PROFILE a mark . If you walk away from someone and you made them feel bad , they remember ; if you made them feel good , they remember . Every interaction counts . You paying it forward can mean that when you go to a conference , and you see someone at the reception on their own , going over to that person and saying “ Hi . Who are you ? Come join us .” That person is going to remember that moment for the rest of their life . My advice to people would be , yes , get involved , but also look for those moments . When you are at the conference in Savannah this January , at the welcome reception , look around the room . You are going to see people that don ’ t know anybody – like I was years ago . Go up to that person and include them . That is your first step in paying it forward .
SFM : How do you think the profession and industry will change in the next 10 years , and / or what would you most like to see in terms of industry advancement in the future ?
Sherratt : I love the momentum I am seeing as far as diversity in the industry , but we ’ ve still got a long way to go . We need to appeal to all cultures , all races , all genders , all ages . We need representation from the real world . We are only going to get young people coming into this industry if they feel like they are represented in the industry , and they see board members and committee members and speakers who are like them and make them feel included . We have a major labor shortage in the green industry right now , so this topic needs to be front and center .
Technology is coming along , and keeps revolutionizing the industry to the point that fields are looking as good on the last day of the season as they did on the first day of the season . Light technology and field sensors / data collectors are gaining speed . And I think we ’ ll use more autonomous machine and vehicles for mowing and painting , especially with the labor shortages .
I love seeing sports turf managers being treated like professionals . In the last 20 years that has gone from strength to strength to strength , and STMA has been the driver of that . People feel more connected now . Twitter is a pretty big meeting place in turf . We are sharing technology and sharing ideas and supporting each other on that platform . I think that is going to continue to improve things .
We ’ ve got to do something about getting young people into the industry . I think part of the problem is that we are agronomists – not personnel specialists . We ’ ve got to understand millennials and Gen Z ’ s . and we can ’ t complain that they don ’ t want to work 60-hour weeks and sleep in their office . We ’ ve got to come up with solutions . They don ’ t want to work 60 hours a week and sleep in their office – and nobody should be working 60 hours and sleeping in their office .
I listened to a conference talk by Jake Tyler , who used to be with the Toledo Mud Hens . He is also a balloon pilot and had taken some sort of special forces training session for his balloon pilot ’ s license . The crux of it was that everybody on the team needs to be able to do everybody ’ s job . So he took that philosophy back to work . If everybody can do everybody ’ s job , then you don ’ t all need to be there until 11:00 at night , every night , on an 11-day home stand . You can go to your kid ’ s birthday party or graduation party because everybody on the team is trained to do each other ’ s jobs . So there are solutions out there , and I would like to see more of that . I would like to see sports turf managers paid a fair wage for what they do , and don ’ t have to work themselves to death . We can come up with solutions for time management .
SFM : You mentioned your sons and your involvement in Scouts . Please tell us a bit more about yourself outside of work .
Sherratt : My husband and I are both Scout leaders , and a big chunk of my time outside of work is in Scouting . I volunteer at the council level , the district level , I go camping with the Scouts , and I teach an environmental science merit badge . Scouting is a huge part of my life . When I am not Scouting , we have a travel trailer and we go glamping ( i . e ., there ’ s air conditioning and wine ). Basically , I love gardening , bird watching and anything outdoors .
SFM : Is there anything you would like to add ?
Sherratt : Like most people in this industry , I didn ’ t initially chose sports turf as a career , I just sort of came across it , and realized how cool and friendly it was . I ’ m so glad I found it . We need to help others find it too . SFM sportsfieldmanagementonline . com October 2021 | SportsField Management
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