It is important to monitor every member of staff's progress in their development and to understand this it is probably best to think of them all as Sweet Peas.
Take Eric for example, he has been working in the warehouse for many years and nobody has taken any time or care with him, they simply planted him there are forgot all about him. After all they gave him an initial watering of appropriate welcomes, inductions and assurances that this is a great crowd to work with, oh and everyone is so nice.
Now step back and look at Eric with his granite features, stern unforgiving expression, body builders muscles and hard straight talkin' way and think of him as a Sweet Pea, a pastel purple Sweet Pea. But a word to the wise, don't let him find out that you are envisaging him as a Sweet Pea as it probably won't help your one on one relationship!
So why a Sweet Pea? Well this is a plant that you place in the ground as a small insignificant seedling. The first few days it just tries to survive its new environment then very slowly it spreads out little roots.Like all new employees it receives a lot of attention in the first few weeks but it is not long before the lazy gardener sees that it has 'taken' and leaves it to its own devises. This is a big mistake as the Sweet Pea has the potential to climb to the very top of the cane but first of all it requires a cane (a route plan of its career development) and then it needs to be informed that this cane actually exists.The earlier it is aware of the cane the sooner it can aspire to great heights within your company.
HOWEVER left to its own course of growth it will just lay flat on the ground with no obvious direction in a tangled mess. It will show no signs of really flowering and end up being in such a mess that you'd likely end up pulling it out of the ground and sending it packing to the compost bin labelling that one as a 'poor performer'!
Well the poor performer was YOU, the gardener or manager. Once you have planted your new employee into the ground don't forsake him or her, place a little string at the base of the canes for it to start training towards the canes, like little extra responsibilities of his own, even as simple as being in charge of the cleaning equipment or stationery cupboard. Ensure you have a Personal Development Programme (PDP) set up (the canes in the ground). Then ensure that he is given a copy of the PDP so he knows exactly what he needs to do to get to the top.
But it doesn't stop there as now you need to feed the plant, encourage it to grow with supplements like small extra training sessions directly aimed at its management skills.As it grows you will need to make regular reviews of its progress and at different 'Key Stages' you will need to help it by securing it to the frame work that you have set up and as it grows it will have the confidence to start putting its own feelers out, grabbing that frame work and heaving itself up the cane eventually blooming becoming a vibrant, confident, colourful plant creating a whole new vista in the group.
Sadly at this point it goes to seed and dies, still hay ho ehh!
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Thursday, 19 May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
Looking after the Roses
Every business has it's Primadonnas and they can usually be found in the 'creative' departments like Advertising or Marketing. They demand more care than they are worth and they are the ROSES.
The Rose provides a colourful display which in the scheme of things is only glorious for a short season and then they are gone leaving just a few rather ordinary leaves holding on for dear life to what amounts to just stick like stems.
They need a lot of attention which, for the most part, is disproportionate to the display that they give. You need to employ these people with care ensuring that you use just enough manure in the beginning to encourage them on but not so much that they aquire a constant need for it throughout the rest of the season.
Beware of the rose, they will appear dormant for 50% of the year, just a load of pricks on a stick, but every now and again they suddenly create new growth and come up with a spectacular show. Whilst they feel that you should be in total awe of them and their resplendent display of innovation do not forget that this is what you are paying them to do and at the end of the day they are still just a load of pricks on a stick with a colourful blob on the end for a short period.
They are prone to diseases (which we will skip over for decency's sake) and when they get past their best they need de-heading before they go to seed. Do not be too touchy feely about this, it is their destiny and indeed any indecision at this point can lead to you being scratched by a vicious thorn. No, when they lose their creativity and the bloom is no more than an odd petal hanging on for dear life then cut off the head and wait patiently for the next years worth of interns that are waiting to climb out of the hardened root ball.
Finally, as in most Hybrids you will sometimes get a cross pollination that produces something quite spectacular. Be it a fantastic marketing idea or an award winning strategy, take it, associate yourself with it, make it your own but most of all separate the two species that created it and savagely prune back their budget to within inches of the old growth. It is your idea now and the last thing you want is anyone contaminating it or claiming otherwise.
As you can see the Rose has its place in the business but a garden full of roses would be a garden full of manure covered thorny pricks that only come out smelling of roses a couple of months in the year.
For this reason DO NOT have more than a hand full of roses in your garden at any one time.
The Rose provides a colourful display which in the scheme of things is only glorious for a short season and then they are gone leaving just a few rather ordinary leaves holding on for dear life to what amounts to just stick like stems.
They need a lot of attention which, for the most part, is disproportionate to the display that they give. You need to employ these people with care ensuring that you use just enough manure in the beginning to encourage them on but not so much that they aquire a constant need for it throughout the rest of the season.
Beware of the rose, they will appear dormant for 50% of the year, just a load of pricks on a stick, but every now and again they suddenly create new growth and come up with a spectacular show. Whilst they feel that you should be in total awe of them and their resplendent display of innovation do not forget that this is what you are paying them to do and at the end of the day they are still just a load of pricks on a stick with a colourful blob on the end for a short period.
They are prone to diseases (which we will skip over for decency's sake) and when they get past their best they need de-heading before they go to seed. Do not be too touchy feely about this, it is their destiny and indeed any indecision at this point can lead to you being scratched by a vicious thorn. No, when they lose their creativity and the bloom is no more than an odd petal hanging on for dear life then cut off the head and wait patiently for the next years worth of interns that are waiting to climb out of the hardened root ball.
Finally, as in most Hybrids you will sometimes get a cross pollination that produces something quite spectacular. Be it a fantastic marketing idea or an award winning strategy, take it, associate yourself with it, make it your own but most of all separate the two species that created it and savagely prune back their budget to within inches of the old growth. It is your idea now and the last thing you want is anyone contaminating it or claiming otherwise.
As you can see the Rose has its place in the business but a garden full of roses would be a garden full of manure covered thorny pricks that only come out smelling of roses a couple of months in the year.
For this reason DO NOT have more than a hand full of roses in your garden at any one time.
Monday, 25 April 2011
The benefits of a well kept lawn.
Gardeners will argue amongst themselves until eternity about the best way to care for a lawn. Some will cut it to within a centimetre of its life whilst others will stipulate it should be exactly 2" and fed every third day with a proven lawn food. In short there is plenty of room for movement in how you care for your lawn and whilst this is important and something that we will come back to, you need to look at the bigger picture at this stage and ask yourself wht is the function of the lawn.
Consider this, Your business structure has many departments, with many skills and areas of responsibilities. These responsibilities require a formal definition to allow individual accountability to be clear and that core structure, the central cohesive heart is in gardening terms the lawn. The lawn sits in the garden, surrounded by a hundred other goings on and provides the stability that every garden needs. The lawn is of one colour, your business goals should be of a unifying single colour, too may varieties of grass seed and it will appear patchy, uncertain and a mess.
Like a lawn you should ensure that the edges are clearly defined, this avoids confusion as to where the boundaries are and prevents staff in departments over spilling their areas of authority. The edge should be absolutely crisply cut preventing anyone from mistaking where their border ends and furthermore the lawn needs to be revisited monthly (more in peak times) to review if any plant is encroaching on the border. This is an important task as in busy times it is easy to let the core business goals grow long and straggly or worse still dry up and become a withered version of themselves. However flexibility is important and if you are finding that one or two primroses are seeding themselves on the edge of the lawn with a splay of colour well don't mow over them with your dogma lawn mower, but review their progress and re-evaluate that boarder. When it is the right time an individual will, all of a sudden, flourish and you should allow a little 'give' at this point whilst being mindful that the encroachment could take over. Give it a little time and if a whole new border develops then utilise it, re-defining your business goals to suit the new or revitalised department.
Most people in your business like to know their place in the scheme of things (the border) but wish to stay fully engaged with others in the company and the lawn is the area that all interaction can occur. Look after this area and all the others become that little bit easier to manage.
.
Consider this, Your business structure has many departments, with many skills and areas of responsibilities. These responsibilities require a formal definition to allow individual accountability to be clear and that core structure, the central cohesive heart is in gardening terms the lawn. The lawn sits in the garden, surrounded by a hundred other goings on and provides the stability that every garden needs. The lawn is of one colour, your business goals should be of a unifying single colour, too may varieties of grass seed and it will appear patchy, uncertain and a mess.
Like a lawn you should ensure that the edges are clearly defined, this avoids confusion as to where the boundaries are and prevents staff in departments over spilling their areas of authority. The edge should be absolutely crisply cut preventing anyone from mistaking where their border ends and furthermore the lawn needs to be revisited monthly (more in peak times) to review if any plant is encroaching on the border. This is an important task as in busy times it is easy to let the core business goals grow long and straggly or worse still dry up and become a withered version of themselves. However flexibility is important and if you are finding that one or two primroses are seeding themselves on the edge of the lawn with a splay of colour well don't mow over them with your dogma lawn mower, but review their progress and re-evaluate that boarder. When it is the right time an individual will, all of a sudden, flourish and you should allow a little 'give' at this point whilst being mindful that the encroachment could take over. Give it a little time and if a whole new border develops then utilise it, re-defining your business goals to suit the new or revitalised department.
Most people in your business like to know their place in the scheme of things (the border) but wish to stay fully engaged with others in the company and the lawn is the area that all interaction can occur. Look after this area and all the others become that little bit easier to manage.
.
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