Nurturing the garden of talent
Below’s a picture of my garden taken in 2017 which recently popped up in my Google feed. Next to it is my garden today, 7 years later.
Little did my wife Kim and I realise our decision to downsize would require an upsized effort in our new garden!
Our move to the northern beaches in Sydney from the leafier upper north shore meant we had to completely rethink the garden design, what to plant, how to manage it in a different micro-climate. It brought flashbacks to when I helped established new teams in my previous corporate career – how to design them, who to select in key roles, and how to lead them.
Never did I envisage in 2017 that this garden would become the sanctuary it is today. The virtues of time, patience, and care have created what it is today.
I soon realised tendering to a garden is no different to nurturing team members – both flourish from investing time, patience, and care.
To nurture the ‘garden of talent’, leaders need to continuously:
Fertilise with feedback – feedback is the nutrient that fertilises others’ development and growth.
Water for success – as water is a garden’s lifeline for survival, learning is other’s lifeline for success.
Prune to mastery – as we prune to guide and shape a garden’s beauty, opportunities guide and shape others to achieve mastery.
Team members, as do gardens, take time to grow, develop, and form. Allow the virtues of patience and care to enable others to become. Trust, with time and commitment, the return on your investment in others, will be realised.
And a final message directly from me in my garden: