We live in difficult times where many businesses are looking to preserve margins or just survive and so we can see why bad businesses cut training first. Training costs come straight off the bottom line, they are a revenue expense. It’s just one of the ways that the accounting profession…
In the world in which we find ourselves it has to be said that open questions are the work of the lazy and uncaring. If you want to impress don’t ask open questions. Many years ago information was difficult to obtain and so questions like “tell me about your business”…
How often do people complain they have too much to do and too little time? More than at any time in history time management is seen as a problem. Stress through having too much to do is at an all time high and following the pandemic certain areas of the…
In all businesses but especially in SME’s it is vital to understand why fixed overheads are so important. The answer lies in the name. They are FIXED. We live in changing and unpredictable times and so anything that restricts our ability to react quickly can be a problem. We saw…
Why do bad managers hate work from home? We have recently heard many managers objecting to their staff working from home. The most recent of these is Jacob Rees-Mogg a man whose ideas of work are firmly based in the industrial revolution and have never moved on. So why do…
Time management is a great term that has been around for decades now but I’m sorry – you can’t manage time. A dictionary definition of to manage is “to handle, direct, govern or control in action or use. Just try doing that with time. What we really need to do…
A couple of days ago I wrote about the Ivy Lee Method Ivy Lee Method and now we move to the Pomodoro Technique as an extension of that. Named after the tomato shaped timer this technique make use of the brain’s natural ability to work well in short bursts. The…
In order to have an effective, rather than just a productive day I use the Ivy Lee Method. Who or what is Ivy Lee I hear you ask? Ivy Lee was an American productivity consultant who was engaged by Charles Schwab (one of the richest men in the world in…
I keep hearing the phrase “it’s great that we are getting back to normal” and it got me thinking – what’s so great about normal? The pandemic has been a total disaster for so many people around the world. Some have died, others are left with long covid but for…
I spent yesterday at the MACH exhibition and it got me thinking – every sausage needs a sizzle. For those of you who don’t know MACH is a manufacturing exhibition held in the UK. Here people involved in the manufacturing industries, both large and small get together to look at…