Arrange social networking events
People buy from people they know and trust. We all know that, but how often do we go out of our way to create that trust. The very big brands are all too aware of the importance of spending time with their key clients and prospects in a social environment. When we are engaged in some sort of leisure activity we are at our most relaxed. This is the time when the commercial barriers come down and we really get to know people. That’s why we see so much corporate sponsorship and hospitality at the big sporting events. Of course we can’t compete with the big brand budgets, but we don’t need to. We can take an individual or a small group of clients to an event and give them the sort of personal attention they will never get from the big boys. Make sure you are spending “quality time” with your key clients. It will pay tremendous dividends
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Top 10 tips: To managing people (PLEASE JUST TALK!)
Most new businesses fail because they lack the fundamentals of a good business. This includes people management. In order to transform your start-up into something more, you need to inspire your staff to share in your vision. As the saying goes, you’re only as good as the people around you. This may sound relatively easy to achieve – you’ve got a great idea, so what’s not to get excited about? But in reality, staff expect more from “the boss” than passion. They expect consistency, direction, fairness, and the list goes on. Failure rates for early-stage ventures are reasonably high, but most fail because they lack the fundamentals of a good business. This includes people management. In order to transform your start-up into a world-class company, you need to inspire your staff to share in your vision. As the saying goes, you’re only as good as the people around you. This may sound relatively easy to achieve – you’ve got a great idea, so what’s not to get excited about? But in reality, staff expect more from their leader than passion. They expect consistency, direction, fairness, and the list goes on. 1. Do Your Job Managing people isn’t an excuse to let them do the work whilst you look on. Of course, sometimes your job may involve being more strategic but your staff will respect you for doing what needs to be done and being willing to pitch in like everyone else at times. Get the balance right and earn respect from your staff. 2. Acknowledge The Positive (TALK!) See the positives in your staff and their work. It is demoralising for staff to have someone only see what they have done ‘wrong’. Positivity breeds positivity. Genuine and meaningful praise goes a long way. Give feedback regularly and let them know that you see the good work they do. 3. Don’t Be Afraid to Manage (TALK!) Things don’t always go smoothly in any workplace. You are a manager, so you must be willing to manage. Some people find it hard to set boundaries or give feedback but it is important to get over that hurdle. If you need some help, ask. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. You can make a work situation worse by not being clear with staff if you are hesitant about managing. 4. Be Vulnerable (TALK!) If you make a mistake, be big about it and apologise. It can be scary and seem like you are making yourself vulnerable, but your staff will appreciate your honesty. Everyone likes someone who takes responsibility for your actions. Being honest will help you create a culture of honesty. 5. Be Real With People (TALK!) The way we work is changing. You don’t have to be superhuman or untouchable. Be the real human being that you are. Let people at work know about your life (not everything!) and find out about others. If you let people know the “real you” it is much easier than having different personalities for your work and home life. 6. Communicate (TALK!) I don’t apologise for this being a bigger section, it’s important (I worry I am being too subtle about TALKing)! Let your staff know what’s going on behind the scenes, as appropriate. If something will affect a member of staff, make sure they are included in the communication. This doesn’t mean you have to let your staff know everything. Sometimes keeping communications back until the correct time can save panic and needless worrying. Communicate appropriately and consistently but be aware of how communication (or lack of it) can affect your staff. Staff interaction, communication and teamwork are vital factors in company development. When you review your business plan, ensure things like core values and ongoing strategy is effectively communicated to staff which will help build respect, boosting team and individual achievement. 7. Lead By Example (Walk the TALK) If you want your staff to behave in a certain way (professional, good team players), then lead by example. It is not fair to expect your staff to do something if you are not doing it yourself. 8. Be Self Aware (TALK!) Be aware of your moods and how you communicate. You may not realise how much of an impact you have on your team as a manager. You may know you are in a bad mood about the dog chewing your shoes this morning but staff may feel that they have done something wrong if they don’t know this! Be aware of how and what you communicate. Your team will pick up on it. 9. Have Fun (TALK!) Having fun at work can help make the work easier for everyone, forge positive relationships and strengthen your team. There is usually room for more fun in any work environment, but if the nature of your work makes that difficult, be sure to schedule fun activities when you can. Meeting for lunch or drinks after work can help build relationships and help your team to see you and each other in a new light. If you create a positive work atmosphere it also becomes easier to deal with challenges as they arise. 10. Trust Yourself At the end of the day, there is no one right way to be a manager. Trust yourself and learn through your mistakes. Managing others is a great way to develop and enhance your leadership skills and create a positive work experience for yourself and others. Thank you for sparing some time looking through the above. I appreciate this is not an exhaustive list, I have many other tips so contact me to talk some more. Alternatively, why not comment below so we can all come up with the definitive list: remember TALK! Until next time, take care. Did you know? 10 facts you may or may not know about dyslexia
1. Dyslexia affects at least 10% of the population 2. A person with dyslexia has a 70% chance of having a co- occurring condition such as dyspraxia, ADHD, dyscalculia... 3. Dyslexia has a genetic (familial) basis, so if someone in the family has it – there’s a fair chance at least one other family member will have it too. 4. Early identification is essential to help the prevention of further difficulties such as emotional and behavioural problems, yet many people go undiagnosed until adulthood. 5. Language delay in young children is an early indicator of dyslexia 6. Many dyslexics are highly gifted despite a severe difficulty processing print. The following people are dyslexic: Richard Branson; Eddie Izzard; Kirsty Alsopp; Darcey Bussell; Dustin Hoffman; Steven Spielberg; Whoopi Goldberg; Kara Toynton; Bill Gates; Nigel Kennedy; Lord Richard Rogers; - demonstrating that dyslexia does not have to be a barrier to success. 7. Visual Stress, (distortion of print such as reversals, letters or words jumping or moving on the page, headaches or extreme discomfort when reading - especially black print on white), is often a characteristic of dyslexia but can affect those who are not dyslexic. 8. Dyslexia is a continuum of characteristics and every person with dyslexia will have a different profile with different levels of severity of each characteristic. 9. There is loads of free software and assistive technology that can make life tons easier for someone with dyslexia, yet only a fraction of schools are using it. 10. There is no mandatory training on supporting people with dyslexia in current initial teacher training programmes in England. I’m pretty passionate about the topic and raising awareness, as I have seen and worked with far too many people who have suffered as a result of not being diagnosed or of not having their condition acknowledged or recognised. I have seen people marginalised, stigmatised, have complete loss of self-esteem and self-confidence and have thought of themselves as stupid – all due to dyslexia. I have spoken to parents who are baffled by their child’s inability to read or write well despite their apparent brightness in other ways. On the other hand, I have trained some inspired teachers and others working in education with simple tips and tools they can use to be inclusive of those with dyslexia and benefit all learners at the same time. Employers keen to make reasonable adjustments for their employees with dyslexia have also approached me for support and ideas. Over the next few weeks in my blogs, I will expand on some of the facts above and give some tips and tools to use or pass on to others. Now you do know the facts - spread the word... ‘I need to take some time off. I think the kids have gone feral’.
When you work from home and it’s the school summer holidays, sometimes you just have to trust the kids to entertain themselves whilst you get on with something productive. I have purposely taken on less work throughout August so that I’m there for them when they need me, but even so, there are times when you just have to get on I think at first I just thought we were getting through a lot of food, but then one day I caught them. Working as a team they silent sneak around the kitchen helping themselves to cheesy Wotsits, Ice Pops and Fromage Frais. I suppose you could call it stealing, but that makes me feel like an even worse mother, so we’ll leave it at ‘helping themselves’. Then we discovered the complexity of the ‘Secret Den’. They have not only created their own dining room, but they have also set-up a series of elaborate man-traps to catch any grown-ups that dare to enter. Many household items have made their way in to the den and of course, as an adult-free zone we are powerless to retrieve them. When the twins were born, we were constantly told ‘Oh, you are so lucky, I’ve always wanted twins. It must be so much fun!’ If I were to describe the first year with twins in one word, it would not be ‘fun’. If I were allowed three words I might pick: ‘Constant exhausted arguing’ ‘Redundent make-up bag’ or ‘Tears in Tescos’ (Mine) But now that they six years old, I can look back and (if not laugh about it yet) I no longer shake and rock. Now we really are lucky, they are bright, funny and the very best of friends. They entertain themselves, almost to the exclusion of their stunned, yet relieved parents. However, man cannot live by Cheesy Wotsits alone and it’s time I stepped back in to their world (if not their den) full time for a few weeks. I’m taking a few weeks off and I’m really looking forward to it. I can finally say it loud: My name is Sarah and I’m a recovering mother of twins. Workplace pensions. 10 ways to avoid taking a big one in the.................
Cashflow! You may have seen the adverts on TV with good old Theo fom Dragons Den and Nick from the apprentice spouting "Im in". Unfortunatley the adverts make it sound like a pension is a nice option to take. However, what the adverts don't really convey is that they are compulsory, with the option to opt out after they have started. Recently changes to pensions law started to affect all employers with at least one worker in the UK. If you are not organised and ready for auto enrolment then you will be saying "I'm in" - "in it right up to my neck". To help get the ball rolling, here's a dummies guide to auto-enrolment. Your responsibility as an Employer: With effect from their particular staging date each employer will have to: Enrol eligible jobholders who are not already active members of a qualifying scheme into an automatic enrolment scheme. An eligible jobholder is defined as a jobholder who is at least 22 years of age, earns at or above the personal income tax threshold of (£9,440 pa. 2013/2014 tax year)and has not reached pensionable age. Maintain a jobholder’s membership of the automatic enrolment scheme (or another qualifying scheme), so long as he/she is employed by the employer and chooses to be a member. Make relevant employer and employee contributions – minimum contribution rates, for money purchase schemes, are expressed as a percentage of qualifying earnings (between £5,668 and £41,450 in 2013/14 terms). The full rate of 8% (of which employers must pay at least 3%) will be phased in over a six year transitional period (extended from the original four years). If you leave it to the last minute then your cash flow is going to take the hit with your time being devoted to getting it right and the 3% contribution you have to put in! Provide certain information to jobholders and workers Register with the Pensions Regulator and keep certain records Re-enrol eligible jobholders who have previously opted-out from a qualifying scheme, every three years. Employers will have the option of waiting for up to three months before auto-enrolling some or all eligible jobholders, subject to giving the jobholders a prescribed notice within one month from the date they should have been enrolled and allowing them to opt-in during the waiting period if they so wish. A waiting period can be used in different ways across the workforce. This goes some way towards helping to ease the administrative burden on employers with high staff turnover and/or seasonal staff. When are the changes happening? The new employer duties started to be introduced in stages starting from October 2012, with the largest employers having to comply first. Each employer should already have been or will be allocated a date from when the duties will first apply to them, known as their ‘staging date.’ This date is based on the number of people in an employer’s PAYE scheme. Employers can check their provisional staging date on the pension regulator website: www.tpr.gov.uk/staging. To allow some flexibility, employers can choose to bring forward their staging date, provided the pension regulator is informed. However, employers cannot choose a later date than the one they are allocated. Finding out when the staging date is the first thing an employer should do, so they can plan what they need to do to be ready in good time. 10 Points to consider: 1. Auto-enrolment imposes new duties and, potentially, additional costs on your business. 2. It is not lot like stakeholder pensions, it is not going to go away and if you get it wrong you will be fined by the pension regulator!!! 3. The first step is to find out your firm’s staging date. That date may well be a few years off, however the earlier you start preparing the better because there are many points to consider, all of which could require additional professional insight. 4. Do you have any existing pension arrangements, could or should they be amended to meet the auto-enrolment provisions? 5. If you have no existing workplace pension, what route should you take? 6. What impact will compulsory employer contributions have on your business’s finances? 7. How will your current payroll system identify those eligible for auto-enrolment and cope with the collection, payment and, for opt-outs, refunds of contributions? 8. When should you start communicating to your workforce? 9. Who is going to administer the pension as its your ongoing responsibility to ensure it is fullfilled every pay reference? 10. For professional advice and support to review the current pension arrangements in place and ensure the most appropriate pension scheme or schemes are chosen and implemented at the outset on a case by case basis please contact Paul Smith at Abacus Associates on 01594 835675 or 07794583087. Current best practice states it takes 12 months from the first meeting to implementation. It is important to act now!!! Or take one in the ....... |
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