Category Archives: Business

The death of contracting as we know it

Here’s a prediction for you… the number of opportunities for contractors will significantly reduce by the end of the decade and will be replaced by a radical new model for managing fluctuations in the demand for staff.

Don’t get me wrong. Clients will still need to use temporary staff to manage the growth, ebb and flow of their organisation’s staffing needs. However, and we’re already seeing it, clients are now making some extra demands that, to be frank, will seem impossible to meet using the old school staff augmentation/body shopping models.

Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Business, Everything else, Philanthropy, The Different Company, Uncategorized

7 ways to make customers love you! Hmmm… is it really this simple?

The greatest compliment anyone can receive in the business world is “I just love working with you.” That’s especially true when that compliment comes from customers, because it means that you’ll be getting their business time and time again, they’ll spend more money with you and tell everyone they know how great you are.

Happy customers keep coming back!

Geoffrey James – writer of the Sales Source column on Inc.com – says that if we follow seven simple rules, we’ll have customers buying from us again and again and again. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Which begs the question: if it’s really that simple, then why aren’t all businesses following these rules? And, can any business afford not to?

Here are the seven rules for getting customers to love you, along with my take on each. Let me know what you think. Are there any others? Enjoy!

Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Business

Clichés – love them or hate them – can they make you a better project manager?

Are we totally over clichés or is the jury still out on that one down under?  According to social researcher Mark McCrindle – at the end of the day, it’s not rocket science, Australians hate clichés. But could some clichés help us to become better project managers? Duncan Haughey seems to think so…

I stumbled across this article on ProjectSmart. I’d love to hear what you think of it. Anyway, enjoy!

Know any PM clichés?

Clichés are funny. We don’t like to hear them, but we often use them in everyday conversation. Clichés are a useful way to make a point because the meaning of them is universally understood, even if not entirely true.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Business

This Is How Women And Men Are Different In The Workplace – Sneak Preview

Rosie the Riveter – read more about her fascinating role in WWII at the bottom

OK – I don’t want to make today’s whole blog about how the sisters are taking over the world, (cue maniacal laughter), but I guess one sees what one is thinking about, right?

(You know, like someone says “pregnant” and for the next day all you see on the streets is babies?)

So anyway, I was roaming around the net and found this interesting commentary from Business Insider. What do you think?

Men and Women – the Difference at Work

There is a major shift occurring in the workforce and women are at the centre of it.

Leave a comment

Filed under Business

Women set to rule the workplace

How weird that this article should pop up on my computer screen five minutes after I posted an introduction to myself! Not that I happen to think MDs should “rule” their companies – guide would be a better term, in my opinion – but the coincidence really is peculiar. Anyway, what do you think? Is the glass ceiling really shattering or not? With thanks to Yahoo.

Apparently, women are increasingly going to challenge the male dominance of the workplace and will seek out organisations that support them, a report claims.

Women are set to rule the global workplace over the next few years with a record number of graduates prepare to enter the workforce.

A paper released by Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace, confirms there will be an influx of female talent and that over the next three years 70 per cent of graduates will be female.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Business

The five steps to leading a great team

Really, it couldn’t be this simple, could it? Yes, it is. Follow these five rules, and your new team will be productive, happy and support you.

OK. You’ve been through the interview process, done your due diligence, and have an understanding of why there was an opening.

Perhaps the last guy got a promotion, won the lotto, or was simply not great at the job – whichever way you’ve landed the role, you’ve been brought in to replace them. So how do you get your new staff to accept you as their new leader? In my experience, there are five simple steps you need to follow.

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Business

10 Tips for Successful Business Networking

If only we knew everyone who needed our help … or who we could help.

Like any businessman, coach and consultant, I spend a fair amount of my time moving around the marketplace, making sure I know what’s going on, and keeping in touch with friends and colleagues. It’s just second nature, really.

I don’t go to networking events just to drum up business. I go to maintain comradeship, to learn what’s going on, to seek new ideas, and to contribute my own opinions, support and friendship to the process. When I remember that’s what I am doing, I find business pops up in the most unexpected places!

So I took a moment today to jot down my “Ten Successful Strategies For Networking”. They seem obvious, but I often forget them, so writing them down was a useful reminder to me, too!

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another.

THE TOP TEN TIPS

Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Business, Everything else, The Different Company

In case you didn’t already realise, I’m a Pig

You know, some people have been saying that for years! But no, I don’t mean I’m an ill-mannered, rude, uncaring bigot. I simply mean I am fully committed to achieving my goals.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the riddle ‘In a bacon and egg breakfast what’s the difference between the chicken and the pig?’ – ‘The chicken’s involved but the pig is committed’.

Are you committed, involved, or something else?

It’s been applied to all manner of things from scrum agile project management to sports. And yet it’s a concept, when expanded, which can be applied to nearly any endeavour. I was thinking about this and you know what? I felt there’s a whole farm that needs calling out.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Business, The Different Company

The Euro crisis explained by Blackadder

Baldrick: “What I want to know, Sir is, before there was a Euro there were lots of different types of money that different people used. And now there’s only one type of money that all the foreign people use.

And what I want to know is, how did we get from one state of affairs to the other state of affairs?”

Blackadder: “Baldrick. Do you mean, how did the Euro start?”

Baldrick: “Yes, Sir, if it please you, Sir.”

Blackadder: “Well, you see Balders me lad, way back in the good old 1980s there were many different countries all running their own economies and using different types of money. Oh, the messy, wild fun of it all!

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Business, Everything else

Quadruple Bottom Line Reporting – Would You Adopt It For Your Organisation?

QBLR – the way of the future?

By Shane Thornton – an excellent article, which I stumbled onto on eHow, and I really recommend it. It’s very thought-provoking. Everyone knows about Triple Line Reporting, but Quadruple Line?

As an organisation specifically set up to marry good business practice to philanthropic outcomes, this fascinates me, especially as it touches on the personal aspects of peope’s lives. I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who has implemented QBLR, and their experience of it, or anyone who is interested to explore it, but doesnt know where to start. Is this something The Different Company should be helping people to achieve?

Cheers, Tippo.

Quadruple bottom line reporting uses the idea of triple bottom line reporting as its foundation; it makes businesses accountable and responsible for the economic, social, environmental and spiritual effects of doing business. Although triple bottom line reporting is much more popular, the newer idea of quadruple bottom line reporting and the addition of a spiritual aspect is quickly gaining support.

Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under Business