Garden Pests

One day your pepper plant looks beautiful and the next day, it looks defeated! What happened?

Although I could share many more lessons from my garden, this post must wrap up my theme for July. We need to deal with those pesky weeds and pests if we want our vegetables to thrive! When weeds grow, they can crowd out your beautiful vegetables and hide pests like aphids, beetles, and slugs. The vegetables and weeds will eventually compete for water, sunlight, nutrients, and precious space in the garden. If these weeds are allowed to grow, the entire garden suffers. The same is true for your organization.

Before you jump to any conclusions, I’m not saying that you need to fire your employees. They aren’t weeds, but their negative behavior is. However, it would be best if you clearly defined what negative behavior is. For example, some people may believe that personal conversations are negative, while others may feel that these conversations are necessary for healthy relationships. In my opinion, personal conversations are dandelions in an organization. Some people like them while others don’t!

The great news is you can reduce the weeds in your organization. Just imagine the different departments in your organization looking like a big garden. A few pretty weeds on the outside are ok and won’t cause damage. They could even attract healthy insects like ladybugs (they eat aphids!). Now think about a person struggling in an accounting role. They might flourish as a receptionist or in customer service.

Here are a few practical ways you can start dealing with your weeds:

Do you have employees that have a negative influence on the morale of the department? Are their coworkers happiest when that employee is out of the office? If you answered yes to these questions, you need to identify the negative behavior and explain to the employee why it should change.
Have you heard the quote, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” It’s a great saying to remember the next time you’re interviewing applicants. If someone tells you that they prefer to work in a team environment, do not place them in a role where they will work alone most of the time. It would also help if you also spent some time preparing the soil before a new employee starts. A lot of intentional communication creates a healthy environment!
If you have a department doing well, consider adding a barrier of mulch. A thin layer of mulch keeps sunlight from reaching the soil and delays how quickly weeds can grow. Your mulch might be additional training on communication or sending employees to a conference together. You should also make sure to water each employee with personal and professional growth opportunities.

I hope my garden theme for July made you smile or chuckle at least once! I’m tossing around a couple of ideas for August. Be sure to check back next week to see what I decide on!

Categories: : Retention