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From little acorns ...
“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.” Anon
I have one word for you this month. Acorns.
You can't begin to imagine how much time I have spent in the last month dealing with acorns on my front drive. I've blown them off the path with my Flymo machine. I've swept them up with the biggest brush known to mankind. I've piled them up in barrow loads and wheeled them off to the compost. I've picked them out of my windscreen grill. Prised them out of the flower-beds. Avoided them doing great damage to my cranium as they drop inexorably from the massive oak tree that bestrides the drive like a mighty colossus.
The amount of work I'm putting in to make sure the squirrels of Epsom get a square meal during the depths of winter is of Trojan proportions. However, I can't say it gives me much satisfaction, especially as I estimate a further month's worth of blood, sweat and attrition.
But although it may not help my quality of life much, I do have to doff my cap to the wonderful oak tree for its excellent strategic planning skills.
Please bear with me here.
We all know the old saying “great oaks from little acorns grow”. It refers, of course, to the need to be patient when waiting for a project or idea to mature. The inference being that once the acorn has properly seeded, an oak tree will grow and mature in its place.
What you might not know, however, is that the fully mature oak tree's planning doesn't stop there.
I Googled acorns for this article (well you always need to do rigorous research on the topic in hand) and found out an interesting fact.
Are you sitting comfortably?
Acorns take between six and 24 months to mature.
So now I know why this is the first year, since moving into my house, that I've had acorns problems. That tree has been biding its time for three summers! Clever.
Not for nothing is the oak a symbol of strength and endurance. And the national tree of over 12 countries including England, France, Germany, and the USA.
Imagine the impact on your business if you set a clear, long-term timeframe for some of your projects, keep rigorously to the schedule, and don't try to deliver a win too early. The oak tree knows this. So when the project comes to fruition it delivers bountifully. There were no acorns at all last year, but now the launch date has been reached, the sky is filled with them.
I see those acorns as a metaphor for so much that can be good in our businesses.
They represent:
- All those little acts of leadership that keep our people strong during the winter months ahead. People need to be bombarded with these little acts every day.
- All those small initiatives that go off, like a series of time bombs, to maximise the success of a project. When the acorns bounce they go off in different directions, spreading the yield way beyond the obvious boundaries.
- The incredible power that can be generated through a united purpose and a focus on delivering clear outputs that can be measured. The oak tree doesn't measure itself by the number of twigs or empty acorn shells it produces. It deals in mounds and mounds of acorns for one of its key stakeholders, Mr Squirrel.
- The importance of a common language and a drive for boring consistency. The tree drops the odd branch or leaf at this time of year, but by and large you know what you are going to be inundated with every new morning.
- The fruition of all the hard work which rises up through an organisation from grass roots to the top of the
tree. The more robust the tree, the better suited it is to deliver carefully orchestrated, prodigious yields.
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” Peter Drucker
Overall, these acorns symbolise patience, and the fruition of long, hard labour. During these austere times, when we are relearning the importance of delayed gratification, and the need to earn the right to spend, this act of nature is a lesson we should learn from. As Peter Drucker says, commitment is everything because only then will we make effective plans and carry them out.
I am grateful to Mother Nature for providing this month's lesson. She is certainly committed to long-term planning. The only problem is, I now have to do battle with the leaves.
Every silver lining also has a cloud. Happy days!
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