People
Attracting, hiring, training and retaining employees is integral to your business success. Don’t short change this area of your business. Hiring smart is finding the right person for the right job. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes you have more success than other times. With practice and good interviewing skills, you can improve your odds. Key considerations should include hiring people with potential, hiring career-minded individuals who love the work, paying your employees well, presenting a clear career ladder and showing employees appreciation, respect, and trust. This will guide your business growth and success. Hiring is determining who you need and when you need them. Once onboard, evaluation through a “grow card” or “scorecards” is needed. By helping your folks set goals for themselves and training them to accomplish their goals, your people will want to stay with you to fulfill your vision.
Bill Arman
worked for and helped grow one of the biggest landscape outfits in the country. He’s seen how the big boys do it, how their systems and structures work. So his know-how is rooted in recruiting, hiring, training and growing great people—that along with quality assurance. Bill, alone, has gone on 15,000 quality site visits in his career. Nobody else has that, not that we know of anyway. He received Lawn and Landscape/ Bayer Environmental Science's 2006 Leadership Award. Read Bill's full bio.
Ed Laflamme LIC
started his own business from scratch, built it up, sold it and then wrote a book about how he did it. So, he’s been there. He understands your frustrations, worries and concerns. Some of you may want to buy companies, while others may want to sell the one you own. You need expert assessment and guidance before you can move forward. Ed has experience in this area. He is recognized as a CLP: Certified Landscape Professional. Read Ed's full bio.
Steve Cesare Ph.D.
has more than 25 years of Human Resources experience. Prior to joining The Harvest Group, Steve worked with Bemus Landscape, Jack in the Box, the County of San Diego, Citicorp, and NASA. Steve earned his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Old Dominion University, and has authored 68 human resources journal articles. As a member of The Harvest Group, Steve’s areas of expertise include: staffing, legal compliance, wage and hour issues, training, and employee safety. Read Steve's full bio.
Jud Griggs
Jud has had the good fortune of working with some of the best design/build companies in the country over his long green industry career. Starting with Lied’s in Wisconsin, Jud worked with Tom Lied, one of the founding members of ALCA (Now N ALP). Next, Jud moved to Naples, Fla., to manage the operations of Smallwood Landscape – one of the preeminent design/build companies in Florida. From there, Jud joined Dallas-based Lambert’s to work with Paul Fields and manage first the business operations and then lead the company’s sales and marketing efforts. Recently, Jud worked with Scapes in Atlanta Each of these companies, with the exception of Scapes, were in the Lawn & Landscape Top 100 list during Jud’s tenure at each of the companies.