‘Accidental managers’ aren’t uncommon. Employees who perform well are often rewarded with promotions into line manager roles, project management roles or quality manager roles. Unfortunately, these promotions don’t always come with adequate training. And although the employee might have the enthusiasm and capability required for the role, they don’t always have the knowledge or experience. […]

There was a time when a person left education, got a job with a company and stayed with that company until retirement. These days that rarely happens. Not only do most employees move from company to company throughout their career, they often change roles too. And that is how so many people find themselves accidentally

There’s always room for improvement, no matter how small. Continually reviewing and refining your systems and processes will help you spot opportunities for improvement as well as potential risks and threats. In the final part of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at continuous improvement. If you’ve got effective management systems in place, you can

Most businesses keep track of income and expenditure so they know if they are profitable, but you need to measure other metrics too. If you don’t measure results, how do you know if what you are doing works? In part six of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at evaluation. Just like any area of

Documenting everything may sound laborious and long-winded, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, we’ve been known to cut a company’s written policies down from 125 to just 40 – we’re big fans of efficiency and simplicity. In part five of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at documentation. Just like any area of

Most businesses have processes they follow, but these aren’t always documented. As more employees join the company, these processes can get watered down or lost completely. This has an impact on the quality of the product or service that’s being delivered. In part four of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at processes. Just like

The right team, with the right attitude, can take a business from average to extraordinary. But unfortunately, if your employees aren’t engaged, motivated or happy, they can end up being your biggest source of problems instead. In part three of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at employee engagement. Just like any area of your

Effective leadership is vital to the success of any organisation – someone has to ensure the whole team is pulling in the same direction. Good communication, clear objectives and shared values can make all the difference.

Customer focus should be the foundation of your business – the thing you build everything else on. If you can’t supply what your customers want to the standard they want, you’ll spend more time rectifying problems than solving them. In part one of this seven-part series, we’re looking closely at customer focus. Just like any