Resolution reboot

illustration© adobe stock | STANISLAV

It shouldn’t be surprising that most of us shed our New Year’s resolutions before March rolls around.

A quick Google search pulls up a plethora of stats on the subject. There’s even a worldwide Quitters Day, held every January on the second Friday. (Its purpose is to encourage a resolution reboot.)

Some stats are amusingly curious. Like: Only 9% of Americans complete their New Year’s resolutions. Twenty-three percent quit by the end of January’s first week; 43% quit by the end of the month.

I’ll wager the 9% who kept their resolutions from the start of the year – while probably counting calories and balancing workouts – feel good, look good and do better 12 months later. As anyone who has ever pledged a New Year’s resolution knows: They won’t work if you set ‘em and forget ‘em.

“Living” your nursery’s core values can be viewed in the same way, assuming your business already has them defined. If you have ‘em, dust ‘em off. If you don’t, you’re going to want ‘em.

Fresh starts

Back in April, CNBC reported a 154% increase in entry-level job postings that mention company values. I’ll also wager an equally large percent of clients and business partners look for company values when making professional business decisions – and I really don’t think the numbers are going to go down anytime soon.

“A Fresh Start” is always January’s mantra, and it’s also the best time for a core values exam. If core values are not already ingrained in your company’s culture, use the winter months to research, develop and launch them.

A word of caution, though. You can’t do it alone. One person cannot shape a company’s culture. One person also cannot shape its core values, regardless of how long they’ve worked at the business. Core values also are not pulled from the air and scribbled on a whiteboard to be imposed on the workforce by top-level management. Setting them takes a team. Neither are core values an exercise in busyness, to ultimately be placed in a nice frame in the breakroom and easily forgotten. Most likely, your company’s beliefs already exist within the framework of your work and within the people on your team. They just need to be coaxed out.

Core values are the “heartbeat” of your business.

Pull in the team to participate in defining or revising your company’s core values. It’s important that employees be part of the process so they understand the values and are invested in them, which builds trust and confidence and alleviates communication misunderstandings and goal confusion. When business strategy aligns with core beliefs and is communicated among employees, it should be fairly easy for everyone to live them.

Values messaging

Practice living your nursery’s values so they become ingrained before growing season hits. Making a commitment to living them attracts top talent. It directs strategic planning, boosts morale and informs business decisions. Not sure where to begin? Find a professional with business communications experience in our industry to help you. Doing the work can be transformative for your company and your team.

With the entire team, we defined Loma Vista Nursery’s core values and one-sentence descriptions over two days in a conference room in late January 2019. Our values messaging is featured on our website along with the company’s vision and mission. They are ingrained in our culture and are woven through the fabric of our everyday work, conversations, meetings and outreach.

Loma Vista Nursery’s core values sit in these categories: production centric, industry expertise, service driven, education focused, resource conscious and family owned. Our company values directly support our commitment to healthy plants, strong customer relationships, employee success, and community and industry involvement. That last sentence is also our company’s mission.

Being intentional about our core value of education, for example, shows employees that we are invested in their future and will help them meet their professional goals. This value also encompasses growth through professional education, and training we provide to our customers and industry peers.

Revisiting the company’s core values throughout the year recognizes the efforts of those whose contributions positively impact the company, as they contribute to support its values. Our production team will always hear if something is not quite right, but we also need them to hear when things go well. We share customer compliments through email and at bi-weekly manager meetings.

Attention and intention

Knowing we have happy customers is in line with our core values. We grow healthy plants we are proud of because we are production centric. We work with the customer in mind because we are service driven. We help grow the next generation of trade professionals because we have industry expertise.

It is important to be intentional when developing or revising your company’s core values. It is equally important to be intentional when evaluating them. Both are ongoing processes. Revisit core values. Discuss past performances aligned with those values. Set the intention for the coming week, month and year. Revise, as necessary. Rinse. Repeat.

It might feel redundant, but it is worth it to keep telling the story of your company and what it values. Trust, authenticity, integrity and transparency are not buzzwords. They are very real attributes that drive business now and for the foreseeable future.

It is also important for the health of our industry that its companies tell their stories. The green industry does a lot of good that deserves to be understood and recognized. It took me all of three seconds to find Amazon’s core values on its website (right next to their climate pledge). It took another two seconds to find core value statements on Home Depot’s website, as well as IKEA’s and Walmart’s.

As business owners, living our company’s core values requires intention and attention. I encourage you to measure where your company is aligned with its values and seek areas of improvement if it’s needed. There are no fancy algorithms that can help measure your company’s success at this. But staying in touch with team members is a good way to ensure your company is on the right track.

Revisit and reassess

Another way I found to be intentional about core values is to talk about them during our divisional meetings. We discuss opportunities and challenges and stay on top of the relevancy of each of the values in the work we do. We talk about specific actions we’ve taken to live our core values because sometimes not everyone in the company is aware of what we do. This ensures the team has the information and encourages staff’s investment.

No doubt, the business climate changes quickly. But it’s still true that successful companies are those that adapt to change and thrive.

Over time, you will likely need to add to your company’s core values or tweak those currently in place. Being mindful that values are not written in stone brings elements of surprise and excitement to the effort. As your company grows, its values will likely evolve, too.

Do stay on top of your values resolution but go easy on yourself along the way. Just as people don’t always fulfill their New Year’s resolutions, companies aren’t perfect either. As for me – I’m aiming for the 9%.

Happy New Year!

Lyndsi Oestmann is president of Loma Vista Nursery, a family legacy business founded in 1991 by her father, Mark Clear. Loma Vista Nursery produces a full line of containers and field grown plant material. Its 310-acre wholesale container production facility is located in Ottawa, Kansas, and its 650 acre in-ground tree farm is located near Lawrence, Kansas. Lyndsi is a member of the AmericanHort board of directors. She and her team are active participants in the horticulture industry. Lyndsi’s “Leadership Playbook” column, now in its second year, recently received a Golden Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago.