“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” Round here, we talk a lot about the 4 Foundations that will give a business owner McFreedom, that is, freedom to choose whether to scale, grow, or sell your business…or run it from
Development can help great people be even better – but if you have a pound to spend, spend 70p getting the right person in the door. Last week we were looking at having great performance reviews as part of an evolving process of continuous feedback and development. I was saying
Do you feel like you’re drowning? Drowning in paperwork, in problems, in people stuff? And all because of your success! When you were starting out you had a handle on everything. Now you’ve grown you’ve had to take on more people and it’s just not the same. You feel like
‘You can dream, create, draw and come up with the best ideas in the world, but you need people to help you turn your dreams into reality.’ As business owners, we rightly focus a heck of a lot of attention on our external customers and what we can do to
It’s time to silence the voices! To get ‘unstuck’ and accelerate out of the rut you’re in. To find your McFreedom. How many dreams never get off the ground because we listen to the voices? The internal voices that ask us, ‘Just who do you think you are?’ ‘What makes
‘If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done’ It’s a little known fact that Jane Austen produced her best work when there was dusting to do. I’ve also been known to ‘get creative’ with housework hanging over me, and I know others whose shelves get built, gardens
If only we realised that we had all the right ingredients in our business, to make the leap – to spring forward to success. It’s that time again. The time of year we all look forward to. Lambs leaping and bleating in the fields! Daffodils brightening up every green strip
‘Not suggesting we recruit in our own image and likeness … but we must be a good match.’ It’s coming up to the wedding season again. Most people think of a day that will suit – best chance of good weather, not clashing with any big sporting event – that
A good business operation should flow like a flat race but in reality how many are more like a steeplechase, with obstacles and risk at every turn? It may have passed you by, but it’s the Grand National tomorrow! My grandad who lived with us, was a great fan of
Does your spouse complain that they see too much of you? Do your kids groan at your taking them out for the day, again? Are you the number one invite on your friends’ social calendar? Do you never take your laptop on holiday with you? No? So you’re telling me
Feedback is weird – you either love it or loathe it depending on why you are giving it. But we all know that ‘Feedback is the breakfast of champions’, as Ken Blanchard put it, essential for any successful business owner wanting to build strong relationships and develop a high performing
Can you remember back to your school days? I’m sure for some of us it will be easier than for others 😉 Remember how you’d answer a question, but even though it was technically right, it wasn’t the one the teacher was looking for? Q. What is ‘hard water’?
As a business owner you know that a high-performing team is essential for a successful business. But how do you start building a team from the group of individuals who currently work for you with all of their different personalities and egos? Any of these sound familiar? The cat –
Would you let someone drive a forklift without any training? How about letting an apprentice loose with scissors on their first day? Or having a new recruit present an important bid to a key prospect? Of course you wouldn’t. But maybe you would promote one of your team to be
Have you ever had to complain to a business? I don’t know how many times I’ve found myself saying, ‘I know it’s not your fault’ to the individual I’m speaking to, desperately trying not to take out my frustration on them because they, as an individual, are not responsible. Often
Can you remember the day you first learned about the amoeba? That blob of wobbly jelly with a black dot inside called the nucleus – the heart or engine room of the thing. Not a very scientific description I know, but the image has stuck in my head over
I was in my local supermarket the other day and large queues were forming at the tills. A manager was patrolling and had called on a couple of people to help out, but the queues remained, and it seemed there was no one else to call on…bet you can’t guess what
It’s that time of year when my ancient boiler gets its annual health check. For about fifteen years now I’ve had a series of engineers visit my house, make that ‘sucking through the teeth’, noise, and shake their head, as they discover the age of the patient. Yet on it
And so we begin again. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and that you enjoyed a refreshing and re-energising break! So now we enter a brave new year, determined to be a brave new us. Will we be more streamlined, healthier, happier, richer? What challenges
Is it really the last Friday before Christmas?! Where has this year gone? And how ready are you for the one that’s about to begin? I’m sure that, with so few days left before the big day, your mind is way too full of all the things that you have
I read some interesting stuff the other day which really hit a chord with me and the growing Bright7 team. It was all about what makes a workplace great. One of the points was about having simple ‘Rules of the Game’ to reduce waste and make expected behaviours clear. I
Ode For A Small Business Owner… When the road is long Keep forging on Don’t look ahead to see How far you’ve still to go Don’t look from side to side The faces you see there May cause you to stumble Sometimes take a look behind And see how far
It’s that time of year again…my car is due its MOT. I always think that they’ll find something wrong, and I sit there, like I imagine an expectant father must, waiting for the phone to ring. All those moving parts…they can’t all be in perfect working order, can they? So
I read this week that workers in the UK are unproductive. Productivity is the new government watchword. Of course we all want to be productive – but if you focus on productivity without any thought for quality, customer focus or value for money, you may well be productively doing all
Life is full of little challenges. My shower stopped working a few months back. No big deal, I soon found a recommended plumber who fixed it, and you’ll be glad to hear I’ve been happily clean for quite some time now. The thing is though, I still haven’t had the
I loved the story a young rapper told on a chat show shortly after the London Olympics. He said that he was in Nando’s one Friday night when he suddenly yelled out, to the amazement of his friends, ’S@#t I’ve forgotten to record the dressage!’ As unexpected as it was funny,
‘I know you believe you understand what you think I said but I’m not sure if you realise that what you heard is not what I meant’. I wonder how many words have been written over the years on the importance of communication. I heard a great one the other
I have a problem with process! There, I’ve said it! Don’t get me wrong, I love what it does, the results you can achieve through it…but the word itself chips a little piece off my soul – makes me think of bureaucracy, paperwork, jumping through hoops. My mind turns to
I was reading an article yesterday by Henry Engelhardt – the CEO of Admiral. He’s really big into employee engagement, and said that that when the business was housed in one building, he would ‘walk the company’ four times a day. He still gets involved in the welcome of every new
‘Marianne is the author of four books and is currently working on her fifth whilst regularly writing her blog, we hope you enjoy it :)
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