Effective teams are effective because they have the right people in the right roles. This happens by being intentional and aware of teams' strengths and weaknesses, and then allowing team members to be in roles that let them play to their strengths. We have continued to learn new and different ways to leverage this through our work with Megan Parker and Tracy Wallingford from McFarlin Stanford and it has been transformational in our team's development. They will be back at GROW! 2025 for even more lessons on how to capitalize on this! 

At a macro level, we move team members onto commercial maintenance, residential maintenance, mowing, and construction crews based on their skillsets and passions. Some team members are exceptional at detailed maintenance, others skilled at striping lawns, and still others at installing awesome hardscaping elements. 

At the micro level, team leaders are responsible for the effectiveness and efficiency of their crew. During our Grunder Landscaping Co.(GLC) Field Trips, we have one of our Team Leaders present to the group about their typical day and how they run their crew. At a recent event, one Team Leader talked about how he does this within his crew on site. He assigns tasks to the team member who is most skilled or most enjoys that task. Team members who love to prune, for example, can just prune all day long on a maintenance crew. 

It's why we split up our maintenance and mowing crews. We've found that doing this allows team members to specialize in their skillset and focus on what they do best. 

The way crews are set up varies from company to company, and I'm certainly not saying that the way we operate at GLC is the only right way to do things. In my opinion, as long as your team strategy takes into account your team members' unique strengths you're on the right track. 

If you want to see more of how we run our crews and gather ideas from how we work at Grunder Landscaping Co., join us for our final Grunder Landscaping Co. Field Trip of the year on December 4-5. This is your last chance to come see our operation in 2024, and a great opportunity to gather intel that will help you kick off 2025 strong. I hope to see you there!