I occasionally helped my grandfather prune rosebushes as a boy. I vividly remember my shock the first time I saw how much he cut them back. His kind but firm response: “If you ask the rosebush, it doesn’t like to be pruned.”
Unpruned rose bushes will not produce as many flowers the next season. They’re limited by the spent flowers and dead tissue that accumulates.
It’s not only roses which benefit from pruning. Most fruit trees also need annual pruning. Most living things have seasons of pruning, shedding, and reducing.
Your organization needs occasional pruning, as well. Here are six things you as a leader should consider pruning:
- Outdated processes and procedures
- Projects which aren’t going to deliver a good ROI
- Old equipment which is rarely used or expensive to maintain
- Legacy software which is not essential
- “Deadweight” employees who aren’t providing 3x or 5x their salary, or who are not adapting to the new future state
- Unprofitable customers
Don’t expect applause from the “dead” part of the rosebush that you’re pruning. There’s always someone who will advocate for it and claim it’s essential. Make your decisions based on the future benefits to come.
Pruning is a great metaphor. We too often think that all growth is good growth. That the more growth we experience, no matter the direction of the growth, the better off we are. But we quickly become overgrown and undirected. Pruning reminds us that growth should be an intentional process. That it takes effort to grow in ways that ultimately benefit the whole. That we sometimes need to sacrifice a part for the sake of the whole. I have written about a similar metaphor myself…the importance of weeding and thinning a garden. Thinning (removing perfectly healthy plants so that what is left can reach its full potential) is often overlooked in gardening and in life. http://www.cooperjason.com/leadership-productivity-and-my-vegetable-garden/
Thanks for this post. Keep them coming.