Columns

EXECUTIVE DESK

Positive aspects of the global pandemic

Recently, I was sent an article that outlines the global risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic. It was based on the outlook and perspectives of the world’s top risk professionals. Economic risks are the most pronounced. There is a fear that the world will enter into a long period of recession.

Widespread bankruptcy, industry consolidation, failure of industries to recover and a disruption of supply chains were identified as likely scenarios. How does this perspective relate to the landscape professions? Why should we care?

The main reason we should care is that the world is interconnected. We are not immune to economic cycles. We should be as proactive as possible in order to prepare ourselves — just in case these scenarios play out. We should always be aware of the risks and find the opportunities within the crisis. We should be thinking about new ways to do things. It is important to remind ourselves the moments that define us are those that challenge us. This is an adventure. There are positive aspects to bad times. It reminds us that although there are many things we cannot control, we have the ability and freedom to choose our attitude and our response. It is grounding to know that we are the masters of our own choices.

I often reflect on this profound, lifechanging fact. I clearly remember the epiphany I had as a young teenager sitting outside the library at Humber College, wondering if I should drop out of school. Had I made the right career choice? What on Earth was landscaping anyway? Could I make a living at it? Emotionally, I felt unsettled, as if I was being tossed about by waves, until finally, I understood I had the freedom to choose my attitude. I chose to do well, no matter what. I chose to do the best I could. It made all the difference.

COVID has quickly and seriously affected just about everything. From one week to the next, things became entirely different. Reality shifted in a moment. This paralyzed many of us. It stimulated a great deal of fear and uneasiness. It brought out the worst in some and brought out the best in many. It has energized, stimulated, challenged, forced change and created many opportunities. It also revealed the importance of social networks. We are not meant to be alone. COVID forced us to acknowledge our interdependence. In an odd way, it unified us.

From an association perspective, it magnified our relevance. Our core purpose is to be a trusted place where members can gather to help one another. We are a community for mutual benefit and improvement. Community building has never been more necessary.

It has illuminated the importance and potential of technology, especially in communicating broadly. It has taught us that education can be very accessible (We delivered 24 webinars in 32 days, with over 4,500 participants).

COVID has highlighted the importance of caring for each other. It has made life and relationships more real. It has brought us all together in a way that only shared experience and adversity can. COVID has shown us the importance of collaboration and relationships.

Tony DiGiovanni

LO Executive Director tony@landscapeontario.com

Heather MacRae, LO’s director of trade shows and events, recently shared a video that her son received from the teachers, administrators and custodial staff at his school. It was full of hope, encouragement and care. I thought I would share some of the quotes. They are just as relevant, meaningful and uplifting to school children as to hardened adults like us. It is a good thing to plant hope — especially in our profession. “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it is dark, look for stars. “Fear does not stop death, it stops life.” “Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.” “Where there is light, there is hope.” “Be hopeful, be strong, be resilient.” “Hope is passion for the possible.” “A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity — an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

May we remain optimistic in the face of all challenges. Your staff at Landscape Ontario wishes you a wonderful season.

MEMBERSHIP

Finding the silver lining

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is the power of community. One example is Ed

Hansen, Landscape Ontario’s 2nd vice-president. Ed has been doing a series on LinkedIn on the “Positive experiences throughout COVID-19.” If you haven’t seen Ed’s videos yet, they are definitely worth a watch. I think Ed’s perspective on this situation is one that we can all adopt.

There is no doubt that coronavirus has had a devastating impact on just about every sector of the economy and families have faced unprecedented struggles. In addition to store closures, lack of toilet paper and flour, and long lineups at the grocery store, COVID-19 has brought many other challenges. As these challenges drag on, it is important for your mental well being to try and find a silver lining to help you to realize that there is an eventual end in sight.

Over the past several weeks, I have seen LO members come together as a community like never before. The LO COVID-19 Task Force assembled swiftly, held daily meetings and communicated developments to members via weekly town hall webinars to answer questions and share information on the ever-changing pandemic. Members are celebrating the successes of their peers and colleagues. We have also seen countless examples of members helping members by reviewing each other’s policies, online peer group discussions, etc., and the collective power of the Landscape Ontario community led to successful lobbying efforts to get green-industry businesses back to work as soon as possible.

We’ve embraced technology in new ways and faster than ever. Within weeks, professional development seminars and chapter meetings have transitioned to online platforms and members are staying connected in new and more efficient ways. Depots, supply yards and garden centres have developed online shopping platforms (and done so in record time) to reach customers in new ways which has proven to be very successful.

At the beginning of the shutdown, LO’s membership team took on the daunting task of calling every single LO member. The calls we made to members were tough. We heard your struggles and your biggest worries, but we also heard about how you were discovering kindred spirits within your own company and clientele. And some members had clients choose to work with companies that were disregarding public health recommendations. But you know what? That may be a good thing. Do you really want those folks as your clients? (Weeding out the not-so-great clients and focusing on your best and right-fit clients was actually discussed at length in one a COVID-19 related webinar held by Jim Paluch and Scott Wentworth).

The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to examine the bigger picture outside of profit margins. It catapulted us out of our daily lives, which so many of us (myself included) took for granted. These last few weeks have shown peoples’ true colours and given us the chance to purge the negativity and bad seeds within our circles.

I am trying to look at this entire ordeal as a wake-up call that perhaps we all needed for one reason or another. The changed environment we now have to navigate is an opportunity for reflection and to prioritize our lives. We have learned what we can go without, and how to obtain and focus on the things we really need. I know we all want to get back to normal. Through all of the change and chaos, it is important to remember the important things which have stayed true during these difficult times: family and community. We are so glad that you are a part of the LO family. We truly are stronger together.

Myscha Stafford

LO Membership and Chapter Coordinator myscha@landscapeontario.com

UNDERGROUND WORLD

Late locate status reviewed

Over the winter, one of the most talked-about subjects in the damage prevention industry was late locates. Many locates in 2019 took as long as three to four weeks. This is unacceptable given that back in 2015, Bill 8 legislation was passed, mandating locates be completed within five days. The legislation also gave the power of policing the five-day completion to ON1CALL. The power to fine locate companies or utilities who did not comply with the five-day timeline was also given to ON1CALL.

In January 2020, I asked the question: “How many fines were levied over the last five years for late locates?” The answer that I received was zero. I can not think of another law that is so regularly broken, and has no fines handed out. The speed limit in most school zones is 40 kph, yet people often drive 60 to 70 kph, but at least those areas are routinely monitored by police with many tickets handed out. In my opinion, the system has not challenged locate companies with fines, so they have not been motivated to fix the current problem. The solution was to meet the requirements in five days, or change the law. ON1CALL has done neither. So the problem of late locates still exists without any definite solution. It seems that everybody has simply accepted late locates as a normal condition. This has to change!

Proposed solutions

The subject of late locates is discussed at every Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance (ORCGA) Board of Directors meeting. Locaters, excavators and ON1CALL are all members of the board and all fully understand the challenges. ON1CALL and the 13 ORCGA Geographic Councils have had meetings over the winter months on the issue. Late locates was also the subject of a seminar at the recent ORCGA Symposium in February. Here are some of the recommendations that are proposed for this season that are designed to help eliminate late locates:

Better input into the system:

There must be better input coming from the excavator with each locate request. Improved forecasting by excavators:

Excavators must do more and better forecasting, especially on large tree planting and municipal projects. Dedicated locators will be established and will be dedicated to large municipal projects. System of incentives and fines:

Develop a system that rewards companies who complete locates within the five-day legislation and fines for those who do not. It would be performance based. (This should have been implemented five years ago). Better records on late locates:

Develop better recordkeeping so we know how many late locates are actually performed. We need real data on how many days late locates are. (Which we currently do not have). Understanding economic factors:

Recognizing and reacting to economic conditions that may affect construction and the demand on new locate volume requests to ON1CALL and locate companies.

Conclusion

The first step in solving the problem is recognizing that there is a serious problem, and how it affects the damage prevention community. Only then can we work to remedy the problem. We also need statistical data on the number of locates and in how many days the various locate requests were completed. I believe if we can implement these suggestions, we will find a marked improvement in this area of late locates. The ORCGA’s goal is to eliminate late locates so that contractors can rely on the system to deliver locates within the legislated five-day time period.

Please contact me with any questions, comments or suggestions on any damage prevention issue.

Terry Murphy CLM

tvmurphy@ca.inter.net

PROSPERITY PARTNERS

A leadership blueprint

Without a doubt, the Landscape Ontario community has shone through the crisis of April and May that struck our profession at the worst possible time of year.

I am impossibly proud to be an LO member.

Over the past two months, not a week has gone by where I haven’t felt both grate ful and impressed with the sincere dedication of the LO staff team, the volunteer COVID-19 Task Force, those allied with the industry, the garden communicators, the allied professional business coaches and many more.

There’s a long, long list of leaders who have stepped up amidst rapid and uncer tain change. It’s an impressive and long list of entrepreneurs and volunteers who have come together to give dozens (if not hun dreds) of hours dedicated to finding clarity on rapidly changing, complex and time-sen sitive issues to support members.

Some researched tirelessly and posted resources. Some ‘pulled strings’ to get answers from politicians and community leaders. Some worked hard to reassure, and others advised on next steps and how to create new plans.

Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” He was refer ring to the unlikely trio alliance created between Great Britain, the U.S. and Rus sia in February 1945 — when among other things, they agreed to collaborate to form the United Nations. Amidst a crisis, they came together to create opportunity.

In my opinion, Landscape Ontario has just shown the same leadership blueprint for stronger members and an improved professional community for the future. LO has demonstrated how to rally in a crisis — with humility, sincerity and patience.

If any of you ever doubted the value of LO before, I hope that you never will again. If I’m correct, then Tony DiGiovanni is our Winston. He’ll possibly be cross with me for saying so, but every cause and every army has its leader. And Tony has truly led the collaboration and mutual improvement ethic, which has equipped and empowered our members to succeed as best as possible this spring.

In the midst of an unpredictably and rapidly-changing business and health land scape, Tony mobilized LO’s leadership team (welcome aboard, Joe Salemi!) and the staff to swing into action swiftly and effectively. In doing so, they have equipped members to do the same. AND, this has raised the profile of our profession with politicians and policy makers alike.

LO has been the broker of an unbeliev able amount of valuable and important information, at a time when we needed it the most. In an instant, LO jumped into the webinar business (thanks in large part to the lovely Keri MacIvor!). The count less webinars are a blur. And we now have online training modules up and running as well.

Personally, I connected with LO’s Peer to Peer Network members by hosting twiceweekly ‘coffee chats’ via Zoom with up to 35 peers at a time — and facilitated great men tors and resource people, like Dave Wright (LO president), Mark Bradley (LMN CEO), Scott Wentworth, Frank Bourque, and Alan ..White (LO Task Force chair).

Our community has come together like never before. We keep moving forward even when we don’t know what that really looks like. Thank you LO. Thank you outdoor profession entrepreneurs. We’ve GOT this!

Safety compliance in a new age

Jacki Hart CLM

Prosperity Partners Program Manager info.peertopeer@landscapeontario.com

As we move through the various phases of COVID-19 restrictions and openings, there are many challenges still ahead with respect to keeping protocols in place for worker safety, team health, and family protection.

Complacency is going to be tough to avoid. As the weather warms up, masks and gloves will become less and less man ageable. As more people venture back outside, social distancing will become harder to ensure and enforce.

Now that you have your policies and procedures in place, I think the next chal lenge is to keep staff, clients, sub-trades and suppliers engaged and compliant in the longer term.

We can all see and hear the risks that our ‘normal’ PPE protects us from, but we can’t see the risk of COVID-19 unless we’re watching the news, or have loved ones amid outbreak situations, whether at work or in long-term care residences.

Please keep an eye on complying with all of your policies and procedures. Com placency can and will creep in… it’s human nature to go back to the old ways.