Virtual Conferences – Get the Most Out of Them

by | Nov 30, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Virtual Conferences – Get the Most out of Them

As our professional conferences shift from in-person to online events, learning how to get the most out of virtual conferences will take some time, but will be vital to continuing to improve within the tree care industry. Therefore, I created a few tips to consider for you and your time to get the most out of these virtual conferences.

Before the Conference

• Make Your Plan and Be Intentional. Don’t let a conference happen to you. Make the most out of it by making a plan beforehand. This is even more important with a virtual conference. Use these questions to develop your conference strategy.

• What is the primary goal of this conference for you and your team? It could be simply to get as many CEU’s as possible, or it can be to talk to a certain equipment vendor or to learn what ArboRisk’s Thrive is all about ;). Whatever your goal is, be intentional about it. This takes planning with your team to identify what you truly want everyone to get out of the time that you are spending there.

• What sessions will be most valuable for you? Look at the agenda carefully before you go. If there are multiple sessions that you want to attend at the same time, send one of your team members to one of them so your business can get as much information as possible.

• Who do you really want to talk to at the conference? Reach out to them before to set a specific time to meet. Virtual conferences will get really busy for everyone. Having a predetermined meeting time with a key connection is a great way to have the conversation that you want. Make a list of the questions that you want to ask each person to capitalize on the meeting time you have with them.

During the Conference

• Block Your Calendar. With a virtual conference, it will be very easy to try and schedule other tasks during the conference that would not be able to do if you were physically attending a conference. Make sure to block out time specifically for the conference to accomplish all of your goals that you and your team set when planning for it. Discipline is key here and don’t fall into the trap of showing up for a session and leaving the conference because of an “emergency” that just happened within your business. Act like you are physically at the conference and you will be rewarded with a much more fulfilling experience.

• Be Early. Sign in as soon as you can when the conference starts so you can acclimate yourself with the software. Each conference will be utilizing similar software, but there will no doubt be differences amongst the platforms.

• Be Active During Sessions. It may seem more difficult to participate in an online presentation, but each virtual software should give you the ability to ask questions or provide comments through a chat field. Without having visual feedback, the presenters will most likely ask for participation from the audience to make sure they are on topic. Help everyone have a better session by participating when asked by the presenter. Being engaged with the content will help you retain the information better and help you think of ways to incorporate the message into your business. Also, if you take solid notes, you’ll be able to share the information with your team at a later date.

• Socialize. Being social at a conference might be easier in person, however, you can still accomplish this in a virtual setting. Look for discussion or chat rooms to visit and interact with other attendees. I always feel that the best conference experiences for me were the ones that I got to meet new people and reconnect with old friends. Remember, even in a virtual setting, the next person you talk to could be your next employee or a referral partner or a future mentor.

 

After the Conference

• Follow-up. If there were people that you enjoyed talking to, send them a post-conference email or LinkedIn request. Ask them an additional question that you had from your conversation.

• Plan for Next Year. If you enjoyed the conference, make even a better plan for next year. Think about what went well and what you would like to do differently next time.

Conferences have provided me with the ability to gain great friendships, advance my career and make wonderful memories, however, it did not happen without my efforts. Even though conferences will be a little different, be intentional with your time to get the most out of them.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Learning from Peers

by | Nov 9, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Learning From Peers

One of my favorite ways to learn is to listen to and interact with peers of mine; those that have gone through or are going through the same issues I am. I feel that done correctly, one can learn so much more from your peers than by researching an issue on your own or simply attending a seminar with one speaker offering only their knowledge/opinion to the audience. 

However, learning this way takes practice and must be done with intent to be successful at it. Below are my four tips to conquering how to learn from your peers:

Prepare – As with most things in business, being prepared is critical. Whatever you are attending; a conference, networking meeting, webinar workshop, take time beforehand to create questions that you want to ask others. This is especially important if the event you will be attending has a facilitated roundtable discussion. Jot down the issues you want help with so you can get your questions answered during the discussion

Contribute – Givers Gain. I truly believe in that statement. The more that you offer and contribute to the success of others, the more you will benefit personally. It may simply be from the satisfaction of helping someone else, but that positive energy will bring great things to you and your organization. However, a word of caution on this; don’t contribute with the sole purpose of your betterment. People will sniff out this insincere attitude right away and you won’t get the gain you had hoped. Be genuine with your intent to help others and you will prosper. 

 Respect – Don’t be like our politicians today. If you disagree with something that someone says, respectfully allow them to have their opinion and leave it at that, especially in front of other people. If their viewpoint could potentially cause unsafe or dangerous consequences, find a private time to talk to that individual alone and ask first if you could talk to them about it as you want to learn why they feel that way. In a non-confrontational setting, you both may be able to learn and help each other out. Basic respect for your peers is easy to do and will propel your ability to learn from others. 

 Connect – After the event, seek out another attendee that you enjoyed listening to and make a one-on-one connection with them. Perhaps schedule a call to follow up on a question that you had or to simply turn a colleague into a friend. Most of you will agree, that this is definitely the most rewarding part of attending events and building relationships in business. Yet doing this intentionally, will build your roster of unofficial advisors, confidants, and friends. Who wouldn’t want a stable of people to turn to for help within their business?

If you are looking for opportunities to interact and learn with your peers, seek out your local ISA chapter, TCIA and continue to follow ArboRisk, as each of these organizations have plenty of ways to learn from others. Personally, one of my favorites is ArboRisk’s Become Extraordinary Workshop, where you get 5 weekly topics to discuss amongst a small amount of tree care owners and leaders.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Knowledge Transfer to Better Your Business

by | Oct 5, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Knowledge Transfer to Better your Business

According to a study from the Work Institute, the estimated costs of employee turnover ranges from 33% to as much as 200% of the departing employee’s salary. Costs include lost revenue from reduced human resource levels, project delays, accidents, recruiting, training and on-boarding new personnel. The range of cost is affected by the skills and experience (knowledge) lost with the employee. Consider the difference between losing a seasonal employee to the cost of replacing a long-term retiring employee with advanced skills and years of experience with the company and the profession. With the later, the loss to the company is not only an employee but the knowledge that employee provided to the success of the operation.

Understanding that knowledge loss is the major casualty of employee turnover is the first step towards better employee management.

Researchers began studying the impacts of knowledge loss in the early 1990’s. The concern was related to one generation retiring and the knowledge lost as retirements increased. From that research the concept of knowledge transfer developed. Knowledge transfer is a method of sharing information, abilities, and ideas across different areas of your business. It helps capture the knowledge before it leaves the organization and is then used to train replacements, expand service offering and or cross train employees to increase efficiency.

One of the major benefits of a structured knowledge transfer process is uncovering the ‘special sauce’. People who have mastered their job have skills and experience that make them more successful. In addition to having the knowledge, they know when, where, and how to use that knowledge to work effectively…the special sauce.

Googling ‘knowledge transfer’ will give you a whole host of resources, however, the Knowledge Maverick is a free web resource which can assist you with understanding the concept of knowledge transfer and how to implement it within your company. They have developed a series of questions to get you started. The questions were developed to be answered in a conversation between the person with the knowledge, and the person interested in receiving the knowledge. The conversations will help develop more questions and productive discussion. They are also a good framework for employee mentors.

Lastly, there are knowledge transfer professionals that can assist you in developing a transfer system. Because the loss of knowledge within your company represents a large risk to the health of the organization, ArboRisk has created a Knowledge Transfer portion of Thrive to lower this exposure. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the ArboRisk team to learn more.

Written by: Jim Skiera

4 Must’s of Effective Leadership

by | Sep 25, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

4 Must’s of Effective Leadership

isIn that last couple of decades, neuroscientists have shown that one of the most important aspects of effective leadership is emotional intelligence. A well-known leader in this research is author Daniel Goleman. Goleman states that one of the most important roles of a leader is helping employees engage in their work, ultimately leading to a satisfying work life balance. A key to unlocking that engagement is emotional intelligence.

Although leadership typically focuses on external pieces; such as employees or the direction of the organization, we first need to focus on ourselves, the leaders. In his book “Primal Leadership”, Goleman discusses the importance of leading your followers with emotional intelligence. Whether we like it or not, there is a direct correlation between the leader’s mood, employee’s moods, and performance. Below are 4 key pieces to effective leadership utilizing emotional intelligence:

1)Know Yourself

As a good leader, your employees will mirror your moods, work ethic, and even decision making. This means that the most important piece of being a good leader is being aware of yourself and your mood. If you, the leader, are upset and communicating poorly, what impact will that have on your employees?

Goleman mentions three things we can do to make sure our mood isn’t negatively impacting our followers.

1.Self-Awareness: What mood are we in? Why are we in this mood?
2.Pausing/Reflecting: What impact does this have on others? Is it beneficial or harmful?
3.Adjust: What mood do we need to be in to lead effectively? How do we adjust?

Though these sound simple and straight forward, building self-awareness into your everyday life will help with more than just building strong work environment.

2)Know Your Employees

Once you’ve got a hold of your own emotions, we can start looking out towards our employees. Think of morale, motivation, and optimism as three good measures for productive employees. Outside of work, how do you make people close to you feel like you understand them? An MIT article mentions 3 ways to help people feel understood:

1.Questions: Asking employees how they feel or what their thoughts are on certain topics is the best place to start.
2.Active Listening: Active listening is the idea of repeating what others say to you without inputting your own ideas to make them feel heard. Disregard your personal opinions at first to make sure you’re really understanding how they feel.
3.Perspective: It is important to understand where your employees are coming from in their perspective, not yours as the foreman, manager, or even owner. This will help you work towards a solution much more efficiently.

3)Know Your Organization

Organizations are constantly shifting, often times based on the needs and preferences of their employees. An effective leader should be able to adapt to the culture of the organization as it grows. One important distinction is understanding that there may be different cultures in different departments, each requiring a different style of leadership. I’d challenge you to assess your company culture as a whole, at a department level, and potentially at the level of each crew. This should help identify who your core leaders are, and what type of leadership they need to utilize in each role. Below are some questions to help you get started:

1.What is the organization most known for?
2.What is the organization best at?
3.Where is the organization headed?
4.Who is in charge of getting it there?

 If you need help addressing culture concerns, take ArboRisk’s culture assessment! This assessment can give you a baseline for where your culture is at and you will receive a FREE one page summary of your results!

4)Create a Vision

Effective leadership, and effective organizations for that matter, all require leaders and their employees to work towards a common vision. A clear vision. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure everyone has a positive outlook on the organization’s vision, creating a positive work environment. The leader should be able to understand bottlenecks arising out of working towards the vision, listen to the employee concerns, and come up with creative ways to work around those issues ultimately keeping the organization on track. This is usually done with the following:

1.Delegating: This is where creativity can come in. Who is best at specific tasks? Who enjoys specific tasks to ensure they’ll be done proficiently?
2.Goal Setting: Visions are long term, goals are short term items that help work towards completing the vision. How can you utilize goals to help motivate your crews?
3.Coaching: “Success is in the journey, not the destination.” Utilize working towards the vision as a way to help your crews grow and learn.

The organization has its goal, but so does each employee. Most people want growth, some want money, others want education. Learn what drives your employees and build that into your overarching goal.

How important are leaders within your organization as it stands? I’d argue leaders are the engines that drive an organization towards its future goals.
A strong company recognizes the need for effective leadership within their organization and utilizes leadership to motivate employees to work harder, smarter, and more efficiently. I’d encourage you to check out some of Daniel Goleman’s work, but there are plenty of resources discussing effective leadership on YouTube as well. This process will hopefully help not only with achieving your company vision, but building a strong company culture along the way. Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Sources:
https://hr.mit.edu/learning-topics/leading/articles/basics#forms
Primal Leadership, Written by Daniel Goleman

Written by: Malcolm Jeffris, CTSP

Supervisor, Manager, Director?

by | Aug 17, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Supervisor, Manager, Director? Leadership your tree care company

As your business expands from one to four, to fifty employees there is a need to establish some layers of responsibility amongst your leadership team. Its best to clarify these layers with job descriptions. The terms supervisor, manager and director are common titles, but what are the differences between the three?


If you are not sure, don’t be embarrassed. There are a lot of similarities but each has a clear definition and knowing the difference is vital if you’re planning on hiring someone to oversee a crew or department.

Supervisor
The title of “supervisor” is often one of the first managerial positions within a company hierarchy. Often supervisors are promoted from within, rather than hired from outside. He or she is typically a high-performer who has been with the company long enough to be intimately familiar with both the company policies and the quality of work expected from the rest of the team.

Supervisors generally oversee a group of people in similar jobs, who are doing similar work. Their role is assigning work and keeping employees on track. Supervisors usually plan work daily to meet project objects and deadlines provided to them by a manager. Supervisors are often hands on and assist with training new employees.

Manager
Managers manage resources — whether financial, material, or personnel. Managers have decision-making capabilities regarding those resources. They determine what equipment and materials to purchase, establish project deadlines and who and when to hire and fire employees.

Because the responsibilities are greater, managers need to have more insight into the broader operations. They make sure work is performed within the policies and procedures of the company. A manager allocates resources to meet company goals. Depending on the size of the company, a manager may oversee employees directly, or oversee a team of supervisors.

Management positions require additional experience and often education and training. In most organizations, a manager is tasked with day-to-day concerns. For example, a manager may be more involved in overseeing employees and supervising the implementation of team or company-wide initiatives. The manager is the one with a hand on the wheel, keeping everyone on the right course. Managers are expected to encourage, mentor, discipline and evaluate employees on a frequent basis.

The planning horizon for managers is typically one week to a year.

Director
A director is a manager of managers. A director is focused on implementation of company-wide initiatives. This position is tasked with formulating what will be next on the company or division’s agenda. Rather than having a hand on the wheel, the director is charting the course to come, before delivering instructions for managers to carry out. Directors formulate a vision of what success will look like.

A director is responsible for examining and evaluating the organization’s process. Where are the shortfalls? Where are the bottlenecks? Where is the system working and where is it failing? The director is tasked with solving these challenges. Directors are responsible for long term planning. The horizon is typically one to three years out.

For the small tree care company owner, you may be all three, however, the key for you is to understand you are responsible for both day to day and long-term planning. Make sure you take time to look to the future. Planning to hire the right people to take over the role of supervisor and manager will ultimately free up your time to do director level work, which is the key to successfully growing your company and profits.

If you want your company’s leaders (managers, crew leads, etc.) to grow professional and truly become extraordinary, check out ArboRisk’s Thrive Leadership Development Package! Our experts will work with your leaders one-on-one to build their leadership skills, thereby increasing team loyalty, efficiency, and profitability.

Written by: Jim Skiera

Effective Sales Training for Tree Care Companies

by | Jun 29, 2020 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Effective Sales Training for Tree Care Companies

A strong, knowledgeable sales team is one of the most important tools to help tree care companies stay ahead of the game. Improving your sales team and selling more effectively is a significant key to your company’s growth.

While you may say that estimating and sales are the same job, they are not. Estimating is looking at the job and computing how much the tree removal, pruning, PHC, and etc. should be. Sales is finalizing the sale, getting the customer to say yes to the treatment, pruning or removal plan because the ultimate goal is enticing the customer to say yes!

A well-trained salesperson can easily influence a potential customer. With the right negotiation tactics along with arboricultural knowledge, pricing and presentation, the salesperson is ready to go and this can make all the difference. Hence, sales training is a critical factor in the world of sales. Here are five reasons why you should invest in a good sales training program:

Customer loyalty: Sales training improves the person-to-person connection which is required to gain loyal customers. According to a recent study, 71% of people base their buying decisions on trust and credibility. It is crucial that salespeople thoroughly understand their customers’ wants and needs and at the same time efficiently communicate the benefits of the services your company offers. Therefore, focus on sales training that will enable your staff to have better interaction with customers.

Improved Communication: Salespeople must make sure that customers understand the services offered. This is mainly possible through effective communication skills. Excellent communicators with fantastic people skills are an asset to any organization.

Brand Image: Salespeople are the face of every company. Being the face of your company, what the salesperson says, and how they say and do certain things create an impression in the mind of the customer. Good sales training will teach sales professionals about behavioral and attitudinal changes to leave a long-lasting impression on the minds of the customer and build a better brand for your company. Make sure your salespeople understand and reflect your company’s core values.

Overcoming objections: We must not forget that sales involve objections. Sales training can teach salespeople how to anticipate objections as well as techniques for overcoming them.
Up-selling: Good sales training can teach the salesperson when to recognize and recommend additional services for the customer.

In your company, you may have an excellent estimator. That person may be spot on – including everything in your estimate that you must get paid for, but that person cannot sell a pair of shoes to a barefoot person. On the other hand, you may have a salesperson that is fabulous – they can sell four pairs of shoes to a person with a hundred pairs of shoes, but they cannot estimate properly – forgetting to add in clean up or stump grinding, etc. Reinvent the wheel! Make those two people a team. It takes talent for both selling and estimating, and the goal is to GET THE JOB! Never forget that sales is an integral part of your team. Without a good sales person, you do not have a team.

Keep in mind that salespeople are a direct reflection of your company. Good sales training is vital to the success of your sales team. Your salespersons must be skilled in both industry knowledge and people skills. It is important for them to be authentic in establishing credibility. This will help them gain relevant information about the buyer’s objectives, provide a useful proposal, and, hopefully, create customer loyalty.

There are general sales training opportunities out there such as Dale Carnegie, but ArboRisk has a light training opportunity with the ArboRisk Thrive Program which is geared more for the arborist. In the future, Streamside Green/Victorian Gardens will be offering in-depth sales and estimating webinars geared for the Arborist. The training will be separate webinars, one on sales and a separate webinar on estimating. Click here to receive email updates on upcoming Streamside Green/Victorian Gardens webinars for arborists.

Written by: Margaret Hebert

Written by: Dawn Thierbach