SME Support Services

07/10/2022

Happy International SMILE Day!

04/10/2022

Face people head-on.

Don’t chat behind someone’s back.
Don’t tell everyone else your issue with a certain employee.
They can’t change it.

If you want change, talk to the person directly.

Find a time to approach the person (do not ambush them). Share your concerns and how they are making you feel. They may not even be aware of how their behaviour is affecting you. Give them a chance. Be prepared to concede that perhaps you have opportunities for improvement as well.

Imagine if everyone was talking about you!

What would you like to see happen?

An effective, supportive, and thriving organizational culture needs individuals to step up.

Be brave.
Be supportive.
Be instrumental in building and maintaining an inclusive culture.
Be the change needed if your organization suffers from whispers and gossip.

Start today.

For more information and articles, please go to:
https://www.smesupportservices.com.au/blog

20/09/2022

International Businesswoman Day

This Thursday is International Businesswoman day.

Let’s celebrate the women in our lives who are sacrificing, supporting, encouraging, empowering, and leading the way in business.

www.smesupportservices.com.au

14/09/2022

Find your 4 leaf clovers

Good employees are hard to find.

Great employees are harder to find.

Awesome employees are like 4 leaf clovers.

But they are out there, and you may even have them in your organisation.

Here’s the thing.

Once you have a great or awesome employee – do not let them go!

With unemployment at 3.4% in Australia, employees are able to move on quickly, as we have seen in the past with the great resignation.
Don’t let your awesome employees be taken up by your competitor.

It is incumbent upon leaders to ensure that they retain, nurture, and support these employees.

They add value to your organisation, not just financially, but culturally.

And if you are not convinced, look at the cost to replace them:
Executive: $34,000+
Senior Manager: $23,000+
Manager: $18,000+
Employee: $10,000+

It is much better, for so many reasons, to invest in the people you have!

For more articles, please go to:
https://www.smesupportservices.com.au/blog

06/09/2022

"Don't just settle for treating employees like you would like to be treated, be better than that".

23/08/2022

16/08/2022

Failure is not the opposite of success

We should all admire businesses that celebrate their failures, it is part of their success story.

I was lucky enough to work for an amazing leader Michael Ford (CEO of The Good Guys), who encouraged leaders to fail fast, learn fast, scale fast, without fear.
The Good Guys achieved amazing results for what at the time, was a privately owned business. An owner, Andrew Muir, who with Michael, stood by your side the entire way to success. Felt every downturn, side turn, upside downturn, all to get to where we needed to be.

Many leaders, and organisation's cultures are just too risk averse. I still hear several blame COVID-19 as the reason for not stretching ideas, not going ahead with new initiatives.

LET.IT.GO!

Employees seek working for organisations that try to make a difference. You won’t make a difference by not trying, and you will never understand true success without failing along the way.

I remind people of this each time, you didn’t know how to walk to start with, you didn’t give up after falling over for the umpteenth time, you didn’t go

“Well, this walking thing is not for me, I am just going to bum-shuffle into my teenage years”.

We seem to lose this resilience as we get older, to get up and have another crack.

Failing makes us stronger.
Failing makes us more resilient.
Failing makes us wiser and smarter.

Failing makes us better at what we do, now, and into the future.

Celebrate the failure knowing that you are well on the way to success!

For more articles, please go to:

https://www.smesupportservices.com.au/blog

09/08/2022

Want to improve your business performance?

Contact me today for an obligation free chat.

www.smesupportservices.com.au

03/08/2022

“Everything changes so that everything can stay the same”

Whilst the original quote is from a story set in the 1860’s, The Leopard, published in 1958 by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the message can be applied to so many different aspects of life today.
The characters in the book can adapt to change, but they personally never changed or developed.

When I think about some of the companies that I have worked with, I recall so many meetings, discussions, committees, and ‘new directions’ that were going to be taken, only for employees to feel that nothing had really changed, and quite frankly, they really hadn’t changed materially enough to be noticed at times.

One employee once told me that “around here, nothing changes, except that everything always changes”.
It made me sad to hear this. To think that a senior leader in the business was so disillusioned with the way the business was being guided.

Research shows that approximately 70% of change initiatives fail to achieve their goals. This is largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.

In a world where there is constant change, some good, some bad, perhaps it is time to take a breather, and be okay with not needing to change for change’s sake.

This does not mean that you will not be competitive. Just focus on what will drive the 30%.

Leading change is an art form.
It requires skill, patience, and tenacity.
It requires a whole lot of communication.
It requires explaining in detail the ‘WHY’ for the need for change.
It requires buy-in from stakeholders.
It requires someone to question as to what the benefit will be, whether it will make a significant difference to the organisation and people’s lives.

If it does not.

Bin it!

But today, do one thing.

Change the way you view and feel about the need for constant change initiatives.

People of all times in recent history need clarity, surety, and stability.

Make the change!

For more articles, please go to:
https://www.smesupportservices.com.au/blog

20/07/2022

Find ways to say Thank You

This goes out to leaders and employees alike.

Instead of looking at someone’s negative performance, start with the mindset to Thank someone.
It can be challenging at the start, as, especially in Australia, we almost pride ourselves on taking someone down ‘a peg or two’, we don’t want people to become ‘big headed’ or ‘too full of themselves’.

But this type of attitude is not conducive to establishing a supportive, nurturing, and appreciative culture, or work environment.

Organisational cultures that have a grateful, or appreciative culture, are extremely rare, however, those that succeed at this, are invariably more profitable, and tend to be truly an employer of choice.

There are so many great things that employees at all levels do, but a lot of the time go unnoticed.

And it doesn’t just have to be in your workplace.

Some time ago, I decided that I would start thanking people, randomly as I received great service, or noticed someone doing a great job.
Initially, I must admit, it felt strange, almost a little uncomfortable, but the more I thanked people and made sure to explain why I was so impressed, the genuinely thankful, and appreciative responses made me more determined to keep going.

I want to call out a very small business here in South Australia, a café called Royalty Theatre Snack Bar.
I happened to be in the city and love to support the small, family-owned businesses where I can.
I ordered a coffee and some food, sat myself down and started to do some work on my laptop. I listened in on the couple serving behind the counter (Poppy and Bill). They were highly engaging, knew most people by name, had the same conversation repeatedly about how cold it was this morning in Adelaide, and always with a smile and a friendly demeanor.

I finished my food and coffee and when Poppy came to clear the table, I asked her if it was okay to stay seated for a bit longer. She gave me a big smile and said, ‘you can sit there as long as you like love’. After about another 30 minutes, I ordered another coffee.
Poppy was so proud to tell me that Bill roasts his own beans on the weekend and that he gets to the café at about 4am to beat the traffic and take the deliveries – because that is easier for the drivers.

I had to say something.

I thanked both Bill and Poppy for their friendly hospitality, and that as I had been listening to them for a while now, I was just so impressed with their service. I asked for their names and advised them that I would like to leave a nice review on their website, they don’t have one, so I left it on Google and a bunch of other sites.

They were both so humble, and almost embarrassed that someone would compliment them on something that in their words, everyone should be doing!
I advised them that in my line of work, I observe a LOT, and I rarely see excellent service.

I left them to it, but as I was leaving the premises, I heard Poppy proudly say to another patron that ‘that guy is writing a review about us!’. I turned to see another HUGE smile and waved goodbye.

Now, I know that a small comment, 3 minutes at best of my time writing a short review has done wonders to Bill and Poppy. And I hope that just for that day, and hopefully more, as Bill gets up at 3am to get ready, they remember that guy who noticed!

And hey, if you are in Adelaide CBD, perhaps bypass a major outlet and support a Bill-and-Poppy-run-business and say thanks if you think they did a good job.

And when you get back to your place of work, look at who is doing something great, walk up to them (don’t text/message/email), and tell them.

And when you get home, thank your partner, your neighbours, your children….

Let them know you noticed!

In a lifetime, you may meet over 10,000 people.
Some of my posts reach 1,000 people.
Imagine the possible number of people whose day we can collectively make.

Imagine the world we would live in if we all found a way everyday to say Thank You to literally millions of people…. let’s start together today!

Thanks again Bill and Poppy – keep up the great work!

For more articles, please go to:
https://www.smesupportservices.com.au/blog