2012 February | Vistage UK Blog

Family businesses crucial to the UK economy

ksimonsen, Feb 29, 2012

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Family businesses are crucial to boosting the UK economy, claims the Forum of Private Business. Representatives from the not-for-profit employer have claimed that family run-businesses are now the backbone to the British economy because they represent such a large portion of SME's in the country. In an interview with Fresh Business Thinking, the forum's chief executive Phil Orford urged the government to do everything they can to help the owners of a family business succeed. He said: "With such a huge number of small firms acting as the muscle for the UK economy, it's in everyone's best interest for these businesses to grow, flourish, and be able to trade to the best of their ability." "T

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43 per cent of line managers are considered ineffective, says report

ksimonsen, Feb 28, 2012

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Nearly half of managers believe they are not getting the required standard of work from their line managers. That's according to a report released today by the Chartered Management Institute, who attempted to find a link between organisation performance and management abilities. Only 39 per cent of managers in low performing businesses deemed their line manager to be effective compared to a massive 80 per cent in high performing organisations, which could prompt managers of the former to indulge in leadership training. That's because management and leadership development activities can lead to "increases of up to 32 per cent in people performance" and 23 per cent in overall organisational performance,

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Face to face a thing of the past

ksimonsen, Feb 28, 2012

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Never mind the business lunch, it seems that face to face meetings of any sort could soon be obsolete. According to 5,000 company bosses who took part in an annual Virgin Media Business study, more than half (60 per cent) of employees will work from home within the next decade. Face to face meetings with customers and prospects will also change with 72 per cent believing getting together in person will soon be a thing of the past. Of course, Virgin Media Business have a vested interest in just such an outcome proving correct but it still makes for interesting reading. The research was carried out by LM Research and surveyed 5,000 directors / business owners from companies with 100+ employees between 12 December 2011 and 16 December 2011. According to the report, businesses are already putting

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Whitney Houston, Sony And The Importance Of ‘Reputation’

ksimonsen, Feb 27, 2012

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Just hours after the death of Whitney Houston two of her albums, ‘The Ultimate Collection’ and “The Greatest Hits’ were increased in price on the UK version of iTunes; one from £4.99 to £7.99 and the other from £7.99 to £9.99. There was an immediate backlash on Social Media sites and the record label, Sony, reversed the price rise within a few hours. They claimed that the albums were ‘mistakenly mispriced’ and that it was an ‘internal mistake due to an employee error’. For many of us, it may seem a huge coincidence that it was two Whitney Houston albums that experienced the mistaken hike in price, merely a few hours after her passing was announced. Nevertheless, there is a key reminder for us all in what happened. In many ways, one could argue Sony did nothing wrong. After all,

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Prospering in Austerity

ksimonsen, Feb 22, 2012

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Don't just take our word for it, Vistage can really help your buiness particularly in the challenging times we find ourselves in. Top speaker Shay McConnon the founder of People First had this to say following his recent sessions with Vistage groups. "Having spoken to 3 Vistage groups recently, I have been impressed with the buoyancy and energy in the groups - with both the chairmen and the members. I was expecting more doom and gloom with the current downturn in the marketplace and was pleasantly surprised when talking to the chairmen to learn that most of the member’s business were buoyant. I suspect these levels of high business performance can be attributed in part to

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BHF calls for bosses to promote health and fitness

ksimonsen, Feb 22, 2012

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The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has launched a 'Health at Work' programme for employers, to help them 'get their staff fit and healthy', Fresh Business Thinking reports. This is after a survey carried out by the BHF - published in conjunction with National Heart Month - found that while two-thirds of employees believe their employer is concerned about staff well-being, more could be done to promote it at work. This is because the BHF feels many workers are experiencing a "toxic combination" of unhealthy eating, little exercise and stress. This could negatively impact upon their work, so by taking an inte

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CEOs remain confident despite predictions of further economic woes

ksimonsen, Feb 21, 2012

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The majority of British CEOs are expecting their business to grow this year, despite continued expectations of a faltering economy. In the latest version of the Investec Entrepreneur Confidence Index, 86 per cent of respondents said that they expected their business to become more profitable in the last 12 months. This was despite a similar figure expecting the British economy to remain poor or deteriorate further over the next 12 months. Responding to the figures, Investec spokesman Ed Cottrell claimed he was far from shocked that such a large proportion of CEOs were confident about navigating through uncertainty. He told Fresh Business Thinking: "The 'entrepreneurial class

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Flexible working promotes engagement, claims CIPD

ksimonsen, Feb 20, 2012

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Flexible working, whilst allowing employees to navigate the muddy waters of the work/life balance, also permits a boost to employee engagement. That's according to Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), who believes that flexible working in all its forms - part-time, flexitime, term-time, job sharing or working from home - is "good for the individual involved and the company as a whole". In addition, Emmott cites research that indicates employees on flexible contracts are more engaged than those on standard hours - something that a CEO may want to consider. "They are more committed to the organisation and feel more fairly treated. They ar

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Research shows week in the life of a CEO

ksimonsen, Feb 17, 2012

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A group of business school scholars have researched just what it is a CEO does during his or her working week. Groups from the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School have deduced that CEOs tend to spend most of their time locked up in meetings, with 18 hours out of a 55-hour working week dedicated to meetings. Furthermore, typically three hours are spent on making phone calls, while five hours are dedicated to business meals, cites newser.com. In order to calculate the figures, CEOs' personal assistants took part in the Executive Time Use Project which urged them to monitor their CEOs activities (any lasting 15 minutes or more) during a single working week. However, some of

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Healthy lifestyle brings healthy productivity levels, claims study

ksimonsen, Feb 16, 2012

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High-ranking executives that encourage their staff to lead a healthy lifestyle could be helping their business' productivity levels. That's according to business expert and international motivational speaker Roger Harrop, cited by managers.org.uk. He believes that even the simplest measures like cycling to and from work or "exercising at lunchtime" can boost productivity levels in staff. In addition, a weekly five-a-side football game improves "morale and efficiency", claims Harrop. "It is good for the productivity of the business if employees get fresh air and get their endorphins moving [through exercise]," he said. "There cannot be any doubt about that in my view." Furthermore, Harrop also remarks that CEOs tend to be more flexible when it comes to organising br

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