With the beauty of spring comes the stress that accompanies the start of the season for landscaping companies. It’s been nicknamed the “100 days of hell” because of the chaos that so often ensues. This year, much like last, we have the added stress of COVID-19 and the stress of the unknown when it comes to zones and restrictions. 

As Bruce Wilson put it, “In less disciplined organizations, spring makes everyone a firefighter”. You’re constantly putting out fires, it gets out of control quickly and by the time you see the financial impact, it is too late to do anything about it. Some companies never escape the spiral.

If this is sounding a little too familiar (and uncomfortable), here are a few tips Bruce Wilson suggests to help you move out of the firefighting space permanently:

1. Understand the difference between routine and non-routine work. Weekly maintenance is routine work, while nonroutine work includes things like post-winter cleanups,...

Fleet management is an important part of your business. It includes things like leasing, financing, general maintenance, licenses and compliance, supply chain management, accident management, monitoring and diagnosis, driver management, fuel management and safety management among many other things.

For a simple start to managing your assets, try keeping an inventory spreadsheet with the most important information for each vehicle/piece of equipment and motorized hand tool. This allows you to have all the key information in one place for easy reference and the ability to look at the entire set of assets at a glance.

Choose a person who will own this process and have them set reminders on their computer or in their phone so that simple things like oil changes and routine maintenance are not being missed. 

When you're ready for the next step, consider a fleet management program or software. Should you need suggestions on what program to use, do not hesitate to reach out to us for...

Having an effective Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) is an often-overlooked component in an organization’s success strategy. 

The current Covid-19 pandemic, however, brings to light some of the benefits of having one.  For example, it allows for all the employee concerns regarding Covid-19 policies to be discussed with management on a regular basis through the employee representative. Feeling represented when it comes to your health and safety is always important. But during Covid-19 or any major health concern, it becomes especially important that your employees feel they have a voice.

A Joint Health & Safety Committee offers many benefits:

• Provides a way to empower employees while ensuring your organization remains compliant with current health and safety legislation.
• Promotes an attitude of problem-solving health and safety issues and an increased safety culture in your workplace.
• Encourages open lines of communication and strong working relationships...

Tailgate talks are one of the easiest ways to engage your staff and promote a culture of safety. They are specifically designed to be a quick review of safety protocols and techniques your staff have already been trained on as a reminder to keep safety in the forefront of their minds.  

Tailgate talks create the opportunity to connect with your entire staff once a week and enable you to not only touch on safety topics, but also to talk about changes in company policies, recognize individual or crew-based achievements, and acknowledge birthdays or other important events. 

Here are 5 tips for creating engaging tailgate talks: 

• Preplan your tailgate talks for the season so you don’t need to worry about what your next topic will be. Create a tailgate talks binder sorted by topics and dates relevant to the time of year (ie. In April, talk about blower safety ahead of spring clean-up) and decide in advance who will be speaking on each topic.
• Keep it short....

As you move into the very busy spring season, it’s crucial that you as the owner be organized. 

Over the years I have tried different tools and strategies and have a few I’ve come to love and use regularly. Click the link below/ the resources link in our bio for my list of go to tips and tools.

• Always keep a notebook handy - Evernote is my preferred digital notebook. https://evernote.com/
• Use a planner. It doesn’t matter if that’s paper or digital, just make sure it’s being updated on the go so that appointments and meetings are not being missed. I love using Calendly for appointments. If you’re using paper - I would recommend the Michael Hyatt Full Focus Planner. https://fullfocusstore.com/
• Set a morning routine and stick to it. When you do the same thing every morning, it removes the decision-making from that part of your day. This allows you to save your decision-making energy for the business and avoid decision fatigue
• Work with a coach...

A new month means a new book recommendation! This month’s recommendation comes to you from our staff member, Jordan Robertson. 

Have you read Safety Walk, Safety Talk?

Author Dave Galloway absolutely hits the mark as he explains how safety is first and foremost about caring. Throughout the book Galloway focuses on the mentality of safety itself and leaders that want to create a culture of safety throughout their organization.

You’ll read in depth discussions on compliance vs. commitment, how to develop a safety strategy as well as the psychological aspect regarding why people make mistakes and take risks.

One of our favourite parts of the book is that each chapter ends with a "Safety Leaders Toolbox" segment which gives practical tools and tips to becoming a better safety leader using small things you think, say and do everyday.

Here are Jordan's biggest takeaways from the book:

• Reading this book changed my outlook on the idea of safety in the workplace and I...

Let’s talk about firing. Although it’s uncomfortable, there are times when it’s essential. At those times, it’s important that you are prepared and that you do not avoid it. Total Landscape Care posted a couple of articles a number of years ago that are still relevant today. Here is a brief overview of my takeaways from reading them.

Things to remember:

• “The goal is not termination. The goal is to gain the performance you want. If it comes to it, the termination should never be a surprise to the employee” - Bill Cook (President, Human Resource Associates)
• Know the laws and create a paper trail. All infractions must be documented. It doesn’t hurt to book a call with an employment lawyer if there are any questions around it.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Why do you want to terminate them?
• Have you terminated others for similar performance?
• Do you see anything personal in your reasons?
• Have you exhausted all other remedies?

Three things to...

Onboarding is not finished once HR has all of the signatures they need. In fact, I would argue that it’s just the beginning. 

Onboarding, not a new but an often forgotten concept, should include things like values and vision of the company, and a training & employee development schedule. Staff should spend time with HR, owners, managers and crew leaders to get a well-rounded view of your company, how it runs and what will be expected of them. Training should be part of your onboarding process and should continue even after your employee has been assigned to a crew.

Continued training has been proven to improve efficiency, longevity, and safety. When you have an effective training program, employees learn how to efficiently and effectively do their job and they stay longer because they feel invested in the company and their role in it. On top of that, training helps avoid costly mistakes and often reduces the length of time it takes to complete tasks. So instead of...

“The primary purpose of an incentive plan is to positively shape employee behaviour toward improving the company’s financial performance.”

Profit Works is a must read for anyone wanting to create an incentive plan that gets results. Alex Freytag and Tom Bouwer are huge proponents of Traction (the book we base our coaching program on), and you’ll notice how their ideas and advice works together with the EOS system. 

Throughout the book Alex and Tom will walk you through the why, how and what in order to create an effective incentive program for your company. There are clear do’s and don'ts in this process and this book breaks them down and provides straightforward instruction for the “do’s”. 

3 things stood out to me as I read this book:

1. Incentive plans will not make up for bad management. 
2. This is not an overnight process. As mentioned in the book, it takes time and intention to teach your employees how they, as...

Although mental health is not a new issue, the impact and responsibility we have as business owners is relatively new and how we approach it is not always clear cut. More information and  training is becoming available to us, but a lot of it is from larger companies with greater resources, which can be tough if you’re a small business. With that being said, I understand that one of your biggest challenges is the unknown and we wanted to share 6 simple suggestions:

• Check in often with your staff and actively listen to them.
• Ensure your staff know that their job is not at risk because they share their mental health concerns.
• Talk about mental health with your staff regularly
• Talk about the importance of enough sleep consistently
• Create a work/life balance - don’t contact staff after hours whenever possible
• Consider switching to 4 day work weeks.

I believe open dialogue around mental health and a willingness to understand where your staff are at will make a world of...