All Blog Posts (734)

Do you use hot or cold water when you wash your hands?

Well, new research suggests that cold water might be just as good as warm water!

US scientists studied a group of volunteers and found that washing with cold water (15C) instead of hot water (38C) didn’t make a big difference to how much bacteria was…

Goals should not be set in stone. Periodically check what goals you are working towards, and update them whenever required. If something changes in your business (or life), don’t forget to update any related goals to make sure they are still relevant. Periodically check that all the goals your team are working towards are the right ones to move your business forwards. If any of their goals need updating, then update them. Drop goals that are no longer relevant at all, and write new relevant…

[See my original Blog post here...]

In this article, I tackle the question "How does technology make my company more profitable?" and share 5 steps to understand how you can unlock the value from…

Let’s face it, most of us try to separate our personal lives from our work lives. In the office, we are expected to conduct ourselves professionally and that includes being respectful of co-workers. Most importantly, we should always try to be clean and clutter-free – particularly in shared environments. However, in the real world, there will always be instances where our optimistic and energetic approach to doing tasks is marred by annoying habits caused by colleagues and…

My cousin Laura told me when we caught up recently that she’d left her job with nothing else to go to, and she was sure she’d made the right decision. I was surprised: Laura has always been a very solid and responsible woman, and has worked continuously since the children were in their teens. Perhaps she had taken early retirement? No, despite being 62 years of age, that wasn’t it. She’d left because she’d been bullied at work for about six months, and had…

Exit interviews are a great way to unearth trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. Consider this example where three of your team have quit in the past few months. Let’s look at each scenario in turn:

Jane, one of your best employees has just handed in her resignation. You have a chat with her to see if you can get her to change her mind. You really don’t want her to leave. She says it’s not about money, she’s just found something else she’s more interested in. It’s clear…

If you are contractor, freelancer and small business owner in the UK, it's staggeringly vital to monitor your filing and payment due dates, as well as changing tax rates and thresholds.

HMRC has two categories of …

Almost every week we visit a customer where these things happen:

• No security on the network – routers,  printers, wireless devices left on default passwords, so any hacker can walk straight in
• No anti-virus or firewall
• No staff usage policy – So many customers have experienced the internal attack. Data theft, unhappy employee etc. Without an user policy how can you take legal action ?
• Important security updates and patches to software – Often these…

Resilience:  the ability to bounce back when things get tough.  If we all had that in spades, wouldn’t that make being in business a whole lot easier?  As we all know, businesses of all kinds can experience peaks and troughs bigger than any roller-coaster.  There are many ways to navigate these to help your business go from strength to strength and I’m going to share with you here 5 of my favourites.

Be…

This month we welcomed Taylor from www.everyoneactive.com

Taylor was presenting to us about ‘Health & Fitness in the Workplace’

So, A bit of Science for your information…

• The average person burns 700 calories during their 8 hour work day…

Difficult conversations – as the name suggests - are never easy, but there are some things you can do to make them easier.

What is a Difficult Conversation?

A Difficult Conversation is one where you have to manage emotions and sensitive information. They typically arise when dealing with poor performance, poor behaviour, complaints, personality clashes or when dealing with someone’s personal problems. In all these situations, the person you are talking to will…

Original Blog Post: http://fairwayconsulting.net/the-digital-cio-and-the-shifting-sands-of-business-technology/

How are the roles of the CIO and technology departments in modern business changing?

How can traditional small- to medium-sized business (SMB’s) leverage the advantage of a virtual CIO achieve the…

Lots of us spend plenty of our waking hours in the office. But, while we are busy with work, the clutter around our individual workspaces can start to pile up. So it’s a good idea to start a regular cleaning routine to clear some of it up – if not all of the clutter that has built up! Here we provide a few tips to help you effectively…

A problem I see time and time again within small to medium-sized companies is that they aren’t creating winning scenarios from technology. Many of the owners and directors whom I speak to feel that technology isn’t achieving the advantages they want.

4 Points to Success:

• No plan, no value

• Engage senior management with tech…

Ask the right question and you'll get the information you need. Communication is key to all aspects of managing people, and managing people is the area I focus on with businesses. But it’s also crucial for communicating with everyone; clients, suppliers, family and friends. There are different ways to ask a question and that’s what we’re going to look at today. My examples are based on interview situations, but the information provided here is valid for all situations where…

As a solo-preneur, I don't take a stand at Exhibitions and Expos, preferring to make an exhibition of myself as I wander round my captive audience of Exhibitors and engage in passing conversations with other Visitors. Being static on a stand would cramp my style - but I can see how they work well for other businesses, provided they do it right.…

Do Mealtimes With Your Kids Work For You?

Do you enjoy mealtimes together as a family, do you even have time to sit together, are you happy with the food choices you make and feel you have good variety and balance, is eating with your kids an enjoyable experience?

The knock on effect of eating together isn't just that kids usually eat more healthily research has shown there's a whole host of other benefits, including reduced stress, good mental health, improved…

This week we listened to Becky for the 10-minute slot informing us of ‘Ways to Subtly and Easily Enhance your Brand Identity by Getting Creative’ from Abstract Print & Design.

ICONS

• Icons can be used to separate different areas of your business whilst keeping a consistent brand
• A more visual way to represent your services
• Make it clear for your customers to understand what you offer
• Provides more personality for your…

Securing the best commercial cleaning contractors to clean your hotel rooms can be daunting.  After all, you are allowing total strangers full access to your guest rooms, their personal belongings and other private areas of your hotel. There will always be those ‘stranger danger’ warnings at the back of your mind, however, most people who have bravely opened up to cleaning contracts have found out that it’s not as bad as it may seem and there are many benefits.

Here are a few reasons…