People Are Like Vines
Have you ever coached a vine?
I’ve recently started to coach some wisteria flowering vines at our house. We have two of them: one old, mature and established, the other younger, less established and less mature.
The mature vine is positioned to grow in two different directions: along the small pergola at the front of the garage, and along the pergola above the new paving stone path leading to our patio overlooking the lake. The smaller vine is positioned at the other side of the garage to also grow on the garage pergola.
Both vines are flourishing. Once a week, or at most a couple of times each week, I haul out my step ladder and “coach” my wisteria vines to grow the way I want them to grow.
My vision is to have thick, lush and fruitful wisteria vines completely covering the pergolas in front of the garage and over the walkway to the lakeside patio. I want to see glorious purple wisteria flowers hanging down from the pergolas creating a spectacular display of colorful floral magnificence.
My vision is clear.
In order for my vision to come to fruition I need to invest time in my wisteria vines. If they were left on their own they would grow haphazardly in a lush tangle of vines heading in myriad directions. Vines would be growing every which way into any crevice they could find – in particular along our garage roof line, soffits and fascia.
However, with a little bit of frequent coaching they’re growing exactly the way I want them to. Here’s what coaching my vines looks like: I look for the lead vines – the ones that snake out like the tentacles of an octopus looking for a structure they can engage with and grow along – I then gently place them onto, or wrap them around, the structure of the pergola I want them to grow upon.
If I don’t do this I find they end up growing back on themselves and head in the wrong direction. They’ll grow over the structure of the pergola in front of them, but in the period of time when they are not long enough to reach the next rafter of the pergola they will twist back on themselves toward the structure they last grew upon.
I then have to gently untwist the vines and carefully stretch them out to the next rafter of the pergola in front of them. I only have to do this with the lead vine, the other vines will then simply follow the lead vine along the rafters of the pergola.
In order for my vines to grow the way I want them to – to fulfill the vision I have for the wisteria laden pergolas – they need 3 things: (Apart from water, soil nutrients and sunshine of course)
- A structure to grow on.
- Something in front of them to grow onto.
- Coaching to keep them heading in the right direction
I believe people are like vines in this regard.
Leaders need to start with a clear vision of what they want to create. Without a clear vision of what you are trying to accomplish people soon lose heart and shift into mechanized, mediocre, passionless work devoid of excellence.
Leaders then need to create a structure that will enable their people to grow and flourish. These are structures for communication, accountability, roles, responsibilities, team collaboration and the like.
Leaders then have to continue to ensure they provide opportunities for their people to grow – set new goals, entrust new responsibilities, and launch new ventures or projects for their people to grow into.
Then Leaders need to coach their people by pointing them in the right direction toward the vision and bring them back to the structure of the organization upon which they can flourish. This also involves helping them to stretch beyond that which they may think is possible. And, when people get a little twisted out of shape a leader will take the time to get them reoriented in the right direction.
People are like vines, with the right coaching they grow and flourish magnificently.
How well are you coaching your vines?
