Plant Personality! Understanding the Thinkings Styles and Needs of your People...

[Jason Stevens]

 

Growing grass is easy…

 

…growing some plants is not…

  

Plants seem to have a bit more Purpose about them.

 

People can’t be mass grown and treated all the same way. Garden management is about managing diversity and dealing with new challenges every day. Managers can’t create a great garden just by putting a load of turf down and mowing it every couple of weeks!  Remember your garden vision and stick to it. If you just want to look after turf ask your local football club. Ensure all plants are treated equally. If you have a dozen sunflowers and you only feed and water your favourite three, it won’t be long before you see the consequences in the results and other people will notice too.

 

Plants, like people, need to add value – We all want to be heading somewhere or towards something. There has to be something meaningful in what we do, say, are, or could be. There has to be a purpose to all this surely?

Plants need to know that eventually all this effort is going to be worth it. For some plants maybe it’s the chance to bloom, bear fruit or sow seeds for future generations.

 

People are the same, in some ways they want to bloom. They want to achieve, reach a destination or a promotion, bear fruit or give something tasty back that can be used by others, or, even sow seeds by ensuring legends of their presence and achievements remain for future generations in the garden or business.

 

 

What are the motivations for your plants to do a good job?

 

Why are they here? If you were to ask each one of them (without allowing any conferring) how aligned and succinct would they be about their existence in your garden?

 

Would any of their reasons or motivations for working here differ?

 

 

So, regardless of their overall intentions people and plants need to know that they are going in the right direction and if they are not then what can they do to get back on track. It’s the manager’s job to fill any gaps regarding the objectives of a plant or the purpose of that plant in the garden.

 

Why am I here?

What value do I add?

What will my results look like, be like and feel like?

What impact will my success have on others?

What is my overall contribution?

What is my purpose?

How does my role fit with others?

How does my role fit with the big plan /picture?

What would be the impact of me not being here?

What are the consequences of doing better than expected?

What are the consequences of not doing as well as expected?

What will other people say, feel and do when I have achieved?

What strengths do I bring?

How can my weaknesses be developed or compensated for?

What unique gift do I bring to this garden?

 

But don’t forget that just like your plants you, as the gardener have a purpose too. How would you answer these questions?

 

 

Some plants have short term goals and others are in for the long run.

  Don’t expect every plant to be around for the next 25 years!

 

•Some will stay  and add value to the garden until they die

•Some will stay, become tired, a bit knotty and “survive”

•Some will randomly perform and bloom every now again

•Some will do their bit and then be gone

 

 

  Some people are happy to stay 6, 12 or 24 months (a couple of seasons) and then move on. It’s more productive being upfront about it and getting the best out of them for the time they are in your garden than moaning about their lack of “commitment” or finding ways to force them to stay or even making their life hell before they go.

 

Have you ever seen hanging baskets left starved of water even when the flowers were still in bloom and before the summer had ended because the gardener knew the performance wouldn’t last anyway? And then there are those who will keep them there all winter to make a point to the others, imprisoned in their basket of damp moss! Refusing to let them go. “If I can’t have you then no-one can!”

 

Fortunately, most people would leave before it got that bad. But again, some don’t, what a shame that it actually gets to that stage sometimes.

 

Plants have it built in them to pass on their genes to the next generation. I’m not saying that staff need to pass on their genes to other plants in your business, (that may create a few costly employment tribunals) but most people want to leave a legacy for others to follow once they have gone. Ask your plants what kind of legacy they want to leave behind for the business and for other plants to follow. How can someone work in a business for 5/10/15/25 years and not leave anything behind to show for it apart from the chair they sat in, a couple of  randomly twisted paper clips in their desk tidy and some DNA smeared on a yoghurt spoon they never got around to washing in their drawer.

 

 Managers radiate their warmth to staff and how much varies greatly.

From a number of “daylight hours” to “daylight minutes” or even in some cases 24 hour darkness!

A plant getting daylight hours will do better than a plant left in the dark!

Some plants can live with less light and some need more, some actually like a bit of shade and don’t like to be smothered in attention whilst some people demand more light when they don’t deserve it and so on.

 

Think about who gets your light;

 

When do you give it?

 

How much do you give, to whom and in what amounts?

 

How do you shine?

Full sun, hazy, part cloud, covered or eclipse!

 

When do you “rise” and when do you “set”

 

They say that the sun is always shining above the grey sky

 

What is the grey sky that gets in the way of your sunshine? How do you burn the business clouds away?

 

At what time in the day are you at your highest point in the sky?

 

What are you like in the morning compared to the afternoon?

 

How does your sun compare to all the millions of other suns?

 

In the gardening world there are stages to a plants development. It all starts with a seedling germinating and growing into a juvenile plant before becoming a mature plant and then finally into the last stage which is flowering. People, like plants go through similar stages, you could consider a seedling to be a new starter, a juvenile to be an up and coming plant, a mature plant as one who is quite hardy having been around for a while and the flowering plants are the ones who are at their peak and adding real value, a presence and impact from a various aspects of your garden.

As a manager we need to recognise that like plants, our people are going through a journey of their own but with a slight twist. With people, someone who was flowering in full bloom one week may behave like a seed the next week. For example, this may happen when you promote someone. They may have been flowering in their previous part of the garden but with a new position or role, responsibilities and tasks to achieve they may now be like a new employee and demonstrate aspects associated with a seedling (a small plant now trying to grow in a much bigger pot).

  Or, when a potted plant is thriving then outgrows its pot- if you don’t move it they will not continue to perform, in fact it’s likely to underperform as it becomes “pot bound” or stuck in the same place in work.

Great managers know where their people are on the people life cycle and adapt their management approach to suit the person and the immediate needs.

 

Let’s look a bit closer at one of the stages, the seedling.

 

Seedling = A “question mark” employee, new starter or promotion.

 

Careful selection required – there are different qualities and grades

available based on source and cost

 

Huge potential – but hard to spot at this early stage

 

They’re keen to get started...loads of energy... bursting with “goodness”

 

Tentative and needy as they require direction and encouragement

 

Provide extra care and attention – it’s easy to lose them!

 

Realistically, some may not germinate or make it – prepare yourself and

the business for that

 

Fragile or weak? Protect from frost, wind and office politics / banter

 

Encourage them to embed their roots into the company / business

 

Provide support when and where required

 

Where are your people on their journey?

 

How well do you manage the seedlings in your business?

 

How well / easily can you move your people from one stage to the next?

 

At what stage are you? How will you reach the next stage?

 

What approaches to plant management does your boss need to adopt or be aware of?

Closely monitor, evaluate progress and redirect when needed

 

Don’t smother in kindness – it can be counter-productive