Growth is an Output: What Summer Gardens Teach Us About Business Transformation

Summer is a glorious season. It is the time when we can see and start to enjoy the fruits of our labor. In the business world, it is a time of holiday as well as strategic planning for the future. In nature, it is a time of sun and growth.

Our businesses are much like those gardens requiring consistent effort of nurturing and strategic decision making to flourish. Each year and season brings new things to the land which require adaptation to new conditions. The garden is a demonstration of transformation that we can aspire to emulate.

As you enjoy fresh produce from the farmer’s market or your own garden, here are some lessons to keep in mind as we cultivate growth in our organizations and markets.

1. Planning and preparation is key the harvest
Choosing what varietals will grow in our particular conditions or how to change the conditions to encourage growth are the keys to healthy plant life. Similarly, businesses must be strategic in their growth approaches. Often business leaders see marketers are those who can tend the soil and deliver fruit, but none of that happens without the right, thoughtful preparation.

2. Nurturing is a continual process
In the B2B world, prospects need to be nurtured as the sales cycle can be long. Even quick growing grasses or sunflower stocks need time to develop. This time of the year, many plants need more water than they would in other seasons to counteract the drying effects of longer days and hotter temperatures. Perhaps in winter months, we cover young plants to shield them from snow or freezing conditions. We want to protect small experiments from too much oversight until we know they have taken root. We want to prune things that aren’t working. There are constant tweaks to campaigns and initiatives to ensure optimal results.

3. Adaptation and flexibility is resilience
Plants are masters at growth. It is in their nature to dig into soil to find nutrients, to reach to the sky for light, and to lap up and store water. The harsher the conditions, the more the plants themselves show tenacity. This adaptation and flexibility to conditions is inherent in our employees, as well, if we provide the right growth conditions. They just have to be given the opportunities to show resourcefulness and be supported in their efforts.

4. Growth is an output
Most businesses are striving to grow. Amidst headwinds of the economy or competitive pressures, they aim to be bigger and more impactful than they were last year. But it is important to remember that growth, in our businesses and in our farms and gardens, is an output. New customer acquisitions, increased sales, and successful product adoptions are worth celebrating, but they would not have occurred without all of the other elements being attended to regularly and consistently.

As experienced CMOs, the CMO Syndicate can help you with growth planning and preparations.

About The CMO Syndicate

The CMO Syndicate is a diverse group of world-class Chief Marketing Officers who rapidly solve growth and profit problems for CEOs, VCs, CMOs, and PE firms. As global CMOs from the world’s top companies, The CMO Syndicate is not a traditional marketing consulting agency, and we are not typical marketing or growth consultants. We are growth experts and operators who actually do the work on a part-time or project basis as outsourced fractional and interim CMOs.