Ok, so we have lots to do and I don’t multitask – I know I don’t. My hubby on the other hand is rather proud of the fact that he can and I guess as a chef he’s had to (although I say he can’t).
However I read with interest that some of the best musicians avoid multitasking because it is felt doing so actually confuses the mind and leads to a lot more jobs that don’t really get done very well Continue reading “Tips for Improving Productivity at Work…or Anywhere!” »
I’ve had experience of using legal services such as lawyers as indeed many homeowners or business people would. Of course generally lawyers drop their services into one of many specialisms – house purchase (or conveyancing), family (wills, divorce etc) and many others, but from my experience, finding a good one… now that’s the challenge! Continue reading “5 Tips for Choosing the Right Lawyer or Solicitor” »
An interesting question don’t you think? In other companies I’ve worked for, it was “kind of” assumed that as a manager got promoted and accepted more responsibility, so that responsibility included the departmental budget. Now I for one, don’t believe that anyone can grasp any company or departmental budget without understanding their own domestic budget – in simple terms, if you can’t manage your own money, how are you going to manage ours Continue reading “If you can’t manage your own money, how are you going to manage ours?” »
The issue of staff turnover must be the most enduring subject and let me immediately say that I offer no earth shattering solution to the ongoing problems of recruiting the right staff for your business and keeping them motivated but, I do raise some points that might kick off some debate. Continue reading “Measuring an Employee’s Performance. So why did you employ them?” »
How often during your career have you heard such comments as “we have to move with the times” or “we need to look forward?” The challenge as one gets older though, is that you get tired of the changes and having perhaps “seen it all before” – Stop the World, I want to get off! Continue reading “Stop…I want to get off!” »
So could I be saying that unless you have a burning desire to write, you’re wasting your time with a blog? – err… no… but then again, perhaps?
The point of this vacillation is that with the untold millions of blogs out there, there are precious few that are followed and of real value. Continue reading “To Blog or Not to Blog?” »
Help create the longest scream in the world. Visitnorway has launched a great viral campaign to celebrate the famous painting The Scream by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
It’s a bit of fun and all you have to do is share your travel screams by Continue reading “Scream your way to a holiday in Norway” »
An interesting question don’t you think? It’s considered good practice to create a company mission statement and for what it’s worth, I agree.
On the mission issue I have to admit that I struggled to write them (even though I’ve set up and run more than one company and Continue reading “Mission Statement or Core Values?” »
In the early days of Google it was great. When looking for information or to buy something I found a whole range of other outlets for information, shops and products that I would have previously been unaware of, and that would have been difficult to research or find otherwise. It gave me so much more choice and options. Continue reading “Will How We Use Search Engines Change? Is Continuous Scrolling the answer?” »
In a former life, my husband ran a catering company and the big drive was for ISO 9000 accreditation. Now of course 9002 has been here for some time, but I wonder if the same challenges have followed it? Continue reading “To ISO or not to ISO – that is the question…” »
I really do hope you find something helpful or of interest to you in my little dashboard series. Oh and if you do, please drop me a line, I would love to hear from you. I’ve certainly enjoyed writing them. In this latest one I’ll just say that you should now have a copy of those about which I’ve been more expansive; Continue reading “Summary – The Directors Dashboard (Part 5)” »
Perhaps most appropriate for the service industry, a report that I created and used to ask for was the ‘Client Issues Report’ (CIR). Basically the CIR listed each Account Manager’s clients in order of significance to the business – most profitable perhaps would be an obvious criteria, but it depends on you. Continue reading “Client Issues Report – The Directors Dashboard (Part 4)” »
Google must be one of the most common single words used in the business world today and often in the context of computers and search engines of course. I was interested to read an article in the New York Times about the Peeps at Google driving for a better Continue reading “An Interesting Look at What Makes a Good Manager” »
The definition of a sole trader is an individually owned and operated unincorporated company which is usually regarded as the simplest method of running a business. However once set up and even after employing a couple of other staff a lot of small trading companies completely discount the benefits of changing to an incorporated limited company Continue reading “Sole Trader Vs Limited Company – Which should you Choose?” »
In part one of my blog on the Directors Dashboard I listed a number of business areas that you would expect to keep close tabs on and in part two I expanded on one report which was the Client Visitation form which was more suitable to the service industry. This part three is about my pet report – the Budget Versus Actual (BVA) or Continue reading “Variance Analysis – The Directors Dashboard (Part 3)” »
I do hope you share or pass the message on in the spirit it’s intended as you never know, this Xmas we might be able to help a little with extra donations to charities.
It’ll soon be that time of year again and businesses are Continue reading “Be a little selfless this Xmas! #SelflessatXmas” »
I got up this morning feeling a bit down because the weather was the usual British October weather… dull, drab, grey and damp! But coming into work I came across this image of the most loveable puppy – clearly he needs a cuddle – is it just me or does it brighten your day?
In Part One of my blog on the Directors Dashboard I listed a number of business areas that one would expect to keep close tabs on and I’ve been asked to expand on one report which was the Client Visitation form. Now of course this won’t suit every company and is probably more suited to service type businesses Continue reading “Keeping control with minimum interference – The Directors Dashboard (Part Two)” »
It seems “of the moment” to speak of one’s parents working class background and how hard they worked, but my Mom had three jobs (factory worker, waitress and cleaner) and needed them to earn enough money to feed us and keep us clothed after my Dad left. Continue reading “A political hot potato…” »
One single monthly report, the panacea of every director! Well perhaps not quite, but keeping a handle on what’s going on and (I for one, think critically) ensuring what you NEED to happen, happens!
Forgive me before I progress because Continue reading “Keeping control with minimum interference – The Directors Dashboard (Part One)” »
