As I sit down to write this column, it’s late March, and the country is grappling with the coronavirus. In Ohio, where I live and operate my landscaping company, the governor has taken a proactive approach, first closing schools and then shuttering restaurants and bars. Two days ago, he issued a stay-in-place order and mandated that all nonessential businesses shut down for two weeks.
The order did not stipulate whether landscaping was essential or not, but at Grunder Landscaping Co. (GLC), we made the difficult decision to close. We did this to protect the safety of our team, our clients and our community. We concluded it was in the best interest of the long-term success of our business.
By the time this column is in front of you, I hope the health of our country will be in much better shape and that we’ve all been able to return to our everyday lives. But, obviously, I can’t know the future. What I do know is that the principles and practices you need to adopt to win in business are the same in good times as in bad.
Stay true to your vision, mission and core values. Identify and communicate to your team where you want your company to go, what you’ll do every day to get there and what beliefs and behaviors your team needs to uphold along the way. The companies that stand the test of time think and plan for the long term and stay true to who they are, come what may. At GLC, we’re committed to being the best landscaping company in our market and to operating with the values of quality, leadership, teamwork and profitability. By running every decision we make through this filter — including during times of uncertainty — we are growing the future of our business.
Put people first. At our Grow! annual conference in February, our keynote speaker, Chris Allen, shared with us a great maxim from the “Minimalism” documentary: “Love people. Use things.” Your people are the heart and soul and engine of your business. Treat them with empathy and respect. Listen to their concerns, check in with them to see how they’re doing and show them you appreciate them. In short, build a company culture that people want to be a part of.
Establish good processes and follow them. A good process is the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a specific task or objective. It should be in writing, understood and followed regularly and repeatedly. At GLC, we’ve spent a lot of time figuring out the most efficient way to get our crews out and on the road in the morning, to deliver quality work and to end the day by setting ourselves up for success the next morning. We’ve figured out a meeting schedule that accomplishes what we need to but doesn’t waste valuable time on extraneous discussions. In times of stress, there can be a tendency to throw standard processes out the window, but this is often when you need them most. Adapt and add them as you need to, but efficiency and structure will always serve you well.
Keep your eyes trained on your financials. Smart companies monitor and measure their financial performance closely and adjust and refine their strategy accordingly — regardless of whether business is booming or the economy is faltering. Regularly track your hours worked versus your hours budgeted, your backlog and your budget performance. Are you where you need to be, or do you need to make corrections? Numbers don’t lie. That’s a cliché because it’s true.
Stay safe, smart and strong, and I’ll see you next month!
