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.
Filter
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Peter Bibby: I hate waste and I’m efficiency mad
We spoke with Peter Bibby, an expert in turning around failing businesses, with over 20 survival stories under his belt. He shares with us the importance of efficiency and what it takes to make a small and medium-size enterprise successful.
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
People & Team
Video
Making the employee appraisal process about personal development targets
Rather than making the appraisal process about how staff are performing by measuring them against metrics and targets, SC Group is prioritising personal development.
Talent development
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Brand values – a bit of necessary navel gazing
Despite not initially being a fan of brand values, Rotageek CEO Chris McCullough was converted to their value and ended up with a functional document to lead future growth.
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
Three business leaders explain how they make tough business decisions
Whether it's firing someone or working out who to promote, many leaders struggle when it comes to making tough business decisions. Be the Business found out seeking advice and simply biting the bullet helps.
Leadership Behaviours
Digital Readiness
Article
Let Google train your team in Google Analytics
While most SMEs agree that Google Analytics is a vitally important data tool founder of marketing agency Digital Clarity, Reggie James says that more than half of all companies are not very clear on how they should be using it.
Digital Commerce
People & Team
Article
Meet the family-run care home business going the extra mile to support staff
Lucy Craig is taking remarkable steps to support staff and reduce the stress they face as the impact of coronavirus continues to grow.
Digital Readiness
Article
Customers will always appreciate transparency
For energy suppliers Octopus, transparency to customers has been a priority since day one, and today when people have a complaint it is their CEO Greg Jackson whose email they will see when sending in details of whatever is bothering them.
Digital Commerce
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Communicating vision and values to a scattered team
Despite having a dispersed team – 85 marketing directors who work part-time for businesses all around the UK – Clare Methven knows they all sing from the same hymn sheet.
Vision & Values
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Bosses don’t have to be their staff’s best friends
In trying to be a friend to each of his employees one business leader ultimately found it harder to have the difficult conversations when they did arise.
Leadership Behaviours
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
Planning
Article
How Chance & Counters used personal experience to carve out a niche
Board game café Chance & Counters was founded on a simple belief that most business owners can relate to – that something could be done better.
Create a distinct offering
Leadership & Strategy
Article
The power of prioritising business must-dos over can-dos
Business leaders need to manage the tension between investing resources in long-term strategic must-dos with the more immediate and easier can-dos.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
How Adnams is shaking off its 19th century tendencies
It’s stood the test of time, but now British beer brand Adnams is blending in some innovative management strategies to support future growth and employee empowerment.
Performance management
Planning
Article
Help de-risk business growth by taking these simple steps
Ambition needs to be tempered with practical steps to de-risk growth. Entrepreneurs share the approach they take to balance growth and sustainability.
Ambition
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
A shared approach to a charitable initiative can bring a team together
When Nick Gold, MD of motivational and after-dinner speakers agency Speakers Corner (speakerscorner.co.uk) wanted to introduce a charitable initiative into the workplace he considered two approaches.
Vision & Values
Planning
Article
Coronavirus: Rent, rates and business property
With the outbreak of coronavirus, many firms are facing the temporary closure of their primary business property. But there are some steps you can take.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Creating an environment that welcomes suggestions and objective feedback
Businesses which fail to provide a way for staff to provide objective feedback on their working world are missing out on a wealth of insight that would help drive productivity.
Leadership Behaviours
People & Team
Article
Linking innovative performance evaluation schemes with the company culture
Employees, especially millennials, are seeking new ways of working, so companies need to look beyond traditional forms of performance evaluation recommended Ian Hughes.
Performance management
Digital Readiness
Article
How two UK SMEs harnessed staff creativity to fuel innovation
Want to ensure every kernel of staff creativity has the opportunity to make a positive impact? It's easy to get everybody involved in a micro business, but organisational layers can stifle creativity as you grow.
Collaborative tools & analytics
People & Team
Article
World Cup productivity: Trust your staff now and reap benefits later
While it may be tempting to crack down on employees getting caught up in World Cup fervour in the workplace, adopting an approach based on trust and accountability can create a buoyant atmosphere that lasts beyond that final whistle.
Motivation
Planning
Article
Creating a scalable and reassuring back-to-work plan
From working out its maximum safe occupancy to creating an induction document,…