Notes from Our 2015 Leadership Meeting

Posted by Joseph Barnes on Mar 6, 2015 12:00:00 AM
Last week Branch Managers from both Yellowstone Landscape companies, Austin Outdoor and BIO Landscape, came together to discuss how we will measure our success in the coming year. There were several inspirational presentations given on broad array of subjects, mixed in with some great team building activities. At the end of the three days, it was apparent to us all that we are fortunate to have such a great group of leaders within our companies.
What are our leaders taking back to their branches this week?

A renewed focus on the 5 things that are key to our companies’ success:

  1. Safety
  2. Lasting Relationships
  3. Financial Responsibility
  4. Growth
  5. Team Development

Safety

Always number one on our list of priorities. We are all responsible for Safety. Not only for the Safety of the 1500+ employees of Austin Outdoor and BIO Landscape, but equally for the residents, employees, and visitors at the properties where we serve. We know that landscaping can be a dangerous business, so we must remain focused on Safety every day. We are committed to growing our Culture of Safety.

Lasting Relationships

This year we have achieved record breaking retention rates within our companies. This is so important to us because we understand that lasting relationships have to be earned at each and every service visit. When clients are pleased with the results they see in their properties’ landscaping and how we deliver our services, they allow us to continue serving them. If they’re not, they find someone else to replace us. Immediately following Safety, lasting relationships are the best measure of success for our companies.

Financial Responsibility

There are thousands of landscaping companies across the country. We’re not aware of any of them that are non-profit organizations. We are all paid for the services we provide. It is our responsibility to our clients and the 1500+ people that we employ to charge a fair price for our services. Meeting our clients’ expectations, while being able to adequately reinvest in our business, replace equipment as needed, and train our employees. In order to do all these things, we understand that we must be financially responsible.

Growth

“We want to be the best landscaping company on the planet.” A direct quote from our CEO, Tim Portland. Does that mean that we’ll be opening branches across the globe? No. It does mean we understand that any business that isn't growing can’t succeed. Growth creates new relationships with new clients. It also creates increased capabilities and more efficient ways to serve our existing clients. Within our companies, growth creates opportunities for talented individual to progress beyond where they are today.

Team Development

As our company continues to grow, we’ll need more leaders. Who are our next Branch Managers, Business Development Managers, and Account Managers? We believe that many of them are already working for us, so it’s critically important to develop our talent from within. There’s a popular saying around our offices that our employees come to us for a job, but they only stay for an opportunity. It is our leadership’s responsibility to create opportunities for our team to advance.

When our leaders reconvene next year, we’ll measure where we are in respect to each of these 5 areas of importance that we've committed to. When we show marked improvement in each of them, year over year, we’ll be successful.

Even more than that, we understand that our success completely depends on our ability to help our clients achieve their own.

In fact, that’s the very essence of:

Creating premier properties.

Building lasting relationships.

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Joseph Barnes

About The Author

Joseph Barnes

Joseph Barnes has served as Marketing Manager of Yellowstone Landscape since 2013. He writes on a variety of topics related to the commercial landscaping industry.