Bright ideas in the Lone Star state

I’m currently still digging out from a few days in Dallas, Texas, where I attended the National Association of Landscape Professional’s Elevate event. It’s always great to network with people from the industry, even if it’s just to catch up for a few minutes. Aside from the networking and show floor, the event is loaded with education sessions. Here are a few takeaways:

Keynote speaker Liz Bohanon told her story of living out of her car, traveling the country to sell sandals she designed. But she had a couple of points that really resonated with me.

One was to let co-workers know they shouldn’t edit themselves as far as sharing feedback and ideas in meetings. Most people default to that setting to avoid embarrassing themselves with what they think might be a dumb idea.

You need to over-communicate that meetings are a space to share all ideas without judgement. And as a leader, if you start feeling judgmental, be curious and start asking questions.

This will get you out of the mindset of making judgmental statements. Like TV’s Ted Lasso said, be curious, not judgmental.

Another good point she made was to dream big — but allow yourself to dream small as well, because dreaming big can be overwhelming. Maybe within the big dream, there is a little dream you can really focus on and reach.

Jennifer Jorge, COO at King Green, presented on promoting from within. She advised the audience to avoid promoting from within based on tenure alone. Just because they have been at the company for a number of years in a position doesn’t mean they will excel in a promoted role.

One quality Jorge says a promoted employee should have is knowledge of how to use technology. That includes even the minute details of how to format a document properly.

Jorge also says promoted employees will still need onboarding in their new role. Sometimes it’s assumed the employee knows how to do their new job, but a promotion can be like starting a new job.

On a panel about developing an org chart, panelists discussed the lessons they have learned. Chase Mullin, owner of Mullin Landscapes said that just because someone moves up the org chart doesn’t mean they can’t move back down. It’s important to have open communication between the promoted employee and the manager to have an honest conversation if the new role isn’t working out.

Like I said last month, try and get out to a few events in the next few months to better yourself, even if it’s only a few new ideas.