Wisteria is a beautiful flowering vine.  Their flowers hang down from the vine looking like magical, lavender, layered lanterns.  Wisteria vines climb by twining their stems either clockwise or counter-clockwise around any available support.

We have 2 wisteria vines on either side of our garage.  I noticed something very significant this week looking at the difference between the two vines.  One of the vines is beside, and attached to, a pergola spanning a walkway to our back door.  The other vine formerly had a lattice work of sorts to climb on, but that has been taken out in preparation for greater landscaping endeavors.  Consequently that vine has nothing to climb on.

The vine on the “pergola” – which is a defined as, “…a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams often upon which woody vines are trained.” – has much upon which to climb.

There is something very different about the vines: one is flourishing and the other is not.  The vine on the pergola has wound itself around every aspect of the structure and covered the canopy with thick, dense foliage filled with gorgeous lavender colored flowers.  The stocks of the vine are thick and healthy.  It is a strong, mature, healthy plant bearing many flowers.

The other vine has no flowers, is not dense and thick, and its stocks are not mature and strong.

Why?  What has caused this difference?

Well, I am no horticulturalist, but I am going to surmise a solution to this dilemma.  Vines are marvellously designed to adhere to a structure of some kind, entwining its myriad stems around all aspects of the structure to create a glorious display of foliage and flowers.  If there is no structure they do not flourish – that to which they need to adhere to provide them with the strength they need to grow is missing.

Where there is no structure there is no strength.

Without a structure to adhere to there will be little growth and fruitfulness; the vine does not mature and demonstrate its true glory.  Without a support structure the vine cannot become all that it was designed to be.

Are you seeing how this pertains to leadership?

Part of your responsibility as a leader is to provide those you lead with the structure they need to become all they are capable of becoming.  Without a structure to adhere to your people will not grow and bloom the way they are capable of.

So what does this structure look like?

There are 2 key structures you need to create for your people:  1. Job Structure.  2. Corporate Structure.

You need to ensure that each of your people has a clearly defined Job Structure: What are their roles and responsibilities?  What are the expectations for their performance?  Basically what are they expected to do, with what, with whom, in what time frame and with what budgets?

You also need to ensure there is a clear understanding for everyone in your organization of your Corporate Structure:  Who reports to whom and who is responsible for what?  This is important for a couple of reasons.  Your people need to know who they are accountable to, and for whom they are responsible.  However, they also need to know what their trajectory for promotion is within the organization.  Is there room for them to grow?

Most people don’t want to spend their careers doing the same job.  People want to know what they can grow into.  I remember when I was 23 in my first professional position with a national firm, the owner said something to me that had the opposite affect he intended.  He said, “Dave, we need good men like you around here – you could be Vice President in 15 years.”

I remember thinking, “Fifteen years?  I’ll be 38 by then – that’s way too long.”  I left there after 3 years.

Your people want to know what roles they can grow into.  Some faster and further than others, but people want to grow.

Build a corporate pergola so your people can bloom and grow.  People, like wisteria, need structure to be their best.