The term “Tending your garden” also applies to business — not just flowers and vegetables.
For a successful harvest, you must have the belief that hard work and effort will produce great results. You must commit and put in the time.
The same is true at work. Team members need to ask themselves if they are doing the work to produce, or just assuming the produce will be provided? Growth can’t occur in a culture where deadlines or objectives are not met, especially if attention to detail and process aren’t followed.
It’s easy to go up to an apple tree, pick the apples and bake a pie, or to go to a florist and buy a bouquet of flowers. But buying a package of seeds, or a seedling, and having the patience and drive to till the soil and plant? Now that’s dedication and work. And it takes dedication to nurture a team and tend to its needs.
Once the planting or selection of a team is complete, the critical process of attending the garden begins. Watering regularly, weeding, and dead heading are a must. Remember, if the garden is bigger than you can tend, the plants will begin to suffer from lack of care.
Think of the plants like your clients. If they don’t get the care and attention they need, they start to separate…
Much like team members, too!
Some client relationships, like plants may not thrive. You can pull out all of your tools and try to address the unexpected, and with thoughtful strategic planning, decisions can be made to help you adapt and meet their needs.
But what is your workplace like? Are there strong managers and a culture of planning, planting, weeding and nurturing? Is professional development, support and training being offered? Are team members being well mentored? Investment in team members is what fertilizer is to a garden — It boosts and enhances the results and outcomes.
Most importantly, a gardener needs patience and should be mindful: If it grows too quickly – it is a weed.
Patience isn’t always easy to find in a workplace. Competition, risk-taking and urgency take precedence.
The cost for success can deplete the work environment, like overwatering, harvesting too early, or not giving the garden the time it needs can suck the life out of the plantings.
Patience is respecting the process: Foundation must be built, roots must be established, and then success will be achieved.