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Every organisation needs a leader and each leader has their own style of management. What defines leadership? We all have in mind the qualities and skills needed to be a leader and are almost always rigged to a particular style of exercise that encompasses leadership. Among the most repeated include communication skills to convey confidence, determination, commitment, proximity, passion or responsibility.

Negative leadership styles

Ultimately, each leader has to find their own style a - the key in any case goes through to find a style that works best for you. However, the five that follow are generally those that do not succeed.

Micromanagement

It is easy to fall into micromanagement, a style that is characterised by absolute control of what happens in your work environment. It is something to be avoided because it means extra pressure for the employee, a cut in their autonomy, is against empowerment and a very inefficient method of facing major tasks.The problem with micromanagement is that it is not always easy to distinguish the line between what is active and helpful support and what is not. However, there are other signs that will help you realise whether or not you're a micromanager:

• You have difficulty delegating tasks, even in people who you consider competent
• You indulge in additional projects and agree to perform tasks that cannot be developed
• Lose time correcting small mistakes and lose the overview of the project
• You are on your employees backs and want to know what they do at all times

If you see yourself reflected in these attitudes, not sporadically, but overall, maybe you should review your management style.

The absolutist

A leader is responsible for setting the course of the ship and the direction to be taken by the team, but should also be open to proposals from the pack. A common mistake is to fall into a kind of absolutism, in which the vision and direction are Law.Authority is required in the company because it creates respect in the workplace, but it should never come at the expense of silencing the rest of the employees. The leader will always have the last word, but it should address the proposals of the group to make them see that their opinion matters and make them feel part of the company, increasing their productivity.In any case, it is impossible for one person to control everything that happens in the company. In this sense, there is nothing worse than making a decision on an issue that is unknown.

The softest

On the opposite side we find leaders that are too lax, that do not establish rules or supervision. They may struggle in making sure that everyone works in the same direction and that the company communicates the goals accordingly. Without this direction, a team can have great ideas, but nothing on which to align, consolidate and unify them under one criterion.Flexibility is important in the business, but everything has its limits.

The "I can do it all"

In this case we find a variant of micromanagement, only aggravated also because the leader will want to take care of all tasks. One of the first things you should do is learn to delegate leaders.The advantages of not doing everything on your own are obvious: you release workload to the team and you make sure that everything is done as you intended. However, if you want to go further, you will also let others take responsibility to grow as a team. Remember, the more you work with other people, the further you`ll grow in these environments.

The rigidity

Consistency in itself is positive, but taken so far can be very harmful for the company and for your development as a leader. One of the most common mistakes is often to draw a mental picture of the way forward and stick to it no matter what, through thick and thin, regardless of your surroundings. This is a recipe for disaster.A good leader must be able to understand that their management style must adapt to new situations and environments.You can read more on our business blog for more helpful articles, if you found this a good read you can read more in our "tips and advice" section.

It was in the summer of 2014 when the Internet users around the world suddenly realised that their data online were not immune to risks. Risque photos of Rihanna, Kate Upton, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson, Kirsten Dunst and other celebrities, began to circulate through the network completely unopposed. Taking advantage of a hole in the security system of Apple passwords, the hackers had gained access to private files stored in the Cupertino company iCloud service, to seize and disseminate such images on the Internet.It was not the first time. In 2011 Scarlett Johansson was thrust in the worldwide media about selfies that had been done in her bathroom. It was by no means the only case. Just a month and a half later the same thing happened again: More stolen public photos emerged from the "cloud" of celebrities. In total sixty were affected, according to the list published by Daily Dot.The fact is that this has cast doubt on the safety of the service from Apple, although there were those who insinuated it was all a publicity stunt. Either way, we now know for sure that if we decide to have the cloud, we have to take security measures to prevent our sensitive data (bank account number, private email, phone numbers etc.) ending up in the hands of digital criminals.But is it possible to protect a hack? Before this is answered, we have to take a step back, because it can be dangerous to take things for granted. When a file is put on the net, there are certain issues that must be considered. A huge number of people use the cloud to store their files - in 2012, 86% of companies used it, according to a study by VB News - and had access to them at any time, without overloading their hard disk.This is an amazing system, especially if we consider that the cloud services usually provide sufficient protection. Whenever you deliver a document or a photo to iCloud, to the Drive or Dropbox, however, we must note that we are raising our data to a server, i.e. a computer. Unfortunately, security systems are not insurmountable, and the criminals are always on the lookout, prepared to take advantage of minor faults.How to protect yourself, then? Is it possible to prevent the risk of someone else taking your documents? The obligatory premise is that nobody and nothing can be absolutely sure if you surf the net, although we can do something to minimise risks. Here are some simple rules that let you gain a level of digital security.

Encrypt your files

Rule number one - cloud security: Always protect your data using complex passwords, as these are difficult to guess. If your data storage service offers authentication options, use it; if it has two-factor authentication, even better. If you have available locally encryption, please use it.

If you do not want to share it ... do not put it up!

Rule number two - ask yourself before you save a file to the cloud: If it was a paper document, would you give it to a stranger, or in an envelope? If the answer is "no", you know what you have to do with the pin of the bank account, for example. Be extra vigilant about what you are releasing into the cloud, just in case and if it is too sensitive, then perhaps it isn`t the best idea sharing it.

Always close your session

The third and last part relates to your behaviour when you turn off the computer. It is not enough to close the browser, because the session can remain open for the next user to view. You have to log out using the "Exit", "close" or "logout" buttons, especially if used on a shared computer, and in this specific case, it is better to clear the cache and chronology too.

Several startups and new companies are likely to attain an industry plateau fairly early within their lifecycles. They may have gathered sufficient new customers to build a moderate victory, but can still experience difficulties breaking from their comfort zone. To be able to break that bubble and reveal your organisation to prospective buyers or clients, you will have to take drastic actions.Below are five basic techniques to enable you to boost prospective client interactions and thereby making your company's sales grow:

1. Initiate a brand new marketing tool

Perhaps your client base is starting to stagnate? This implies your advertising tool is broken. Therefore, you need to fix it. To do that, you need to first sit down and think seriously regarding your prospective buyers you are aiming to market to and the exact location you are most likely to contact them. This may require a little bit of market study.Assess your industry competitors, and come up with a summary of how they are promoting their products. How do the ways their fundamental message vary from that of your business? After the assessment, then you will need to consider the way you could possibly develop upon the advertising approaches they are utilising along with the approach you happen to be following.To start, listed below are a few ideas that may introduce your business to a potential client:Organise a unique event: In fact, this happens to be a smart way of bringing several people together in an amicable and casual environment. Provide them with some refreshments, chat with them on what you want to offer and the reason why they really have to consider what you offer.Give bonuses: Offer a gift, discount or voucher to individuals who share your social media articles. To this, you can start a small free gift competition to generate some in-store and online buzz.For any new or existing marketing strategy ideas you are implementing, you should bear it in your mind how they might influence your present client base. Once you start an important transition, be sure that your new technique keeps important elements of the ideology that began gaining clients for you.

2. Provide a brand new product or service

Not only will launching a new product widen the attraction of your company, it will also bring about new product sales as well as more cash in your wallet. Nevertheless, how precisely will you create amazing ideas for the new products? The brainstorming procedure amounts to a couple of strategies:

• Study the competition: What plan do specialists in your industry possess for the future? Exactly where is the industry moving? Study the various items that other businesses are launching and consider the way you could also build and enhance upon those concepts.
• Research product critiques: Study the customer's reviews of your present products. Is there any recurring requests or complaints that may be taken on board? If you are able to consider a new product that occupies spaces in the present market, it is advisable to have an internal client foundation from the time of launching.
• Google it: Irrespective of the type of industry you are working in, you must read bloggers who devote considerable time and effort for analysing the market as well as everything regarding it. Read their experience, and put their thoughts into consideration.

Once you have discovered a space in the marketplace, then the time is right to start creating. Provided you are promoting your new offers in the proper place, you need to be able to increase your customer base significantly.

3. Strengthen your online presence

Several distinct social media sites are available that focus on an array of customers, with only some things in common. Regardless of your choice, you will need to develop a solid digital profile to expand your business, in fact the ideal location to accomplish that is with social media.Primarily, the base articles your organisation needs to be publishing on each website should be similar. You need not put up inane things for the purpose of appearing active. Rather, you should publish information and news regarding your products, business and upcoming events. Having said that, the manner you share this kind of information will significantly differ on every platform. For instance, Twitter restricts its customers to merely 140 characters per published piece ; consequently, you must connect your target audience into clicking into your articles by making use of one or two phrases. The ultimate war weapon in improving customer service(s) is social media. Therefore, use it correctly.

4 . Develop an excellent website

While building your website, there are many important elements you should definitely incorporate to make it have a compelling look to prospective and existing customers. A few of these are:Response to questions : Perhaps you would like to convert the casual website user into a devoted customer? You must start by visualising precisely who that individual really is by including things they need . Most of all, exactly what do they really want to know? Your site is the ideal destination to respond to questions, which may be discouraging customers from purchasing for the first time.Good copywriting : With regards to the web, website content is the master. Thus, your site will go totally undetected by the public until you are producing appealing content on your site . Internet users are unpredictable, and simple spelling errors or an absence of voice is sufficient to push them far away from your site. Scrutinise the copy you are putting on the internet, and make sure to create an impact.Use fundamental SEO : Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) is always a changing industry ; in spite of this, available are hundreds of methods you can utilise to ensure your site is always atop search engine results pages. Consider keyword phrases, metadata and also endeavour to develop natural backlinks between several other like-minded websites .

5 . Seek referrals

New customers will probably try out an item if it is suggested by an associate . Whenever real customers discuss your company, prospective customers are going to be attentive; hence, among the easiest approaches to get new clients is simply by tallying up constructive reviews.In this contemporary age of social media and SEO, word-of-mouth continues to be the strongest advertising tool available .There are some crucial techniques you need to apply so as to begin getting constructive recommendations for your company :Do not stop asking : The fundamental reason why the majority of small enterprises are unable to get customer recommendations is painfully simple : they fail to ask . The perfect time to demand a recommendation is towards the completion of a deal, when outstanding service was delivered and your company remains positively attached to the client.Ensure it is simple : Even the major devoted customers will never dedicate hours of their valuable time in order to advertise your company. Should you need them to give a good positive review, you will need to make it simple. For instance, include direct backlinks to a few of the evaluation setups on which you are available and incorporate a short, proactive approach. Even though you might appear on numerous review websites, never submit above more than a few backlinks. You don`t wish to bombard or pressurise clients.Remind customers: Make sure to maintain clients of both the present and past, and do not be afraid to put a casual recommendation reminder into the discussion. In any case, for the fact that you have asked them for a referral in the past does not mean they will never want to. A number of of your customers are have busy lives, and it may most likely would have escaped their minds.

Among the advancement of innovative technology for the consumer and the potential for increased business, "Big data" is a great opportunity that is already exploring markets in both consumer and corporate industries. While there is a wealth of data available to the public domain, most discussion focuses on its application to corporations with the financial power to capture and exploit them.What position does that leave small businesses that strive for success and growth in competitive markets? Although success certainly depends on the individual company and its ability to seize the opportunity, Big Data is not just for big companies. In fact, it is an area of modern technological development that can be used by any company regardless of its size, thanks to the various cloud hosting solutions that exist in the market.

The role of social networks

One of the biggest contributors to the growing volumes of data that companies are trying to understand is social media, according to a recent study by eMarketer. An important factor is that 7 out of 10 of European users participate in social networks, making this their primary online activity. The obstacle facing SMEs is how to harness this data and apply them in their business operations to expand their businesses.1.5 billion people worldwide use social media actively and so it is crucial that SMEs resort to the opinions that consumers can offer. Different businesses can benefit from the information circulating and being captured via social media, including retail. They can use aspects such as demographics, trends and by "listening" to what consumers are saying - to be at the forefront of a changing market and leading consumer preferences.

Find what's important to you

Managing data growth is just the beginning for SMEs. However, having never handled such volumes of data, SMEs need to be able to identify the most important and relevant information for business growth; effectively, to deepen it.Therefore, effective social platforms need online analysis, which examines trends, habits and discussions. This is crucial in SMEs to have the data they are collecting through social networks. To hear what is being said can identify the gaps and blanks in different markets, as well as areas that can be developed further. This means that companies can meet the demand of consumers. This information may also allow SMEs to build a brand with the right audience, market their services effectively and address the complaints and customer inquiries more quickly.To access data on the habits of consumers, to the discussions and demographics of a particular market, SMEs can shape their offerings to match market demand and to shape the future of their businesses to be more tailored, reacting and interacting with the right people.Big changes are being made to ensure that the benefits of Big data is more accessible to small businesses. With this wealth of information, the issue for SMEs should be not about the access to these, but to have opportunities, development and the appropriate requirements for the industry in which they are operating. Once this is established, the thing SMEs need is to address the business needs that have been targeted by consumers, who will then guide the company in the right direction. This essentially leads on to the growth of your business.The evolving nature of technology and communication, the constant changes in trends and huge potential therein, means that Big data is an opportunity not to be passed up on by SME`s. With such unlimited reach, everyone should be taking their first steps towards this huge prospect.Your Virtual Office London have helped many SME's and startups become more successful through our tailored services which include mail forwarding, call answering and full virtual office packages. If you enjoyed this blog you can read more on our business blog here.

The instant your company begins trading, you are supposed to have learnt ways to be a professional juggler. Between landing huge sales and promoting your products, there are possibilities that you are going to forget to post the odd invoice or maintain updated invoices with details. Nevertheless, should you let several items slip under the carpet; you are likely to get your company in trouble. And this is the reason why you would need to think hard about record-keeping techniques.Fortunately, there are lots of techniques that you can put into practice to make record-keeping a rather fast and easy exercise. Listed below are three among the several requirements to assist you in getting started:

Understand the law

If you cannot create specific constitutional records, you may end up paying a £3,000 fine.Few records may be worth keeping as they give insights into the techniques wherein your business is functioning; conversely, there are several other records that your company will be officially required to record and also report to the HMRC routinely.Consequently, wherever relevant, you are officially required to update and keep up adequate records of the following:

• Your company`s register of members, stakeholders or guarantors;
• Your company`s record of directors with their regular home addresses;
• Your company`s record of secretaries;
• All service contracts of directors;
• A register of penalty charges and instruments that brought about the charges;
• Minutes of every shareholders and shareholders` company board meetings;
• Copies of every resolutions and conclusions that are made at these meetings;
• A record of all directors` insurances;
• A record of the company shares` sales

Additional records you need to keep have to do mainly with your company`s effectiveness, which you need to report to HMRC in your yearly tax return. To realise this correctly, you need to really know what amount of cash is coming in and out of your company, and the ideal place to discover the movement of these funds will be by way of company invoices.Invoices are utilised to track your income and consequently, they are necessary in estimating your financial well-being. When operating a business, it is an authorised necessity to be certain that you are keeping every invoice for at least six years. Similarly, company directors and sole traders should hold on to their invoice records for a minimum of five years and ten (10) months. Maybe you are in a partnership or self-employed? These records must be kept for at least five years.Although that may seem to be a long time to keep track of paperwork, in as much as you stick to a set of organisational settings, it is very easy to guarantee your invoices are satisfactorily handled. The secret relies on making use of a no-nonsense, sequential filing system. It is essential that you accurately number and date each invoice and likewise keep them in two different files, one for invoices not yet paid and the other for paid invoices. When you pay an incoming invoice, record the date and method of payment and move it into the proper file. Receipts must be handled in a similar fashion.When in doubt, get in touch with HMRC and seek advice. Besides, if you are unable to produce certain constitutional records, you could end up paying a fine of £3,000. You could even be penalised more should the records of your company show inaccuracies. Concealed and deliberate inaccuracies may end up costing you a penalty loss of up to 100% of the possible tax revenues through your non-disclosure.

Get the apps

HMRC creates a directory of safe and reasonable record-keeping apps, as well as simpler income tax apps.Nowadays, apps are available for almost everything – including company record-keeping. The majority of these apps can be downloaded free and some are easier to navigate than others. As you are technically not expected to keep a hard copy of receipts or invoices, you are perfectly advised to go paperless.In fact, doing this might even assist in reducing some of your printing and storage costs. To assist you get started; below are five among the most easy-to-use business record-keeping apps that are currently on the market:MyBizTracker: The creators of QuickBooks specifically developed MyBizTracker so as to provide small business owners with a fast, on-the-go snapshot view of their corporate financials.This app permits you to record income and expenses in real time and likewise also lets you snap photos of your receipts so that you have got multiple records of every trade. MyBizTracker costs nothing to download for every Apple gadgets.FreeAgent: another record keeping apps that boosts the same photo features just like MyBizTracker is the FreeAgent. However, FreeAgent is unique in that it is able to calculate a fairly accurate snapshot of your company`s tax liability at any given moment. FreeAgent is free to download for all Apple devices.Sage Record Keeper: Sage Record Keeper, created by Sage is one of the global most popular suppliers of enterprise resource planning. It provides business owners with an absolute accounting solution for daily use. The app has a number of advanced features and one among the most desirable aspects of Record Keeper is its ability to process Construction Industry Scheme reductions.Forbes Receipt Keeper: If you are an Android user, Forbes Pcs offer a sterling accounting product in its Forbes Invoice Keeper app. The Forbes Receipt Keeper have several of the same functions as the other applications listed; having said that, it enjoys a collaboration with the cloud service Dropbox that enables you to instantly back up every of your accounts.ZipZipBooks: ZipZipBooks is an Android app developed specifically for businesses operating in the construction or property sectors. That is because ZipZipBooks specialises in filing Construction Industry Scheme receipts that are not appropriate for several accounting apps.It is worth saying that not every record-keeping application is HMRC-approved. There are actually strict rules in place regarding cash basis and less complicated expenditures, thus it`s usually worth evaluating various recording specifications before investing time and energy into a record-keeping app.

Keep personal finances separate

It is not unlawful to make use of your personal bank account for business – however it`s absolutely more challenging.Several small entrepreneurs often treat their company's bank account like a personal income pool – but that`s the first step down a long and winding road to financial self-destruction.From the moment you form a brand new company, your company operations turn out to be their own separate entity in the sight of the law. This implies that your company need to have its personal bank account so as not to confuse its earnings with your personal finances.Furthermore, even if you are building a limited company, opening a separate account for it makes sense so as to separate business bank account due to the fact cheques issued out to a limited company usually cannot be paid into a personal bank account..Having said that, it is not against the regulations to make use of your personal bank account to operate a UK business. Though it results in a more challenging accounting circumstance, HMRC provides a bit of guidance on the kind of records you may be required to maintain in case you decide to go this route.

These records include things like:

• Bank and building society statements
• Retain duplicates of every bank statement and
• Passbook for every account containing cash from your business.

Personal drawings: In case you fail to have a different business bank account, you will have to maintain a comprehensive analysis of every bank statement outlining which cash withdrawals were business-related as well as personal.Source of funds: You are expected to record any private money introduced into the business and from where it came from – regardless of whether it was gifted from a friend or relative.

If we talk about impact and freshness in the universe of social networks, then you've got to think of Instagram, an interactive platform with stunning visual potential; however, as a tool for brand positioning, it has generated more doubts than certainties.The situation is logical if we consider that is the subject of recurrent comparisons with Facebook and Twitter - historically the preferred access routes to the digital environment. But sometimes logic creates myths, and myths are to be broken. What do we mean? Instagram offers entrepreneurs and especially SME`s, outreach opportunities and valuable promotion that could help them break out strongly in the Social Media.Instagram is a useful and easy-to-use tool for community managers, the general public and, of course, companies.If you want to know other benefits of this site that emerged in 2010, look at what we present below:

• Less competition: the number of brands on Instagram is lower compared to Facebook and Twitter. This means that many companies wasted a reach of 150 million potential users and that new firms have a large area to fertilise.
• More inspiration: Instagram is highly experiential i.e. users enter and share their daily experiences. This feature is critical for budding businesses, because new business players are more likely to exhibit freshness and innovation - always worthy of shared elements.
• Visibility: publications related to your brand reach everyone; that is, each and every one of the users assigned to the platform will have access to your content without restrictions or algorithmic rankings.
• Mobility and location: Instagram can travel to your phone or wait on the web. Also, it offers a map of photos and the ability to synchronise with services like Foursquare - traits that will help you win your own space in the world.

If you enjoyed this article you can read more insightful posts on our business blog. Your Virtual Office London help countless startups become more successful.

The entrepreneur usually has their business idea and goes in search of it, however it is advisable to reflect on the road ahead and question about their entrepreneurial skills, their strengths and weaknesses. Performing this step along the way, may have a great impact and help to facilitate your startups.

Basic questions for the entrepreneur

If you are an entrepreneur or are in the beginning of the creation of a small or medium enterprise (SME), you should be aware of the following:

What is the ease of starting a business?

Ask yourself this, since the procedures according to the type of business are sometimes very repetitive and require multiple visits, paperwork and negotiations.

What support is needed?

It would be desirable to have comprehensive support according to the segment of the company which can offer both onsite and offsite forms, bringing a new way of bonding between SME entrepreneurs and government.Among the main supports that an SME may require are having campaigns to encourage the consumption of their products, support through a wage subsidy of SMEs in growth, training, adequate funding and a productive network that allows access to markets.

Should I take into account the culture of the region?

Each SME has the idiosyncrasy of the region where it is located. Therefore, considering their culture can stimulate the consumption of products and services of the town to promote the creation of new SMEs. This regional domestic consumption and the recovery of traditional sectors that have long-established locally are encouraged.

Where can I receive care and support?

It is preferable to have support in one place; support. Having a single point of care where practical and concise solutions are offered, is essential.Ideally, the government will look to companies to offer services and not wait for these applying to receive support, which allows them to offer advice directly where required by the employer.

How to organise support for my business?

This can be answered by boosting business accelerators, incubators and schemes that generate the development of new processes to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs globally.It can be said that the comprehensive support to SMEs can be given in five aspects: training and assistance, financing, production linkages, technology development and market access. Considering these factors will help you to get better benefits and find support.

Where to establish my SME?

This can be performed in industrial parks specially designed for your type of company, where they can link the incubators, business accelerators, as well as the exchange of services among SMEs.For office based businesses, there are now numerous managed or serviced office spaces available to rent for companies. These can be especially beneficial to start-up businesses due to competitive packages that take a lot of the pressure off of the new business owner. These packages are flexible and can be tailored to your own budget and requirements.

Additional issues to the entrepreneur

What purposes do you have for your business in the coming year? Where should you start? What comes first, what will follow, and which of them is most realistic? what goals are aligned with the mission of the company? Which can generate a competitive advantage?Considering all these factors, make every effort that your SME is not left alone in wishful thinking, but remember that one of the main advantages of being a small or medium business is the flexibility to meet challenges.The work of an entrepreneur is hard, but the positive results after good analysis of these questions, can help the company to succeed in the future.

The current market scenario is moving at a rapid pace and requires businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to have an impressive capacity for innovation and adaptation. If they merge these elements, their stay in the market will be virtually guaranteed; if they fail the mission, then failure is imminent.In a process like this, the human factor plays a key role because their skills, talent and willingness depend on corporate development.SME`s require passionate, committed and staff that are willing to work together to hold a world full of opportunities, where technology has become a detonator of new success stories.Therefore, the strategic thinking of SMEs must not only concentrate on operating the business and the consolidation of a sound financial structure, but also in attracting talent that will match your needs and goals.

Analysts assert that SMEs should consider the following topics:

1. Structuring systems with full awareness. These economic units have to define the structures and systems that enable them to fulfil their goals. From them, they must guide their search for talent.2. Create job profiles. The SMEs have to identify the characteristics, knowledge and attitudes that every area of the business demands. For example, look for staff to monitor and manage corporate finance; talent to ensure technological efficiency of the company or to develop marketing activities.3. Make a market survey on wages. The SME must identify what type of salary offered by their rivals. Based on that information, they should create competitive wage plans.4. Think about professional development programs. It is essential that SMEs develop programs such as these so that their partners can grow and move up.5. Find ideal candidates. Getting the best talent is the next step. To achieve this, SMEs have to prepare thoroughly their interviews and get the information they need about the tastes, experience and attitude of the candidates.6. Provide a great welcome. After weighing up the interviews and references of the applicants, and chosen your new employees, the task of SMEs is to give an excellent welcome. This includes giving a good induction process, where new workers are familiar with the productive activities and corporate business image.

Strategies for retaining talent in SMEs

Due to the corporate inexperience of SMEs, the learning curve to grow and the economic challenges they face in their first years of life will test their ability to deliver high-quality jobs and retain their talent.HR specialists explain that, despite the difficulties, SMEs have other alternatives to keep their employees build lasting relationships with them and keep the evolution process of corporate assets; all this without large cash charges.Among the options available to SMEs to retain their talent and provide a sense of belonging include the following:1. Personal Recognition. Experts in coaching and human development indicate that to communicate the value of their team`s work will directly affect their mood and conviction to achieve objectives. For employees, it is constructive and encouraging that they really matter to their leaders.2. Rewards. SMEs can also endorse its commitment to its employees through small actions such as the allocation of free afternoons, the realisation of recreation, outdoor work and so on.3. Training programs. Investment in the personal and professional growth of the human factor is an excellent mechanism for them to be loyal and increase productivity.Training solutions, both onsite and virtual, have adapted to the needs of SMEs, making them both affordable and practical.4. Relaxation of time schedules. Today, employees look comprehensively to balance their personal life with work, a trend that SMEs cannot underestimate. These economic units should analyse the qualities of its employees and the significance of their activities; they can perform management schedules that are mutually beneficial.

The general perception of employees in a company is that working meetings can be tedious; it will last a long time and will have little effect, since the conversation invariably departs from the main objective.However, you can change your employee`s personal thoughts on the meetings in your company if you modify just the first and last five minutes. It`s a well-known phenomenon, used by stand-up comedians who must ensure a strong start and to also end in the same way. Therefore, we recommend you try and apply the following recommendations to the meetings of your business to allow them more interaction and stimulate the interest from your staff.

Set the example

If your goal is that the staff of your company show genuine interest and energy, you must be the first to show these characteristics from the time you head to the boardroom. In case at the start of the meeting you encounter a negative environment, lead with your body language and tone of voice and stay focused. If you have come prepared, you should be able to reconnect the group.

Make eye contact with everyone

It is common for each meeting to start with the leader reading the topics and for others to perhaps read too, without making eye contact between them. The challenge at this point is to meet up face to face with your employees, so one of the priorities of the board should be to build and maintain understanding, so that collaboration can be always healthy. To overcome this point, we recommend allocating no more than three minutes to explain the reasons why you met and make eye contact with each of the participants.

Follow up

Before ending the meeting, make sure your team know the steps and instead delegate or say who is responsible for what; ask everyone to say a few words about what they are responsible for. This will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and gives you an opportunity to listen and observe.When a person speaks, pay attention to what they say and how they say it. Do you really understand the idea? Is your body language congruent with what they say?

Recognise the work of others

For your company to have a positive culture, you need to recognise the work of each of the members of your team, so the recognition and rewards should be on your to-do list for each meeting. You can always find someone who is doing a good job. Say, "I love the attitude Mark" or "Thank you for your valuable contributions Beth.” This positive language can generate very positive results. It is important that the meeting leaves on an optimistic note.

Ending where you started

It is imperative that you have an idea of what you will say before the end of the meeting. The idea is that closing arguments reflect the opening, so it must reinforce the vision and the bigger picture.If you found this blog interesting make sure you favourite this on your social networks. Your Virtual Office London are the leading virtual office and business address service provider in the UK.

Employee performance directly impacts the results obtained by a company, so if members of your team perform an incredible job, the business progresses; by contrast, if employees perform poorly, the company stagnates.Against this background, it is always difficult to know whether the members of your team who are not performing well will be reflected in the scope of the goals set. Therefore, we suggest setting goals and metrics to evaluate to each employee.With this practice, each worker will know what works and where to go, while the results arising from performance measurement helps you both know if they are on track.As we know, setting goals and metrics is not a simple process, so we share some recommendations for you to overcome this process within your company.

Ask them to set their goals

This simple exercise will motivate your employees, since they are the ones who must define the objectives to be achieved while working in your company.To overcome this step, we recommend you speak to your whole team, and ask them to set each of their goals. Then you must evaluate these objectives and approve or modify them if necessary.

Realistic goals

Once you start to review the objectives proposed by each worker, it is necessary that you are sure that each member of your team maintains control over the possibility of achieving their goals or not.This is done in order not to promise things that cannot be met, either by lack of resources, or because they are out of reach or relies on a third party.

Think in the short term

Your employees must set monthly goals; so you should consider scheduling regular meetings to discuss the results that have been achieved.For that reason, it is important that measurable objectives are established with clear methods. Otherwise, you and your team will not know whether they have been met, which may affect their motivation and lower morale.

Drive the group recognition

Gather your team together in a group at the beginning of each month. At this meeting, each team member must set out the goals reached last month, what their performance was and what their goals are for the next month.Such meetings provide positive feedback and collaboration. This will make the team improve their performance, and in so doing, will obtain the satisfaction to share it with the rest of the team.

Define goals when necessary

For some departments of your company, such as the sales area, the objectives are easy to develop. In other places, it can be a challenge because they are not entirely obvious or quantifiable.To overcome this situation, you must think of the ideal scenario in which the person would do excellent work that contributes to the good of the company.By aligning business goals with employees, and providing real-time visibility, it will enable them to know their progress, from which both your company and your workforce will benefit.