In this episode, Jeffrey Scott sits down with Desiree Bouchard, Integrator and General Manager, and Ellen Moore, Director of Continuous Improvement — both from Great Lakes Landscape Design in the Detroit, Michigan area. These two have built one of the most intentional...
Do you have a second-in-command who is able to steer your operations, and truly free up your time?
It’s a wonderful thing when you have the right person in that role.
The truth is: most seconds-in-command don’t have the support system they need.
They struggle in certain areas and don’t have their own group of peers to collaborate with.
This is why we developed a peer group specifically for these leaders: COO’s and Division Managers overseeing a minimum of 5M in revenue.
I polled the members in our group recently.
Here are some of the challenges they have faced, that we have helped them overcome.
My Personal Story.
Years ago my mentor taught me to help my employees when they were at their lowest.
If they had a death in the family, stop your schedule and have your team support the grieving employee, attend the funeral, whatever it takes.
I now try to do the same to support my clients.
With our large client base (over half a billion in revenue represented in our peer group community) we touch a lot of lives!
Continuous Improvement sounds like a cliche. Just like apple pie and motherhood (fatherhood), it brings a warm feeling to your heart, but it is much more than a platitude. It has the power to greatly tighten up your operations, whomever is leading it. Here’s a quick definition: It is “the ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and sometimes breakthrough changes”. It is mostly associated with process improvement. “How to continually improve processes, to give your clients a better experience, while helping your people become more efficient.”
I am proud to present my latest interview with two movers and shakers in the landscape world: Loriena Harrington and Shanna Scordo.This interview is valuable whether you are a woman or a man! Women will gather ideas, motivation and empowerment. Men will broaden their perspective, and increase their chances of attracting and retaining women in their company.
Ron Edmonds (founder of Principium Group) was a guest speaker at one of my peer groups recently, and shared some valuable tips for buyer’s and seller’s of landscape firms.
Here are some of the takeaways, as shared (to me) by some of my clients who attended this peer group meeting.
Last week we held our annual “Executive Retreat”, a client-exclusive event in NOLA for owners and their managers.
It was very HIGH energy, and the idea sharing was way beyond what you get at a typical landscape conference.
Here are 10 useful ideas that you can “rob and duplicate”:
As I reflect on the year ahead, I like to make sure we bring along the important lessons from the previous year.
Because “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.
The year was tough enough, lets learn from the experience.
HERE ARE MY SIX IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM 2022
Southwest Airlines was unprepared for their recent weather crisis. As the snow bomb and arctic storm unfolded over the holidays, it became clear that something was wrong at Southwest (I was flying on that day, so I know.). In hindsight, Southwest made one huge mistake that had a tragic domino impact on their schedule and passengers. Their mistake: They were not “proactive.”
