No one likes being \u201cthe new guy\u201d on a landscape or irrigation crew. There\u2019s new equipment, new rules and procedures, plus new supervisors and their management styles to get used to. It can all be a bit overwhelming, especially if it\u2019s your first job ever.<\/p>\n
Now, flip that script and look at it from the employer\u2019s perspective. The company owner has anxieties, too \u2014 about whether that new person will fit in, be capable, show up on time and stick around long enough to justify the expense of training him. And in our industry, we also have the added burden of keeping him safe while he\u2019s doing it.<\/p>\n
As a company continues to grow and add services, at a certain point, most owners will ask themselves, \u201cIs our training process adequately preparing our new employees for all the things they\u2019ll be asked to do?\u201d Added to this is the anxiety about simply finding someone, anyone, to do our work. It\u2019s no secret that the green industry has a critical shortage of workers, especially experienced ones. When a company owner does find someone to hire, that person is likely to be doing this type of work for the very first time. Landscape, landscape maintenance and irrigation companies have had to adjust to this new reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pool of blue-collar employees has continued to shrink, year by year,\u201d says Tony Sayegh, regional manager at Gothic Landscape Inc., Santa Clarita, California, a large company that employs 2,100 people at its branches in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. \u201cThe economy is doing really well, so all the construction trades are, too. We\u2019re all fighting for the same talent across multiple industries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does that mean Gothic is seeing less qualified or less desirable applicants come through its doors? His answer is interesting. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to completely shift our mindset so that we no longer look at anyone as being \u2018less desirable.\u2019 Sure \u2014 I have foremen that would love it if we\u2019d hire nothing but 20-year veterans of the industry. That\u2019s not realistic anymore. We just needed a better training program so it doesn\u2019t matter what experience someone has coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayegh uses himself as an example. \u201cI came from outside the industry, and nine years later, I\u2019ve worked my way up to regional manager. It\u2019s more about finding people that are passionate about quality and customer service. We can teach people horticulture and all the rest. Experience is great, but it\u2019s not the end-all be-all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony Bass, founder and CEO of Tony Bass Consulting and Super Lawn Trucks, Fort Valley, Georgia, recently developed a 13-module landscape employee training system called \u201cTrain Your Lawn and Landscape Employees.\u201d He agrees with Sayegh that it\u2019s not about experience. \u201cIf a company believes that they must continually search for experienced employees, that\u2019s a dangerous idea,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the company that can truly take \u201cthe McDonald\u2019s approach,\u201d hiring young people and giving them a chance to develop their skills has a decided advantage in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, how do we help them develop those skills? One technique that seems to work well, at least according to the companies that use it, is the mentoring model.<\/p>\n
Marie Trejo is president and owner of Grasshopper Landscaping and Maintenance, Huachuca City, Arizona. The seven-year-old company primarily does design\/build but also has a landscape maintenance division. It\u2019s a small company with 10 employees in the busy season.<\/p>\n
Training is overseen by General Manager Phillip Farris. \u201cWe onboard someone every year for what you could call an apprentice position,\u201d he says. \u201cThe maintenance training is more of a one-on-one mentorship type of experience with Robert, the person in charge of that crew. He\u2019ll start him out on one piece of equipment and one task, working through a sequence of operations from easiest to hardest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert will show the new person every part and control mechanism of a machine and how to use it properly \u2014 and the newbie needs to pay attention, because there will be a written test later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first couple of weeks he\u2019s just learning to operate the mower and mow straight lines,\u201d says Farris. \u201cThen he\u2019ll graduate to the string trimmer or the hard edger and work his way up to the blower, which in some ways is the simplest piece of equipment to understand yet the most nuanced to use effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaintenance is heavy on horticulture, so workers are taught to identify weeds and the different methods for killing them. Then we progress to pruning, learning how to cut perennials back seasonally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farris agrees with Sayegh that lack of experience shouldn\u2019t be a barrier to hiring. \u201cWhen we\u2019re interviewing people, our No. 1 concern is attitude rather than aptitude,\u201d he says. \u201cSomeone\u2019s technical skills are secondary to his being a team player with a willingness to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a few weeks of mentoring, an employee\u2019s talents begin to surface. \u201cPeople don\u2019t always know where their natural aptitudes lie, so we let them get their hands dirty and feel things out,\u201d Farris says. \u201cSome will find they lean toward softscape and plants, others will gravitate more toward hardscape and carpentry, which has more of a technical, math-and-precision aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mentoring approach seems to work just as well at a large company as it does at a small one. Once a new Gothic employee completes his orientation, he\u2019s started on \u201cthe buddy system,\u201d where rookie employees are partnered with seasoned veterans who take them under their wing.<\/p>\n
And how long does this one-on-one training go on for? According to Sayegh, \u201cas long as it needs to. There\u2019s no set timeline. It could be a month for someone brand new to the green industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
New hires aren\u2019t allowed to touch any of the power equipment until the foreman has a notion of their capabilities. \u201cThen, slowly but surely, we\u2019ll train them on the machinery,\u201d Sayegh says. \u201cAfter they get a little bit more comfortable, we\u2019ll move them up to bigger machines, like 36-inch mowers and some trimming equipment. It\u2019s a step-by-step process.\u201d<\/p>\n
People have different learning styles, and Bass says that training should be done in a way that incorporates them. \u201cSome people are auditory learners, they learn best from hearing; visual learners, from seeing, and kinesthetic learners by doing,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery training program must use all three approaches, plus a fourth one \u2014 repetition.\u201d Hopefully this won\u2019t trigger any traumatic memories, but you may recall that as kids, we learned our multiplication tables by being drilled in them, over and over again. Bass says that adults need that sort of reinforcement, too, via weekly tailgate meetings and refresher trainings.<\/p>\n
Mariani Landscape, Rock Bluff, Illinois, trains new hires with a combination of video presentations, written materials and hands-on demonstrations. It\u2019s a good example of what Bass is talking about because there\u2019s something there for every type of learner.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight before our season starts, we\u2019ll do a one-day all-inclusive training for the bulk of our returning associates as well as the new hires,\u201d says Maintenance Operations Director Todd Vena. \u201cWe\u2019ll go through everything at that point, including our policy book. Then we\u2019ll break the group up and go over each piece of equipment piece by piece, honing in on safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a classroom component, with some videos to watch, but Vena says that\u2019s not where the lessons really sink in. \u201cWe firmly believe that in our industry, training needs to be more of a hands-on type thing; that\u2019s what really resonates with our employees,\u201d Vena says. \u201cWe\u2019ll bring in some shrubs to prune, or we\u2019ll plant a few things and show them how to dig the hole, how not to plant things too deep or too high. Then we\u2019ll huddle in small groups and physically do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vena touched on safety, which he says is above all other considerations at Mariani. Indeed, safety should be a big part of any good training program. \u201cWe want all of our employees to go home to their families at night healthy, with all their fingers and toes still attached and come back the next day ready for work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some contractors feel that they\u2019re just too busy to spend the time and effort coming up with their own training programs. Fortunately, there are a number of companies that specialize in green industry training. The programs can usually be customized to suit an individual company\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
Bruce Cummings owns Bayview Garden Nurseries, Northfield, New Jersey, a company his parents started in 1952 and that he\u2019s run for the last 20 years. Services include landscape installation and maintenance, irrigation, fertilization and chemical treatments. There\u2019s also a garden center and a florist shop. It currently turns around about $3 million a year and employs about 25 people in the high season.<\/p>\n
For years, the company had no formal training program. \u201cWhenever someone had time, they would sit down with the new people and try and train them that way,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cWe\u2019d make up some material and try and do some sort of classroom exercise. Other than that, they were being trained on the job sites,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, the company felt the need for a change and started using Bass\u2019s modular training system, having worked with him in the past.<\/p>\n
One improvement was noticed right away. Paperwork had always been a bugbear at Bayview; getting everyone to fill things out in a uniform manner so the folks in the office could understand it was a challenge. \u201cThe Bass system addresses how to fill out paperwork properly,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cIt helped make everybody\u2019s job a little easier.\u201d Grasshopper also uses the Bass system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to have a more systemized process for our new hires,\u201d says Trejo. \u201cNot having one was a problem. Now we do tailgate trainings every week, then a monthly specialized training that\u2019s a little bit longer and more detailed. If we\u2019re going to be fertilizing that month, we\u2019ll go over that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bass\u2019s system is focused on customer service and people skills rather than the mechanical how-tos. \u201cI just don\u2019t believe that today we\u2019ve got to reinvent technical training,\u201d Bass says. \u201cThat\u2019s available just about everywhere. But if you want to create a better company, you\u2019ve got to create better employees.\u201d Modules include \u201cThe Productive Landscaper,\u201d \u201cHow to Move Up in the Company\u201d and \u201cCustomer Service Success Training, Parts I and II.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trejo says the system has indeed improved customer relations. \u201cThe guys put more notes on their paperwork now,\u201d says Trejo. \u201cThey understand, \u2018If I don\u2019t write this down, the office isn\u2019t going to know about it and won\u2019t know to tell the client.\u2019\u201d Whether you turn to an outside source or develop it internally, having some kind of new employee training regimen is essential, especially as your company expands.<\/p>\n
We hope we\u2019ve given you some good ideas that will help in creating your own educational program, one that will set your new hires on a sure path to success.<\/p>\n
Greenius<\/a> NALP\u2019s Safe Company Program<\/a> Jean Williams has seen it work. As a landscaping instructor at the Turner Job Corps Center in Atlanta, she\u2019s witnessed high school dropouts, troubled teens and kids with all sorts of strikes against them find new purpose in life by learning not just basic job skills, but life skills, too.Job Corps is a federal program that mainly serves economically disadvantaged youth aged 16 to 24. \u201cWe train them for jobs and put them out in the real world to pay my Social Security,\u201d Williams quips.<\/p>\n A green industry veteran, Williams worked at a landscape company for a number of years, after which she and her husband started their own and ran it for about 15 years. When teaching all week and landscaping all weekend got to be too much for her, she cut back to focus exclusively on Job Corp, where she\u2019s taught almost continuously since 1989.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents learn basic weed-eating, edging, pruning and tree pruning, are taught how to use a chain saw, plant, design, mulch and work on landscape beds,\u201d says Williams. \u201cThey\u2019re taught how to operate Z-turns and walk-behinds.\u201d They also learn how to safely apply chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and fungicides.<\/p>\n Hardscape skills are also taught. \u201cWe teach retaining walls and fencing, and some paving stone work,\u201d Williams says. \u201cThey\u2019re wanting all of us to start cross-training with other professions; I would like my students to learn cement and tile work.\u201d<\/p>\n The point of the program is for graduates to get not just any job, but a job paying above minimum wage. \u201cI have gotten an \u2018A\u2019 so far for getting my students placed and getting the type of wages the Department of Labor wants them to get,\u201d says Williams.<\/p>\n One of her former students has started his own landscape business and been very successful. \u201cHe came and talked to my students,\u201d said Williams. \u201cSomething I\u2019ve had a hard time getting across to them is, \u2018if you are working in a certain spot and you see a piece of paper on the ground, pick it up.\u2019 He told them, \u2018Any landscaper worth anything is going to stop and pick that stuff up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Students who find landscape work isn\u2019t for them have the option of coming back the next year and trying a different course. Williams says people who enjoy outdoor sports take to her classes best, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve had girls in here who\u2019ve done really well in this trade. It\u2019s about a 70\/30 percent mix of men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n While she concedes that it\u2019s tough work, \u201cto me, it\u2019s stress-free, especially in the spring and fall when it\u2019s absolutely gorgeous. I tell my students, you can get out there and get on a weed eater or an edger and if you\u2019ve got a problem or something, you can think it through while you\u2019re working.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams sometimes must use behavior modification techniques with her young students to teach them how to comport themselves on the job. When she catches them at horseplay or sitting down at a job site \u2014 \u201cone of my pet peeves,\u201d she says \u2014 \u201cI ask them, \u2018If you did this on the job, what would happen?\u2019 \u2018I\u2019d get fired.\u2019 \u2018So why are you doing it now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to turn the negative into a positive by being consistent; we just keep working with them. Some flip over and do what they\u2019re supposed to and others just kind of fall through the cracks. You\u2019d be surprised at how many of them come in here with the soft skills already, though, and just need some tweaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are many different approaches to training your new hires. Are your methods working as well as they should?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":3581,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[25],"class_list":["post-3566","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nInternational Society of Arboriculture<\/a>
\nIrrigation Association<\/a>
\nNational Association of Landscape Professionals<\/a>
\nRain Bird Academy<\/a>
\nTrain Your Lawn and Landscape Employees<\/a>
\nTree Care Industry Association<\/a>
\nUniversity of Georgia Extension Super Crew Training Series<\/a><\/p>\nSafety training materials<\/h3>\n
\nOccupational Health and Safety Administration<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nFrom aimless youth to yard keeper<\/h3>\n
This article originally appeared in Irrigation & Green Industry magazine.<\/em><\/h6>\n
Mary Williams-Villano<\/strong><\/a> is a contributing editor to Irrigation & Green Industry and can be reached at pouncerspy@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"