My first real job was working in the front office at Grunder Landscaping Co. when I was in high school. Back in the day, the company operated using a paper ticket system, and my primary job was filing the carbon copies of these handwritten tickets. It's hard to believe this was 2010 and not 1985, I know.
Crews had tickets with attached carbon copies in their trucks, and they'd fill them out and leave one copy behind for the client to know what was done, and bring two copies back to the office for filing. I'd file one downstairs for the admin and sales teams to use, and then a separate copy was filed for production to use. Don't ask me why we needed so many copies: the best explanation I ever got was "what if we both need that file at the same time?"
The paper systems, and the cabinets that stored the stacks of blank paperwork, would quickly get disorganized in the chaos of spring. Without fail, the first two weeks of my summer job each year would include reorganizing the cabinets, catching up on weeks of unfiled tickets, and getting things back in order. I did a lot of other things as part of my role and learned a ton about the way the business ran, one of those things being how quickly things become disorganized without good systems and the discipline to stick to them.
This is something I've watched first hand as the team at Grunder Landscaping Co. has gotten much better at doing over the years. Their shop has always been organized, and carrying that mentality through to every area on the office has made the entire team's jobs easier. Here's how we make it work:
We don't keep things for "someday" because it's easy to forget where that one part or paper was when you do eventually need it. I'm not encouraging you to be wasteful, but decluttering regularly is part of the cleanliness habit.
We label where things go so that it's easy for new team members to find the right place to put things away. This is true for the irrigation parts we keep in-stock, the spare tools we keep at the shop, the specialty equipment that a crew might need for particular jobs, the office supplies, and everything else you could think of. We even have labeled lanes and bays in the plant yard, so that crews can easily identify what is for them and what's for another project.
We all know that we're going to get dirty as part of our work. It's part of the job. That's different from being messy. If we don't let messes and clutter accumulate, then it's never too big of a task to clean up. While trucks are refueling, our teams are cleaning out their trucks. When you use a tool, you put it back where you found it. Simple, daily steps mean we're just maintaining cleanliness.
Next month we'll have an episode on The Grow Show, powered by STIHL, where Marty talks organization and brings on a few members of Team Grunder to get their perspectives, too. Keep an eye out for that episode if you're looking to hear perspective on cleanliness from our crews. And don't forget: if you want to see all these organizational systems for yourself you can join us at one of our Grunder Landscaping Co. Field Trips this fall. I hope to see you there!
|
Emily Lindley |
|