Gurpreet Singh’s Post

🌱 Checking on Your Plants—and Your Team 🌱 You check regularly on your plants at home, are you doing the same for your team? One thing I’ve learned from gardening is the importance of regularly checking in on my plants. I don’t just water them and walk away. I monitor their progress, look for signs of growth, and make sure they’re thriving in their environment. Sometimes, a plant might need a little extra care—a bit more sunlight, or protection from pests. The same goes for leading a team. It’s not enough to set things in motion and assume everything’s fine. Regular check-ins with your team are crucial to understanding how they’re really doing. Are they feeling supported?  Are they growing in their roles? Or are there challenges that need addressing before they become bigger issues? Just like plants, your team members need attention, feedback, and sometimes a little extra care to thrive in the workplace. By staying connected and checking in regularly, you can ensure they’re not just surviving, but truly flourishing. #ceocoaching #surviving #Leadership #TeamSupport #GrowthMindset

The Garden of Creativity: Cultivating Innovation in Our Organizations Imagine walking through a vibrant garden, where each flower represents a unique idea and the lush greenery symbolizes the creativity flourishing within an organization. But what makes this garden thrive? In my latest research on creativity in organizations, I've discovered how vital it is for leaders to nurture this garden. It’s not enough to simply plant seeds; we must also tend to the soil and create the right conditions for growth. First, we need to create a safe space—a fertile environment where every idea can take root. Just as gardeners remove weeds that threaten to stifle growth, we must eliminate the fear of judgment. When team members feel safe to express their thoughts, creativity blossoms. Next, diversity acts as our best fertilizer. A garden filled with various plants—each with its own colors and shapes—produces a more vibrant landscape. My research highlights that embracing diverse perspectives in teams cultivates richer ideas and innovative solutions, leading to greater organizational success. Time and patience are essential. Just as flowers take time to bloom, so do great ideas. Leaders must allow their teams the freedom to explore, experiment, and even fail. Each setback can be a valuable lesson, just as a gardener learns to adapt to changing seasons. Finally, leading by example is crucial. When we, as leaders, demonstrate our own creative processes—sharing our journeys, our stumbles, and our successes—we inspire others to venture into their creative gardens. By nurturing our organizational garden of creativity, we enrich our culture and pave the way for innovation and growth. Now, the question is: what kind of gardener are you? Are you the one who cultivates a safe space for ideas to blossom, or do you create the rich diversity needed for vibrant growth? Are you patient and supportive, allowing creativity to flourish over time? #Creativity #Leadership #Innovation #OrganizationalCulture #Growth #ExecutiveCoaching #Perseverance #MindCanvasCoachingandConsulting #Coaching #LearningAndDevelopment

How do you cultivate environments where people flourish? I offer a few suggestions on this topic in my latest Idaho Business Review column, now available online (linked with this post) and the Oct. 25 print edition. In short: focus on providing the necessary conditions for growth. 1) Model the way — If you’ve stopped growing, so will your people. 2) Understand and use gardening principles to improve how you lead — Shape the environment and provide the necessary conditions for growth. 3) Consider lessons from farming — You reap what you sow, so invest early and often for sustained results in yourself, your people, and your business. #leadership

Cultivating Leadership: Lessons from Master Gardeners Leadership is a lot like tending a garden – it requires patience, vision, and nurturing. An insightful article from Toastmasters Magazine that beautifully illustrates the parallels between leadership and gardening, highlighting key principles for leadership: 1. Light = A Clear Vision: Inspire your team with a well-defined vision and purpose. 2. Water = Positive Feedback and Appreciation: Deliver timely praise that can be fully absorbed. 3. Fertilizer = Coaching Feedback: Provide timely, corrective feedback to accelerate growth. 4. Stakes = A Good Induction Period: Support new members through challenges until they're confident. 5. Training = Systems and Professional Development: Offer clear direction and development. 6. Wind Protection = Psychological Safety: Create a safe environment for open expression. 7. Disease and Pest Protection = Prevention of Bullying and Harassment: Cultivate a healthy team culture. 8. Regular Weeding = Staying on Top of Issues: Address small issues before they become major problems. 9. Pruning = Prioritizing: Focus on essential tasks to shape team growth. 10. Space = Autonomy: Provide clear roles and empower autonomy. 11. Good Soil = Your Workplace Culture: Foster a connected team with a strong sense of belonging. 12. Orchard Layout = Structuring Your Team: Maximize strengths by structuring your team effectively. These principles help us cultivate a culture of excellence and empower our teams to reach new heights.  I highly recommend reading the full article and reflecting on how to apply these principles in your leadership journey. #Leadership #Growth #Teamwork #MasterGardener

🌻Flowers paint a really intriguing story about the role of leaders. My mother-in-law has a habit of having the opposite of a "green thumb". Last spring she was working on gardening and had some struggling flowers in her front yard. Zinnias, I believe. She decided to move them to the backyard. Simply a product of necessity because they had some bush removal work happening. The once struggling Zinnias, decided they wouldn't struggle as much. Rather, they decided to shoot up, bloom and lived full vibrant life. You see...it was the soil and light that was the original problem. All it took was moving them to a healthier (for that plant) soil with a little more direct sunlight. That's all it look to see the Zinnias thrive. #Leadership is a lot like this. How often do we look at our teams and assess the soil? Are the right things in place to ensure their #experience is one that will enable them to thrive? Are they getting enough encouragement, feedback and support? Not every flower will survive, no matter how much we work at it. But just like gardening, it's up to leaders to do everything they can to provide the best environment possible to thrive. I once heard something that echos the qualities and outcome of #Servantleadership. "The grass isn't greener on the other side. The grass is greener where it's watered". 🤯 Leaders - how can we help our teams thrive better? Let's take a soil and sunlight check. How are we doing? How can we do better? How can we serve better?

Deadheading plants isn’t just a gardening task—it has a lot to teach us about leadership and communication in business. Let me explain. I’m no expert in plant care (that’s all my wife), but I do pitch in when it comes to watering and rehanging them. Today, while removing dead leaves from one plant, I realized how similar this process is to providing ongoing feedback to a team. Just as you shouldn’t wait until a plant is half-dead to start removing the dried leaves, you shouldn’t wait too long to offer constructive feedback to your team. Consistent, timely feedback helps your team grow—just like regular pruning helps plants flourish. If you wait too long to act, the whole plant might be beyond saving. Similarly, if feedback is left too late, issues may become too ingrained to fix easily. By addressing concerns early, you help prevent small problems from becoming big ones. Take the time to nurture and guide your team—just like you would with a plant—and they’ll thrive. #Feedback #Leadership

You know how tending to a garden can be so rewarding? Well, that’s how I see driving business growth. You can't just focus on trimming the excess; instead, you need to cultivate an environment where creativity can blossom. Think of your team as the plants - each with unique strengths and potential. By providing them with the right tools and support, you empower them to thrive. Investing in employee development is like watering your garden; it helps ideas take root. Exploring new markets is akin to planting new seeds, allowing your organization to diversify and grow. When challenges arise, they’re like weeds that need addressing, but with proactive care, they can be managed without stifling growth. So, what strategies are you using to cultivate your organization’s garden? On a side note, I'm a bit of a gardening nut, so I can't resist this analogy. Are there any other gardening enthusiasts in my professional network? #BusinessGrowth #Innovation #Leadership #GrowthMindset

As someone who spent a good amount of my formative, professional years working in a landscape company, I really resonated with Mark Abbott's analogy in this article on the art and strategy of growing a business. Just like a garden, your business needs the right conditions, an effective growth plan, and active nurturing to thrive. In the article, you'll discover how strategic hiring, effective organizational structure, scalable growth planning, and strong leadership can drive long-term success for your organization. "A good gardener understands how to cultivate a healthy and flourishing garden. They do this by knowing how to combine all the elements needed, laying the groundwork, and protecting the garden enough to let nature take its course without ill effects. A good Founder/CEO is the same — they are an active participant, and they’re the person responsible for whether the company thrives or withers away. That's why it's so crucial that this gardener has the right tools needed to tend to their plants and make them thrive into a lasting and successful company." https://lnkd.in/evjwiTB9 #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #OrganizationalSuccess

WHY The People Gardener you ask? Well… it’s because I transformed my team into a Spectacular People Garden filled with Raving Fans who performed at their best and had FUN doing it! I used so many gardening tenets over the years when working with people. Energy, that’s what both bring to the table 💜 What Framework? The People Gardener Principles DM Framework to learn more 🥳 Leadership is a verb #smallbusinessowner #leadershipdevelopment #workplaceculture

As mentioned before, gardening has been my biggest hobby lately.  As leaders, we often think of our teams as gardens—full of potential, growth, and beauty. But just like a garden, a team needs consistent care and attention to thrive. Watering isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing commitment to ensuring that every plant, and in this case, every team member, has what they need to grow. When we water our gardens, we don’t just pour on water and walk away. We watch, we listen, we adjust to the needs of each plant. Some may need more sunlight, others more shade. The same goes for our teams. Every individual has unique needs—whether it’s support, guidance, or simply recognition. Take time to “water” your team. Check-in with them regularly, understand their needs, and provide the resources and encouragement they need to flourish. A well-nurtured team is a resilient, thriving team, ready to weather any storm. #leadership #teamgrowth #employeecare #CEOCoaching