Where Do You Water?

Last issue I wrote about the gearbox, that quiet feeling when something inside you has stopped moving and is asking for attention. This week I want to talk about grass.

Not the Wimbledon grass court, though that is my favourite championship of the year and seeing a match there in person is firmly on my bucket list. No, I want to talk about a much less glamorous patch of grass. The one in front of my house.

Glimmer of Inspiration ✨

I was watering the lawn the other day and noticed it was not one even colour. Most of it was green. But there were patches. Some yellow, a few gone brown and crispy. I stood there with the hose and thought, do I give the dry spots more? Or do I just water evenly and hope it works out?

Then I thought, this is a lot like a team.

Some parts are flourishing. Some are getting by. And some are browning at the edges, running low on something. There is only so much water, time, and attention to go around.

So where does it go?

Lightbulb Moment 💡

The easy thing is to water where the watering is easy.

The green patches are simple. They are already doing well, they ask for little, they are satisfying to look at. So the hose lingers there because it feels good. Meanwhile the browning patch sits at the edge of the lawn, and the steady green-enough spots fade into the background.

A brown patch is almost never about the grass. It is about the conditions. Too much sun. Hard soil. A sprinkler that does not reach. The grass is not failing. Something around it is not working.

People can be the same. Someone who is struggling is usually not broken. Wrong role, missing context, something heavy at home, or just not getting what they need yet.

The interesting question is not who is underperforming. It is what is the condition here that I am not seeing.

There is also such a thing as over-watering. Pour on too much and you drown it. The struggling person does not always need more check-ins and more of your hovering. Sometimes attention lands as pressure. More is not the fix. The right amount, in the right spot, is.

And the green needs tending too. Grass that gets taken for granted thins out. The parts everyone assumes are fine are often the first to go.

You do not need to be the one holding the hose to notice the patches. Anyone on the team can see where things are flourishing and where the edges are starting to brown. And that includes noticing it in yourself. If you are the one running low, that is worth paying attention to. What is missing? What is not quite working around you?

Shine Brighter: Your Growth Challenge 🚀

This week, three questions worth sitting with.

• Where is it green? What is doing well right now?
• Where is it browning? What is struggling on the team, and what might it be missing?
• Where is it getting by? What is steady and easy to overlook? A little attention here often does the most.

There is never unlimited water. Watering the browning patch means the green one gets a little less of you this week. That is the real decision.

Not pouring evenly everywhere, but choosing, on purpose, where it goes.

A Final Spark ✨

I did not fix my lawn that day. But I stopped watering on autopilot. I started noticing why some patches were thriving and others were not, instead of spraying evenly and walking away.

And noticing changed what I did next. I stopped assuming the quiet patches were fine, and started asking. Not everywhere. Just one patch at a time.

That is most of it, really. Not perfection. Not more resources. Just looking closely, staying curious, and watering on purpose.

Here’s to finding your spark and letting it shine.

Karen.