How to Build a Strong Management Structure – Top 10 Tips

You could be the most successful entrepreneur in the world, but if you don’t have a strong management structure when you have employees then you won’t grow at the rate you intend to. Employees are the ones who carry on your passion and legacy, they speak for you and represent your brand, product and ideas, therefore looking after them is crucial.
Here are some tips for maintaining a strong management structure.

 

  1. Remember to delegate  
    As the boss, you must let go of control and share your workload with others. Recognise your employee’s skills and what areas and tasks would suit them the best. After a while, a certain pattern will automatically be implemented and employees will more likely use their initiative.
  1. Trust your employees  
    When you trust your employees they feel appreciated and have adopted the “I can’t let them down” mentality. Then once they do succeed you’ll feel at ease by not stressing over the additional tasks that have just been completed and your employee feels accomplished and feels more satisfied in their role! It’s a win-win!  
  2. Set boundaries  
    Both, you and your employees need to be respected, and setting clear boundaries is one way of maintaining this. Management must create clear boundaries with their staff. It’s important to keep personal life and work-life balance, this doesn’t mean you can’t socialise with your staff, just don’t get drunk down the pub every week with the team.
  3. Automation/Technology  
    Believe it or not but the strongest management chain you can have is the one with fewer managers. Using technology, in terms of effective customer relationship management (CRM) such as Salesforce, or communication tools like Slack is a great way of cutting out some of the unnecessary management structure. After all, too many cooks spoil the broth.
  4. Remember to follow the chain of command – downwards
    A chain of command defines as, the order in which authority and power in an organisation is delegated from those who work at management levels to every other employee at every level in the organisation. Instruction flows down the chain and accountability flows upward. Always follow the chain of command and always stay in contact and update the next down the chain. If for some reason you were to jump staff downwards you’d undermine the manager below you.
  5. Chain of command – upwards  
    The same works the other way around. If staff have a certain issue they want to address, then ideally they shouldn’t skip people in the chain on the way up, unless the issue is about their manager. It takes work to manage and maintain the triangle and should be done at all costs. If this happens it often leads to confrontation and conflicting answers, additionally, if the employee felt like their manager was unapproachable then they are doing it wrong. The structure is there for a reason, all managers are obliged to maintain it.
  6. Communications  
    You must know how staff communicate and more importantly how to communicate effectively with them. Have a look at my article, which talks about the seven love languages, and how this applies to communication in business. This will help you learn how to maintain a healthy working relationship.
    Ensure you are clear with your future prospects, what you want out of your employees, and lastly ensure your managers know their role and processes inside-out.
  7. Rewards  
    If you are happy with your employee’s efforts – reward them! In terms of management, you can set a budget for a bonus if a certain goal has been met.

    By rewarding your team you will find that they become more focused on the end goal by structuring their duties and responsibilities effectively.
    Team morale will also be high as your employees will feel valued and happy in their roles.
  8. Training
    Offer on-going training to your managers, so they feel that you are investing in their future. Make them feel they are an important part of the company’s’ future – because at the end of the day they are. Hold regular meetings with them to see if there is any training or developments they would like to get on board with and always show your support to this.

Update meetings
Keep up to date with daily, weekly or monthly meetings with all your management team. Make sure you all meet as a team together and discuss what their teams and sections are up to. You may be a small start-up, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in you thinking like a big company to get ready for what’s ahead.

Always remember that a happy team leads to happy managers and happy managers lead to a happy CEO as your business will flourish from the efforts of everyone.

Brad Channer,
Director, Acceler8me.

How Can I Make my Staff More Efficient? – Top 8 Tips

After reading what staff efficiency is you might be thinking “how can I make my staff more efficient”? That’s why I have created a series of tips that I’ve put together in order for you to gain the most out of your employees;

  1. Delegate

There may come a time where you’ll need assistance in a specific area, entrepreneurs do become a creature of habit by doing everything themselves. Why not delegate tasks to your staff, goals will be reached a lot sooner this way.

  1. Ensure they have the skills you need

Do they have the skills you require? Don’t be afraid to arrange a meeting to discuss what exactly they want out of working here and what you need from them. A lot of people are keen on challenges and appreciate you acknowledging their skills. When they feel trusted and valued they are more likely to succeed.

  1. Communicate  effectively

Make yourself approachable to your employees by maintaining good communication everyday, professional and sometimes personal. It’s important to create a good work atmosphere for your employees as their productivity levels increase when they are happier and feel looked after as staff.

  1. Keep goals clear & focused  

You can do this by arranging a weekly/monthly meetings with your staff to ensure they know exactly what goals are for that week/month. It is also a great way to communicate with your staff to get some input and suggestions that will help you reach these goals.

Ensure you are all on the same page and involve everybody in these goals, work together to achieve greatness.

  1. Incentivize employees  

Arrange certain rewards for when goals have been met. Not only will your employees feel truly accomplished and feel satisfied at work for their achievements, but the business will benefit from these achievements too.

  1. Cut out the excess  

No, this doesn’t mean fire the useless employees, it’s about assessing their workload and allowing more time for the more important tasks that need to be completed sooner.

  1. Train and develop your employees  

If your team are not at the stage where you would like them to be – train them! Arrange workshops, lectures, training camps to utilise the opportunity, everybody is always willing to learn more, and as a result, you gain the outcome of those newly developed skills. You may not have the time or money to do this but it will truly benefit your company in the long run. There are cheaper options such as purchasing books, online seminars, coaching, mentoring. This way there will be fewer mistakes, more effort, new achievements to be put into practice.

  1. Embrace Telecommuting  

It might sound like a bad idea at first but it is very common nowadays. You don’t need to have your employees constantly under your nose so you can make sure they are being productive. Allowing your employees to telecommute will save time that would have been wasted, an example of this would be if you have a 48 hour vomiting rule to avoid passing on the illness,then instead of forcing them to take the 48 hours off allow them to work from home, if they are feeling up to it, to ensure no potential productivity time is wasted. Employees will also feel trusted and valued and will work harder to prove they can work independently.

  1. Be Open to Feedback

Don’t be afraid to give feedback or receive it. Constructive feedback is a great way to see yourself from someone else’s eyes and work on areas that will help you grow. In this industry thick skin is essential, it’s ok to be sensitive but when it comes to feedback take it on the chin and learn from it, it will help you in the long run. Same goes for giving feedback to your employees, they will learn from it and respect you for your honesty and dedication to helping them.

Three-month performance reviews are a great way to measure their performance, it also allows a window opportunity to see which areas they need to work on, and which areas they are succeeding in. Be open for discussion and ask them if there is any further help they need from you.

  1. Think about the long run

Don’t get concerned if you don’t see improvements after a week or a month, trust in your employees and improvements will happen sooner or later.

Also, don’t think you are wasting valuable time by taking these tips, you’ll be surprised how far the little things go in terms of the long-term improvements.

It’s always important to take time out to focus on your employee’s needs. There is also software in place that saves you a lot of time in terms of HR, signing up for an automated program that handles things like, payroll, onboarding, booking holidays and much more, you will have more time in your diary for your staff!

If you’d like more information or detail on any of the points raised in this article then you can get in touch with a member of our team today!

Be sure you prioritise your time well, including creating that room for your employees.

 

Brad Channer,

Director, Acceler8me.

What is the best way to find investment?

An investors job is to invest. If they don’t invest, they don’t spread their risk and they will not make as good returns.

An Investment Seekers job is to get your company Investment Ready and make it investable for investors to invest. This sometimes means putting our egos aside and making suggested changes made by investors, to get your business in an Investment Ready place for investors.

It may seem daunting thinking about approaching investors, however by remembering that we are helping them do their job, it takes a lot of this fear and power away. Remember we are doing them the favour, as much as they are doing us a favour.

They need to invest!

I often hear a certain familiar untrue stigma amongst businesses, that says ‘Investment is hard to find‘.

I am not saying investment is easy to find, it is a time-consuming job, which often takes directors away from running and growing their companies to a detrimental effect. However, Finding Investment is not that hard, as long as you are proactive, confident and are Investment Ready. It doesn’t mean you should do it all yourselves. There are a number of companies such as Acceler8me, which can assist you in Finding Investment and help get you Investment Ready.

So where do we start looking? – 4 quick tips

Friends Contacts

If you haven’t got a network of investors to approach you need to build one. Start off by finding friends with businesses who have had investment previously. Ask your friends to introduce you to their investors? If they put up a fuss, make it financially worth their while and offer them a commission on success (Usually 5% on avg) to facilitate the introduction.

Similar Companies

Look at your competition and similar businesses on Google. Look at other businesses your business may compliment or solve problems for. Next, go onto ‘Companies House‘ and search for those companies. In the online documents, you will find paperwork stating a list of their investors. Take those names and use LinkedIn and Google to look them up. Contact them and introduce yourself! Don’t be scared – What’s the worse that could happen?

Smart Money

Find investors who can help you with your business. For example – if you are in retail and are starting a fashion business – then approach high net-worth people who are ‘fashion buyers’ or have a black distribution book (Read more about this in our ‘Smart Money’ section).

Acceler8me and other 3rd Party Companies

Using professionals like ourselves really saves you time. While we take a % commission on success, we have a network already built and know the ins and outs of the market. What could take you 3 months could take us 2 days. Never be scared to pay commission on success and never pay over 8%.

A WARNING

Always watch out for people wanting to take equity to offer introductions. These people are not always but are often sharks. Remember you are giving them a bit of your business and there is only so much to go around.

Be Careful!

Finally, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be proactive at this stage of the process.

In early-stage investments, Investors are investing in you! Confidence is key and is an integral part of Finding Investors. This is not saying you have to be over the top, but you must have the confidence to get on the phone and ask for money!

 

At Acceler8me we understand that not everyone is confident and that entrepreneurs, confident or not need a hand. We work a lot with Smart Money Investors and can introduce you to people who can give you the money, to make your businesses grow or become a reality.

 
Investment Ready

Is your company ready for investment?

 

We can help you build strong and robust Business Plans, Financial Forecasts & Models; while taking you through the step by step process of getting your business Investment Ready

Find out more

Investment Searching
There are tens of thousands of investors in the UK, all with different interests and skills.   Investment Searching is a long & laborious task that can take you away from running your business. We help you search, not just for any investors, but the right investors for you and your business

Find out more

Marketing Strategies
Acceler8me defines Marketing as a series of activities that lead to ‘Reactive’ Sales   Having a strong, tested, marketing strategy in place, with reliable ‘Return of Investment’ is crucial for the growth and future scaling of any business

Find out more

Contact Details

Introduce yourself and tell us about your business.

Drop us a message and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

For more urgent enquiries or if you prefer to speak on the phone, give Team Acceler8me a call on:

+44 (0) 800 044 3834

Drop us a line

How to Get the Most out of Your Staff & Business Partners

How to get the most out of your Business Partner, Sales Staff, Marketing Team, Investors and the Mail Man..

One of the most important aspects of business planning is developing & maintaining your relationships with your staff & business partners. In business, we have relationships with hundreds of different people. These could be with our clients, suppliers, staff, business partners and even our investors. As entrepreneurs, we are frequently reminded that ‘happy staff sell’, ‘happy businesses succeed’ and that ‘good communication = good business.’ But what does that actually mean? What is ‘good communication?’ How can we set up effective and efficient relationships with our business partners and investors, to get the best out of each other?

I found some answers to these questions in the strangest of places. I recently got married, and my wife asked me to listen to an audio book with her called ‘The Five Love Languages,’ by Gary Chapman. His theory is that a successful marriage consists of both parties communicating effectively and understanding which ‘love language’ each other speaks, and alter their communication accordingly.

The five love languages are;
• Talking and spending time together,
• Giving gifts,
• Positive affirmations,
• Undertaking acts of service and
• Physical touch.

We communicate using all five of these languages, however, we all put more importance on different languages. For example, some people appreciate a box of chocolates more than the dishwasher being emptied.

When I was reflecting on this book, I realised that there is actually little difference between a marriage and a business partnership. You spend all day with each other, five days a week. You might see each other more than your partners. With this in mind, Gary’s theory can be applied not only to your relationship with your spouse or partner but also to your business partners, staff, investors, customers and even your suppliers.

Have a look at the five languages below and try to work out which one you use to communicate with, then see if you can work out your business partner’s or even customer’s language. Challenge for this week: communicate using their language and see what happens.

Talking and Spending time together –
This can be anything from having face to face meetings, working in the same office, walking around the block or daily/hourly phone calls. So many customers and clients want face to face meetings before doing business. This is not because they want an excuse to have a coffee, it is because they speak this language and it is the most efficient way of communicating (And selling) with them.

Acts of Service –
An act of service is doing something for someone else. This could be as simple as sending invoices, proposals or updating management accounts. It could even include making the teas in the morning. Are you someone who appreciates your business partner taking care of a certain task? These are all Acts of Service.

Positive Affirmations –
This is being positive, encouraging and supportive about somebodies work. For example, if your PA attempts to design the weekly ‘mailchimp’ newsletter out of the blue, and it’s not right don’t criticize and put them down. Be positive about them trying something new and talk about ways they could improve it. This shows that you want to encourage them to grow and by being positive you will encourage them to go the extra mile again.

Gifts –
Some people particularly appreciate presents. Examples include buying a cake on staff members’ birthdays, Christmas bonuses, and sending token gifts to suppliers at Christmas. These small gestures can mean a lot to ‘gift giving communicators.’ It’s often about the thought, rather than the cost.

Touching –
This might sound strange in the context of modern business, and should certainly be handled carefully. Clear boundaries are important: they are your business partner or PA, not your spouse. However, one of the oldest and best signs of appreciation is the pat on the back or a firm handshake. People often remember if someone important took the time to shake their hand. For some people physical contact means a lot.

So this week, explore and see what language you use to communicate and what language your business partner and sales leads use. See if you can speak their language when you communicate with them and what positive results you can achieve. Acceler8me can offer hr consultancy to help with you plan, implement and monitor your company structure and staffing breakdowns.

How to Evaluate my Business After the First Year?

I work with hundreds of Directors every year that ask themselves this same question. And not just directors of start-ups, but also large SMEs turning over millions every year in revenue. There are a number of reasons why directors feel this way, especially in the world of start-ups.

Goals and Targets

What is your company’s ultimate goal/target? And what ‘mini-goals’ do you have to hit along the way to reach it? The definition of being ‘lost’ is not knowing where you are or which direction you are going. How are you meant to know which way your business is heading if you don’t actually know what the finish line looks like? Are you managing your goals and targets through a CRM consultancy?

Changing Tack

Don’t be scared to try something new. If you are hitting your targets, but still not progressing, why don’t you try something different? Maybe look at selling to suppliers instead of the end user? Whatever you do make a change before you start to stagnate. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself. If you are hitting your targets, you might be doing better than you think!

Waiting for Investment

‘We can’t progress any further without investment’ = Excuse.

About 1 in every 10 companies I speak to can legitimately say they can’t proceed without capital investment; the other 9 in 10 use it as an excuse. If you want to attract investment, you need revenue and a working model. If you are waiting for investment, make sure you are earning revenue and proving your concept – then you might get investment quicker.

Sell

It is scary, sometimes unpleasant, and sometimes feels intrusive. However, if you want your business to work, you have to sell! This means jumping in at the deep end: picking up the phone, knocking on the doors, walking the streets, and selling your product/service. Yes, you can hire someone, or take on a non-exec or an equity partner who is good at selling. However, you still need to lead by example and sell yourself. You could consider staking on a sales strategy consultant?

Business Plan

An Entrepreneurs business plan is essentially the guide on how you are going to take over the world!

A business plan is not just to get investment. They are written so when we feel lost we can read it and remember our goals and where we are in the grand scheme of things. A good plan should include a detailed Timeline of how you plan to reach your business’s goal, by setting mini goals. And how you will achieve those goals by using your Marketing Plan and Sales Plans.

A business plan is a document that will ultimately stop you feeling lost. You don’t have to follow it like it is gospel, but as long as you believe what you have written in it and believe this is how your company will grow; you can ensure that consciously or subconsciously, you will follow it and your business will grow.

At Acceler8me we love to watch businesses and entrepreneurs grow. We help by giving you the support you need to make this a reality. We get you ready for investment and find you the money you need to start your start-up. .

If you ever feel stuck, don’t forget the team at Acceler8me will always be here to help you out.

Brad Channer,

Director