What can businesses learn from leaves falling?

Leaves are like the kitchen staff of a tree. They make the food from spring to early fall. This food helps the tree grow, thrive, and reproduce. As winter nears, deciduous trees drop their leaves because the trees know harsh weather will be coming and they must be prepared, or risk disease and/or death. Don’t worry about those poor falling leaves. They re-purpose themselves by dissolving into the soil and produce nutrients back into the tree. A very efficient system!

How can we incorporate such an efficient system into the business world? Think about the functions of your business and the people doing the work. Is there seasonality to the work? Are there busy times and slow times? What if these people could be efficiently re-purposed into other functions within your company, or outside your company?

This workforce efficiency is happening more and more every day within the business world. A lot of people refer to it as the gig economy. I refer to it as part of the improvement to our Human Operating Systems.