LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM GARDENING

We can learn a lot from watching perennials-plants. As someone who aspires to be a gardener I enjoy spending time planting and nurturing both flowers and vegetables. It is quite rewarding.  

I see powerful lessons in leadership from the simple act of putting plants in soil, making sure they are in the right conditions; shade/sun/partial shade/partial sun etc.  Of course they must be watered, weeded, pruned, fertilized and protected from those pesky rabbits!

What lessons in leadership have I learned from gardening for more than 20 years? Well, I learned the most important lessons of all; plants are smart and they inherently know just what to do given the right conditions. We humans are no different. We are wired with the right stuff and given the right work conditions we too will show this inherent smartness. We will grow, blossom and produce fruit.

Here's a true story told to me a few weeks ago by a leader at the 'C-Suite' level. He shared how much the turnaround time for certain projects has improved. That he finds he is doing less but getting more done. His direct reports are actively engaged and this he explains as meaning they're asking more probing open ended questions; they are putting forward ideas for solutions to technical problems and get this- all this, the leader shared is done in less time and accurately!

What's responsible for this account? The leader in question is part of an executive leadership development program that involves group leadership training and coaching as well as one-on-one executive coaching. The lessons and strategies learned from this program are personalized and internalized by the leader and consequently modeled in his behaviour toward his direct reports.

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