6-21-10 The Care and Feeding of Landscapes and People

To celebrate the first day of summer, I designated today as landscape maintenance day. Woo hoo. It is 95 degrees here in the Midwest today (and humid!) --- so we get our yard work out of the way early in the day this time of year.

As I was mowing, it occurred to me how ironic the whole landscape-keeping cycle is. I mean, think about it. We nurture the lawn…. We seed, we plant, we feed, we water. And then? We cut it all off so that we can start the cycle over again. It just seems ironic to me that we work so hard to nurture the lawn, only to whack it short. And we do the same darned thing for the flower garden, the vegetable garden, and the shrubs/trees. The only thing in the landscape that is exempt from the whole process is the rock garden.

However, despite the irony of the whole process, there is something satisfying in watching your landscape prosper throughout the cycle of maintenance.

I would suggest that the same cycle is used in the care and feeding of people. Some might not like the metaphor, but in my mind, it fits. As an executive, one of the primary responsibilities is the “maintenance” of the people in the organization. We nurture. We coach. On occasion, we hand-hold. We teach. We demonstrate. We give feedback. We cheer on. We reward. Frankly, this is one of the most rewarding parts of the executive’s job.

And periodically, we have to rein our people in. It is our responsibility to protect our people from getting so far out on a limb that it bends beyond recognition --- or snaps. But if we are good at our executive job, we never, ever make the “clipping” process painful or personal. It isn’t easy for any executive to do this, but like lawn maintenance, it must be done.

And like the landscape maintenance process, there is a great deal of satisfaction when you see your people learn and grow and prosper.

Cheers!