Landscape Management, October 2012

BUSINESSPLANNER2013 Prepare Latinos for leadership PHOTO NATIONAL HISPANIC LANDSCAPE ALLIANCE By Sonia Diaz ts no secret the Hispanic workforce has become an integral part of success for many lawn care and landscape companies A recent study published by the U S Hispanic Chamber of Commerce declared the lawn care and landscape industry as key to the economic and entrepreneurial development of the Hispanic community in the U S and the numbers are staggering Latinos represent 352 percent of the industrys workforce more than twice the national average for Latinos in all other industries combined While its clear that Latinos are a vital part CoCal Landscape owner Chuy Medrano networks at a National Hispanic Alliance reception of the industry its not as clear how we can best prepare them today so that they will be ready to fearlessly lead into tomorrow Many companies and organizations in the industry have already begun to teach train and invest in their Hispanic staff with the goal of preparing them for senior level positions CoCal Landscape in Denver owned by Jesus Chuy Medrano president of the National Hispanic Landscape Alliance is one of those companies Lets look at some of its best practices when cultivating Hispanic talent Landscape Mentoring programs Cross train the best guys Have the irrigation techs show the new guys the way to run the controllers Have the supervisors ride with the foreman Show them the way little by little and you will soon have an effcient and well organized workforce Mark Yaw landscape project manager CoCal Landscape The one factor that keeps most of us motivated at our own jobs is the possibility of being able to expand and grow in our roles These expectations and hopes are no different for your site crews regardless of their ethnicity For companies with a particularly high number of Hispanic LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OCTOBER 2012 96 employees their future success and maybe even their survival depends on being able to move some of these employees into leadership roles While some leaders will emerge naturally its important to realize that making a conscious effort to educate and promote Latino talent is crucial Mentoring programs allow workers to get a broader perspective of what it takes to run the business while providing employees with the feeling that the company has taken a vested interested in their growth When mentoring employers should pick those employees who have shown the most potential and highest level of performance as not all employees are cut out to be leaders If incorporating a mentoring program is not possible simply allowing your best talent to cross train with others on the job can really make a difference Attitude reÁects leadership I get by with little Spanish and I think its because the guys know I am trying to help them do their job and they want to help me Stacy Parcell lead designer CoCal Landscape While Hispanics are increasingly playing a vital role in our economy the language barrier continues to be a big challenge for many employers Learning English is one of the most overwhelming challenges for this workforce Instead of seeing the language barrier as an obstacle employers should consider it an opportunity to build a closer relationship with their crews Simple interactions such as asking them to teach you key Spanish words and phrases will not only help you communicate with them better it also will make learning English words less intimidating for them When possible employers should have their most important employee documents translated into Spanish such as health benefts and employee handbooks Some