We fit a lot into a day this time of year. Whether you're running around town to sales appointments, bringing extra mulch to your crews as they perform spring clean ups, or chugging away at your desk to get invoices sent out and collected: the spring is when the rubber really meets the road.
Hopefully most days it's good busy, but I know that some days it can be overwhelming. I'm in the trenches with you, I know how it goes.
When I feel overwhelmed there are some tricks I fall back on so that I can be the best leader I can be even when I'm feeling the stress.
I shared some of these tips in a recent episode of The Grow Show powered by STIHL, and detailed how I found tactics that worked for me. One tip that I always fall back to is to follow the notice, pause, allow framework.
The gist of how this works is that when something happens, before I react I try to:
1. Notice
2. Pause
3. Allow
I notice what I'm feeling, I pause, and then I allow my feelings while trying not to react. If I notice that I'm having strong negative feelings, if I can I'll delay reacting until I have a chance to calm down.
I can't tell you how many times this framework has helped me to notice that I may need some time to avoid overreacting, and then after sleeping on it I wonder why I was so mad to begin with. Taking some time to check-in with myself helps me to react more rationally. We have to realize people will make mistakes. A mistake may require discipline, true, but often what really needs to be done is just some additional training to prevent it from repeating. It can be hard to see that in the heat of the moment.
I've found this approach helps a lot. Unexpected things are always going to happen, no matter how well we prep or plan. How we react when they do can make or break our company culture. Reacting well is the difference between us vs. them mentality or an us vs. the problem mentality: which can be so powerful for landscaping companies as we fight to get ahead.
Listen to the full episode of The Grow Show or watch on YouTube to hear all my tips and tricks, and subscribe to catch all our upcoming episodes, too. We have a great lineup of episodes coming in May that I'm excited for you to hear!
Marty Grunder
Founder & CEO
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.