Since we bought our first home in Fort Worth some 21 years ago, I’ve always done the yard work. When we moved to Houston in 1998, I discovered ‘spring cleaning’ occurs in February, so each year on or about Super Bowl weekend, I rake up many bags of leaves, pull weeds, trim shrubs and crepe myrtles, mow and edge the grass and put out mulch. All told, it’s a full two days’ labor. Tired arms and allergies arrive on Monday.
For several years my now-18-year-old son has been a big help. However, he’s down and out recovering from knee surgery that ended his basketball season. With the loss of his youthful endurance and my crowded schedule, I decided to outsource this year’s project to our neighbor’s yard service.
I called Angel last Sunday. He came to look things over that afternoon and gave me a reasonable quote. On Tuesday, his crew of four arrived and spent five hours working non-stop outside my home office window that faces the street and in our backyard. I left before they finished for our daughter’s basketball game – (lots of high school hoops for this house!) – so the first time I saw the results of their hard work was at morning’s light. Wow!
Angel’s team transformed our plants into artistic creations. Instead of one continuous hedge, now we have plants that stand out for their individual beauty. Angel’s vision for our flowerbeds was far beyond anything I ever considered. Instead of just another house on the block, I’m thinking our home has a shot at being the neighborhood’s next Yard of the Month.
Fresh eyes and new viewpoints are essential for long-term business success. So, as winter turns to spring in your community – and all things become green again – perhaps you would do well to take a cue from Angel and reshape what’s grown together and grown stale in your organization. You’ll be surprised how much impact a little trimming provides.
