Leadership Skills: Here’s Why Effective Leaders Don't Live In Comfort Zones
Up until now, I’ve tried to be very careful about how I write these blogs because I don’t want to put a shelf life on them. After all, the subjects I’m writing about – the principles of leadership, the importance of identifying your employees’ strengths, etc. – are timeless and universal. The topic I’m going to talk about today, why it's essential for leaders to step out of their comfort zone, is timeless too. However, I'd be avoiding the elephant in the room if I didn't at least give the nod to what's going on in the world right now because the conflict in Ukraine has pushed a lot of leaders out of their comfort zones in ways they could never have imagined at the start of this year.
Career Progression: Why It’s Essential To Map Your Employee’s Careers
I don’t like gardening. The closest I come to being a gardener is working out where the plants should go so somebody who knows more about plants than I can put them there. That's also a reflector of one of my key strengths in business. I'm full of ideas; I'm full of what's going to happen in the future, and when there's something I want to do, I want my team to help me get it started as quickly as possible. CliftonStrengths calls people like me ‘Activators’. There are many good things about being an Activator and a few not so good things as well, mainly that Activators can become very impatient and frustrated when things aren’t happening.
The Importance Of Identifying Your Employees’ Strengths
Think about what your employees and team members are doing right now. Are they working in roles that let them use their strengths to their (and your) best advantage, or were they just slotted into that role simply because it was there, and you needed a body to fill it? If it’s the second one, chances are you’re not making the best of what your employees can do, and they won’t be achieving their full potential either.
Don’t Be Afraid of Transitioning an Employee Into a New Role
Over the years, I've noticed a frustrating trend in leadership and people management. In fact, I don't even think it’s a trend because trends come and go, and this critical example of leadership short-sightedness seems to have been with us forever.
It’s the reluctance of leaders to move people out of roles.
“It’s Not My Job”
Sure, there will always be people who’ll try to swerve being given anything else to do simply because they don’t want to be bothered. But, if you’re a halfway decent leader or manager, you'll already know who those people are and have taken steps to either encourage a better mindset or inspire them to find another workplace where they can make their excuses and waste somebody else's time.
Do What You Love And You’ll Never Work A Day In Your Life
So, now all that has been said, the old saying, "Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life", seems like an excellent place to start the ball rolling.
Is it a saying you agree with, or do you think it’s just another one of those corny, old-fashioned cliches our parents and grandparents used to spout way back in the mists of time, like “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and "There's no use crying over spilt milk"?
The Horror of Choosing The Wrong Software Supplier
The Power of Clifton Strengths
If you’ve ever undergone the thankless process of ‘management profiling’, you'll know what a soul-destroying experience it can be.
Until recently, the profiling methods that I've had to endure throughout my career have left me highly cynical. They don't do what they promise to do, and most bosses put their managers through them purely as a tick-boxing exercise. Not only is it a total waste of time for everybody involved, it can also potentially do more harm than good.
Net Promoter Score Benefits: How To Gain Useful Customer Reviews
Have you heard about the Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
If you haven’t, that’s probably because you’re already familiar with it, but you didn't know that's what it's called.
The Net Promoter Score is an online market research tool that comes in the form of a single survey question; usually, something like, 'How likely on a scale of 1 – 10 would you be to recommend our product and services.'
Legal Software Suppliers: Are There Any Mainstream Independent Suppliers Left?
Software consolidators buy companies to get economies of scale. For them, the perfect 'utopian position' is to have every customer of every business they've bought transfer to their 'go-forward product’. On top of that, I have yet to come across a software consolidator that didn't have a main go-forward product and an upgrade path for all the other product sets they've purchased.
Business Etiquette: Behave Better Than Your Competition
“If your Legal Software is so good, why don’t you shout louder about what you do?”
That's a good question, and when someone asked me it the other day, I had to think long and hard about my answer.
Software selection process: What is your software providers "Why"?
When you look at any list of ‘How to choose the right supplier’ – regardless of the sector you’re in – they always tend to give the same advice: Know what it is you need, check out their credentials, find out what their other customers have to say about working with them, etc. etc.
Software selection process: How proactive is your software company?
Finding a software company you can trust and build a relationship with is hugely important. But there’s one other question you should ask yourself too:
How proactive is your software company in your particular sector?
Legal industry software suppliers: Nine things to think about before making a purchase
What to look for in a new legal software product or supplier
There are many factors to consider when you're looking for a new legal software product or supplier. When you are sourcing a new product, some of the following advice might seem obvious. Other parts, not so much. Let’s take the points in order.
Here’s why Q1 2021 could be an interesting time for legal software providers
How many legal software firms will change hands in the first quarter of this year?
There have been around eight acquisitions in this space over the last twelve months, and approximately three or four of them were owner-managed. The last of those sales was almost dead-on the close of 2020.
What return on investment should you expect from your software?
When a business owner, CEO or IT manager purchases a new software product for their company, it’s usually with the same Return on Investment (ROI) in mind: to save their organisation time and money.
Property Management Automation Software: What makes automating your industry so essential?
If I had to choose my favourite thing about the work I do, the part that gives me the biggest buzz, it’s this: providing ground-breaking automation software which empowers its users and streamlines their industry as much as possible. Let’s face it, every industry could use at least a little streamlining, and usually a lot.
How Fast Does Software Go Out Of Date?
In the lightning-fast age of modern technology, things change at a break-neck pace. While these strides forward are exciting and inspiring, they can also cause concern as we all try to keep up. Software developers are on the sharp end of this as they work to keep evolving their products and to make the most of every breakthrough.
