March 15, 2015
Listening Tour #growingtogether
By Dave Braun
LO President
My focus during my term as president has been ‘Growing Together.’ That’s exactly what we’ve done.
We set a bold goal for growing our membership by five per cent last year. With the help of the Chapter Challenge created by our membership department, and a greater focus on sales and your promotion of LO to other businesses, I’m proud to report that every single chapter, without exception, exceeded that goal.
The state of our membership is stronger than it has been in any time in our history. With your help, we can ensure that we continue to grow.
With the potential (or perhaps likely) sale of a portion of our land, we will have a once in a generation opportunity — an opportunity to act, create, build and invest on a scale that was never before possible. We have a chance to positively impact more members, more businesses, and therefore be a greater force for good within the green industry in Ontario. We can be a model of inspiration and a beacon of light to similar organizations around the world.
We also need to be careful. There are wise and important people in our organization that, because they often have quiet voices, may be drowned out.
We must remember that most of the businesses in our organization have five or fewer employees. It is important to encourage these smaller businesses to raise issues and communicate their vision for LO because they are, in fact, the majority of our members. It is only natural for larger, more established, businesses to confidently assert their opinions, but everyone’s ideas count. It is our job to make sure we listen to each and every member. It is our job to make sure we make the right decisions on behalf of all of our members and in order to do this best, we need to hear from you.
Over the next number of months, I will be connecting with every chapter and every sector group to ask again, what do you want from LO in the future? We will listen actively about what is relevant to our members. Our mission is to listen, and we will continue to improve what LO can offer you, whether it’s education, networking, or professional development. As always, we aim to improve our organization with every step we take.
I have great faith in the future of our members who will continue to be responsible stewards of our organization’s assets. Because of this confidence, we have the ability to make measured and deliberate decisions.
At the same time, with the potential sale of our land, we may be uniquely positioned to capitalize on this current opportunity — one that could greatly benefit the future of our organization. The more we hear from you about exactly what you’re looking for from LO, the more able we will be to direct our assets toward what you want.
It is not enough for me to simply say that your thoughts, ideas and opinions are important, so we have created a medium for you to share them with us. Click on surveymonkey.com/r/daveislistening to provide your opinion.
Please use this new tool to express yourself and create a conversation. We will be listening.
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve you over the past year. I look forward to working with, and listening to, all of you in the months to come.
Dave Braun may be reached at dbraun@landscapeontario.com.
LO President
My focus during my term as president has been ‘Growing Together.’ That’s exactly what we’ve done.We set a bold goal for growing our membership by five per cent last year. With the help of the Chapter Challenge created by our membership department, and a greater focus on sales and your promotion of LO to other businesses, I’m proud to report that every single chapter, without exception, exceeded that goal.
The state of our membership is stronger than it has been in any time in our history. With your help, we can ensure that we continue to grow.
With the potential (or perhaps likely) sale of a portion of our land, we will have a once in a generation opportunity — an opportunity to act, create, build and invest on a scale that was never before possible. We have a chance to positively impact more members, more businesses, and therefore be a greater force for good within the green industry in Ontario. We can be a model of inspiration and a beacon of light to similar organizations around the world.
We also need to be careful. There are wise and important people in our organization that, because they often have quiet voices, may be drowned out.
We must remember that most of the businesses in our organization have five or fewer employees. It is important to encourage these smaller businesses to raise issues and communicate their vision for LO because they are, in fact, the majority of our members. It is only natural for larger, more established, businesses to confidently assert their opinions, but everyone’s ideas count. It is our job to make sure we listen to each and every member. It is our job to make sure we make the right decisions on behalf of all of our members and in order to do this best, we need to hear from you.
Over the next number of months, I will be connecting with every chapter and every sector group to ask again, what do you want from LO in the future? We will listen actively about what is relevant to our members. Our mission is to listen, and we will continue to improve what LO can offer you, whether it’s education, networking, or professional development. As always, we aim to improve our organization with every step we take.
I have great faith in the future of our members who will continue to be responsible stewards of our organization’s assets. Because of this confidence, we have the ability to make measured and deliberate decisions.
At the same time, with the potential sale of our land, we may be uniquely positioned to capitalize on this current opportunity — one that could greatly benefit the future of our organization. The more we hear from you about exactly what you’re looking for from LO, the more able we will be to direct our assets toward what you want.
It is not enough for me to simply say that your thoughts, ideas and opinions are important, so we have created a medium for you to share them with us. Click on surveymonkey.com/r/daveislistening to provide your opinion.
Please use this new tool to express yourself and create a conversation. We will be listening.
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve you over the past year. I look forward to working with, and listening to, all of you in the months to come.
Dave Braun may be reached at dbraun@landscapeontario.com.