November/December 2023 - 8

HEADLINES/CALENDAR
Lark-Riley also
Nurturing New Hires: Industry Experts
Share Best Practices
By Cindy Whitt, marketing and communications manager
AmericanHort
explored employee development in
a
recent webinar in its Industry Insider series, moderated
by Neal Glatt of growthebench.com, along with a panel
of industry experts: Liz Lark-Riley, senior customer
relationship manager, Mahoney's Garden Centers; Heather
Ruiz, director of people and culture, Natura; Jennifer Moss,
CEO, Moss Greenhouses; and Monique Allen, founder
and creative director, The Garden Continuum.
Through their experiences hiring and managing
they have established keys to employee
employees,
development, including orientation, onboarding and onthe-job
training.
According to Glatt, employees are never more engaged
than on their first day. On day one, new hires should have
a chance to meet everyone on the team and learn how their
role fits within the company.
gives new hires time to meet with
department heads on day one, then takes them to lunch to
get to know them.
" We've found that if we can give people a really good
first day [with] an opportunity to meet everyone, " she said,
" then that sets us off on the right foot for a really great
working relationship going forward. "
According to Ruiz, understanding a company's history
can help new hires become more invested in their role and
see their potential career path. She meets them to talk about
the company's mission, values and goals for the future.
" When you're creating an emotional connection to
core values in an organization, you not only get that
understanding but [also] that buy-in and that connection
to who we are as a company, " she said.
There is a difference between orientation (learning
colleagues' names, completing paperwork, and receiving
uniforms or tools) and onboarding, which should be the
start of job training. Ruiz begins onboarding immediately to
allow new hires to understand their role and responsibilities.
" We create an entire schedule for the first 30 days,
broken down by minutes. It can be 45 minutes of training
here [or] 55 minutes of training there, " Ruiz said. " [It is]
sent to the employee two days before their start date to
give them an introduction into what exactly is going to be
expected of them. "
Employees learn best by doing. A simple model LarkGrow
Your Business
& Transform Your
Community
Riley uses is: tell, show, do, review and teach. Explain to an
employee how to do a job, then demonstrate it. Next, have
them do the job and review the results together. Finally, ask
them to teach you.
Incorporating technology into training can be particularly
beneficial. Moss collaborated with a staff member to create
interactive videos that cover onboarding and safety training.
" The new generation of employees is the TikTok and
YouTube generation. How do they communicate? Video, "
Moss said. " You have 30 seconds or two minutes of attention
span, so you have to be able to capture them right away. "
AmericanHort's Industry Insider series brings together
horticulture professionals to discuss industry-wide
topics. A recording of this program can be found at
hortknowledgecenter.org.
Learn how America in Bloom
connects consumers to your
products and services.
Participation in America in Bloom
creates opportunities for horticultural
businesses to showcase the
value of plants and landscapes in
communities.
Learn how at AmericaInBloom.org
Circle 105
8 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023
Garden Center Group announces
2024 dates
Danny Summers, managing director of The Garden
Center Group, has announced the dates and location of
its 2024 Fall Event. The event is scheduled to take place
Sept. 23-26, 2024, in Dallas, Texas.
The annual event intends for garden retailers, service
providers and vendors to network, exchange ideas and
collaborate. In addition, a full day will be spent touring
area garden centers.
More details will be posted at thegardencentergroup.com.
http://www.growthebench.com http://www.AmericaInBloom.org http://www.hortknowledgecenter.org http://www.thegardencentergroup.com
November/December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2023
