Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
A common HR tactic is to "stack rank" our team, by identifying the top and bottom 10%, then come up with a plan to get the top 10% promoted, and the bottom 10% moved up, or out of the organization. I started doing this with my trees a few years ago, and at first it was pretty easy. Then, as my bottom 10% became better, it became more difficult to let them go. at he same time, it also became difficult to bring myself to spend the time needed to move them up to get them off the bottom 10% list.
I work with several pros, most frequently Kathy Shaner and Bjorn. Kathy is a big advocate for managing a smaller collection of better trees...spend more time with fewer trees was what she told me this spring. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I had just dug up my whole back yard, and my collection had grown from a very manageable 35 trees to a hoarder status of 115.
I have since managed to sell around half of them, but 55 trees is still far too many for me to care for properly. When Bjorn was here in May, I asked him to objectively review my collection and pick out what he considered to be my bottom 10 trees. Not necessarily bad trees, but those that either:
1. Had physical qualities that preclude it from ever being a national exhibition tree
2. Represented the lowest quality in the collection
3. Has defects that weren't worth the time or effort to overcome
4. Wouldn't thrive in my climate, or stand up to long-term bonsai training (Ezo, corkers)
5. Had been developed to a point where they peaked and probably wouldn't get much better in my lifetime.
We walked the benches, and I agreed with 8/10 picks, and have moved out many of the trees he identified, as well as some other material that I decided I just didn't want to spend time developing.
So each year, I try to do this exercise. Just for kicks, I thought I'd start a thread where anyone can post their top and bottom couple bonsai trees (meaning they must be in bonsai pots), and share thoughts on the selection process. For some consistency, let's do this:
Show your top couple trees in bonsai pots and state:
1. What is the tree and who made it's pot?
2. How much time have you invested in it?
3. Why is this your top tree?
4. What are your plans to get it "promoted" over the next 12 months? New pot, local/regional/national show?
Then, show us the bottom couple trees, which are in bonsai pots, and state:
1. What is the tree and who made it's pot?
2. How much time have you invested in it?
3. Why is it on this list?
4. Why is it still on your bench?
5. What is the plan? Chop? Bend? Plant out? Sell?
I'll start.
I work with several pros, most frequently Kathy Shaner and Bjorn. Kathy is a big advocate for managing a smaller collection of better trees...spend more time with fewer trees was what she told me this spring. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I had just dug up my whole back yard, and my collection had grown from a very manageable 35 trees to a hoarder status of 115.
I have since managed to sell around half of them, but 55 trees is still far too many for me to care for properly. When Bjorn was here in May, I asked him to objectively review my collection and pick out what he considered to be my bottom 10 trees. Not necessarily bad trees, but those that either:
1. Had physical qualities that preclude it from ever being a national exhibition tree
2. Represented the lowest quality in the collection
3. Has defects that weren't worth the time or effort to overcome
4. Wouldn't thrive in my climate, or stand up to long-term bonsai training (Ezo, corkers)
5. Had been developed to a point where they peaked and probably wouldn't get much better in my lifetime.
We walked the benches, and I agreed with 8/10 picks, and have moved out many of the trees he identified, as well as some other material that I decided I just didn't want to spend time developing.
So each year, I try to do this exercise. Just for kicks, I thought I'd start a thread where anyone can post their top and bottom couple bonsai trees (meaning they must be in bonsai pots), and share thoughts on the selection process. For some consistency, let's do this:
Show your top couple trees in bonsai pots and state:
1. What is the tree and who made it's pot?
2. How much time have you invested in it?
3. Why is this your top tree?
4. What are your plans to get it "promoted" over the next 12 months? New pot, local/regional/national show?
Then, show us the bottom couple trees, which are in bonsai pots, and state:
1. What is the tree and who made it's pot?
2. How much time have you invested in it?
3. Why is it on this list?
4. Why is it still on your bench?
5. What is the plan? Chop? Bend? Plant out? Sell?
I'll start.
