Up Your Game
Use 21st-century skills to help employees thrive
By Alex Sullins
The term “21st-century skills” has been commonplace for a couple decades. The idea is that opportunities, challenges, and events that have not yet occurred in the industry may become prevalent in the future, so workers need to possess the skills to be able to adapt, overcome, and succeed. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is the current global health pandemic of COVID-19. It changed everything. World economies were shut down while life came to a standstill. However, one of the unexpected silver linings for parks and recreation professionals was the unexpected attention to parks and programs as people sought out opportunities different from their stay-at-home lockdown. The pandemic provided a grand platform to highlight the industry’s importance in terms of influencing and enhancing quality of life. As such, numerous articles and stories being presented in print and social media are already declaring that former models of the industry have forever shifted as people are more focused on life outside of work, in addition to how, where, and why they work in their chosen professions. So, as we emerge from a social and economic lockdown toward a post-pandemic future, it is time to look at how park and recreation professionals are evolving and how the development and incorporation of new skills might help in meeting future challenges.
Photo: © Can Stock Photo / AndreyPopov
What exactly are 21st-century skills? According to Applied Educational Systems (Stauffer, 2020), they are a set of 12 skills that prepare workers for employment in the information age:
Critical thinking
Creativity
Collaboration
Communication
Information literacy
Media literacy
Technology literacy
Flexibility
Leadership
Initiative
Productivity
Social skills.
This article will focus on four skills that resonate with park and recreation professionals—critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication (these might also be called “soft skills”). The application of soft skills provides an approach to challenges that might not universally occur in all agencies. This field is no longer a product-based career. The times of providing recreational opportunities and expecting participation from citizens is no longer a viable business model. Today, it is a service-based industry and as such, the soft skills that a 21st-century environment requires will be evident.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking goes all the way back to the Greek philosophers. It is the unbiased evaluation of evidence that is then used to make decisions. Being critical in decision-making is a complex, self-directed process that removes emotion from biasing an outcome. For the industry, critical thinking is a part of daily life. However, emotion and outside pressure can sometimes influence decisions. Here are two methods to help develop critical-thinking skills related to a problem:
Once a problem is identified, work backwards from the desired result toward the initial point. For example, in a service-industry manner, program marketing and registration are the lifeblood of a program’s success. Assess whether the marketing plan or registration process can be improved by working backward with the intended result in mind (i.e., the customer is aware of the product, or the customer is happy with the time and energy spent registering) and determine if changes can be made from the current methods to meet desired goals.
Analyze the competition of how, when, and why they are successful in an area that you would like to improve and apply those methods.
Creativity
Creativity may be the one skill in which most people have the least experience. Quite often, those in the field have forgone creative ideas because it was easier to “do it the way things have always been done.” But this must change. Once again, begin with the end goal in mind. Consider other options in direct competition with the problem you are trying to solve. For example, participation is dropping in a program. One option is to no longer offer the program and instead provide something else. However, a new program has no evidence that it will be successful where the previous one was failing. So, what are some creative ways to improve participation levels? Change program times, levels, length, age groups, etc. While this may seem like an easy answer to a persistent problem, truly becoming creative in problem-solving is arduous in its undertaking and implementation and takes practice.
Collaboration
Consider how you felt when given a group project in a high-school or college course. Most people did not enjoy the challenging task of working with others because the project frequently became the work of one instead of the work of many. However, in this profession, collaboration is key—especially when it comes to maximizing resources within programs. Getting buy-in is important in successful collaboration, and the best way to get others on board is to have a clear goal before starting. If you know where you are going, it is much easier to get there. On the other hand, lack of clarity leads to frustration, and frustration kills group collaboration. For example, if an agency is already using yearly assessments of programs, services, and procedures to inform future decisions, consider bringing in employees from different areas to provide fresh perspectives that might not have been considered. Additionally, those who use a “team” approach should consider moving employees between teams on a semi-regular basis. The intent is not to disrupt successful groups, but new eyes can be useful. This example may not be possible for smaller agencies due to staffing limitations and individuals frequently wearing “multiple hats,” but larger agencies may find cross-collaboration helpful.
Communication
It is no secret that clear communication garners success. It has the potential to eliminate confusion. During my time as a recreation programmer, poor communication was the cause of many problems. However, clear and effective communication is often underrated as many people take it for granted. For example, when employees communicate poorly, projects fall apart because no one can clearly see the objectives to achieve. No one can take responsibility because nobody wants to claim it.
Some employees do not want to undergo additional training or pay extra attention to professional development, while others are very receptive. This is where an administrator will need to make decisions that are best for the department as a whole. Regardless of how an organization approaches developing employees to address future challenges, it all starts at the top. A director or superintendent who embraces employee development and is devoted to the process will best prepare the staff for an unknown future with unknown challenges.
References
Stauffer, B. (2020, March 19). What are 21st century skills? Retrieved from https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-are-21st-century-skills
Alex Sullins, Ph.D., CPRP, is a Doctoral Candidate/Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant for the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Reach him at (706) 463-0721, or alexsullins@tamu.edu.