Maybe, just maybe, it is not you...

The Parable

4 ¶ And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 8: 4-8 KJV

As a manager in Information Technology, I have found myself working in places that match each of the environments described in the parable. Let's take a minute to look at each and see if maybe, we can find a way to change the ones that need changing, and how we can ensure that the "good ground" can continue to be good as we continue to grow. 

By the Wayside

The wayside is along the side of the field, where the ground isn't usually plowed, and there is little access to water and nutrients. The ground is harder and less hospitable, and the seeds would not have any way to be buried in the earth, so the birds of the air can sweep it up at their leisure. I have seen this exact thing happen while living in Nevada. The ground there is so hard that when I tried to re-seed a lawn the seed just sat there on top of the ground. Needless to say, the seed never managed to germinate as it was devoured by the pigeons that are so prevalent in Las Vegas. 

In the workplace, the wayside is indicative of a neglectful environment, one where management is only interested in making money and not about taking care of the people that make them money. A focus on things instead of people leads employees to not care about the work they do because they are not recognized and rewarded for that work, even when the C-Suite and shareholders are making record profits. Employees might go years without a raise, even to adjust for the cost of living, and management thinks that a pizza party or lunch with the team will be enough to build loyalty.

Another indicator that you work on the wayside is when things aren't going well. Of course, the only indicator of how the company is doing is if they are making money for the executives and shareholders. When things are good, no thought is given to the employees, but when things go south, then employees are asked to sacrifice for the "good of the company". When things are good, employees are told they should be happy to just have a job, when things are not going well, they are the asked to give up the few things that make working for the company even close to worthwhile. 

In this kind of environment, is it any wonder that the "birds of the air" swoop in and steal the employees until there are none left that are worth having.

The only hope for the wayside to be able to grow good employees is to plow the ground. Start valuing your employees as they are the ones that, in the end, make the money for the company. Executives should be focused on making sure that employees have the tools to do their work, and they have a reason to want to do their work.

Upon a Rock

I spent several years in the Utah Army National Guard in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I spent a summer feeling like a sed that fell upon a rock. That rock had a name, Drill Sergeant Powell. For 8 weeks at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, I was yelled at, made to do pushups, and run like my life depended on it while believing that my life did, in fact, depend on it. I was called a "crud ball" and a "potato couch" and was chewed up one side and down the other for stepping on the grass, because it is a "living, breathing organism that is begging for [me] to get off of it. 

In the workplace the Rock is indicative of a workplace where there is no freedom to be innovative or creative. Employees are treated as nothing more than cogs in a giant machine who are only valuable as something that can bring about the vision of the manager or executive. In the military, that is absolutely true, we were expendable cogs in the machine of war, but in business employees need to feel that they are more than just expendable. Upon the Rock employees are afraid to make any mistakes or to do anything that their boss might feel is a mistake. Constant questioning and criticisms are evidence that your company is a Rock. Employees have no motivation to try anything new out of fear that they will be written up or fired. They might even be afraid to do their job because they have been punished for doing what they were told to do. 

In such an environment employees wither away until they have no value for the company anymore and either quit, or worse stay and do the minimum amount of work they can so they are not hassled. 

Rigidity and dicipline is required for the military, when lives are going to be on the line, but is not necessary for building widgets, writing code, or whatever your business does. You hired talented people, or at least you should have, because you believed they would perform well at the job, so why don't you let them do that job to the best of their ability. As I like to say, "You can tell me what to do, or how to do it, but not both. If you already know the best way to do it, do it yourself."

Among Thorns

At our new house in Utah there is a small spot in the back yard that had a rose bush and some other plants. One of the plants was a large vine that would attract wasps and other pests. We decided to remove it, along with the rose bush, and replace them with strawberries and blueberries. Accordingly, we dug out the existing plants and planted the others and waited for the day we could harvest delicious berries from our new plants. There was a small problem, however. We had not been as thorough as we could have been, and the roses and the other plants started sending up shoots that were killing off the berries. Now we have to make sure to "weed" the patch at least once a week and remove the unwanted plants, which includes weeds. 

Being among thorns at work is more about the people than to company. You will notice that the previous problems were based on the type of ground and not on the plants themselves. Thorns are often caused by embittered employees who work on a rock or by the wayside. These employees will complain, slack, and "quiet quit", making sure that other employees overhear their complaints and even join in in the complaining. Make no mistake, these thorns will choke your employees, reduce their productivity, and cause them to move to "greener pastures." 

Thorns can spring up in the best of companies and can even be brought in through new hires. I saw this exact thing happen at a company I worked for when employees from a competing enterprise were hired to fill several key management positions. These new employees then proceeded to hire their friends and co-workers from the other company, pushing out employees that had given many years of dedicated service to the company. Some were fired outright, while other were placed under the management of the newly hired thorns until they could no longer continue dealing with the constant criticism and control (see upon a rock) and decided to leave on their own, after which they would be replaced by employees from the other company. I referred to this phase as the "hostile corporate giveaway." 

The only way to deal with thorns is to pull them up by the roots, and you have to make sure to get all the roots. You also need to figure out where the thorns came from. Were they brought in from outside, or is your company turning from a "good ground" company into one of the others? Weeding might take the form of removing the employees that are not working out, or it might be possible to turn them into valuable employees if you can discover what is was that changed them from a valuable plant into a thorn.

On Good Ground

If you are lucky enough to find yourself working on good ground, it is up to you to make sure thorns don't creep in, and that the ground stays enriched to nourish your employees, so they can produce. Interestingly, in Mark's account, the parable states that each seed produced a different amount, "some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred." Each employee is unique and will respond in different ways to their environment, and it is our job as managers and leaders to find ways to make then more productive and happier as they grow.  

Image credit: CANDICE CANDICE from Pixabay