The 2024 season is well underway and has been a relatively decent start as far as weather is concerned. The warm winter, with an above average March, rainy and cool April, and a mild May has made for a good start for the turf. Most of our focus through the late part of the winter is filling all vacancies in the department. I hope everyone had success hiring for these positions, and that you have a smooth season ahead.

As we scan through the membership roster, we notice that there is a large percentage of members who will retire over the next decade. I mentioned in my last President’s message that recruitment is top of mind for this board as the industry needs to attract a new generation of golf course turfgrass personnel. The OGSA board met March 27^th & 28^th to discuss critical projects and future strategies over the next few years. This includes connecting with youth in our communities through the First Green program and allocating part of our annual budget to create recruitment tools for the association and members to use at job fairs and at high school career fairs.

This year, we are taking a new approach to the compensation and benefit survey to gather valuable information for our members. It has been several years since the OGSA has completed one, and our goal is to give superintendents the tools and resources they need to successfully advocate for their budgets and employees and help elevate our standing in the industry. You will receive an email from the OGSA shortly to take part, and I encourage you all to do so. We are working with Ernie Coetzee, employment lawyer and one of our 2024 conference speakers, to build a win-win employment contract template for OGSA members to use as a guide during contract negotiations.

We want to start providing insight into the upcoming workforce and help develop robust recruitment and retention skills in our membership. Building a diverse and inclusive industry that will funnel into a larger stream of people to fill the in-demand positions, begins with a strong leader and a great in-house recruitment process.

This past winter I had the opportunity to be a part of a two-day Inclusive People Practices seminar which focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion. Did you know that statistically a woman will only apply for a job if she feels that she has 90% of the qualifications? It’s staggering to think how many qualified people might not apply for a position in this field because of how a job description is written. The words we choose when writing job descriptions and listing qualifications are important when trying to reach a larger pool of individuals. (Conversely, men are more likely to apply for a position if they feel they meet 40% of the qualifications listed on a job description.)

A second key takeaway for me was that 44% of new hires regret their decision to join an organization within a week. Making a good first impression and having a strong onboarding plan will start the new employee off on the proper journey and using inclusive language and behaviors will go a long way to creating a sense of belonging for all employees within the organization. These are all topics that we will tackle to help develop our leadership skills.

We intend to bring these topics to life at the next conference, but in the meantime, ONCourse is an excellent way for us to provide you with articles on leadership. In the April issue, we published a summary of Chris Tritabaugh’s session on “10 Rules For Leadership and Balance” and in this issue you can check out an article on “Investing in Your Team.”

As always, we encourage you to reach out to the association to let us know what programs or services you would like to see us provide members. We are here to serve you.

Keep an eye on your inbox for emails for upcoming event registrations over the next few weeks. I hope everyone has a great summer.

Sincerest regards,  

Ian McQueen, OGSA President, Superintendent at St. George’s Golf & Country Club