Golfdom, January 2013

Anyone see where my bAll went From the Back Tees By participating a whole new world opened up for me It can for you too Joel Jackson Contributing Editor Assistants need an assist I accepted an invitation from Melanie Bonds executive director of the Alabama GCSA to be a speaker for a mid November assistant superintendent boot camp event in Birmingham Ala I quickly discovered I had no silver bullet solutions for the group of 28 assistants who showed up Since the only thing you can control are your own actions a theme emerged for my talk participation By participating and being involved you meet people and your name is out there The old saying Its who you know not what you know is only partially correct Being visible and active creates a lot of who contacts but you must back it up by staying on the cutting edge of knowledge So education is a key ingredient of success However dont just pursue traditional turf management education Heres why In a conversation with Lyne Tumlinson a career and teambuilding coach also a speaker at the conference she said that two thirds of prospective employers these days indicated they assumed the interviewee knew turf mancomment that most of the interviewers were more concerned about his business and leadership skills and assumed he knew how to grow grass Bill Davidson CGCS at the Country Club of Naples Fla told me during an interview for another story that when he hires assistants he focuses on their personalities and communications and leadership skills I can teach them how to grow grass on this course Davidson said I came to this profession from a non turf background I learned turf management and golf business from my bosses turf seminars and best of all by networking with my peers at local and national conferences By participating a whole new world opened up for me It can for you too While meeting and conference opportunities might be limited right now superintendents assistants and chapters can work out some committee service education or networking opportunities for assistants in formal or informal gatherings Participation was my mantra all day But I confess I opted out of the yoga class scheduled for the end of the day The 12 hearty souls who stayed taunted me with Participate Participate as I skulked out of the room Joel Jackson CGCS Ret is director of communications for the Florida GCSA agement They were focusing on leadership communication and management skills that a potential department head superintendent brought to the table Participating in local chapters is a great first step to getting to know the successful superintendents in the area and picking up ideas on how to improve yourself Many of us are not at ease being in the spotlight but you can also get recognition by being a key supporting actor Case in point was Mr Lee Bailey assistant superintendent from the Willow Point CC in Alexander City Ala I didnt know Baileys status until the end of the first day of the conference He had introduced each speaker that day and read a short bio on each one What I learned later was that he was an assistant and had volunteered to serve on the AGCSA board for several years until at last the AGCSA changed its bylaws to create an assistant superintendent to the Board position I asked Bailey about the current situation with assistants and what it takes for them to progress in the business He said It starts with the superintendent They need to be willing to provide opportunities for assistants to grow in their careers They need to be mentors and support assistants attendance to chapter meetings and education and be involved in the planning and administration of the maintenance department Bailey has been on a couple of interviews this past year and he echoed Tumlinsons 20 Golfdom January 2013 Golfdom com