By Greg Ellison

When time comes to hire new GM, directors will have guidelines and procedures

(Sept. 17, 2020) When the time comes to make changes in the Ocean Pines Association’s top layers of administration, the board of directors plans to be ready by establishing an evaluation process for future hires at the general manager and top staff positions.

Board member Frank Daly provided an update on succession planning during the directors meeting on Sept. 9.

“The lack of succession planning in Ocean Pines administration has been identified both by management and the board as an area of concern that requires action,” he said.

Daly said a pair of documents have been developed surrounding skills associated with the general manager position.

“The first document … is a position description that has been somewhat modified to reflect skills,” he said.

Daly said the second form was written by current General Manager John Viola and reflects daily use skills for the position ranked in order of importance.

“Those two documents will be used for assessments,” he said.

The succession planning includes criteria to review candidates for either general manager or employees reporting directly to that position.

Daly said internal candidates interested in either the general manager or other top  roles should declare intent by Sept. 18.

The next step for general manager candidates includes completing a two-part skills assessment by Oct. 30.

“One part, the general manager will assess skills [and] the second part candidates will do a self-assessment of skills,” he said.

The outcomes will be reviewed with Viola using the data to develop a plan for candidates.

“Covering areas where skills are required that don’t currently exist in the candidate’s inventory to move up the ladder,” he said.

Daly said the process for evaluating candidates for positions reporting directly to the general manager would involve Viola and department heads without board oversight.

“The general manager succession planning when the reports are done will be presented to the board … by Oct. 30,” he said.

Following this the board will hold closed session discussion about completed candidate assessments on Nov. 18.

“This is an open transparent process with the exception of the evaluation of skills,” he said.

Daly said the next step involving board approval would be reviewing input on succession-planning documents provided by consultants from the Sibson Group.

Board member Tom Janasek, after confirming the current succession planning for general manager is limited to internal association candidates, asked when the scope would widen.

“I know John’s contracted for another year and a half,” he said. “Do we have a timeline for when we jump outside of Ocean Pines and start looking for somebody?”

Daly said to this point outsourcing has not been discussed, while noting Viola’s current contract is set to expire on June 30, 2022.

“He has the option of extending it,” he said.

Daly said if Viola opts out at that time the next general manager would need to be in place prior to the budget process launching at this point next year.

OPA President Larry Perrone stressed the discussion concerned candidate assessments not an application procedure.

“I’d like to make it clear to the community that the board is not trying to push John [Viola] out,” he said.

Perrone said the process is needed to vet whoever succeeds Viola.

“So that we have a list of criteria, skill sets and experience for any general manager that takes over this position going forward,” he said.