GreenIndustryPros.com |

Alan and Andy Skoog are frustrated. Alan, Andy’s father and founder of Skoog (pronounced Sk-oh-g) Landscape and Design in the early 1970s, would like to grow his company. His original vision of having multiple outlets in the small towns surrounding his home base of Chadwick, Illinois has stalled at two. After 30 years of doing things right, a lack of qualified employees who are ready, willing and able to move into leadership roles is what has held the business to about $750,000 for several years.

Andy would like to grow his staff, add more crews, maximize the company’s investment in its equipment and grow sales out of the two outlets it currently has.

The Skoogs include in “doing the right things” a focus on skill development, encouraging employees to take on more responsibility, and opening their books to show employees how the company’s finances affect their personal bottom lines. So what’s the problem? An age old one: The employees aren’t receptive. An effort to open the books was met with skepticism. “One of the guys told us he thought we made the numbers up to make them feel bad. They were the same books we had just taken to the bank,” Andy recalls.

The Skoogs belong to at least six trade groups and have paid for employees to attend conferences and seminars, again, fewer employees express an interest than the two would like. Encouraging them to read trade magazines for the educational information we publish also did not work. After much futile prodding, Alan placed a $20 bill in one of the many magazines he keeps near the time clock. After about a week or 10 days, he found the money still tucked inside. He called his guys together and told them there was money in the magazines and that they were missing the boat by not trying to improve themselves. He then picked up the magazine, shook it and out fell the $20 bill. “I don’t know how much more graphic I could get. About all that can be said of that effort is that the magazines are no longer dusty, since they check them for money now,” Alan says with pained laugh.

About all Alan and Andy can glean from their experiences is that his employees don’t think of themselves as professionals. Even after earning college educations, both men live by the motto, “School’s never out for the pro.” As Alan turns 63 soon, he only wishes that a couple of the guys on his crew, at least one of which he cares for like a third son, would step up. Andy would like nothing more than to have a capable, talented management team to help him into the future.

Read more about the Skoogs and their company in our PRO Profile.