Insights

Hear How Open Book Management And Transparency Build Great Landscape Company Culture

Ryan talks about open book management and how he’s used it to create a more accountable workforce and positive company culture within his business.

OWNERSHIP RULE #6 of 14: “Failures Are Fine As Long As They Strengthen The Company.”

Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose. I either win, or I learn.” As a 29-year owner in the landscaping industry, I’ve witnessed my fair share of ups and downs. [...]

31
Oct

OWNERSHIP RULE #5 of 14: “There is No “I” in “Team”

As the African proverb tells us, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In the old-school way of doing business [...]

21
Oct

OWNERSHIP RULE #4 of 14: “Stock is NOT a Magic Pill” Employee Ownership in the Landscape Industry

In the world of business, there are rules, principles, and strategies that have been tested and proven over time. Among these rules, as described by Jack Stack in his book [...]

08
Oct

OWNERSHIP RULE #3 of 14: The Bigger the Pie, the Bigger the Individual Slices.

Building a thriving landscaping company isn’t just about landscaping; it’s also about people. Our ownership team was recently working on the next level of our plan to continue to bring [...]

19
Sep

OWNERSHIP RULE #2 of 14: A Company isn’t worth anything if nobody wants to own it.

Alright, let’s talk business, but not the boring, run-of-the-mill stuff. We’re diving into the landscape industry—where beauty meets business. Here’s the deal: your company’s worth isn’t just dollars and cents. [...]

13
Sep

OWNERSHIP RULE #1 of 14: “The Company is the Product.”

In the ever-evolving landscape industry, success hinges not only on the beauty of the environments we create but also on the innovative strategies we employ to run our businesses. One [...]

26
Aug

Talking Business With the People You Are in Business With

It seems that every time I turn on the TV, log into Facebook or hear someone talk about what’s happening in their world, I ask myself, “What the hell is [...]

11
Mar

Sharing the “Why Before the “How” is Critical to Your Growth, Success and Retaining Good Employees

At the end of what has been another crazy year, with all the services to schedule, SOP’s to improve, planning, organizing, the downtime you should be taking, and so on, [...]

13
Jan

Begin with the Right Leadership: Stop Working IN Your Business and Start Working ON Your Business

The end of 2021 will mark my 27th year in the landscaping business. I’m not too sure if it is or isn’t funny how time flies! From the days of [...]

10
Dec

Strategic Planning is H.I.P – 10 Steps You MUST do for Success in 2022

Up until about 14 years ago when I first started to think about strategic planning around business operations at Creative Roots Landscaping, I had the idea that they were typically [...]

09
Nov

With every set of hands I get a free brain! – OBM from an employee’s perspective

Oh, boy…is it that time again? It feels like I just posted an article last month, and already I am a few months behind on delivering this one! A problem, [...]

14
Oct

The People Part of Selling

“They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel” ~ Maya Angelou ~ I won’t claim to be an expert on selling in [...]

10
May

Huddles: Why They Create the Ultimate Place for Effective Team Communication

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” Jim Rohn [...]

04
Apr

Open Book Management: To Win the Game, You Need the Right Team

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” Jim Collins. “Take our best 20 people away, and I tell you that Microsoft will become an unimportant company.” Bill Gates About halfway [...]

16
Mar

Open Book Management: Connecting Your People With Profits

The Wake-up Call “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” ~ African Proverb This article has all the elements of a [...]

23
Feb

3 Not-So-Obvious Business OPERATIONS I Wish I’d Embraced Sooner…

The famous French composer Claude Debussy said “Music is the silence between the notes.” Years ago, when I first started to think about business operations, I had the idea that [...]

15
Feb

High Involvement Planning: The Most Looked Forwarded to ALL-TEAM Huddle Of The Year!!!

Last week, the company I started over 25 years ago with a shovel, a truck and some elbow grease held its 12th High Involvement Planning (HIP for short) meeting. I [...]

18
Nov

Does your company have a North Star?

Before the luxury of GPS, stars led travelers home – and the North Star was a constant. If your team can’t point to your North Star, you might be having [...]

02
Nov

Ryan’s Presentation Video at LMN

Ryan put this together to show at the LMN Leaders Summit in 2018. It’s our team talking about why they like Open Book Management. [...]

17
Jun

How to Build Financial Scoreboards Your Employees Want to Follow

Financial and Non-Financial Scoreboards – our “jumbotrons” I loved playing sports in high school. I learned that teams worked well together on a common goal – winning the game – [...]

15
Jun

Stop Looking for Rockstars

(Why a Piece of Garbage Tells a Story) Full disclosure: I generally try to stay out of the way when it comes to hiring, because I’m not that good at [...]

29
Apr

How Good Leadership Sometimes Means Following Your Team

We all fall into this trap as entrepreneurs at some point. We get into the habit of thinking we have all the answers. We built the business…we’re the authority, right? [...]

29
Apr

The Art of Doing Good: A Smart Way to Improve Your Company Culture

We have a tagline at our landscaping company: Making Neighbours Jealous Since 1994. Our landscaping market is relatively small – a population of under 200,000 people share this gorgeous slice [...]

16
Apr