Trust the Process

Nick Saban is widely regarded as one of the most successful college football coaches of our time. Over the years, he’s won his fair share of championships—yet every season, he lost talented assistant coaches and players. So how did he continue to build winning teams year after year?

A few months ago, I met with one of our mowing teams on campus to discuss the poor quality of mowing, edging, and trimming work being completed. I was expecting much better-quality cuts and eye-for-detail in our turf. It did not “pop” with excellence.

I talked with the mowing crew about how to achieve top quality, high-end turf results: Stop using the weed eater as an edger—use the stick edger and create a clean, thin edge, like a credit card slot. Use sharpened blades each week; after mowing look at your cuts, did you leave grass clippings on the turf or skip turf areas with our mowers? I was frustrated by the lack of buy-in for high standards and excellence. We were working hard, but not with excellence. It was hurting our department’s and the campus’s credibility.

I called my mowing staff in for an “in-the-field huddle” in a highly visible turf area on campus where the turf had been scalped badly (cut way too low.) My intent was to do live demonstrations on how to do their job correctly, but as we stood there, I decided to take a different approach. Most of the crew are football fans, so I asked, “Why is Nick Saban so successful, even though he loses players and coaches every year? What’s his secret?”

The crew looked at me in silence. What felt like hours went by, and then one of the younger crew members confidently said, “Trust the process.”

I looked at him, pointed, and said with excitement, “YES! Trust the process!” Then I asked, “Is there a process for having national championship turf?” They all agreed that there was. Again, I agreed with excitement.

Anyone who follows Saban’s career knows his mantra—trust the process. It’s not about winning the championship day to day; it’s about doing the right things the right way—consistently. As leaders, you must know the process and be willing to teach it, coach it, and preach it repeatedly. Excellence doesn’t just happen. Excellence and hard work are not the same thing.

In landscaping, trusting the process means taking pride in every detail, following proven steps, and believing that daily discipline of using the right tool and using high levels of craftsmanship to produce excellence every time. It’s not just about hard work—it’s about doing hard work with excellence.

Saban’s success is rooted in daily discipline, individual development, and an obsession with details. Winning came second to these fundamentals. In landscaping, our fundamentals are similar:

• Using an edger to edge, not a weed eater.
• Mowing at the correct height without leaving “rooster tails.”
• Avoiding scalping the turf near light poles.
• Keeping clean, 90-degree edges, not beveled ones.

Don’t chase perfection—chase the process. The process leads to perfection and to the high-end results your customers notice and appreciate.

When your team trusts the process, they stop worrying about what they can’t control—like weather, budgets, or outside opinions—and focus on what they can control: their effort, their attitude, their attention to detail, their craftsmanship, and their follow-through.

Keep climbing,

Jeff