Why are plants like people?

[Jason Stevens]

 

I have spent many years in Training and Development, helping, guiding and supporting managers to transform themselves into better managers.

I have trained, facilitated, mentored and coached. I have in some cases manipulated and bribed people along the way, which definitely is not good practice. But what else can you do when someone just doesn’t get what managing people is all about?

 

There seems to be a strong link (for me) between a great gardener and a great manager. So, rather than “sell” management as a concept and get bogged down in theoretical management gobbledygook, I focused on practical, pragmatic steps to becoming a more effective manager, in a fun and light way without missing or skimming over powerful messages.

This can be achieved by relating the skills, knowledge and attitudes of a great gardener, who nurtures and grows plants with a great manager who grows and nurtures their people / employees to achieve results.

 

After facilitating the concept of growing people with managers, clients, Directors, HR teams and professional bodies, I soon began to realise that everyone gets the gardening v management metaphor.

This is more than can be said for a lot of the dowdy, dusty and boring management books found on training library bookshelves.

People are really engaged with the metaphor, the method of learning and so I wrote a book about it, designed a suite of development programmes and worked with my clients to deliver it.

 

And, in 2010 Ican Grow People won the Peer Award for Innovation at the Training Journal Awards in London. So, that's the ultimate recognition from our peers that there is something special in all of this...

 

 

Plants = People and People = Plants

 

In fact the gap between the metaphor and us is not as wide as you may think.

 

We share half the same DNA as a banana and our blood is almost identical to the pigment (chlorophyll) found in plants, although our blood contains molecules of iron, whereas plant’s contain molecules of magnesium… so there!

 

As a taster for what you will see and hear in the Ican Grow People Garden, here are some of the concepts we will be visiting. See how you get on with visualising and interpreting what they might mean.

 

Answer the following questions and see where your mind and the metaphor take you.

 

•Why are culture and climate within work like the soil and weather conditions in a garden?

 

•What if the sole purpose of a plant to flower and seed was like a person’s motivation to achieve and add value?

 

•How would the seasons and the weather forecast relate to planning and anticipating trading / operational demands?

 

•Why is sunlight like the energy you invest in engaging your people?

 

•What if essential garden tools were similar to essential management skills?

 

•How would watering plants the right amount and in the right way be linked with communicating effectively with staff?

 

•Why is feeding plants like training and development?

 

•What if choosing the right seeds and new plants for your garden was like recruiting and selecting the right people for your business?

 

•How would a greenhouse be similar in purpose to a company induction?

 

•Why are garden paths in essence like order, progression and career paths Tags:

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