Do you dread managing staff?

There are two distinct types of business owners, those who strive to build a business large enough to support or team and those who never want to manage a team ever. Like EVER.

Sometimes it is down to a traumatic past management experience or other times it’s the belief that no one will be able to do it as well as you.

Can you relate …

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Giving new staff the best start

You invest a lot of time and resource recruiting the best candidate for your role but once your offer has been accepted there is often a gap of a month or more between getting that offer accepted and an individual starting with your organisation, so how do you keep them feeling warm and fuzzy, as well as helping them to settle in once they do start?

We share a few pointers to help you with pre and onboarding.

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How a lack of sight gave me insight

Sometimes in our rush to get things done, we only look at the surface and don’t look at the depth of an issue. We get carried away with what we assume an issue is and then wonder why the solution didn’t work.

We need to change our perception and take the time to understand the underlying issues.

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Managers, the new poor relation?

Often amazing staff are promoted to management roles with no training or previous experience.

Assuming that an individual who is great at achieving their individual targets, will be equally efficient when leading a team, is risky, Read Gils story and see if your managers need some support and training before its too late.

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Ready for the Party Season?

The annual Christmas party is a great way to show your appreciation got your team, however they can also pose a risk. Typical tricky scenarios include fighting, drunkenness, offensive remarks, broken promises, inappropriate sexual behaviour and similar.

Learn how to take the risk out of your Christmas get together.

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Are you always getting excuses?

Being able to trust your team to get on with things, while you get on with the CEO tasks that you have is vital. If you don’t have time to plan for growth, it won’t happen. And keeping track of what everybody is supposed to be working on, is time consuming and exhausting, not to mention the fact that most people don’t react well to micro management.

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Why you need a Critical Friend

When I worked corporately, we would always talk to potential clients about being their critical friend as well as their strategic partner. We wanted them to know that while we might highlight any issues within their organisation, we were there to help find a solution. It wasn’t about fault, it was about improvement.

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Are you protecting your team from Stress and Anxiety?

When Ian walked into the café I barely recognised him. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t wearing his usual sharp suit, he seemed to have shrunk and his usual smile and twinkling eyes had disappeared.

Did you know that Stress Management is one of your responsibilities as a business owner as part of the health and safety regulations?

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I couldn't stop the tears falling

I remember a time when every day I would wake up and the thought of going to work would make me cry. If you know me you’ll know I’m not THAT GIRL who cries, I’d rather punch something to vent my frustrations!

Has the thought of work ever reduced you to tears or anger?

I’m speaking to more and more businesses who have record numbers of staff signed off with work-related stress, for small businesses this has the potential to be crippling.

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You need _____ and _____ to build a team

Whenever I’ve spoken with a client about building their team and I ask when they want their new employee/consultant/temp to start the answer is normally yesterday!

Thing is, it’s pointless getting someone in and not getting the best out of them, after all they are supposed to take some stress away from you, so that you can focus on delivering excellence to your clients.

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I’m NEVER Managing staff again

I meet a lot of people and I can guarantee that someone will always tell me about a terrible experience they had with managing a team, which is why they’ll never do it again. Then they’ll tell me about their aspirations for their business or their career and I’ll just know that they’ll need to manage people in one shape or another to reach their target.

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Being the referee has perks

When I realised that Zoe and Stuart stopped going to lunch together and didn’t actually speak with each other, I thought it would just blow over. They were friends way before I joined the organisation.

Then I received grievances from each of them about the other – on the SAME day! So I had no choice but to intervene.

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