Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Motivation underpins the notion of employee engagement but employee engagement isn’t just about staff satisfaction instead, it measures employee enthusiasm and commitment to their work and the workplace. In this […]
Empowerment Dimensions
Many businesses attempt to create an empowered organisation because it improves delegation, employee satisfaction and productivity but often the planned ’empowered culture’ fails because leaders don’t take into account […]
Strategic Tax Planning
Whether or not you are growing your business, there are tax implications. Growth adds additional considerations. Maybe you are thinking about acquiring another business, maybe be you are investing in people, […]
Complacency Creep
Blind spots can hinder your business’ ability to see all there is to see. It’s easy to see them with hindsight when your firm is confronted by something that it […]
Aristotle’s Golden Mean
A value in the business sense usually refers to a culturally accepted norm. Workplace values like: Respect, Integrity, Openness, Excellence help define the boundaries, or rules, for your people’s behaviour. […]
True North
“True North” is an idiom that emerged from Toyota twenty years ago. True North works as a compass proving a guide to take a business from the current position to […]
Contingency Planning
The purpose of a contingency plan is to help you think through what your business might need in the calm before a storm arises. It provides a list of things you will […]
Tuckman’s Team Development
Bruce Tuckman, a psychology professor, identified four stages of development that every team experiences. They are forming, storming, norming and performing. Tuckman said that all these phases are necessary and inevitable […]
Lasswell’s Comms Model
This post explores Lasswell’s model of communication and overlays some research commissioned by Barclays which gives some context to consider when analysing your communication strategies. Harold Lasswell’s communication model has 5 […]
Getting LinkedIn
Word of Mouth marketing and referrals are considered to be the most cost effective approach to building a business and therefore networking is a must for building your business. Having […]
Networking Scorecard
Sadly networking is never free, there is always the opportunity cost of being elsewhere or even getting some ‘real’ work done. A bit of planning doesn’t go a miss. In this […]
Business Environment Analysis
This Business Environment Analysis comes from a book called Business Model Canvas by Osterwalder & Pigneur, which we have looked at in its entirety in another video. It is a […]
Strategic Drift & Flux
Most businesses quite rightly develop incrementally based on historical success. It makes no sense to dramatically change your business model if you are in line with environmental changes that are […]
Kolb’s Learning Cycle
David Kolb’s theory is typically represented by a four-stage learning cycle in which the learner ‘touches all the bases’. Learning is more effective when we progresses through a cycle of […]
Five Mindsets of a Manager
The five managerial mindsets that Gosling & Mintzberg have identified do not stand alone. Juggling all the elements in running a successful business is a never-ending decision-making exercise. Think global and […]
Bowman’s Strategy Clock
Bowman’s Strategy Clock is a powerful way of looking at how you might establish and sustain a competitive position in a market driven economy. There are eight basic strategic positions […]
Comparative Shopping
Pricing is one of the most difficult things to get right, there are so many considerations around your own business environment including those of your competitors. In this video we […]
Tannenbaum & Schmidt’s Decision Styles
Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum model shows the relationship between the levels of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team, and the level of authority used by the […]
Davis & Seifert’s Facilitation Models
Continued inattention to process may lead to weakened or strained relationships between group members and decline in group effectiveness. It decreases buy-in and ongoing support of decisions made by the […]
Morgan’s Culture Metaphors
Having previously posted a video about Schein’s 3 Levels of Culture, in this video I am focusing on recognising the underlying culture in your business. This is important especially if […]
Schein’s 3 Levels of Culture
Edgar Schein’s model of organisational culture originated in the 1980s. Schein identified three distinct levels: artifacts and behaviours, espoused values and deep underlying assumptions. In this video we look at […]
Covey’s Creative Cooperation
As Stephen Covey simply puts it, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” When people begin to interact together genuinely, and they’re open to each other’s influence, they begin […]
Roger’s Innovation Adoption
According to Rogers, Early Adopters are visionaries, turned on by scarcity, and the Early Majority are pragmatists and require social proof. So in this video we are looking at Rogers Innovation Adoption Curve and Moore’s models to help 'cross the chasm'. Both really useful to consider when you are positioning yourself in the market.
Disruptive Innovation
Disruptive Innovation is a term that was coined by Clayton Christensen. It describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom […]
The Sales Funnel
When you know what you need to achieve your profit/sales growth you can work the way up the funnel to identify the leads that need to be generated to achieve the results.
Five Fair Dismissal Reasons
From time to time as a business you will need to lose some of your employees. There are five absolutely justifiable reasons for doing this. If your employee has less […]
Protected Characteristics
The Equality Act 2010 has identified nine protected characteristics that you need to bear in mind to ensure you protect everyone from discrimination. As an employer not only do you have the […]
Basic Employment Law
To keep on top of changes to employment law you might wish to subscribe to a website like XpertHR
Curry & Hodgson’s 3 Horizon Model
Curry & Hodgson's Three Horizons is a really useful tool to use after you have done a SWOT Analysis.
Locke & Latham’s Goal Setting Theory
The degree to which Locke & Latham's five principles are present in a goal is directly linked to the achievement of that goal.
TQM – 6 Sigma, Lean & Agile
Whichever TMQ model you adopt or adapt, it is important that small businesses establish a culture that embraces curiosity, continuous learning and change. Responsible growth results from listening to both your client and your staff.
