Recently, in Orlando, Florida, I spoke to a group of landscape business leaders about cultivating their crews’ leadership skills. In the talk, I spoke about “The Racehorse Theory.” If you invested $100,000 in a horse for racing because you knew this horse had the potential to earn you one million dollars in a year, how would you handle that horse? Would you allow the racehorse to just graze in the pasture to eat briars, weeds or whatever...
In my mastermind group, Dan Miller, author and creator of the 48 Days to Work You Love, presented this question as a response to use when anyone runs into a problem we didn’t expect. He said, “What does this make possible?” Initially, I tend to think problems are bad when it comes to leadership scenarios, but have you ever considered that problems might actually be useful? Dan’s question, “What does this make possible?” helped me see problems...
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” This passage in Luke can sometimes prove applicable in the workforce nowadays. Sometimes we feel like we just don’t have enough people on the team to get the job done right and on time, and that can cause us to not give it our all. When I first started working as a landscape leader, it took us 10 days to mow the entire college campus. It didn’t...
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Work smarter, not harder” more times than you can count, but have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? Or better yet, what it could mean for your team? The concept of working smarter and not harder should resonate with leaders who find themselves extremely busy and needing to get their work done efficiently. When you look at your daily schedule, who do you think is in...
When people sense that they matter, they instinctively become more engaged and more productive. Years ago, I attended a Disney Horticulture Conference and I remember hearing Katy Moss Warner, former Director of Disney’s Horticulture and Environmental Initiatives, say, “The standard is not what you expect, it is what you accept.” She was right. As a facility leader, I realized that our department had different standards for the same type of work from different crews. Not everyone saw the...
Have you ever said this? I have plenty of times. In the urgency of the moment, it is almost ridiculous to even think that training will happen. The cycle of construction, school starting and projects rushed to completion seem to always take priority over training. Middle-level managers and frontline leaders are some of the busiest people I know. Have you ever thought that one day you would get around to doing some training? Me, too. “We tried...
If you have ever seen the TV show The Profit starring Marcus Lemonis, you are familiar with the methods used to take struggling businesses and make them highly successful ones. He focuses on 3 parts of the business: people, processes and product. And with good reason. As humans, we are always so eager to get to the product – finished and ready to ship, view, consume or use – that the product is often flawed, incomplete or...
How important is motivation to your success? Are you a motivated person? Do you set goals, try to get better each day? Okay, now what about your team? Most leaders want and need motivated teams. If you asked your team what motivates them, I bet someone will say, “more money in my paycheck.” But do they really mean that? Most research tells us the link between what you make and how satisfied you are at your...
One of the best lessons I learned from my dad was to lead with respect. He taught me just because someone has the power and authority to boss people around, it doesn’t mean they should use it to push people, to crush them or to be rude. My dad was that way in his work and personal life. No matter what trouble I got into—even the time I accidentally set off a box of fireworks in my bedroom—he...
What is the purpose behind the work you do every day? Pretty standard responses to this question include “to provide for myself” or “to provide for my family.” Although those are important, they suggest the person saying it doesn’t know the purpose behind the work they do; they don’t suggest the people know why their work really matters. Clear, motivating vision statements challenge everyone on the team to do their best work. They tell everyone inside and...