Your outlet for content must be regularly updated, but more than that, it must constantly provide value and engaging content to keep readers coming back.

Here are some questions which will help keep you on the straight and narrow of content creation, and help you provide content which will keep readers coming back for more.

1) Is this relevant to my clients?

Your content needs to be written with someone in mind, and it’s likely that the person you want to be reading your content is a potential client. Don’t start with what you find interesting, but what they’ll feel compelled to read.

2) Have they read this before?

It’s tempting with so much content surrounding us to recycle material. Sometimes, it can seem impossible to create original content, but even if you are taking inspiration from an existing article, allow your own experience and voice to add originality. Don’t be afraid to develop your own voice and put a piece of yourself into your writing.

3) Will it give them value?

It’s important to give your reader something which will be of benefit to them. While doing this, you get to demonstrate your expertise and begin building a relationship. Think about what they will take away from the content; are you giving advice, or perhaps the benefit of your experience? What do you hope they’ll get out of reading your content?

4) Is there an opportunity to engage?

Content without engagement is like bouncing a tennis ball off a wall. There needs to be an opportunity somewhere within your content to create a dialogue. A typical example is to ask a question at the end of the article, but this also goes for the posts you put out on social media to invite people to read what you’ve written. Ask for the views of individuals who you think might be particularly interested, and try to create a conversation.

5) What do I want them to do at the end?

Some content lends itself well to a call to action. Perhaps you have been giving a case study or listing the benefits of your service or point of view. At this point, it seems natural to ask the reader to get in touch with their view, connect with you on social media or simply give you a call if they think you can help. Or, perhaps you want them to pass it on to their colleagues or others who will find it interesting. Whatever it is, ask it in as clear terms as possible, and remind them why it will benefit them.

We are great believers in the idea that there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between sports and business (not least the importance of coaching in both), so we took a quick look at Mancini’s predicament and had a think about what we could learn as business people.

Here are some choice lessons we’ve drawn from Mancini’s unfortunate story.

Relationships really matter

Mancini’s refusal to build relationships and acknowledge younger players has been widely cited in headlines announcing his dismissal. In business, just as in sport, good relationships and understanding between team members is vital. That goes for people inside and outside of your business – Mancini often clashed with other managers as well as his own players. Nobody wants to work with someone who is difficult, rude and aggressive, and it seems this was one of the main reasons for Mancini’s dismissal.

Nobody is ‘the special one’

In a way comparable to Jose Mourinho, Mancini’s team was all about him – a contradiction in terms, as no team can be all about an individual. Mancini reportedly told Joe Hart that he was “the only judge” of the team’s success, something which demonstrates Mancini’s lack of understanding about what it meant to be part of the Manchester City team as a whole. It was eventually those who were judging his own performance, the board, who told him it wasn’t good enough.

Seeing yourself as the top dog in any profession is a recipe for disaster, especially for anyone tasked with leading others. Listening, willingness to collaborate and the ability to empower your team are all attributes which are highly valued in today’s leaders.

Reviewing goals and targets leads to better performance

Mancini was given targets to complete, and his lack of delivery meant that when it came to review, he was out. Okay, you might argue that these insufficiencies were partly used to justify Manchester City wanting to get rid of a difficult employee, but  the business lesson we can take from them is that they started the season with a timed strategy and goals whose success or failure would be clear.

When they came to review the plan at the end of the season, they agreed that their objectives had not been completed.

So – make sure you have timed objectives, and act accordingly if they aren’t completed. This shouldn’t always mean firings; instead, you might re-assess what is realistic, what could have been done differently, and how future long-term goals should be adapted in accordance with your results.

There are a number of conversations you need to be having on a regular basis to ensure that your business runs as effectively as possible.

Outside of your business:

The most important conversations you need to be having outside of your business are with customers. Whether these are existing customers or potential customers, you need to be talking.

The essential thing here is to be engaged in conversation. Writing a blog or delivering a monthly newsletter isn’t effective if there is no engagement. Encourage discussion about the topics you’re talking about and be a vocal part of the business community.

Make sure you are having new conversations as well as maintaining old ones; it’s important to both maintain and strengthen relationships, and create new ones where there is potential waiting to be discovered.

Within your business:

Inside your business, it’s important that the stakeholders are talking regularly. No matter the size of your business, all parties have to know what they are aiming for and what success looks like for the business. Having regular monthly meetings to catch up on all targets and strategies is an essential part of this. Even if you are a sole trader, you will most likely have suppliers, and making your needs known to them and feeding back how you find their service adds value to the relationship.

Around your business:

It is always useful to find out about the experiences of others, so talking to people in the same industry as you can be valuable. Perhaps there is a shared interest which you can combine forces on, or a relationship which might be useful in the future. Don’t be too focussed on personal gain, and at the very least, you will have reached out to another person who now knows about your skills and can judge when they might be needed.

A blog about conversations wouldn’t be complete without starting one. Do you need to have these conversations more often? Or are there other discussions you feel are more important? Leave us a comment below or email alexh@businesscopilot.co.uk with your views!

The video is an illustrated version of Dan Pink’s talk at RSA which takes us on a quick spin around the subject of one of his pet topics, motivation. Studies have shown that being offered more money to do a better job makes no difference when we are dealing with any tasks which require anything other than manual/physical work. So, motivation for cognitive tasks can’t be linked to more money, and in fact, being offered more money actually leads to poorer performance.

What it is it that we need to do our best work? The video concludes that it’s autonomy, mastery and above all, purpose. But what exactly does ‘purpose’ mean? We (like Dan) think it means doing something which you have a natural talent for, and not always for monetary reward, but also for satisfaction and enjoyment, and the feeling of doing something to help the wider community.

So how do we go about achieving these things? Some choose to do community work, or work for free which advances their field. The digital and tech sectors are particularly well known for their commitment to developing things simply for the love of it rather than commercial gain.

The one thing you need for all of this is a passion for what you are doing, enough to go out there and do it not just when you’re getting paid, but the rest of the time too. Perhaps you could volunteer your services to those who need it, through charities or community initiatives. Perhaps you could work on developing those ideas that pop up during the working day in your spare time. Whatever form your purpose takes, do as much of it as you can.

So here comes the big question; do you love what you do enough to spend your free time on it? And if not, what do you love that much?

This is a talk for RSA given by Dan Pink, author of bestselling books Drive and A Whole New Mind.

Graham has been running The House with co-founder and Creative Director Steve Fuller in Bath for the last 17 years. They have worked with high-profile clients including Mission Burrito, Sea Life Centres, Fiskars and many more.

We asked Graham about the vision for the business, potential obstacles and how The House plan to overcome them.

What is the vision for The House? Where would you love to see your business go?

We have a very clear vision for The House. We are fanatical about business and want to use our brand skills to help individual companies create customers and employees who are big fans of everything they do. As we all know, fans buy more, talk more, stay longer, work harder, go extra miles and recruit others; as for The House, well we’d love to create fans who love what we do too.

What might prevent you from achieving this?

Our challenge is always to treat our business as if it was a client of The House; allocate time to plan, share thinking with the team, shape outcomes and prioritise action. Then stick to it! Time is our most precious resource. We need to protect it fiercely – stay ‘frosty’. It’s very easy to get caught up in our client work and put ourselves and our housemates last; delaying important internal changes, creative ideas and improvements that will grow us, our capability and our business. It’s like being in any relationship; you need to nourish yourself at the same time.

How do you plan to resolve these issues?

We actually took a dose of our own medicine. Steven and I invested in a couple of days out of the business recently to write a new 3 year roadmap and spend some creative time playing and writing together. I’d recommend it! We realised just how much we still want the same things for the business – even after 17 years – and how much we still enjoy working together. Since then we’ve made two new appointments, run our first Brand Masterclass and instilled an ‘in-house’ communication & briefing ‘heartbeat’, three times a week that supports our values and brand promise. Our aim is ensure we don’t sacrifice the needs of our team when we’re meeting those of our clients. After all, we’re a learning business and our clients need to be confident that we’re in shape, evolving and growing too.

Coaching and training are just as essential for reaching the top in business as they are for sport, and are the best way to make sure you rise from the Sunday leagues to the top flight. Here’s how we think about it:

Development

Coaching and training are vital to your development as individuals and as a business. No matter how much business acumen, knowledge and experience you have, there is always more out there to learn. Coaching helps identify the areas where training is most needed, and helps you to systematically put it into practice when you leave the training room and re-enter the office.

Growth

Often, what’s needed to really push the business up a notch is the impartial outside view of a coach, combined with the focussed direction of a business plan. When you have these, it becomes easier to see where you’re headed and how exactly you’re going to get there. A business coach will help you through the plan you create together, providing an accountability partner and ensuring you aren’t veering off course.

Health

A coach or health expert is an integral part of making sure that an athlete is healthy. As in-tune with their own body as they might be, nobody can give themself a thorough check-up, not even if they are a doctor. It takes someone with the necessary expertise and impartiality to see what’s not working properly, and in business it’s exactly the same. See our article here about the importance of thorough diagnosis in business.

Strategy

Most sports involve some kind of strategy, whether this is psychological or otherwise. It is vital to operate to a strategy in business too. The strategy might not be as straightforward as a 4-4-2 formation – It might instead involve analysis of your current position and deciding what you want to change and how. It might involve preparing for potential setbacks. Your strategy is dependant on your business, and it’s vital for making sure you are a fierce competitor.

If you want to transform your business with coaching and training, there are several options available to you. We are holding an event in partnership with GrowthAccelerator which is aimed at business owners with 5+ employees who are looking to grow.

Former World Number 1 squash player Peter Nichol will be speaking about the importance of training in sport, and in business. There will be an opportunity to talk to us about business coaching and to a Growth Manager from GrowthAccelerator about what you can expect from the service.

Event details: 
Tuesday, April 30th
5.30-8pm
Colston Office Centre, Bristol, BS1 4TR,
Free to attend
Sign me up!

We have created this brief checklist to make sure you secure the very best employees for continuing your growth.

What’s the role?
First, you need to know what role your new employee will play. Will it be part time or full time? Are you hiring an employee for their skills which you don’t have, or are you employing another ‘you’ to share workload? Perhaps what you really need is someone who can bring both (if they exist!)

Create a full, clear job description explaining honestly the qualities the candidate needs, all experience the position requires and an overview of the day-to-day tasks they will need to complete. Here is a useful job description template to draw inspiration from.

What’s the salary?
One particularly tough point is deciding how much to pay an employee. Asking what their salary expectations are is one way of setting an appropriate benchmark, and you must take into account what you can afford. Read our blog from the archives about what to pay your staff.

How will you promote the position?
When you’ve crafted a clear and precise job description, you must decide where to publish it. If you know you get a lot of website hits, it may be worth hosting a ‘careers’ page on your site.

Linking to the job description using social media is a great way to spread the word, as is posting it on free listing sites such as Gumtree and Indeed. Maximise your network and send the position out to all contacts, asking if they know anyone who may be suitable. It may also be worth considering specialist sites and messageboards for your industry, especially if you are looking for graduates or specifically qualified candidates.

The Interview
Choosing an interview format can be tough, and asking the right questions is key.
One particularly good question I was once asked at interview was “If I was at the pub with you and your friends and you left the room, if I asked them what one thing they’d change about you, what would they say?”

It took me by surprise and forced honesty. It forced me to see my negative traits through the eyes of people who liked me despite them, and it’s not often that you’re asked to think in that way. It was certainly much better than “tell me about your weaknesses”, a notoriously overplayed and much-anticipated interview question.

It’s a good idea to ask candidates, perhaps those who reach a second level of interview, to complete a short piece of work to demonstrate their ability. This will give an invaluable insight into how they work and the quality of work they produce.

Choosing the right candidate
Once you have narrowed down the selection, choosing the right candidate can be difficult. Do you pick skills, experience or personality, if all three aren’t present in one candidate? Decide which of these is most important to you, and make any deficiencies which may need training clear to the candidate.

Best of luck in your search, and we hope you find the very best there is!

Note: New changes have come into effect from the start of April 2013, regarding how small businesses report their employees’ earnings to HMRC. Click here to read about the changes and what they mean for you.

Useful further reading: How to hire your first employee.

In the past year, I have experienced more change than perhaps at any other point in my life so far. I graduated from University, moved to a new city, started a new job, moved in with people I didn’t know, moved out again, moved in with old friends and started learning to play piano.

So ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ by Dr Spencer Johnson really struck a chord with me when I read it last week.

‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ is, put simply, a book about change. It’s about how change affects us, or perhaps more accurately, how we let change affect us. The book’s 4 characters (Hem, Haw, Scurry and Sniff) all react differently to their main source of sustenance and happiness, their cheese, being moved. Some move on without thinking, some refuse to accept it and some come round to the idea of looking for something new. It is a business book which isn’t explicitly about business, but whose lessons are particularly relevant to business, especially in the modern market.

The story mostly follows Hem, who at first is crushed by losing his cheese, but comes to learn that finding new cheese will make him stronger, and that he mustn’t take cheese for granted.

The moral is clear: don’t get comfortable. When you begin to rely on cheese, take it for granted and forget that it isn’t yours, you set yourself up for a fall when it is inevitably removed. I can’t help but feel that this book is much more relevant now in a business sense than it would have been when it was published in 1998. People are very rarely employed in a job for life, and the constantly updating digital landscape means things are continually in flux. Nothing stands still.

So, this book may be simple in its message, but it is all the better for it. Do not let yourself be static while the rest of the world moves along. In the book, the metaphor for change-readiness is keeping your running shoes tied at the laces, hung around your neck. This is an invaluable lesson, and one which I intend to follow. Always be ready to move, whether this means learning new skills, crafting new products to meet customers’ needs, rebranding yourself or your company, or just keeping an eye on what’s going on in your industry.

Just make sure that when the cheese moves, you’re ready to get out there and find it again.

Alex, Communications Officer
alexh@businesscopilot.co.uk

“Consultancy is cheap when done early.”

The saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ is one that most are familiar with, and consultancy is often seen as a ‘cure’. We choose to see it differently. Enlisting the help of a coach at the beginning of your business can mean avoiding potential pitfalls later on. The key is not to wait for these pitfalls, but to anticipate and circumnavigate them.

While we might wish that we had the benefit of hindsight before a mistake happens, this is usually impossible. But as experienced business coaches, we can give you the benefit of expertise and past experience, which can prove invaluable when faced with a new venture, idea or problem that you’re not sure how to deal with.

We encourage you to think differently about consultancy. To refer to our flight metaphor, when you are ‘in the hangar’, about to take your first flight, it’s important to do the appropriate checks to ensure that all the components fit for purpose. Having a business coach on board at this stage can ensure that robust foundations are laid (see one example of a business we helped take off).

If you are in flight, but want to gain altitude, consultancy can also help. By assessing all aspects of your business, we can find pinch points and areas which are stopping you from breaking through the clouds. The important thing is that you don’t wait until the engines fail to call in an engineer.

Those kinds of repairs can be extremely costly, but with a little work beforehand, many of them could be avoided. One particularly extreme example of advice not followed was the Challenger disaster. Two of NASA’s engineering consultants from Morton Thiokol had spotted a defect in one of the parts of the shuttle, meaning that launching at a low temperature could cause a catastrophe.

Despite their whistleblowing, they were ignored and NASA chose to launch regardless. The result was catastrophe. Had they taken the advice which was readily available, they could have avoided this disastrous outcome.

We are not suggesting that your business will fall foul of such disaster if you don’t enlist a consultant; but the advice and information is available, and it could be the difference between a good business and a great one.

So, consultancy can be cheap – will you choose to spend less now, or more in the long run?

To book a one-to-one with us to find out how your business can gain altitude, call 0117 317 8147 or email us.

What is the vision for Transformation Leaders? Where would you love to see your business go?

We are an independent company based in Bristol and London and we have already been operating for 12 years. We are unique, as we believe in running a carefully selected and managed community with a ceiling of no more than 150 very good senior board level independents, available for great transformation projects in all board disciplines. We have won over £2.5 million of successful projects so far for our members, some being as far away as with Tata HQ in India, and last November I joined a mission of 15 SW MD’s on the largest trade mission to China for many years.

Unusually, we are not an interim agent (and don’t charge like one either), so we have saved our wide range of clients, from the very big like Panasonic and HMG, to the smaller, fast growing companies in the private sector, over £1M through the way that interim agents charge to find the right independent transformation-leader for a project.

The goal is thus: ‘More successful projects year on year’ for clients at board level. We just love what we do, making a real difference to our clients and members.

What might prevent you from achieving this?

Nothing, really. We know how we have got to where we are, and being high quality and unique in the market helps enormously. Referral gets us there. The internet, websites and so on are excellent methods to check people out, but they are not usually what get you through the front door.

We are independent ‘thought leaders ‘in our segment, so we run a lot of good development events in three centres around the country to share our knowledge with clients and members and keep on learning.

How do you plan to resolve these issues?

Although we don’t anticipate any issues, we do have our own five year plan. As a wider picture I think we all have to understand that 50% of our GDP in the state is already a recipe for disaster. Too much debt is lethal once interest rates rise. Printing money in the short term may be vital, but strategically it is inflationary. For our country, which is 1% of the world’s population, not earning our way in the world in innovative ways that add value to what we produce, means we’ll end up starving, with a danger of accompanying civil disturbance; and our currency? It will end up on the floor.

This means constant change, constant improvement and delivery of ‘measurably better for less cost’, or we will not be able to afford the very considerable benefits our people currently enjoy. If you ‘add value’, you’ll need to add even more. If you rely on the state (as around 25% of UK adults do), you’ll need to take a lot less. We have been bankrupt before, from 1940 and onwards to 1952 or so. We got out of that one and also a number of very sticky periods in between. We need to do so again. And we can thank another great British inventor, Tim Berners Lee, only 20 years ago, enabling computers to talk to each other to significantly increase the ability of small businesses to compete and export at much lower set up and running costs and to export their added value easily.

Visit the Transformation Leaders website or connect with David on LinkedIn.