It’s no secret that company culture is one of the main ways landscape businesses can retain their team members long term. However, how you go about creating a desirable company culture is often more mysterious as there is no single practice that makes somewhere a great place to work.
“Culture isn’t a one-and-done,” says Katelyn Milanes, director of culture and employee engagement for Fisk Lawnscapes. “It’s built in the small moments, the big wins, and yes… even the boring stuff.”
Milanes and owner Ben Fisk will cover how thriving culture is built, maintained, and shaped during their session, “The Culture Blueprint: How to Design and Build a Great Place to Work” on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 9 a.m. at ELEVATE.
“This isn’t just another HR talk — we’re diving into the real stuff that makes businesses thrive,” Milanes says. “Whether you’re a business owner, supervisor, landscape pro, supplier, or nursery team member, this session is packed with real-world insights you can actually use.”
Common Misconceptions
Often, people assume that company culture is simply the perks, like a team lunch or trendy office spaces.
“While those things are important for shaping the employee experience, an organization’s culture is much deeper,” Milanes says. “Culture is designed to influence employee behavior, decision making, and even how conflict is handled.”
It’s also common to presume that culture just happens on its own. Milanes says that great cultures do not happen organically. They are intentionally designed and defined.
“In a fast-paced, labor-intensive industry like ours, great culture requires the same level of planning, investment, and attention as any high-quality landscape design,” she says.
The first step to building a strong company culture is hiring the right people. Milanes says they will teach attendees how to spot the traits that scream “perfect culture fit” before someone even walks through the door.
“Maintaining a strong organizational culture strategy starts with fine-tuning your ideal candidate profile and hiring for culture fits,” Milanes says.
A good culture doesn’t create itself, and it is also never finished. As your team grows, your culture must evolve as well.
“The best cultures are shaped by employee feedback, led with humility, and strengthened by alignment between what the company says and what it actually does,” Milanes says. “When you get that right, culture becomes a competitive advantage and a reason people choose to stay.”
Culture You Can Actually Use
Culture is often a buzzword without much meaning behind it. Milanes and Fisk will provide ready-to-try tips to build a workplace environment that people want to be part of.
“At its core, a great culture helps team members feel seen, heard, and valued,” Milanes says. “It fosters confidence and safety so that people can speak up and take risks at work. It also sets high expectations for employee behavior with accountability and healthy support built in. The goal for an exceptional company culture is that individuals and teams can grow, develop, and succeed together.”
Milanes says while moral boosters like free snacks are great, meaningful employee impact is about how people are treated, how decisions are made, and how connected employees feel to a shared mission and to each other.
She says at Fisk Lawnscapes, their mission and core values serve as a roadmap for employee behavior and are at the heart of every strategic decision.
“Our core values shape how we hire, how we train, how we lead crews, and even how we part ways with someone when it’s not a fit,” she says. “They’re the standard we come back to when things get hard, and they give our people a sense of consistency, no matter what’s happening around them.”
A thriving culture prioritizes connection, employee engagement & professional development.
Keeping the Vibe Alive
A common debate is whether the owner or the HR director should own the company culture. At Fisk, they view every team member as either a culture builder or a culture detractor.
“Whether they realize it or not, their daily attitude, behavior, and consistency shape the tone of the team, the jobsite, and the entire organization,” Milanes says.
While the owners should model the core values and hold people accountable, it is a team effort to create an excellent company culture. Also, having a dedicated role like Milanes’s enables you to create initiatives that focus on employee professional development, recognition and connection.
Company culture is a mixture of many elements, but taking the time to celebrate everything and being there in the mundane moments makes a major difference.
Milanes says they ensure the celebration of professional milestones, personal wins, birthdays, weddings, and new babies comes across as sincere by being specific, timely, and personal.
“Instead of a vague ‘good job,’ we try to recognize exactly what a team member did and why it mattered with frequent shout outs in our communication app,” Milanes says. “Recognition goes a long way in building trust and engagement. When celebration becomes more than a gesture, it fuels retention, engagement, and pride in your work.”
Don’t get caught up in only doing big events. It is your daily habits and behind-the-scenes consistency that shape how people feel and perform at work.
“We prioritize listening to our people,” Milanes says. “Regular manager check-ins, team surveys, or even simple feedback loops in the field go a long way. When people feel heard and see action based on their input, trust grows.”
Having regular performance reviews, professional development opportunities and clear growth tracks all help employees see a future with the company.
“These are intentional and strategic ways to keep your best culture-builders engaged, invested, and growing with you,” Milanes says.
Looking to develop a workplace people don’t want to leave? Register for ELEVATE and we’ll see you in Phoenix, Arizona!
