President’s Perspective

MOLLY JOHN

M.J. Design Associates, Inc. 2022 OGIA President

mjohn@mjdesignassociates.com H ello Fall!! The one negative is the days are getting shorter, but the cooler nights and comfortable days are so nice. Most importantly football is back and by the time this comes out, hopefully our Buckeyes are off to an undefeated start to the season.

For most of us, we are pushing to finish the season strong. We are closing out some final sales to finish the year and hopefully having projects to keep us busy through the winter months. Like many of you, we take this time of year to sit down with our team members. They help us evaluate how the season went. We ask questions from them, trying to find out what we could have done better? Or what did we do that worked?

In the current labor environment, have you taken the time to show your employees the opportunities out there for them to grow in their knowledge? Did you send anyone to one of the Diagnostic Walkabouts, Proper Pruning clinic or a Plant Identification class? We have found that allowing our employees the opportunity to attend some educational classes gives them confidence in their jobs, as well as show them the growth opportunities that are available to them. The more they learn the more valuable the become to each of us.

Coming this fall the OGIA staff has been working hard to put together a great program for midwestGREEN. It is a “new event” but will be similar to educational events of the past. There are two Keynote Speakers: Simon Anderson, a futurist and Tony DeCenzo, a former military guy who know works with Focus 3, an organization that works with groups to teach leadership skills. Both should provide great energy to finish off the 2022 season and kick start us into 2023. In addition, there are educational sessions over the three days that cover; new plants and perennials, new innovations for our industry, how to understand the next generation of gardeners, bugs, marketing, and various management practices. We have speakers who always provide some great insight and energy, like; Bobbie Schwartz, Joe Boggs, Marty Grunder, Anne Obarski and many more. I am excited about a couple of sessions that will go over cultural differences impacting day-to-day activities in the landscaping industry as they pertain to Spanish and Englishspeaking team members. These sessions will help improve communication among teams without being fully fluent in the language and to develop strategies for continuous improvement. While deciding what time of year to host an event like this when we have such a diverse group of members, is not easy. We felt switching to Fall gave us a chance to bring some of our employees who may not be around during the winter. It is also unlikely we have a snow event, that can reduce the number of people who can attend. God help us if we have a snow in early November. I also feel strongly that it is a way to show employees who might be new to our industry, that this is a strong profession and many opportunities for them and therefore helps to retain them.

The last thing I will mention is OHLO (Ohio High School Landscape Olympics). The event will be held October 12 & 13 at OSU’s ATI Campus in Wooster. I would encourage any of you who have time to come see the competition first-hand. We are always looking for Sponsors and the money goes a long way to providing a fun event for the students. But more than that, it allows us to show off the Green Industry to the next generation. It’s very much about the students, but I think it can be just as impactful when the parents, teachers, and school administrators (and we do get some to come watch the event) see that businesses are willing to give up product time to come and support these students. They can see how much we enjoy what we do and the passion.

Enjoy the cooler days. Focus on ways to help grow your staff educationally. I hope to see you at one of the upcoming events this fall.

Take care and go Bucks!

2022

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