Getting More from the Same...

review by Helen Neve, Land Management Services

Ken McAnespie managed to combine an instructive seminar with a rallying call to the green space profession to sharpen up its act and become a driving force in the provision of green infrastructure.

The vehicle for this unexpected alliance was the Landscape Design Trust seminar entitled Marrying Green Space and Performance Management, held in Birmingham in July. Aimed at what McAnespie calls the ‘Green Space Industry’, delegates represented local authorities, a wildlife trust and private practice, and came with equally varied expectations from a topic which superficially appeared somewhat dry and more akin to The Apprentice than The Parkie.

McAnespie’s underlying theme, however, touched a chord with all delegates: how to make your budget go further or, in his words, ‘get more from the same’. Immediately heckled from the floor, that budgets were so tight that it was impossible to afford performance management, he pointed out that it was cheaper to do it right in the first place than pay to put it right later. His aim, he said, was to provide delegates with sufficient ammunition to convince their managers to change their methods, improve management techniques across the board and raise the profile of green space.

Hitting hard at the profession as a whole, McAnespie commented that ‘we [the green space profession] are not influential; we don’t sell ourselves’ and ‘we need a better understanding of our business’. Green space is not a bolt on, he said, but is fundamental to the life of the individual and vital to the improvement and protection of the environment. We must, he continued, identify who is important to our business and, where resources are limited, prioritise to maximise benefit.

Calling for a strong hand on the tiller and clear management, he also felt that the profession was too budget led and too area focussed. He exhorted delegates to consider need before budget and to think outside the boundaries - local authorities, for instance, provide services for users who may come from the next borough, the next county or even the next region.

Performance Management, he stressed, is about information and communication. The fundamentals can be applied to management of any commodity and some green space managers already adopt performance management principles; many, however, do not. The key elements are cyclical: reviewing what you have, planning where you want to go, measuring what you are doing through inspection, recording and analysis, acting on that information and reviewing where you have got to.

The crucial elements, according to McAnespie, are recording, analysing and acting on the results and managers must commit to these aspects. Validity of data is crucial. Question what you collect and why - is it useful, can it be statistically analysed? Avoid collecting facts and figures for their own sake and get professionals to analyse the data. Act on the analysis and above all, don’t disregard the information if it is telling you something you don’t like. Reward staff or contractors for executing improvements, show others that the situation has changed and make the data work for you - proof of 5 million visits to a park can be used to raise sponsorship or advertising revenue.

Performance Management, says McAnespie, is not just about improving the management of specific open spaces. It also is also about marketing green space as a whole and raising the profile of the profession and the contribution we make to society. We not only need improve the quality and value of our green spaces, we also need to tell everyone how good we are at doing it.