How does your garden grow?

Your business is like a garden.

As a leader, you either seed and feed your culture or deal with the weeds in your culture. You are preparing the garden and are the ultimate gardener. Are you cultivating your people? Are you helping prune and shape them for growth?  

The new reality is CEOs and company leaders must help their employees grow personally and professionally for longer-term success. Declining birth rates mean fewer people are moving into the workforce. How do you grow in the areas that a human can only manage?

How do you “seed” your culture?

• Choose what you plant. Think about the result and choose the right seed from the start. If you want apples, orange seeds aren’t going to help you.
• Prepare the ground – Do you have the systems and processes to help your seed grow to its full potential?
• Feed your seed – An environment of coaching, training, and development is a new benefit. The growth needs to be personal and professional. We can’t expect to milk more from our people. Many companies will, but it is a mistake if you seek long-term growth.
• Prune your weeds – Even the best gardens have weeds. How you deal with them determines how they affect the rest of the plants. Frequent conversations with empathy and transparency allow the most room for growth.

Keep in mind the environment you are enabling. How you deal with wins and mistakes either accelerates or diminishes growth.