A small number of greenfly don't do much damage, it's once they take hold that sap is drained from the plants and they eventually succumb and then wither and die.
It's the same with negativity and blame - it may start off in small numbers but if not treated can take hold and drain all the creativity, enthusiasm and proaction out of organisations.
What are you doing to spot treat occurrences of negativity and blame to stop it becoming how things are done around here?
I started using gardening as a metaphor for our lives in the mid 90s and love revisiting it each year for Chelsea Flower Show. The show might have gone virtual but we can still learn much from this bountiful metaphor.
If you'd like to dig a little deeper, turn over a new leaf or have a few seeds sown why not join us on Tuesday 19th May for a webinar looking at insight we can take when the beast from the east has just swept through our gardens and applying it to our working lives at the moment.
I promise there will be plenty of opportunity for germination and digging over of ideas. You'll also find more about the Landscaping Your Life process over in my LYL blog too. You can also sign up for my Landscaping Your Life ezine and newsletter here.
For over 20 years I've used gardening as a metaphor for supplier management. It was the foundation for Landscaping Your Life, a tool I developed and use in my coaching, where nature more broadly is used as a metaphor for life.
Why gardening?
Because many of our internal stakeholders, especially those in the UK, know more about gardening than they do about supplier management.
They know that lawns need mowing.
Lawns also need weeding,
along with many a flower bed (or is it just mine?),
and the odd wall.
The power of the metaphor is realising suppliers also need mowing and weeding - just like that long tail of suppliers that needs to be reduced.
Plants also need pruning, whether it's to ensure they flower again this year,
flower again next year,
or to ensure they're fit for the purpose they're in the garden for anyway (ie like this rhubarb that once it's bolted it is too late to save it for this year's crumbles and pies!)
That's the purpose of supplier contract, risk and performance management reviews. Checking that suppliers continue to meet the needs of the business, and haven't expanded their remit into areas they're not supposed to be in, or clearly have no expertise on.
Sometimes plants/trees need chopping down as they're no longer providing fruit, and have died.
Like those Suppliers whose contract expired years ago, or that keeps getting extended, when no one is really sure what they do, nor value they deliver.
There are plants that are just coming into flower,
plants that continue to flower over a wide period of time,
plants that are just about to flower,
plants that open and close with the sun,
plants that will flower much later,
and plants that never flower - and are there for their decorative leaves.
Always room for a picture of a cat me thinks, who accompanied me around the garden whilst taking my pics.
Remembering that each supplier has been chosen to meet different business needs.
Each supplier also with their own needs, some needing time in the greenhouse before planting out (especially here in Scotland),
others more frequent watering,
feeding, or support.
The challenge in business is, that many managers treat suppliers like the tree planted in the corner of the garden, left unmanaged and forgotten with roots that are now undermining the very foundations of the house. Oblivious to how their own behaviour supported the undesirable outcome.
What attention do your suppliers need, and when will you give it to them?
Watch out on the Purchasing Coach Twitter, Facebook and Instagram this week for insights arising from Chelsea flower show #RHSChelsea that can be applied to supplier management.
I love watching the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – it’s the time of year when I
yearn for greener fingers – or perhaps it’s just more time to use them.
The pride, passion and enthusiasm for all things horticulture is conveyed
in the many TV programmes as they interview the winners, runners up, and anyone
involved in this wonderful show.
Tears, laughter and relief mix as they
finally receive the feedback on all their efforts.
Yesterday it was announced that the M&G Garden designed by James Basson won the prestigious Best Show Garden 2017. (The above video is the making of the garden based on a quarry in Malta - here's a tour of the finished garden).
Every year hearing their stories has me considering what is needed in order to even get to Chelsea never mind win gold or even best show garden. For me it includes:
Commitment & passion for what they do
Effective Team work
Great design, planning & creativity – often having taken a year or
more to do
Attention to detail
Timely implementation – they have 3 weeks on site to get the gardens ready
for judging on the Sunday (brought forward a day this year), followed by a week
of visitors
Spot on plant selection & quality – with weather significantly
impacting what’s at its best for that one short week
Careful and loving planting
Meticulous plant care and maintenance
The
project success has much to do with all the things I've listed - failure on any
one of these and they might have failed. As head gardener and designer for the
project James Basson will have been responsible for ensuring it all worked perfectly.
For
whatever you're head gardener of - could you say the same?
Would
your effort on tending to those in your team enable them to win you a best in
class? Do you have the passion? How much planning have you done? Are you
attending to every detail? Are you giving it, and them the care they need? and
would you delight in their success?
What
seeds do you need to sow today for your team to win best in show later in the
year?
Every year about this time I think about growing my own
vegetables. I think about how lovely it would be to eat the fruits of my labour
later in the year. I dream of freshly picked green beans, beetroots straight
from the ground, and picking ripe juicy raspberries from the bush. I imagine
the recipes I could use, and the wonderful meals I could cook with the home-grown
fruits and vegetables. The fun and laughter with the friends I’d invite to
share in the delights of my garden.
Then reality sets in as I watch my neighbours as they spend
hours I don’t have, nor have the motivation, sowing seeds, carefully putting
them in the greenhouse, watering then daily, pricking out and thinning the
seeds as they grow, repotting them, and then feeding and generally putting a
lot of time and effort into their own fruit and vegetable plots.
When I told Terry, the guy who mows my lawn, of my plans he
smiled sweetly as he recalled all the times he’s had to tell me he’s going to
prune a bush, or set about the garden to weed it after it’s got very overgrown.
Isn’t that the same in many organisations? Not for fruit and
veg but for our suppliers? We have high hopes and expectations of our
suppliers, and yet we, and our organisation, are not prepared to put in the
effort needed to bring forth that bounty?
If we expect suppliers to do it themselves without our
support and assistance then we shouldn’t be surprised if we end up with an
overgrown lawn, a tree whose roots are busy undermining the house’s
foundations, plants throttling other plants, or plants that have died through
lack of water.
Who in your organisation is responsible for tending for your
suppliers, and will the fruits of their labours meet organisational
expectations in the autumn?
Gardening is a metaphor I often use with non-procurement
managers as it’s something they can relate to more easily than the process we enthuse
about and understand intimately. This post explores the metaphor further, and I’ve also pulled together a Pinterest board exploring different aspects of the metaphor.
Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking Procurement Potential using Unconventional Tools
