Why productivity matters
Productive companies get more out of what they’ve got, enabling them to increase their profits, pay higher wages and invest in their future. More productive businesses mean a more prosperous country. Discover why productivity matters below.
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People & Team
Video
Matthew Thomson of Fifteen Cornwall says drawing on your team’s knowledge can drive up productivity
Matthew Thomson of Fifteen Cornwall explains how important it is to draw on your employees’ expertise – especially what they know about your customers.
Talent development
People & Team
Article
How the best SMEs continue to motivate high performers
A company's top employees need to remain incentivised and engaged if they are going to remain with the business. Let them get frustrated or bored and they will leave for pastures new. We talked to two companies striving to motivate high performers.
Motivation
People & Team
Article
Boost the company culture with a lunch time activity
Lunch breaks can help boost team energy levels and integrate new team members quickly into the company culture, believes Shai Aharony, a business leader with lots of employee engagement experience.
Motivation
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Continuous improvement: Why it’s important to not just change for change’s sake
While it may be tempting to fully embrace the continuous improvement mantra, Be the Business found out why change for change's sake can sometimes be damaging and detrimental to progress.
Leadership Behaviours
Digital Readiness
Video
A quirky idea to drive up off-season demand in Cornwall
An innovative approach taken by The Olde House in Cornwall has been successful in improving off-season demand for the forward-thinking family business.
Collaborative tools & analytics
Digital Readiness
Article
Coronavirus: Protect your business from cyber attack during the outbreak
Evidence is emerging that cyber attack criminals are seeking to exploit coronavirus. However, there are a number of clever tools at the disposal of SMEs.
People & Team
Article
Why it helps to define what good staff performance actually looks like
From a weekly health check to project management software, staff performance is at the forefront of the agenda for Love Energy Savings and Smarter Digital Marketing as the two businesses look to make the workforce more productive.
Performance management
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Want the best day of your career? Join an advisory board
Our interim finance director, Regina Lombard, joined our Advisory Board programme for family businesses and had one of the best days of her career.
Seek external advice
People & Team
Article
It’s The Small Things: Snaffling Pig CEO Nick Coleman
They have a lofty goal – be bigger than Walkers and loved as Lego. However, Nick Coleman and Snaffling Pig are getting there one small improvement at a time.
Motivation
Planning
Article
Coronavirus: Pivoting your business
With social distancing guidelines likely in place for months, many of you may be thinking about a plan B – pivoting your business for a temporary period.
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Stuck in a lift with 10 business leaders – what would you ask?
Series one of the It's The Small Things podcast featured ten small change champion CEOs, founders and leaders. Take a quick tour to find out was learnt.
Improve your own leadership capabilities
Digital Readiness
Article
Productivity hacks using commercial technology
Technology has the ability to bamboozle and empower businesses in equal measure – it all comes down to education and execution. One business leader tells us about one of his productivity hack, using a CRM system to power decision making.
Digital Commerce
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Increase the opportunity for workplace chance encounters
Swindon-based business Infinity Nation creates lots of opportunities for chance encounters having seen the positive effect they can have.
Leadership Behaviours
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Coronavirus: How to check which government support you can access
An raft of government support for business measures have been announced to help firms overcome coronavirus impacts. Here's what you need to know.
Sales & Growth
Article
Creating a business marketing strategy that stays relevant
From selling to millennials to leveraging new trends, a business marketing strategy is a process constantly under pressure and in need of innovation. Find out how five British SMEs have tackled the issue.
Marketing & Sales
People & Team
Article
Tried and tested approaches to deal with staff missing targets
Be the Business spoke to three forward-thinking SMEs about the strategies employed to both identify when staff are missing targets, and get them back on track.
Performance management
Digital Readiness
Video
Embracing “productivity to survive” helped one firm compete with multinationals
Wanting to free up more time so the business can target winning more work, Spencer Fereday talks Be the Business through his efforts to become more productive and compete with multinationals in a very challenging sector.
Digital Commerce
Planning
Article
How one founder is giving a helping hand where it’s needed most
When one of his clients ordered more work, Jublo founder Joshua Atkins saw the chance to do his bit in a time of crisis.
Planning
Article
Creating a scalable and reassuring back-to-work plan
From working out its maximum safe occupancy to creating an induction document,…
Sales & Growth
Article
How to do business in China: Expert advice for British businesses
International business expert David Nicholls takes a look at doing business in…
Expanding & Exporting
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Making your company vision and values stick in the long term
There may be excitement and engagement early on in a venture’s life, but how's does a company vision and its values become engrained and future-proofed? Be the Business found out.
Vision & Values
Leadership & Strategy
Article
How do family businesses tackle the subject of vision and values?
Company values guide businesses through different generations. But new leaders need to innovate. We talk to family-owned companies about their vision.
Vision & Values
Leadership & Strategy
Article
Ceviche: A restaurant that goes so much further than food and drink
Ceviche founder Martin Morales has created a brand that brings together all the elements of Peruvian culture he throught the UK was missing out on.
Communicate vision and values
Sales & Growth
Article
This firm is seeking new revenue streams amidst the chaos
Finnmark Sauna planned to maintain its rate of expansion in 2020, and the founders are using new revenue streams to ensure coronavirus doesn't slow them down.