As I’ve mentioned before, in my opinion – most success in business (small business in particular) comes down to people. It was Jim Collins’ seminal book ‘Built to Last’ which really turned my thinking to where the value is in small business, and as I’ve said before – the hardest thing in small business. In [...]
As I mentioned in the post on introducing DiSC®, I’m a High D. I nearly fell off the treadmill at the gym when I was going through the Manager Tools casts on each of the quadrants, listening to the cast on High Ds. I realised why some people (mainly High Is) really annoyed me at [...]
A poignant line from that classic ABBA hit song of the same name. Before I left Australia in 2007 (to find, buy into and grow a small UK I.T. company, fast) I asked for some feedback from my fellow business partners and the General Manager we had put in place a few years earlier, to [...]
Here is a quick HR/people win for you. You’ll not only look more professional in less time than it takes to watch an East Enders or Neighbours episode, but you send a clear message to your team that you value them. Set up a free online survey at the awesome tool Survey Monkey, add some [...]
In my 10+ years managing people in small businesses this is by far the best resource to develop yourself and your team of managers and supervisors. I have not come across a resource anywhere near as comprehensive or as valuable as this. And it’s free. Check out Manager Tools. Bookmark the site and set up [...]
Over the years, from speaking with other small business owners and entrepreneurs, the consensus seems to be the hardest thing in small business is people. Whether it’s customers, suppliers but mainly your team – rarely a week goes by without some kind of ‘people issue’. People have bad days, get sick, have varying levels of [...]
This is one of the foundations you must invest in if you want to grow your small business fast, and with as little growing pains as possible. Sounds woolly – and being a High D I initially rejected it (there are tasks to be done people, so, why aren’t you doing them?) But the empirical [...]