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
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
People & Team
Article
How the best SMEs continue to motivate high performers
A company's top employees need to remain incentivised and engaged if they are going to remain with the business. Let them get frustrated or bored and they will leave for pastures new. We talked to two companies striving to motivate high performers.
Motivation
Digital Readiness
Article
Coronavirus: Protect your business from cyber attack during the outbreak
Evidence is emerging that cyber attack criminals are seeking to exploit coronavirus. However, there are a number of clever tools at the disposal of SMEs.
People & Team
Article
Cutting half its staff provided a renewed focus for LifeSkills
It takes a brave leader to make half their employees redundant and slash turnover, but that’s exactly what LifeSkills boss Spencer Fearn has done.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Match your company rewards with employee needs
PrivateFly, a private jet charter firm, goes beyond traditional perks and engages employees in the rewards strategy by offering customised benefits.
Motivation
Leadership & Strategy
Article
How do family businesses tackle the subject of vision and values?
Company values guide businesses through different generations. But new leaders need to innovate. We talk to family-owned companies about their vision.
Vision & Values
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Coronavirus: How to collaborate with other businesses
With demand for many products and services falling fast, learning how to collaborate with other businesses is one way to lessen the coronavirus impact.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Making your company vision and values stick in the long term
There may be excitement and engagement early on in a venture’s life, but how's does a company vision and its values become engrained and future-proofed? Be the Business found out.
Vision & Values
Digital Readiness
Article
Why a CRM system isn’t just for making sales
Often thought of as a corporate luxury, a CRM system is a tool facilitating sound communication between a business – both large and small – and its customers.
Digital Commerce
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
A successful CBILS application: Give banks as much info as you can
When Plastic Card Services set about applying for the government's CBILS funding pot, it knew overdelivering information would be the successful approach.
People & Team
Article
From the coal face: Changing the way an employee rewards process works
When management charged Francesca Bull and her two colleagues with bettering the company’s employee rewards system the small team took things one step further and set about addressing other concerns and ideas they had.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Using role-play in job interviews helps test instinct
When finding staff with a industry passion and the right customer-facing skills became a challenge for Chance & Counters it used quirky job interviews.
Recruit to succeed
Planning
Article
What happens when your business plan runs off course?
A business plan is crucial to long-term success. Yet unexpected events can throw things off track. Here's what to do when things start going wrong.
Target Setting
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
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Coronavirus: How to come up with new revenue streams
While there is lots of government business support available during the coronavirus outbreak, it may be time to start thinking about new revenue streams.
Planning
Article
How do you plan in a rapidly changing environment?
No matter what new rules or guidelines may emerge over the summer, Kristina Rowe is aiming to cover all bases with her forward-thinking planning efforts.
Planning
Article
How a drive for innovation turned Trunki into a global brand
Since launching in 2006, Trunki has grown into one of the most recognisable global brands in the travel space. Staying innovative was key to this progress.
Create a distinct offering
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
Leadership & Strategy
Article
How leadership skills programmes helped founders find focus
Two tech founders pursued executive education to improve their leadership skills. Learning from experts and peers proved to be an invaluable experience.
Leadership Behaviours
Digital Readiness
Article
Using collaborative tools to provide evidence-based business improvements
From smartphone-based features to digital conferencing options, collaborative tools are helping streamline and improve a wide variety of business-critical processes – with increased productivity and better innovation at the heart of it all.
Digital Commerce
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Lessons in task delegation: the right and wrong approach
Business owners often wrestle with task delegation. Stepping away from tasks can be daunting. We spoke to three experienced founders about their approach.
Vision & Values
Sales & Growth
Article
Focus on what makes you truly unique as a business
When brother and sister team Harry and Leah Lobek decided they couldn’t put off starting a business any longer, the two knew the concept needed to stand out in a crowded market. The end result, London Shell Co., definitely hits the mark there.
Marketing & Sales
Article
From an experienced leader to a new one
Liz Smith, MD with LG Printing, looks back to her first difficult years as a leader and offers some leadership advice to her younger self.