AGENCY ASSESSMENT &
AGENCY IMPROVEMENT FACILITATION
When you choose one of these Remarkable Solutions for your Organization, we will come along side you to help your Agency THRIVE!
THRIVE! Assessment
You will receive a thorough and effective Organizational Assessment & Analysis of your Recreation Organization. IT’S LIKE GETTING A DOCTOR’S CHECKUP. At conclusion of the THRIVE! Assessment process, your Recreation Operation will receive written recommendations, that you can put into practice right away. These recommendations will show you how to Increase Revenues, Reduce Expenditures, & THRIVE!
• ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCIES ANALYSIS
• REVENUE GENERATION RECOMMENDATIONS
• PROGRAM FEE ANALYSIS
(with comparisons to Market Values)
• BUDGET TRACKING & REPORTING METHODS
• PERFORMANCE MEASURES ASSESSMENT
• MARKETING & BRANDING ASSESSMENT
• TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
(usage, needs, solutions)
• FACILITY MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT
(usage, defensible fees)
• RECREATION PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
• GAPS IN COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSESSMENT
• COST VS BENEFIT ANALYSIS (FOR REC PROG)
• AGENCY VISION & MISSION ASSESSMENT
• CREATIVE & EFFICACIOUS PROBLEM SOLVING
This Solution includes: A Start-Up Conversation, The Collection of Agency Materials, Staff Interviews (as needed), Follow up calls (as needed), and a beautifully crafted Written Recommendation Report (Draft, Edits, Final). Additionally, we can also provide In-Person Presentation to your Stakeholders.
Recreation Needs Assessment:
Community Engagement
This Remarkable Solution is all about Community Engagement. It is important to have recreation programs that are truly meeting the needs of the community. Through carefully crafted community surveys, public outreach events, analysis of community demographics, knowledge of national programming trends, an understanding of services provided by other local organizations, and vital internal staff brainstorming sessions, we can lead a process that implements the above items and results in a written document showing the results to present to the community and agency stakeholders.
This process involves meetings with staff, presentations to public stakeholders (such as parks commission, board, or council), and multiple meetings with the public and community members.
Alignment of Recreation Services
with Organizational Values
This is a vital exercise for your agency to conduct. We will facilitate an agency-wide process that will allow your organization to complete this program alignment. It is important to utilize a 3rd party facilitator who is not vested in any particular program. This allows staff to see their programs from a more objective point-of-view.
DETERMINE YOUR CORE SERVICES
(WHY DO WE DO WHAT WE DO?):
The first step is to look at all agency services, and put them through strategic “evaluative criteria” in order to determine if your organization is the best one to offer each particular service, or if perhaps you should consider partnering with other community organizations. If your organization is asking “what should we be doing?” or “What should I be cutting?” then this is the place to start. Let’s take the time to do this vital work. The process that we will facilitate with staff involves a Group Consensus Effort to put all recreation programs through the evaluative criteria. This evaluation will look at how well each program meets the agency’s Mission and Target Markets. Then it will examine who else is offering the service in the community. Finally, this evaluation will assess the organization’s ability or capacity to offer the program. In the end, the result of this evaluation work will be a Designated Marketing Strategy for each service. You will know which programs to press forward on, and which programs may need to be moved out (or perhaps let a partner organization do it). You will have a Defensible Service Philosophy behind which services are being pursued by your agency.
DETERMINE COST RECOVERY
FOR EACH SPECIFIC PROGRAM:
The next step is to determine the appropriate cost recovery (and the subsidy allocation) for each program or service, based on its level of benefit to the community. We will be using the “pyramid model” developed by Chris Dropinsky. This model shows a five-step scale with programs that have a large community benefit on one side, compared with those who have strictly an individual benefit on the other. With staff and key community members involved, we will guide your agency through this process to establish where each program fits on the benefit scale. Then using those five levels, we will establish the appropriate amount of cost recovery, looking at both direct and indirect costs, for each program. At the conclusion, your agency will have established a Defensible Cost Recovery Strategies as well as a Pricing Strategies for all of your agency’s programs.
This Facilitation Service includes: multiple workshops with agency staff and invited community members, Written summaries & details of the work accomplished, and presentations to elected commission/council.
Performance Measures:
Show Your Agency as "Essential"
It is vital for you to understand the Full Scope of your agency’s operation, and how well each area is performing. The way to do that is to track and report on your agency’s “Performance Measures,” which is best accomplished through the reports listed below. These reports will show the character of your agency. It is not just about participant numbers (although important), but it is more about showing your agency’s measurable impacts on the community. These reports will show your agency as an “Essential Service” to your Elected Policy Makers and to your community. If you do not have this kind of reporting on your agency’s programs and services, let us help take you to the next level.
“KEY-INDICATORS” PERFORMANCE REPORT: Track the Performance Outputs of your organization, such as: programs offered, programs held, cancellation percentage, participants attended, and program revenue. We can also track the Performance Outcomes, such as: facility drop-in hours (rec swims, senior ctr, etc.), participant health, facility rental hours, volunteer hours, free lunches, agency mission items met, and everything your agency is doing.
“COST-PER-PARTICIPANT” PERFORMANCE REPORT: With the Key Indicators Report in place, we can add to it the expenses for each budget category, and provide a very helpful measurement, the Net “Cost-Per-Participant.” This report will show for each budget category (& sub-category, & as a total for agency as a whole), the expense, revenue, cost recovery, general fund subsidy, and the net “cost-per-participant.”
RECREATION PROGRAM PLANNING WORKSHEET: This planning worksheet is specific to one recreation program. Staff must take the time to complete a planning worksheet prior to each program (PROJECTED), and after (ACTUAL). This worksheet covers: Expenses and Revenue for each Budget Line Item, the Net Program Cost, the Participation Count and Net Cost-Per-Participant, the Part-Time staff hours/costs. This worksheet will also show that program’s specific goals and measurable outcomes, plus a Participant Evaluation tool. This worksheet is where it all starts.
By capturing this information monthly, you can see in “real-time” how & what your organization is doing. You will also have a Quarterly look, and of course the Annual look, at the end of the year. We will dig in, and gain a thorough understanding of how your program categories are set up. We will then go the next step and CUSTOMIZE THESE REPORTS TO YOUR AGENCY. After that, we will come to your agency for a training session where we will highlight to staff why measuring program performance is important, and then show staff how to go about collecting the data and entering it into the report. Should staff struggle with using the spreadsheet, we will be available anytime for questions. Additionally, we can also be used as your data-entry service, should you need that solution.
Branding & Marketing Plan
This solution starts with an agency-wide training session to help staff understanding of what branding is, and why their agency needs do both the branding AND marketing of their agencies. They also learn why it is vital to have an agency-wide plan. When you choose this solution, we will facilitate a process that results in establishing your Agency's Brand. This process will help your agency understand what your customers are saying about you; as well as what your what your non-customers are saying about you. The process will also integrate important marketing concepts into your agency processes: Return-on-Investment, the 80/20 rule, Relationship Marketing, Loyalty Program, & Perpetual Marketing. We then will develop a customized Branding and Marketing Plan, that highlights your agency as “Essential” to your community, by creating a consistent agency message that is carried by everything your agency does.
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Excellent Facility Rental Program:
Defensible Fees, Efficient Forms, & Effective Marketing
It is vital to be Strategic about your Facility Rental Management. For our purposes “Facilities” refer to both buildings and sports fields. When you choose this solution, we will facilitate a process that gives your agency the following results: 1) An improved Reservation Procedures; 2) High quality Facility Brochures & Detail Pages for each facility; 3) Well thought-out Rental Policies, 4) A "One-Stop Shop" Application Form, and 5) Defensible Rental Fees. The defensible rental fees will be based on a cost-per-square-foot for each buildings, and involves "price-points" to show a proper increases from non-profit rates to private rates to commercial rates (or even to differentiate weekday from weekend rates, or new buildings from older facilities). This solution will involve a process that includes all necessary staff, regular community renters, and all necessary stakeholders. At the conclusion of this solution, you will receive a written report that summarizes all that was accomplished for your Facility Rental Program, as well as a presentation to your elected officials.
Photo Inventory
of all Agency Amenities
When you chose this solution, Mark will come to visit your agency and spend as many days needed to photograph all of your recreational park and facility amenities. This solution Includes:
(1) Photos taken of all amenities at all park and facility locations
(2) An attractive Spreadsheet showing Amenity Counts with totals & subtotals
You can then utilize the agency-wide amenity totals to help in planning for the maintenance, and/or replacement, of your amenities. The photos will be very useful in marketing your facilities. The types of amenities that are counted and photographed are ALL INCLUSIVE and cover the following categories (at a minimum):
Swing Seats, Slides, Climbing Areas, Playgrounds (ages 0-5), Playgrounds (ages 5-12), Open turf areas, Ball Fields, Soccer Fields, Recreational Centers and all rooms inside, Walking Paths, Drinking Fountains, Basketball Courts, Tennis Courts, Disc Golf Courses, Benches, Public Art, & Anything else that can be considered an amenity.
Contract Instructors Handbook
All agencies need a written Contract Instructor Handbook for their Special Interest Programs. We have two ways for to obtain your own: 1) We can customize the document for you to make it specific for your agency, or 2) you can just order a sample copy (in an editable format) for you to customize on your own.
Mentorship Program
(Staff Coaching)
If you have staff that could benefit from a Mentor or Coach, then this solution is for you. Bring Mark Honberger on as your staff’s Recreation Coach, and they’ll receive regular (Weekly or Monthly) 1.5 hour long Sessions. Minimum Sessions is 12, but we can do as many as 15-20 or so (as needed). Plus they’ll receive a “MENTOR FOR LIFE,” as they can call as often as needed when questions, concerns, or difficult situations arise (free of charge). These mentoring sessions represent an overview of trends & best practices,. Your staff will be really getting into the “nuts-and-bolts” and “how-to’s” of being a great recreation coordinator/supervisor. By having their own personal 1-on-1 Parks and Recreation Coach, they will grow with enthusiasm for the Profession. Although it is helpful to meet face-to-face at least once, sometimes it’s not logistically feasible. Not a problem, though, as these sessions can be conducted via the phone, or on zoom. Additionally, we can set up the Mentorship Program on an individual basis, or on a "team" basis with multiple staff at a time. Mentorship Themes include:
• Leadership Philosophy & Visioning
• Recreation Competency Assessment
• What I wished I learned in college
• Putting the “Super” back into Supervising
• Balancing Park Usage With Park Maintenance
• Tracking Performance Measures
(Showing your agency as “Essential”)
• Revenue Generation for Parks & Recreation
• Developing your Agency’s Brand
• Aligning Rec Services with Org Values
• Partnering with Community Groups
• A Strategic Approach to Contract Instructors
• Excellent Facility Rental Management
• Conducting a “Healthy Habits” Campaign
• How to Interview (with live Interview Practice)
• Engaging in the profession
End Result: Staff that will have a new found enthusiasm for the Profession, and who will function at a high level while they perform their duties as a Parks and Recreation Professional for your agency.
Team Building
Staff Training
Your staff will love it. Mark Honberger brings creative Half-day or Full-day training sessions that result in increased employee engagement and improved staff morale. Training Topics will be customized to your Agency's needs. Your staff will come away energized and engaged to perform at a higher level.
Bring Mark "On-Location"
After reviewing all of the Solutions available, many agencies wish that they could have ALL of these solutions provided for their agency. Well, now you can!
By bringing Mark Honberger (on contract) to your location for several consecutive days (either weekly, monthly, or quarterly), your agency can
“Start-In” on multiple solutions at once, and do so at a significantly budgeted rate. Mark will be available for up to 10 hours each day (including evenings if desired), and will be able launch into these solutions according to your agency’s priorities. (minimum of 12 days booked)
1 DAY AT YOUR AGENCY:
One day at a time, not consecutive
2 DAYS AT YOUR AGENCY (Consecutive Days):
Saves travel costs
3 DAYS AT YOUR AGENCY (Consecutive Days):
Really saves travel costs
“ON-LOCATION REMOTELY”:
Accomplished remotely