Back in 1972, Harlan Crowder fashioned a term called "User-Friendly" to represent the inherent ease (or lack of) which is encountered when operating a computer. Mr. Crowder pre-dated political correctness because the term "user" did not imply gender, race, or ethnic origin. It meant, very simply, whoever used the technology would find it either friendly, or unfriendly, to use.

The park and recreation profession's desire to define "user-friendly" quality management and customer service, however oxymoronic, may be ironically similar to Crowder's interpretation of the "user-friendly" computer. While he refers to the term as it applies to computers, we use the term as it applies to the people and the tools used to engage in our services. Our failure, however, may be in understanding its meaning. We recognize that it will be costly to implement change, staff will work hard to create an atmosphere that they do not want to disrupt, while recognizing the notion that resources are and will continue to be limited.

Perhaps our difficulty lies in the nature of our interpretation of how to become the user-friendly organization of tomorrow. The change may not be how we alter the policy and procedure of operations, but instead, how we embrace the challenge. One way to meet this challenge is to confront the trends that lead us to the future through the development of strategies. Thus, we must plan for the events of tomorrow with phenomena that occur around us today. As such, through "future focus" we can begin to discuss and create with our co-workers the types of services that we want to be recognized for, and identified with, in our efforts. At the "Gateway to the Future" Conference held in September 1993, the Trends and Futures Committee sought to provide recreation professionals and elected officials with the tools to begin understanding these trends and to begin planning for the next decade. This same committee will attempt to bring some of these issues to the forefront, in order to encourage better understanding, through articles and future workshops.

What do we know about tomorrow's customers? How will they differ from the people who use our services today? What will they want from us and how will they support us? This article is an attempt to offer some guidance and insight toward a better understanding of what our future customer may look like. Through this understanding, "user-friendly" services may begin to emerge naturally and evolve.

In order to better prepare for the customer of tomorrow, an illustration of the makeup of this customer base will be helpful. For the purposes of this illustration three probable paradigms of influence have been singled out. They are politics, participants, and the work force.

For the first time in recent historic memory, U.S. society is influenced significantly by intergenerational decision making. In no other time in history have we experienced three generations having the skill and more importantly, the authority to make decisions for one another. The difficulty that we will experience with this dilemma is that each of these generations approach

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decision making from different perspectives. The desire to impose one generation's culture on another generation will be difficult to avoid.

A pre-baby boom adult will view a problem differently than the baby boomer or those members of the so-called X Generation, sometimes referred to as Generation 13. The pre-baby boomer will make decisions based on sound histories and perhaps the reliance that these histories repeat themselves. The baby boomer will depend on work ethic, loyalty, and the commitment to professionalism to guide decision making. While many will have the understanding that change is apparent, there may be a reluctance to use the technology to adapt to the needed change.

The Generation 13 (a category that has been applied to the post-baby boomers, which refers to the number of generations that have occurred since the Declaration of Independence was signed) members are generally recognized as a generation that is not as committed to the employer or the career. It is not uncommon for the representatives of this generation to be interested in experiencing the fullness of life. Several issues contribute to this phenomena. Due to the downsizing of corporate America the opportunity for employment is reduced. The college graduate has difficulty finding substantial paying jobs in the career track with which he/she is trained. The high school graduate no longer has as strong an option of working in manufacturing due to the shift from an industrial society to a technological one.

More people are involved in the government process and yet feeling frustrated in the inability to change government. This frustration and distrust of government has fueled the drive for term limitations. Mid-life crises have drawn the baby boomers toward the government process at all levels. As family disposable income is reduced or becomes static, the interest in government increases in an effort to play a role in reducing government spending. Female and minority influences in local, state, and national government will play a significant role in how and what current and new laws will be legislated.

Recuperation from the changes in funding authority will continue to be problematic. Copycat laws will surface across the country in further efforts to reduce taxation. The downside of this influence is that many infrastructures will fail due to the lack of attention. The efforts of the 60s, 70s and 80s infrastructure growth will begin to fail and not be restored because of the lack of reinvestment. The generational, gender, and minority diversity will hinder common direction by lawmakers at all levels.

Generation X personalities will be difficult to accommodate in the leisure market unless they are understood. This generation was raised not to have to work as hard as their parents. It is not difficult to remember people saying that they are working to keep their children from having to work as hard. People are beginning to rethink this desire. As mentioned in earlier text of this article, they have been raised without having a commitment to work ethic, hope for a rewarding career, and the commitment to a consistent employer. This generation is fully influenced by technology. Monday, September 11, 2000

Perhaps our difficulty lies in the nature of our interpretation of how to become the user-friendly organization of tomorrow. The change may not be how we alter the policy and procedure of operations, but instead, how we embrace the challenge.

Three generations of older adults will cause the leisure programmer to take a different look at conventional programming practices. While there will be the young-old, the middle-aged old, and the old-old, the programming for each age will differ and yet be the same. Due to the influence of exercise and the focus on healthy living habits from the 80s and 90s, it will be as likely that marathon runners will be drawn from the old-old age group as it will be that an invalid will emerge from the young-old age group. Spending patterns may differ as well. The young-old will have experienced the "pay for play" concepts of the 80s and 90s and thus will continue to expect to pay. The diversity of the participant will be significant in that the minority participant will be the rule and not the exception. This will be particularly prevalent in the urban areas of society. There will be 4,000 different ethnic minorities represented in the U.S. by the year 2020 and 25% of the U.S. population will be Spanish-speaking by the year 2005. Blended or daddy-less families will be a norm and the apparent rights and responsibilities to program for this group will be necessary. The black middle-class has already begun to take a stance against absent fathers but that cycle will take a full thirty years to have an impact on the next generation of black or African-American children in lower income homes.

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The new work force will not be the same as we currently know it. It will be highly mobile, and traditional work hours will change. Mentoring may not be as endeared among professionals. Volunteerism among those of us in the profession may reduce as a result of less staff. There may be rapid changes in the leadership of organizations due to the reduced commitment to the same job and the desire to change jobs frequently. The leisure professional may not be as prepared as we currently encourage. Universities will not be as quick to react to change curriculum or recycle faculty who have chosen to remain status quo as opposed to adjusting to the demands of the needed change. Employees will need diverse training in order to cope with the demands of the new leisure order. It is likely that the loss of many traditional university leisure programs will begin to occur. The changes in technology will transform the leisure office of tomorrow. People will be operating from remote locations via e-mail and modem. Much of the work as we know it today will be done off-site. Contractual work may become the norm in parks, business, and recreation. Competition and participation with the private sector will be at its pinnacle.

In this quest to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, should we give up the idea that recreation should be fun and enjoyable? Absolutely not! American civilization wants leisure opportunities.

And thus, we bring you tomorrow's customer.

TOMORROW'S CUSTOMER

Tomorrow's customers will expect services to be delivered that are tailored to their needs rather than the "one size fits all" that we currently employ. This may mean that our recreational offerings become ongoing rather than seasonal. Some colleges are already experimenting with classes that students may enter at any point in a semester. As the baby-boomers become seniors, they will not be content to go to the neighborhood senior center and do the same activities as a group of other seniors. Many will want to play actively in sport while others will be content to participate in traditional older adult leisure programs. The term "registration" may come to mean more of when the person began their involvement rather than the beginning of a season. People with disabilities will expect more acceptance in their ability to register for and participate in general programs.

Tomorrow's customers will have a higher degree of expectation and immediacy in results from registration and in-staff performance. This person will expect the minimum amount of problems when using services. Any time your staff hears the same complaint made more than three or four times, they should make it a point to work to solve that problem. Does our agency's current administration advocate this type of thinking? There are so many ways to solve problems, and people in recreation can be so creative, there are no ends to the way problems can be handled. For example, long lines for programs or registration can be solved or eased by using mail, staggering schedules, or installing mirrors or other distractions by the lines. Your agency should make it every employee's responsibility to both report complaints and act to solve them. This concept would include all employees and would not be limited to one group of employees. Will your agency lead the way with touch and e-mail registration, or registration through the private sector company who has provided the service for a cost?

Tomorrow's customer will expect that we will have thought programs through completely enough so that difficulties will already have a solution. We will be anticipatory in thinking how people use leisure services. Intuitively, we will have anticipated their needs and have ready solutions. We will ease any difficulties that they have in using our service. We will have much less bureaucracy than schools and other governmental entities. We will utilize some of the many principles of Reinventing Government, by Ted Gaebler and David Osbome, such as steering not rowing, being driven by mission not rules, encouraging competition, funding outcomes not inputs, solving problems by influencing market forces rather than creating public programs, and invest in preventing problems rather than curing crisis. We will do these by forming partnerships with many groups that we currently have little or no contact.

Tomorrow's customer will not understand nor stand for the bureaucratic boundaries that we have drawn to differentiate between schools, cities, and other governmental entities. Either we will change this system or taxpayers and the legislature will do it for us. We can play a role in that movement or we can wait and live with the consequences.

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Tomorrow's customer will represent so many different ethnic groups that do not necessarily share the same background or expectations of what government is or does. Increasingly, we will recognize that different expectations exist for our services. It will be our responsibility to become familiar with those expectations. As different minorities take their places on city councils and park boards, they will make their impact known. We will become more sensitive that different cultures have different religions and holidays than what we program for and provide. Will we eventually not observe holidays or will our holiday schedule take on a more international flavor?

Due to the high degree of expectations of tomorrow's customer, the services and our resources may be so limited that we will become facilitators of social opportunities rather than the sole providers. We might facilitate rather than offer team sports. All areas of services will be made similar so that customers do not experience difficulty in going from one service to another. This will require the staff of the health club to know and communicate with the staff at the golf club etc. The trend to move from single-use facilities to multi-purpose facilities will continue. Community resources will be merged in an effort to maximize the benefit and use of these resources more effectively. In essence, this will tend to break down the walls of parochialism among local units of government and the private sector. Playgrounds will change drastically in their appearance because of their cost and play features.

Tomorrow's customer will include people who have not played a large role in park and recreation services in the past. Displaced employees, the disabled, ethnic minorities, and teens will begin to play a larger role in decision making of the future. Baby boom seniors will attempt to guide the services but thought must be given to the generations that follow them. We will form partnerships with other governments, the not-for-profit organizations, and the private sector to serve and facilitate these various groups. These partnerships will bring people and their needs together.

Tomorrow's customer will represent a different type of family structure than we currently serve. Blended, extended, and bi-racial families will seek our services. They will want to train their children in the same values that they share. For some, these values will have to be clarified and recreation can play a role in that process. We can teach values to parents and their children in our programs. Our activities can teach integrity, discipline, leadership, and responsibility.

In this quest to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, should we give up the idea that recreation should be fun and enjoyable? Absolutely not! American civilization wants leisure opportunities. They will want more innovative, interactive, socially fulfilling, accessible, challenging opportunities. Bigger bang for less buck. Let's be prepared by changing our services to meet their changing needs. It is only a matter of hours until tomorrow is today.

Authors' Note: Material for this article was derived from several sources. For more information, contact the authors or obtain a copy of the "Gateway to the Future, Vision and Strategy to Guide Parks and Recreation Agencies into the 21st Century," available at the IPRA office for $5.00 each.

Jane L. Hodgkinson, CLP is the Executive Director of the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association. Terry G. Schwartz, CLP is the Director of the Glen Ellyn Park District.*

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