Photo: Lindsey Joy Photography
Sometimes I feel like I’m one of the lucky few people who’s been able to pursue their dream job. Since I was in middle school, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Sure, at the time, that “dream job” was to be the editor of Rolling Stone or Sports Illustrated. But as my education and career path led me to trade media, it still allowed me to pursue my passion — and meet some great people along the way.
Take a look at your own career path. Is it reflective of your passion? If it is, you know how great of a feeling that is. Even on the busiest days or most frantic times of the year, you recognize that you’re not just going through the motions of the job. You’re getting the chance to live out that dream.
This was the thought that came to my mind as I was interviewing John Mark Courtney, owner of Kind Earth Growers, for this month’s cover story. John told me his passion early on was for native plants, and even if there were a few detours along the way (there always are), he ultimately landed in his dream job: running a business that grows and sells native plants.
As I worked with John to nail down the details for our cover story presentation, it also became clear that his passion for native plants has filtered down through the rest of his team. Just look at the photo on this page, and you’ll see what I mean. When John sent me the photo, he said “I really feel like this captures the essence of our brand and our people.” In fact, every “people” photo he sent included smiling faces. It’s not always easy to capture that joy, but he managed to do just that.
What are you doing to help your growing team find roles that reflect their passion? On page 10 of this issue, you can read more about the new types of benefits some horticulture companies are now offering to their team. In most cases, the inclusion of these benefits doesn’t happen in a vacuum; they come up out of management talking to their team and getting to know their biggest needs.
When you have these types of conversations, you not only get to know your staff better from a human resources perspective. You also get to know what their own hopes and dreams might be and can put them in roles that are best suited to their abilities and interests.
Taking this path not only makes your business more efficient; it can also help with employee retention. Growers constantly tell me this is one of their biggest challenges. Perhaps this approach can help.
