The power of The Group comes in many forms and functions but behind each is hundreds of talented professionals who have a common purpose... to be the best Garden Retailer in their community. They also share a common bond through The Group and are willing to share openly with peer Centers to help others reach higher.

This was in full display last week as the April GROUPtalk LIVE Series was being held. Above is an image of some of those participating as we spotlighted four Centers across the Southern Regions to hear their experience so far this season.

It was a full hour+ of exploring early season stats and observations to help everyone have a better vision for Spring. We drilled down into areas such as:

This was a fast-paced 1+ hour of factual details that every Group Center needs to hear.

If you missed it, no problem. Login to The Group WebSystem and scroll down to the GROUPtalk LIVE Series link. Now all four monthly sessions in 2023 are there for you to watch, start and stop, rewatch as your schedule allows, or share with other staff.

I want to say THANK YOU to the four Centers who were on our panel:

And of course, all the additional Group Centers who participated and challenged The Group with questions and new ideas... Thank You. Watching this session, just like so many others, illustrates how The Group Knowledge Experience can benefit everyone.

Thank you all for your support and active participation!

Also, be sure to see the revised date for the next GROUPtalk LIVE Series in May. We have shifted to one week later (May 18th) after the Mother's Day weekend. We hope every Group Center can be with us to hear what John Kennedy has to say! (See topic below.)

Sharing is at the heart of The Group and your ideas are very important. If you have any trouble logging into The Group WebSystem, please let me know. Are you and your staff all subscribed to our eLists such as GroupEs, Retail-Grower, Retail-Landscape, Owners-Only, and a number of others including one for Marketing and even Tropicals? Need help subscribing? Let me know so I can show you how you can sign up.

Thanks for sharing!

Danny Summers

danny@thegardencentergroup.com

Tel: 678-909-7770, Cell: 678-761-7145

This full article is also available on The Group Blog: CLICK HERE!

Mark Your Calendar – GROUPtalk LIVE Monthly Online Programs

Next GROUPtalk LIVE - May 18th:

Join John Kennedy for the May GROUPtalk LIVE as he addresses the future of the Garden Retail industry—Talent Acquisition, Development and Retention.

There are two sides to every business. The People Side and the Process Side. Owners are often times good at managing the processes of a successful retail business, and would be wise to invest in leading the people into the future of the retail business enterprise.

These three key areas of opportunity (Acquisition, Development, and Retention) should always be in the forefront of every owner as they look to build the best team possible.

Each GROUPtalk LIVE session will be recorded and added to a resources page for viewing (re-viewing) anytime this year.

Group Centers can watch the recording of the January, February, March, and April sessions by logging into The Group WebSystem. You will see this image on the Member Landing Page and that will lead you to the special GROUPtalk LIVE Resource page for all of the 2023 sessions. It now includes:

JAN: Group 101 – Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most from The Group WebSystem

FEB: Operation – A Better Spring 2023

MAR: 2022 P&L Study Reveal

APR: Vision of Spring... Through Group Centers Sharing

In the coming weeks, watch for more GROUPtalk LIVE topics and the schedule.

And finally, this week... this is the perfect timing for the message below from John Kennedy. As you move into the biggest weeks of your year just ahead, how you structure and position your team can make all the difference. GROUP OWNERS... PLEASE read this (maybe twice). And as you see above, John will be building upon this message in the May edition of GROUPtalk LIVE, as well as The Fall Event 2023 in the area of developing your Emerging Leaders.

Make it a great week!

Danny

As we see the initial signs of the 2023 economy play themselves out in April’s numbers, and forecast for May, June and July are just around the corner, we should never underestimate the investment in your people.

One of the Centers within The Garden Center Group has committed to a “People First” vision for 2023. Another has committed to “Build the Bench!” in 2023, and both are poised to propel themselves into the future of their businesses by focusing on the soft skills just as much as the hard goods of their retail operation.

People are often placed behind profits, processes, and policies in many service-related businesses, and that short-sighted vision of today will become the long list of expenses of tomorrow.

I am not advocating that you actually use addition in your math relating to your labor expenses and wages.

I am actually advocating that you do the very opposite--Subtraction!

Many of you, whom I am grateful to know and work with over the years, are familiar with my math. I would rather have less people who are more committed than more people who are less committed. 

The actual math is 10, 20, 40, 20, 10.

Your top 10% of your team are by far the most impactful, influential, and best investment you can make for the success of the team! Retain. Retain. Retain.

Your following 20% are poised to move up and are your emerging leadership team that should be invested in to become the next leadership team of the future—Build the Bench!

The next 40% are your block and tackle performers, who, with coaching, communication, and collaboration can produce a few 20% leaders for the future. They are needed and necessary and with strong leadership can produce appropriate results. Coach. Lead. Mentor.

The lower 20% are the ones that are “on-the-fence” about employment. They require a fair amount of coaching and engagement, often to the chagrin of the top performers, and utilize every sick day afforded them.

They do the very minimum effort, are a weight on the business, offer reduced value to the enterprise, and are at risk of employment if things don’t change quickly (if leadership is invested to hold the line of performance, enhance their willingness, improve their ability and promote accountability).

And finally, the bottom 10%.

These employees are rowing in the wrong direction, are “red-train” thinkers (negative to the Nth degree), and by not addressing their poor performance, you are risking your top 30% leaving because of leadership in-action, in addition to the extra effort the top folks are putting in by picking up the slack of the lower 30%.

The best way to reward your team for their great work and effort is to remove the obstacles that stand in their way of success. Those obstacles are either People or Processes and if we are truly looking to build a better team, putting people first would be a great way to approach your math.

Your top 30% folks deserve the very best people to help them drive success. Managing the processes only goes so far. True leadership is holding the bottom 30% more accountable for the efforts of the entire team.

And if they choose to not be compliant to the basic expectations of employment, then releasing them to their next job does everyone a great favor. Often times they will wonder what took so long! 

And, I will say this from experience, letting a bottom 10% go has a unique effect on the bottom 20%, who quickly jump to the middle 40% out of fear they may be next.

I’ve asked hundreds of team members over my 25+ years in consulting, “Would you rather have the company release the bottom 10% than keep them …making their jobs more difficult?”

The answer 100% of the time, is “I’d rather have less people who are more committed than more people who are less committed!”

Hire right (Acquisition)

Engage often (Development)

Lead always (Retention)

I will be covering these three key elements of leadership in the May edition of GroupTalk Live. Bring your emerging leadership team for a lunch and learn, and we will discuss how multiplying your team is equally valuable math for your successful Garden Retail business.

The topic and approach are also covered in great detail in the “Plant Your People” program available within the GroupSpace platform: www.yourgroupspace.com

See you in May!

John Kennedy is Co-Founder of BoomerWrangle, LLC with his amazing wife, Souny.

BoomerWrangle is the new corporate entity that houses all of their talents & tools to support The Garden Center Group Centers.

From innovative solutions such as “Your GroupSpace,” customized on-boarding videos, strategic planning and team engagement, BoomerWrangle, LLC has become a single-source digital solution & strategic planning agency to maximize employee engagement, organizational excellence, build sales and service cultures, ease of ordering and operational efficiency!

Visit: www.YourGroupSpace.com

for more information and insights into their growing toolbox of IGC solutions!

Contact: John@boomerwrangle.com or Souny@boomerwrangle.com

Tel: 443.605.7095

This full article is also available on The Group Blog: CLICK HERE! 

We have two upcoming options for you to be the judge for our Retailers' Choice Awards™. Cultivate'23 in Columbus, OH on July 16th, and the Farwest'23 Show in Portland, OR on August 23rd. Here's the details:

Join us to participate in the Retailers' Choice Awards™ at Cultivate'23, Sunday, July 16th in Columbus, OH. Being a part of the new product selection team is a fun and productive way for you to find new products. We meet after the General Session on the first show day. You work the show floor at your own pace, and then we meet at the end of the day to compare notes. You get to see what everyone else discovered (and see them yourself the next day on the show floor). This can be a rewarding experience for your Garden Center!

Sign up and receive a special offer for participating... you will receive a special code to access Member Pricing and save $200 on All Access Registration ($20 savings on Expo Only). SIGN UP TODAY and help discover hot new products for 2024!

Join us for the upcoming Retailers' Choice Awards™ at Farwest'23, Wednesday, August 23rd in Portland, OR. Being a part of the new product selection team is a fun and productive way for you to find new products. We meet at 12 noon and you will receive your nomination form. Then work the show floor at your own pace, and meet at the end of the day to compare notes. You get to see what everyone else discovered (and see them yourself the next day on the show floor). This can be a rewarding experience for your Garden Center!

This a special Farwest as they celebrate the 50th Anniversary. Sign up and receive a special offer for participating... you will receive a special code to receive a FREE Show Badge. SIGN UP (Coming Soon) and help discover hot new products for 2024!

Our Partners for Success recognize the unique nature of the independent garden center operation and are interested in developing methods that can help improve retailer/vendor relationships through open dialog, new product introductions and, when possible, special pricing for Group Clients. We encourage you to reach out to these "Partners" and "Harness the Power of The Group." Follow the links below for more information.

It is pretty easy to tell, we really like Constant It is the only email marketing system we have used for The Group since the beginning and there's good reason for that. It's the best! Now, our connection with Constant Contact is even closer with our partnership with Constant Contact to help Group Clients save 10 to 25%. Just see what you are paying now and check out the possible savings over the entire year.

Already a Constant Contact Customer? You can transfer your account under The Group's Partnership and SAVE! Ask Danny for details!

A special THANK You to all our Sponsors of The Fall Event 2023.

Unique to this event, Sponsors play an equal roll in all programs, meetings and discussion throughout the 4+ days. We succeed and exceed expectations because we collaborate and work together to build our industry and each individual business!

Be sure to visit each Sponsor's website by clicking on each logo below.

American Beauties/

North Creek Nurseries

American Hort/

Cultivate'23

Bailey Nurseries

Ball Publishing/

Green Profit

Ball Seed

Bennett Plants

Border Concepts

Coast of Maine

Creation Jute

Eason

Horticulture Resources

Epicor

Espoma

Everde Growers

Garden Center Conference & Expo/GIE Media

Growtech Solutions

Henri Studio

JR Peters/

Jack's Fetilizers

LANCO/Midwest

Landscape Network

Lawn & Garden Retailer

Magazine

Master Nursery

Garden Centers

Monrovia

Mossify

Mycorrhizal

Applications

National Garden Bureau/

All America Selections

NewGen Boxwood

Overdevest

Nurseries

Plant Development

Services, Inc.

Pride's Corner Farms

Prospiant

Greenhouse Structures

Proven Winners

North America

Proven Winners

Color Choice

R.W. Rogers

Company

Saunders Brothers

SimPOS

Star Roses & Plants

Sunrise Marketing

Suntory Flowers

TapOnIt

Next GenerationTexting

Tropical Plant Intl. Expo

Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA

January 17-19, 2024

VMX POS

Willoway Nurseries

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