Landscape Management, October 2013

BUSINESS PLANNER 2014 Lead R un Grow 24 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OCTOBER 2013 PHOTOS RUPPERT LANDSCAPE your employees such as maintaining a certain work schedule wearing the company uniform or driving a company vehicle One of the best ways to reinforce your expectations is to set the standard by your actions so others can model the behavior Structure your values with policy When you get busy even your best laid plans fall by the wayside You meant to call your mom or planned to schedule a lunch meeting with a vendor to discuss a project Often the items on our to do list that arent urgent become less of a priority when schedules become busy One way to ensure important tasks are receiving the attention they deserve is to build structure around them If you say your people are your most important strength be sure your policies reflect that How will you ensure your employees are successful knowledgeable and happy Some examples include structuring training programs and guidelines for when you expect them to happen or regularly scheduling employee appreciation events which can be as simple as a lunch or happy hour after work to something more elaborate like an awards banquet or whitewater rafting trip If you set goals and policies to ensure youll take the time to follow through youre more likely to succeed Measure what you expect As you try to tie your values to your organization more closely measure and document important areas to provide a point of comparison because it will be more clear where your successes and challenges lie Putting numbers around anything thats essential to success might help underscore its importance If providing excellent customer service is high on a companys value list then performing yearly customer surveys might enable a company to better understand whats going well and what isnt If a companys principles center around people development and training its valuable to track if new employees are receiving their orientation on their first day on the job and existing employees are receiving their evaluations in a timely manner Putting employees first also might be measured through turnover rates or employee job satisfaction surveys Reward whats working You might have heard the adage You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar That saying has implications in almost all areas of life including the workplace While its important to be looking for areas where someone can be coached for improvement its just as important if not more so to recognize someone continued from page 22 WHILE ITS IMPORTANT TO LOOK FOR AREAS WHERE SOMEONE CAN BE COACHED FOR IMPROVEMENT ITS JUST AS IMPORTANT IF NOT MORE SO TO RECOGNIZE PEOPLE FOR WHAT THEYRE DOING WELL Clockwise from top left 1 Ruppert schedules companywide employee appreciation events such as awards banquets or picnics to show team members their contributions are valued 2 Because Ruppert values people development and training it tracks whether new employees such as the group participating in this new field managers orientation receive their training in a timely manner 3 The safety incentive program rewards company field managers and branches that demonstrate their commitment to safety Ken Thompson left Rupperts Virginia Landscape Construction branch manager accepts a check and award on his teams behalf from Dave Sanders Rupperts safety and loss prevention manager for being the companys safest branch of the year