Become an engaging leader and watch your organisation grow!

Welcome to the website dedicated to growing engaging leaders!

As a keen gardener and someone who advises organisations on how to increase employee engagement, I can see that there are many similarities between creating a thriving garden and creating a thriving organisation.  Whether you have one pot plant sitting on your desk (one employee) or a plot of land that would rival the botanic gardens (many employees) the basic rules are the same. Get it right and your plants will thrive (your people will grow). Get it wrong and you will be left with a dead and dying garden (high turnover or, even worse, high disenagement). Gardening can be a rewarding pursuit. There is nothing better than seeing plants grow and it’s the same with people. It can also be hard work and involve a long gap between effort and result. The similarities to managing people are obvious.

Let’s Grow! is focussed on helping you develop a strong team of engaging leaders who can nurture their teams and create a thriving organisation. The Let’s Grow! philosophy is based on the same principles that successful gardeners follow . . .

• You can’t have engaged leaders in a poor culture . . . you can’t grow plants in bad soil
• We pick people for leadership roles for the wrong reasons . . . wrong plant in wrong location simply because we like the look of it
• New leaders need assistance and support . . . plants need help to get established too
• A leader in the wrong position can do damage . . . the wrong plant can potentially become a weed
• Bad habits from leaders rub off on their people . . . like pests and disease moving from plant to plant
• The right leaders provide staff with shelter from the organisational elements . . . like a tree shading smaller plants
• You need to remove the barriers to help leaders grow . . . plants grow better when you give them space
• Sometimes leaders outgrow their role and need to move on . . . sometimes plants need to be relocated to thrive
• You always need to be cultivating new leaders . . . you need plants in all stages of development to keep your garden healthy
• If leaders aren’t growing they are dying . . . the law of nature, especially when it comes to plants

To learn more about the Let's Grow! philosophy, sign up for my free monthly email newsletter "Growing engaging leaders" which will give you access to my exclusive "Clients only" page which is full of valuable information on my philosophy plus free ebooks, audio downloads and my unique "Fertiliser for your mind" email programs.

Extensive research on employee engagement in the last decade has revealed that the key to unlocking the discretionary effort that lies within your employees is simple: give them the right leader and engagement will occur naturally. It has also been proven that those organisations that learn how to grow engaging leaders will reap the rewards in terms of: Cost benefits . . . Less staff turnover and lower recruitment costs Fewer accidents and injuries Avoid bullying and harassment claims Reduce sick leave Innovation . . . Easier to attract good people Improved teamwork Healthier workplace culture More focus on generating new ideas Better results . . . Less time spent by leaders on people issues Improved customer service Enhanced image in the market Increased bottom line results

Grow! is more than just a word . . . it is an acronym that sums up the 5 key ingredients that go into growing healthy leaders: G et to know yourself R ecognise the needs of others O pen up the communication channels W ork towards a common goal ! Give that something extra Based on first hand workplace experience across a broad range of industries throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific region, Karen Schmidt has been helping organisations grow their people for over 12 years. She offers a range of services and products including: conference presentations inhouse workshops facilitated sessions books and ecourses monthly email newsletter articles, quizzes and more So if you want your organisation to thrive, contact Karen to see how she can help you grow your managers into engaging leaders.