As green industry professionals prepare to enter the busy season, it’s essential to take time to reflect on the previous year’s successes and challenges and arm themselves with the tools needed to tackle what lies ahead.
For those already in leadership positions or anticipating a shift to this type of role, there is always an opportunity for growth. Leadership skills should never stagnate, and it’s crucial that they keep pace with the rapid technological advancements we’re seeing across industries, ours included.
Having experienced my own role transition, I understand just how important it is to continue learning and growing so you can become a better green industry leader and help develop the next wave of leaders on our teams.
My Top 5 Leadership Tips
Have a Flexible Mindset
What exactly do I mean by having a flexible mindset? In essence, having a solid plan, but being able to understand changing circumstances, react appropriately, and pivot when necessary.
When leading a team and a business, things may shift, sometimes unexpectedly, due to weather impacts, customer requests or operational breakdowns. Having the mindset to quickly assess the situation, listen to your team, and develop agile solutions that can be used moving forward is a crucial trait of good leadership.
Select the Right Team
This piece of advice may sound like old hat, but there is a risk of deprioritizing talent development when we have many competing priorities that seem more urgent in the short term.
Labor shortages have made it difficult to find and retain talent. For those with an established team, it’s imperative to provide them with tools, training, and benefits to reward their hard work and provide opportunities for growth and advancement.
If you are looking to recruit, it’s important to find the right skills, but even more essential to identify individuals who are willing to learn and adapt and who will buy into the core values of your business. If you have a vocational school or program in your area, get involved by mentoring or hosting an event to make connections with the next generation.
Listen and Understand the Impact of Your Actions
Small actions by leadership often have a significant impact. As a leader, you encounter multiple people and situations in a given day, but a short or insightful one-on-one conversation can speak volumes to an individual who does not often get that kind of time. It’s also important to be aware of your tone and mindset when speaking to individuals or teams, regardless of the setting. The leader sets the tone for how teams behave.
Listening, however, is a key skill for a leader to have and to practice daily. As the old adage goes, “you have two ears and only one mouth: listen twice as much as you talk.” If you do not actively listen and take feedback from your teams, you won’t make progress and can risk making them feel alienated from the business.
Be Honest and Transparent
Another old saying, “honesty is the best policy,” rings true as a guiding principle of leadership. You should always maintain an open, honest environment so your teams feel empowered to share their insights and feel involved and motivated by their work. Conveying news, whether good or bad, with as much transparency as possible helps to bring teams together and ensure all are rowing in the same direction.
Embrace Technology
Over the last decade, technology has advanced and changed nearly every industry, including outdoor services. While many green industry leaders may have been skeptical or hesitant at first, those who now embrace new technologies are poised to stand out. Being adept with new technologies is a differentiator for individuals and businesses that go on to lead successful endeavors.
When assessing new technologies and how best to implement them in your business, think through the customer perspective first. In a world where people are used to instant access and delivery, understanding the level of service expected is crucial.
It’s also critical to consider your teams and how their jobs will be affected or changed by new technologies. Safety is an area where my team is investing heavily in new technologies to improve the workplace for employees who work directly with materials and machines. Automating activities like quality control can help to streamline processes and ensure consistency, and the individual who previously held that role can shift to manage the technology and gain new skills. There are also AI tools that automate machine shutdown in the event of an incident, helping prevent workers from sustaining serious injuries, as well as mechanical exoskeletons that reduce strain during heavy lifting.
Other technologies to consider include those that enhance and streamline the design process, making it easier for clients to visualize and buy into projects, as well as tools that support business management. Overall, technologies implemented in the green industry should make the work safer, more efficient and more attractive to potential talent.
As current and future leaders look to motivate their teams this year, take a few moments to review these tips and how you can put them into practice. Generate trust with your teams by following through on commitments and prioritizing both their development and your own leadership development. Investing your time in continued growth will reflect well on you and your business and inspire your teams to put their best foot forward.
