Articles

Some Questions. Do you know who your competitors are, both direct and indirect? If so , are you tuned into their sales and marketing strategies? Do you have a process in place to monitor changes in the competitive landscape? Do you have a well informed strategy for countering competitive threats? There is a tendency to be complacent about the competition,…
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The word 'Process' has a lot of negative connotations - 'boring', 'time wasting', 'pointless box ticking', 'unnecessary', 'incomprehensible', 'bureaucratic' etc. Yet few can argue but that good processes are a hallmark of all successful enterprises. Smart process is about getting it right, in the most efficient way, first time, 100% of the time.  It is smart processes and checklists (a…
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Conventional wisdom suggests that openness, transparency and consistency are critical values of an authentic and effective leader, and are key to building and maintaining trust with 'followers'.  But this is tricky stuff ! Consider the following examples : A leader who is open about his weaknesses and insecurities in order to be authentic, risks giving the impression that he is…
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Traditional leadership development whether in house or  in business schools focuses on teaching potential leaders what to do in different situations and what behaviours to adopt, with learning through case studies. This 'once off' model of learning is inadequate in an increasingly complex business environment, where there is an ongoing breakdown in long established industry boundaries, and an ever increasing…
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As a business grows it becomes more challenging to maintain lines of communication and to ensure that all employees are aligned to the achievement of the same company vision. Having formal job descriptions can help this process of alignment. The development process for job descriptions can 'flush out' any misunderstandings about roles, ensure that there is no overlap between roles and…
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As we get closer to 2016 you will be (or should be!) working on your business plan for the year. As part of this process it can be useful to test the inputs to and outputs from your planning process, before the plan is signed off and specific objectives are assigned to individuals and teams.  The following are some questions…
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