In this edition of Leadership Viewpoint, Jim Paro, the founder and owner of Operate Fit, discusses ongoing issues with staffing, including hiring and retention, and the integration of AI and machine learning (ML) in operations. He emphasizes the importance of AI and digitization for both staffing ease and optimizing applications. Paro suggests to start with an assessment of current processes, digitizing paper-based systems and gradually moving toward innovative solutions that will benefit your members and your community at large.
Questions asked and a summary of Paro’s insights are as follows:
1. What are you seeing are common problems or struggles among recreation centers at this moment in time?
- Ongoing staffing challenges in hiring and retention.
- Emerging technology challenges, particularly with AI and ML.
- Limited data visibility can restrict effective AI and digitization solutions.
- Younger workforce expects digital, paperless processes due to their current environment.
2. What are your thoughts on the solutions to these challenges?
- Conduct comprehensive process assessments.
- Identify paper-based and standalone systems.
- Prioritize digital transformation.
- Create quick, incremental changes toward digitization.
- Prepare for future AI and machine learning opportunities.
3. What’s an example of a recent innovation you’ve seen with a rec center customer? Is anyone doing anything really cool or forward thinking?
- Using AI to summarize incident reports and contracts.
- Automating time-consuming administrative tasks.
- Identifying trends and outliers in organizational data.
- Freeing staff to focus on core responsibilities.
- Implementing technology that saves time and increases efficiency.
4. What’s the best piece of advice you could give to rec center operators at the current moment?
- Embrace innovation across all organizational levels.
- Seek feedback from diverse stakeholders across your community.
- Encourage input from frontline staff, program directors and leadership.
- Actively listen to both vocal and less vocal members.
- Remain adaptable and open to adjusting strategies based on new insights.
