Group CEU's?

by Danny Summers

The Horticulture Industry is certainly one where we are accustomed to promoting Certification Programs and earning credentials for you and your staff at retail. Most of our state associations have a program you can and should participate in, and being a Certified Nursery or Horticulture Professional designation can be an important part of building customer confidence. I know you are wondering where I am going with this...

I am not announcing a new Retailer Certification Program.

But the idea for this message is an observation made while Karen and I were returning from The Fall Event 2024 experience. Seeing all of the interaction between our Retailers, Sponsors, and Service Provider Team certainly lends itself to the topic of CEUs. While The Fall Event is a great networking opportunity, it is an even better opportunity for learning. The cumulative knowledge within The Group is unmatched.

I have shared ideas and observations before about being positioned for Life-Long Learning. Many of The Group's founding leaders and earliest Group Retailers (aka trail-blazers) could easily be seen as Lifelong Students of Garden Retailing. Let's consider some of these names... Hendrickson, Bailey, Hayter, Raisch, Berns, Buchanan, Van Wilgen, Heaton, Lain and many more. They were all constant students of Garden Retailing, what Neil Peart (drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush... one of the all-time greatest rock drummers) would call Master Students (see a wonderful tribute video to Neil Peart below).

I think recognizing a couple of key points here may be important...

1. The World of Garden Retailing is changing (and more now than ever before).
2. No one has all the answers.
3. Each Garden Center and its position in its community is unique.

With these three ideas in mind, all of us are working together to monitor performance across many points of observation, constantly challenging the status quo, recognizing and sharing what is working for others, and all the while realizing what works for one Center doesn't necessarily work for the next. Our Group purpose is to guide each Center determine what is best for them to help move ahead. This is a worthy effort!

With a constantly changing landscape in Garden Retailing, becoming positioned as a Lifelong Learner or Master Student seems to be the best approach. If we take a quick look at some of the most historical business leaders and inventors, it is easy to see most were driven to be Master Students in their field, always challenging themselves and others for what they did and did not yet know.

So, while I am not advocating the creation of a new Retail Certification Program and CEU development, I am challenging all of us to commit to being Lifelong Learners in the business of Garden Retailing.

Group CEU's can simply be the idea of Group Learning. It is an ongoing effort.

The Fall Event 2024 Photos - We have over 800 photos taken at The Fall Event 2024 to share with you. Group Clients can login to the Group WebSystem, and there you will see the link to our Fall Event 2024 Photo Galley. You can scroll through, day by day and even download your favorites. Watch for presentations and content being shared... coming in the following weeks.

Thank you for being an active part of The Group Experience!