“We need less staff,” said no one ever. But why don’t we say that? Why don’t we look at our systems, processes and performance, and ask whether we have the right amount of staff? Research tells us that we waste 30% of our working day. Our time is eaten up by inefficient systems, process and

“Don’t tell HR” is a common phrase in business. But guess what? Your human resources manager is usually the first person you go to when something’s gone wrong, if something’s too late, or when you need something fixed. So, why do we continue to say, “Don’t tell HR”? Is it HR’s issue, or is it

The future is VUCA Do you know what VUCA means? I didn’t until recently. VUCA is an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Drawing on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, VUCA explains where the business world is currently situated. It also describes the future. The truth is, the future will

While nearly all organisations are focused on digitalisation, 43% of HR leaders reported that their organisation does not have a clear and consistent strategy for digital transformation. Organisations are also struggling on the talent front — 35% of HR leaders say they have inadequate talent to drive digital transformation. To make real progress, HR must

Gartner research shows that 57% of employees encounter significant barriers in their day-to-day work. Some of these barriers likely stem from the amount of change in today’s environment — the average employee experienced 12 organisational changes in 2019, ranging from major transformations like restructuring or executive leadership transitions to more day-to-day, but still highly disruptive,

Automation and digitalisation are changing the skills and competencies required for success and organisations are having trouble keeping up. According to a recent Gartner survey, 46% of HR leaders report that their employees lack the skills that are necessary to drive future performance. To ensure employees have needed skills, HR leaders should partner with business

Managers make decisions every day that have a financial impact on a business. The allocation of resources, the prioritising of work tasks, and the focus on quality and customer service all have a cost and potential return, while rework, missed deadlines and wastage all have a negative cost on a business. Managers need to communicate

Most managers are self-motivated, consistent with their own natural management style. Many managers would benefit from understanding what their own management style is, and from understanding the style is of other managers and or business owners that they work with, as these need to be complimentary rather than competitive to maximise positive outcomes for the

It told us that there was a 17% gap between low and high performing businesses in terms of strategic alignment and company performance. That there was a similar 17% gap in management culture results between low and high performing businesses, which suggests that if businesses want to improve their strategic alignment and performance, they need

Every business wants to be a high performer, and every business owner is looking for the magic bullet that will make it happen. There is no shortage of quick – fix solutions in the market to make businesses appear high performing and there are also no shortage of business failures as a result of these

Undertaking planning sessions helps business owners /CEOs / MDs to understand the resource constraints and business opportunities faced by their business, however market conditions and actual performance often differs from the conditions that were planned for. Most businesses try to have a business strategy; however, many fail to review and refresh their plan and often

Or are you spending 80% of your time on 20% of your people (and often your poor performing people). We know that our people should be our biggest asset, however, what if they aren’t. Following are some questions we should all ask ourselves:   Do we measure employee satisfaction? Do we measure employer satisfaction? Do we have good

So often we ask sales teams who their low hanging fruit are and how they build this relationship and we are met with blank faces.  A MarComms strategy is a vital part of business.  We encourage you to ask yourself: What is our targeted market segment and what is the price point for that segment?

We all know that cash is king, however, not all of us regularly monitor and forecast our cashflow.  Following are some questions that we should ask in our businesses regularly: Do we have a Budget and Cash Flow that are reviewed monthly? Do we include capital equipment such as cars, trucks or equipment in our

This saying is true in business.  Most businesses try to have a business strategy, however, many fail to successfully operationalise their plan so that it is implemented and regularly monitored.  Here are some questions we should all ask ourselves: Does my business have a documented plan that details our goals each year? Do we have

Tweak HR uses the Career Monitor tool for Retention Interviews.  It offers much more than a standard interview, it asks a series of open questions and ratings of the business and of themselves.  As a manager, you and your employee will be armed with specific information to gain a clear perspective on what is impacting

My last 3 clients have taken less than ½ day.    I was talking to a successful business owner recently who was telling me that he was so pleased that his Strategic Planning process was finally over as it had taken 6 months to finalise.  I was in shock.  I could only imagine the cost

We so often hear this saying.  And it’s true!   However, what happens is that we often identify too many measures to keep track of and then become overwhelmed by what to look at.  Research shows that we can only remember 3-5 things.  This is the magic number for values, for words in a vision, and