BY JOE DELUCE
If you are currently an executive director or want to become an executive director of a parks and recreation agency, the following are some of the key steps you will need in order to take your career to the next level. Everyone is not cut out to move up to the Executive Director level but if you would like to move up to the next level, these are some of the areas you may need to work on before taking that step.
What should a potential in-house Executive Director candidate be doing now to prepare to become the next Executive Director at your agency?
- Attend all the upcoming Park Board Meetings
- Be well prepared for any items you are presenting to the Park Board
- Make sure all your board memos detail everything necessary to get board approval, try to anticipate their questions
- Visit parks and facilities to make sure you know what is going on in each park and facility
- Visit other park districts and see what they are doing and how you can bring back ideas to implement at your agency
- Become familiar with current and proposed construction projects
- Review the budget to make sure you know how the budget works and thoughts on how to make sure the budget is completed in a timely manner each year moving forward
- Familiarize yourself with the Distinguished Agency Accreditation standards and the NRPA CAPRA Standards.
- Review your agency’s current strategic plan, the ADA transition plan, the trails plan, and if these are not created, be the staff member who takes the lead on creating them.
- Attend IAPD legal symposium and the Legislative Conference in Springfield
- Complete FOIA and OMA trainings to have a better understanding of our legal obligations
- Review Parks Foundation bylaws and minutes to get acquainted with its mission and history
- Learn as much as you can about the EAV, property taxes, bonds, general obligation bonds, etc.
- Attend any upcoming special events or programs to make sure you have a feel for all the diverse types of programs and services.
- If not a CPRP or CPRE, now would be a suitable time to take the test to be certified
- Update your resume and references, consider developing a portfolio with your accomplishments over your career highlighted
- Be prepared to respond to requirements for applying for the position, responses to questions like what would you do in the first 100 days as the executive director, what is your management style, what are some of the current trends and issues in parks and recreation and how would you deal with them?
- Practice answering interview questions as the more you practice and participate in interviews the better you will be as a candidate.
- Just remember that you interview for your next job every day you come to work! So, the Board may already have thoughts or beliefs about your ability to become the next Executive Director for the District, so be prepared for the interview to show them you are ready to take it to the next level as the Executive Director by doing an outstanding job everyday you come to work!
What are some of the tasks, issues, or items you may have to deal with as the Executive Director:
- Having five or more bosses instead of one!
- Making sure you keep the park board members, city manager, or council members updated but not providing too much information
- Send out a weekly email on what is going on in the district or what is coming up and have done that every week. But if you start doing this every week, just don’t stop!
- Keep the park board members on the balcony and your staff on the dance floor, this is a lot harder than it sounds, as the board will want to make every little decision they can!
- Trying to keep all staff happy! Some days it is better than other days but, on many days, not everyone is happy.
- Being able to do interviews on TV, Radio, and newspapers! Some can be done by marketing but a lot of the time it is you as the Executive Director on the hot spot! How can you say what you need to say without making someone mad, it is hard to do, and it takes practice?
- Being outside of your comfort zone, the interviews are one thing but many times you will be asked to do something you have never done as an employee but you will need to step up and do the best you can as it is now your responsibility, like asking a company to donate $500,000 towards your new rec center, speaking at an event, meeting with legislators, presenting to a group of new commissioners for IAPD, accepting an award at the Best of the Best awards, going before an accreditation board to answer questions about your district or attending a funeral of a staff member or one of their family members
- Making sure all the department heads are treated fairly and making sure they all work well together!
- Know how to deal with issues between dept heads or between their staff and their department head
- Deal with conflicts immediately, do not let them grow into key issues, 9 times out of 10 they will be resolved if you bring everyone together to talk them out
- Make sure you reward staff when they do an excellent job, work with them on areas they need to improve on and make sure everyone who reports to you know the expectations
- We work with many community groups and that is the only way your agency can continue to be a good park district and work hard to continue to develop partnerships with as many groups as need to meet the needs of the residents
- Staff needs to know that they can try innovative or creative programs and services and they will not be fired if they fail, you need staff to be creative and innovative so they can continue to grow and expand the program and service opportunities for the residents
- Remember the Park Board or City Council is elected by the residents, and they want to take care of the residents and they may care less about people outside of your agency’s boundaries who do not pay property taxes to the district or live within the city limits.
- Need to be flexible and adapt as needed as you go through the day, week, month, or year! Things are always changing so be prepared to adapt to what is always coming to you!
- 24/7/365, this job is an everyday of the year job, as you get calls, visits, go to events, meetings, visit parks, whatever is needed sometimes at night, weekends, etc. so be prepared to work when others are having fun.
Keys to being developing yourself to fill the role as an Executive Director and ideas for any leader to be successful:
- Let employees know where they stand, so they know how they are doing at work
- Staff should never have a question about how they are performing under your supervision
- Time off, give employees the flexibility to take time off, if possible, never turn down a staff request for time off
- Challenge your staff to try innovative programs and service, so they are not worried if they fail
- Set the example as the Executive Director, be positive and lead by example
- Enjoy what you do if you do not then find a new job!
- Be the first to work and the last to leave
- Expect staff to do an excellent job, start staff at 100% effective and go from there
- Be organized, to do lists and follow up with staff on their projects
- Always move forward do not look back
- Encourage yourself and staff to try new technical equipment and software
- Try new projects or programs
- Treat people as individuals
- Social relationships, staff events and parties, have one drink, do not overdo it
- Stop by at going away parties or lunches
- Find friends outside of the park district
- Find outside interests other than the park district
- Listen to staff
- Treat people like you want to be treated
- Staff evaluations, be as positive as possible
- Prepare for evaluations, be honest and take the time to do it right
- Motivate staff by providing training and education opportunities
- Work with young people to keep you young and motivated
- Work with students and share your thoughts on the parks and recreation field
- Promote Parks and Recreation whenever possible
- Visit staff at parks and facilities and attend the park district events
- Move meetings to different facilities throughout the year
- Start meetings on time and have an agenda
- Encourage staff to make presentations at meetings
- Give credit to staff whenever possible
- Do not use the word “I,” it is all about the team so use “we” whenever possible
- Empower your staff, delegate, delegate, delegate!
- Do not make promises you cannot keep
- Staff on-boarding, always try to get to know your staff, make a big deal about welcoming new staff
- Give more opportunities to staff who are willing to do it!
- Be involved in professional organizations, IPRA, IAPD, NRPA, Accreditations, become certified CPRP or CPRE, etc.
- Speak at the state conference and at NRPA conference
- Author articles about the profession and the successes at CPD
- Take your leadership team and key staff to other park districts to learn from other parks and recreation professionals.
- Learn from what others are doing and do it better!
Current issues in the community and parks and recreation that we are dealing with and how would you work to improve these issues:
- Competition for every program and service we offer
- Dealing with the fallout of Covid and getting people back in programs and events
- The supply chain for equipment and getting projects completed
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, how can we do more to offer black-owned business more opportunities
- How can we make sure all staff feel safe and supported in the agency
- Funding for projects and budgets
- Ability to hire staff and how can we do a better job of retaining staff
- Gun Violence in the community, how can we help prevent violence in the community
- People without addresses, how can we assist but make sure our parks are safe for everyone
- Mental Health issues in the community and findings support for people who need support
- Special events, how can we make sure they are safe and not lose money
- How can we improve the park’s foundation to generate more funds for the district?
- Little or no support from the local police department, how can you get them to provide support the district efforts
Efforts to work with other agencies and legislators to support your agency’s efforts:
- Invite leaders in the community to breakfast or lunch, and try to get to know them
- Attend the IAPD legislative conference in Springfield and invite the legislators to dinner or meet them at their offices or in the state capital
- When other agencies, leaders or Legislators ask for your support, do everything you can to work with them as it will come back around that they help you and the district
- Recognize the legislators and community leaders as honorary commissioners, or give them an impact award for their efforts, make them feel special
- We gave pictures of the Virginia Theatre framed for each of the legislators when they got elected and they hung the pictures in their offices
- Be a part of any local meetings with local agencies, get involved in United Way, Metropolitan Intergovernmental meetings, attend City of Champaign Council meeting to present July as Parks and Recreation month or if they want to know more about the district
- Ask the Legislators to support your grant applications through the state, OSLAD, PARC or Museum Grants
- Support efforts of other agencies when they need a shelter rental, hold elections in your facilities or need pool passes
Key interview questions to be prepared to answer when applying for an executive director position:
- Be prepared to speak for two to five minutes about your experiences, education, and your skill set.
- Areas you will need to improve to be successful in this position?
- Detail your experience with finances and budgets.
- How can you make sure the budget is done on time?
- What are your thoughts on increasing the property tax rates? Know how property taxes factor into a park district budget.
- Detail your experience in various park construction projects. If you have no construction experience, work on being involved in various park projects in your agency, even if they are not part of your current responsibilities.
- How can you reduce the number of staff but still operate successfully?
- What will be your priorities during the first 100 days (about 3 and a half months)?
- What three things must you do to be successful in this position?
- How do you determine to say YES or NO to a request from staff or the public?
- What have you done in the last year to better yourself and prepare yourself for this position?
- How do you determine the number of Department Heads who will report to you?
- How important is it for you to be seen out in public?
- Describe the work culture you hope to develop as the Executive Director.
- Thoughts on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and how you can improve these areas within the district?
- Describe your management style and your philosophy on developing staff.
- How do you plan to keep staff working with the district when other agencies and companies are paying more and have better benefits?
- What are your experiences with developing a strategic plan?
- Work on ideas on how you can show your personality in the interview and how you will be a good fit to the organization.
So, hopefully, a few of these ideas will help you move up to be an executive director or if you are already an executive director, these keys will help you improve your ability to become an outstanding executive director.
Joe DeLuce, CPRP is a retired Parks and Recreation Professional with over 40 years as a leader in various park and recreation agencies across the country. Joe is working with Campfire Concepts as a consultant and is available to assist your agency with improving your culture, developing a strategic plan, presenting to your staff or board on several topics, or finding new employees who will be a great fit for your agency. He can be reached at 217-714-2333 or joe.deluce@outlook.com
