PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE Devon Stanley, Benchmark Landscape Construction Inc. Every year at the end of July my family enjoys a week at the county fair. For us, the county fair is the culmination of months of preparation— our kids participate in 4-H and FFA by showing market hogs—and ends up being one of the most enjoyable weeks of our year. This year, as I was thinking about an article for this issue, I kept coming back to the comparisons of my children's livestock project and how we run our businesses. You may find this to be a stretch of a comparison, but bear with me. The livestock project starts off by selecting an animal to raise and prepare to present in front of a judge at the fair. One might select their animal based on knowledge of the judge and their known judging criteria and opinions about the particular species being shown, and it all comes down to genetics. What are the desired attributes and traits of the animal? In our businesses, our "DNA" is our culture and business model. We decide how our business operates based on our preferences and the preferences of our potential customer base. What services do we choose to offer? Do we carry a certain line of products or plants for specific reasons? After choosing an animal, the livestock project is then dependent on resource inputs, e.g. feed choices and care of the animal. Layered on top of the animal's genetics, things like protein percentages in feed, supplements, and exercise can drastically alter outcomes. Our businesses use personnel, equipment, and operation processes to enhance the base DNA of who we are. With my children's 4-H projects, we consult experts such as the breeder and a veterinarian to make sure our decisions on care and development are on track with our end goals. In business, we may use a consultant or our state/local trade organization to gain information/resources to help. These are the inputs which drive the ship and allow us to operate to an end goal efficiently and with limited risk. County fair week is where the thought and planned out processes culminate into my daughters' opportunities to be successful. They learn proper show techniques to keep the animal in constant lines of site for the judge to determine their worth/ value in comparison to a national meat industry standard as well as the other animals in the ring with them. In business, this relates to project performance, which ultimately means profitability and accolades. Our employees' "performance" of communication, trade skills, technical onla.org
knowledge, CRM among others during the project become valued through judgements of clients and other potential customers who view or hear about our work. Our business show arena is the work performance at a site/sale or delivered product and ultimately the satisfaction of a client’s expectations being realized. Fair week ends with the livestock auction. The auction is framed around support of our youth and their dedication to their projects. The review is a life lesson on the real world and provides information on how to improve next year. My daughters learn that inputs to achieve success have a cost and there is a delicate balance of profitability or loss based on allocation of resources. In business our "auction" is the historical review of estimated vs. actual. Was profitability achieved? What went right and what went wrong and how do we learn from the errors? Businesses that don’t track numbers and know where improvement can be achieved don’t reach their full potential in the marketplace. Businesses that review job profitability with their employees seem to gain a better relational working environment for all due to transparency and communicating a common end goal. Outside of the actual show days, the best part of the fair for our family spending time at the camper eating lunches and dinners with other fair families and networking with people that have a common love of the 4-H/FFA Life. In business, that is why most successful companies spend hours and dollars giving their employees the opportunity to attend networking events and play an active role in a trade organization such as ONLA or NALP. The ability to share ideas and learn about others' experiences is invaluable. I'm grateful for my daughters' experiences with 4-H, and hope they carry the lessons they've learned with them into adulthood, no matter which career path they choose. And for this simpleminded man, I've enjoyed drawing the comparisons to our businesses. I hope you also have a chance to reflect on how your businesses are operating as we head into the last quarter of the year. B Devon can be contacted at dstanley@benchmarkohio.com September/October 2021
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