That means ATU is almost back in full swing.

What is ATU? Easy, it’s The All Terrain University. Like Ohio State University prefers to refer to themselves as THE Ohio State University. Next question! Wait, you mean like what is it? Okay, gotcha! Well again, that’s easy. It’s All Terrain University. It is an education and training program that was created as a team for our team.

ATU was originally born from an employee survey which had one major takeaway – our team desired more training. Not only on what their current job duties were, but what other teams in our company did. Our mowing team wanted to learn how sprinkler systems work. Our sprinkler team wanted to learn how to trim shrubs correctly. Our spray team wanted to learn how to install plants so they’d survive. That sort of thing.

Yes, we’ve always had training and education available for our team but now it’s more intense, some might say it’s next level. It’s a structured and intentional effort for our team to continue training and learning more about our industry.

We hold a majority of our workshops throughout the winter months but still aim to get training during the summer months. You know, knowledge is power and all. The main focus of it all is to see how we can better ourselves, improve the customer experience, and increase the value of our team members.

Earning a credential is a voluntary activity, but it demonstrates that you have the proper knowledge and skills, as well as a high level of dedication to your profession and your community. So now if you have any questions… Who you gonna call? (Hopefully not Ghostbusters)

We also had been the only lawn care company in the area to staff an NDSU Pro-Hort. A Pro-Hort is somebody who has completed the Master Gardener course at NDSU, but hasn’t committed to the volunteer requirement. Dr. Esther McGinnis with the NDSU Extension Master Gardener Program tailored a program just for our team, and our entire full-time team (field and office team) passed the exam so we added 22 more Pro-Horts to our company! Here to the left we have our very own Matt Langemo with Dr. McGinnis receiving his own certification award, everyone else was not “photo ready” hence it not being a big group shot.

We also had been the only lawn care company in the area to staff an NDSU Pro-Hort. A Pro-Hort is somebody who has completed the Master Gardener course at NDSU, but hasn’t committed to the volunteer requirement. Dr. Esther McGinnis with the NDSU Extension Master Gardener Program tailored a program just for our team, and our entire full-time team (field and office team) passed the exam so we added 22 more Pro-Horts to our company! 

Here to the left we have our very own Matt Langemo with Dr. McGinnis receiving his own certification award, everyone else was not “photo ready” hence it not being a big group shot.

Not only do we have classes on field operations or expanding skills, but we also train on our values, culture, teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution, motivation, personal finances, and much more. We try to craft classes our team members will not only enjoy, but benefit them in many aspects of their lives.

These are a few of the things we’ve been able to do through ATU. You could say All Terrain University is pretty cool. It has given the opportunity to our team to continue learning, it’s given our team members that don’t see each other on a day-to-day basis to catch up and create memories (hey, just like normal school), and to top it off it allows us to deliver top customer service. Go All Terrain University! With all of our ATU successes, I think it’s time to come up with a mascot now… Anyone have any suggestions?