Who Wants to Be a Leader?
Do you have a specific career vision of becoming a company leader in the horticulture industry someday? Are you working on adding professional skill sets to enable you to take on C-level or leadership-level roles? As a company, have you invested in a definitive training and development program aimed at developing your next leaders? There is a leadership void in the horticultural industry that will critically need more leaders now and progressively into the future. The number of retirements occurring in the green industry is staggering. Did you know there are over 100 owners of green industry companies retiring soon who have no clear leader to succeed them? Per the USDA, in 2024, the average age of all agricultural producers is 58.1 years, and those over age 65 constitute 40% of the total. As an industry, we endured a period with historically low numbers of students and professionals interested in pursuing a green industry career. This period has created a talent gap in the upcoming generations, especially Gen X. The small number of professionals in this group are talented and knowledgeable. Still, it is merely a matter of supply and demand. There are not enough leaders to take over, and not enough professionals have been provided leadership training. Throughout every sector, demographic, and role in the green industry, there are fewer individuals who have a specific desire and career focus to lead a company. Compare this to the financial or software sectors, where a high volume of professionals have an early passion and focus on driving their careers to the top leadership roles in their industry. It is surprising how small the number of professionals in our industry is who are adequately prepared or willing to be a leader in their company. A dynamic affecting this is the sheer number of family-held companies where leadership has traditionally been passed to second or third generations. While this is admirable, it has also tempered the career aspirations of those not part of the family. We are now at a tipping point where there are fewer generations to pass leadership roles to, causing new and challenging exit planning options for the current leaders. A Mutual Effort Question: How do we address this predicament? Answer: From the mutual effort of individuals and companies. Encourage students and early career professionals to dream big and envision being a company leader. Leadership is not for everyone, provided all the responsibilities and challenges that come with it. However, we need more professionals who genuinely want to take on significant leadership roles with a company. Ask yourself— Have you allowed yourself to dream about this type of role? To have more leaders, we need more professionals who desire to take on a role of this level. With that desire comes the awareness that one must embrace continual learning with curiosity and accept certain sacrifices required to drive one’s career to a top leadership level. This could include putting in longer hours, the ability to relocate, and volunteering to take on new tasks or help in other departments when they are shorthanded. Professionals open to relocating for roles will indeed advance their careers faster! Academically, technical knowledge of plant science-related academia is essential. Yet infusing business knowledge is equally, if not more, important in developing future leaders. We have many excellent educational institutions producing knowledgeable students. Increasing the focus of these academic programs on developing leadership with curricula geared to business and management will provide a business base and inspire more students to do so. For example, we rightly celebrate our grower interns, but we should also celebrate those doing horticulture industry internships in sales, marketing, accounting, or human resources. Have a Plan If you want to lead a company, division, or department someday, identify within yourself the knowledge and skill sets needed to get there. Proactively take charge of gaining the knowledge and experience you lack rather than relying on others. There is just as much onus on companies to be a part of increased leadership development. This does require an investment in both money and time to be successful. Begin to balance your team’s professional development budget with your automation budget. No matter how automized, it still takes strong professionals leading from the front for a company to realize success. Many assessment tools, such as CliftonStrengths, DISC, and Myers-Briggs, are available to help a company identify individuals with future leadership behaviors. These tools will help craft a career plan to infuse them with the skill sets needed to be strong leaders. Does your company have career development planning that includes rotating top talent through different departments or functions? Companies that rotate talent through various departments produce the strongest leadership pipeline. At the very least, does the company invest in continual education or training programs focused on improving communication, soft skills, sales, marketing, financial, operations, or supply chain knowledge? Encourage and support these professionals to become active within the industry via associations, seminars, or other educational and networking events. Don’t be afraid of losing this talent to industry exposure. Several leadership programs have been developed specifically for our industry, such as Dr. Charlie Hall’s Texas A&M EAGL program and the HRI Leadership Academy. Professionals who know their company invests fully in their employee’s growth are much less likely to leave. Employees feeling stifled in their development will leap at the opportunity for growth elsewhere. Investing in the Future No company has an endless budget, but a company can apply strategies that do not require a monetary investment, such as transparency in your business and delegation of responsibilities. Openness with your employees about all facets of the business directly correlates to increasing their professional growth. For example, companies applying the “Great Game of Business” approach to transparency have more engaged, business savvy, and motivated employees concerning their career progression. Pairing high-potential employees with positive mentors will also benefit the mentors themselves by increasing organizational talent strength. Encourage delegating responsibilities and not micro-managing those who are assigned tasks. This must
Trends Challenging Successful Hiring: Relocation
To Relo, or Not to Relo for Hiring— That is a Major Question Nothing in this world is certain except death, taxes, and change— constant change is happening faster than ever in business today. There are many drivers of change, including the impact of technology on what different generations value in their careers. Hiring is no different, and several significant trends impact the process. There is no foolproof method for hiring talent. Each company, position, and candidate is different, but there are important trends to be aware of so you can shift your hiring process appropriately. One of these trends that has shifted dramatically is the number of professionals open to relocation. What has caused the substantial reduction in candidates being open to relocating even for the best career roles? What can be done to alleviate this? Relocation Location It is fascinating how much of a topic the idea of relocation has become. How much does it cost to relocate? How much time will it take? What percentage of professionals are willing to relocate? Looking at what a relocation looked like pre-COVID compared to today in 2024, we see that things have radically changed and, in most cases, have become more complicated. There has been a sharp behavioral and generational increase in people not wanting to relocate as they place a higher value on living wherever they call home, with family and friends nearby. The increase in remote work has led to additional resistance to moving for a job. Added to this complexity are geographical relocation trends. Those moving out of state in higher numbers are leaving California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts. States benefiting from candidates relocating are Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the Carolinas. Do take into consideration where your company is located as you begin hiring. Even if the state benefits from the migration of people, individuals are still less inclined to relocate than ever before (since the statistics have been tracked). According to fortune.com, only 1.6% of all professionals open to work are open to relocating. With horticulture being such a production and geographically focused industry, this number may be a bit higher. Relocation and Inflation The cost of relocation is a crucial factor to consider. We’ve all experienced inflation in our daily lives, whether at grocery stores, gas stations, or entertainment venues. Inflation has also dramatically affected the cost of relocation. Rising housing prices, whether for renting or owning, coupled with increasing interest rates, have led to a significant hike in relocation costs. Picture a young professional who is currently renting, not married, and does not have kids. In this situation, relocation was once achievable for around $2,500-$3,500. According to movingapt.com, the average cost of moving oneself (individually packing, loading, driving, unloading, and unpacking) per 1,225 miles is around $4,500. To achieve a move for this amount, the individual would need to be doing all the work. As a company, you want this individual’s relocation to be completed as efficiently and stress-free as possible so they can hit the ground running in their new position. Allowing the new employee to utilize a full-service moving company may cost up to $8,700 per 1,125 miles. If you factor kids and a significant other into the move, the number could reach as high as $16,650 per 1,125 miles. The Relocation Equation Inflation has caused both companies and candidates to rethink what career opportunities genuinely make sense for their situation. Imagine hiring a new President for your medium-sized ($2m-$10m) horticulture company. You offer a competitive salary, even a bit higher than the industry standard. Top-tier candidates share this is their “dream job,” but they are unable to make a move based on them having to trade their current 30-year mortgage at the average rate of 2.68% in 2020 for a new 30-year mortgage rate at the average of 7.05% in 2024. They would take one step forward in their career and two steps backward in their socioeconomic status to make it happen. A recent article from the Wall Street Journal shared that as of June 21st, the national median existing-home price rose 5.8% in May 2024 from a year earlier to $419,300, a record increase since 1999. Prices are not adjusted for inflation, and elevated mortgage rates have dramatically limited the number of sales this spring. Every company and situation is different. Start your search locally with less emphasis on the expertise of your product, customer, or industry and more focus on the right behaviors for success. Thoroughly vet all local talent before beginning to look nationwide. Is there a local candidate who may need some training and development but has the right behaviors for success? Many of these open roles are backfills for highly experienced contributors who have retired or left. You cannot expect the new professional to come in right where the previous individual had left in terms of impact. Having a robust onboarding alongside a training and development plan will help widen the candidate pool. Slowly branching out the geography of the search will keep candidates fresh and ensure you have completely sourced local/regional options. If a professional is having trouble selling their home and can only relocate once they find a buyer, it may be worth looking at a virtual onboarding period. This would allow time for a sale and enable the candidate to map out a practical moving agenda while becoming part of the team. Including salary and relocation coverage in the Job Description will add transparency and clarity for candidates. This may push candidates open to exploring relocation to pursue your role over others who do not include these metrics. Lightening up on the years of experience needed in the role will further open your candidate pool. Younger professionals usually have fewer hurdles to overcome when moving and are more open to relocation to continue advancing their careers. The Horticulture industry has been fortunate in the post-COVID years, and interest in our industry is higher than ever, so
How to Attract Young Professionals to Horticulture and Your Company
It’s a fact of life – “I don’t understand this younger generation” is a phrase used by every preceding generation since the dawn of recorded time. However, we live in unprecedented times since there are now (5) generations currently in the workforce – Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X (Gen X), Millennials, and Generation Z (Gen Z) where once there were maybe three. Two people in the same company, often in the same role, can literally be separated by over 40-50 years of age. This compounds the lack of understanding between generations, and its effects are being felt in many industries today. The green industry is also unique in that we have limited access to talent compared to other sectors. Those who have horticultural knowledge, a true passion for horticulture, and a drive to advance their careers in our industry are becoming few and far between. From 1997 to 2017, there was a 53% decrease in horticulture-related degrees, and sadly, the trend continues.* We are all working through these challenges at an increasing rate, as so many of our peers, who make up a large percentage of the industry, are beginning to retire. This mass retirement of knowledge and experience is leaving companies with gaping holes in their organizational charts and a terminal lack of leadership and bench strength. How do we, as breeders, growers, manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers, achieve greater access to labor with technical knowledge and motivation to become professionally successful? How do we fill holes by creating candidates? First off, no candidate creation is necessary. They are right in front of us. Investment and patience are all that is required. Awareness of Professional Passions It is true that horticulture programs are less full of students than they were in the 1990s. However, there are still strong university degree paths producing high-level horticulturalists and ag professionals. Most incoming graduates and young career professionals at these schools have no idea how our industry works and the full range of career roles it offers. In conversations regarding their upcoming or initial job in our industry, their answers are almost always one of the following: Greenhouse or Nursery Grower Researcher or Academia Landscape Installer or Salesperson Garden Center Sales Associate Some passion areas for the young professionals include: Developing new varieties that can grow in multiple grow zones. Experiencing multiple grow facilities to learn and become a consultant. Optimizing equipment and exploring AI and automation. Working in data analytics to help companies become more financially stable. Attracting new gardeners to buy plants. None of these passions can be totally achieved in the jobs listed above. The few young professionals in our industry have a hunger for the success of horticulture – if they didn’t, they likely would have chosen a different degree path that paid them more. Career Path Alignment Leaders in our industry are frustrated by the lack of professionals, but it requires spending more focused time implementing solutions. If we want to see a change, we must do a better job of getting in front of young professionals. Career fairs are a dime a dozen in non-horticulture degree programs. Having a presence at just a few of the largest horticulture schools in our country gives you access to hundreds of upcoming, passionate graduates who likely have no idea the career path your company can provide them. What is it worth to you to build a consistent funnel of young talent for your company? Cost and time requirements to do this may be lower than you think, as professors and organizations like Seed Your Future, American Floral Endowment, AmericanHort, FNGLA, and American Horticulture Society are already laying the groundwork for industry involvement to help place these young professionals in Horticulture. Participation at the university and community college level is critical to getting the attention of the next generation of leaders in our industry. Once we have successfully welcomed these early career professionals into the industry, it is imperative to have training and development programs and processes in place to help them grow into future leadership roles. A common mistake often made is hiring new professionals into a role that was held by a long-tenured employee yet not adjusting the job description responsibilities. The outgoing employee wore multiple hats of responsibility due to longevity in the role. Peel the role back to the proper starting point of responsibility and train for the future ability to take on more. Mentoring programs and reverse mentoring are also excellent ways to bridge the ever-increasing generational gap and build understanding and productivity. The Gen Zer, often with little to no experience, could benefit greatly from mentoring and just knowing how everything works. Conversely, the Traditionalist, Boomer, and Gen Xer could benefit greatly from the inbred tech and automation understanding of Millennials and Gen Zers. Don’t Complain— Act When you are not getting any qualified applicants to your job posting, your next employee retirement hits, or you realize that you are severely understaffed heading into spring, please consider reaching out to BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group, the non-profit associations we listed above, or your closest university or community college horticultural program to begin working through how you can make your life and work easier. There is a tsunami of business exits and retirements already happening and continuing to head our way. Start building your bench today, and while the effects of these changes will not be felt immediately, a little work today can make a huge impact five years from now. *Source: Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science Ben Molenda, PRC (bmolenda@bhcagroup.com) is a Senior Executive Search Advisor at BEST Human Capital Advisory Group. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Human Resource Management, Ben has excelled in executive recruiting and business advisory and has become an excellent resource for both clients and candidates. Passionate about horticulture, Ben has also written and co-written several articles for major industry publications and is a Member of AmericanHort.
How Do You Know When It’s Time for a Career Change?
While professional development is viewed differently by everyone and is often driven by a person’s behaviors, the vast majority of people do want to experience continual growth in their careers. A primary rule of thumb is that no matter what this growth looks like, it is important to be going towards something and not running away from something. There are many other factors to think about as you determine what career growth may be for you. Does your company proactively invest with you in planning your professional growth? Do they actively invest in you earning certifications and being active in industry associations or professional peer development groups? Timing – everyone is on a different career time clock, and one’s stage of life influences this. What does your timing for professional growth look like now and in 5 or 10 years? Is it the job itself? What responsibilities would you change or add to feel you are growing professionally? Is it the company? Somewhere, somehow, the cultural fit became misaligned. You can envision being happy in your current role but find growth coming from being in a different culture, a different product or service line, a different market focus, or even a different industry. Is it you? People change, and that’s OK! Even the most committed professionals will, on average, find themselves in 3 different careers during their lifetime. Here are specific indicators that it may be time for a career change. The body, mind, and spirit will be talking to you. Are you constantly tired? Is your body having physical reactions that are stress-related? Is it hard to concentrate? Do you dread Mondays? Even when you have great energy, are you just not enthused about being at work? Is your job negatively affecting your confidence and self-esteem? Do you second-guess decisions? Do you find it difficult to make a decision? Are you only staying because of the money? You can buy some great toys, but they don’t increase your happiness. Is the next bonus target the only reason you are still there? Are you constantly thinking about or researching other jobs? Do the career positions other people you know have seem much more attractive to you because they seem so happy? Or do you even find yourself jealous of their careers? Have you become apathetic to your company, your position, your coworkers, or your industry? You don’t care about the decisions being made, personal or company successes, or positive industry news. Do family and friends share their concerns about your mental state and happiness? Have you disconnected socially from them? Are you quiet when together? If any of these ring true, spend time thoughtfully identifying where your career passions are taking you and invest in what new skills this path requires. Contact me at tdowning@bhcagroup.com for a Candidate Objective Worksheet, which will help you define your career goals, vision, and the parameters that are important to you! Speaking of career development, we are sharing a few current growth opportunities (click here) we are hiring for, which may best capture where your career passions are moving you toward. What are you passionate about? Where do you feel most fulfilled? Whatever that may be, you should be doing just that in your career. We’d love to connect to learn all about it and support your professional journey wherever possible. Todd Downing is a Managing Partner for Best Human Capital Advisory Group and leads the Horticulture & Green Industry executive search and advisory services. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and a passion for supporting its continued professional growth.
The “Why, Not That” Approach: The BEST Way to Assess Job Hopping
According to a recent Business Insider article (1/22/2023, Stacey), Gen Z is not ashamed of “job-hopping.” But does that make all of them “job-hoppers”? What is a “job-hopper,” and is it a bad thing? What does this mean for employers? Most managers see “job-hopping” as less than two years at a single employer or more than three employers in a career history over 10 years. Gen X and Baby Boomers, even some early Millennials, have all been raised believing job-hopping is a bad thing. However, the Great Recession taught us very differently, and this is the era of Gen Z’s formative years, the time when they began to be aware of and influenced by the world around them. The Great Recession taught us that bad things happen to good people. Just because you left a job that the employment market deems as a “good employer” or you have a gap in employment of 3 months or more, that does not mean you are a bad hire, a poor-performing employee, or lazy. There are many reasons people leave an employer or the job market that have nothing to do with the negative pre-conceived notions of prospective employers. Why, not that, is most important. What this Pandemic has taught us is that sometimes there are serious health issues impacting the family that necessitate leaving your employer or changes in your spouse or other family members’ employment status necessitating relocation. There are many different reasons. Additionally, the Great Recession and the Pandemic have uncovered how poorly some employers have treated and still are treating employees, giving them all the more reason to want to find a better place to share their talents. Job-hopping is not necessarily a bad thing. However, what is more important than how many jobs a person had in the last 10 years, or how long a gap between employment, is the reason for the job change and how they spent their time during a gap in employment. If the reason for a job change is a positive one, such as a move that improves the ability of a person to support their family; an opportunity to expand knowledge, skills, and abilities; or because of a spouse’s promotion necessitating a relocation to a place where there was no employer presence, then there should be no reason job changes should be looked at as negative. Even gaps in employment are not necessarily a bad thing, though you must tread carefully as to how you inquire. HIPAA, ADA, GINA, and other employment laws prohibit inquiry about a candidate’s or relative’s Private (personal) Health Information (PHI) or genetic history. You can ask an open-ended question such as, “how did you occupy your time during this gap in employment?” and let the candidate fill in whatever they want. However, suppose they volunteer that it was for health reasons, either for themselves or their family. In that case, you must be very cautious about what you do with that information and your decisions about whether or not to advance the candidate in the process. Still, the question should be asked as it is relevant and will likely remove any negative concerns about why the gap exists. If they have a reasonable explanation, the gap should not be a negative that keeps them from being considered. The labor market has been a candidate-driven market since before the Pandemic, dating back to late 2017 when the number of open positions finally surpassed the number of unemployed. What this labor market has taught us is that there may be enough labor out there for most positions, but the location of the labor relative to the location of the position is very often mismatched. So, even when there are gaps in employment, that does not mean a candidate is lazy. Instead, it may mean their skills are not aligned with the jobs in the market where they reside. In addition, despite the strong desire by candidates for remote or hybrid work, not all jobs can be performed remotely. For example, the recent tech layoffs have left many people with very specialized skills and a history of high wages unemployed. Tech positions of similar scope won’t be readily available for many of these people for a while. So, just because there is a manufacturing machine operator position open in a food processing plant within a reasonable daily commute of a recently laid-off software developer, that does not mean that person is the right fit to fill that role. It may not pay anywhere near what this person needs, given the lifestyle they built from their previous job. But, of course, the reverse is also true. A recently laid off Project Manager of a corrugated box manufacturer likely is not the right alignment for a Director of FP&A position at the logistics company just down the street from them. Let’s not forget that not all employers are as employee-centered, kind, considerate, and caring as you may be. Not all employers understand that when you care for your people, your people will care for you and your business. In fact, too many employers take the skills from their people and give back as little as possible in compensation and benefits. Can you really be upset at a person who makes a change because their previous employer operated in an unethical manner, violated compliance regulations, or treated their people poorly? Likely, a good candidate will not disparage their prior employer, but there are ways of getting the message across in a positive manner. Likely, a candidate with high integrity knows when their employer is unwilling to act ethically and will make the professional decision to leave. That candidate is likely the right employee for you as you can be assured of their ethical focus and care for your business. There are also benefits to employers for people with numerous jobs on their resumes over a 10-year period. Employers today are looking for a lot of soft skills. They need flexibility, adaptability, innovation,