How To Cultivate Ownership In Landscaping Teams for 2025?

Are you effectively leading your team or merely managing tasks? This difference could define a landscaping company’s success in 2025. With rising competitive pressures in the landscaping industry, fostering accountability and ownership has become essential for success.

Austin Ashmore, CEO of Sunrise Landscape, emphasizes that when team members feel valued and empowered, they take ownership of their roles, driving significant results.  This blog highlights Ashmore’s insights on leadership strategies that foster a culture of accountability and position companies for sustainable growth that he shared during Attentive.ai’s FuelUp Webinar Series Episode 9.

Leaders who communicate openly, measure key performance indicators, and build a culture of trust can enhance employee engagement, trust, and a strong sense of ownership. At Sunrise Landscape, Ashmore and the management board prioritized transparency and accountability, resulting in improved business outcomes and boosting employee morale.

Promoting a sense of ownership and accountability wins when done right!!!

With numerous opportunities for rapid growth in the landscaping industry and 2025 on the horizon, it’s crucial to examine how leadership styles and effective communication can drive transformation.

As Shawn Prince, President of Field Services at Attentive.ai, stated during a recent webinar: “You should not be just a leader in documents and track from the excel sheet; instead, be there with the team, solving problems alongside them.”

Below are some proven leadership strategies that can bring notable changes to a landscaping company on a positive note. Let’s dive in!

Consistent and Transparent Communication

Communication is a powerful yet often underutilized tool for enhancing accountability and fostering alignment throughout a company. Clear and consistent communication boosts employee ownership and significantly improves client satisfaction. 

Effective communication goes beyond mere feedback; it’s about setting regular meetings, understanding employee concerns, and working collaboratively to address them. Empathy in leadership aligns everyone with shared goals, fostering an environment where big words take a back seat to genuine engagement.

During the webinar Ashmore highlighted the importance of openness by stating, "asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness." He added-“this approach helps eliminate miscommunication and promotes a culture where team members feel valued and contribute their best”.

Track What Matters: ‘What Gets Measured Gets Mastered’

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is a critical practice that differentiates performance-driven teams. Metrics like retention rates, labor percentages, and productivity targets should be monitored closely. Ashmore advocates the philosophy that “what gets measured gets mastered”.  By setting these benchmarks, team members are motivated to take ownership of their performance.

At Sunrise Landscape, management ensures that performance metrics are visible to the entire organization. Their scorecards showcase both successes and areas for improvement, fostering a healthy sense of competition. 

Treat Team Members as Business Owners

Transparent communication, strategy clarity, and shared goals are fundamental to business success. In the webinar, Austin Ashmore shared how he has implemented an open-book approach at Sunrise, sharing financial details—including profitability and loss figures—with all team members, from branch managers to account managers.

Over time, this open approach has aligned the team more closely with company objectives. While full transparency may initially seem daunting, it has proven highly effective. For instance, branch managers now present their P&Ls to leadership on a monthly basis, significantly improving their financial awareness and decision-making skills. This practice encourages team members to embrace a business owner mindset, taking full responsibility for their roles as if managing their own enterprises.

Invest in Building a Dream Team

According to Ashmore, a dream team consists of individuals demonstrating high performance, integrity, and accountability in every task. While perceptions of a dream team may differ, he believes investing time in building such a team makes all the difference.

Integrity and consistency are crucial when working with diverse teams or navigating acquisitions. By maintaining honesty in every transaction—whether before or after an acquisition—trust is strengthened. Creating a supportive work environment where everyone feels encouraged and comfortable asking for help is vital for building a truly cohesive team.

Refine your Key Metrics Frequently

As a business grows, so must its metrics. Today's relevant indicators might change over time, making it essential to adapt performance measurements as capabilities expand. Ashmore recommends starting with basic metrics and iterating as the business evolves, treating each day as an opportunity to improve.

Ashmore notes, “If progress is the goal, the journey is endless.”. It’s about refining metrics continuously, responding to data, and encouraging teams to make decisions based on up-to-date information.

Moving Forward

For companies preparing  to scale in 2025, Austin Ashmore, CEO of Sunrise Landscape, offers the following recommendations- 

• Establishing a strong foundation of communication
• Tracking performance openly
• Promoting a culture of ownership
• Practicing transparency to set a path for success

In the landscaping industry, leadership goes beyond setting goals; it’s about creating a sustainable path that empowers teams, drives results, and lays the groundwork for continued growth. With the right leadership approach, 2025 can be a breakthrough year for many businesses.