By Brian Koehler, Director, PA Park Maintenance Institute

This article first appeared in the December Parks & Rec Business magazine--

The National Park Service has approximately $315 million in deferred park maintenance in Pennsylvania. The state’s parks and forest systems have estimated more than a $1 billion price tag for deferred maintenance/infrastructure needs across the Commonwealth.

Neither of these figures accounts for the additional needs of the 2,100+ county and local parks statewide.

Pennsylvania is not facing this challenge alone; there is an increased usage of park, sport, and recreation facilities nationwide.

COVID-19 may have changed social and economic certainties for the foreseeable future, but it has not stopped plants from growing, trash from piling up, equipment from rusting, or trails from eroding.

Park maintenance professionals are needed now more than ever, and there is an opportunity to implement more strategic approaches within daily operations.

Below are important factors to consider in moving towards recovery and building resilience.

1. Identify community needs vs. administrative wants.

Don’t stand still while awaiting the “final” answer on essential operations—focus on what the community needs first. Agencies owe it to the public to deliver value every day. Identify daily tasks and specific resources that are essential to maintain facilities.

-- What must occur to prevent facilities from being damaged?

-- What must occur to keep facilities safe and healthy for the public?

-- What facilities are unable to operate due to lack of resources?

-- What supporting data are utilized to make decisions, and how are the data being communicated to stakeholders?

Efficiency can be achieved with strategic thinking, conservative resource management, data-driven decision-making, and consistent communication.

2. Determine what should be done now vs. what should be put on the back burner.

When strategy is uncertain, the best managers acknowledge what’s unknown, but also understand what tasks must happen to maintain operations.

-- Where are potential bottlenecks in various supply chains that may negatively impact operations?

-- What steps need to be taken to maintain essential inventories?

-- What equipment and resources can be repurposed to ensure top priorities are stabilized?

-- Where are opportunities to reprioritize staff duties based upon availability/skill sets to keep people employed?

-- What projects need to be deferred until more certain times?

-- What projects have previously been put on hold that may now be an opportune time to complete?

Identify the X-factors in operations, and make decisions that create the greatest impact and improve longevity of facilities and capital investments.

3.  Ask questions and allow opportunity for constructive venting.

Valuable, open discussion can only occur when all parties feel they are being heard. Seeking advice from crew members is an excellent method to engage discussion. People like to share their knowledge, opinions, and experience.

The challenge comes in guiding individual passion and energy towards a common purpose.

Be intentional; identify and develop common language and processes that encourage staff members to share respectful communication.

Follow up with requests for potential solutions to redirect energy and build positive momentum.

It is important to remember teamwork is not only task-oriented. Dedicate time for staff members to focus on interpersonal synergies and to strengthen relationships.

4. Listen to and share concerns.

A stoic leader is not always the strongest leader. There is value in empathy. Share emotions to demonstrate emotional steadiness, and acknowledge those of the team in productive ways.

It is important to maintain open dialogue to keep the team engaged and aligned until a clear direction emerges. “It is OK not to have an answer, but let’s try to figure it out together.”

Once focused, the team will deliver consistent value and begin to explore what’s possible to expand.

5. Define success and create an evaluation framework.

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to evaluation; however, an effective framework is built upon defined benchmarks, observation, documentation, and reflection. It is a cyclical rather than linear process. Successful implementation requires several considerations:

-- What priorities are being measured, and do they align with the desired outcomes?

-- What data need to be recorded and evaluated?

-- How are data being captured objectively?

-- Who is responsible for each element?

-- How are outputs communicated with stakeholders, and how frequently?

-- How are achievements recognized and rewarded?

-- How flexible is the process when there is a need for change?

6. Establish and maintain communication protocol.

Communication is a reciprocal process. Encourage team communication through dialogue rather than directives. It will be impossible to create positive dialogue about specific behaviors if individuals feel they are being “hounded” unnecessarily.

Engage crews in the strategic process through regularly scheduled huddles to ensure everyone is aware of daily operations and shared priorities.

Increasing regularity of communication does not justify more meetings; however, it does encourage more frequent, purposeful communication.

Meeting in person for the sake of meeting is often a waste of time. Valuable team communication can occur through teleconference, group chats, and other virtual means customizable to the needs of the crew.

The intent is to reduce competition for resources and frustration from duplicated work.

Create an agreeable process to promote collaboration, increase innovation, encourage sharing best practices, and reward contributions.

Strengthened team identity will pay off in efficiency, increased morale, sense of ownership, and quality of performance.

7.  Look to the future and expand the knowledge base.

-- What are the absolute minimum skills needed from everyone on the team?

-- How is a crew member trained and evaluated?

-- How are data captured?

-- Who is the most experienced crew member?

-- If that crew member were to leave, what knowledge, skills, and abilities are lost?

-- How can that experience be captured or recorded (i.e., document the person’s knowledge in film or writing, or conduct shadow training)?

-- Who is able to fill that gap immediately?

-- How long will it take to hire a new staff member?

-- How much will it cost to bring in outside contractors if there are no experienced staff members to complete essential tasks?

The answers (or lack of) help to understand potential knowledge gaps.

Take a practical approach to defining essential park-maintenance operations. Build professionalism from the bottom up. The future of parks relies upon the ability to maintain their existence.

Brian “BK” Koehler is the director of the PA Park Maintenance Institute. He holds degrees in educational theory and production experience in corporate training and development. He can be contacted by sending email to: bk@prps.org.

Related Article:

-- PA Recreation & Park Society Accepting Applications For Conference & Training Scholarships For Students and Professionals

[Posted: December 17, 2020]

12/21/2020