Subject Focus (February)

Appraisals Business Improvement Leadership and Management Health and Social Care Sales and Marketing

Our focus this month is on business improvement and leadership and management.

Business Improvement

Business leaders have an on-going challenge to keep up to date with business trends, emerging markets, threats, employment and compliance legislation, and industry news. Many of us are working in changing competitive environments which bring challenges, but also opportunities. An example of this is the internet, which has opened up global markets and business networking on a scale that could not have been imagined a few decades ago. The downside of this being the need to develop the knowledge and skills to deal with the risks.

The threat of litigation can deter business leaders from developing new ways of working and implementing new technologies, which in turn can impact negatively on business growth. The answer to ensuring that businesses have the confidence to grow into new markets and take on new ways of working is developing the knowledge and skills of the workforce.

This month Spencer Pickett of Business Controls Training has written an enlightening blog on “How can you improve your risk management and internal controls?”.

Leadership and Management

Not only is this a common time of year for appraisals, as featured in last months Subject Focus page, but is also a time when staff reflect on what their aspirations are and how they can make them happen. This sometimes results in employees moving to other companies, but what would be a preferable solution for the employer would be if they can support individuals to develop their skills and knowledge, and possibly enable them to achieve qualifications in their chosen career path.

This month we have interesting guest blog from Zoe Adamson who asks the question “Are Leaders Born or Made?”