Turn it into a process. Most businesses I work with are either doing this, or live in shame because they’re not! But can be an unhealthy obsession. I enjoyed Sam Carpenter’s Work the System. Along with The E-myth, it creates a compelling case for proceduralising what your business does. Rightly so. But the key justification I hear leaders cite for process is that it replaces the need to have great people. “If we have great processes” the logic goes, “we can create quality…

Leaders should debate vigorously, then STFU and unify behind their decision. I’ve written elsewhere about what a company loses when its leaders shut down debate. This is more pronounced in those boards where dissent is viewed as treachery. People paid as decision-shapers effectively become an overpaid board of one. But I’ve also seen leadership teams where there is constructive disagreement and debate, and the founder or CEO / MD is happy to hear those views. But too often, those disagreements…

“There’s no such thing as job security in companies today, so better be secure in your own business than insecure in someone else’s.” Advice I keep hearing, usually to lure people into some business coaching programme or another. Advice that’s pure horse-manure. Here are the facts. The FT reports around 54% of UK startups fail within 3 years. While the most recent stats I’ve found show that you have a 1 in 77 chance of losing your job in the private sector in…

I love Slack. From a collaboration perspective, I wish it’d been around a long time ago. But it’s contributing to an environment where everyone believes they have the right to disturb everyone else’s work and expect immediate responses. To be fair, I’ve seen email used the same way, with senior managers especially guilty of expecting replies within minutes. If someone on your team is in a response role (e.g. contact centre or support team), then fair enough. But if you’ve…