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6 Ways To Improve Customer Service Performance Improve customer service performance with these 6 simple tips to help you deliver outstanding customer service at every single customer contact point. Published on: 6 Nov 2014 The phone is the hub of your business; it’s where the virtual world makes contact with the real world. It’s where issues and problems get converted into opportunities and a great service experience. It’s where someone’s day goes from bad to better. Or does it? Here are some tips to help improve your customer service performance. As you’ll see, there is much more to it than picking up the call in 3 rings and it’s not all down to the agent to get it right either! 6 ways to improve customer service performance: Be positive. A positive, happy and helpful disposition is essential to deliver a good call experience . Are you recruiting the right type of people for your front desk or call centre? You’re converting nearly all your business investment over the phone so you need the right type of people picking up the phone to drive the right brand impression and maximum return on investment (ROI). Happy and motivated. Be prepared . Do your team know what is likely to hit them today? Are they aware of your latest special offers and marketing initiatives or know the product and service issues. Do they know who is available today for transfers? Nobody likes to feel unprepared, left in the dark or caught out. Ensure your processes get your front desk up to speed. You can even get ahead of customer’s needs by implementing proactive customer service. This can help businesses anticipate customer needs before they become issues, as opposed to having reactive customer service that only deals with issues as they arise. Manage loyalties. You want your frontline phone based staff to be delivering a fantastic experience; converting all the prospects to clients and making an advocate out of each complainant. Ok, then make sure they have the time to do this. Lumping loads of time critical admin onto them doesn’t help. If it means they are late going home every day or can’t complete a call as they would like, conflicting loyalties set in, loyalties to themselves and their families and their loyalty to you and your business. Training . Some things come naturally such as being friendly on the phone. Other things need to be taught; like handling a difficult caller that doesn’t like what they are hearing or the news they have been given. Give them the training, tools, support and back-up needed to manage the hard calls. Processes . Give guidance and advice on required call handling processes. Who should handle which type of call? Where do they get transferred to? Do they monitor the transfer for a successful handover? What should they do if the phone is ringing and they are busy with a guest or are on another call. Don’t make them guess, advise and then they can use their judgement on each occasion. Vision and culture . Your staff need to know who they are and what they represent within your organisation. What experience are they expected to deliver and how should each caller be left feeling? Only by clearly defining your company’s vision and culture for your service and product delivery can they know the level of service they need to attain. Awardaroo can help We can help you improve your customer service with our bespoke telephone sales and service training. We’re not like everyone else. We like to get to know your business and figure out where your strengths and weaknesses, so we can create a training programme unique to your business needs. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Putting Business Efficiency First - Unlocking Productivity, Performance, and Profitability Harnessing the Power of Business Efficiency to Drive Sustainable Growth, Enhance Employee Well-being, and Drive Environmental Stewardship Published on: 24 Oct 2024 In the rapidly evolving landscape of the 21st century, business owners are navigating a perfect storm of challenges: Market volatility Shifting consumer expectations Increased focus on social and environmental responsibility These factors are rewriting the rules of success. Today, businesses can no longer afford to focus solely on financial gains. Instead, they must adopt a holistic approach that balances economic viability with social equity and environmental stewardship. This is the essence of the "Triple Bottom Line"—a framework that redefines success by evaluating a company’s impact on: Profit People Planet Adopting an "business efficiency first" mindset is crucial to thriving in this new landscape. Efficiency is more than a strategy; it’s the key to unlocking sustainable growth, maximising employee engagement, and contributing positively to the environment. However, the path to efficiency is fraught with pitfalls. Many business owners fall into the trap of short-sighted cost-cutting, overlooking the long-term benefits of a balanced approach. While trimming expenses can yield immediate gains, the consequences of neglecting employee well-being or environmental impact can be detrimental, leading to: Burnout Reputational damage Financial loss The Triple Bottom Line: A Modern Business Imperative 1. Profit: Economic Efficiency and Financial Health Profit remains a fundamental goal, but modern success requires more than short-term financial wins. It’s about sustainable growth that ensures long-term stability. By optimising operations through an efficiency-first approach, businesses can: Reduce costs Enhance profitability Avoid sacrificing quality or employee satisfaction However, there’s a trap here that many business owners fall into: assuming efficiency means relentless cost-cutting. While reducing expenses is important, an overly aggressive approach can backfire, leading to: Reduced product quality Unhappy customers A demotivated workforce True efficiency in profitability is about smart investments in: Automating processes Improving supply chains Leveraging data analytics to make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth 2. People: Social Responsibility and Employee Engagement People are the heart of any business. An efficient approach to managing human resources isn’t about squeezing more work out of your team; it’s about creating a work environment where they can thrive. Happy, engaged employees are: More productive More innovative More loyal This directly contributes to your bottom line. Social responsibility also means fostering fair practices and supporting the communities you operate in, which in turn strengthens your brand. But efficiency can be misunderstood as equating productivity with overloading staff with tasks. Pushing your team too hard might yield short-term gains, but it can lead to: Burnout High staff turnover Instead, efficiency should focus on: Empowering employees with training Offering flexible working conditions Providing clear communication This way, your workforce remains motivated and committed, leading to higher productivity and better business outcomes. 3. Planet: Environmental Stewardship and Sustainable Practices Efficiency in environmental practices goes beyond compliance. It’s about integrating sustainability into the core of your operations. Businesses that lead in green initiatives not only contribute to a healthier planet but also realise: Cost savings Attract eco-conscious consumers However, another common mistake is viewing environmental efforts as a box-ticking exercise. Some businesses implement green practices solely to: Meet regulations Appease stakeholders This approach can lead to missed opportunities for innovation and cost savings. True environmental efficiency means embedding sustainability into every aspect of your business, from: Product design Supply chain management When done right, it not only benefits the planet but also strengthens your business, making it more resilient and appealing to eco-conscious consumers. Why Business Efficiency Matters Across the Triple Bottom Line Efficiency is the common thread that ties together Profit, People, and Planet. When businesses prioritise efficiency, they not only enhance their financial performance but also contribute positively to society and the environment. a. Profit By streamlining operations, reducing waste, and automating repetitive tasks, businesses can: Lower expenses Improve profit margins Beyond mere cost-cutting, efficiency also drives: Innovation Competitive advantage This allows companies to offer better products and services at lower prices, attracting more customers and increasing market share. b. People Efficient businesses create workplaces where employees are: Empowered Engaged Motivated This involves: Clear communication Effective training A commitment to work-life balance When employees are supported, they perform better, directly impacting the company’s overall success. Furthermore, socially responsible practices that support communities and foster inclusivity contribute to: A positive corporate image Stronger customer loyalty c. Planet Environmental efficiency means: Reducing the use of natural resources Minimising waste Lowering carbon emissions This not only helps protect the planet but can also result in significant cost savings, such as: Reduced energy bills Less money spent on raw materials Companies that adopt green practices often find themselves ahead of the curve, particularly as consumers and investors increasingly prioritise sustainability. Putting It All Together: The Path to Sustainable Success By putting efficiency first, business owners can unlock the full potential of their operations across the Triple Bottom Line. It’s about finding that sweet spot where: Economic growth Social responsibility Environmental sustainability ...intersect. This holistic approach not only prepares businesses for the challenges of the 21st century but also positions them as leaders in a world where consumers, employees, and stakeholders are increasingly demanding more than just financial performance. In the following sections, we’ll explore practical strategies for implementing efficiency in your business, focusing on the three key areas of: Profitability People Planet 1. Profit: Strategies for Economic Efficiency and Financial Health Optimising Profitability in the 21st Century To thrive in today’s competitive market, businesses must be agile and financially robust. Here’s how to integrate efficiency into your profitability strategy effectively: a. Streamline Operations Process Mapping and Analysis: Create a Visual Map: Start by creating a detailed map of your business processes, from customer acquisition to product delivery. Identify Bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas where processes slow down or cause delays. Address these inefficiencies with targeted improvements. Implement Lean Management: Eliminate Waste: Adopt Lean principles to cut out wasteful practices and optimise workflows. Focus on value-added activities that directly benefit customers. Continuous Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement (Kaizen) where small, incremental changes lead to significant efficiency gains over time. Leverage Automation and Technology: Automate Repetitive Tasks: Implement automation tools for tasks such as data entry, invoicing, and customer follow-ups. This frees up valuable time and reduces the risk of human error. Invest in Advanced Technologies: Explore technologies like AI, machine learning, and cloud computing to enhance operational efficiency and scalability. b. Enhance Supply Chain Management Build Strong Supplier Relationships: Negotiate Better Terms: Establish long-term relationships with key suppliers to negotiate favourable terms and improve supply chain reliability. Collaborative Planning: Work closely with suppliers to align inventory levels and reduce lead times. Collaborative forecasting helps prevent stockouts and overstocking. Optimise Logistics and Inventory: Use Advanced Logistics Software: Implement logistics management software to optimise routes, reduce transportation costs, and track shipments in real-time. Adopt Just-in-Time Inventory: Minimise inventory holding costs by adopting a just-in-time inventory system that aligns stock levels with actual demand. Analyse and Utilise Data: Conduct Regular Performance Reviews: Use data analytics to regularly review key performance metrics such as order fulfilment rates, supply chain costs, and customer satisfaction. Make Data-Driven Decisions: Leverage insights from data analysis to make informed decisions that drive efficiency and profitability. c. Focus on Financial Health Cost Management and Control: Monitor Expenses: Keep a close eye on operational expenses and identify areas for cost reduction without compromising quality. Implement Budget Controls: Use budgeting tools to track financial performance against set targets and make adjustments as needed. Revenue Growth Strategies: Diversify Revenue Streams: Explore new revenue opportunities, such as product line extensions or new market segments, to reduce dependency on a single source of income. Enhance Customer Value: Invest in strategies that increase customer lifetime value, such as loyalty programmes, upselling, and cross-selling. 2. People: Building a Resilient and Engaged Workforce Fostering Employee Engagement and Satisfaction A motivated and engaged workforce is critical to achieving long-term business success. Here’s how to enhance employee engagement and well-being: a. Invest in Employee Training and Development Develop Comprehensive Training Programs: Onboarding and Skill Development: Create structured onboarding programs and ongoing training opportunities that help employees build relevant skills and advance their careers. Leadership Development: Offer leadership training and mentoring to develop future leaders within your organisation. Promote Career Growth: Career Pathways: Define clear career paths and provide opportunities for promotion and advancement within the company. Personal Development Plans: Work with employees to set individual development goals and provide the resources and support needed to achieve them. b. Cultivate a Positive Work Environment Encourage Open Communication: Regular Feedback: Implement regular feedback mechanisms, such as performance reviews and employee surveys, to gauge satisfaction and address concerns promptly. Transparent Leadership: Foster a culture of transparency where leadership communicates openly about company goals, changes, and performance. Recognise and Reward Achievements: Recognition Programs: Implement formal recognition programs that celebrate employee accomplishments and milestones. This could include awards, bonuses, or public acknowledgements. Employee Incentives: Offer incentives such as performance-based bonuses or profit-sharing schemes to motivate employees and align their interests with company success. c. Implement Flexible Working Conditions Support Remote Work and Flexibility: Remote Work Policies: Develop clear policies for remote work, including guidelines for communication, productivity, and work-life balance. Flexible Hours: Allow employees to choose their working hours or work part-time if it helps them balance personal and professional responsibilities. Promote Work-Life Balance: Health and Well-being Initiatives: Offer wellness programs, such as fitness memberships or mental health resources, to support employees' overall well-being. Encourage Time Off: Promote the importance of taking breaks and using vacation time to prevent burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance. 3. Planet: Embracing Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship Integrating Sustainable Practices into Your Business Model Businesses have a crucial role to play in protecting the environment. Here’s how to embed sustainability into your operations: a. Reduce Resource Use Energy Efficiency: Energy Audits: Conduct regular energy audits to identify areas where energy consumption can be reduced. Upgrade Facilities: Invest in energy-efficient technologies, such as LED lighting, energy-efficient appliances, and smart thermostats. Water Conservation: Install Water-Efficient Fixtures: Use low-flow faucets, toilets, and irrigation systems to reduce water consumption. Implement Water Recycling: Explore options for recycling water within your facilities, such as greywater systems for non-potable uses. b. Adopt Sustainable Practices Eco-Friendly Materials: Sustainable Sourcing: Source materials from suppliers who follow sustainable practices and offer eco-friendly products. Green Packaging: Use biodegradable or recyclable packaging materials to reduce waste and environmental impact. Waste Management: Recycling Programs: Implement comprehensive recycling programmes for paper, plastics, and other materials. Waste Reduction Initiatives: Look for ways to reduce waste generation through process improvements and material efficiency. c. Support Green Innovation Invest in Sustainable R&D: Research and Development: Allocate resources to research and develop innovative products and technologies that have a lower environmental impact. Collaborate with Experts: Partner with environmental experts and organisations to stay ahead of green trends and adopt best practices. Pursue Green Certifications: Certifications and Standards: Obtain certifications such as ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) or B Corp to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability. Publicise Achievements: Communicate your sustainability efforts and certifications to stakeholders to build trust and enhance your brand reputation. Conclusion: Achieving Sustainable Success By embracing an "efficiency first" approach and focusing on the Triple Bottom Line—Profit, People, and Planet—business owners can unlock the full potential of their operations. This holistic strategy not only drives financial performance but also ensures that your business contributes positively to society and the environment. Key Takeaways: Prioritise Efficiency: Streamline operations, leverage technology, and make data-driven decisions to enhance profitability. Engage and Empower Employees: Invest in training, foster a positive work culture, and support work-life balance to boost employee satisfaction and performance. Commit to Sustainability: Integrate green practices, reduce resource use, and support innovation to protect the environment and attract eco-conscious consumers. By following these strategies, you can build a resilient, efficient, and sustainable business that thrives in the 21st century. Your commitment to efficiency will not only drive your company’s success but also make a meaningful impact on the world around you. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

The Ultimate Guide to Business Project Management Discover the essentials of business project management, including methodologies, tools, and best practices. Learn how to effectively plan, execute, and close projects to achieve organisational goals and drive success. Published on: 18 Jul 2024 In today's dynamic business environment, efficient project management has become indispensable for achieving organisational goals and maintaining a competitive edge. Business project management is the art and science of planning, executing, and closing projects to achieve specific business objectives. This comprehensive guide delves into the essential aspects of business project management, providing insights and strategies to master this crucial discipline. Introduction to Business Project Management Business project management is a structured approach to planning and guiding project processes from start to finish. It encompasses defining project goals, aligning them with business objectives, and managing resources effectively to ensure timely and successful completion. Effective project management bridges the gap between strategic vision and practical execution, transforming ideas into reality. The Importance of Project Management in Business Achieving Strategic Goals : Projects are the building blocks of business strategy. Effective project management ensures that initiatives align with strategic goals, driving the organisation forward. Resource Optimisation : Efficient project management optimises the use of resources, including time, money, and personnel, maximising return on investment. Risk Mitigation : Identifying and managing risks proactively minimises the impact of potential issues, ensuring smoother project execution. Enhanced Collaboration : Structured project management fosters better communication and collaboration among team members, stakeholders, and departments. Customer Satisfaction : Delivering projects on time and within budget enhances customer satisfaction and builds trust. Key Components of Business Project Management Project Initiation : This phase involves defining the project, identifying stakeholders, and securing approvals. Key documents include the project charter and stakeholder register. Project Planning : Detailed planning is crucial for project success. This includes defining the project scope, developing a schedule, budgeting, and resource allocation. Tools like Gantt charts and project management software aid in this process. Project Execution : During this phase, the project plan is put into action. Effective communication, task management, and quality control are essential. Agile methodologies and daily stand-up meetings can enhance execution. Project Monitoring and Control : Continuous monitoring ensures the project stays on track. Key performance indicators (KPIs), progress reports, and variance analysis help in making necessary adjustments. Project Closure : Closing a project involves finalising all activities, obtaining client acceptance, and conducting post-project evaluations. Lessons learned and documentation are vital for future projects. Essential Skills for Business Project Managers Leadership : Inspiring and guiding a team towards achieving project goals. Communication : Clear and concise communication with stakeholders, team members, and clients. Problem-Solving : Identifying issues and developing effective solutions. Time Management : Prioritising tasks and managing time efficiently to meet deadlines. Financial Acumen : Understanding and managing project budgets and financial resources. Technical Proficiency : Familiarity with project management tools and software. Project Management Methodologies Waterfall : A linear approach where each phase must be completed before the next begins. Best for projects with well-defined requirements. Agile : An iterative approach that emphasises flexibility and customer feedback. Ideal for projects where requirements may evolve. Scrum : A subset of Agile, Scrum focuses on small, cross-functional teams working in sprints to deliver incremental progress. Lean : Emphasises minimising waste and maximising value through continuous improvement. Six Sigma : Focuses on reducing defects and improving quality through data-driven decision-making. Tools and Technologies in Business Project Management Project Management Software : Tools like Microsoft Project, Asana, Trello, and Jira streamline planning, scheduling, and collaboration. Collaboration Platforms : Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom facilitate communication and teamwork. Time Tracking Tools : Toggl, Harvest, and Clockify help in tracking time spent on tasks for better resource management. Financial Management Tools : Software like QuickBooks and SAP aids in budget planning and financial tracking. Reporting Tools : Power BI, Tableau, and Excel are essential for data analysis and reporting. Challenges in Business Project Management Scope Creep : Uncontrolled changes in project scope can derail projects. Clear scope definition and change control processes are essential. Resource Constraints : Limited resources can hinder project progress. Effective resource planning and prioritisation are crucial. Communication Gaps : Miscommunication can lead to misunderstandings and errors. Regular updates and transparent communication are vital. Risk Management : Identifying and mitigating risks proactively is necessary to avoid project delays and failures. Stakeholder Management : Balancing the needs and expectations of various stakeholders can be challenging. Building strong relationships and managing expectations is key. Best Practices for Successful Project Management Define Clear Objectives : Ensure that project goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Engage Stakeholders : Involve stakeholders from the beginning and maintain regular communication to align expectations. Develop a Robust Plan : Invest time in thorough planning to outline the project scope, schedule, budget, and resources. Monitor Progress Regularly : Use KPIs and regular status reports to track progress and identify issues early. Foster Team Collaboration : Create a collaborative environment where team members can communicate openly and work together effectively. Embrace Flexibility : Be prepared to adapt to changes and challenges, using iterative processes like Agile where appropriate. Conduct Post-Project Reviews : Evaluate the project outcomes, identify lessons learned, and document best practices for future reference. Conclusion Business project management is a multifaceted discipline that requires a blend of strategic thinking, technical knowledge, and interpersonal skills. By understanding the core components, methodologies, tools, and best practices, organisations can enhance their project management capabilities and achieve greater success. Whether managing a small initiative or a large-scale transformation, effective project management is the key to turning business goals into reality. In the ever-evolving business landscape, continuous learning and adaptation are essential. Stay abreast of the latest trends, invest in professional development, and cultivate a culture of excellence in project management to drive your organisation towards sustained success. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Introduction to Key Agile HR Operating Model Concepts The Agile HR Operating Model is a transformative approach that adapts human resources practices to the principles of Agile methodology. It emphasises flexibility, collaboration, and rapid responses to evolving organisational needs. This innovative model streamlines HR processes, promotes employee engagement, and enables companies to stay agile in a dynamic business landscape. Published on: 4 Jul 2024 The Agile Human Resources (HR) Operating Model represents a transformative approach to managing and optimising the workforce in the modern business landscape. In an era characterised by rapid technological advancements, changing market dynamics, and evolving employee expectations, traditional HR models often struggle to keep pace. Enter Agile HR, a paradigm shift that enables organisations to adapt, innovate, and thrive in this dynamic environment. At its core, the Agile HR Operating Model borrows principles from Agile methodology, originally designed for software development, and applies them to the realm of HR. This approach emphasises flexibility, collaboration, and customer-centricity. In essence, it aligns HR practices with the broader organisational goals and encourages HR teams to act as strategic partners rather than mere administrators. Agile HR enables companies to respond swiftly to changing talent needs, fosters a culture of continuous improvement, and empowers employees to take ownership of their career development. It redefines HR processes, such as recruitment, performance management, and learning and development, making them more responsive and adaptable. This introduction will explore the key components, benefits, and challenges of adopting an Agile HR Operating Model, offering insights into how organisations can leverage this approach to enhance their HR functions and drive overall business success. The Business Context for Agile HR In the ever-evolving landscape of today’s business world, organisations must remain acutely attuned to the main forces for change that impact their operations. These forces can be multifaceted, encompassing technological advancements, shifting market dynamics, regulatory changes, and societal trends. Several primary forces for change have come to the forefront. Technological Advancements Rapid advancements in technology are reshaping industries and customer expectations. There is a need to continually innovate and embrace emerging technologies and foster a culture of innovation, and enhance digital capabilities. These technological changes should deeply integrated into a People Strategy through targeted training and development programs, ensuring our workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in a tech-driven world Market Dynamics The competitive landscape is constantly evolving, driven by changing customer preferences and global economic shifts. A strategic response involves a focus on customer-centricity, agility, and adaptability encouraging employees to stay close to your customers, adapt quickly to changing market conditions, and seek out growth opportunities. This is woven into our People Strategy through performance metrics that reward customer-centric behaviours, innovation and continuous learning initiatives. Regulatory Changes In an era of increasing regulatory scrutiny, your organisation needs to take a proactive approach to compliance. This commitment to compliance can be embedded in a People Strategy through comprehensive training programs, promoting ethical behaviour, and creating a strong culture of integrity and accountability among our workforce. Societal Trends Society’s values and expectations are evolving, with growing emphasis on environmental sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Your organisation should be committed to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. This commitment can be reflected in a People Strategy by fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, promoting sustainability initiatives, and engaging in philanthropic efforts that align with societal values. In summary, the main forces for change impacting your organisation encompass technological advancements, market dynamics, regulatory changes, and societal trends. A strategic response prioritises innovation, customer-centricity, compliance, and social responsibility. These responses are seamlessly integrated into Agile HR, ensuring that your workforce is aligned with your organisational objectives and well-prepared to thrive in an ever-changing business environment. Embracing Agile HR: Breaking Traditional Hierarchy Traditional hierarchies and siloed teams can hinder agility in leadership and decision-making. Instead, we need to focus on the importance of creating cross-functional, collaborative teams, and shifting the focus from rigid roles to skill-driven contributions. Reshaping your HR organisation can lead to greater integration, transparency, and flexibility, benefitting the entire company. To keep pace with the rapidly changing business landscape, HR functions must evolve. An agile HR model is essential for adapting to these changes effectively. The first step towards agility in HR is to challenge and rethink your existing organisational structure. Traditional hierarchies can stifle innovation and hinder responsiveness. Agile HR requires breaking down the barriers between traditionally siloed teams and structures. Cross-functional collaboration is key to enabling agility in leadership and decision-making. Agile HR organisations should be characterised by small, nimble teams that collaborate with leaders from various parts of the company. These teams work together to address organisational challenges. We need to move away from rigid demarcations of roles and job titles and instead focus on the skills and expertise that each team member brings to a project. This shift allows for greater flexibility and adaptability. By adopting an integrated approach, HR becomes more closely aligned with the overall company goals. This integration fosters transparency and a shared sense of purpose. Agile HR organisations are known for their transparency in decision-making processes. This transparency encourages accountability and trust. Additionally, flexibility allows HR to respond promptly to changing needs. An agile HR organisation serves as a model for the rest of the company. By demonstrating the benefits of cross-functional collaboration and skill-driven contributions, HR can inspire similar practices throughout the organisation. Rethinking your HR organisation’s structure is the foundational step towards embracing agility. By breaking away from traditional hierarchies and silos, you can create an HR model that is small, nimble, and highly collaborative. Focusing on skills rather than titles empowers your team members to contribute their expertise effectively. The result is an HR organisation that is more integrated, transparent, and flexible, setting an example for the entire company. In the journey towards agility, this transformation. Agile HR Operating Model is a Transformative Approach The Agile HR Operating Model is a transformative approach to managing human resources in organisations , adapting principles from Agile methodology originally designed for software development to the HR domain. This model revolves around several key concepts that enable HR departments to become more responsive, flexible, and aligned with the dynamic needs of modern businesses. We’ll delve into each of these key concepts to gain a deeper understanding of the Agile HR Operating Model. Agility and Flexibility At the heart of Agile HR lies the principle of agility. Traditional HR models often struggle to keep pace with the rapidly changing business environment, which includes technological advancements, market shifts, and evolving employee expectations. In contrast, Agile HR is designed to be flexible and adaptable. It recognises that HR practices must evolve quickly to meet the shifting needs of the organisation. This agility allows HR departments to respond swiftly to new challenges and opportunities. Cross-Functional Teams Agile HR promotes cross-functional collaboration. Instead of HR teams operating in isolation, Agile HR encourages the formation of cross-functional teams that include HR specialists, managers, and employees from different departments. These teams work together on HR initiatives, bringing a diverse range of perspectives and skills to the table. This collaborative approach ensures that HR initiatives are more aligned with the broader organisational goals. Customer Focus In the Agile HR Operating Model, employees and internal stakeholders are considered customers. HR teams prioritise meeting their needs, delivering value, and enhancing the overall employee experience. By adopting a customer-centric mindset, HR becomes more attuned to the expectations and preferences of the workforce, ultimately leading to higher employee satisfaction and engagement Iterative Approach Agile HR emphasises an iterative and incremental approach to HR processes. Rather than implementing long-term plans that may quickly become outdated, Agile HR breaks down initiatives into smaller, manageable steps. These steps are continuously refined based on feedback, allowing HR to make course corrections and adapt to changing circumstances. This iterative approach is especially valuable in the volatile business landscape. Continuous Improvement Continuous improvement is a core tenet of Agile HR. This concept encourages HR teams to embrace experimentation and learning from both successes and failures. By continuously seeking ways to enhance HR processes and practices, organisations can stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving market. Empowerment and Autonomy Agile HR empowers employees to take ownership of their development and career progression. Instead of relying solely on HR for guidance, employees are encouraged to set their own goals, identify learning opportunities, and drive their career growth. Managers in Agile HR serve as coaches and mentors, providing support and guidance rather than imposing rigid direction. Lean Principles Lean thinking is applied to HR processes in the Agile HR Operating Model. This involves identifying and eliminating waste in HR workflows, streamlining processes, and maximising efficiency. By reducing unnecessary steps and delays, HR can deliver services more effectively while conserving resources. Transparency Open communication and transparency are fundamental in Agile HR. Employees have access to relevant information about HR processes and decisions. This transparency builds trust within the organisation and ensures that employees understand the rationale behind HR actions. When employees are well-informed, they are more likely to collaborate and engage positively with HR initiatives. Adaptive Leadership Leadership in an Agile HR environment is adaptive. Agile HR leaders foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation. They are open to feedback and can pivot quickly when necessary. This adaptive leadership style sets the tone for the entire organisation and encourages employees to embrace change. Performance Metrics Agile HR relies on data-driven metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of HR initiatives. These metrics provide insights into employee performance, satisfaction, and other key HR-related indicators. By collecting and analysing relevant data, HR can make informed decisions and measure the impact of its efforts. Small Batches and Rapid Prototyping HR projects in Agile HR are often broken down into smaller, manageable tasks or experiments. This approach allows for quicker testing and implementation, reducing the risk associated with large-scale HR initiatives. Rapid prototyping and feedback loops help HR teams refine their strategies and deliver value more efficiently. Value Stream Mapping Agile HR uses value stream mapping to analyse and optimise HR processes. This involves identifying and eliminating bottlenecks, reducing unnecessary steps, and improving the flow of HR services. By streamlining processes, HR can enhance its service delivery and minimise delays. Feedback and Retrospectives Regular feedback and retrospectives are essential components of Agile HR. These practices enable HR teams to assess the success of HR initiatives and processes. By gathering feedback from employees and stakeholders, HR can identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments. Sprint Planning Similar to Agile development methodologies, Agile HR often uses sprint planning to set short-term goals and priorities for HR teams. Sprint planning ensures that HR teams remain focused and aligned with organisational objectives. It also allows for flexibility in responding to changing priorities. Self-Organisation Agile HR encourages teams to self-organise and make decisions collectively. This empowers employees to take ownership of their work and fosters a sense of accountability. When teams have the autonomy to make decisions, they can respond quickly to challenges and adapt to changing circumstances. Agile HR Workflow: A Roadmap for Efficiency An effective Agile HR operating model hinges on clear, optimised workflows that enhance both employee satisfaction and operational success. Below is a general workflow designed to streamline HR processes within an Agile framework: Identify the Core Objectives Define the strategic goals of the HR department, ensuring alignment with overall business objectives. This step often includes setting specific, measurable outcomes such as improved employee retention, faster recruitment cycles, or enhanced talent development programs. Conduct Skills Audits and Assess Team Capabilities Regularly audit the skills within your workforce to identify gaps or strengths. Use Agile ceremonies such as retrospectives to assess the current capabilities of teams and individuals, ensuring that skills are aligned with the objectives defined. Create a Talent Development Sprint Based on the audit, implement targeted "sprints" to address any gaps. These could involve rapid upskilling, coaching, or bringing in external resources. Agile HR sprints focus on developing talent iteratively, with continuous feedback loops. Deploy Feedback Mechanisms Agile thrives on communication. Develop consistent feedback loops between HR, managers, and employees. This includes regular check-ins, surveys, and retrospectives to ensure any adjustments are made in real time. High-trust environments foster open and honest feedback, enabling a continuous improvement cycle. Iterate and Scale Once processes and frameworks are proven effective on a smaller scale, they can be scaled across the organisation. Regular retrospectives and performance reviews ensure that workflows remain flexible and adaptable to future changes or business growth. Agile HR workflows not only drive operational efficiency but also contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and employee engagement. For more detailed insights into creating high-performance workflows, explore our Creating High Performance Workflows blog post. The Agile Mindset The Agile Mindset represents a revolutionary paradigm shift, steering us away from conventional, bureaucratic leadership while nurturing a culture rooted in collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptability within teams. It serves as a catalyst, empowering teams to excel and deliver high-performance results. It represents a departure from the conventional hierarchical leadership style, which often involves office politics and a “whoever is loudest is right” mentality. Instead, it encourages teams to set aside ego and shift their focus from “who is right” to “what is right.” This shift promotes a more inclusive and effective decision-making process. It is a thought process that involves several key elements where team members seek to understand the bigger picture, including the goals and objectives of their work. They work together closely, breaking down silos, and fostering effective communication and embrace continuous learning and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for improvement. Teams remain adaptable in the face of change, avoiding resistance and embracing new challenges. To fully embody the Agile Mindset, it’s essential for all team members to not only practice agile techniques but also to understand and adopt the underlying methodology in all aspects of their work. The primary intention behind cultivating an Agile Mindset is to empower employees to do their best work. With more autonomy, they have the freedom to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Innovation is encouraged so a culture of innovation is nurtured, driving continuous improvement, leading to more creative solutions. The Agile Mindset promotes a happy and healthy team environment, resulting in several benefits such as: High-performance teams that adapt quickly to change, enhancing their performance. Increased customer value from a relentless focus on delivering value to customers. More self-organisation where small, self-organising teams efficiently manage their work. Enhanced collaboration with teams interacting effectively, fostering a networked approach. Companies that embrace the Agile Mindset are better equipped to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace. They become more responsive, innovative, and capable of delivering customer value consistently. The Agile Mindset is not just a set of practices but a fundamental shift in how teams think and work together. By embracing this mindset, organisations empower their employees, foster a culture of collaboration and continuous learning, and position themselves to thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape. These key concepts collectively form the foundation of the Agile HR Operating Model. By embracing these principles, HR departments can transform themselves into agile, responsive, and employee-focused units that drive organisational success in the fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape. Agile HR empowers organisations to navigate uncertainties with confidence and thrive in the digital age. Design Thinking in HR Design Thinking is a powerful approach that emphasises user-centricity, customer value, and rapid innovation in product and service development. It’s is a comprehensive framework that guides the process of problem-solving and innovation. It centres on human-oriented design, aiming to create solutions that address real human needs and challenges. At the core of Design Thinking is a commitment to being human-centric. This means that every step of the design process revolves around understanding and empathising with the people who will use or be affected by the solutions being developed. It begins with careful observation and empathy. Instead of making assumptions, designers seek to truly understand how people interact with their environments, what their pain points are, and what they value. This deep understanding forms the foundation of innovative solutions. It is not a linear process but rather an iterative one. It encourages a hands-on, experimental mindset. Designers create prototypes, test them with users, gather feedback, and refine their solutions repeatedly. This iterative approach allows for continuous improvement. It often starts with the question: “How might we?” This question is solution-oriented and fosters optimism and collaboration. By framing problems in this way, teams are encouraged to brainstorm creative solutions and work together to implement them. Teams are empowered and accountable for gathering user insights and driving the design process. Collaboration is key, as it fosters diverse perspectives and generates innovative ideas. Design Thinking encourages teams to think beyond the obvious and inspire new ways of addressing problems. By focusing on what people truly need, rather than what might be assumed, teams can uncover groundbreaking solutions. Design Thinking is not limited to product and service development; it can also be applied effectively in HR. HR professionals can use Design Thinking principles to enhance employee experiences, streamline processes, and create innovative solutions to HR challenges. Design Thinking is a powerful approach that places human needs and experiences at the centre of problem-solving and innovation. By adopting the principles of Design Thinking, HR professionals can create more effective, user-friendly, and innovative solutions in the workplace ultimately driving positive change and improving employee experiences. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

10 Proven Ways to Improve Call Handling Skills for Sales and Service Agents Discover 10 proven ways to improve call handling skills for sales and service agents. Learn how to build trust, enhance emotional intelligence, and close more deals with expert tips on empathy, active listening, and de-escalation. Published on: 23 Jan 2020 Every call is an opportunity to strengthen customer relationships, increase satisfaction, and drive more sales. Whether you're handling customer service inquiries or closing deals, your call handling skills can make or break the experience. Mastering these skills not only improves efficiency but also enhances brand loyalty and boosts conversion rates. Here are 10 expert-backed strategies to improve call handling skills and deliver exceptional results. Focus on Active Listening to Build Trust Active listening is more than just hearing the caller’s words—it’s about fully understanding their needs and responding thoughtfully. Interrupting or rushing through calls can damage rapport, while patient listening creates trust. Use reflective phrases like: “So, if I understand correctly, you’re experiencing…” This approach reassures the caller that their concerns are being addressed accurately. Trust builds faster when customers feel genuinely heard. Increase Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Better Caller Engagement Emotional intelligence helps you read between the lines and adjust your tone to match the caller’s mood. If a customer is upset, acknowledge their frustration immediately with phrases like: “I completely understand why this would be frustrating, and I’m here to help. ” By recognising emotions first, you pave the way for a solution-driven conversation. This can defuse tensions and improve overall caller experience. Show Real Empathy to Turn Complaints into Loyalty Empathy is essential for transforming negative experiences into positive ones. Callers want to feel understood, not like another ticket in the queue. Personalise your responses by reflecting on specific details: “That must have been frustrating for you. Let’s work together to fix this.” Empathy strengthens relationships and encourages customer loyalty, even after issues are resolved. Adapt to Different Caller Personalities for Higher Satisfaction No two callers are alike—some prefer quick, concise answers, while others need detailed explanations. Recognising personality types allows you to tailor your communication for maximum effectiveness. For fast-paced callers, get to the point quickly . For more analytical customers, provide thorough insights . This adaptability boosts engagement and satisfaction across diverse customer profiles. Master De-escalation Techniques for Difficult Calls Handling difficult calls with patience and professionalism can turn complaints into wins . The key is to remain calm, no matter how intense the caller may be. Repeat their concerns and clarify their expectations with: “Let me confirm the details to make sure I understand fully.” This signals that you’re listening carefully and prioritising their needs, which can help de-escalate the situation . Use Open-Ended Questions to Drive Productive Conversations Open-ended questions encourage callers to share more details about their concerns or needs. Instead of asking, “Is there an issue?” try: “Can you walk me through what happened?” This not only reveals more useful information but also helps in identifying upselling or cross-selling opportunities. Conversations flow naturally when customers feel encouraged to elaborate. Prioritise First Call Resolution (FCR) to Boost Efficiency First call resolution (FCR) is a key indicator of call centre success. Aim to resolve issues on the spot by gathering all necessary information early in the conversation. Before ending the call, ask: “Is there anything else I can assist with today?” This reduces follow-up calls and boosts customer satisfaction by addressing concerns in one go. Maintain a Professional and Friendly Tone Good phone etiquette is essential for creating a positive caller experience. Your tone of voice sets the mood for the entire call. Smiling while speaking naturally makes your voice warmer and more approachable. Practise active listening, avoid interrupting, and let the caller finish speaking before responding. Speak clearly and at a moderate pace to ensure understanding. Avoid complex jargon unless the caller uses it first. A friendly, professional tone enhances brand perception and builds trust. Identify and Address Pain Points Early In sales calls, understanding the customer’s pain points is key to positioning your product or service as the solution. Start by asking open-ended questions like: “What challenges are you currently facing in this area?” Listen carefully and reflect their concerns to show you understand their situation. Once the pain points are clear, tailor your pitch to demonstrate how your offering can directly resolve their issues . This approach builds urgency and increases the likelihood of closing the deal. Close Calls with Clear Summaries and Next Steps The end of a call is just as important as the beginning. Summarising key points and confirming next steps ensures no misunderstandings arise later. Use closing phrases like: “Just to confirm, I’ll send you the updated details by 5 PM today.” This leaves the caller with clarity and confidence , reinforcing a positive experience. By applying these 10 strategies, sales and service agents can handle calls more effectively , build lasting customer relationships, and drive better business outcomes. Whether it’s managing inquiries or closing deals, honing your call handling skills leads to higher satisfaction and greater success in every interaction . Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

How To Measure and Improve ROCE Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) is an important measure of financial productivity or financial efficiency. This is a good measure of how well the business is being run. The higher the value, the better. It's also referred to as the "Primary Ratio". Published on: 6 Jun 2024 Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) is an important measure of financial productivity or financial efficiency. This is a good measure of how well the business is being run. The higher the value, the better. It’s also referred to as the “Primary Ratio”. A company exists to turn hours and money invested into profits. How well it does that is a measure of financial productivity or more often referred to as financial efficiency. ROCE is an important KPIs in helping to improve your business productivity management . How can you measure financial efficiency with ROCE? The formula for ROCE is defined as Operating Profit/Total Capital Employed *100% ROCE is showing what level of costs are required to drive profitability. The more productive a company is, the higher the retained earnings they’ll be to drive further growth. Total capital employed might include debt, retained earnings or shareholder equity. How does ROCE differ from Return On Investment (ROI)? ROI is only concerned with the returns created by a specific investment such as a marketing campaign. ROCE is looking at the returns created by all the costs of running the business including debt. How does ROCE differ from Return On Assets (ROA)? ROA is only looking at the returns created by capital equipment such as machines, vehicles and warehouse lifting equipment. Investors will use ROCE when researching companies for possible investment opportunities. Like all performance metrics, it should be used in conjunction with other KPIs to accommodate possible hidden risks, such as high levels of debt. The values needed can be easily obtained from a company’s accounts. It is best to establish a trend of ROCE over a period of time to accommodate market changes and possible seasonal variations. A high, stable ROCE will show the business is being well managed. If a company has high levels of cash reserves that it’s not using, this will make the company appear very inefficient when they are included as part of Total Capital Employed. Enhancing ESG Ratings through ROCE Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) can significantly enhance a business's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating by promoting efficient resource use and responsible investment. High ROCE indicates effective utilisation of capital, aligning with ESG principles of sustainable management. Companies focused on improving ROCE often invest in eco-friendly technologies , optimise supply chains, and enhance operational efficiencies, thereby reducing environmental impact. Furthermore, strong ROCE performance reflects good governance practices and financial health, boosting investor confidence and stakeholder trust. By prioritising high ROCE, businesses demonstrate a commitment to long-term sustainability, positively influencing their ESG ratings and attracting socially responsible investors. How to improve ROCE The higher the revenue and the lower the costs, the better the ROCE. With staff costs being the biggest cost of all, it may be tempting to reduce the headcount or lower the wages to make the company appear more productive or more appealing to investors. It is this thinking that has contributed to the poor productivity figures of many UK businesse s, that lowering costs, especially staff costs will help build a stronger, more profitable business. The thinking is rooted deep in economics where staff are just seen as a labour cost, a cost to be minimised. With the top-down hierarchy, staff are recruited for a given job, given a job description, annual appraisals and monitored for the hours they start and finish work. This has the effect of making staff work more hours to feel more effective. An expectation is created that those long hours will be lead to a salary increase, promotion or just stop them losing their job. But in reality, all that happens is the same work just gets stretched over a longer time, people work less hard, they pace themselves to work the long hours needed and so productivity goes down. Longer lunches, casual conversations all stretch the day out so productivity goes down. The bosses may think they are getting more work completed for their money, that the employee is earning their salary, but in reality, the same work is being stretched out over a longer period, and most likely completed less effectively too. The Total Capital Employed may include high levels of debt to drive up sales or operating efficiencies, meaning the company may be carrying high levels of risk. Capital items are depreciated over time meaning companies with older equipment may look more profitable than companies with new equipment. Return on Equity (ROE) Another important, perhaps better, financial productivity KPI, Return on Equity, ROE, measures how well the shareholder value (cash essentially) of the company is creating value. Why is ROE a better performance measure than ROCE? Because ROE strips out debt from the capital employed to use just shareholder value and looks at net income, not operating profit, it gives a clearer picture of how well the business is being managed. How is ROE calculated? Return on Equity (ROE) = Net Income/Shareholder equity * 100 ROE is seen as an important financial KPI as it is only considering stakeholder equity (cash, equipment etc) and is a better measure of how well the assets of the business are being managed. If the ROE is high, check to see why. If it is because the shareholder equity is very low, the company may be low on cash. If it is because the revenues are very high, that shows a strong business performance. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

What is Workflow Architecture Design? Unlock the Power of Workflow Architecture Design: Transform Your Business Operations with Efficient, Scalable, and Future-Ready Workflows. Published on: 26 Sept 2024 Workflow Architecture Design is a strategic framework that structures, optimises, and manages workflows to enhance efficiency , collaboration, and adaptability. This framework integrates operational efficiency , technological automation , and human-centred design to create streamlined business processes. Below is a comprehensive, in-depth guide to understanding, implementing, and improving workflow architecture. 1. Understanding Workflow Architecture Design Workflow Architecture Design refers to the structural design that defines how work is executed, from individual tasks to entire processes. The goal is to improve operational efficiency , eliminate bottlenecks, and ensure resources are allocated effectively. A well-designed workflow architecture involves the precise sequencing of activities, decision-making pathways , and integration with both human input and technological tools. 2. Core Components of Workflow Architecture Design Process Mapping : To understand and optimise workflows, process mapping is essential. Visualisation tools like Swimlane Diagrams and Value Stream Mapping help identify roles, responsibilities, and areas of waste. For example, a Swimlane Diagram can pinpoint where communication breaks down between departments, while Value Stream Mapping is key to understanding inefficiencies in manufacturing processes. Task Sequencing and Dependencies : Using tools like Critical Path Analysis (CPA) and PERT charts helps in sequencing tasks and identifying dependencies. These tools go beyond basic sequencing, offering insights into which tasks impact the overall timeline and which can be delayed without disruption. A PERT chart , for instance, is highly effective in construction projects where resource planning can fluctuate based on external variables. Resource Allocation : Resources, such as people and tools, must be effectively allocated throughout the process. A well-designed workflow architecture reduces resource waste, optimises time management, and prevents bottlenecks in resource allocation. Automation and Integration : Automation is a crucial component, but it’s important to avoid over-automation. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can automate repetitive tasks, but integrating with legacy systems poses challenges. Tools like UiPath for automation and platforms like Zapier or Integromat for integration streamline workflows. For example, in a finance department, using RPA to automate invoice processing reduces errors and improves speed. Human-Centred Design : While automation and efficiency are important, workflow design must consider user experience. Applying Cognitive Load Theory reduces the mental burden on users, streamlining decision points and simplifying user journeys. User Journey Mapping ensures workflows are intuitive and easy to navigate. 3. Steps to Implement Workflow Architecture Design Audit Existing Workflows : Start by auditing current workflows , identifying inefficiencies and bottlenecks. Define Objectives : Establish clear objectives, such as improving turnaround times, reducing costs, or enhancing collaboration. Choose the Right Tools : Select automation tools (e.g., UiPath , Blue Prism ) and project management software ( Asana , Monday.com ) based on your goals. Pilot and Implement : Run a pilot program to refine the workflow before full-scale implementation, ensuring smoother transitions. Monitor and Improve : Use performance metrics such as Lead Time , Cycle Time , and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to monitor and continuously improve workflows. 4. Challenges and Solutions in Workflow Architecture Design Resistance to Change : Employees may resist new workflows due to disrupted habits or unfamiliar systems. Using change management strategies like Kotter’s 8-Step Model or ADKAR and Rostone Opex 5Ts High-Performance Work System can help smooth transitions. For example, healthcare organisations implementing patient management systems often face resistance, which can be mitigated by early involvement and ongoing communication with staff. Automation Pitfalls : Over-automation can create inflexibility. Careful planning of which tasks to automate and maintaining a balance between human and machine interaction is essential. For example : A financial services firm automated only the routine elements of its customer service system, ensuring agents could focus on higher-level problem-solving. 5. Industry-Specific Applications of Workflow Architecture Manufacturing : Lean principles and Just-in-Time (JIT) production are critical to optimising workflows. Manufacturers often rely on OEE to measure the efficiency of equipment and workflows. A factory implementing workflow architecture design can reduce downtime and improve overall production efficiency by 20% through better resource allocation and automated reporting tools. Healthcare : Workflows in healthcare focus on patient care and compliance with regulatory standards. By redesigning patient discharge processes using workflow architecture, a hospital could improve bed turnover and enhance patient satisfaction. Service-Based Industries : These industries often require flexible workflows. Using Kanban Boards for service delivery allows for greater transparency and continuous improvement. For example, a law firm can use Kanban to streamline case management, reducing time-to-resolution by perhaps 30%. 6. Performance Metrics Tracking and monitoring performance is critical for workflow efficiency. Beyond Lead Time and Cycle Time , industries like manufacturing use OEE , which provides a holistic view of how well a process is functioning by combining availability, performance, and quality metrics. Example : In a factory, reducing machine downtime could improve OEE by 15%, translating into significant cost savings and increased production rates. 7. Future-Proofing Workflow Design Emerging technologies like AI , machine learning , and blockchain are reshaping workflows. AI is increasingly used for predictive analytics in areas such as inventory management, where businesses can forecast stock requirements and adjust orders accordingly. Blockchain technology, known for its transparency and security, can streamline workflows in supply chain management, improving traceability and reducing fraud. Example : A logistics company could use AI-powered workflow management tools to predict supply chain disruptions and adjust delivery routes in real time, cutting fuel consumption and improving on-time delivery rates. Conclusion Building a scalable, efficient, and sustainable workflow architecture requires a combination of advanced process mapping techniques, automation tools, and human-centred design tailored to industry-specific challenges. By implementing change management strategies and monitoring performance through appropriate metrics, organisations can drive continuous improvement and operational excellence. Keeping an eye on emerging technologies ensures workflows remain competitive and adaptable to future business needs. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Agile HR: Revolutionising Human Resources in the Modern Workplace Agile HR is a modern approach to human resources management that aligns with Agile principles from software development. It emphasises adaptability, collaboration, and customer-centricity in HR processes. Agile HR encourages iterative improvements, cross-functional teams, and a focus on employee engagement to better support organisational goals and respond to changing business needs. In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, shifting market dynamics, and evolving workforce expectations, traditional Human Resources (HR) practices are undergoing a transformation. Enter Agile HR, a contemporary approach that adapts agile principles from software development and project management to HR functions. Agile HR has emerged as a game-changer, offering organisations the ability to stay flexible, responsive, and employee-centric. In this comprehensive exploration of Agile HR, we delve into its key principles, benefits, challenges, real-world applications, and best practices. Understanding Agile HR Agile HR is not a one-size-fits-all approach; rather, it is a mindset and set of practices aimed at reimagining how HR operates in a dynamic environment. At its core, Agile HR shares several key principles with agile methodologies used in software development, such as Scrum or Kanban. These principles include: 1. Iteration Agile HR operates in cycles or iterations, typically called sprints, where teams focus on specific HR initiatives, adapt as needed, and then move on to the next set of priorities. This iterative approach allows HR to respond promptly to changing business conditions and employee needs. 2. Collaboration Cross-functional teams consisting of HR professionals, managers, and employees work together to solve problems, improve processes, and achieve HR objectives. Agile HR fosters a culture of collaboration, breaking down traditional silos within HR and across the organisation. 3. Feedback Frequent feedback loops are established to ensure continuous improvement. Agile HR relies on regular check-ins and retrospectives to assess and adjust HR practices, enhancing the adaptability and effectiveness of HR initiatives. 4. Customer-Centricity Agile HR places employees at the center of its efforts, seeking to meet their needs and enhance their experiences within the organisation. This customer-centric approach ensures that HR practices align with the expectations and aspirations of the workforce. Benefits of Agile HR Enhanced Flexibility Agile HR enables organisations to swiftly respond to changing business conditions and employee needs. Teams can pivot and adapt without being locked into rigid, long-term plans. This flexibility is crucial in a rapidly evolving business landscape. Improved Employee Engagement By involving employees in decision-making and process improvement, Agile HR fosters a sense of ownership and engagement. Employees become active participants in shaping the workplace culture, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention rates. Faster Problem Resolution Agile HR's iterative approach allows for the timely identification and resolution of HR issues. Rather than waiting for annual reviews or assessments, teams can address problems promptly, resulting in a more agile and efficient HR function. Increased Innovation Encouraging experimentation and creativity, Agile HR fosters a culture of innovation. HR teams and employees alike are empowered to propose and test new ideas, leading to continuous improvement and adaptation to evolving needs. Better Talent Management Agile HR facilitates more effective talent acquisition and retention by focusing on employees' career development, skill enhancement, and well-being. By aligning HR practices with employee aspirations, organisations can attract and retain top talent. Challenges of Implementing Agile HR While Agile HR offers numerous advantages, it is not without its challenges: Change Management Transitioning from traditional HR practices to Agile HR can be met with resistance from employees and HR professionals accustomed to conventional processes. Effective change management strategies are essential to mitigate resistance. Cultural Shift Organisations must cultivate a culture of trust, transparency, and open communication to enable Agile HR to thrive. This cultural shift may require time and effort, as employees and leaders adjust to new ways of working. Skill Set Requirements HR teams may need to acquire new skills in areas like data analysis, facilitation, and agile methodologies to effectively implement Agile HR. Training and development initiatives may be necessary to bridge skill gaps. Scalability Agile HR may face difficulties when applied to larger organisations or those with multiple layers of hierarchy. Adapting agile principles to suit different contexts can be complex, and scaling Agile HR practices may require careful planning and customisation. Real-World Applications of Agile HR Several organisations have successfully adopted Agile HR principles to revolutionise their HR practices. Here are a few examples: Spotify Known for its innovative approach to HR, Spotify employs a "Squad" model, where cross-functional teams take ownership of HR initiatives. This model allows for rapid iteration and customisation of HR processes to suit the unique needs of each team. Spotify's Agile HR practices have contributed to its reputation as an employer of choice. ING Bank ING Bank embraced Agile HR to streamline its performance management system. They replaced traditional annual reviews with continuous feedback and coaching , resulting in increased employee satisfaction and productivity. ING Bank's Agile HR transformation demonstrates how iterative feedback can drive meaningful change in HR practices. Airbnb Airbnb employs Agile HR practices to adapt its HR policies to the diverse needs of its global workforce. The company uses regular "Pulse" surveys to gather employee feedback and adjust HR practices accordingly. Airbnb's customer-centric approach to HR has helped create a culture of inclusion and responsiveness. Zappos The online retailer Zappos implemented Agile HR practices, including holacracy, which eliminated traditional hierarchies and empowered employees to self-organise into teams. This approach has led to greater employee engagement and adaptability. Zappos' Agile HR journey showcases how unconventional HR structures can foster innovation and agility. Best Practices in Agile HR Implementation Successful Agile HR implementation requires careful planning and adherence to best practices: Leadership Buy-In Obtain leadership support and commitment to drive the Agile HR transformation. Leaders should champion the cultural shift and set an example for the rest of the organisation. Pilot Projects Start with small pilot projects to test Agile HR practices. This allows teams to learn and refine their approach before scaling up. Training and Development Invest in training and development programs to equip HR professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in an agile environment. Provide ongoing learning opportunities to stay up-to-date with best practices. Clear Communication Communicate the Agile HR journey clearly to all stakeholders. Transparency and open dialogue are essential to address concerns and maintain trust throughout the transformation. Feedback Loops Establish regular feedback loops with employees and teams. Use feedback to make informed decisions and continuously improve HR practices. Adaptability Be prepared to adapt Agile HR practices to suit the unique needs of your organisation. Flexibility is key to ensuring that Agile HR aligns with your specific context and goals. Conclusion Agile HR is a transformative approach that empowers organisations to navigate the complexities of the modern workplace. By embracing agile principles such as iteration, collaboration, feedback, and customer-centricity, HR functions can become more agile, responsive, and employee-centric. While there are challenges in implementing Agile HR, the benefits, including enhanced flexibility, improved employee engagement, and increased innovation, make it a worthwhile endeavor. As organisations continue to evolve, Agile HR is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of human resources management, driving employee satisfaction and organisational success. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations offer clarity and a well-defined pathway for you and your team to move forward confidently. Get Started

How To Create A Learning Organisation Becoming a learning organisation can help your business thrive. Organisational structure plays a crucial role in creating a learning environment. Published on: 12 Nov 2020 A Learning Organisation is one that is constantly improving itself and adapting to changing market conditions. In the 21st century only Learning Organisations will survive and thrive. How effectively each Learning Organisation learns will define which of that group survives. The ability of a company to quickly adapt will be a key differentiator between the winners and losers of tomorrow’s businesses. But change is hard for any organisation and us as individuals so learning how to create a Learning Organisation has to-date not been straight forward. Peter M. Senge coined the term “The Learning Organisation” in his book The Fifth Discipline. In the Fifth Discipline , he proposed Learning Organisations had these 5 characteristics: Systems Thinking You can think of a company as a living thing, made up of people as it is. The term Organisation contains the word “organ” which comes from the Greek Organon, meaning ‘organ’. Personal Mastery The capability for each employee to continuously improve their expertise in their respective roles. Mental Model This relates to the way we individually see the world, the organisation and ourselves. Positive behaviours and attitudes are needed to create a culture that promotes learning. Shared Vision A shared vision between the staff, managers, directors and owners on a personal and organisational level. Team Learning This is the ability of an organisation to easily share knowledge between staff, departments and functions. Command and Control Organisation To create a learning organisation we need to invert the organisational pyramid as a top-down, command and control model does not facilitate trust, openness or the sharing of information. It is a very transactional way of organising things with tightly defined job descriptions, roles, goals and targets which only serves to constrain learning. This is the clockwork view of running a business, a very mechanistic way of doing things. You might say 100 years ago or even 50 years ago it was the only way to run a business, to keep control. It was just easier to tell people what to do and when there is little competition and lots of demand, it didn’t much matter that employees didn’t much like it. It was the price they paid for having a job and an income. This model goes back to Frederick Winslow Taylor who is 1911 published his “The Principles of Scientific Management” on industrial organisation and decision theory. Essentially he believed work should be broken into small, very efficient work packages and the worker only got paid his full salary only if a good job was done, as defined by the manager. At that time the vast majority of the workers were manual workers with very few people in charge. Manual workers weren’t expected to design the process, just do the process. The thinking was that they were only motivated by their salary which they then only got if they followed the given process quickly and accurately. Now we have the Knowledge Worker, a term first used by Peter Drucker in 1966. The knowledge worker is rewarded for the use of their brains more than they are their hands. Knowledge workers don’t need or want to be told what to do, but instead helped and supported in their work to do it more effectively. This is another reason that the top-down, command and control organisational structure is yesterday’s organisational structure. From this point forward we can consider everybody to be a “knowledge worker”, even in a manual role as most people understand we all like to feel involved with what we do, not just doing it. How Does an Organisational Structure Create a Learning Environment? Organisational structure plays a crucial role in creating a learning environment within an organisation. An organisational structure that emphasises communication, knowledge sharing, learning opportunities, empowerment, and adaptability can create a conducive learning environment. By providing the necessary resources, support, and culture, organisations can foster a continuous learning mindset, leading to individual and collective growth. Here are some ways in which organisational structure can contribute to fostering a learning environment: 1. Clear Communication Channels: A well-defined organisational structure provides clear communication channels and reporting lines. This clarity ensures that information, knowledge, and feedback flow efficiently throughout the organisation. When communication is transparent and accessible, employees can easily share ideas, seek feedback, and learn from one another. 2. Knowledge Sharing: An effective organisational structure encourages knowledge sharing among employees. This can be achieved through various mechanisms such as regular team meetings, cross-functional collaborations, mentorship programs, and communities of practice. By sharing their expertise, experiences, and insights, employees can learn from one another and develop new skills. 3. Learning Opportunities: A learning-focused organisational structure provides formal and informal learning opportunities. It may include training programs, workshops, conferences, webinars, and other learning initiatives. By investing in employee development and providing resources for learning, organisations signal the importance of continuous learning and create an environment where individuals are encouraged to expand their knowledge and skills. 4. Empowerment and Autonomy: An organisational structure that promotes empowerment and autonomy enables employees to take ownership of their learning and growth. When individuals have the freedom to make decisions, experiment, and learn from their experiences, they become more engaged and motivated. This can lead to a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. 5. Learning from Mistakes: A learning environment encourages employees to view mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than failures. In a well-designed organisational structure, individuals are given the space to take calculated risks, learn from their mistakes, and share those lessons with others. This helps to foster a culture of learning, resilience, and adaptability. 6. Agile and Adaptive Structure: Organisations that embrace an agile and adaptive structure are better equipped to respond to changes in the business environment. This flexibility allows them to quickly learn and adapt to new challenges, market trends, and technological advancements. By promoting a culture of experimentation and learning, employees are encouraged to explore new ideas, test hypotheses, and continuously improve their work processes. How to Create a Learning Organisation In the command and control organisation the vision is just about where you’re heading, the destination. Employees are told what to think and believe, but if they want to know why they are doing something, the bigger picture, the vision gives them that. In the Learning Organisation, you need more in the Vision: Where are we heading, what is our destination? Where are we now? What do we believe, who are we? It’s advantageous to put this all into the Vision statement . When this isn’t the case, you lose focus, something you can’t afford to have in a Learning Organisation. Core values, behaviours, the vision and mission statements get diluted and forgotten. So whenever the Vision statement comes up, you remind yourself of who you are, where you are going and why you will get there. This is much more useful than just where you’re going. To be an effective organisation there needs to be alignment across all staff, roles, functions and departments to provide a clear sense of direction and purpose. So a common understanding of the challenges in front of us today, where the company is heading and why we can get there and who we are, is key. Without the top-down direction, only the values and beliefs of the organisation hold it together. These values and beliefs create the behaviours required of everybody to achieve the desired business goals. Awardaroo can help your company transform into a learning organisation. We’ll help you change your organisational structure from the traditional command and control and improve your company culture, to create a happier, more productive and profitable workplace. Find out more about our business improvement programme . Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Wellbeing in Decline in England A new report from Carnegie UK shows that wellbeing in England has decreased, while loneliness and mistrust in government has increased. A new report from Carnegie UK shows that wellbeing in England has decreased, while loneliness and mistrust in government has increased. A new report from Carnegie UK shows that wellbeing in England has decreased, while loneliness and mistrust in government has increased. Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe ) was developed by Carnegie Trust, as an alternative to GDP to give a measure of social progress less focused on economic progress. The latest GDWe score, based on ONS data, was 6.79 out of 10 for 2019/2020, whereas in 2018/2019 the score was 6.89. This is the lowest level since 2015/2016. Despite ONS GDP figures showing that the UK economy grew in the second quarter of 2021, this report presents a very different picture of UK wellbeing. The report reveals the decline in wellbeing started prior to the pandemic and continued to drop as the country entered lockdown in March 2020. Carnegie UK also predict that when they report on wellbeing again later in the year, this decline may be even worse. They're calling for a rethink on the use of economic data to measure post-pandemic recovery. Chief Executive of Carnegie UK, Sarah Davidson, said : "The things that affect our experience of life goes so much wider than simply things which are captured by economic data.... We're not saying that economic factors are not important, because they are, and the model of wellbeing that we talk about highlights the importance of balancing social, economic, environmental and democratic outcomes... In order to properly capture what's important to people's lives, you really need to measure all these things." The report reveals wellbeing fell in multiple measured areas with relationships and governance the most impacted. Trust in the government is at an all-time low, dropping from 31% in 2018/2019 to just 19% in 2019/2020. Similarly, the data reveals the number of UK adults feeling lonely has been increasing since 2017, jumping by 44% last year. The charity hopes the data can be used to influence policy decisions. So far 20 cross-party MPs have signed an early day motion in support of using GDWe to measure social progress. MPs who have sponsored the motion so far include Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, Labour MP Jon Cruddas, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse and Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts. Lucas, who initially endorsed the introduction of GDWe, stated: "The worrying decline in collective wellbeing is a sign that current government proiorities just aren't delivering for most people. Official measures of success like GDP growth don't translate into people feeling better about their lives." Previous Next Unlock Healthy Business Growth Discover strategies to enhance profitability, cultivate a greener and more sustainable business model, and elevate overall well-being. GET STARTED

Creating Green Growth and a Green Economy In terms of financial wealth, global GDP has increased significantly over the past few decades, resulting in rising living standards for millions of people worldwide. Published on: 4 Apr 2024 Move beyond sustainability to a regenerative, green economy We are living in an era of unprecedented prosperity , technological advancement, and global influence. In terms of financial wealth, global GDP has increased significantly over the past few decades, resulting in rising living standards for millions of people worldwide. In addition, technological advancements in medicine, communication, transportation, and energy have significantly improved quality of life and greater convenience and efficiency. Humans have achieved unprecedented political and economic power, with global superpowers wielding significant influence over world affairs. All these advancements have contributed to optimism and progress as people seek a brighter future filled with even more possibilities. However, it is essential to acknowledge that not all humanity has benefited equally from this progress. Significant challenges remain to be addressed, including poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. We need to create regenerative businesses Despite progress in many areas of human development, the rapid pace of climate change has become an overwhelming challenge affecting the entire planet . Here are some of the significant reasons we need to create green growth and a green economy. Rising temperatures: The Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.1C over the past century, causing heat waves, droughts, and increased frequency and intensity of wildfires. Extreme weather events: Climate change has led to more frequent and severe weather events, such as hurricanes, typhoons, and flooding, which can cause widespread damage and displacement. Sea level rise: As global temperatures rise, sea levels are also increasing due to the melting of polar ice caps and thermal expansion of the oceans which can lead to coastal flooding and erosion. Global sea levels have risen by some 10cm since 1993, according to NASA Ocean acidification: The absorption of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the ocean is causing the pH of the ocean to increase by 30% , which can significantly impact marine life. Loss of biodiversity: Climate change is causing ecosystem changes, resulting in biodiversity loss and many species extinction. Public health impacts: Rising temperatures can lead to increased heat-related illnesses and the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. Economic impacts: Climate change can have significant financial consequences, such as increased costs for disaster response and recovery, loss of productivity due to extreme weather events, and damage to infrastructure. Climate change has numerous impacts that pose significant threats to the environment, human health, and the global economy. Understanding the climate change debate Most of us think we are helping save our planet by eating the odd meat-free meal, turning lights off and driving electric cars. Is this enough? Four climate change facts Manufacturing a car creates the equivalent emissions of laying two metres of roads. We emit more CO2 from our homes than all the cars combined! During the covid pandemic when our consumption and travel was significantly reduced as we all stayed at home, emissions only reduced by 7%. 8% of CO2 emissions are released by the concrete manufacturing industry. Personal responsibility is quoted frequently. Going vegetarian, using a bike and putting solar panels on our homes is NOT ENOUGH . Plus people are hesitant or resistant to changing their daily lives or making sacrifices to slow global warming. The more affluent in our society create more greenhouse gas emissions than those with lower incomes. This is because wealthier individuals tend to have higher consumption levels, which often involves more energy-intensive lifestyles, such as larger homes, more frequent travel, and greater consumption of energy-intensive goods and services. According to research, the top 10% of income earners globally are responsible for approximately 50% of global carbon emissions . In contrast, the bottom 50% of income earners contribute to only around 10% of global emissions. However, it is important to recognise that taking action to address rapid climate change does not necessarily mean a drastic reduction in our quality of life or a complete overhaul of our daily routines. The public debate on climate change The Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate and that urgent action is needed to mitigate its impact. Many scientists agree that the Earth is experiencing rapid climate change, primarily due to human activities, including burning fossil fuels and deforestation. However, some still dispute the existence or severity of climate change or argue that it is a natural phenomenon that cannot be mitigated through human intervention. The debate is often polarised, with some advocating for immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to renewable energy sources. In contrast, others argue that such measures would be too costly and disruptive. The public debate on rapid climate change has significant implications for the future of the planet and human societies, and all voices must be heard and considered in the discussion. People are reluctant to have their comfortable lifestyles disrupted to save the planet. The political debate on climate change The political debate on rapid climate change is complex and often contentious . While some political leaders and parties acknowledge the need for urgent action to mitigate the impact of climate change, others either dispute its existence or downplay its significance . The debate is often driven by competing economic interests, with some arguing that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would harm industries and lead to job losses . In contrast, others point to the economic benefits of investing in renewable energy and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Political debates also centre on social justice and equity , with some arguing that developed countries bear a greater responsibility for reducing emissions, given their historical contribution to climate change. In contrast, others point out that developing countries are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. Ultimately, the political debate on rapid climate change has significant global policy and action implications . Therefore, political leaders must prioritise the urgent need for coordinated action to address this issue. The truth is no political system is doing an impressive job at becoming truly sustainable. Understanding the bigger picture of climate change Modern industrial society has indeed had a destructive impact on the planet. Rapid global warming is primarily caused by the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. The rapid growth of industries and technologies since the Industrial Revolution has led to increased pollution, deforestation, and depletion of natural resources, among other environmental problems. The increasing use of fossil fuels, for example, has led to a rise in global temperatures and climate change, which is causing severe weather events, sea level rise, and other negative impacts. Concrete, for example, is a cheap and easy building material , and it has been widely used in developing countries to build affordable housing. Concrete has several advantages, including its durability and ability to withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. It's also readily available and easy to work with. However, using concrete in construction also has negative environmental impacts, such as high carbon emissions from cement production and destroying natural habitats to extract raw materials. This has resulted in the loss of many species of plants and animals . While it's essential to provide affordable housing for growing populations in developing countries, it's also crucial to do so in a way that minimises environmental impacts and promotes regeneration. Many alternatives to traditional concrete construction can be more sustainable, such as using locally sourced and renewable materials like bamboo or straw bales or innovative building technologies like compressed earth blocks or recycled plastic bricks. The development of industrial agriculture , which relies heavily on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, has also led to soil degradation, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Feeding a growing global population will be a significant challenge . We will soon need to provide for 10 billion people, and food production will likely continue to emit greenhouse gases, and we need to figure out how to do that without emitting greenhouse gases. But, unfortunately, the nature of modern food production that requires fertilisers or manure, it is impossible to have zero-emissions food . Reducing meat consumption alone won't be enough to stop climate change. However, reducing meat consumption can help reduce emissions from livestock production and reduce the demand for land and resources required for animal feed production. The consumption of natural resources, such as timber, minerals, and freshwater, has also put a strain on the planet's ecosystems , and the waste generated by industrial societies has led to significant pollution of the air, water, and soil. Unfortunately, many conveniences and advancements that have made modern life easier, safer, and more comfortable have also negatively impacted the biosphere. More than fixing one small part of the industrial system is needed to address our complex and interconnected issues. Some barriers to implementing sustainable solutions include economic, political, and cultural factors. For example, powerful industries may resist changes threatening their profits, while governments may prioritise short-term economic growth over long-term regeneration. There may also be cultural barriers, such as a lack of awareness or understanding of the importance of, or a resistance to support regeneration . In some cases, people may not have the resources or infrastructure needed to implement sustainable solutions, such as access to renewable energy or public transportation. So, what can we do to address climate warming? Is it necessary for us to relinquish all the conveniences that provide us with comfortable living? People want change but not a drastic one! Is it impossible for less affluent nations to progress? Should we eliminate coal, gas, and oil from our energy sources? Should we put an end to construction involving concrete? Although some people reject nuclear energy , they are also opposed to wind or solar infrastructure . It will be impossible to create solutions without causing some unhappiness……. Create Regenerative Ethical Mindful (REM) Businesses “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” – Ernest Hemingway The most efficient approach to reduce CO2 emissions would be for affluent populations worldwide to abandon their current lifestyles , while those who are aspiring for a better standard of living refrain from pursuing it. Regeneratives businesses prioritise the welfare of the planet over personal comfort and recognise that financial prosperity is necessary to achieve this. While personal efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are commendable, they pale in comparison to the systemic reality of global emissions. Even the most motivated individuals can hardly make a significant impact . When we consider the dangers of rapid climate change, the vast scale of emissions, and the lack of consensus on how to address the issue, the challenge appears insurmountable. This can lead to decision fatigue and moral licensing, where individuals no longer feel guilty about engaging in counterproductive behaviours. Even if you were to eliminate 100% of your emissions for the rest of your life, it would only save one second's worth of emissions from the global energy sector. Holding Politicians to account for climate warming mitigating actions To effect systemic changes in technology, politics, and the economy at the scale required to address rapid climate change, it is imperative that we implement regenerative business execution and influence those who hold power. Politicians must recognise and appreciate the fact that people are concerned about this issue and that their success as leaders hinges on their ability to tackle climate change. When governments and local politicians are reluctant to alter laws that impact their major tax contributors or campaign donors, we must vote them out and replace them with individuals who value scientific evidence. Regenerative businesses can hold our leaders accountable for implementing the most effective climate change strategies, and focus on larger levers such as food, transportation, and energy, while also considering smaller ones like cement or construction. When industries resist changing their ways due to fear of losses or a genuine desire to protect their interests, it falls on politicians to amend laws and encourage the adoption of existing technologies. Massive investments in research and innovation are also required for fields that lack effective solutions. Profit interests and reducing carbon emissions are not mutually exclusive, and industries should prioritise the latter. However, if cooperation is not forthcoming , strict regulation and penalties may be necessary to compel change. It is unrealistic to expect quick global changes given the cost and time requirements of low-carbon technologies, but a clear and growing demand for them will drive innovation and efficiency, ultimately driving prices down. Affluent individuals can contribute to this by investing in these technologies now , while they remain expensive. The best approach to promote change is to vote with both your ballot and your wallet , recognising that some solutions may have negative impacts on our lives . It is important to accept that everyone will be a little unhappy, but that it is necessary to achieve progress. Everyone can contribute by altering their behaviour , such as eating less meat, reducing air travel, or driving an electric car, not out of guilt or the belief that they can solve climate change alone, but to play a small part in the necessary systemic change. Governments and individuals can play a crucial role in slowing down rapid climate change. Climate change is a global problem that requires a collective effort to address. Governments can enact policies and regulations to reduce carbon emissions, encourage the use of renewable energy sources, and promote energy efficiency. They can also invest in research and development of new technologies that can help mitigate the effects of climate change. Individuals can also make a difference by reducing their carbon footprint by using public transportation, reducing energy consumption in their homes, and making environmentally conscious choices in their daily lives. It is only through a joint effort that we can slow down rapid climate change and ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

10 Benefits of Becoming a Relational Business Discover the top 10 benefits of shifting from a transactional to a relational business model. Learn how prioritising people over profit enhances profitability, trust, innovation, and employee satisfaction Published on: 18 Jul 2019 Many businesses still operate with a transactional mindset—treating customers, employees, suppliers, and partners as mere exchanges for goods or services. This transactional culture, while common, often undermines profitability, employee engagement, and overall business productivity. The Cost of a Transactional Mindset Too many businesses focus solely on the bottom line, neglecting the human element that drives sustainable growth. A transactional culture can damage relationships with employees and customers, reducing engagement and innovation, ultimately impacting profits. Your company culture is the heartbeat of your business. If it's unhealthy, the business struggles—and without a healthy culture, growth becomes nearly impossible. In the same way, society has shifted toward measuring teachers by league tables and doctors by patient wait times, businesses are often reduced to metrics that fail to capture the essence of meaningful interactions. Take patient care, for example. How does a nurse feel about being measured by “care hours per patient per day”? Does this metric improve patient recovery? The reality is that quality time and care are vital to positive outcomes. In the same way, your business thrives by fostering meaningful relationships, not just transactional exchanges. Transactional vs Relational Businesses: What's the Difference? Transactional businesses focus on profit at all costs, treating interactions as one-off exchanges. While profit is essential for any business, an overemphasis on short-term gains can overlook the human aspect that drives long-term success. Employees miss out on a fulfilling workplace, customers receive impersonal service, and shareholders ultimately lose out on potential growth. On the other hand, relational businesses prioritise people—employees, customers, and other stakeholders. These businesses understand that the human experience fuels innovation, creativity, and sustainable growth. When employees are engaged and motivated, they deliver better customer experiences, creating a positive cycle that benefits the business as a whole. A relational approach fosters a culture of trust and collaboration, leading to higher employee satisfaction and retention, more innovative solutions, and improved customer loyalty. The Top 10 Benefits of Becoming a Relational Business Here’s why shifting to a relational model is not only beneficial but essential for long-term business success: 1. Increased Business Value A relational business builds value by focusing on long-term relationships rather than short-term profits. When your business prioritises people—employees, customers, and partners—over mere transactions, it creates a solid foundation for future growth. Strong relationships foster loyalty, and loyalty results in repeat customers, referrals, and sustained revenue streams. Over time, this creates intrinsic value for your business, enhancing its potential for higher valuations, whether you’re looking to expand, sell, or attract investment. 2. Stronger Trust Trust is the cornerstone of any successful business relationship. Relational businesses cultivate trust by prioritising transparency, consistency, and open communication. This fosters strong connections with both customers and employees. For customers, trust is built through reliable products or services and exceptional customer service. For employees, trust stems from a positive workplace culture where their contributions are valued. A business known for trust becomes a magnet for new customers and top talent, while also reducing churn and increasing overall satisfaction. 3. Higher Profit Margins Relational businesses are better positioned to justify higher prices and secure long-term customers due to the superior experiences they offer. By nurturing relationships with customers, these businesses can charge a premium for their products or services, as customers are willing to pay more for trust, reliability, and personalised service. Additionally, when employees feel valued and engaged, they are more productive, contributing to a more efficient and profitable business model. Ultimately, a relational business fosters value that allows for higher margins without sacrificing customer satisfaction. 4. Better Resilience Relational businesses have a competitive edge in times of economic uncertainty or market fluctuations. Their strong relationships with customers, employees, and suppliers provide a buffer during tough times. Customers who trust a brand are more likely to remain loyal, even when prices rise or market conditions change. Similarly, engaged employees are more adaptable, willing to work harder and innovate during difficult periods. This resilience means that relational businesses can weather economic storms and continue to grow, even in challenging environments. 5. More Stable Growth Unlike transactional businesses that often experience erratic sales cycles, relational businesses are more consistent in their growth. By building a loyal customer base and maintaining engaged employees, these businesses can achieve more stable, predictable growth. The focus on long-term relationships helps businesses move away from the feast-or-famine cycles of transactional models, allowing for more sustainable revenue streams. Additionally, relational businesses are better able to increase market share over time by cultivating deeper connections with their target audience and creating a strong brand presence. 6. Continuous Innovation Innovation thrives in a relational business environment. When employees are engaged and feel that their contributions matter, they are more likely to bring forward new ideas and solutions. This culture of innovation extends to customer interactions as well. A relational business listens to customer feedback and uses it to improve products, services, and customer experiences. By focusing on people-first strategies, these businesses can anticipate market trends, create cutting-edge products, and stay ahead of the competition. Innovation becomes an ongoing process, not just a response to external pressures. 7. Higher Staff Productivity Engaged employees are more productive, and a relational business model places employee well-being at its core. When employees feel valued, respected, and motivated, they are more likely to take ownership of their work, go the extra mile, and be proactive in solving problems. This leads to increased productivity, as motivated employees are not just working harder, but smarter. They collaborate more effectively, streamline processes, and contribute to the overall success of the business. The result is a workplace culture that maximises efficiency and drives better outcomes for both employees and customers. 8. Stronger Brands A relational business builds a brand that is rooted in trust, reliability, and customer satisfaction. A strong brand isn’t just about marketing—it's about creating meaningful experiences for your customers and fostering an emotional connection. Relational businesses prioritise the customer journey, ensuring that every touchpoint reflects the company’s values and commitment to quality. This creates a lasting impression and leads to a stronger brand reputation. A powerful brand attracts loyal customers and talented employees, and it has a better chance of withstanding market pressures and competition. 9. Lower Employee Turnover One of the most significant costs for businesses is employee turnover. Relational businesses reduce turnover by creating a workplace culture that values and engages employees. When employees feel that their work is meaningful, and that they are supported by the business, they are less likely to seek other opportunities. High employee retention leads to a more experienced, skilled workforce, which contributes to higher productivity and lower recruitment and training costs. Additionally, a stable workforce helps maintain continuity in customer relationships and ensures that the business’s values are consistently upheld. 10. More Positive Reviews In a relational business, customers receive superior service and have better experiences, which naturally leads to more positive reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations. Satisfied customers are more likely to share their experiences online, helping to boost the business’s online reputation and attract new customers. Positive reviews are essential in today’s digital world, where consumers often rely on them to make purchasing decisions. By focusing on building strong, positive relationships with customers, relational businesses are more likely to receive glowing reviews, further enhancing their credibility and attracting new clients. How to Transition from Transactional to Relational As you can see, the benefits of becoming a relational business far outweigh the costs. These businesses thrive by focusing on long-term relationships, fostering a culture of trust, and prioritising the human elements of business. By becoming a relational business, you’ll create a more resilient, innovative, and productive workplace. You’ll foster stronger connections with your customers, making them more likely to trust and spend with you. As a result, you’ll see improved customer experiences, increased positive reviews, and more word-of-mouth marketing. We can help you transform from a transactional business model to a relational one through our bespoke business improvement programme and unique productivity tools. Let’s work together to build a business that employees love working for, customers love dealing with, and that drives long-term profitability and success. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

How To Grow Your Estate Agency In thinking about how to improve your Estate Agency or Letting Agency, it’s worth considering what generates the most complaints, generally, when customers use their local High Street Estate Agency or Letting Agency. Published on: 3 Jan 2019 In thinking about how to grow your Estate Agency or Letting Agency, it’s worth considering what generates the most complaints, generally, when customers use their local High Street Estate Agency or Letting Agency. As an Estate Agency, how well do we manage customer satisfaction in these areas of our business? Communication and Records Keeping Marketing and Advertising Instructions, Terms of Business, Commission and Termination In House Complaints Handling As a Letting Agent, how well do we manage customer satisfaction in these areas of our business? Management Communications and Record-Keeping Tenancy Agreements, Inventories and Deposits In-house Complaints Procedure By looking at these areas through the eyes of your customer, you can identify opportunities for improved business performance . How to grow your estate agency: work on the basics All things need to start with the basics, you need to make sure those are in place first. If this was easy, everybody would have the basics in place, but they don’t. In any endeavour getting the basics right is where 80% of the results are. Then the last 10% or 20% is what marks out the champions from the rest. From eating, to living, keeping fit, to playing a sport, climbing a mountain, running a business, running an Estate Agency and Letting Agency, what basics need to be place? How much time is given to considering this in your business? Does everybody agree what they are? How are these basics being measured? 5 Estate Agency basics when taking a call: Greet the caller nicely, with a welcome, a nice a “Hello” and offer of help. This first impression matters. The caller will be stressed, they’ll need a cool, calm and confident call handler. If you’re rushed, you’ll lose this caller and potentially their friends too. Show real and genuine interest in the caller and their situation. They need to feel you’re there for them first, not yourself and your properties. Agents should give their name when taking a call. We see this alone improves call outcomes. The agent feels a greater sense of ownership and the caller higher levels of trust. Take contact details carefully, confirming spelling when needed. Be sure to record their situation and desired goals completely. Ask if you can help further at the end off the call. This can catch missed opportunities and helps to avoid the agent putting the phone down too quickly on the caller. The basics need define a minimum level of customer service, not job function or property requirements. Growing your Estate Agency is like growing any business You need more valuations, with an increased conversion rate, increased instructions, on higher fees, using you more than once, who refers you to family and friends. If you did that, within days and weeks your business would be on a different and much improved trajectory. Attract more valuations Increase valuation conversion rate to instructions Increase your fees (by not discounting them in the first place) Get customers to use you again (keep in touch with them on anniversaries etc) Increase viewings Increase your referrals, and back to 1) As you can see, there is a virtuous circle there. Increasing referrals is the easiest form of marketing. How can you achieve that? When did you last run a customer satisfaction survey? Maybe a while ago. Without that survey, it’s harder to develop that virtuous circle. Awardaroo can help you grow your estate agency with our business improvement coaching, customised for your industry. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

10 Ways To Increase Business Productivity Workplace productivity is vital for business success. Improving employee productivity is the first step you should take to grow your business and increase profitability. Published on: 4 Feb 2021 Workplace productivity is vital for business success. Improving employee productivity is the first step you should take to grow your business and increase profitability. Yet, despite how important productivity is to business survival, UK productivity is 21% lower than the rest of the G7 and continues to struggle year on year. In the face of a global pandemic and economic uncertainty, it is time to reverse this statistic and prioritise workplace productivity to ensure the survival of both the UK economy and its businesses. Business owners can no longer afford to overlook the importance of business productivity and its profound benefits. High levels of workplace productivity not only boost business growth, improve profit margins, and create happier workers but are also integral to the success of the country. Productive and profitable companies contribute more to the UK economy. As the country becomes richer, the standard of living rises and generates more money to be spent on health, education and welfare. How to Use Conversation Intelligence to Boost Business Productivity and Engagement When we think of business productivity, it's often seen as a high-level strategy reserved for CEOs. However, the reality is that productivity gains (or losses) happen on the ground, in everyday interactions – especially over the phone. Despite the rise of digital channels, phone calls remain vital for industries like real estate, car dealerships, and service-based businesses. For many, the phone is the direct line to their customers, influencing both sales and service outcomes. The Hidden Productivity Gap Many businesses still assume polite phone manners are enough. But in today’s customer-driven landscape, this approach falls short. Phone interactions are key moments to improve productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement. Enter conversation intelligence – a technology that analyses call data to uncover actionable insights. When used as part of a Business Impact Assessment (BIA) , it can highlight performance bottlenecks and identify growth opportunities. What is Conversation Intelligence? Conversation intelligence refers to tools that measure call engagement efficiency and effectiveness. More advanced tools assess the content of calls, revealing communication gaps and training needs. This holistic view allows businesses to refine processes, ensuring teams are performing at their best. Why Conversation Intelligence Matters for Productivity Without data-driven insights, phone-based productivity issues often go unnoticed. Through call analysis, businesses can address: Call answering quality Customer experience gaps Conversion opportunities Let’s dive deeper into how conversation intelligence can drive improvements. 1. Improve Call Answering Call agents are the first point of contact for many businesses. Their ability to engage, respond, and problem-solve directly impacts productivity. Conversation intelligence reveals areas where agents excel and where additional training is needed. Key focus areas include: Being welcoming and proactive Demonstrating technical knowledge Handling calls efficiently and positively Addressing these gaps can elevate customer service levels, boosting retention and brand trust. 2. Enhance Customer Experience The phone is a critical touchpoint in the customer journey. Repeated calls for simple queries, like appointment confirmations, can drain productivity. Conversation intelligence pinpoints these inefficiencies, allowing businesses to automate processes or update FAQs. For instance: Problem: High call volume for appointment reminders Solution: Automate SMS/email reminders Proactively improving these areas not only reduces unnecessary calls but enhances the overall customer experience. 3. Increase Conversions By refining call processes and improving engagement, conversation intelligence directly contributes to higher conversion rates. Employees spend more time on meaningful calls, and customers experience smoother interactions. Detailed call reports highlight opportunities, guiding teams to focus on high-impact areas. Over time, these optimisations lead to: Increased sales conversions Enhanced customer loyalty Higher employee satisfaction Conversation intelligence isn’t just about tracking calls – it’s about creating smarter workflows that drive sustainable growth. By integrating it into your business impact analysis, you can unlock hidden productivity and stay ahead in competitive markets. Follow these steps to improve workplace productivity, grow your business and get a better night’s sleep. 10 Ways to improve business productivity Good leadership improves business productivity The role of the 21st century leader is to motivate and inspire their staff to work towards a shared goal. Start by ensuring all staff are aware of how their roles fit into the organisation and the importance of their contribution to the business. Engaged staff who feel valued in the workplace will reward you with increased levels of productivity. It is also vital to address your employees’ needs, encourage wellbeing, eliminate stress and show understanding during difficult periods in their lives. In return, your team members will feel appreciated and supported which increases loyalty, engagement and ultimately, productivity. Positive work cultures are more productive A healthy work culture inspires innovation, collaboration, happiness, wellbeing, engagement and job satisfaction. When an organisation is struggling with their employee productivity, it is essential to examine the current company culture. A toxic company culture can cause animosity between staff which hinders collaboration; employees lack direction which results in wasted time and undervalued employees simply lack the motivation to perform productively. Happy workers show up consistently, are more engaged with the business, seek to solve problems and, as a result, contribute more valuable and productive work. Employee wellbeing boosts workplace productivity Improving employee wellbeing reduces absenteeism and employee burnout. Workers with improved wellbeing have increased energy and are in a better headspace to devote more of their time and attention to the task at hand. There is much more emphasis placed on a good work/life balance today than there was 50 years ago. Millennials value health, wellbeing and job satisfaction more than their predecessors. Implementing an employee wellness programme can be a great way to improve happiness and boost productivity. A survey by Deloitte in 2018 found that 61% of employers said their wellbeing programme improved employee productivity and bottom-line business results. Improve employee performance through training and development Ongoing employee training and development is vital to business success. When employees learn new skills or enhance their existing ones it raises their confidence, inspires innovation, brings new skills to the workplace and boosts employee satisfaction. On the other hand, when an employee lacks the skills needed to perform their job efficiently, time will be wasted and mistakes made. Confident, happy and innovative employees will increase business productivity. Research has shown that employees could be up to 28% more productive with better training. Goal-setting improves business productivity Setting Stretch Goals can be a great way to boost business productivity. A stretch goal is a target goal that is incredibly challenging and ambitious. It can even be deemed the ‘impossible’ dream. Managed in the right way stretch goals encourage employees to think outside the box, push themselves to come up with new solutions and require a renewed commitment to the project. Both personal and business growth occurs when we are push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and take risks. As we uncover new strategies in our attempt to reach these goals, we are able to improve processes and find more productive solutions. It is key to encourage experimentation but not to reprimand failure. Confidence will begin to waver and no one will want to take on future challenges, knowing they might receive negative feedback if they fail. Even when stretch goals aren’t met, positive progress and new ideas will have been made along the way. Offer incentives to boost worker productivity Everyone responds well to praise and we crave appreciation for hard work. A simple thank you or a small token of appreciation in the workplace improves productivity, boosts happiness and creates loyalty. Putting a reward and recognition scheme in place improves productivity, increases job satisfaction, boosts happiness and creates loyalty. A survey by Workhuman found that 79% of people work harder when recognised for their efforts and a considerable 78% cited increased productivity as a result. Employee empowerment increases organisational productivity Empower your staff by involving them in the decision making and giving them control over their own work. You need to listen to their ideas, challenge them to think outside the box and allow them to make relevant decisions. It shows trust and loyalty and, as a result, employees will become more engaged with the business goals. Being ordered to do something tends to negatively impact on our motivation. However, when we’re included in the decision-making we feel part of the bigger picture and our productivity improves as a result. Empowered employees are more likely to go the extra mile for you. A study found that those with a high level of empowerment came in at the 79th percentile of engagement, compared with just 24% from less empowered employee. Engaged staff exhibit better workplace productivity levels. Flexible working can improve productivity Flexible working allows for a better work/life balance with increased childcare opportunities, less time wasted travelling and helps prevent employee burnout. Employees who are tired, stressed and resent the rigidity of the workplace are less likely to be engaged and productivity will suffer as a result. A recent survey by Locatee found that just 7% of respondents wanted to go back to working from the office full time after the pandemic. This is a stark indicator that full-time office working is not in the best interests of employees. Allowing a blended approach to office and home working could help increase workplace productivity and improve employee wellbeing. Effective communication is vital to increase workplace productivity Effective internal communication is central to all business goals. It avoids confusion, encourages teamwork, allows for collaboration, provides purpose and creates a positive company culture. Employees need to be given effective and clear briefs for each task. Employees who are informed and clear about their goals are more likely to perform tasks with increased confidence and direction, improving their productivity. Additionally, management should be available for staff at all times and foster a culture of open, honest and transparent communication. When staff feel they can ask questions, it provides quick clarification and avoids costly mistakes Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Ryan Sandford-Blackburn-discusses-permaculture Ryan Sandford Blackburn of Earthedup Discusses Permaculture Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) seeks to protect, restore, and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, and mountains. Permaculture, a holistic design approach, plays a pivotal role in achieving this goal. Permaculture principles guide us in creating harmonious, self-sustaining environments that mimic nature's resilience and diversity. By integrating permaculture into land management practices, we can regenerate degraded landscapes, prevent deforestation, and foster biodiversity. Permaculture encourages agroforestry, organic farming, and water conservation techniques, minimising soil erosion and habitat destruction. This synergy between SDG 15 and permaculture empowers communities to safeguard Earth's vital ecosystems while ensuring long-term food security and sustainable resource utilisation. Paul I found quite an interesting definition of permaculture, "To create resilient and regenerative systems that reduce the impact on the environment while enhancing human well being." So I think it's spot on for what we're trying to do here at Awardaroo. And it's also it's a great podcast for us to be doing because we've already covered indoor vertical farming, green roofs and biodiversity, rewilding and conservation for kids. So perhaps if you could start by telling us a little bit about Earthed Up , please. Ryan Earthed UP is a plant nursery we're a very small and young plant nursery founded in 2021. We operate as a workers co-operative. We're a registered society. So there's three of us, all directors and all getting our hands dirty literally and metaphorically. So we all have our own plants, the edible and useful plants. So they have wonderful places in our garden where we grow them ourselves and then propagate from them. Paul Okay. So and if you could tell us a little bit about permaculture then, and you're interest in permaculture. Ryan Permaculture, help me co-found the nursery. It's a design system that for me helps get stuff done. And I think what we're seeing at the moment is there's a lot to be done. There's a lot of changes happening to us. It can feel like. Permaculture allows us to design those changes and implement them. So positive Permaculture allows us to take positive action and design those changes for ourselves. And at the core are three ethics care of the earth, care of people and fair shares, making sure there's enough to go around. Paul And is this something that you think that you know, we should all be doing, we should all be working towards? Ryan I think for most people those ethics will ring true. I haven't found anyone that will disagree. If we've got a healthy, happy planet, we're looking after people and we're making sure there's enough to go around now and for future generations. Like nobody can argue with that. And I think the vast majority of the population are working towards that. Whether they consciously know that or not, what they can offer us by studying it and by practising it is a framework to more consciously operate in that way. Paul Okay. So I think there are the challenges we have, I think around energy, transport, waste and obviously taking care of the environment and the social side of things as well. And so permaculture really I suppose helps with all of that, doesn't it? Because if we're growing things locally and we're managing things more locally, then we're cutting down on energy, transport, you know, we're reducing food waste and taking care of the environment and we're engaging people locally. So it seems to take all the boxes. Ryan Yeah, not a lot then, hey. And it's it's hard to find many disciplines that are so all encompassing. And I think one of the pillars in the strengths of permaculture to me is that it is holistic and it does see that everything's connected. Yeah, so it's systems based. What do we mean by systems? You know, we've got transport systems, education systems, financial systems, all kinds of invisible systems make, you know, global society or in countries and regions and villages, even at a parish level. We also have in our back gardens, you know, our compost system. Maybe it's as simple as lifting the lid, chucking these scraps in there, ignoring it for a couple of years. Right. It permaculture works at that systems level and it sees the whole world and it also pieces together the detail in cool ways actually, like there's loads of people using really cool practices as part of their permaculture design. So there's a lot that permaculture has been used to design across the world. What Permaculture Association 2015 we published a study called Next Big Step and that was studying what the global permaculture network looks like. And we know that it's in most countries around the world that people practicing permaculture everywhere, right? At least 3 million people that have studied a design core. So that's like the the gold standard of permaculture education. It's many millions more that have dipped their toes in it just below that level. On an introduction to permaculture course, or they've gone to a talk or they have read a great book about it. So there's loads of people everywhere and it has been used to design kitchen cupboards. Yeah, they're crazy sensible. Think of it up to the food distribution system for a region in northern India and it's okay. That's why it's really hard when you Google what is permaculture to get one definition that sticks because there's probably as many definitions as there are people using it because it's holistic and it's all encompassing and and you've got those core ethics. So for me, you can't point at something and go, that's permaculture, right? As it's communicated in that way. And someone says, Hey, I used a permaculture design process to get to this end result. Right where we are now, there is no end, right? Everything goes in cycles. So yes, it's been used to distort, to design, transport systems, food distribution systems, community composting schemes and so on. And so on. So I think the key thing is to to learn the philosophy and the design tools and connect network of people that are using it. Paul And tell us a little bit about about the Permaculture Association. Ryan The Permaculture Association, 40 years old this year. They're a charity registered charity in England and Wales and Scotland. Yeah, and they've been going going for 40 years teaching people about permaculture and connecting them through events and it's on the front of it as simple as that. And remember, permaculture is holistic and is used in many different places in many different ways. So right, there's so much work to do. The advocates, association staff and members are excellent networkers and they connect with their friends of Earth groups, political parties, businesses, all sorts of organizations on different levels. And what I see is the real strength is their networking and bringing people together, synthesizing that effort and kind of bringing it to the front and continuing that momentum. Paul Right. Okay. So it's a it's a fantastic philosophy. I think it's where we'd all like to get to, if you like, you know. BE But there are challenges with something like this and scaling this up. And, you know, one of the reasons we're not doing this would be just time. People don't have the time to grow their own. Ryan I think also making time to consciously design and decide what we're going to do and kind of step back from the race for a second. Paul Right. Ryan And not just just to add another metaphor, not just to be on that hamster wheel. Yeah. No, it's a small mammals, but just keep going, keep going, keep going. More, more, more. Yeah. I think what we've learned in recent years as a result of the pandemic and all of the effects societally from that is that if we do have a chance to just pause and step back and and look at ourselves and what we're doing, we might then make some changes for better. Own lives at work, in how we travel, in how we enjoy our time and how we spend our money. Right? Everybody that has this choice, that has the privilege to be able to step back and take a look at their life can do so and think that is is this the most ethical path I'm taking to care for the effort, to care for myself, and to make sure there's enough resources to go around now and in the future? Paul it seems that this would work best at the community level where people can get together and share knowledge and skills and obviously just make the economics of it work. Ryan We have to work together. That's what we do as a species and we have to work with other species. Okay, We we know that we have to plant more trees for example. We know we have to create more habitat for insects. We know that we have to build the soil so they can store the carbon and feed us. We have to work together holistically. So we have to work in community, Sure, with lots of other people and all the other resources in our environment too. Right. If we're just going to be extractive, then imagine that person in your community that's always take, take, take. Don't get along. Well, it doesn't it doesn't build happiness and health. So if we can just give and keep giving to our community, share our skills, share our abundance, we've got a garden full of courgettes and runner beans. It's July. I think a lot of us growers do at the moment, you know, Give it away. Yeah, maybe then some people will exchange with you and they'll get back some lettuce or some pound coins. You know, we have to work together and we have to find ways to keep scaling out as well as scaling up our efforts. Right. If you if I just think about the neighborhood I live in, you know, 150 houses, we don't have a center, we don't have shops, services, etc.. We're near a main road and 150 houses. I don't know how many people that is at least 500, I think. And there's lots of families. It's a it's a mixed neighbourhood. If we could all work together and we had a conscious permaculture design for just our neighbourhood that would be so impactful to so many people, I think we'd get a lot more food grown, we'd share a lot more tools, we'd totally change how how we work and how we commute and child care. And the first step towards that would be bringing us together. And like I say, we don't have you know, we don't have a shop, we don't have a a village hall. We're just, you know, stuck on the side of a hillside on the edge of a town. Paul Can you tell us a little bit about the history of permaculture? Ryan There's many points in history I could start a story of permaculture. I want to go back maybe 500 years and let's, let's think about how indigent US communities around the world were surviving and thriving in those times. We don't have to pick on any community in particular. I think the best pattern to look at is that they're working with nature. Okay, We think about indigenous tribes now in the Amazon that they've really integrated into the rainforest. They work with the species that they're alongside every day to help themselves thrive for medicine, for shelter, for food. Now let's fast forward to the 1970s to Australia. Didn't know we were going to land there. Did you know that? We have to. Mollison, who's teaching at the university of Tasmania and Bill Bailey, left school when he was 16. He'd worked in fisheries, he worked in forest, he worked with timber, he worked in different natural ecosystems. And then he started to teach and what he realised was Mother nature's got is sussed. She doesn't find it hard, You know, if if humans can act more like nature, then it would be a lot more efficient and a lot healthier to live and thrive on this planet. So he started to put this to the test. And fast forward a few years. David Holmgren, one of his students, jumped on board and said, Yeah, I want to help you test these theories and I see you doing that. And so, so they started doing it, it being permaculture and books were published and they all sent out students of permaculture around the world to, to spread the message. And he said, we need an army of land workers to spread the word of permaculture Now that feels like it puts the cult into permaculture. Okay, we've got to say that. it's a criticism I've heard and I get it. And it was because it was the 1970s. I wasn't there. I've got to put my hands up and say, I don't remember those times I wasn't born. That permaculture started to spread across the world and in the UK we had pioneers like Rod Everitt teaching people about permaculture. We had the first people that were just trying it out across the country and, and setting up smallholdings and farms and gardens. So can't just come in with a quick question. Paul So what. I'm not, what I'm not really understanding at the moment is what were they doing that was new or radical or different to what was already happening. Ryan So what was different about permaculture? It was at a time where the Limits to Growth report had been published. Quintessentially said all of our natural resources that we're extracting have their limits. You know, peak oil will come or all these natural resources will run out. So with those core ethics of earth care, people care, fair shares in particular limiting growth, living consciously and there were lots of other similar movements at the time, but what permaculture did was put it all together and take action. Okay, so we've got the ethics, we've got the principles which go further into how nature works and we've got some design systems and the first published books were really practical and permaculture initially was permanent agriculture and then over time got contracted to permanent culture because of the plastic nature of it. So growing things differently is how it started. Perennial Systems. So an annual intensive system, you may picture a tractor with a plow year on year digging up the soil acre you know, acres upon acres, sowing the same species. The whole field of wheat or corn or maize will have you fertilizing that with chemical fertilizer, spraying that with insecticide, adding fungicide and so on. So that's really limiting diversity. What perennial permaculture growing systems typically look like is abundant diversity and a bit chaotic. Okay, If you walk into a forest and it's in straight lines, it's probably because it was planted after World War One by people. If you go to West Wales and you look at some of the last remaining rain forest in the UK, it's chaos. Okay, there's the ponds and Brooks, there's there's fallen trees and insect galore and all of the undergrowth and brambles you have to scramble over and it's going to take a long time to get through that woodland. Permaculture mimics those natural systems. Okay, so it tries to be like a woodland edge where you've got that meeting of two systems, you've got the meadow and the woodland somewhere in the middle. We've got this really abundant edge. Imagine the brambles and the haze or the wildflowers in the herbs is a lot for humans to interact with there. So if we, you know, chaotically jumble that all together, then you've got diversity. However, it's quite inefficient. You know, you've got to look at I go, how am I going to harvest that? They're all the way deep in there and how am I going to do? Permaculture mimics Woodland Edge, but it doesn't recreate it, it's inspired by it and it works with nature. Paul Okay. All right. Okay. So thanks very much for that explanation, Ryan. That's so a lot clearer about, you know, about its history and its journey to this point and what is trying to achieve for everybody. Um, it just really but the scaling of it I think is obviously the challenge, isn't it? I mean, monocultures exist because they're so efficient feeding, you know, vast numbers of people. We know that they're, we know that they are perhaps the future or maybe they are the future, but not the way that they're implemented at the moment. So are farmers, the industry, adopting permaculture in the way that they're managing land and in the way that they in their land management practices? Ryan There's no one solution that's going to feed us all. If we've got lots of tools in our toolkit, then we're more likely to succeed. And permaculture is full of tools and it gives a framework. So how do you say that monoculture farming is really efficient? I think if we look at the numbers, it's not in terms of water use, in terms of soil fertility and health of plants and health of the people it's feeding. It's just not particularly efficient. Now, monoculture is a kind of a broad stroke pattern. It depends. You know, we might have a market garden bed of ten meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and it's just lettuce That's not exactly the same as 50 acres of maize. Yeah, right. We have to look at it in context as well, because the lettuce might be beside some dill that's allowed to flower and it's attracting loads of hover flies Paul It might be alongside lots of other diverse beds. So it's not. Yeah, but try not to be reductionist and I think that's difficult for a lot of us because our education system, Victorian education system, is reductionist and we learn a little bit at a time and as we get older we get a little bit more and a little bit more and maths sits in that box and literacy is in that box and geographies over there somewhere. A garden is a great place for people to learn and you see that it doesn't fit neatly into a box. Ryan So yeah, no, I completely agree with you in saying that. And it's, you know, everything's driven by the economics at the end of the day, isn't it? So, but the economics are changing. You know, that's, you know, in the 21st century, as we're all quickly realizing that we need to put more value on nature and permaculture is certainly a way for us to be doing that and implementing it. Paul But on the otherside of this then would be just knowledge and skills that are required in order to be able to adapt to or to be able to create a permaculture or to implement permaculture because, you know, a lot of people don't have green fingers, do they? So do you have to have green fingers to get involved with permaculture Ryan So the vast majority of people in the world are fed by small farmers and growers. It's a myth that big agriculture feeds the most people. It doesn't. And this is from the United Nations. FOA. that that's one of the focuses a couple of years ago was on small farmers. LA Via Campesina is the largest workers union in the world and it's of land workers and peasant workers that grow food and feed people and they grow fiber and clothe people. It does take a lot of people. At the center permaculture is the prime directive, which says the only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children. I don't understand why every one of us should rely on lots of other people to feed and clothe and warm us. We can take some of that responsibility to look after ourselves and our families. Right? And I think it's really powerful when we do that. Now, you said not everybody has green fingers. That's right. And when I'm stood in a market store selling plants, I get one of two reactions. I get people come up to me and say, Oh, mint, I've got enough mint. I could sell that to you. Ha! You know, Right? Yeah. Isn't it brilliant when you give it the right conditions that it thrives? We allow things. The right conditions. They can thrive. That works with people to the other reaction I get is, Oh, these look really nice. I'm not going to get anything because I always kill things like you like to try to kill plants. No, no, they just die. Yeah, that's right. They just die and they feed other things. And then other things come to life. Oh, yeah, Because I've got loads of poppies in the garden and they're pristine, they're lovely, and the bumblebees love them, but. All right, well, you did that. Yeah, I guess so. But I didn't have to do anything. But isn't that good? Look, all of these plants, we've got that perennials, once you've bought them, once they do their own thing and you don't have to do much, that's the case for most plants. Unless we're trying to grow some exotic orchid. No. Yeah. So there's a lot of potential in a lot of people. And what I've seen over several projects over the years is a lot of people need some self-confidence. Boost right? That's not saying that we want loads of arrogant people walking around the streets. You can be confident with compassion right? Okay. That confidence in an ecological definition is something like there's enough resources to maintain the system. So people need to be sure they have enough resources to maintain their own system, like their body and their health. And I think what we're seeing at the moment with a quote unquote cost of living crisis. We can take some of that responsibility into our own hands and choose what it costs for us to live. But that comes with a load of loaded privilege. A lot of people don't have the choice to do much different to what they're doing. They can't just go out and start a garden. It's not as simple as that. How much can they feed themselves anyhow? That's not what I'm saying. Saying we can grow a bit and we can grow a concentration of really nutrient dense food. We power ourselves with that knowledge of what we can forage, what we can find in our gardens already, what we can introduce, that's that's lower for. Yeah. And then we can talk about that with other people in our communities, whether they're the face to face local communities or online communities. And I think we just have to keep building up that confidence, building up those resources that give us the confidence to share that knowledge, you know, find something online, listen to this podcast series. There's loads of great inspiring ideas from from a range of of speakers. I've been enjoying catching up on it. Find an online course, you know, watch YouTube videos, find a book library. There's loads of ways that we can do it. And I think then the powerful thing is coming together with other people on that learning journey and chatting with them and doing it together. Paul Has there been much government support for yourself and Earth up? Ryan We know there are lots of government ministers that know about permaculture and have said that they're supportive of it and they would like to know more and to support it further. I think it helps to also talk about reducing waste and saving energy like we start by we said at the start of the podcast because that is a big problem, isn't it? If we you know, if we use less, that's half the battle actually. And permaculture, going back to the way we started the podcast does a lot for that. You know, it reduces transport, reduces energy, reduces packaging and yeah, I think that's almost where it stops in a sense, you know, doing things locally, more efficiently and, and you know, so we're not producing things halfway around the world that we can create locally would seem to be a good plan if we're to take on the challenges of the 21st century. Paul What's the future of Permaculture. Do you think, then, Ryan Ryan That nobody likes waste. I've just got Charlie McGee from Edible Veg Soundsystem song in my head. There's no such thing as waste because in nature there is no such thing as waste. Everything goes in cycles. When things die, they give get room to life. So there's no such place as a way. We know that. Yeah, we're conscious of that. That if our plastic is listed on the floor, ends up in the river, it ends up in the ocean. Yeah, we know about the Pacific Garbage patch. We know about the source of that pollution. And it's really disempowering to go into the supermarket and see everything wrapped in plastic and you go, But I haven't really got a choice because I can't afford to shop somewhere else. I don't have the time. So really we need to keep pushing and and being really visible about our ethics, saying, Hey, we don't want organic stuff wrapped in plastic. Can you do that loose like the other stuff too. The future is what I'm saying is a lot more people discovering it, a lot people coming together in lots of different ways, whether it's on a Reddit forum through a podcast Permaculture Convergence in London this September. Shameless plug for that awesome event. Come, come together and do more. And we need to think about taking responsibility for our own existence. Can we grow a bit of our own food together? Can we source some would fuel more locally to heat our homes. What can we do to help ourselves locally with others? Paul Okay. All right. Thanks very much, Ryan, for that. And if people want to engage with you at Earthed Up, how can they do that? How can they find you? Ryan Find out about all the things we're doing at EartherUp.com Send us an email If you've got any questions about what we do, hopefully you can come and visit the nursery. We're launching mail order plants this autumn and we've got a full program of events and courses. Paul Okay, great. Well, thank you very much for your time on this podcast. Right. And, you know, clarifying what permaculture is and how we're all going to benefit from it if we know we can get more involved with it. Thanks again. Ryan Thanks, Paul Paul Thanks, Ryan Previous Next

Improving Workplace Communication Skills with DISC Personality Assessments Unlock Effective Communication Strategies with DISC Insights for a More Collaborative and Productive Workplace Published on: 28 Nov 2024 Enhance your workplace communication skills by leveraging tools like DISC personality assessments. These assessments can help you identify areas for growth, encourage seeking feedback, and practice communication strategies that work for everyone in your organisation. Why Communication Skills Matter at Work Research shows that 42% of all workers are in roles where communication skills are more crucial than analytical, mechanical, or managerial skills. This means that, for a vast number of people, their ability to communicate effectively is far more important than their technical expertise. Telephone communication skills , for example, are essential for building relationships and resolving issues efficiently. However, learning and development strategies often neglect to prioritise communication improvement. Using DISC for Better Communication DISC personality assessments can be powerful for enhancing communication, teamwork, and collaboration. The DISC model categorises personality traits into four primary styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Understanding these styles helps employees develop self-awareness and appreciate how others prefer to communicate. With this knowledge, you can tailor your communication to different styles, reducing misunderstandings and fostering better interactions. DISC also promotes empathy, as you start to value the strengths and working styles of your team, improving overall dynamics. Defining Communication Skills Communication skills are a broad set of abilities, including verbal and non-verbal communication, listening, and negotiation. They involve any method we use to convey information and engage with others. Effective communication requires adapting your style based on context—how you communicate with a manager may differ significantly from how you interact with a colleague. Categories of Communication Skills Verbal Communication : Clear and concise speech to convey information. Non-Verbal Communication : Body language, facial expressions, and tone. Listening : Active engagement to fully understand and respond to others. Negotiation : Finding mutually agreeable solutions to issues. Conflict Resolution : Navigating and resolving disagreements constructively. The Impact of Communication Skills at Work Strong communication skills are essential in professional settings. They improve teamwork, reduce friction, and lead to more productive relationships. Regardless of your position, the ability to communicate well can accelerate your career by making you a more effective collaborator. Even in technical roles, communication remains critical, particularly when interacting with colleagues, clients, or stakeholders. Leaders, in particular, benefit from strong communication skills. Clear, empathetic communication can improve team morale, foster engagement, and create a sense of shared purpose. Moreover, these skills extend beyond work, enriching your relationships with friends and family. Communication Skills and Workflow Efficiency Developing effective communication skills is vital for creating smooth workflows. Clear instructions, active listening, and open dialogue can streamline processes and foster trust within teams. Just as detailed procedures improve operational efficiency, consistent and transparent communication reduces errors and enhances team performance. Top 10 Communication Skills for Workplace Success Emotional Intelligence : Manage your emotions and recognise their impact on others. Humility : Show respect by acknowledging both your successes and those of your peers. Empathy : Understand and connect with the perspectives of colleagues. Active Listening : Be present and engaged to minimise misunderstandings. Authenticity : Communicate honestly to build trust. Non-Verbal Awareness : Recognise that body language often conveys more than words. Clear Language : Use precise words to avoid confusion and enhance clarity. Conflict Resolution : Tackle issues constructively, focusing on solutions. Collaboration : Work cohesively with others to maximise team potential. Recognition : Regularly acknowledge the efforts of colleagues to boost morale. Steps to Improve Your Communication Skills Take a DISC Assessment : Identify your communication style and learn how to adapt to others. Seek Feedback : Understand how your communication impacts others and align this with your DISC profile. Reflect Regularly : Analyse past interactions and consider how to improve. Invest in Training : Participate in workshops that focus on interpersonal communication, tailored to your needs. Stay Consistent : Practice your skills daily to make effective communication second nature. By improving your communication skills, you can build better relationships, streamline workflows, and contribute to a more harmonious and productive workplace. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

How to Improve Staff Performance Are there any successful businesses out there that still don’t realise that their most important assets are their people? Any business is reliant on the people who staff it – who face customers each and every day, who man the phones, who generate the leads… Published on: 9 May 2013 In the ever-evolving landscape of business, one of the key determinants of success is the performance of your staff. Whether you're leading a small team or managing a large workforce, harnessing the full potential of your employees is paramount. Yet, achieving optimal staff performance isn't just about setting ambitious targets or implementing rigid systems; it's about cultivating an environment where individuals can thrive, grow, and contribute their best efforts. From fostering a culture of continuous learning to implementing effective feedback mechanisms, there needs to be actionable strategies that empower both leaders and employees to excel. So, whether you're a seasoned manager looking to fine-tune your approach or an aspiring entrepreneur aiming to build a high-performing team from the ground up, you need a roadmap to unlocking the full potential of your workforce. Revenue intelligence serves as a potent catalyst for enhancing staff performance Revenue intelligence serves as a potent catalyst for enhancing staff performance by providing invaluable insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and sales strategies. By leveraging data-driven approaches, staff members can make informed decisions, identify lucrative opportunities, and optimize their interactions with clients. Moreover, revenue intelligence equips employees with the tools and knowledge to personalise their approach, tailor offerings to meet customer needs, and ultimately drive revenue growth. Through comprehensive analytics and real-time feedback loops, staff members can continuously refine their skills, adapt to evolving market dynamics, and deliver exceptional value to both the organization and its clientele. Thus, integrating revenue intelligence into the fabric of operations not only fosters a culture of accountability and innovation but also empowers staff members to perform at their peak potential, driving sustainable business success. So how do you ensure that the people in your business create a good vibe – create the environment that helps to grow your business? Clearly it’s important that your recruitment policies are sound and that you motivate your employees once they’re on board so that they continue to make good things happen to your bottom line. Collaboration – sales, marketing & customer service departments Attracting and keeping the right people is key. Creating the correct business and working environment where teams are valued is important if you’re to encourage collaboration and communication between teams that will do so much better if they are all working to the same goals. Communication and information sharing between teams is important as it will help with your people retention, as well as make everyone’s jobs easier! How to improve staff performance Helpful and constructive staff reviews will help with retaining your best people and encouraging people who are struggling with one area of their work. Looking at your staff as a whole in terms of their performance as a department, and as individuals you can: See which of your employees are performing well, and which ones need a boost Identify performance and process issues experienced by individual team members, or the team as a whole Provide positive feedback, training and direction on their activity and results Open up the lines of communication between managers and employees through 2-way feedback Create a culture of collaboration between frontline departments, enabling cross-departmental feedback and input, bringing a fresh perspective to existing situations Reduce the burden on company resources by supplementing, and in some cases, completely replacing the need for traditional staff training methods Summarise feedback notes for a particular staff member, department, process, product or campaign. Staff motivation If you want staff to contribute to your organisation and make it successful then making them feel valued is the biggest step. Value can be shown in many ways; a verbal acknowledgement, a thank you letter, a promotion or a salary raise. Also supporting them with systems that help your staff do their jobs easily and intuitively will also make your people feel valued in the workplace. Awardaroo is such a system and has been shown to have an immediate effect where companies are using its call tracking, monitoring and codifying functions for instance. Staff engagement is increasing, poor performers are being identified and trained to do better, and the best performers in sales teams are being rewarded – which all leads to a motivated workforce as well as a healthier looking bottom line. Just imagine how satisfying & profitable it would be to give more leads to the sales person who converts the best – and less to the sales person who is NOT converting – if only you knew who they were. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

The Ultimate Guide to Business Process Improvement and Effective Workflows Unlock the Secrets to Streamlining Operations and Maximising Productivity: Explore proven techniques for identifying bottlenecks, setting actionable goals, and implementing continuous improvement practices that lead to enhanced efficiency and sustainable business success. Published on: 10 Sept 2024 In today's fast-paced business landscape, the ability to streamline operations is essential for success. As companies strive to maximise efficiency, business process improvement and effective workflows have emerged as critical components in driving organisational performance. This guide delves into the strategies and techniques that can help you enhance your processes and create efficient workflows, ensuring your business remains competitive and adaptable. Understanding Business Process Improvement Business Process improvement refers to the systematic approach of identifying, analysing, and enhancing existing business processes to achieve more efficient results. The goal is to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce waste, and improve overall quality. Techniques such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen are widely used to implement continuous improvement within organisations. By embracing a business improvement programme , businesses can achieve greater agility, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction. It’s not just about making changes but about fostering a culture of ongoing evaluation and enhancement. The Importance of Efficient Workflows Efficient workflows are the backbone of any successful organisation. A well-designed workflow enables employees to complete tasks with minimal friction, reducing delays and errors. When workflows are optimised, teams can work more collaboratively, communicate effectively, and ultimately deliver better results. Workflow management tools can facilitate the design and monitoring of workflows, ensuring that processes run smoothly. By prioritising workflow efficiency, businesses can enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. Key Steps to Achieve Business Process Improvement and Effective Workflows 1. Identify Pain Points The first step in business process improvement is to identify bottlenecks and challenges within your current workflows with a workflow audit. Conducting a thorough analysis can reveal areas where inefficiencies exist. Engage your team in discussions to gather insights on obstacles they encounter, and use this feedback to inform your improvement efforts. 2. Map Your Processes Visualising your workflows through process mapping can help clarify how tasks are completed and where improvements can be made. Use flowcharts or diagrams to illustrate each step in the process, making it easier to identify redundancies or unnecessary steps. 3. Set Clear Goals Establishing clear, measurable goals is essential for successful business process improvement. Implement the SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—to define what success looks like. This approach ensures that everyone is aligned and accountable for achieving these objectives. 4. Implement Changes Once you’ve identified areas for improvement and set goals, it’s time to implement changes. Communicate the changes clearly to your team, and provide any necessary training or resources to facilitate a smooth transition. Monitor the implementation process closely to address any issues that may arise. 5. Monitor and Measure Success To determine the effectiveness of your business process improvements, it’s crucial to monitor and measure success. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your goals and regularly review performance data. This ongoing evaluation will help you identify further areas for improvement. 6. Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement Encouraging a culture of continuous improvement within your organisation can lead to ongoing enhancements in processes and workflows. Empower your employees to share ideas and suggestions for improvement, and recognise their contributions to foster engagement and innovation. 7. Leverage Technology Utilising technology can significantly enhance your business process improvement efforts. Workflow automation tools can streamline repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on higher-value activities. Explore software solutions that fit your organisation’s needs to drive efficiency and effectiveness. Conclusion: The Path to Sustainable Success In an ever-evolving business environment, the need for business process improvement and efficient workflows cannot be overstated. By following the steps outlined in this guide, organisations can not only enhance their operational efficiency but also create a sustainable foundation for long-term success. Embrace the journey of continuous improvement and watch your business thrive in the face of new challenges. By prioritising business process improvement and effective workflows, your organisation can achieve operational excellence, foster innovation, and maintain a competitive advantage in today’s market. Start implementing these strategies today and unlock your business's full potential. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Zale Tabakman discusses Indoor Vertical Farming Zale Tabakman discusses Indoor Vertical Farming Indoor vertical farming is a sustainable and innovative approach to agriculture that utilises stacked layers to grow crops in controlled environments. It maximises space, reduces water usage, enables year-round production, and offers precise control over environmental conditions for optimal plant growth. PAUL Welcome to today's Rethink What Matters podcast, the podcast dedicated to aligning the economy with the ecology and everyone for improved business performance, stronger families, and a greener, cooler climate. And today, I'm joined by Zale Tabakman of Local Grown Salads in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US. And we're going to be speaking about indoor vertical farming. Zale is the President of the Local Grown Salads, and their vision is to feed the world healthy food that is grown sustainably. So welcome, Zale. ZALE Well, thank you for having me. It's very exciting. PAUL So, if actually, if you could just tell us a little bit about, to start off with, Local Grown Salads? ZALE Okay. So I will keep it very simple because I'm sure we're going to get into some of the details. But, essentially, we are a technology company that has indoor vertical farming technology. So we create indoor vertical farms. We either private label them or licence them. So it's kind of whole business thing. But essentially, Paul says, hey, I want to get into vertical farming. I don't want to be a farmer. I'm really just a businessman. I want to be in the business of food, so you'll buy your technology. It'll be turnkey. You'll never really learn how to grow basil in your backyard, but you'll know how to grow Local Grown Salad's basil. Arugula, we sell microgreens, we sell herbs, we sell greens, we sell small vegetables. Our idea is to have indoor vertical farms everywhere, so that we're fifteen minutes from the consumer. Meaning that your farm will be wherever consumers are living. There'll be no virtually no trans competition, or you can even deliver via bicycle from the farm to the people. It's by moving everything local, you get rid of the shipping. In North America, you know, Americans tend -- I'm a Canadian, so we can make fun of Americans today. But in America, they think that they grow their own vegetables. But in reality, in the United States is United States. They're separate states. So you have California, Arizona, and Mexico as a key - well, Mexico is a different country. (So) Arizona, Mexico, and even Texas. They grow the vegetables, and it gets shipped to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit. You're shipping actually farther than Spain is from England. You know, for Spain to England, you think it’s a big thing. But, you know, so a tremendous amount of the growth of the transplants of the carbon footprint of farming, and we're talking in vegetable space, is all just a movement of the vegetables from one place to another. If you can get rid of that movement, you can do an immediate fifty percent reduction in the carbon footprint. PAUL Brilliant. That's such an interesting insight, isn't it? So great. So if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself then, Zale, and how you came to be involved with indoor vertical farming in the business. ZALE Oh, okay. This is like, I'll tell you the short story, not the long story. The short story is I am first a father with five kids, and they were all teenagers. And I was very big. I'm not a vegetarian or anything. I'm just like a normal guy, but in our family, it was always big to have salads and vegetables, always growing on our desk, on our table at dinner time. And so what happened was, you know, kids would go back and forth between their mother and me, and it was back and forth half the time. All kind of normal kind of stuff. No big story there. There (were) these kids, right? At same time, I was riding my bicycle. Now as I mentioned earlier, I'm Canadian, and when I was riding my bicycle, I happened to notice all these large buildings in Toronto. Toronto looks like London, looks like New York, has big huge buildings. At the same time, I was doing this technology consulting that's specific to Canadian -- Canada, and I had two different interesting customers. I had one that was a company that would manufacture three thousand sandwiches a day. So they would actually be manufacturing salads and sell them in hotels and stuff like that. And the chef there was telling me that the problem was they could not get certain vegetables at certain times of the year. So they always have to swapping and swapping out. And I learnt that in Canada, we import about eighty-five percent of our food. Like we mentioned earlier in England, like New York, everybody else, every food - most food is imported. And then at the same time, I would have another client who was putting air into water, which is called dissolved oxygen. And they were telling me the entire business of how much money was being made in the food business. So I had these three things. I had to feed my kids. Right? So it's a very personal thing. I had these two clients, one that wasn't getting vegetables, and another one that was telling me all about how much money there was in the vegetable business. And I'm riding my bicycle around. I'm seeing this city. I said, why the hell aren't we growing vegetables on the roof of our buildings? Right? Instead of importing, obvious stuff. Right? I'm not the first person to think of that. Right. But then when I started to do the math, it turns out you couldn't make any money. So the next thing was, well, I could but when you did the math, the way they -- I'm always I'm turning terms into dollars and cents, you couldn't make enough money because you couldn't get enough volume or yield on a per square foot basis on the roofs of the business. But what if I just said, oh, If I can make three dollars a square foot, what if I could just go up high? I can make, and then, you know, we all have a friend at Google, and I started searching. And I realised, oh, I'm not the first guy to do it. We went out. We bought some technology. We tried the technology and it was very expensive, and it really didn't work very well. And I said, oh, I could do this easier. And about a million dollars of R and D later, we figured out how to do it. Now we have pending on our technology in Canada, the United States. And we're now rolling out farms (in) Philadelphia, South Carolina, Calgary, Jamaica, a whole bunch of other places as well. PAUL What's the need that you're meeting where you are studying with? Is it that there's a lack of space or not enough food? Or why are your customers buying it? ZALE I mean -- oh, because our product is fresher, better. So let's take the American model or the --when you transport food, the instant you harvest a vegetable, it starts to die and the quality goes down. And there's a whole bunch of things that people do to adjust that. But the instant you do that cutting, what happens is, the juices or the water inside the vegetable starts to leak out, and you have problems. So a fresh vegetable and a three-day old vegetable do not taste the same. But if you think to take the simple model of Philadelphia, stuff is coming from California, Arizona, and Mexico, it's being shipped on a truck that is going to take three to four days to get there. All of a sudden, the product we're selling is not nearly as fresh. The secondary thing, which is a very important thing, and I think it's going to go to some things that your listeners care about, is everything in California, Arizona, are covered in pesticides. Even if it's organic, it's still going to use an organic - it's going to have some sort of pesticide. When we do indoor vertical farming, we don't use any pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides. There's nothing on it. It's just pure vegetable. So the freshness, meaning that we can harvest and deliver within two hours, means that that the product tastes better. The shelf life is that much longer and extended. And the other very big thing is we have a wide variety of products that we can sell and grow that aren’t typically available in the stores. PAUL Okay. Alright. That's another differentiator then, isn't it? They can get a variety of foods that otherwise they won't not be able to, and it's fresher because it's closer. So, yeah, I can absolutely see. Now you mentioned organic there, then. And is that what customers are wanting now? They, you know, they want to listen to organic and local and fresh. ZALE People talk about organic, but they really-- So let's break down what “organic” is. Now I'm a pro organic guy, in general. So let's don't-- anything I say, don't take it as a negative, but you need to understand. In the fruit, in the vegetable market, you need to understand what organic is. First thing is, you know, the big bugaloo is GMO. Right? Genetically modified things. Most, almost-- there is virtually no GMO vegetables. There are wheat and the wheat rice pulses, you know, the big things. But like your tomatoes, there are a few GMO tomatoes, but generally it's not a common thing. Cucumbers, arugula, like, it's not even an issue. But to be organic, you need to be GMO-free. Okay. So it's not a big thing, but if you ever see it on a stamp, don't worry about it. The second thing is that seeds, of course, need to be not having the pesticides and the herbicides and the fungicides, the kinds that are used. When you're organic, they're organic based, except if you can't get one, then you're allowed to use a chemical one, and you're still allowed to have that organic stamp on it. This just-- but I'm a practical guy. You need that because if you don't have those things, you're going to-- people don't want to eat vegetables that have holes in it that are eaten by insects. Right? Right. Okay. So that's kinda -- and the fungicides and so you need them. And then the next level of organic is, of course, where the seeds came from. Where they (are) grown. Where the seeds (are) grown in that the plant was grown from an organic field. So that's another level of organic, which practically doesn't really make a lot of sense - difference, but it's something that you need to care about. And the third but, ultimately, the most important thing is, what is the source of the nutrients or the fertilisers that are being used for growing the plant. And you could talk about there's eight major ones, and there's eight minor ones, but reality is the most important one, and this is one you're going to love, Paul, that people don't know about is Nitrogen. PAUL Nitrogen. Yeah. Yes. Yes. ZALE Yeah. So Nitrogen is-- there's organic sourced Nitrogen, and there's non organic sourced Nitrogen. Non organic sourced Nitrogen comes from natural gas. What they do is they take natural gas, they burn natural gas, and that captures the nitrogen from the air and puts it in into a form that the plants can use. Fifteen percent of the world's natural gas is used to create nitrogen. So you burn natural gas, fifteen percent. So if we move so forget everything else. Right? For two we do two things. You go indoor vertical farming; you get rid of all the movement of the products from Spain to England or California to New York. Right? All the movement? And you use an organic source nitrogen, you will instantly reduce the carbon footprint of the entire world. Imagine getting rid of fifteen percent of the natural gas of the world's usage. If you grow soy, process soy, it becomes - it can be used as a nitrogen source. There are other natural sources, but that's the one that we particularly like. And it's easy. So you just grow soy the soil can be grown organically or non-organically. It doesn't really matter. Remember? Because we're now taking the nitrogen. When you process it, you pull the nitrogen from the soy, you lose all the pesticides and everything else. PAUL You know, talking about nitrogen, though. I understand that one of the issues with nitrogen is that some of these fertilisers have too much nitrogen. It just leaches out into the waterways and gets into everyone's water and – ZALE So Zale the Nerd is going to touch in on it. You said there's too much nitrogen. There isn't actually too much nitrogen. The problem is, for your typical -- first of all, I like to be a very positive guy. Okay? So I don't want to point fingers and say, anybody's doing anything wrong. Okay. So please take it this way. I am a typical farmer. I'm not making a lot of money. Right? Farmers do not make large amounts of money no matter what you read. Okay? So I have a field, and I need to fertilise it. Right? So I know I have this field and it needs x amount of pounds of fertiliser. Right? At nitrogen - let's just focus in on the nitrogen. It needs x pounds of nitrogen for it to grow, I wanted to generate a hundred pounds of a plant matter, I need, you know, half a pound of fertile nitrogen to get that hundred-pound plant matter. Great. Nice simple number. And so I can just spread a hundred pounds. But then all of a sudden, it rains. Right? The nitrogen doesn't get spread properly. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. So I don't get enough nitrogen. I don't -- I put out nitrogen, but not enough nitrogen will get me the half pound I need for my plants. The plants don't get that half pound because of the rain. It washes it away. It gets whatever - a weed takes part of it, you know, all of those stuff. So he is a farmer. I need to-- I only make the money if I sell the hundred pounds of plant matter. I then put two pounds of nitrogen in there. To make sure I get the half a pound of nitrogen, which means that then it soaks in and of course then the nitrogen flows into water table (and from) the water table, it eventually gets into lake, and you get those things called algae blooms, so you get all that other crazy stuff. Again, if we use indoor vertical farming, we don't have any loss of nitrogen. They we put it into our system. It's a closed system. The nitrogen goes right into the plant. We don't get any of those other bad things. PAUL Yeah. Sometimes you do these podcasts and there's so many great wins of what people are doing, and this sounds like another one of those actually. Ticks a lot of boxes. And you've got year round production as well because it's like a greenhouse, I guess, isn't it? ZALE So No. God forbid. No. PAUL That's a swear word in your world. ZALE That's a swear word. Yeah. Okay. So a greenhouse which we all know and have actually invented in England and, you know, was an English invention. What it does is it includes it closes the environment and but it uses natural light. And so the greenhouse, it's called - it's green inside, and it looks like a house. But, you know, we usually the typical term is a glass house, sometimes it's called, because it used to be the panels of glass, but now they're a polycarbonate. But what happens is the light comes from the sun. In indoor vertical farming, the light comes from LEDs. So we're in a basement. We're in an old-- you have an old building that was built, let's say, in 1940s. It's got very low ceilings. We reuse - we actually reuse buildings. So we're inside, reusing buildings. So I can speak to the United States. United States had, you know, had its great industrial play eighteen you know, 1880s to about the 1950s. Right? Or 1970s. And then stuff started going off share. So you have all these old buildings that were great factories, they're totally in in the core of many of the United States’ old cities, they're sitting empty. Like, we're talking hundreds of thousands of square feet of buildings that are just abandoned. We can put indoor vertical farms in those old buildings. And all of a sudden, we can reuse the existing building in the you know, the buildings themselves have, you know, concrete and they're-- the bones are very, very good. Yeah. They don't have any windows. You know, you need to fix them up and stuff like that. You can rip out all the old stuff and use the core of the building for an indoor vertical farm. Another win for indoor vertical farming. PAUL Brilliant. I haven't appreciated that. ZALE In England, actually, there's a few people that are using old coal caves for indoor vertical farming or old tunnels that were used (to be) a part of the subway system, I think, in London. Some folks have done that as well. PAUL It sounds it sounds like it might be quite a technical thing though. And imagine the amount of expertise somebody has to have to you know, to run one of these. ZALE Oh, well. I think - So we break our indoor vertical farms into the way I look at the world of indoor vertical farming. I look at I have a daughter, and she lives in a condo, and she ordered some lights from Amazon. And she ordered some seeds, and ordered some trays, and grows in her condo, in her house. Without a problem, you know, waters by hand, no automation, no nothing. So I tuned to her vertical farming, and she's doing it, and she has no expertise. And she says, Daddy, blah blah blah, but, you know, we all have a friend at Google. So we could it's not a big if you want to do that in your home, no brainer, really easy to do. The next level is people who want to go commercial. So at the commercial level, that's where we come in. There are two levels of commercial. Again, you go to, you know, Home Depot, you go to Amazon, you order there's a whole bunch of great websites online where to buy all the technology, you can figure everything out and learn how to figure out how to do it and use it. And that requires out that requires some engineering not an engineering degree, a level of engineering, but some level of understanding of water, heat, hydro, you know, all of a person that knows how to put that kind of stuff together requires that, and then you need an expertise on agronomy, a little bit of you know, more than your backyard gardening kind of level, but not much. Right. So I - at my level is we just give you a solution with a turnkey. We expect you to understand how to run a business, how to do marketing, how to do sales, we'll tell you how to do those give you advice, but you need to know how to go out and make or how to send an invoice, how to pick up an invoice, how to hire people, how to schedule people. From a technical point of view, you just follow our instructions. PAUL Got you. So you're inside, so you haven't got the sunlight. Does that imply that you're going to be using quite a bit of energy then? ZALE Yeah. We do use energy. We're extremely effective with our energy usage. In reality, our biggest cost is people and its use of and hiring people and using people for harvesting and that kind of stuff. PAUL I suppose I wasn't thinking so much about I mean, obviously, the expense is an issue because they'll get have to get passed on but I was thinking more on the green side of things. But there is obviously green electricity about if you have a solar panel or two nearby. ZALE For sure, we don't-- it's sort of thinking that, at that level, I think you should think of us as like an electric car. If I have an electric car, you don't expect me to have solar. You may or may not expect if I live in a condominium, you don't expect me to have solar panels on my roof. Right. If I lived in a home, hey, you know, why don't you why don't you put solar panels on your roof? PAUL So can you grow all types crops like this or already to certain types of crops? ZALE So, we focus on micro greens, greens, herbs, and small vegetables. We don't do watermelons. We don't do mushrooms. We don't do onions. But we could grow - well, mushrooms are a totally different thing, but we could grow onions, we could grow potatoes, but this is not it right now. We don't see it as profitable enough to use our technology for that. Micro greens have the biggest, largest margins. We're talking margins of, you know, eighty, ninety percent. Herbs have margins around forty to sixty percent. Greens have a margins of twenty-five to forty percent, and then small vegetables have a margins around five to ten percent. PAUL And if you're inside, you haven't got all the bugs and the insects and the pests all wandering around. So in what way that's good, but is it bad in another way for pollination? ZALE For pollination, we use a toothbrush. And anybody who was a gardener knows about taking a little toothbrush and just moving. And then, of course, some of many of the only things you worry about pollination for are the small vegetable cucumbers the beans to create, you know, those kinds of things. And some types are self-pollinating and some aren't. So (it’s) just really moving around. Some people use electric bees. Some people actually have a beehive in their facility. There's certain types of bees that you can have them but you have to be careful. But people do use bees or other types of insects for pollination. PAUL It is possible then to have year round production of any type of --? ZALE Exactly. That is one hundred percent what we do. That's another selling (point). I remember at the beginning; I was listing all those selling (point) things. I know, at some point, I had to stop. PAUL Yeah. But that’s a good pull out. Let's put all the benefits out there, you know. More efficient with water? ZALE Yep. Ninety-eight percent of the water. So when you bring water into our systems, you bring water in, plants are eighty-five percent water. In farming systems, the reason they use so much water is plants do a thing called transpiration. They basically sweat. And when they're sweating, they let off the water, but letting off that water sucks up the water from the root level and brings in the nutrients. So that's how the plants feed. They feed by their sweating. Anybody's walked into any kind of greenhouse or a cultural place, you know, you feel the humidity in that, and that's the sweating. So we capture the water in the dehumidifier and just feed it right back into the system? PAUL Is it an advantage to have it inside in these buildings? Could you do exactly the same thing but outside and use sunlight as well or is it the control that really makes it work? ZALE Our particular technology physically could be used outside. But as soon as you go outside, you'd have the pests. Inside-- you mentioned something and you kind of said it very quickly, but it was a really important point. When you're inside, you keep out all the pests. You keep out the insects. You keep out the things. So we don't need pesticides. We don't need fungicides. We don't need herbicides. Soon you go outside, you got to keep - how do you get rid of all those insects on your vegetables and eating your crop? PAUL Who generally are the customers that are buying the products from the indoor vertical farms? Are they the supermarkets or they tend to be smaller? ZALE So I break the market into-- The big ones are the distributors and the regular distributors. Right? So the the Ciscos, the GFS, all the big players PAUL Wholesalers, aren’t they? ZALE The normal infrastructure sells to that. The retailers, a lot of them are now having-- are setting them aside, because a lot of my competitors are much more expensive than I am. So they're a higher premium product, they’re considered a premium product. We, as a company, like to go through the existing infrastructure. So we go through the existing distributors. I personally, Zale, incredibly big believer in CSAs. Community supported agriculture. So that means, Paul sets up a business, he connects up with a whole bunch of different farms. He collects from Local Grown Salads. He collects from Bob's potato farm, puts it all in the box, starts delivering once a week to people's homes. I believe that CSA will be the future of farming. Because, again, the less people in the value chain that you take out of the chain, the better the carbon footprint. So CSA is the future. But in a simple answer to your question is it's just the regular distributors and the regular stores and the regular people are buying. PAUL And the people that are buying these, the entrepreneurs that are taking you up on this business, what sort of backgrounds do they have to be tend to have an interest in gardening and – ZALE One guy, our guy in South Carolina, Hardy Greens, he's an electrical engineer. He's an entrepreneur, an electrical engineer, and that's his whole-- he doesn't care about the farming part of it. He just looks at it as a business, and he sees it - a very cool guy. But he sees it as the future. And he says, I want to be in this, and I want to be the guy leading the future. We have another guy that we're working with in Calgary, Canada. And that particular guy was a sales guy. His whole background was sales and selling to restaurants and people like that. So he understood the market of restaurants and foods and retailers and stuff like that. Right. Not that neither guys have no technology-- Well, the electrical engineer, but that's, you know, electrical engineering kind of idea. PAUL What is the maintenance like in the day to day maintenance of one of these indoor vertical farms? Is it quite - I can't imagine whether I'd be very busy with it or it's really going to run itself. ZALE Most of it runs itself. It is like any other “factory” there's equipment that needs regular maintenance. Our equipment is integrated with an incredibly complex software system that actually captures data all the way from seeds to customers play. So we rely heavily on software and engineering. But it's like any system. It needs to be maintained. There are sensors that say, hey, things are going great. But if, you know, a pump breaks, you got to replace the pump. If, you know, a piece of electronics go down, you got to replace the electronics. If somebody left the door open and you have insects get in, you have to deal with it. But most of the work is really just harvesting. And we use this thing called seed cartridges, which is - so our farmers don't ever actually do any seeding or planting. We provide them the seeds and the grow media which is a soil type thing. And the nutrients is in a physical cartridge, and they have to install that cartridge. So let's say, you know, things like the greens, the sorry, the herbs, you know, these cartridges replaced every two years. Our goal is to replace them every two years. When you're doing something like greens, like, lettuces, a kale, or something like that, they get replaced every six months. And then when you're doing the small vegetables, you grow the vegetables, you harvest them, and then you have to replace the cartridge. So that'd be every two to three months. Okay. So there's that kind of work. But that - no more work or (more) complicated than running McDonald's franchise? PAUL Because it comes with a manual by the centre to some description? ZALE Oh, a couple manual(s) and training. And one of our things is, remember we talked about having an unlimited number of vegetables? Right? So each one has its own story. The way you harvest basil is not the way you harvest dill, which is not the way you harvest parsley. Even though you have to harvest them and use a pair of scissors, how you go about it is quite a bit different. And then you get the packaging piece and, you know, it's all that other kind of regular business stuff. PAUL I know from doing a previous podcast on food waste that, yeah, something like twenty or thirty-five percent of food waste is actually with the farmer on the farmer side of things? ZALE Yeah. We essentially have zero food waste. We at Local Grown Salads, we use primarily a cut and come again process , which any gardener will know what I'm talking about. For the non-gardeners, that means, you grow the lettuce, you plant the lettuce seed, you grow it, you harvest the canopy, the lettuce leaves, and then you come back two weeks later, and they regrow and you harvest again and harvest again. Typical so I'm getting actually the food waste in a way that you probably did weren't thinking about it. You were just thinking that, you know, you harvest the lettuce and it just gets so it doesn't get ever sold or eaten by anybody. But we grow for what the customer wants, so there's virtually no waste, and we can let it grow a little bit bigger, a little bit longer for the customers. But another way we reduce the waste is on the root system of the plant. So a typical lettuce in a field farm or a greenhouse they'll harvest the whole thing. They don't do cut and come again. So what we do is, by using cut and come again, all the energy that's used to build the root matter which is usually around fifty percent of a plant gets to be reused with the second harvest. So - I get complicated. To make it simple, you put x energy into building the root system, and then when you harvest the entire plant, fifty percent of the energy to grow that plant is wasted when you harvest the roots. But if you plant it, you grow the plant, and then you harvest it again and again and again. All that energy that's used for the root matter is not wasted, and it becomes a less part of the of the entire growing system. (It) was a very long conflict for something that's pretty simple. PAUL Yeah. Quicker to grow, you know, food the way that you're doing it with these indoor vertical farms. ZALE Typically half the length of time with that would be in a field or a greenhouse. PAUL Right. Amazing. ZALE So more cycles, more cycles, and as we develop our technology and we get better and better at controlling the environment, we expect it to get back. Think about the cut and come again is same as being you got a lawn. Right? They know in the summertime, you know, in May, they're cutting it once a month. They cut it once a month in June. And then in August, they're probably - they could be cutting their lawn once a week. Right? That's the same concept of cut and come again. PAUL And are there any, you know, do you - are there any regulations and laws and policies and ? ZALE Yes. Tons and tons and tons. You have food handling. You have the core of -- There's one policy that's very interesting that people aren't aware of is called recall. We have to build our entire system so that we can make an instant recall within twenty-four hours of any products we have. In general, you never use the recall system. Right? Like Cheerios has a recall if there was a bad box of Cheerios, but probably nobody in their entire life have ever thought about having their Cheerios recalled. But Cheerios has an entire system to allow you to that involves from all the way from general - I think General Mills makes Cheerios. General Mills to the distributors, to the retailers, to even you. And so that you can-- And every box has a little number on it that says this lot number needs to be recalled. If you think about recalls, the kind of the essence of the whole thing, and there's a whole ton of stuff that fits around that. PAUL That's a lot of work to get that all done as you say. And to go and implemented and passed it? ZALE And hopefully, never used. PAUL Horrible. What I'm trying to do now, Zale, is relate what we're talking about in these podcasts to the sustainable development goals. And this seems to fit very well with SDG12, responsible consumption and production. ZALE When you really get into the SDGs, they have a whole bunch of very detailed requirements of what it means when you contribute to them. So let's just-- indoor vertical farming hits so many of them. First of all, by being local, it means that you totally reduced the amount of carbon footprint of transporting the food from one place to another. When you think about the food supply chain, what happens is if farmers grow things, anticipating what the market will be. And there's actually something like twenty-five to thirty percent of food waste that happens at the farmer level. You know, again, it's very much dependant on the particular crop we're talking about, but there can be up over of ten to forty percent waste of product that just doesn't meet the market requirement to reducing waste at that point. Indoor vertical farming actually reduces the cycle time for growing. So something that may take six weeks to grow in a field will take three weeks in an indoor vertical farm. So we can actually grow for what the customer anticipates and wants. And, of course, we'll grow a little bit more in case, you know, demand is higher. But if a customer doesn't want our product, we can just let it grow a little longer. So the base will get a little taller. And then when we have a customer for her, we can harvest it at that point. So we have a much better control on product that's going to actually make it to the marketplace. And there's lots less waste because no pesticides, there's no insects inviting it. We don't have to worry about weather patterns and whole bunch of other stuff. And, of course, so it's just some examples of how we contribute to SDG12. I actually have a whole paper on how we contribute to fourteen of the seventeen SDGs. PAUL Zale, I really want to thank you very much for your time, you know, on this podcast and sharing your insights and your knowledge. On what is going to be, has to be a real growth market ahead. If people want to get a hold of you, get in contact with you, what's the best way if you want to learn more about what it is you're doing? ZALE Well, I have one of those names that are really unusual. So I recommend simply going on to LinkedIn. If you're in the United States, Z A L E. And if you're in the rest of the world, it's Zed A L E for us, Canadians, English, Australian and normal English speakers. PAUL Brilliant. Okay. Thanks again. Really appreciate it. ZALE Thank you. PAUL Thanks. Bye. ZALE Bye bye. Previous Next

< Back Gross Margin Understanding the Gross Margin Ratio: Measuring Production Cost Efficiency The Gross Margin Ratio is a financial metric that measures the proportion of money left over from revenues after accounting for the cost of goods sold (COGS). It indicates the percentage of sales revenue that exceeds the COGS, reflecting the efficiency of a company in managing its production costs relative to its sales. Gross Margin = (Net Sales−Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)) / Net Sales ×100 Suppose Company XYZ has the following financial details: Net Sales: $1,500,000 Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): $900,000 To calculate the Gross Margin Ratio: Subtract COGS from net sales: 1,500,000−900,000=600,000 Divide by net sales and multiply by 100: (600,000 / 1,500,000)×100=40% A Gross Margin Ratio of 40% indicates that Company XYZ retains 40% of its sales revenue after covering the cost of goods sold. This suggests a strong ability to manage production costs relative to sales. Profitability Ratio Previous Next

< Back Debt to Equity Ratio Understanding the Debt to Equity Ratio: Assessing Financial Leverage The Debt to Equity Ratio is a financial metric that compares a company's total debt to its shareholders' equity. This ratio indicates the relative proportion of debt and equity used to finance the company's assets, providing insights into its financial leverage and risk. Debt to Equity Ratio = Total Debt / Shareholders’ Equity Suppose Company MNO has the following financial details: Total Debt: $500,000 Shareholders' Equity: $1,000,000 To calculate the Debt to Equity Ratio: Divide total debt by shareholders' equity: 500,000/1,000,000=0.5 A Debt to Equity Ratio of 0.5 indicates that Company MNO has 50 cents of debt for every dollar of equity. This suggests a relatively low level of financial leverage and potentially lower financial risk. Leverage Ratio Previous Next

11 Benefits of Award Entry Writing Service Business awards aren't just a marketing opportunity. From increased sales to customer loyalty, there are many benefits of business awards. Learn more. Published on: 24 Jun 2021 Many businesses are missing out on the incredible benefits of an award entry writing service. Is your company one of them? Whether you see it as a PR exercise or you simply don’t have the resources to dedicate to the award entry submission process, there are plenty of reasons why you should enter business awards . In this article, we’ll be running over 11 incredible benefits of business awards using our award entry writing services. 1. Enjoy a Sales Boost Sure, business awards can be a costly process. You need to hire or internally source an award entry writer and gather resources, as well as cover whatever the costs involved are in attending the actual ceremony. But there’s good evidence to suggest that should you win, you’ll be easily recovering those costs and more. Research shows award-winning businesses can enjoy a sales boost of up to up to 37% . 2. Nothing in Life Comes Free, Except Marketing How often do you get the opportunity for other businesses to shout about your brand? Rarely! Business awards are a free marketing opportunity. You’ll enjoy the award company themselves talking about you, but also many other brands and customers engaging with your business and the award company. This gives you great opportunities to engage on social media and expand your reach. It’s also a great chance to create some unique, newsworthy content for your own website and social media. 3. Attract the Best Employees to Build Better Teams Employees expect more from businesses. We’ve written extensively about how we need to make work better before and all this revolves around being more people-centric. Chances are, you’re not going to win any business awards if you’re doing the bare minimum for your employees or your customers. To be an award-winning company means raising your standards and continually striving to be the best you can be. This makes you a better place to work, regardless of whether or not you win a business award. But should you win it, this can help your company stand out to potential new hires, helping you to attract the best talent. After all, who doesn’t want to brag a little about how they work for an award-winning company? 4. Boost the Morale of Your Current Employees Through Recognition It’s not just potential new employees that benefit from business awards. Another great benefit of business awards is the morale boost it can offer for your current employees if you win. Your staff get recognised for all their hard work and efforts put in to get your business to this point. A win will help assure them their efforts are recognised, not just by you, but by the wider industry and your customers. This can help motivate and inspire employees to continue doing the outstanding work they have been going forward. 5. Valuable Social Proof and Social Influence What do you do when you’re trying to figure out which business to work with or product to use? You look for evidence that others are doing just that, and that they’re enjoying the experience. It’s called social proof and it’s a psychological phenomenon that’s a powerful beast when it comes to your marketing. Just as we look for online reviews to assure us, winning business awards and displaying that achievement throughout our customer journey can have powerful positive effects on your customer journey. 6. Increase Brand Authority as a Market Leader One of the big benefits of business awards is the increased brand authority. Intrinsically linked to the concept of social proof, business awards make customers more likely to trust your brand. You’re the market-leader after all. 7. Gain an Advantage and USP Over Your Competitors Winning business awards can also make you more competitive compared to others in your field. Long gone are the days where businesses could compete on quality or price. The only thing left to compete on is customer experience. Establishing yourself as the market leader through the social proof of business awards makes you more competitive. It can be a unique selling point that your competitors simply can’t match up to, setting you apart from the rest of the market and increasing your profitability. 8. Increase Brand Awareness Through Exposure Even without a win, business awards can help increase your brand awareness. More business owners will become aware of your business and your presence in the industry. You’ll gain valuable PR opportunities throughout the promotion of the event by the award company, as well as the opportunity to network at the actual award ceremony. Of course, if you do win, you’ll enjoy increased brand awareness for long after your victory. 9. Improve Customer Retention Through Trust and Loyalty Customer loyalty isn’t dead. It’s just that customers expect more from your brand than ever before. The reality is customers will always be more likely to stay with a business they perceive as being great. Not only that, but 86% of customers say they’re happy to pay more to do so. You’ll already have benefited from your increased brand authority and competitive advantage from winning your business award. You’re the safest bet. There’s social proof for it. This increases your customer loyalty, which is great news for your business because improving customer retention can do wonders for your profitability. Research shows you’re more likely to sell to existing customers than new ones, but also that these customers are more likely to spend more on purchases. 10. Increase Profit Margins to Continually Improve All of the statistics above show that with loyal customers comes an incredible opportunity to increase your profit margins. Provided you continue to deliver an outstanding customer experience, they’ll be happy to spend the extra to stay with you. This increase in profit can be pumped right back into your business, allowing you to stay the market leader and continually out-innovate the competition. 11. But the Biggest Benefit of Business Awards is… We touched on this above, but it’s worth expanding on. You won’t win awards unless your business is actually worthy of being recognised as a market leader. By far the best benefit of being an award-winning business comes from being driven by the principles that create award-winning businesses. By this we mean, award-winning businesses are great places to work that deliver an outstanding customer experience and are continually growing because of this, not because of the awards — though they certainly don’t hurt! Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

How To Improve Internal Communications Maximising how you use internal communications can help improve business performance by engaging employees and enabling better decision-making. Published on: 4 Mar 2021 How to Improve Internal Communications: A 5 Step Guide Maximising how you use internal communications can help improve business performance by engaging employees and enabling better decision-making. Effective internal business communications keep employees connected, well informed and feeling positive. Having a more engaged workforce should increase staff retention and boost employee loyalty. And there’s a benefit that is all too often overlooked: internal communications can be used to remind people that life should be fun — even in the workplace. Learning how to improve internal communications begins by deciding on who should be your internal communications ‘champions’ with responsibility for rolling out your messages. Next, agree on why you want to communicate: these are your objectives. Then confirm what information you need to share. Finally, identify the best ways to deliver that information so your communications are read, understood and remembered. Follow these five steps to improve employee communications for a better-informed workforce, where employees understand business goals and work better together as one team. 1. Who should be responsible for internal communications? Gaining buy-in for your communications at a Board or senior director level is essential for giving messages credibility from the top. These people will be your internal communications ‘champions’. A lack of time available to spend on developing and running internal communications could undermine efforts to communicate effectively with employees. So, you also need to consider carefully the mechanics of gathering and distributing information in a timely fashion. In its 2020 survey of internal communications specialists, software and advisory services provider Poppulo found that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed spent most of their time writing and sending content, compared with just 16% who spent the majority of their time on planning and strategy. Therefore, it could be more cost-effective to work with an outside agency to support your internal communications projects, so you spend less time feeling stressed and more time focusing on long-term strategies. Useful tips : Set up an editorial team with support from HR, marketing and senior management – along with representatives from every part of the business. An inclusive team with its finger on the pulse of the business should create more relevant and interesting communications Nominate an editor or author for communications, especially newsletters, to give a human face to what you say. This makes messages appear less formal and ensures employees know who to contact with ideas and feedback on what you communicate Create content lists for a year in advance to help you plan what you want to say and when to say it for maximum impact on readers 2. Why do you need internal communications? Internal communications should be an integral part of your business improvement activities. After all, the contribution that internal communications make to business performance through greater employee engagement is significant. A Gartner survey makes the connection between improving how employees feel and both increased employee engagement and positive company culture. The firm noted that greater engagement also leads to better staff retention. Research by Gallup shows that employees who feel engaged are 23 times more likely than disengaged colleagues to recommend their employer as a great place to work. In the current coronavirus crisis, setting out clear internal communication objectives that help you achieve your business goals has never been more important, especially around the issue of managing employee wellbeing. Internal communications objectives could include: Share important information quickly and accurately, especially difficult messages, to avoid misunderstandings Share company goals and reinforce them regularly to improve employees’ understanding of the business Improve employee engagement and productivity by sharing ideas and information on business processes Improve the employee experience, so people feel more engaged and loyal Bring people closer together, especially across different business departments and divisions Provide a channel for feedback and discussion about the business, so you make better-informed decisions 3. What are your internal communications stories? The content of internal communications is determined by the objectives you set. A staff newsletter, for example, is likely to encompass a broad range of topics that educate, motivate, inspire and incentivise their audience. Internal communications content could include: General company news and updates – where you are and where you’re going Longer-term strategic news covering company goals and updates on annual targets Details about individuals and teams, with profiles and ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories Reward, recognition and celebration stories, from incentive schemes and company milestones to honouring long servers and company stalwarts Fun and motivational stories about employees’ lives outside work Community stories covering business support for the communities where it operates Details of employee offers, discounts and incentives News on vacancies and training opportunities to help employees map out their career paths Feedback from employees on the business generally and what they want to read about in their internal communications Surveys and vox pop questions on topical business issues Coverage of your business in the local and national press 4. How to make internal communications content more engaging Effective communications combine words and images to maximise their impact and readability. Visual information can replace words, wherever appropriate, to help make stories easier for readers to digest. Visual communications company TechSmith estimates that using visual communications at the right time could significantly benefit business performance to the tune of more than $1,200 a year in productivity for every employee who consumes information as part of their role. The use of visual content is on the increase. A survey of visual content in marketing material by infographic template designer Venngage reported a 10.5% increase to 74% in content containing visuals between 2018 and 2019. Useful tips : Make communications more vibrant and readable with a blend of photos, images, graphics, videos, presentations, charts and visualised data Break up text with plenty of subheadings, quotes and eye-catching panels Choose your language carefully – set an informative and conversational tone of voice that chimes with your audience Involve readers by inviting comments and feedback, as well as including competitions, quizzes and other ways for them to join in the ‘conversation’ 5. What are the best ways to deliver internal communications? When and how you communicate with employees will determine how successful you are in getting your messages across. Too much, and people might ignore it, but you don’t want to leave them in the dark with infrequent contact. Although the timing of internal communications is crucial, Poppulo found that 45% of it was unplanned. A regular newsletter that rounds up key news is one way to ensure a steady flow of important information reaches staff in a timely way. The choice of delivery channels for internal communications is changing in the post-Covid-19 world. We are likely to see more employees working from home for at least some of the time. A survey of business decision-makers by workplace scheduling specialist Smartway2 found most people said they enjoyed the flexibility of working between their home and the office during the coronavirus pandemic, with just 2% wanting to return to the office full-time. So, for example, printed newsletters delivered to people’s home addresses could be a friendlier way to keep in touch with employees rather than adding messages to their email inboxes. Useful tips : Consider print, online or both. If staff don’t have easy access to a desktop or laptop during working hours then you don’t want them to feel isolated or left out of the communications loop Mobiles, tablets and smart devices are growing in popularity – commercially available apps dedicated to internal communications could provide a useful additional online channel Link newsletter content and delivery with other internal communications channels, including face-to-face (or virtual) events (such as all employee briefings, ‘townhalls’ and ‘coffee break’ meetings), so you provide a unified voice and consistent messaging Decide on the frequency of your communications. Not too much but too little. Summary of How to Improve Internal Communications 1. Decide who are your internal communications ‘champions’ 2. Agree why you need to communicate – set clear objectives that you want to achieve 3. Decide on the key stories and news you want to communicate 4. Make your content more engaging 5. Choose the best delivery channels for maximum readability Awardaroo Can Help! Our Business Communications Service helps businesses enrich their internal communications, so they can improve their performance and profitability. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

What Is Workforce Management? Learn what workforce management is, how it benefits businesses, how to increase productivity and about effective workforce management solutions. Published on: 18 Oct 2018 Workforce management is the strategic process of optimising a company's human resources to enhance productivity, efficiency, and overall performance. It involves various facets such as scheduling, forecasting, training, and performance management. Effective workforce management is crucial for organizations to meet their operational goals while ensuring employee satisfaction and retention. Revenue intelligence plays a pivotal role in guiding workforce management In this era of data-driven decision-making, revenue intelligence plays a pivotal role in guiding workforce management. Revenue intelligence involves gathering, analysing, and leveraging data to understand customer behavior, market trends, and revenue patterns. By integrating revenue intelligence into workforce management practices, businesses can make informed decisions regarding staffing levels, skill requirements, and employee allocation. For example, insights derived from revenue intelligence may reveal peak times of customer demand, enabling businesses to adjust staffing schedules accordingly to meet fluctuations in workload effectively. Furthermore, integrating revenue intelligence with business management systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can provide a comprehensive view of organizational operations. These systems can track key metrics related to workforce performance, customer interactions, and financial data, allowing managers to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions. By leveraging revenue intelligence within business management systems, organizations can optimize workforce management strategies to drive growth, enhance customer satisfaction, and maximize profitability. Improving the productivity of your workforce Improving the productivity of your workforce, of your staff, can help create a more effective business and a more effective business generates increased profits, which pays increased bonuses and commissions, so you get happier employees, that stay longer, that are more productive … and round we go. Poor workforce management can cost a business a lot in lost profitability. Ensuring the right staff are working on the right things at the right time, are motivated and engaged, is key to business success. So this is about working smarter, not harder and longer. What is workforce management?‎ Workforce management software can be used by both large and small companies alike. It can help you with staff scheduling, employee time management, holiday management, time and attendance, task and activity management, manage remote employees, data loss prevention and provide behaviour analytics. Workforce management software can help you identify clients, staff and activities that are lowering your productivity. Improving employee productivity will help drive up customer satisfaction levels as a more productive employee is often better prepared, ready, willing, happy and able to handle difficult customer conversations, rather than working on time-wasting, non-productive tasks. Five tips to increase worker productivity Plan your time in advance so you know you can manage immediate urgent issues as well as important tasks that need completing for the future. If you don’t do this, you’ll only ever be reactive in your working day, always fighting fires. Work as team. If you’ve important admin to do, ask a colleague to cover the phones for you, for example. Escalate any issues holding you back to management so they can help you resolve them, or discuss with colleagues, that’s why they are there. You’re a team. Be clear about what you need to achieve today, then at the end of day, give yourself a pat on the back for doing it. Make sure you’re enjoying your work. Have fun with it. It’s hard to be productive if every day is a drag. If you’re not enjoying it, think if it’s the right job or company for you. Three benefits of effective workforce management solutions Your staff are perhaps your most expensive resource so anything that helps to increase staff productivity and so increase your profitability and keeps you competitive, can only be a good thing. Most workforce management solutions involve increasing the amount of data and information managers and directors have available to make better decisions. Better, more timely decisions will reduce business risk. Improved customer satisfaction results from your staff, your workforce being better managed. They’ll know what’s expected of them, when and how to go about things more clearly, so will be more customer focused when needed, not distracted by many levels of uncertainty. Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started

Productive Quality: How Improving Quality Standards Boosts Business Productivity Improving your quality standards comes with a whole heap of benefits, but often overlooked is the boost to your business productivity. Learn more in our helpful guide. Published on: 14 Oct 2021 In a productive learning organisation quality is built-in. Creating a high-quality product or service is inherent in the productive organisation because it is the organisation itself that is the focus of the quality standards, not just its products and services. Nature doesn’t have quality standards. Nature is continuously evolving, adapting and learning how to survive and thrive. For many businesses, they miss out on this vital element in their business operations . They stick to the status quo on products or services, as opposed to continually improving through a focus on quality standards. Productive quality then refers to the idea of using quality standards to actively boost business productivity. How Can Improving Quality Standards Boost Business Productivity? The commonly used definition of quality is perhaps much of the problem in the way we run our businesses today. We see “quality” as “fitness for purpose”. It suggests a minimum level of quality is sufficient and that it can be measured and that somebody needs to measure it. Tesla are a great example of how we should be looking at quality standards. While creating their self-driving car, Musk said they were very close and were “working on the long tail of problems”. This is not an absolute “fitness for purpose” quality standard that everybody is focused on. They are continuously evolving and improving. It’s what sets their products ahead of the rest. Once they met their first requirements, they continued to exceed them. The product is ever-evolving to the Tesla Semi, Tesla Truck and so on. This makes the company an excellent example of a productive organisation where quality is a journey, not a goal or a minimum standard. Automotive isn’t the only industry that can reap the rewards of productive quality standards by any means. In a manufacturing setting, components need to conform to specification otherwise they won’t fit together and work as intended. In a service organisation, a problem needs a solution, if it doesn’t address the problem, it fails. Operational excellence doesn’t come from focusing on quality standards seen in the traditional sense. It comes from continuously looking for ways to improve the ways things get done. ISO 9001 ISO 9001 is a quality management system with over a million organisations being certified across the world. There are seven principles within ISO 9001 , each of which is integral to the philosophy of the productive organisation. Relating these seven principles to the productive organisation, they are: A customer focus Recognising the importance of meeting the ever-evolving needs of the customer. Strong leadership Providing a clear vision and environment within which continuous improvement can take place. Engagement of people Seeking alignment between the business and its staff. Process improvement Recognising that well defined and implemented processes creates consistency and the best use of time. Continuous improvement Realising that business growth is a journey, not a destination Evidence-based decision making Big data, clear information and regular feedback are the keys to effective decision making Relationship management Suppliers, partners, customers, staff, all relationship are key to sustained and profitable growth. Using quality standards in this manner creates a more efficient, productive business that better understands customer needs with more engaged employees. Risks are reduced and customer satisfaction increases. Communications are improved and costs are reduced. Everybody in the business has a much better understanding of how the business works and how to improve it. Ultimately, it allows for a more productive business that stays ahead of the competition with increased innovation creating new opportunities. Other Benefits of Improved Quality There are many other benefits to improved quality standards, all intrinsically linked to business productivity. These include: Improved brand authority Increased brand awareness Increased word of mouth marketing Higher demand Lower costs from less waste or returns Fewer customer complaints Potentially higher selling prices Become a Productive Organisation Awardaroo can help your business become a more productive organisation. Transforming quality standards from a bare minimum to a process of continual improvement is just one of the steps of our business improvement programme . Previous Next Start Your Business Improvement Journey Our business improvement programme and smart operations provide clarity and a clear pathway forward for you and your team. Get Started