Create and cultivate

By John Kennedy

As our industry slowly returns to the new normal, and ourselves and our teams begin to recover from the sacrifices we asked to make (reduced hours, more with less, and hopefully trimming the underperformers), the need to rebuild, renew and re-engage has never been more important.

As I write this, I am in a Midwestern town readying to work with an industry leader that has adapted to the “new norms” of the green industry, and is meeting them with great success head on.

In fact, after many years of pondering change, and even punting change, they are now fully engaged with the process of change, and are moving the ball down the field with momentum on their side.

“When the pain of remaining the same is greater then the pain of change, it is then that we finally commit to what we have instinctually known for quite a while.”

Overall, there are three types of change—change by crisis, change by drift and change by design. To build a new and improved culture to meet the new and improved needs of our clients, we need to design/build our team.

Change by design
I think we are all done with change by crisis, so let’s focus on change by design.

The first step in building your team is called forming, and that means looking at every player and determining the right seat for him or her on the bus (think Jim Collins’ book Good to Great).

Four years ago I encouraged clients to trade up to the talent that is going to get you where you need to be. If you haven’t yet, do it now.

Second is called storming—facilitating and debating the changes necessary to get to where you are headed. Keep in mind, having the right team is far more important than the direction you are headed, because with the right team, anywhere is possible.

The third stage is called norming—getting everyone aligned to a common cause, purpose or direction. And this is where the traction begins.

Whether your cause is a 98.5 percent fill rate on your orders, reducing energy usage, raising the average sale on each transaction/client (up-selling green) or increasing your customer satisfaction ratings, these can become the established norms that everyone can believe in, buy into and deliver.

Some clients chose values such as integrity, respect, faith, teamwork and commitment as their cause. These are also powerful “norms” to consider.

True leadership is where the norms are established, communicated and measured for success—daily. The team is only as great as the leader who is willing to invest to make them great. How invested are you?

And finally, my favorite, performing. What incentive programs do you have in place to make sure that not only engagement, but also rewards for excellence, are in play?

I love creating incentive programs for organizations. It is established in a concept called the “Great Game of Business.” In essence, you cannot expect what you cannot inspect. And rewards for excellence in inspection are a very key ingredient in building and sustaining a successful team. Setting the metrics in place for basic success is important, but what is imperative is what happens when we go above and beyond the call of duty.

Consider other norms/causes such as energy reduction, fuel usage, safety, inventory management, shrink, accounts receivable, sick days, overtime hours, new client acquisition, client sales growth, client retention, and my favorite of all—sales.

Read the rest of John's story here.