A strategic plan defines who you are as a business and lists concrete actions to achieve your goals, so creating one takes time and thought. Let’s discuss the W’s of strategic planning:

Who should be involved?

Clearly the owner should be involved. And depending on the type of plan you’re creating, you might also want to include division leaders, administration, sales staff, operations management and a facilitator.

What should be discussed or decided?

The strategic plan meeting should identify or review the company vision, mission and core values, a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, company goals and objectives as well as an action plan.

When should you prepare a strategic plan?

A strategic plan should be created annually, reviewed quarterly and discussed weekly.

Where should the meeting take place?

It has been our experience that the most productive meetings take place outside of the office. We recommend booking an offsite location...

The original article by Kate Heinz can be found here. 

Engaging employees is a highly effective business strategy, but it’s easier said than done. Your first inclination might be to build out a new benefits package or offer office perks like cold brew on tap or a wellness room. While your team will likely appreciate the new stuff, these changes do more to increase job satisfaction than boost employee engagement — two related but different concepts. 

Employee Engagement Strategies:

• Take employee surveys.
• Uphold your company’s core values.
• Carve out career paths and provide opportunities for growth.
• Promote employees from within.
• Recognize top performers.
• Promote transparency.
• Allow for honest feedback.
• Hold employees accountable.
• Hold leadership accountable. 

What Is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement is defined as the degree to which an employee is motivated and passionate about their work. While it’s often confused...

The original article by Alan Kohll can be found HERE.

Company culture is an integral part of business. It affects nearly every aspect of a company. From recruiting top talent to improving employee satisfaction, it’s the backbone of a happy workforce. Without a positive corporate culture, many employees will struggle to find the real value in their work, and this leads to a variety of negative consequences for your bottom line.

According to research by Deloitte, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct corporate culture is important to a business’ success. Deloitte’s survey also found that there is a strong correlation between employees who claim to feel happy and valued at work and those who say their company has a strong culture.

There’s a reason why companies who are named as a Best Place to Work see so much success. These organizations tend to have strong, positive corporate cultures that help employees feel and perform...

Our industry offers a vast amount of professional development opportunities. This is one of the things that sets us apart from other industries.

As we continue our focus on lifelong learning, we wanted to make you aware, if you aren’t already, of some of the great learning opportunities available to you that are specific to our industry.

LANDSCAPE ONTARIO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Landscape Ontario's Professional Development has extensive resources to help provide you with tools for personal and business growth. They offer a wide range of topics, allowing you to update your skills or learn something new. They offer in-person and online seminars. Click HERE to see the list of 2023 seminars.

LMN (Landscape Management Network)

LMN offers a number of ebooks, videos and on-demand webinars covering topics related to running and growing a business: budgeting, business planning and growth, estimating, hiring, improving efficiency, and marketing and sales. For a list of the...

The popularity of podcasts is increasing[1]. Not only are more people listening to podcasts, but they’re listening to more podcasts. The beauty of podcasts is their accessibility. They’re free, they’re available through many different apps and programs, and you can listen anywhere at any time. I enjoy listening to podcasts while I’m driving or walking the dog. Marla and I listen together when we’re on road trips. 

Most podcasts put out new content on a regular basis, usually weekly or monthly. And I usually anticipate the release of a new podcast. I love hearing interviews with successful business owners who are willing to share their struggles and victories. These are real life stories of well-known people and businesses. I find I am encouraged to persevere and always take away some new knowledge or best practice suggestion. The podcasts provide links and additional content regarding the topic being discussed in the show notes.  With so many...

"The most productive business leaders I coach recognize productivity is not about getting more things done; it's about getting the right things done. It's about starting each day with clarity and ending with a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, and energy to spare. It's about achieving more by doing less, and this book shows you how." (Michael Hyatt, Free to Focus)

This book is a productivity game-changer. Michael Hyatt guides you through the process and provides tools to identify the work that is the most productive and most satisfying. The work that allows you to achieve more by doing less. He says that , "the important question is not, Can I do this job faster, easier, and cheaper? It's, Should I be doing this job at all?"

"If you want to master your schedule, increase your efficiency and output, and create more margin in your life for the things you care about, you've got to learn how to focus. I'm talking about the ability to zero in and do the deep work that creates a...

“Crucial Conversations draws our attention to those defining moments that literally shape our lives, our relationships, and our world. . . . This book deserves to take its place as one of the key thought leadership contributions of our time.” (From the forward by Steven R. Covey)

Crucial conversations are those we have with important people in our lives, both personal and professional, where the outcome of the conversation will have a significant impact on our lives. This book teaches you how to manage and use these conversations to their full potential in order to build a better life.

No one likes difficult conversations. But they are necessary and they're important for the health of our business, our relationships and our mental wellbeing. Using the tools outlined in the book, you'll be equipped to handle these conversations with confidence, care, and clarity, making it safe to talk about almost anything and be persuasive, not abrasive.

Crucial conversations...

I had the opportunity earlier this month to speak at the Landscape Alberta Green Industry Show & Conference (GISC). One of the seminars I led was Grow Your Snow Business. As we’re just starting the winter season, I thought that some of the information I shared at that seminar might be helpful and get you off to the most efficient start. Although I was speaking specifically about snow businesses, all this information is easily transferable to any contracting business.

We talked about six areas of business: Leadership, Customers, Staff, Finances, Operations, and Safety. Below I’ve listed some key points for the first three areas. each area, as well as some KPI’s to help you have success in that area.

1. LEADERSHIP

• Invest in professional development opportunities: Always be learning. Attend conferences, get involved in your local landscape organization, listen to podcasts, read books, network with others, join a peer group.
• Implement regularly scheduled meetings:...

In my conversations with business owners, there are issues and problems that seem to arise over and over again. They’re the same problems most owners deal with, the same ones I deal with. We found this article by Roberta Matuson to be very practical and helpful - 7 common mistakes business owners make and how to avoid them. I’m all about avoidance when it comes to mistakes! Take a look and let us know what you think. Do you have any other tips to add to the list?

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I've been in business for over 20 years and have seen my share of mistakes made by business owners — many that certainly could have been avoided. Here’s my list of common mistakes business owners make, along with advice on how to avoid following suit.

1. Failure to hire for fit.
Think about a job that you worked in that didn’t work out. Was it because you didn’t have the skills to do the job, or was it because your values did not align with the...

“I left my first meeting with Grant and Marla knowing 2 things without a doubt: 1) Kindness and generosity are at the forefront of every interaction they have, and 2) I needed to be part of the Nextra team" (Jordan - Nextra Team Member) 

Generosity and humility are two of our core values at Nextra. We believe in their power and strive to live them out in our professional and personal lives every day. We have been on the receiving end of much generosity and humility and we remember how good and thankful it made us feel. We want people to experience that feeling when they interact with us.  

Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. And it is so true. Generosity and humility are expressions of kindness. Did you know studies have linked kindness to physical and emotional health? They’ve discovered kindness lowers levels of stress hormones, leaves...