It's great when people light the 'blue touch paper', lob it in, walk away and watch......
Many must be sitting uncomfortable in the Industry, especially the Old Guard with the recent suggestions being made elsewhere on Forums.
Was it wrong for those people to do so ? No, I think they helped (perhaps not purposely....) further wake up our industry and the complacency that has been around for ages.
LJN had already woken them up and has provided a yardstick by which new approaches can and are being measured.....what would have happened without LJN.. ? I suspect very little.
It took one man and a vision a few years ago to set up a network forum where the Practitioner comes first. I am sure it would be fair to say no one (including Phil) knew quite where this journey would take him & LJN.
There has been open criticism of the existing Associations from those on LJN. Was this valid ? In my opinion yes. They have been slow to recognise the needs of the Micro or SME landscape businesses, preferring to court the 'big boys'.
Well the landscape changed some years ago, disillusioned members, falling membership numbers meant a change was needed. However the incumbent organisations still failed to react.
In the last year or so we have started to see a "response" - a case of too little too late ? Not for me say - numbers and money will decide that aspect
Clearly, the existing Associations are 'big' business.....
Take BALI for instance. 36 years old. A Ltd company with huge assets, cash at bank, huge structure. Recent financial reporting state : The organisation's status is active, and they have 90 associated directors - 14 are current, and 76 are former. Their actual figures are a matter of public record.
So, remember they have 14 current Directors and a considerable wage bill, property assets and more than a 10% member churn rate ...
The Association of Professional Landscapers - 18years old. Started as a Ltd compnay. Often not realised they are now a sub-group of the HTA - Horticultural Trades Associations. They have their financial backing and all APL staff are in fact HTA staff. I do not know their financials as they do not report separately.
Eljays44 are the Ltd company behind the excellent quality magazine and PLN Network. What is their focus? As a business - publishing and making a successful business I suspect. No idea of their finances but as a large concern with 5-10 employees they could have resources to invest in their chosen direction. Aligned with existing associations, with control of their Network forum & Brand given over to a 'Steering Committee' can they/do they desire to finance it long term ? Who knows ?
Just read the comments made by current members, ex members and non-members re: the industries associations : do the British public recognise the incumbent organisations?, what do they bring to the table, what campaigns have they run to educate the public to use such services and skills ?
Some Associations have sought to drive wedges between sections of our trade - Rogue Traders slurs, VAT registered traders only, lack of clarification over qualifications etc
I could go on, but that is not the point, it's not meant as further 'criticism'..... just facts.
The point is, it is easy to now criticise LJN's structure, its features, its members, the way it has evolved but it has pushed the industry forward, while BALI with 14 Directors struggles to maintain it presence and sense of direction, with The APL at least responding and looking to how it can better serve it's members - LI Group, Cluster Meetings etc - excellent news for their 233 members.
Like LJN, both Associations & PLN have a core of 'active' members - couldn't guess BALI as they are totally a closed shop with no open on line presence, but APL /PLN now have a vocal number of online members.
LJN is establishing its structure and I am sure given hindsight would/could have done things differently (love hindsight.....great skill !) but for sure it is a now a leading player whether anyone likes it or not.
It will evolve further, importantly listen to its members and keep the industry on its toes.
What it can do and does is react to its members needs.
Can the others say that?
p.s One thing I would say, the industry would benefit more from looking forward for all our mutual benefits than making personal jibes. So unprofessional....
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As the APL LI Group is not open to all, I thought I'd share the following (almost instantaneous response).
LJN is clearly an important resource to non-LJN members - which proves my point ?
"Hallelujah! Landscape Juice as finally woken up and smelled the coffee; a quote from a recent article by perhaps the widely considered number two in the organisation, (who I know to be a true professional from past contact but unfortunately will only appear to most as yet another, totally anonymous profile) -
"industry would benefit more from looking forward for all our mutual benefits than making personal jibes. So unprofessional".
A mantra that wants stapling to LJN HQ if ever there was one. Pity it took so long, an utter waste of a great idea.
Of course, the article couldn't pass without telling us how inept our existing trade bodies are, so perhaps the staplers missing? "
Finally to quote a well known 60's cult series:
"I am not a number, I am a free man"
:-)
It's strange to read through the LI thread, I joined just to have a look. I think some of the comments there do no favours to the writers.
I've been around the industry for nearly 30 years, with a break of 12 years or so in the middle, and have worked in various roles from teenage dogsbody in a garden centre, through running larger design and landscape contracts, to being a sole-trader. I've never thought BALI, APL or similar organisations were relevant to me in the slightest; they were stickers on the vans of the larger companies, with fleets of operatives working, or more likely standing around smoking, on Council roundabouts. I might have been wrong, but that's the perception I always got; they weren't for the small to medium businesses.
I only came to LJN as somewhere that had a free, open and helpful forum where I could ask questions, learn from others, perhaps give an answer to something I knew about, and try to liven things up occasionally through being provocative. More like going to the pub with a few mates, where I'd see the large Landscape industry bodies as going to a conference centre to be bored to tears and pay for the privilege. Maybe not the best analogy, but hopefully the point comes through, lol!
I hope that doesn't change. Although there's always the risk of people seeing "non-paying guests" as somehow getting something for nothing, in fact having a large range of different contributors is essential to a forum. Keep some areas private, certainly, but not so much that people who don't feel they want to join are excluded, and go elsewhere? They are, after all, still paying for the site in a way, through the advertising side. I've wanted to see this site succeed because it's been so open and, usually, welcoming and non-judgemental. Hopefully that will continue, whereas I can't say I've been impressed with the attitude of the larger industry bodies' representatives over the recent changes.
In answer to a question, I did not include the SGD in the above as I did not feel they were directly relevant to my commentary, but more than happy to be corrected and include in the debate and would love to hear from current and ex-SGD members as to their views on the state of the industry.
Ultimately we are all different sectors of the same industry......
I'm not a qualified person to make an intelligent comment on the state of the industry. One thing I can say is that it seems to be absolutely full of people who are extremely passionate about it, whatever group they are "from". With the right direction, the future of the industry looks bright from where I am sitting
+1 Like :-)
Steve London Stone said: