Keep Your Garden Green

POINT TO PONDER

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. -Theodore Roosevelt

Part 1 of two parts series: Next week: One Person Who Was There For Every Person....from Samoa to Silicon Valley.

Keep Your Garden Green was originally published on October 28,2011. 

STORYLINE

My neighbor came by my house the other day and asked if I could recommend my gardener to her. Apparently she had a hard time retaining them, explaining that her gardeners never arrived consistently or at the same time. She would follow them in the garden as they worked, barking instructions as they went and many would quit on her. She needed a gardener she could rely on and asked if I would recommend mine. She liked the job he did with our landscaping, as do I, and asked if I could pass along his number.

I said I surely would - that I had been very happy with his work - but that my gardener might not fit the criteria she wanted. She asked me if he was punctual. I said I wasn't sure. She asked me when he comes to garden and I said I didn't know. Most of the time he came to work on the garden when it needed it. I admitted there were weeks when he didn't come because he felt there was no work to be done. She asked if he stayed the full hour and I said I didn't keep track of that.

She asked me how I could stick with a gardener like him for so long. I responded that I allow him to complete the job in whatever way he chooses. Then she asked me how I could tolerate that and didn't manage him more closely. I said I didn't need to - I trust his skills as a gardener - and that he knows what he is doing, “because at the end of the day, he keeps my garden green.”

REFLECTION: Wisdom of the Ages from Senior Rockefeller.

Three mistakes a leader/manager should avoid:

        1.Having good people and not know them.

        2. Knowing good people and not use them.

        3. Using good people and not trust them.

Comments

[FR Team]

Readers Comments in the original publication in October 2011.
really liked your Friday reflection…in deed that is my manager's style and what I truly appreciate of my job.

Posted by: GC | October 29, 2011 at 04:10 PM

FromMalayasia
I like this one very much . Thanks

Posted by: FromMalayasia | October 29, 2011 at 04:38 PM

SPP
Great story. Am sourcing for a gardener. This comes at a right time.

Posted by: SPP | October 29, 2011 at 05:05 PM

Trust but verify
Your gardener has to be good before you can trust him.

Posted by: Trust but verify | October 29, 2011 at 05:09 PM

microCEO
Thoughtful story. Thanks.
After reading this, I reflected as follows:
"Good help is hard to find" is a lament one might often hear (or imagines to hear?) from those who are rich and successful.

But assuming that they are rich because they are successful (not the other way around), it should follow logically that the have such complaint only because they already know how to know, use, and trust good people once they find them. :-)

Posted by: microCEO | October 30, 2011 at 04:26 PM

Mary Abel
This style can be used in all things we do and with all people we encounter. You must first trust to be trusted; you must first let go to get back; and you must be content to let it all happen in the first place.

Posted by: Mary Abel | October 31, 2011 at 12:07 AM

[Cebuana]

This is great, Anand... that's what an executive should be...

[thomas]

Situational Leadership story; the neighbor uses S1 style with everyone. That doesn't work in business or in life.

[Cousin]

I like this one too.
Micromanaging never works on those who are self-starters, those who enjoy what they do and those who are creative. Imo