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What they don’t tell you about developing proactive supervisors and leaders

June 13, 2023 -  By Jeffrey Scott

(Photo: ETIAMMOS/ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS/GETTY IMAGES)

Developing proactive supervisors and leaders is critical for success, but it isn’t easy.

Every landscape company needs crew leaders and supervisors who are proactive planners to some degree. These are skills that can be modeled and taught.

For that to happen, you need executive leadership that plans ahead and gets in front of problems.

However, if your top leaders are reactive and distracted, it’s hard for your frontline leaders to learn or practice proactive planning skills. 

Chaos flows downhill

If your leaders are in chaos or silos, or if you maxed out your systems, then the reactive and inefficient nature of the work can overwhelm your people. 

You can remedy this. Take the following actions:

1. Promote teamwork and mutual accountability. 

Remove the silos and silo thinking. 

In order for your company to run smoothly like a clock, it takes everyone pulling together, understanding each other’s situation and needs and taking responsibility for one’s own time management.

Use accountability agreements between key people so they know what they do for each other to keep all sales and operations running smoothly.

2. Remove the cultural obstacles

Get clear on what your frontline wants in order to commit to your company. 

Find out what benefits your team needs, what culture needs reinforcing, and if any culture killers need promoting to another company.

Constantly survey your people for insights on how to plug the holes and improve the company culture.

3. Provide proper planning tools

Make sure your team has access to proper project management software and lays out the work proactively so your supervisors and crews have time to plan ahead. 

Show them how to plan ahead and set them up for success. 

Don’t forget to retrain

Employees from other companies with a more reactive environment, with a certain amount of chaos and fires, will now have to re-learn to use their thinking and planning skills at your organization.

That’s a challenge in its own right.

The truth is, when you hire people from other companies, it takes twice as much time and energy to onboard and retrain them to your unique systems and approach. 

It helps to teach your new employees the why — along with the what and the how.

Create a more proactive environment, and everyone will be happier and excel.

You got this!