Pulling Weeds

Spring time is garden time.  Lots of little spouts coming up.   Time to thin them out and give them space.  I'm determined to find a spot for the extra plants - those cases where two seeds spouted together.    Give them space.  And then there are the weeds...

 We all know how important it is to get the weeds out so the good plants can grow.  

Gardening is a life lesson.

Having been involved in disseminating our corporate message for a long time, I can see that the present culture of energy and enthusiasm didn't simply happen.  Good people were given the space and nurturing to grow and the weeds had to go.  Those who are choking the work place are eventually asked to leave the company.  Sometimes those asked to leave have been with the company many years.  In those instances, if simply due to management or personality shortcomings, they were first given many opportunities to grow into the new corporate culture.   The ones who were finally weeded out were ones who seemed focused on power and control - who could not quite get in sync with a de-centralized, team building approach to business.  They were more focused on lifting themselves up than lifting up the team and ultimately the business.

Once that weed is gone, it's amazing to see what happens.  We have no idea how stifling one bad weed can be until it's gone.  The higher up the company that "weed" is, the greater the impact.  

  This company went from bankruptcy to excellence in less than a decade.  They planted a lot of good seeds - gave them room to grow - and did a lot of weeding.

We need to keep weeds out of all our gardens.  I'm going to be thinking a lot about that life lesson as I focus on the many gardens in my life.