If you’re very close to your business, it’s easy to miss the key points in its development – you only notice looking back months or years later that something has changed. Here are the signs to look out for and how to adapt most effectively to the change. There are two key points in the development of organisations. The first is around the £1m – £5m turnover mark, when there are… read more →
Many business owners struggle to make the move from doing things themselves to delegating work to their staff, and they get little guidance on how to do it. It’s a difficult transition and there are often a few problems along the way. Whether you’re learning to be a better director yourself, or helping a recently promoted employee deal with a new role, these guidelines can help smooth the transition: 1.… read more →
Do you get confused over the distinction between ‘doing’ the job, ‘managing’, and ‘directing’? Here are some distinctions: Doing: Carrying out a deed or action, especially when held responsible for it. Managing: Getting people together to accomplish goals through interpersonal relations, information processing and decision making. Directing: Setting direction, establishing policies, controlling resources and overseeing the activities of an organisation. In a small business, you may sometimes have to carry… read more →
As an effective leader, it’s not your job to worry about the detail of getting a job done, or to devise ways of monitoring day-to-day activities and dealing with crises along the way. Instead, you must look to the ‘big picture’; concerning yourself not so much with day-to-day operations, but with where the company is going and where the next big opportunities are coming from. Ensure your staff understand the… read more →
What, you might think, does ‘Zero Tolerance’ – policing that allows no crime or anti-social behaviour to be overlooked – have to do with my business? There are a number of ways in which the principle can be helpful when you’re managing change. As your company develops, you will face a moment when you choose between what you’ve done before and what you might achieve in the future. The easy… read more →