When I was a child my mother gave me a small patch in the garden to grow whatever I wanted. I chose strawberries for a few reasons … they grow fast, are easy to look after and I love eating them! Later she introduced me to other types of plants, helped me to learn the [...]

Tags: Budding leaders, emerging leaders, Engaging leadership, Gen Y, Leaders of the future, Leadership and gardening, Leadership and management, Leadership skills, Leading is like gardening, Next generation leaders, Support for leaders, www.letsgrow.com.au

I love autumn leaves. If I lived in the right climate I would have a deciduous tree in my garden just so I could watch the leaves change colour and fall to the ground. I am also fascinated by the part they play in the eternal cycle of nature. The leaf litter fertilises the plants [...]

Tags: Gen Y, Karen Schmidt, Leadership and gardening, Leadership skills, Leading is like gardening, learning and development

The greenhouse is an important feature in any serious garden. It provides the right environment for young, delicate plants to grow from seeds into seedlings. Without it there would be many plants that just wouldn’t survive or would never reach their full flowering or fruiting potential. Gardeners know that if you give a plant a [...]

Tags: emerging leaders, employee engagement, Gen Y, New employees, Support for leaders, www.letsgrow.com.au

I noticed this interesting little piece in a recent edition of my “Gardening Australia Magazine” and it immediately brought to mind a situation I have witnessed in many workplaces . . . “Think of the poor insects that step onto the rim of the Nepenthes pitcher plan, then slip to their death into the chamber [...]

Tags: Gen Y, negative influence at work, New employees, Role models, slippery characters at work

According to a Canadian paper in the science publication “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA” trees have a molecular memory of how they were raised in a nursery which they carry with them even when transplanted hundreds of kilometres away. Researchers say this “nursery effect” might explain a tree’s response to [...]

Tags: Employee retention, Gen Y, induction, Karen Schmidt, Recruitment, www.letsgrow.com.au