The Economic Gardening operating principle is that all members have a customised program of development. The model is one of continuous learning about the business, the economy or the community and how it functions. It is not an advisory-dependence model.
The first step is to review all the material on this web site, particularly the audio/visual presentations. This will give you a better understanding of what Economic Gardening is about and how it may be able to assist your businesses and your community. Businesses, regional economies and community organisations will differ in terms of their goals, stage of development and opportunities for improvement. As a result, our starting point is to discuss with you, your aspirations and the progress you have made and then develop a recommended program to assist you in moving forward.
The customised program for a member is built around a Health Check that fits their situation. The Health Check is used by the support staff to assess:
Similar health checks are used for local economies, communities and community organisations.
In consultation with the member, a customised program is developed that is consistent with your situation and prospects. This matches the program with needs to produce the most effective outcomes for each member. When agreement is reached, the program can begin.
For most businesses and organisations the program will use the materials in the Resource Centre to:
While this will not guarantee the success of your business, it will maximise the chances that your business will be successful, that operating the business will be less stressful and it will be fun.
Initial membership is for one year. This is because we expect that this will be the time needed for the program to have an impact on the performance of your business or organisation.
The program of each member is reviewed at least on an annual basis. That review is made on the basis of a rerun of a health check and consultation with the member. As businesses improve and grow, new needs arise and the Economic Gardening approach provides for members to progress to meet those needs, to take on new challenges and opportunities and to achieve higher levels of outcome and satisfaction.
This is a process of continuous business improvement that can be applied in any business or community organisation.
An equivalent approach can be applied for local economies and community organisations
"If you approach life with a sense of possibility and the expectation of positive results, you're more likely to have a life in which possibilities are realised and results are positive."
Lisa Funderburg
There are no joining fees but rather a system of working on projects together and where applicable sharing revenues. The Economic Gardeners Resource Centreprovides support on a user pay basis.
Note that there are no long-term contracts. Please read the section on Privacy and Terms of Use, which appear on the front page of the web site.
To get started simply Contact Us and we will discuss how you can benefit from Economic Gardeners. We will then advise you on the first steps to help you to maximise your association with us.
It has also been said that our success comes about because we try to create a team environment where everyone involved has fun whilst achieving results beyond their original thoughts and expectations.
It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
Creating a Fresh Approach to Developing Communities
Successful community development is an accumulation of many actions and outcomes. The sum of many individual efforts repeated day in and day out can have a profound effect and it is the day to day actions taken by many people that determine the growth and success of a community. Infrastructure development is only part of it.
Many people involved with the initial steps, fall by the wayside as they cannot see the impact of their individual tasks. Yet, with every additional step, you immediately enhance the value of the initial step. Your guarantee is in driving the actions in a coordinated and practical way, until objectives are met. This means providing good leadership.
Some communities are stable, but most are subjected to many more sources of change both from within and from outside. Few have applied new thinking that seeks new opportunities and approaches to management to meet the new challenges and needs. Creating new and flexible organisational structures and management, good analysis and proper project planning and implementation are the key elements of a new approach.
Regional Development is a concept that has been abused and misused for a long time. Community Development is caught between tradition and change, individuals and government. There are plenty of “Talk Fests” without action, the movers and shakers are flogged to death and Regional Development is used as a political football.
The opportunities are shifting to people with new ways of thinking and working, and this can be very difficult to see. The only thing we can be certain of is that there will be many surprises. Most people and communities still operate in isolation, or wait for the government to make it happen. Without large capital expenditure, better communities can only come about by successful community projects and community participation. The best bet for us is to be ahead of the pack and implement ways to handle the future with some surety. This is where Economic Gardening comes into play.
It’s virtually impossible to predict the future; however, the modus operandi should be to change paradigms in favour of the community and its businesses. As discussed in their book, (Community Economic Analysis, Jensen and West) there is a tendency for academics to discuss how great forces shape the choices we need to make rather than the more mundane aspects of those choices. Life is made up of many choices that initially either does not appear as grand, or are subject to those grand forces. It is great to think in terms of regional aggregates and strategies, but even they just represent the summation of individual community choices and actions.
