So this is the first day of spring – a spring so different from any we’ve experienced…
If you have a garden, especially if you’re a keen gardener like me, I’m sure you have also felt a renewed appreciation for it this year.
This first day of spring has inspired me to dig out and refresh this post about the similarities between gardening and running a business.
There are obvious similarities in the need for vision, planning and preparation. Then there’s the need to choose how to realise the plan, with good timing, to get the most from what we sow. And, of course, the hard work that sits between the idea and the harvest.
Once your garden’s established, most of the activity comes down to what to plant where, what to keep – and what must go.
The same potential for positive change exists in your business life when you take a critical look at those practices, people and work habits that don’t serve you. This will be anything that doesn’t contribute to your ongoing and sustainable success.
Here are a few suggestions. If you have others, please share them below.
1. Any project or task where the pain of doing it is not well balanced with the ultimate rewards.
2. Unproductive and time-consuming work habits, like constantly checking your emails. Remember to ask your team to help you identify what’s wasting their time, too.
3. Fixing work that should have been done ‘right’ the first time by someone else. Either accept their version or find someone who can and will do it ‘your way’.
This spring could be the perfect time to take an objective look at what’s working in your domain. Once you know that, some careful, targetted, clearing will give you more of the good things to harvest from your hard labour.
Want to make better decisions about what to change? Why not download our Resource + Reward decision-making matrix to get started today?
Susan Rochester has been managing director of Balance at Work since 2006. Susan has a natural tendency to balance analytical thinking with an optimistic outlook to set direction and solve problems. She is an effective facilitator and constantly creates new and more effective ways of doing things, motivated by helping others to achieve their goals.