As we get ready to step into a new year, the only constant in the business world seems to be change. In an environment marked by uncertainty and rapid transformation, the ability to build resilience is not just a competitive advantage but a necessity.

In the ever-evolving landscape of employment, the rise of flexible work arrangements is not merely a trend; it’s a transformative shift reshaping the traditional concept of the workplace. As organizations adapt to this new reality, understanding the dynamics of flexible work and implementing effective management strategies become imperative for success.

Let’s dig into the tools that actually give us valuable insights and figure out why sticking to the tired cliché of engagement might be holding your business back. It’s time to cut through the noise and find a fresh understanding that can genuinely propel your business forward.

In the dynamic landscape of business, achieving sustainable growth is the Holy Grail for entrepreneurs and business leaders alike. However, the journey to expansion is riddled with challenges, and perhaps none is as critical as striking the right balance between growth and cash flow management.

In the fast-paced world of business, the ability to manage cash flow effectively can be the difference between success and failure. In fact, as many as 82% of businesses that fail do so due to poor cash flow management.

Navigating through the intricacies of managing a company can be overwhelming and become a journey riddled with unexpected twists, stressful decisions, and an ever-present demand for staying on course amidst countless distractions. In such times, the true symbol of a successful leader emerges: resilience.

A pivotal cornerstone within the framework of success revolves around the notion of ‘Empowered Ownership’ – a concept that holds the key to unlocking the best in people, even in the face of difficult personalities.

Meetings can take up a significant amount of time in the workday, and if they aren’t being run effectively, this can directly impact your workplace’s productivity. Ultimately what you want from these meetings is for your team to have a clear direction and the confidence to play their part in achieving organizational success.

Customer feedback is important because the insight it provides serves as a guiding resource for the adaptation, growth, and ultimately success of your business. By utilizing your customers to help you understand what you are getting right and wrong, you are able to adjust your products or services to better suit their needs and solidify a customer-centric reputation for your business.

Whether your organization is able to compete and survive in the market is directly linked to your ability to innovate. But for innovation to be a successful venture, it needs to be supported by everyone, at all levels of your organization.

With many brands within an industry competing for the same pool of customers, being able to communicate your point of difference and establish what your brand stands for in the mind of consumers is essential in order to keep up. This is where your brand promise comes in.

One of the key challenges organizations face when trying to develop a functional leadership team is being able to clearly define the individual functional accountabilities of their leadership team. This is where the Functional Accountability Chart can help.

With the authority and power to manage, execute, be the problem solvers, and ultimately foster the workplace culture, your organization’s success is mainly reliant on the performance of your management team.

As a business owner you may not think that your cash flow is something you need to visit on a regular basis, but considering that 82% of businesses that fail, fail due to poor cash flow management, this may be something you want to rethink. It is an incredibly important part of your business and ultimately contributes to your business’s financial success.

If you want to set your business up for success and major growth in the long-term, then what you need is to nail down your strategy and set a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal!

Our emotions have an influence over every interaction we have throughout the day. They determine how we respond to conflict, challenges, and opportunities; they play a part in the effort we demonstrate, the behaviors we express, and how we interact with others. Simply put, our emotions are powerful!

Collaboration forms the backbone of any business and its success. Strong and effective teamwork helps to build morale in the workplace, which in turn improves the productivity and quality of work, with problem-solving made easier as a collaborative effort, ultimately improving organizational profits.

These connections can open doors for you or your business that otherwise would not have opened. Ultimately people go into business with people they know and trust. Organizations don’t make decisions, the people that work there do, and they are the ones you need to connect with.

Helping employees set, and reach their goals is an integral part of every manager’s job. Employees want to be able to see how their work contributes to the big corporate picture, and by guiding and discussing their goal setting with them you will be highlighting this connection, not only for them but for you as their manager.

As restrictions begin to lift and vaccination rates rise, many companies have begun to make, and in some cases have actioned, plans for a safe return to the workplace. However, for some employees, this transition may be harder than first thought, with a resistance to return due to safety concerns or a reluctance to give up the flexibility they have had with remote work.

When implementing goals and strategies for your organization, the first step is, and should always be, communicating and aligning your team who will essentially be responsible for actioning them. Without this alignment, even the best strategies are doomed to fail.

Strategic planning for the coming year is always considered an important task in an organization, but what we often see is a lack of urgency, with the task continually getting pushed back until its compromised. You don’t want to go into 2022 blind!

Completing an Ironman race can be a life-changing event, with many life lessons realized along the way. However, during my training and the race this year, I also found myself thinking about something else. I began drawing parallels between completing an Ironman event and becoming a leader in an organization. Believe me, there are many complimentary lessons, but here are a few:

When it comes to giving feedback, the biggest thing to think about is the intention and desired outcome. Giving constructive feedback should focus on facilitating better performance, while reinforcing the personal development of your team.

When running a business there are things that can, and of course, do go wrong. Whether it be a product issue, a sale falling through, an internal conflict, or even a client complaint, it can be easy to blame one thing or another, but often one of the main culprits is a lack of clarity in the organization.

Too often feedback is something that is given only once a year, usually during annual reviews. But the value of feedback in the workplace cannot be understated. Having a feedback-rich culture, where feedback is encouraged and comfortably received, both by and from your employees, can make all the difference in how a company runs.

Having relevant, clear, and productive goals in place can make all the difference when it comes to getting you or your business to where you want it to be. By creating SMART goals you ensure that you are setting yourself relevant and achievable benchmarks that can drive you and your team’s development and success.

Company culture is a combination of the vision, mission, values, goals, and the day-to-day activities of a workplace. Culture is essentially the soul of your company and should be a prime consideration in your business strategy. Why? Because it has a major influence over your corporate reputation, team engagement, performance, and productivity.

The importance of delegation in the workplace cannot be underestimated. It is a great way to boost organizational performance and productivity, but it also creates a sense of empowerment among employees by granting them greater independence.

Accountability in the workplace is all about ownership and initiative. But what happens if there is no accountability? When missed deadlines are tolerated and unfinished work is considered ‘no big deal’ because the rest of the team will pick up the slack. Your team, and ultimately your workplace culture will suffer.

With all the uncertainty and craziness in the world lately, companies are now, more than ever, in a continuous cycle of frequent change and adaption. And the ability for companies to be able to accommodate and keep up with this need to adapt is majorly reliant on the leadership quality and methods in these workplaces.

When you are running a company, your employees are your most important asset. Without them, the functionality of your company will suffer, so it is crucial that your employees constantly feel valued and appreciated. A key part of effectively creating the conditions that facilitate such feelings of appreciation and that drive employee motivation is to figure out what motivates them.

Every company has a set of goals that they strive to achieve. These goals are not a matter of set-and-forget. They are the framework to assign the company’s daily operations and provide a focal point for management and employees. So therein lies the question, how can you increase the efficiency of your workplace in achieving your company’s goals?

Communication is an important factor in the productivity of your organization. In every communication we have, we are attempting to influence someone. Whether it be a message, a direction, an idea, or a combination, the communication is only effective if the recipient reacts in the way you intended.

Many people underestimate the difficulties and pressures of running a company. Many internal and external factors need to be considered, including competitors, changing market conditions, clients, employees, and many more. To succeed in running a company today, you need to be adaptable to these many variable factors and have good planning and organizational skills.

In uncertain times, strong leadership is more critical to your organizational success than anything else. Interestingly in a recent study from Edelman, employees who trust their employers are far more likely to advocate on behalf of their employer (78 percent), stay loyal to their employer (74 percent), be engaged and live the organization’s values (71

Most business leaders I talk to find it very difficult to answer these questions with a YES the first time we meet, and it is not surprising really.

When you look back over the growth and development of your business, you may discover that most of the success you have had as been from opportunistic moments, erratic times of inspiration and knowledge acquisition, or just dumb luck. We start out on the business journey with a big vision but very little structure or strategy and work our way through.

The main reason most businesses fail to grow is that they fail to plan. A growth plan helps you establish clear direction for the future and brings clarity and confidence to the whole organization.

A growth plan typically looks at the next 1 – 2 years and is adaptable with changing market conditions. The plan should have incremental steps…

Goal setting is tossed around, especially at the beginning of a new year, as a prerequisite for any major achievement you may wish to accomplish in the 12 months ahead.
Many of us are familiar with the goal setting process, but I wonder how many of you incorporate professional development goals that will support the business growth you are focused on?

We are not taught well to deal with conflict. It is uncomfortable and often we try to avoid it at all costs. No one likes the feeling of a disagreement, especially when it involves those you are most relying on – your executive team.

When I learned to drive, one of the surprising lessons I learned was about the blind spots – that space you forget about alongside you where there might be another vehicle. We all learn that you need to turn your head to the side to glance out of your peripheral vision to actually check before

Your team needs a strong leader now more than ever before. When we don’t know what to do or things are in a flux we look to those around us who we admire or those who have been put into a position of leadership to help give us a sense of security and direction.

“We must never become too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw.” – Dr Stephen Covey

As we draw to the end of this year I encourage you to take the time to assess what’s been, where you have seen growth and where the challenges have derailed you a little.