Team Learning = Success!

by Danny Summers

When I first started working with The Group in 2012, I remember hearing from a number of our Owners this comment, "I just can't take on anything new. My plate is full."

It didn't take long for me to realize these were the same Owners who only had one person connected to all of The Group programs. You probably already know where I am headed with this...

The Owner was the only one connected. He or she was the one receiving all The Group emails, content, etc. They would receive each message and then decide who on their Team should also receive the information and pass it along. After a year or so of observing this, I started to think of them as "The Gatekeepers."

As I developed messaging to encourage Group Owners to engage more of their Team directly in Group Programs and sharing, I even used the famous picture of The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. In my view, he was the perfect example of The Gatekeeper!

The fact is the more that Owners engaged their Team directly into The Group sharing, the more the Team was learning and developing their skills and confidence.

I remember John Kennedy often saying during some of his messaging the Owner's conflicting approach to Team-Building...

"Many owners hesitate to invest in training and development of their teams fearing if they do, they may leave and take their knowledge elsewhere."

Then, John would answer the question...

"What happens if the opposite occurs?? You don’t invest in your team…and they STAY????"

And the fact of the matter is... the better you share, train and develop your Team, the more each of them grow, the stronger your Team becomes, and the easier your job as an Owner becomes. This is truly Team Learning.

Team Leaning is certainly a wide-spectrum of areas. Just like some of my recent messages about studying your changing audience and what your audience is interested in individually. An example is the July 15th GROUPtalk with the title Monitoring Your Audience.

Many Group Centers today have their Team sharing plant or product knowledge weekly as one Team Member shares what they know with others. It creates a fun, learning culture.

And speaking of Team Learning, this is the perfect time for us to announce the Financial Basics of Garden Center Retailing for 2025. This will be the 10th Annual Series and Tim Quebedeaux is expanding this virtual series this coming year!

This week, we roll out plans and signup for the 2025 Series. The series is now 7 Sessions... well actually 9 as Tim is expanding Session 1 into three 2-hour Fridays, beginning January 31. Complete details and signup is now available on The Group WebSystem. Registration fee will not be charged until after January 1, and we are offering a split-payment option this year.

Here's a few comments from recent participating Centers:

Sam Brown, Fiddleheads Garden Center, Dalton, GA (Best of Best Center 2023)
"Our team enjoyed the Financial Basics Series so much that we decided to take the implementation further by having Tim come to our store for another round. We have managed to identify that our inventory was too high and have kept it down 40% on average in 2024. Thank you Timmy Q!"

Sarah McCue, White River Nursery, Fayetteville, AR (Best of Best Center 2023)
"The Financial Basics class changed the way we approach decision making. Previously, we relied heavily on intuition and made a lot of reactive choices. Now, we've learned to use our data to plan strategically, identify weaknesses, and focus our efforts where they matter most. We’ve already seen the impact of these changes on our bottom line."

Team Learning can help create excitement, interest and dedication in your Team!

This is why... Team Learning equals SUCCESS!

You can find more details on The Financial Basics of Garden Center Retailing for 2025 CLICK HERE.

Danny Summers
[email protected]
Tel: 678-909-7770
Cell: 678-761-7145

REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Tim Quebedeaux, Sid Raisch, John Kennedy, Jean Seawright, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!