I found myself embroiled in an online discussion where I found my anger levels rising because a poster implied that it was ok to get rid of staff who were apparently underconfident and not working fast enough. My immediate thought was “American Business Model”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that if your aim is straightforward profit, but what if profit isn’t your MAIN driving force? What if your model is driven by compassion & humanity? A desire to help others?
It started with his response to the above picture: “Starting a new job is like a race to stay hired/not get fired. Sure, growth and experience is great regardless of duration of stay. But in order to KEEP the job (and the growth) going, you need to learn lightning quick the do’s and dont’s of the employee’s environment. The employer isn’t paying you to learn, s/he is paying you to perform (and learn on the fly). Not walk or trot. FLY with wings on. That’s why an employer will say (today) I needed done “yesterday” (even though the task has just been assigned)“, and he continued with this: “I’m low on the totem pole still. Think of a totem pole like a tree about to be chopped down; the lower you are, the sooner you’ll get the axe“.
I tend to use a lot of analogies in my training, so I carried his forward and this is what I came up with (expanded a little for the blog)…think of a business like a tree.
As an ex-tree surgeon, I’d say that you often don’t need to cut the tree down; and you certainly don’t want to lay into it with an axe! Just train some of the limbs, nourish the roots, do a crown lift, or even a crown reduction if necessary and cut out the dead wood in the canopy. Think of the trunk as the front line staff; the ones that actually keep the company going from the roots up…the more solid and protected they are, the healthier the tree. You can’t remove a section of the trunk and plonk the remains back on the top just to make the tree shorter and hope it will grow. You can’t simply shout at it and tell it to “grow faster!”
Sometimes, the crown becomes top-heavy, and you have to reduce it; and I’m sure we’ve all seen companies where there are too many junior and middle managers (top heavy crown, deadwood, etc) with no resources and under pressure themselves because of poor nutrient (productivity & communication) flow, but then expecting the trunk (subordinate staff) to pick up the slack ‘just because’, ie, by placing undue pressure on those below to perform. They’re already under pressure…
A business is like any other growing and evolving organism; to be a great specimen worthy of “Wow! Look at my tree!”, it needs to be nurtured, effectively managed and encouraged. Too much pressure and weight from the canopy above, and the stem suffers and rots from within. It increases its ‘Sail Factor’ and is less able to weather the economic storms. When the stem suffers, workload decreases. When the workload decreases, the tree produces less of everything; flowers, fruit, leaves etc (ie, productivity & profit) and the whole thing will eventually collapse. The rich estate owner doesn’t always care, nor does he have to; he or she will merely plant more trees. Nurture the roots and the trunk. Care for the damn tree! Give it what IT needs to grow, not what YOU want it to have! Its organic. Like nature, it, we, all of it, is a system. Work WITH nature, not AGAINST it.
By acknowledging at the outset that there may be a problem with your tree, call in a specialist. Identify the problem. Is it stress? Is it disease? Is it systemic? Is it environmental? Prune only where necessary. Nourish the roots, take the pressure off them. Let some light in to the canopy, let the air circulate. Don’t crush the stem. Keep the bark intact. Deal with it.
And in the same way, support your staff and your colleagues. Nurture them. Praise them. Offer them positive incentives, then go and do the same with the other trees; your clients. No tree ANYWHERE ever grew any taller, healthier or more beautiful simply because somebody yelled at it to “Grow faster! I need those nuts YESTERDAY!”
Richard Branson said it best when he said “Look after your staff, and they will look after your customers”. A good trainer will do just that: train those limbs or that trunk in the desired direction. A good gardener will supervise, encourage, coach and mentor. But…if you leave that undernourished tree to its own devices with no support or guidance…
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