Workforce Development
GROW YOUR PEOPLE
BY JASON STEVENS
I have spent many years in the field of Learning and Development helping, guiding and supporting managers to transform themselves into highly effective Managers and Leaders. I have trained, facilitated, mentored and coached.
I have in some cases probably manipulated and bribed people along the way, which is definitely not good practice, but what else can you do when someone just doesn’t get what managing people is all about?
This remained a challenge for me until I linked effective People Management with effective Gardening Management.
There seems to be a strong link (for me) between a great gardener and a great manager. So, rather than “sell” management as a concept and get bogged down in theoretical management gobbledygook, I focused on practical, pragmatic steps to becoming a brilliant people manager in a fun and light way without missing or skimming over powerful theoretical principles. This was achieved by relating the skills, knowledge and sometimes more importantly, the attitudes of a great gardener with that of a typical people manager.
A highly effective gardener nurtures and grows a variety of horticultural challenges with a view to getting the best performance out of the various flowers, fruit and vegetables. A gardener’s satisfaction and motivation stems from seeing plants do blooming well through the day to day support they provide and the application of their gardening knowledge, skills and style.
A few years ago I planted the concept of growing people like plants with managers, Directors, HR teams and professional bodies, I soon began to realise that everyone gets it! The metaphor created a simple way to discuss effective management from a 3rd person perspective.
I use the metaphor regularly on my development programmes and have never known a more effective and memorable way to get managers to understand their role and the impact they have on people to achieve results and business success.
In fact, the gap between the metaphor and us is not as wide as you may think. We share half the same DNA as a banana and our blood is almost identical to the pigment (chlorophyll) found in plants, although our blood contains molecules of iron, whereas plant’s contain molecules of magnesium… so there!
So, if you want to make a difference in your organisation you’ll need to get your hands dirty and get stuck into some simple steps to growing the ideal people garden.
Now that’s an interesting point. Sometimes I look at teams and departments and relate them to gardens. Some are maintained well and all the plants are performing as expected. The manager takes great pride in their garden and works tirelessly to get the best out of every single plant. And then there are some who don’t.
It’s a bit like those potted plants that can often be seen in company receptions, on windowsills and in hallways. You know the ones… the unloved ones. These are the plants with droopy brown leaves, a pot that’s too small, rarely watered and often taken for granted. The expectation is that they should “just grow” rather than be encouraged and supported to do so.
What a shame… but then I guarantee you know someone who is just like that plant. The unloved employee with droopy shoulders, a job that’s too small (or big!), rarely communicated too, often taken for granted and just expected to get on with it and deliver results.
30 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE MARCH 2015
FOR blooming RESULTS
26 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE FEB 2015