A Gardener’s Mindset: Applying Lessons From Nature in the Workplace
I have a confession. I’ve been running experiments with unaware subjects for years. People I live and work with, and strangers — no one is safe! I’ve conducted these experiments in various settings from brief in-person interactions to large-scale, multi-year digital transformations.
In this article, I will share a few tips on how you can apply what I’ve learned in the workplace at any stage in your career.
My journey began at an early age building computers from parts and rehabilitating injured animals. With every project, I am determined to know:
How does it all work?
What are the inputs, outputs, and stuff that happens in between?
Where are the dependencies and what does the larger ecosystem need to thrive?
30 years later, my curiosity and desire to learn have inspired many experiments across startup and enterprise environments. The most impactful lesson I have learned is to have a gardener’s mindset.
The gardener’s mindset is based on the principle that Nature, technology, teams, and organizations are contexts within a shared ecosystem.
Visit any nursery or hardware store and you’ll hear that you need a multitude of products to manage your garden. There are sprays to kill all of the bugs, synthetic fertilizers to repair the soil and increase yield, and chemicals to eradicate the plants we don’t appreciate. We view nature as something to conquer and control. It is broken and we must fix it.
Spend time with the big management consulting companies, and they will implement a process to fix the teams. Governance and steering committees will maximize yield through adequate resource allocation and a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to fix it.
This also applies when individuals start a new job. We view teams, and technology, as broken and we must fix it.
This is a typical short-term tactic based on an incomplete understanding. Spray one weed and another will grow next to it. Kill all the bugs and the entire ecosystem suffers. As with Nature, the workplace is cyclical and longstanding problems continue to fester when the ecosystem is in a state of imbalance.
How do you create balance when everything is connected?
Observe the Ecosystem
In the garden, most of the action is beneath the surface.
Mycelium of fungi builds resilient communities by spreading throughout the soil to connect the roots of nearby plants and trees to the fungal network.
80% of plants rely on mycorrhizal associations for nutrients and water. In return, fungi receive carbohydrates from the plants.
Besides providing food, the plant’s immune response triggers when the mycelium colonizes its roots to boost disease resistance. Disturbing the soil by tilling or weeding at the wrong time of year can damage the network and harm the community.
Most people jump to conclusions and assume everyone before them was dumb.
Resist the urge to accept information at face value and look below the surface. Take the time to know the players, learn the history, and understand the challenges while introducing micro-adjustments. The goal is to build relationships and foster healthy collaboration built on trust and shared resources. Start with your immediate team and then continue to spread outward. Strong relationships will help paint a larger view of the ecosystem where you can identify opportunities with the biggest impact.
Nurture Through Encouragement
What if we shifted our approach from fixing to nurturing?
Gardeners often learn the hard way how making drastic changes or interfering with their plants’ natural growth habits too much can produce disastrous results. The same goes for teams!
What are the activities that people naturally gravitate toward? Look for ways to create opportunities and remove shared pain points.
Common mistake leaders make is to apply the same pattern that brought them earlier success wherever they go. They insert some trusted people and tell them to replicate the previous system. This is often met by resistance from the incumbents and erodes trust. A good leader will want to bring good people in but will ask them to integrate with the team and make gradual changes within.
A gardener learns about the soil. What’s the pH of the soil? What plants can I introduce that will thrive in acidic or alkaline soil and complement the existing network? What’s the elevation grade? What plants can I introduce to prevent erosion? There is no substitute for rich soil with a healthy microbiome and a high performing fungal network. With the right balance, the system will feed itself and thrive with minimal input.
Build the Network
Mycorrhiza shares information besides nutrients and water. If another plant is under attack from harmful bugs or experiencing environmental stress, the rest of the network will learn about it and can prepare to defend itself.
Start building your human network with your immediate team and work outward. The more cross-functional your network, the more you will accomplish within the ecosystem. Look for opportunities for easy wins like reducing busy work or eliminating a process that does not generate value but is a pain point for others. Helping others succeed will pay it forward.
You don’t have to have all the answers and can begin your experiments while observing. Start small and build upon your learnings. Here are a few things you can try:
- Share information. Talk openly about what you’re working on currently and your longterm goals. This can be a pesky issue or bug that the team is trying to solve, or what you’re trying to accomplish as an individual. People will often want to help once they know how. Make it easy for them! Just like mycorrhiza, more information flowing helps the entire network.
- Ask for leads. “Is there anyone else I should speak with?” will expand your network and you’ll hear more diverse perspectives.
- Help others succeed. Build trust with others by asking if there is anything you can do to help them. Commit to helping them if you can, and follow through.
- Ask for feedback on your work, the meeting, your performance, etc. Part of understanding the ecosystem is also reflecting on your role and the impact you have. Don’t make them regret sharing with you by being defensive. Thank them for their honesty and let them know you are always open to feedback.
- Give credit when it’s due. Nothing erodes trust like taking credit for someone else’s work. Set aside the ego and thank people publicly for their contributions. Not only does it feel good, but it also sets an example for others to follow.
- Keep studying the system. Watch this video on how to hack social systems by navigating complex interactions and find ways to innovate at any level in the org.
“The system was created by people. It’s an invention. It can be changed by people.” — Dave Gray
Interested in Learning More?
Inspiration for the gardener’s mindset is the Permaculture Ethics & Design Principles developed in 1978 by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison. Based on systems theory, Permaculture is a movement towards regenerative agriculture and building resilient communities.
Thanks for reading!
