When Marty Grunder asked Frank Mariani his No. 1 tip for leadership, he immediately responded: passion. “You need to love this business which means your people, your clients,” he said.
Mariani, owner of Mariani Landscape, oversees more than 400 employees in the Chicago area. During a Monday session at Grunder’s GROW! 2018 conference in Tampa, Florida, he shared his five best tips on how to lead.
1. Lead by example.
Mariani wants to show that he’s willing to do the same things he asks his employees to do. For example, if he’s meeting with field associates and they’re walking around the facility, he’ll put some sort of litter on the walk so that he can pick up throw it away. He’ll also take weekend sales calls instead of asking one of his employees to do it. It’s his way of showing employees that everyone is in it together.
“Nobody should be above doing the most mundane tasks,” he said. “That’s what you’re asking people to do.”
Mariani said screaming and yelling don’t do any good when things aren’t going well. Instead, figure out what needs to be done to meet a challenge. “I think that simple ways of demonstrating leadership really work,” he said.
2. Have integrity
“We believe integrity is when beliefs, words and actions all intersect,” Grunder said.
Mariani asks employees to look at the company’s mission statement when they have a question and ask them if the mission statement points them in the right direction. He said he gets a lot fewer emails and questions now that employees feel empowered to answer their own questions.
“If you’re going to allow a team to grow, what do you need to do? You have to allow them to do their job; you have to allow them to take risks and they’re going to make mistakes,” Mariani said.
Grunder said integrity isn’t just about knowing right from wrong. “It’s how you go about everything, it’s backing up your people,” he said. “Are you giving your followers any reason to think you’re not who you say you are?”
3. Communicate well.
“The hardest thing for me … is to it down and shut up and listen to what other people have to say before I say a word, or if there’s a chance, to not even say a word,” Mariani said. That way, people are more apt to listen to what you’re saying.
Mariani Landscape has a website just for employees where he shares his thoughts on industry topics like the H-2B program. “I think what’s important is that it’s just not bull. It’s got to be something relevant,” he said.
Mariani said that he works hard to make sure he lets people do their jobs without getting too involved. If he sees something he doesn’t like, he’ll alert an employee’s supervisor rather than intervene personally.
“We hire people to manage people and then we step all over them when we see something we don’t like,” Grunder said. The exception to that rule would be any safety issues that need to be addressed immediately.
Mariani used to reward people for loyalty and longevity, but now he looks at potential and drive, and gives them opportunities to move up in the company.
4. Be enthusiastic
A great thing about the industry is that people share everything, Mariani said. As a self-proclaimed “competitive guy,” Mariani thinks competition is great for the industry.
“The more we raise the bar, the better everyone is going to be,” he said.
5. Do a little bit more
“How do you get everybody to go the extra mile?” Grunder asked. He said every time he visits Mariani’s company, everyone on staff is going above and beyond.
Mariani said it’s part of the culture and those who go the extra mile are the ones who last. For example, he gets more than 90 percent renewal on maintenance services, but he was unhappy with some of the horticultural practices. So now, despite the success, he’s on a mission to fix what he doesn’t like.
Read other coverage from the Grunder's GROW! 2018 conference here.