Why productivity matters
Productive companies get more out of what they’ve got, enabling them to increase their profits, pay higher wages and invest in their future. More productive businesses mean a more prosperous country. Discover why productivity matters below.
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Leadership & Strategy
Article
A management structure that provides autonomy and empowerment
Launching a brave and new product meant taking a long hard look at Decoded’s management structure and practices – whatever positives or negatives that uncovered.
Leadership Behaviours
Planning
Article
Your coronavirus cash conservation checklist
With so much uncertainty around how long the impact of coronavirus will last, cash conservation will decide how your business gets through the outbreak.
Planning
Article
Coronavirus cash flow crib sheet
Cash flow is going to be a big focus for all businesses the next 12 months. This article brings together expert advice, tips and best practices.
Video
Small changes make a big difference
Tiny tweaks in a business can turn out to be game-changers. See how many small changes you can spot in this video and watch how they can really add up.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Continuous improvement: Why it’s important to not just change for change’s sake
While it may be tempting to fully embrace the continuous improvement mantra, Be the Business found out why change for change's sake can sometimes be damaging and detrimental to progress.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
What happens when you think you’ve hired the wrong person?
If you discover you have hired the wrong person should you cut ties or take time to mould them into the worker you need?
Talent development
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Let go of the reins and let the team flourish
Karen McLellan needed to take less of a hands-on role as her firm expanded following a merger, but that meant doing something with her team that she'd never been very good at.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
Performance management can actually be fun
By its nature, performance management can be a sensitive subject for employees. But one company has found a way to make it more engaging and goal orientated.
Performance management
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Stuck in a lift with 10 business leaders – what would you ask?
Series one of the It's The Small Things podcast featured ten small change champion CEOs, founders and leaders. Take a quick tour to find out was learnt.
Improve your own leadership capabilities
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Ceviche: A restaurant that goes so much further than food and drink
Ceviche founder Martin Morales has created a brand that brings together all the elements of Peruvian culture he throught the UK was missing out on.
Communicate vision and values
Leadership & Strategy
Article
I suggested to our competitors that we all suspend trading
At the start of the coronavirus crisis, Hattons Model Railways MD came up with a bold idea that had the power to help everyone – competitors included.
External Collaboration
People & Team
Article
Building a cost-effective training culture requires knowledge sharing
Developing an internal training culture is essential to keep employees engaged, motivated and productive. Be the Business spoke to three companies, each of which have taken different approaches to training staff.
Talent development
Sales & Growth
Article
Coronavirus: Protecting customer relationships
There’s lots individual companies can be doing to protect customer relationships and revenue streams, even in cases where operations have had to be halted.
Marketing & Sales
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Practical operational changes made Start-rite 83 per cent more efficient
It’s a family-owned shoe brand that has been around since the end of the 18th century, but it took an outsider’s perspective to truly prepare Start-rite for the rise of ecommerce.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
Business is like sport, you need to balance strengths and weaknesses
Thinking that business is like sport has allowed Roger Smith to focus on building the right mix of people at the family business he's now at the helm of.
Motivation
Leadership & Strategy
Article
The honest leaders not afraid to admit they don’t know it all
While it may be tempting to lead from the front on all matters, honest leaders are those who recognise employees are often better at their role than they are – as two SME owners explained.
Leadership Behaviours
Sales & Growth
Article
My business setup doesn’t allow for furloughing
Leon Edwards, MD DisplayMode, had to think quickly to avoid his business going under after realising furloughing wasn’t an option he could utilise.
Expanding & Exporting
Digital Readiness
Article
Discover the innovative strategies behind a productive commute
A productive commute can not only help you arrive at work feeling enthused for the day ahead but also make delays and congestion more palatable. From making calls to podcast listening, we discovered the different approaches at your fingertips.
Collaborative tools & analytics
People & Team
Article
Engaging with remote working has helped my business to…
While issues such as trust, accountability and productivity often cloud the subject of remote working, businesses around the UK are embracing the practice and making it work by layering it into the company culture.
Talent development
Digital Readiness
Article
Delighting consumers with an innovative customer service strategy
From providing a direct link to the CEO to incentivising feedback, innovative customer service approaches are worth taking the time to devise and execute – as Be the Business found out.
Digital Commerce
People & Team
Article
From the coal face: Questioning the CEO about revenue expenditure
When a receptionist asked her CEO how the £172,000 they’d made last month was spent it prompted a closer at the company’s revenue expenditure and a resulting saving of 12 per cent the following month.
Performance management
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Go behind the scenes at The Headland Hotel
It’s one of the most iconic hotels in all of Cornwall, with a history dating back over 100 years, but Darryl Reburn and the team at The Headland Hotel have a decidedly modern approach to business.
Leadership Behaviours
Planning
Article
Define your business USP so it isn’t just hypothetical jargon
The easiest place to start talking about your company is probably the business USP – what makes your product or service different? But it’s difficult to define a USP that doesn't rely on industry buzzwords or hypothetical jargon.
Ambition
Leadership & Strategy
Article
The highs and lows of thriving as a business in a pandemic
Tonic Health founder Sunna van Kampen looks back on the coronavirus outbreak period and explains what he's learnt from a 1000 per cent demand increase.
Leadership Behaviours