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    How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs?

    A business leader’s work is never done – even with delegation, there are emails mounting, meetings to attend and strategies to oversee. With so much going on, it can be hard to notice those tell-tale warning signs that all is not well in your business. By learning how to spot warning signs and developing the skills to react to them, you’ll be able to stabilise your business even as you’re working through your inbox.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Learning to recognise warning signs in your business

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : High
    Learning to recognise warning signs in your business is crucial to stopping issues from developing into bigger problems.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Encouraging employees to provide feedback

    Effort : High
    Impact : High
    Getting honest feedback from employees is important if you want to develop as a leader and run your business or department effectively.

    Action plan

    Creating a culture of effective communication

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : High
    Follow this action plan to establish clear lines of communication in the workplace and encourage better collaboration across your team.

    Action plan

    Identifying communication barriers in your business

    Effort : High
    Impact : High
    Fixing issues with communication will prevent bottlenecks and make your team more productive. Follow our five-step plan to get started.

    Action plan

    Taking action to overcome a problem in your business

    Effort : High
    Impact : High
    If you’ve found a potential problem in your business, the next step is to decide on the actions you’re going to take in response.

    Action plan

    Assessing your own strengths and weaknesses

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : High
    Knowing your strengths and weaknesses creates an opportunity for you – and your business – to grow. Our five-point plan will get you started.

    Guide

    An introduction to getting better at noticing and reacting to warning signs

    Whether it’s a market disruption, internal matter or change in customer behaviour, it’s crucial to spot warning signs that could impact your business.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that's available

    Acting on warning signs

    Acting on warning signs

    The faster you react to warning signs, the better you’ll be able to recover the situation. Management Today has some simple tips so you never miss a sign again.

    Understanding workplace mental health

    Understanding workplace mental health

    Work can be stressful, but there are some warning signs Bupa thinks you should be aware of when it comes to your own, and your staff’s, mental health.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Naomi, Reboot Online

    Real business story

    Resolving internal communications problems brings business benefits

    Change can be the catalyst that challenges the existing ways companies communicate internally. Reboot Online made sure junior team members had the support they needed when working remotely..
    Alison King, Bespoke HR

    Real business story

    Stepping back from running your business frees you up to improve it

    Great people and good processes allowed Bespoke HR MD Alison King to step back from running the business and be more strategic..
    Emma Heathcote-James, Little Soap Company

    Real business story

    How one accidental business leader learnt to successfully guide her company

    When Little Soap Company became a high street brand, CEO Emma Heathcote-Jones became an accidental business leader and had to learn to lead fast..

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business?

    Leadership & Strategy

    How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs?

    People & Team

    How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I reduce employee turnover? How can I run a better appraisals process? How can I keep my best members of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How should I performance manage my staff?

    Planning

    How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I know when to scale up my business? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to invest in my business? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals?

    Sales & Growth

    How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How can I identify new customers to target? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I build a network to support my business? How do I benchmark my business against competitors? How can we develop new products and services?
    All