Service Excellence November 2011 Update

How do we assess our organizational capacity? Do our stakeholders have confidence in the effectiveness of the recreation and parks services and programs being delivered?
Are staff and volunteers clear about priorities, performance expectations and quality practices or standards?

These questions and others like them were the reason Alberta Recreation and Parks Association developed the Service Excellence Program (SEP) to "define, assess, and/or improve organizational performance."

The self-assessment program has now been reviewed by 120+ recreation practitioners and tested in 7 pilot communities. It has been approved by the ARPA Board of Directors, presented during a plenary at the provincial conference in Lake Louise in October, and further explored by in a webinar on November 16th. More background information about the program can also be found here.

Now ARPA is seeking 10 new communities who will be supported and coached to apply SEP. If you're interested, please review the presentation to be clear about what will be involved for your community and then email Carol Petersen at cpetersen@arpaonline.ca or Brenda Herchmer at bherchmer@aceleaders.ca to let us know you are interested. There is an expectation that you or a representative of your community will need to attend a face to face meeting with all 10 communities selected that is scheduled for January 25th in Red Deer.

Thanks for your interest.

June Service Excellence Program UPDATE

UPDATE
What constitutes "Service Excellence" for those who deliver parks and recreation services? ARPA is well on the way to finding out with a new initiatve called SEP.

SEP, an acronym for "Service Excellence Program" which focuses on helping municipal government at first and eventually other recreation and park organizations to determine what organizational practices must be in place to ensure excellence in the areas of programs, parks, facilities, community building, leadership and management.

Ultimately, the intent is to ensure sports, fitness, outdoor recreation, parks management, structure, non structured, active and passive forms of recreation, social, creative and cultural activities, natural areas and environmental protection work are well positioned as a quality of life strategies essential to overall well being, life satisfaction, happiness and sense of belonging.
Along the way, several operating philosophies have been endorsed which are:

• the recreation and parks field - staff and volunteers have a major responsibility for community building



• this field has a committment to diversity and accessibility for all



• a belief in an outcome or benefits driven approach to program/service delivery



• acknowledgement that we share our outcome focus with many fields and we value partnerships that leverage resources and optimize a positive impact (other fields are health, education, social services, justice, environment, tourism, economic development)



• a clear understanding of the 'sustainability imperative'

The core of this Program is the Assessment Tool and organizational development Action Plan. Since its introduction in draft form at last October's ARPA conference, it has been reviewed three times by expert panels (120 Participants) and is now in the final stages of PILOT testing with seven Alberta communities: Beaumont, Calgary, Cochrane, Edmonton, Leduc, Leduc-County, Okotoks.)

While PILOT testing has confirmed SEP is developing on the RIGHT track, PILOT assessors have suggested many specific improvements and enhancements to make SEP more customized and user friendly. A "big hats off" to the leadership and dedication these 7 organizations have shown in completing this PILOT Phase by June 20th .

ARPA Board of Directors Weigh In:

On June 2, the Service Excellence Advisory Team (SEAT) hosted a webinar and orientation session for the ARPA Board of Directors where an overview of SEP context, process and content was provided; additional good advice was gathered from the Board for further revisions.

The Proposed version of SEP will be presented to SEAT for endorsement on June 29th and then on to the ARPA for final look/review over July and August by the Board Directors and all other participants involved in the process to date. The FINAL SEP will presented to the ARPA Board for approval at their Board meeting in Sept./11. There will be a Sept. 13th Webinar to review and discuss final document and take time then for questions and further orientation.

• SEP will be launched at the ARPA conference on Oct. 27th in Lake Louise



• Excitement is building from using SEP as a comprehensive yet practical program; it has shown to define sound guidelines for governing a broad field.



• SEP measures outcomes, highlights the importance of ongoing improvement and provides coaching to organizations to help them achieve service excellence.

The end result for an organization after completing an "Implementation of SEP " will be :

1. strengthened staff and stakeholder confidence in the organization's delivery of recreation, sports, fitness, active living, arts, culture, heritage, community building/development and parks with proper leadership/management of all related programs, services and facilities.



2. a direct link and proof for our stakeholders that the work of parks and recreation practitioners is essential and does make a difference to the quality of life for people in our all communities - big and small.

ARPA wants you to please share your thoughts, questions and suggestions for improvement by using this Blog....... Thank you.

Striving for Excellence - Guest Blog

It might not sound like a big deal to some, but I recently did my first interview via Skype. I had to push myself to get comfortable with the technology but in the end it was much less complicated than I thought it would be. What wasn’t quite as simple was the focus of the interview itself. The entire interview was based on one question, “How do you position, or in some cases reposition, an entire field, profession, or industry?”

While my field for the most part has been the community building that falls within the profession of recreation and parks, the interview was targeted to a variety of stakeholders. In addition to parks and recreation, they worked within public works, social services, health, libraries, cemeteries, planning, and even animal control. Many of the hundreds of communities viewing the interview would be based in the United States where a deepening financial crisis has resulted in major budget reductions and staff layoffs. As a result, I was definitely feeling the pressure to provide significant advice.

To be honest, it was a great question that really did force me to stop and think about the last couple of decades. After all, how do you position an entire field, profession, or industry?

Given that I am primarily a right brain thinker who is grounded in the present and future – as opposed to a left brainer who is driven more by the present and the past, it was a challenging exercise for me. Ultimately though, the reflection did make me realize that here in Canada we’ve worked hard on a number of initiatives to strengthen the field of recreation and parks. In essence, I think it amounts to three key strategies that every profession or field within the business, government, or community sectors may want to consider if they are to remain, or become more, strong and valued.

Keeping in mind that this kind of work is often driven by a provincial or national membership-based organization for a profession, field, or industry, these three strategies include (1) a commitment to being a relevant, results-driven, and value-based field, (2) ensuring staff who strive for enhanced professionalism and competency, and (3) being committed to exceptional service delivery.

While theoretically, I’m not sure anyone could argue with these three strategies, it gets a bit tricky when it comes to implementation. Here’s where our Canadian experience proved valuable during the interview.

To implement the first strategy, the field of recreation and parks in Canada became a more results-driven and value-based field as the result of major funding cutbacks that included the loss of lottery funds in the late 80’s and early 90’s. What amounted to a crisis forced us to step back and answer the question, “Why are we important to our communities or what would be lost if we were gone tomorrow?” It is a deceptively simple question that every profession, organization, and business should be asking. In our case, it led to extensive research documenting the outcomes or benefits we delivered, or could potentially deliver (see http://benefitshub.ca/), and a new vision, values, and direction for the field that reflected our ability to enhance individual well-being and community vitality, economic sustainability, and natural resource protection and conservation.

The second strategy required staff and volunteers who had the professionalism and the competency to deliver that vision. As a result, extensive efforts were geared toward defining the vocational competencies – meaning the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for recreation and parks practitioners. It has also meant developing and placing a priority on more opportunities for learning and professional growth and development rather than it being the first target for budget cuts.

As for the third strategy, it isn’t impossible for a profession, field, or industry to be committed to exceptional service delivery until they know what that entails. Currently our work in recreation and parks is focused on defining “excellence” in the areas of programs, parks, facilities, community building, and management and leadership. When service excellence is better understood, described, and measured, those within a profession, field, or industry are better able to determine their level of delivery and what needs to be improved.

It struck me after the interview that while these three strategies seem relatively straightforward now, they’ve taken a lot of years and a lot of effort from dedicated practitioners to put into place. It was a reminder that excellence is perhaps not a destination but rather a never ending spirit of striving to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.

The Experts are Speaking

Five expert panels have been working diligently to critique and enhance the Service Excellence Framework: one panel for each framework module (leadership/management, community building, programs, facilities and parks). 147 practitioners were invited to participate on the panels and two surveys have been completed to date. 111 responded to the round one survey (75%); 100 returned round two (70%). There were 70 participants out of 137 for a 52% response rate for Round 3. What have we learned?

• Panel members like the assessment tool, particularly the layered structure whereby each core organizational competency is supported by practice guidelines, and each practice guideline is illustrated with a number of quality indicators


• While the majority appreciate the great amount of detail contained in the first draft, many are asking for simplification


• The larger communities and organizations are the most supportive, with smaller ones often feeling overwhelmed by both scope and detail. We will likely have to craft a special version for smaller organizations.


• Panel members are still discussing the rating scale to be used, but we are tending towards keeping a version of the 7-point scale that was originally suggested (7 - excellent, 6 - very good, etc.).


• We will be reviewing the entire framework with the intent of improving clarity and removing duplication.

Several New Core Competencies have been suggested

• Both the Leadership/Management Panel and the Facilities Panel have asked for more emphasis on internal customer service and communication (between departments)


• The Community Building Panel is suggesting restructuring the framework to further emphasize community engagement and empowerment, community governance, and risk identification/mitigation


• The Program Panel has asked for a new competency based on the assessment and evaluation of individual programs or services, and more emphasis on the delivery of program benefits


• The Facilities Panel has also asked for increased emphasis on sustainability, and


• The Parks Panel has suggested removing the nursery/greenhouse competency and building in urban foresty, environmental practices and customer service/satisfaction.

Overall Ratings of Practice Guidelines and Related Quality Indicators High

In general, practice guidelines in all modules have been well endorsed with 85-90% of panelists rating them good, very good or excellent on the 7-point scale offered. Each practice guideline is accompanied by several quality indicators; these have received similar high levels of endorsement (80-90% good, very good or excellent).

Our challenge now is to listen carefully to the MANY suggestions made and begin to craft an even better and less intimidaing version of the Service Excellence Framework.

Thank You

Most important, the Service Excellence Advisory Team is sincere in its appreciation of the effort that so many have invested to get us on the right track, add quality and enhance utility of the Framework. The great support we have experienced illustrates the importance of this initiative - and getting it right!

Expert Panel Reviews About to Begin

The proposed Service Excellence Framework proposes core organizational competencies in five module areas: programs, facilities, parks, community building and leadership/management. Under the direction of the Service Excellence Advisory Team (SEAT), an expert panel is about to be appointed for each module to critique and add value to the foundation work that is already in place.

We are hoping for an average of 25 to 30 members for each of the five panels (a total of up to 150 reviewers). Under the direction of SEAT, invitations have been extended to 250 individuals and an open call for participation via E-Blast has been sent to the entire ARPA distribution list.

For those people who want to 'Self Select to participate' or for the invited panel participants who have made a committment by Jan. 20th deadline - there will be a one hour phone conference for their Module which has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 25th:

• Program Panel phone conference - 10 to 11am (MST)
• Facilities Panel phone conference - 11am to 12 noon
• Parks Panel phone conference - 1 to 2pm
• Community Building phone conference - 2 to 3pm
• Leadership/Management phone conference - 3 to 4pm.

We encourage ALL Panel participants who have made this committment to provide us with advise to phone in at the time alloted for YOUR particular module to ask questions and make suggesitons for improvement to both the process and the Service Excellence Program.

The Module Panels will have three opportunities to help improve their portion of the overall Framework. Each opportunity will take the form of a survey, the first addressing the highest level review questions. The principles of a DELPHI panel survey will be respected:

• Participants will not know the names of the source of individual votes or comments, so that ideas can be evaluated on their own merits
• Through sharing of the results of each survey or round, the panel will learn together and move towards consensus on an optimal set of core organizational competencies, practice guidelines and quality indicators.

The three surveys will take place between January 25th and March 23rd. Panelists will have opportunities later in the year to comment on the overall Service Excellence Program as it is being refined and finalized.

If you are not a Panel member and have questions or suggestions, please click on the comment section below or contact the Project Coordinator, Brenda Clarke at bclarke@rethink-group.com or 250-245-8556.

Process Update - November, 2010

Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, together with ACE Communities developed a draft Service Excellence Program overview and a related Audit and Organizational Development Framework. This initial thinking was critiqued at the ARPA Conference in Jasper on Oct. 21/10 by a broad range of seasoned veterans in the field of parks, recreation, sports, arts, culture, fitness, environment. All related documents have been updated based on consensus feedback; other recommendations will be reviewed by the Service Excellence Advisory Team (SEAT).

The intent and overall focus of the 'Service Excellence Framework' is to provide a guide for assessment, coaching and development work for recreation and rarks services. The content is designed to define, monitor, assess, evaluate and recognize outstanding performance in recreation and parks services. This Framework os organized around five modules (see earlier post for details): community building, programs, facilities, parks and management. Overall, there are approximately 120 practice guidelines, each supported by 5-10 quality indicators.

The process ahead will first refine the practice guidelines and quality indicators with the help of expert panels; then pilot the initiative with some communities in Alberta. Eventually, SEP is planned to expand to other interested provinces and territories across Canada.

Several documents are available to you upon posting a request:

• Feedback Summary of Responses from Jasper Oct. 21/10 session
• Roles and Terms of Reference for both the Service Excellence Advisory Team (SEAT) and for the PANEL members
• the draft Service Excellence Program Overview
• the very early draft Audit/Assessment tool or Framework

The Service Excellence Advisory Team (SEAT) currently consists of an Executive Team of 7 practitioners plus 5 ex officio resource people from ARPA and ACE. This Executive team is prepared to lead the way and are having their first orientation phone conference session on December 7th; SEAT members are expected to participate and will hold office for one year until Nov. 30/11.

• The Executive Committee of SEAT consists of Greg Scott as Chair, Elaine Betchinski as Vice Chair, with 5 Module Chairs: Deb Comfort/Community Building, Laura Howarth/Programs, Roger Smolnicky/Facilities, Paul Phaser/Parks and Kim Snell/Leadership and Management


• Brenda Clarke and Ken Balmer of RETHINK (West) Inc. are the resource and development arm of this initiative for the next year.


• Rick Curtis and Carol Petersen represent ARPA; Brenda Herchmer represents ACE Communities.

PURPOSE/ROLE of SEAT

To provide overall leadership and give suggestions, advice and recommendations to support the successful development, testing and implementation of SEP and the ‘Audit & Organizational Development Framework’. They will advise on the design of the Framework and process to encourage yearly organizational assessments, peer review, coaching and support systems for constant improvement with all recreation/parks programs, facilities, services, community building efforts.

PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU

Please join in and help shape results. There are several ways you can become involved with this Service Excellence Program initiative:

1) review comment on PANEL Roles and Terms of Reference and recommend appropriate leaders (even yourself) to fill up to 30 positions per Module ( 5 x 30 = 150 people needed for the PANELS)

2) agree to participate as a member on one of the 5 Module PANELS; this volunteer work would expect participation in approximately 3 surveys which will focus on the module of your choice (one of Programs, Parks, Facilities, Community Building or Leadership and Management); also, all participants will be asked to generally review the leadership and management module and then examine their service in detail

3) In the new year, we will be looking for approximately 5 PILOT Communities (rural and urban) to test the Framework over Spring/Summer of 2011. Are you interested in being considered as a PILOT Community?

4) Post general comments, suggestions for improvement and/or questions on this blog. You are welcome to jump on board with us and participate in the development of this important tool; just post a note with your clear request, feedback and contact information. We will get back to you with a response at our earliest opportunity.

UPDATES

We are committed to keeping in touch with you and will post frequent updates. All of our SEAT, Panel and PILOT Community participants will be 'followers' of the blog. Just add you name to the list and you'll get automatic updates as they are posted.

TARGETS

The ultimate target is approval of both the Service Excellence Program and Audit Framework by the ARPA Board of Directors by Oct./11 - in time for an official launch and promotion at the Oct. 27 to 29th ARPA Conference in Lake Louise. The ultimate goal is to achieve endorsement/implementation of this tool by all the ARPA members and municipal practitioners in this field in Alberta.

Some Great Examples of Service Excellence Assessment Tools/Programs

We are working to arrange access to our Diigo resource, an annotated online service that connects you to over 200 assessment tools related to programs, facilities, parks, community building and management.  In the meantime, here's a short list of some examples that have impressed us:

• Cultural Competency - the Minnesota Department of Health Services has developed an organizational self-assessment tool using 56 competencies in five categories (service delivery and quality management, human resource practices, governance/community relations/marketing, administration and policy, organizational culture) http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_016429 
• Excellence Framework for Sport and Recreation Services - A Sport England initiative.  A performance managment framework for sport and recreation services that helps local governments assess performance based on four levels (poor, fair, good and excellent).  Criteria and indicators are provided in eight areas: leadership, policy and strategy, community engagement, partnership working, use of resources, people management, standards of service, performance measurement and learning. http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/4433678 
• National Occupational Standards for Community Development - Lifelong Learning UK lists practice guidelines in seven key areas: understand and practice community development, understand and engage with communities, take a community development approach to group work and collective acction, promote and support a community development approach to collaborative and cross-sectoral working, support community learning from shared experiences, provide community development support to organizations, manage and develop community development practice. http://www.ukstandards.org.uk/Admin/DB/0030/Community%20Development%20S1%20to%20S8.pdf
• New York AfterSchool Network Program Quality Self-Assessment Tool - organized around ten essential elements of an effective afterschool program, all of which come from evidence-based practice, with quality indicators for each element: environment/climage, administration/organization, relationships, staffing/professional development, programming activities, linkages between day and afterschool, youth participation/engagement, parent/family/community partnerships, program sustainability/growth, measuring outcomes/evaluation. http://www.nysan.org/userfiles/file/nysan/overview_QSA_tool.html 
• New Zealand Recreation Facility Management Guidelines - The New Zealand Recreation Association has published very detailed guidelines in the following areas: people, communication and promotion, financial management, asset mansgement, risk management, monitoring and evaluation, planning, customer care, programs and events, facility design, contract and lease management, governance. http://www.nzrecreation.org.nz/Default.aspx?section=organisation&page=projects 
• Review of Current Approaches to Performance Measurement in Protected Area Management - Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has developed performance indicators for: parks systems, mangement systems, protecting individual species, ecological habitat and ecosystem monitoring, fire management, pest and weeds, habitat rehabilitation, human use and recreation. http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/publications/best-practice/pubs/perf-measurement.doc
• Seattle Parks and Recreation, Best Management Practices - a series of very deailted best maangement practices focused on landscaped and natural parkland and the assets located in those areas.  Themes include: construction site management, greenhouse operations, integrated pest management, irrigation management, natural areas, nursery operations, plant bed management, turf management. http://www.cityofseattle.net/Parks/projects/bmp.htm
• Service Excellence Program, Government of South Australia - The Department for Families and Communities has developed a Service Excellence Program that supports two achievement levels.  Critical elements and a performance check list for each are provide in several key categories: sound management, leadership, communication, working together, consumer satisfaction, service outcomes, contracting, people.  In each category there are two sections: essential minimum and organizational learning. http://www.dfc.sa.gov.au/pub/default.aspx?tabid=267