I recently spent the weekend interstate at the house of a friend who had a new garden put in a year ago when she and her husband built a new house. This involved approximately 400 individual plants going into the ground. She is not what you would call an avid gardener so she paid to [...]

Tags: employee engagement, Employee retention, Karen Schmidt, Leadership and gardening, Leadership and management, Leadership skills, Leading is like gardening, New employees, Recruitment, Workplace gardening, www.letsgrow.com.au

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

The bargain table at your local nursery can look like a really good idea as you wander past. You think to yourself “I can revive this plant, it’s not beyond help”. But invariably you get it home and it dies.  Sure, you occasionally hit the jackpot and see it come back to life but if [...]

Tags: Recruitment, risk assessment

I have been inspired by my volunteer work at the Northey Street City Farm (www.nscf.org.au) to start growing some of my own vegetables. That and I’m getting sick of the poor quality available at the supermarkets and, of course, the price. This way I will also have less wastage as I only need to pick [...]

Tags: employee engagement, engagement, Fads in leadership, Karen Schmidt, Leadership and management, Outsourcing, Productivity, Recruitment, Small Business, vegetable garden, www.letsgrow.com.au, www.nscf.org.au

So, I did my first volunteering session at Northey Street City Farm (www.nscf.org.au). Day one I was assigned to the nursery to pot up seeds . . . beetroot, chilli, capsicum, basil, etc. Feel like I have contributed something by planting those seeds although I may or may not get to see grow to maturity. [...]

Tags: employee engagement, engagement, Karen Schmidt, Leadership and management, Leadership skills, Recruitment, Staff turnover, www.letsgrow.com.au