It was a marriage of two octogenarians last month, and while it wasn’t front-page news, it was rather unprecedented.
The 3,600-acre Holden Arboretum and Cleveland Botanical Garden, the subjects of this month’s Uniquely Cleveland, joined forces in September in an unprecedented move for large public gardens.
The 10-acre Botanical Garden, according to news reports, desperately needed a partner because it still has to repay or refinance an $11.1 million debt, thanks to an overly ambitious expansion project that ran aground during the Great Recession.
“The opportunities ahead are amazing,” says Clement W. Hamilton, who has led the arboretum since 2008 and will serve as president and CEO of the new organization.
“Now, we will have the scale to do so much more to establish our campuses as world-class visitor experiences and to become leaders in scientific.”
The entity will become the 13th largest public garden in the U.S. A spokesperson for the merged public gardens says the action will do more to enhance Northeast Ohio and the world through trees and plants than either organization could on its own.
In other words, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, a quotation credited to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.
That observation led me to thinking about a recent report by a World Café discussion group, co-facilitated by Jay Colker of the Adler of Professional Psychology, on motivating a workforce composed of several generations.
The group, composed of some 50 business leaders, noted that America’s workforce contains basically four generations, but the strength of the whole is the most impressive attribute.
“There is no right or wrong, but the collective thinking of the crowd is a great starting point. With open communication, your employees across all generations are likely to be highly motivated, engaged and willing partners in collaborating for the best results,” Colker says.
While financial reasons provided much of the impetus for the Garden-Arboretum merger, the success of the venture will be shown in how much stronger the two will be as one. The transition is predicted to take at least a year, and during that time, the transition team would do well to follow the discussion group’s findings on making a strong whole out of multiple pieces:
- Communication channels need to be both formal and informal because it is critically important to be transparent and foster open communication among all generations, especially around specific expectations and problems or discrepancies. Train everyone in the organization on the differences in communication styles.
- Emphasize the strengths and experiences of every group and each individual employee. Instead of mentoring, consider the concept of collaborative partnerships that emphasize learning from each other. Encourage people to share based on their passions. Drive relationships and promote collaboration. Consider diverse participation in projects to allow relationships to grow organically.
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Maintain flexibility regarding differences among generations. Recognize that every generation will have different needs and preferences. Ensure enough communication to clearly define expectations that each group may have.
CORRECTION: In our September issue’s story on Eaton’s award-winning wellness program, CEO Sandy Cutler was erroneously referred to as “she.” Smart Business regrets the error.
