Want to run a great company? Set and communicate a great strategy, attract great people, and get the heck out of their way. Whether you’re looking to scale or just operate with less stress, that’s the simple and very difficult secret sauce to mix. Strategy People Understand Strategic planning done well writes the playbook for… Read more »
Business Management Blog
Three Productivity Pro Tips
The internet is littered with productivity hacks and time management tricks. You could waste a lot of time learning about managing time. Instead, use each of these three tips for at least a week. If they don’t work for you, stop. But if they do….imagine the time you’ll have! Tip #1 – Track Your Time… Read more »
Strategic Planning Fails and How to Avoid Them
In business, mistakes are always going to happen. It’s inevitable. But if you can get a handle on the most common mistakes that people make when creating a strategic plan, then at least you know what you’re up against and can prepare for it! A strategic plan outlines a company’s vision for the future and… Read more »
5 Steps to the Company Address
The Company Address is like the “State of the Union” but for a business instead of a country. The leader presents a look back at how the business has performed and a look forward to what’s ahead. There are lots of reasons leaders shy away from presenting this information. They don’t know what to say… Read more »
Four Tools to Prepare for the Great Resignation
“We need to talk,” are the four words no leader wants to hear because too often they’re followed by some version of, “I quit.” Your palms get sweaty, your heart starts to pound…not again. Sigh. Once you’ve calmed yourself, the grim reality sets in that you are going to have to: Do their job while… Read more »
Four Tactics to Improve Employee Retention
Ask a leader what the most valuable part of their company is and they almost always say, “the people.” The best companies also behave that way – their most robust systems and processes revolve around their people. Hiring them, onboarding them, developing them, and retaining them. Recruiting is costly and fraught with challenges. Once a… Read more »
How Do You Know When To Fire Someone?
One of the toughest decisions a manager makes is whether to fire someone. Sure, if they’re walking out of the office with a monitor under one arm and a big bag of money under the other, the decision is clear. But it’s rarely that obvious. Usually, the person is a middling performer but people like… Read more »
The Trouble With Small Business Advisory Boards
While the consultants and management gurus ramble on about the benefits of advisory boards, small business leaders clearly know something the theorists don’t. Consider a (admittedly out of date) 2014 Business Development Bank of Canada study that found 94% of Canadian small businesses decided against having an advisory board. The consultants are preaching theory again…. Read more »
The Great Office Migration?
As pandemic-related restrictions ease, small businesses are wrestling with a myriad of options regarding how/where their employees will work. While there is research to help guide this decision making, it is important to recognize that the context of this information must be examined. No one has experienced a global return after a global forced exit… Read more »
Motivation in Demotivating Circumstances
Everyone occasionally slips into a funk when they’re doing the same thing everyday, eating the same lunch, wearing the same clothes. Not because they’re avoiding decision fatigue like Warren Buffett or Steve Jobs, but because there’s nothing else to do. It often hits at transitional times in life – the last year of school, the… Read more »