, this may seem mundane, but not for me).  In fact, as I think of it, my limited travels have given me some pretty unique experiences, such as meeting a former president in Houston and catching a Home Run Derby ball in Seattle during the 2001 All Star Game event.

My point here is that if there is something you really want - a heart's desire - make it known.  Keeping those wants and needs to yourself is simply denying the universe the chance to bring the people and opportunities into your life that can 'align the stars'.  And perhaps the universe is simply waiting, waiting, waiting . . . . for you to ask.

One other thing about sharing what it is you really want - putting your money where your mouth is.  I've learned that if I say I want something and then opportunities come along, I have to act on them.  Sometimes this means some work on you part.  For me this meant taking on additional responsibilities - responsibilities I did not have to take on.  It also meant getting certified, which meant studying and passing an exam.  And it means overcoming fear - fear that you might have to go it alone with no familiar faces in sight.  It's risky, but no more risky than starting a new job or going to a new school.  You just gotta put yourself out there!

That's it for now.  Gotta get ready for this bird to land in Austin, Texas.  Glad I said something, paid attention, and took advantage of the opportunities life brought my way.

        “I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.” - Lucille Ball

        "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Stay hungry. Stay foolish." - Steve Jobs

 

        "For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been'."  - John Greenleaf Whittier

 

        "Take a chance!  All life is chance.  The person who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare." - Dale Carnegie