Rally Your Landscaping Team Around a Common Goal: What's Your Super Bowl?
What's the goal of every team in the NFL? It's to win the Super Bowl, right?
The goal for every team is clear from the day players report to training camp until their season ends, and every player knows what that goal is. I'm not sure I can explain the mentality better than Bill's Quarterback, Josh Allen, did after their playoff loss. He said, "You play to win. Our goal was to win a Super Bowl, a world championship, and we didn't accomplish that. So, everything that happened this season is kind of null and void in our minds. It sucks."
NFL teams benefit from having a clear vision and a clear goal - it helps their entire team rally together and understand the part they play in the entire team's success. So my question for you to ponder this week is simple: what's your Super Bowl?
If your entire team doesn't know what your Super Bowl is, how can you expect them to understand what a win looks like? How does your sales team know what types of jobs are akin to a playoff win and which ones are losses? Your team needs to understand what the larger picture is to play their part in the success correctly.
There are a few ways that teams can do this:
- Having a clear vision, mission, and core values and communicating them to the team. Leaders need to clearly define what the company's core purpose is and communicate it often and in multiple ways. Do more than just have signs up in the office - these three core pieces of your company's platform need to be felt and lived too. The best way to do this is to constantly reinforce with your team what skills are important and how they relate back to the vision, mission, and core values in place.
People learn more by watching than they do by what you say. Words matter, but your actions prove your point.
- By clearly defining which metrics indicate success. There are tons of metrics you can focus on, but to keep it simple, we really like to track efficiency ratings per each job and each crew. The work our teams do directly impacts those numbers. Our sales team properly bidding a job impacts the efficiency, as does a production team properly and efficiently installing or maintaining it. It's the simplest way for our team to see how their personal "wins" add up to the company's larger "win." Calculate your efficiency rating by dividing budgeted hours by actual hours. It's simple and easy for everyone to understand.
- By setting goals and frequently tracking progress toward them. Can you imagine the Super Bowl being played without a scoreboard? Many companies do this when they run their business with no tracking mechanisms. Do you have a topline revenue goal for the year? Goals for each salesperson? Goals for how much revenue will come from each of your service offerings? Setting goals is like defining where the end zone is for your team, and it's important to keep everyone on track throughout the year. At Grunder Landscaping Co., we discuss progress toward sales goals in our weekly sales meeting, and we share overall progress with the entire team once a month. Maybe a similar schedule would work for your teams.
At GROW! 2023 we'll have plenty of sessions designed to help your team both define what their Super Bowl is, and prepare so that they can win the big game. You can view our whole agenda on our website to see all the planned sessions. Space is filling up quickly at this event, and VIP tickets are nearly sold out. Register today to reserve your spot!
Since my beloved Bengals were knocked out this year, I'll be rooting for the Chiefs to win it all tonight. I'll talk to you next week.
Marty Grunder
President & CEO
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.