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Mason Shaffer says attending NALP’s “Student Career Days”—now the National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC)—in 2007 and 2008 ultimately led to his full-time landscape career. Today, he is the senior garden designer for Blanchford Landscape Group and Shaffer says it was his interaction with Andy Blanchford, company owner, at the event that put that opportunity in […]
The Virginia Turfgrass Council, NALP state association partners, are big users of NALP’s Industry Growth Initiative-funded Workforce Development tools. Their favorite? “The ABCs of Healthy Lawns & Landscapes” coloring book. In fact, Virginia Turfgrass Council members Wes and Paula Bray recently delivered these coloring books and packs of crayons to the Children’s Hospital of the […]
The Landscape Management Apprenticeship Program debuted in February 2019. Now, one year later, industry companies are using the program and realizing success. What’s working for attracting apprentices? How are they managing the program within their companies? What lessons can they pass along? Two companies who have used the program–L.G. Scott and Eichenlaub Inc.–will be presenting […]
While national data shows more students are getting high-school diplomas, college enrollment rates continue to decrease. But some jobs don’t require a college degree. Landscaping is one of them … and it’s trending in 2020. College Attendance Continues to Drop Nathan Grawe, a Carleton College economist based in Minnesota, predicts the college-going population will drop […]
People are your greatest asset—and your people need to get paid. You have some decisions to make to make the payroll process go smoothly. First, how will you keep track of employees’ time so hourly workers are compensated fairly (and accurately)? How often will you pay employees? And, will you use a payroll service or […]
A landscape company org chart helps assign responsibility and accountability to your employees. It establishes a personnel framework with levels of oversight. You should write a job description for every position on the organizational chart. As we addressed in Aligning Your Organization, create a future organizational chart that includes positions you’ll need as you grow. This […]
Sure, you know what you’re thinking about the job openings you need to fill at your landscape business and the work you need to get done regardless of if you fill them or not. But do you know what your future employees are thinking? We asked current horticulture students who are attending NALP’s National Collegiate […]
What do sports have to do with the way you run a business? Quite a lot, says Ross Bernstein, an award-winning, peak-performance business speaker who is the best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books. Bernstein will be leading a 2020 Leaders Forum workshop entitled, “Harnessing Innovation and Technology to Invest in Your Company’s Future: Greatest […]
With the proper motivation, training and support system, members of any generation can become capable of remarkable accomplishments. Phil Gwoke‘s goal in speaking to LANDSCAPES attendees at the CEO Forum this week was to bring awareness to what formed and influenced the generations, explore the resulting values and motivations. Then, he gave landscape business owners […]
Sports teams might have great, extremely skilled individual players, but the only way they win is when they play together. The same is true for teams within landscape businesses. Unfortunately, many landscape employees don’t feel like they are part of a team because the organizations they work for aren’t doing anything to intentionally develop teamwork. […]