Remember, remember to plank in November…   Last month’s challenge saw me trying to nail a yoga pose that I have found challenging. By the end of the month I could sort of do it (meaning I could hold the pose for a couple of seconds before collapsing into a sweaty heap on my yoga mat and cursing life, the universe and everything). By the end of October, my arms hurt and I was completely at a loss as to what I should do in November, so I opened it up to a vote. I had narrowed it down to three options: No drinking for the month of November Run 5k every day 30 day plank challenge Just before the end of October, I managed to hurt my knee in a dog chasing teddybear incident and which I am still feeling the effects of, so I was sincerely worried about the 5k option. Luckily, the lovely people who voted in my poll went for the plank challenge. Given that my best friend just got engaged last week, I am somewhat relieved...

Few organisations pay enough attention to culture but those that do actively manage it are on average, 30% more productive. That’s a huge dividend for any organisation but when you’re a young, growing business it’s especially important. The key to creating a high-performance company culture is having a road map. Know where you are now, know where you want to go and put the steps in place to get there. When you break it down there are four key areas that are very telling in mapping your culture: Collaboration versus Competition. How is your business positioned? Very collaborative or very competitive? Do people cut each other’s throat to advance or does everyone support everyone else in everything they do, all of the time? Structure versus Innovation. How innovative are you and does your structure prohibit innovation? Or are you all over the place, hugely creative but no structure for making it happen consistently? Where’s your energy being spent? Managing building the business and success or on constantly challenging situations and failure? How are your people feeling? Complacent or anxious, committed...

I watched a black and white movie many years ago, I can’t remember the title of it, but it was about a newspaper and the hard bitten jurno’s that worked in it. The scene I really remember was when an old sage passes his wisdom to a new cub reporter and says something about the “6 Good Men and True” (nicked from the 12 of yore I would suppose) and these being questions – Who? When? What? Where? Why? and How?         The most important of which is – Why? The rest is data. The “Why” is the human story behind what’s has happened.   The same is true of our businesses. The most important message we send out is why we do what we do. Not what or how just why? Why is at the core of what motivates us to do what we do and the reason that we want to be better at it. It’s also at the core of why someone will join you, perform for you and enhance your business. If you don’t know why...

There’s a very short answer to that: Enjoy your job. Here’s the longer one in a series of questions: Do I like the purpose of my company’s existence? Do I like the way it delivers? Are my colleagues the kind of people I want to associate with; do I admire my seniors? Does the company offer a career that aligns with my ambitions? When you get a yes to most of these questions then you’re going to enjoy your job and perform well. When too many no’s feature it’s time to leave. If you’re going for a job then this is what you want to know before you join, a question of due diligence.

If you’re in the market for talent then there’s a very rapid change afoot you need to be aware of. Candidates have stopped applying for jobs! How about that huh? The tap that has slowed to a drip over the last few years has just squeaked shut and it’s not going to open anytime soon. The good news is they’re still out there. The bad news is they’re going to take some huge effort to attract, so where do we start?  Start with this: You’re not Google, Facebook or Apple You’ve not got money to burn. So, you’re not going to attract people just by dint of existing. The reason they’ve stopped applying? They don’t need to. They get approached and they have their pick of roles put in front of them. At every professional level. So now, you need to identify them. Put a very compelling story together to grab their attention and take some mind space. Court them and treat them with impeccable professionalism – and do it quickly. Follow through on every contact, your reputation is on...

…It says something that’s for sure and it’s good to know what that is. Running a business has its challenges but one that builds up in the background is an increasing inability to get hold of the right talent to grow your organisation. If you’re in a tight market (and who isn’t?) then there’s a good chance that there are impressions of your business out there that you might not be aware of. For me it means just this, are you taking care of what the employees and candidates past, present and future think about you?   Here’s how it works for candidates: Candidate A gets a call to attend an interview with company X – Candidate A is pleased. Candidate A is unsuccessful but isn’t contacted and given this news or any feedback – Candidate A is displeased. Candidate A tells Candidate B that they’ve just had a bad experience with company X. Candidate B listens. Company X calls candidate B to arrange an interview, candidate B refuses the offer of an interview. Candidate B tells Candidate C…and so on...

Touchy feely, culture stuff does my head in. I’m not interested in how much fun you have in work or how many friends you’ve made there. I’m not keen to know that the company you work for has a punch bag, a bowl of fruit and an on-site bar (though come to think of it…). I don’t want to hear that this is a great place to work because everyone’s just so nice. What I want to know is: Does your culture make your business highly effective or does it hold it back? Are you productive or just hard working? In highly rated research on Managed workplace cultures, the evidence suggests that if you don’t manage your culture you are on average missing out on a 30% premium on everything you do. Buying / selling / creating / managing / rewarding / retaining / recruiting. In today’s market where competitive advantage is increasingly fleeting from a product or service point of view, having a high-performance culture is more important than ever. Short term gains are hard to sustain when bigger,...

Culture fit? What’s that all about? You know you can do the work and you’ve got skills in abundance on offer but what about the rest? So, you’re about to be interviewed and judged on whether you’ve got skills and the personality to fill the job. How will you know if the company will work for you? If you don’t do a bit of due diligence you could end up blowing a couple of prime years of your career. Asking questions is a key way of determining a company’s culture other than online research with Glassdoor and LinkedIn and it’s going to be central to your decision making when you get an offer. What questions would you ask to find out if the company’s a fit for you? Well, before we get to that, ask yourself what it is that you need? What do you really believe in? Engineering excellence? Customer service? Making people feel good about themselves or technical challenge, problem-solving, cerebral involvement in some of life’s greatest challenges? Are you someone who thrives in a busy, social open...