13 – Breaking Away from the Herd

Because no organization can fulfill the burden of offering “something for everyone,” it is important that today’s systems analyze the community’s most critical needs, followed by operational methods and service offerings. These fundamentals allow for discovering the best and most responsible ways to serve the community, spending and investing taxpayer resources so that what is truly essential is no longer compromised in favor of what is popular or discretionary, and ensuring that you are not simply following the herd.
Learning Outcomes:
- Review and analyze management practices, such as certain types of benchmarking, that have created unnecessary complications for public parks and recreation.
- Describe and identify circumstances and instances where courage and ethical decision-making can set the stage for improvements in the responsible management and oversight of parks and recreation organizations.