It’s Blackberry Season!  Have you ever been blackberry picking? If not you need to go. WARNING: wear a thick long sleeve shirt and jeans. The thorns are long and sharp!

There is a strategy to picking blackberries. You have to search out where the best berries are and where the best patches are. The berries like to try and fool you. On the edge of the patch will be the small stems. They look innocent enough and they are an easy pick. But as you look further into the patch you see bigger plants with bigger berries. You need to wade into the patch, enduring some scrapes and scratches along the way.

You find yourself in the middle of a gold mine! Berries, berries and more berries! You pick and pick. Everywhere you turn, more berries. Which ones do you harvest? You will want to go after the ones that look big and juicy. Sometimes looks can be deceiving. The biggest ones can be a prize, but sometimes they can just be big and showy with no substance or flavor. Sometimes the smaller, less impressive ones are sweeter and tastier.

When you think you have picked all of the desirable berries in that area you turn around and start to head out. Surprise!  More berries in the same area you thought you just worked! They like to hide under the leaves. You walked right past them the first time and didn’t see them. What’s up with that? Sometimes the good ones are right in front of your face. You can be so focused on finding that perfect berry, looking here, there and everywhere that you fail to see the ones right in front of you.

I went picking last week. I got enough to make 16 jars of jelly and 5 pies! What a sense of accomplishment you feel as you sit and eat a homemade warm blackberry pie! The satisfaction is amazing. You successfully picked the best berries and had a yummy dessert!

As I was picking it occurred to me that searching for and picking blackberries is a lot like searching for and picking employees.

First you have to search out the perfect patch. What companies or other businesses will have the kind of employees you would like to have? You can’t just stand on the edge of the patch, on the sidewalk looking in. You have to wade into the thick of things.

Which employees will you try to harvest? You will tend to go after the ones that look, sound or act impressive. Sometimes those are good ones, and sometimes bigger, bolder, louder is just that and not really better.

Just like berry picking you have to go back and check the patch again. Good employees sometimes hide. Maybe they were in the backroom the day you went in; maybe they were off that day. Maybe you just didn’t see them even though they were right in front of your face.

When you get back to your own business look around and see if you don’t have your own patch right in your backyard. Has the perfect berry, the perfect employee been hiding right under your nose in plain sight? Sometimes we are so busy looking all around us that we don’t see what is in front of us.

Remember where the good employees came from. If you got one good employee from them maybe there are others.

The satisfaction is amazing. You successfully picked the best employees and had a yummy team!

With berries and employees it is essential that you tend to your garden. Others will come looking for your berries and your employees. Don’t let the good ones slip out of your hand!

With picking blackberries you can stand on the edge and say boy those look good, but it looks like too much work to go and get them.

With picking employees you can say the same thing.

If you want to make a great tasting blackberry pie it takes work.

If you want to make a great, strong, efficient and functioning team, well that takes work too. It drives me crazy in this day and age, with this economy, with this unemployment when I hear people say they are short staffed or can’t find good employees. Apparently you aren’t looking under the right leaves!

Where do you look for employees? How often do you look? How hard do you look? Are you willing to take some scratches and scrapes to find the good ones? What do you do with them when you find them? Is it time to take some of the less productive ‘berries’ and replace them with a new fresh crop? Are you willing to put in the necessary work to have a great pie or a great team?

I cannot know what you are thinking unless you tell me in the comment section below!

Done successfully you will be very satisfied and fulfilled!

Happy picking!