NURTURE
M A K E T I M E TO T R A I N CHRIS STONE RELAYS THE BIG FOCUS BUSHY BUSINESS HAS ON TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT THIS YEAR
A
s I sit here writing this in between inevitable rainstorms, we are six weeks into the new year and are awash with both the rain and new enquiries. It used to be that we could have a reasonably gentle start to the year, easing ourselves into it – but this year has been relentless. I’m not complaining; it is certainly better than the alternative, but it does limit the usual time we have for training our staff. Every autumn, David and I sit down with the managers and discuss what training we need to look at and it’s usually a long list – this year is no exception, and we have booked up some really interesting days. Scheduling this training is the biggest headache; no matter how long it’s been in the diary it always ends up falling on the wrong day. Nevertheless, these days are invaluable, not just for learning new skills but honing existing ones, inspiring new ideas and building team unity. Other than the usual staples of health and safety meetings, first aid refreshers, excavator
88 Pro Landscaper / March 2020
Chris Stone.indd 88
and dumper, CAT and Genny training, and plant idents, we will embark on a brilliant day with Architectural Plants learning more creative maintenance techniques. We spent a day with our maintenance and aftercare teams here a couple of years ago and it was amazing. We all walked away from it looking at mature shrubs, clumps of bamboo and small trees in a completely different light. I also ran out and bought a load of bread knives and blowtorches!
THESE DAYS ARE INVALUABLE, NOT JUST FOR LEARNING NEW SKILLS BUT HONING EXISTING ONES, INSPIRING NEW IDEAS AND BUILDING TEAM UNITY With the mild and wet weather and a lack of hard frosts, we could be in for trouble with some pesky pests and diseases, so that is definitely on the training agenda this year. Then we are looking for some of our soft landscape team to head over to Wildflower Turf to catch up with its latest developments and techniques. So much research and development is carried out each year – there’s always something new. But, almost paradoxical to this, we are doing an artificial green wall training day at VistaGreen. This is not something that I could have imagined us considering a few years ago, but I really believe they have their place in some of today’s modern gardens, with busy clients who don’t have green fingers and just want a clean space.
Additionally, we are looking at courses from Paul Hensey, Alan Sargent and the regular APL cluster meetings run by Phil Tremayne that always give us plenty of food for thought. Not to mention being inspired by Bowles & Wyer; we have plans to start more structured in-house training with our apprentices, having more time to try their hand at paving and different types of walling at our yard as well as one to one with our landscape managers out on site. This is similar with our head of fine horticulture, Graham, who will dedicate more time out in our gardens with his teams teaching as they work. I was recently invited to attend meetings to put together a course framework for a new Level 5 management apprenticeship and course content for one of our local horticultural colleges. It is great to see the passion that our industry experts have, and the ideas being given to help shape the future of the next generation of horticulturists and landscapers. I know the APL and Kebur are working on a training centre in Hampshire that will offer some similar courses, as is Urban Landscape Design’s centre in Cheshire, both open to APL members and non-members. The years of struggling with where to train our staff are being eased by forward-thinking individuals and companies, which, in turn, makes us consider what we can offer more ‘in house’. The colleges seem to be waking up to the fact that they need to offer flexible learning that is more in tune with what the modern employer is looking for. I think we are on a good path, but as ever we need more cohesion between the industry bodies and the big players within it to bring our knowledge together and help shape the learning pathway. We are one great industry, with so much knowledge and passion. It’s time we all stepped up and made that count.
ABOUT CHRIS STONE Chris Stone is founder and managing director of Bushy Business Ltd, an RHS and APL awardwinning company which carries out garden design, hard and soft landscaping, maintenance and aftercare in domestic gardens throughout the south-east of England.
www.bushybusiness.com
www.prolandscapermagazine.com
19/02/2020 15:42