Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A time for self assessment

As a new year rolls in, we all want to strive for improvement in our life - both professionally and personally. One way to improve professionally is through ongoing education.

The winter season is packed with various conferences, and as you choose the right educational opportunities for you and your staff, take time first to think about areas that need improvement. A good way to make that assessment is by using GCSAA's Self Assessment Tool (located under the Education tab on GCSAA's home page).

It seems many of us go straight for the agronomic lectures and opportunities. But I believe agronomic knowledge may be the strongest area among superintendents across the board. Instead, maybe it would be worthwhile to invest some time in the business, communication, environmental management or leadership domains.

The Self Assessment Tool is a quick and easy way to evaluate all of these areas and will help you identify which domains you may want to focus on as you plan out your education season. Likewise, you can use the questions within this tool to help you think about your employees and encourage them to focus on education in the areas where they need improvement.

The tool works by taking you through a list of different competencies within the five domains (agronomic, business, communication, environmental management and leadership). As you answer these questions with a simple "yes" or "no," you can check the analysis at the end to see how you scored. Then, there are links that will connect you with associated seminars offered to fill those gaps.

If you believe your educational experience is in a rut, take some time and complete the Self Assessment Tool - and get on track to improving yourself in 2014.

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