Leaders from Scotland’s main opposing political parties came together on Thursday (21st September) in a pledge to work together with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to heed the concerns of business and prioritise economic growth.
The Scottish Chambers of Commerce Network held its Annual Scottish Business Reception on Thursday, hosted by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP, and addressed by Derek Mackay MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution.
The reception was the second milestone event of the week for the Chambers network, which two days previously hosted the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, HE. Mr Liu Xiaoming at a dinner for 200 Scots business people in Glasgow.
In his speech to the gathering of business people and politicians in the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Chambers of Commerce President Tim Allan called for elected members at all levels to put business first and to do all in their power to make Scotland a competitive place to do business.
Tim Allan said: “Scotland’s businesses are the creators of our jobs and our wealth. Collectively, they are the engine which grows our economy, pays for our essential public services and provides the opportunities for our people to reach their potential. It is essential that all of Scotland’s politicians from across the political spectrum understand this and deliver policies that support business growth and competitiveness.
“Scotland’s politicians must work hard to understand the issues facing businesses in their constituencies and regions, but with an active network of 26 local Chambers of Commerce across Scotland, our network is seeking to make that task an easy one.”
Ruth Davidson MSP congratulated the Chambers on the success of its China initiative and said that, after a period of successive elections and referenda, the three and a half years before the next Scottish Parliament election were an opportunity for business, led by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to “put their heads above the parapet” and voice their concerns and needs to their elected representatives. “Politicians whatever their strip should do everything they can to help business.”
“Business, entrepreneurship, the ability to help build and grow is virtuous in and of itself, it helps the country, it helps our young people to have opportunities and it is a public good. There is a shared belief across all the parties that we all have a role in oiling the wheels and getting the Scottish economy moving.”
Responding for the Scottish Government, Derek Mackay MSP described the Chambers as “a force for good”, and his own government as “pro-business and pro-growth” he said: “There is a great deal of agreement [with Chambers] around the skills agenda, around employment, around the fair work agenda, infrastructure investment, internationalisation and empowerment. We appreciate all of the great work you do nationally and locally in mentoring and supporting SMEs. Your work is absolutely invaluable.”
Liz Cameron OBE, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said: “We are grateful to Ruth Davidson and to Derek Mackay for joining us at our Business Reception, and are very encouraged by their words of support for the Chamber Network.
“We sensed a renewed mood of constructive engagement between business and government, firmly placing the economy at the centre. We will continue to work hard to play our part in making Scotland the best place to do business and all Governments will be measured by the impact of their decision making.”
The Summer season of Business Fives came to a climax on Thursday as 20 companies took part to win the prize of £3,120 for their chosen charity.
£19,600 has been raised for charities throughout Scotland over the course of the national business 5 aside tournament.
Supported by sponsors White Tree Chiropractic, health and wellbeing partners for the season and Dr Gary Blackwood advised the players of the benefits of using a dynamic warm up as part of the preparations against the traditional school of thought on static stretching. On the pitch the action was intense with the standard high in the business end of the tournament.
Companies from across 8 industry sectors of the Scottish economy have been raising money for their chosen charity in a model that has proven very successful in enabling Business Fives to make a much greater impact on charities throughout Scotland.
The tournament was supported by a host of ambassadors from the football world who finished off the season with a well-received Q & A session hosted by TV presenter, David Tanner with Scotland hall of famer Rhonda Jones, Hibs hero Pat Stanton, Aberdeen and St Mirren star Lee Mair, former Partick Thistle and Celtic goal scorer Jim Melrose.
Business Fives founder, John McClarey said “We’re blown away by the efforts of all the companies involved in our summer season and we’re absolutely delighted almost double our initial £10,000 charity target.
CSR is hugely important to us as our company has a commitment to donating 10% of all proceeds to charity. We’re delighted to see our charity donation going to such a wonderful cause in Glasgow Children’s Hospital and offer our congratulations to A.C. Whyte & Co.”
The tournament, now in its third season, has been supported by health and wellbeing sponsors White Tree Chiropractic and 98 teams have taken part with the top 20 qualifying for the National final taking place in Edinburgh with companies such as BT, Scottish Gas, Scottish Water, Standard Life, Anderson Strathern, Sir Robert McAlpine to name just a few involved.
On the pitch it was Glasgow Construction, Housing & Property champions, A.C. Whyte & Co. who have been playing for the Glasgow Children’s Hospital committing to a £1,000 donation to the Hospital who continued their 100% win record for the season. The company who narrowly missed out on a final place in the winter season went one better in the summer to take home the £3,120 prize for Glasgow Children’s Hospital.
It was the Edinburgh Construction, Housing & Property champions who ran them close in the final, recruitment firm Hudson who were playing for MacMillan but they were unable to find a way to stop tournament top scorer Mate Lacsi as the EWI installers ran out 3 nil winners. It was Hudson goalkeeper Greg McDermott who was chosen by the ambassadors as Man of the Match in the final, a testament to how much pressure Hudson withstood.
David Melhuish, director of the Scottish Property Federation who have supported the tournament, said: “We are delighted to support Business Fives again after such a success last year. Backing this unique event, whilst promoting healthy lifestyles, is something we are thrilled to be involved with. To hear that nearly £20,000 has been raised for good causes is fantastic news and we look forward to continuing to support this fun and competitive event.”
Chartered accountants, Geoghegans qualified by winning the financial services industry heat look to be in great form ahead of the final as they raised £201 for Medic1 Trust. They suffered their first defeat of the summer season in the semi-finals as Hudson won 4-1. In the other Semi-final Standard Life were unlucky to lose 2-1 after overcoming Sir Robert McAlpine on penalties in the Quarter final.
Professional Services champions Anderson Strathern beat Aviva in the champions league last 16 stages but couldn’t find a way passed Geoghegans in the quarter finals. Scottish Water and Turner & Townsend also walked away with a respectable quarter final showing.
You can find out more information and get involved in Business Fives via their website www.businessfives.co.uk
A multi-service team from Lindsays advised Black & Lizars on all aspects of the transaction which included corporate input from Partner, Douglas Roberts, property advice by Stacy Campbell, Director, and employment law assistance from Ben Doherty, Partner.
Black & Lizars, one of Scotland’s largest independent optical groups, has acquired Clements Hearing Services in Glasgow as it expands its offering in audiology. Black & Lizars already provides audiology services across a number of practices, as well as in people’s homes. This deal will boost the optical group’s audiology offering by providing a central, stand-alone location to build and develop services.
Douglas Roberts, who led Lindsays team for this deal, commented “We are delighted to have helped Black & Lizars in all legal aspects of completing this important strategic acquisition.”
Michelle le Prevost, Managing Director of Black & Lizars said: “Clements is a state-of-the-art centre of excellence and allows us to offer the highest standard of service to existing and new patients. It will help us explore new routes to market and form the building blocks for future development, including recruitment and training.”
Edinburgh’s 20/20 Productions, the creative communication, event and digital production agency, has teamed up with Edinburgh Rugby as they embark on a new season.
Using their creative and technical production expertise, 20/20 Productions are supporting the club’s video content, to help further develop their digital channels and the match day experience.
To help drive membership for the Edinburgh Rugby Business Club, 20/20 Productions recently produced a five-minute promotional film that showcases the value of becoming a Business Club member.
The Edinburgh Rugby Business Club provides members with regular opportunities to network and build relationships with like-minded senior business people across the city at every Edinburgh home game.
Ahead of their first home game of the season against Dragons Rugby (Friday 8th September, kick off 7.35pm), 20/20 Productions were also tasked with filming the players’ head shots to be used on the big screen on match days.
Experienced in delivering targeted, effective communications for a wide range of clients to varied audiences, 20/20 Productions have utilised their skills to make the most of this partnership with Edinburgh Rugby.
The partnership will continue throughout the season as the award-winning agency will be responsible for campaign-led video content for the club.
Following a permanent move to a new ground at Myreside, Edinburgh Rugby have also welcomed a new coaching team headed up by three-time English Premiership winning coach Richard Cockerill.
Speaking about the partnership, Edinburgh Rugby Managing Director, Jonny Petrie, commented: “In such an exciting time for the club, it has never been more important to strengthen the relationships we have with our supporters and the Edinburgh business community. With the help of 20/20 Productions that’s exactly what we aim to do.”
Alastair Scott, 20/20 Productions Managing Director added: “There are so many parallels between teamwork in sports and the teamwork required in business, utilising our expert creative minds and passion for rugby we are looking forward to working with Edinburgh for another season.”
Watch the Business Club ‘Evening with Richard Cockerill’ film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iMB-FYaYNA&feature=youtu.be
David Gray, Bid Development Director (left) welcomes Chris Blackburn to AM Bid Services
AM Bid Services is delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Blackburn in to the newly created post of Senior Bid Manager.
Chris joined the business on 4th September, in the last month of AM Bid Services’ third year, which has seen the company continue to grow exponentially, increasing the demand for additional in-house bid expertise.
Chris brings over 10 years of bidding experience to the role and joins the company from one of the UK’s largest full-service law firms, where he worked as Head of Bids for 5 years, trebling the company’s bid win rate in that time. Prior to this post, Chris spent 5 years in a bidding role with one of the UK’s largest technical recruitment companies.
Speaking about his new post, Chris said: “I am delighted to be joining AM Bid Services, one of the fastest growing bid consultancies in the UK. I have been impressed by the firm’s growth across multiple sectors and geographies, and the great feedback from clients. I’m looking forward to bringing my expertise in over 10 years of bidding to the role, and to playing my part in growing the firm in the North of England and the wider UK.”
David Gray, Bid Development Director of AM Bid Services, said “This is a key new role for the business and I am delighted to welcome Chris to the team. Attracting a highly experienced senior bid professional like Chris demonstrates our commitment to achieving our growth ambitions, whilst continuing to ensure our clients receive an extremely high quality service. As our first employee based in England, where 50% of our clients are based, Chris will increase our capacity south of the border and be a key contact for our clients in England.”
In joining the company, Chris’ focus will be on working in partnership with existing and new clients in England, and on further growing the business in the North West.
Further information about AM Bid Services can be found at www.ambidservices.co.uk, or contact:
David Gray, Bid Development Director at AM Bid Services:
E: david@ambidservices.co.uk
M: 07921 624 099
If there is one thing everyone loves, it’s a freebie.
That unexpected free piece of cake with coffee, the fiver lost and then found again in the pair of jeans at the back of the cupboard – we all love them. And if you’re the cost conscious owner or manager of a business chances are you love them even more!
At Who Dares Marketing we’re exactly the same and so to help you out and satisfy your inner thriftiness we’ve compiled the top 5 free marketing tools you can use for your business.
1 – Canva
Do any research into the most searched for things on Google and its a guarantee that tucked away in there will be “Free online photoshop” – it’s as predictable as day turning to night but for good reason. Photoshop is brilliant! An excellent piece of software that makes editing imagery easy and straightforward. Of course that fluid experience comes at a price and for most businesses the ends don’t justify the means hence the frequency of the above search.
Well fear not because there is an alternative and as it turns out a pretty great one. You may not have heard of Canva before now but from here on in we guarantee it will be a permanent fixture in your favourites list. Perfectly proportioned social media posts? Check. Flexible design options? Check. Download completed designs? Check. Of course it doesn’t have the depth of something like photoshop but for most small businesses it will be more than adequate.
Data is a major trend in marketing and indeed the business world right now and for good reason – it helps businesses make better decisions. A company website is a potential treasure trove of useful data but of course you have to collate that first and of course how do you do that? Well the Google URL builder is one step on that ladder and one that will help you evaluate accurately the effectiveness of your marketing efforts through Google Analytics.
Let’s say for example you have a new blog post (much like this one) and you promote that post through various channels online. If you have the one link that goes everywhere it becomes difficult to tell which area your clicks are coming from or if any meaningful actions took place as a result of the post. The Google URL builder solves this problem, putting unique parameters into each link allowing you to be able to judge exactly how effective each part of your marketing is.
3 – Hootsuite
Social media. Depending on who you speak to its the greatest thing to happen in the last 30 years or its the cause of all the worlds problems. Either way there’s one thing that can’t be denied, it’s value to businesses. After all where else can you speak to potentially thousands of customers all at once. That said it doesn’t come without its challenges with some people doing Facebook but not Twitter or keeping one channel up to date more because after all who has time to update multiple profiles? Well with Hootsuite all those pains vanish and through one simple dashboard you have control over all your profiles in one place. What’s better still is that you can post to all of them at the same time! Assuming you run 3 social media platforms you’ve instantly cut your workload by three, not bad!
4 – Codecademy
Have you ever wondered what exactly is happening when you open a web page? What the difference is between HTML, CSS and Javascript? Or how that button changes colour when I hover over it? Well wonder know more with the web’s foremost web development teaching site, Codecademy. A wealth of resources, Codecademy will have you grasping the basics of web development in no time at all.
If you’ve made it this far (and why wouldn’t you have!) you’ll notice that this is the second mention of our friends at Google this time for its keyword planner. A major tool as part of its AdWords platform the keyword planner allows you to research in great detail exactly what and where people are searching related to your business.
Notice an increase in searches for a particular product and service and you can run a campaign targeting these potential customers. It’s also a good tool for looking at trends and can be used to make informed decisions about what customers are interested in allowing you to plan activity in advance.
So there you have it, the top 5 free marketing tools for your business. At Who Dares Marketing we specialise in creating compelling, content oriented, data driven inbound marketing campaigns.
If you you have any questions or would like more information please get in touch today on 07837008301 or by visiting our website at www.whodaresmarketing.com
• SmartBusiness Dashboard brings together Barclays banking information alongside business data and insights provided by third party apps, allowing SMEs to view everything about their business in one place for the first time
• The move is a major first for the sector and will enable SMEs to easily manage their own data to help them to run and grow their business
Barclays has revolutionised its Business Banking Online offering and is pioneering the use of open data to benefit SMEs, in a banking industry first.
Barclays has collaborated with leading app providers to enable businesses to import their everyday business data and information provided by these apps into one dashboard within its online banking site.
Thanks to the mechanism of Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) – the ‘pipes’ through which organisations can securely share data – SmartBusiness Dashboard, enables businesses to import their existing apps or download new apps, from a range of providers across bookkeeping, sales and inventory, marketing and analytics and workforce management.
For the first time, businesses can view their real-time banking data and information about their business side by side, brought to life in easy-to-access charts. For example, rather than accessing each app individually, a shop owner can now securely log in to their online banking and view not only their financial information, but bring in their product sales data, website analytics and staffing rotas, all alongside their cash flow. Barclays believes this will boost business productivity and save owners valuable time.
Available to half a million of the bank’s business customers*, the SmartBusiness Dashboard can be accessed by just one click in online banking and there is no charge to use the platform.
Ian Rand, CEO for Barclays Business Banking said: “This is a significant step in transforming day to day banking- meaning SMEs can see everything about their finance and data about their business in the one place through Barclays online banking. Busy business owners shouldn’t have to spend time sorting through different spreadsheets, reports or switching between apps – we’ve created a tool to give businesses time back – and this is an efficient way to run and grow their business.
“In giving businesses the choice to import their data and working closely with partners through the platform, we believe this is a game-changer and will boost competition. No other bank is offering this to businesses. Crucially, if you are a business owner this is a safe and easy way to access a range of data about your business, putting control firmly in the hands of businesses.”
In addition to the bank’s large network of business managers across the UK, SmartBusiness Dashboard is designed to be the place where businesses can view and analyse all their information in a simple and convenient way. It will help SMEs to manage their cashflow, compare data and make improvements to help sales growth and add in marketing insight, and by removing the burden of admin, it aims to save businesses valuable time.
The introduction of SmartBusiness Dashboard is part of the bank’s investment in digital solutions, to support the needs of business owners in managing their finances and their business.
Strategic reviews, business planning meetings, and budget setting rounds are only a few weeks or months away for many businesses.
Now is a great time to think about what kind of events your Board and executive team are going to need to make the most of your time, particularly if you are thinking about going offsite.
Here is a framework of 10 Ps. We hope you find these helpful.
Get in touch if we can help in any way. And note that we are running a Business Book Walk in the Pentlands on Thu 17 Aug about “Extreme Ownership”, the philosophy and practice of leadership by the US Navy SEALS. Information and booking here.
1. Purpose
Are you clear about the purpose of your event or meeting? Keep strategy and operations separate. Mixing your thinking modes will lose people and cause confusion.
Do you need an agenda-driven meeting, or a more creative and developmental inquiry-based event? If you haven’t tried the latter, this could be an exciting learning opportunity.
2. Ph’un and Ph’izz
If you are after some lighthearted fun and fizz then you need to consider a specialist provider. Not us. We think you may be wasting your time and money unless your clear purpose is around reward.
3. Place
Operational discussions are often best conducted in the workplace. Go offsite if you need to do some fresh thinking, have big conversations, and plan bold moves.
And for crying out loud, don’t just replace the office conference room with a hotel conference room! We work a lot with Board and executive teams using a blend of indoors and outdoors. See why here.
4. Professionals
Are you going to self-facilitate, use internal staff, or engage external facilitators? If the latter, make sure they are experienced, qualified, and insured for the activities you need their support for. And make sure they produce a risk management plan to underpin anything that is more than just another day in a conference room!
5. Prep
In our experience the most productive Board and executive team events are based on pre-event engagement with participants. And we don’t mean just chucking them some reading like a hefty Board pack or some out of context articles from Harvard Business Review.
If you want to generate excitement and anticipation, and get the creative juices flowing, then do something which sparks their imagination, engages their emotions, and spins up their desire to share their ideas and points of view.
One-to-ones around a compelling inquiry theme, based on a framework of strengths-based questions is a great way of doing this. This will help identify the themes your Board or team feel strongly about. And if these are recognised in the design of the event, the engagement process will help spin up collective buy-in.
6. Plans
This may seem obvious, but make sure you have some sort of plan that addresses these 10 P’s. Not too much detail however, especially around timings. Build in flexibility. Have an agreed intention and a flow which will achieve this.
Do make sure that admin and logistics are sorted. Getting this wrong will just annoy people and distract them from the business of the day. That said, you might be amused to discover who finds late, cold coffee a trigger for a major anger strop!
7. People
Who needs to participate? Do they know? Are they available? Are they up for the pre-event process? How will you deal with any last minute absences?
If you are engaging external facilitators, are you going to let them drive the event design in consultation with you? [Trick question: the answer if yes!].
And what about external contributors? They can offer specialist content, perspective, and challenge. Really think about how you can use them. Work with your facilitators on this. Build them into the energy and creativity of the event.
8. Props
Sometimes an empty room with just a circle of chairs, or a hillside and a well-earned sandwich, are the most powerful spaces you can create. Simplicity and real human connection. The magic happens “between the noses” so to speak.
Have you considered how a walking meeting could generate some great conversations? We do a lot of these for our clients. Check out our 60 second video here for some ideas.
As it happens we are running a Business Book Walk in the Pentlands on Thu 17 Aug (Yes! This week for many of you reading this) on “Extreme Ownership”, a book about the philosophy and practice of leadership by the US Navy SEALS. Information and booking here.
Again, good facilitators will plan the props that make best use of the space to serve your event’s needs.
9. Products
What will be the tangible outputs of your event? In what form? How do they support your purpose and contribute to the outcomes you want? What will you do with these outputs?
10. Post-Event
How will you make the event count? What will you be communicating outwards as a result of your event? Who will do what? With whom? With what? How? And when?
How will you evaluate the event? Good facilitators will have pushed you to agree an evaluation plan early on in the design phase.
WHAT NOW?
If you have found this stimulating, we would love to help you explore the framework more deeply.
One such opportunity is the Fresh Air Business Walk we will be leading in the Pentland Hills on Thursday 17th August. Full information and booking is on Eventbrite here.
We can also offer masterclasses, programmes, and coaching in the workplace.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Dave Stewart
Manging Director
The Fresh Air Learning Company
Email: dave@freshairlearning.com
Tel: 0800 052 7900
The Fresh Air Learning Company is on a mission to breathe fresh air into the effectiveness and resilience of boards, senior teams and leaders.
Why? We know how shifts in self-awareness, trust, collective thinking, courageous conversations, and powerful storytelling can lift an organisation. Been there. Done it. And now helping others dodge the risks and leap ahead of avoidable underperformance.
How? Bespoke experiences, journeys and programmes. Outdoors. Indoors. The right place for the client. Powerful. Unforgettable.
Traveleads are delighted to introduce you to the newest members of our sales team.
Sally Cassidy joins us as Sales Director for Scotland (based in Glasgow) and Rhys Ashall has been appointed Sales Director for London & the south of England. Both Sally and Rhys have a wealth of experience in travel management and business travel solutions.
Through personal development coaching Sally has worked with a range of entrepreneurs and looks forward to making the process of travel procurement a seamless end to end customer journey.
Rhys has enjoyed a successful career in the travel industry through a variety of roles, and offers your organisation the benefit of many years of travel buying experience.
Sally and Rhys join Will Helsby and Wayne Russell, strengthening our sales team across the UK. If you would like to learn more about how Traveleads can help your business travel for less, please contact a member of our team to schedule an appointment:
Will Helsby (Sales Director) whelsby@traveleads.net
Wayne Russell (Sales Director for Scotland – Edinburgh Office) wrussell@traveleads.net
Sally Cassidy (Sales Director for Scotland – Glasgow based) scassidy@traveleads.net
Rhys Ashall (Sales Director – London & the South of England) rashall@traveleads.net
My clients have been discussing the topic of ‘how to give effective feedback’ recently.
Interestingly when I dig into what the challenge is, often it’s not giving feedback that’s the problem. Leaders establishing agreements up front with their teams about how to work together and what is expected seems to be missing. Gallup found in a recent survey that only 50% of employees know what is expected of them.
It’s no surprise then, that when it’s time to give effective feedback there is nothing to base this on and conversations become difficult. This is true whether you want to congratulate someone on a job well done or course correct when something may be off track.
Foundation for high performance
Setting expectations is an art in itself and it’s the foundation of any high performing team. Following a specific approach to this can help and I often think about this the way I would with goal setting. In essence, it’s the same thing. When you’re setting goals with your team there are elements that must be in place to ensure success. There are various formats for this like SMART, SMARTA, SMARTER etc. These are definitely important. Beyond this, however, leaders must master the subtle nuances to setting clear expectations in order to ensure they set their team up for success.
Poor communication is highly destructive
Natalie Hahn’s article, “How setting expectations can erode your position as a leader”, on Forbes.com speaks to this. The theme here is leaders making assumptions about how and what they have communicated in addition to how well their team has understood and interpreted it. “You can make all kinds of assumptions about your team’s listening skills, motivation or ability to manage a fast-paced work environment. You can also make all kinds of assumptions about what you actually communicated to them, and therefore what they actually took away from the discussion.” When leaders make incorrect assumptions about how well they have communicated it can be highly destructive to building high performing teams.
Leaders must ensure their teams understand objectives
Someone, I can’t remember who but it has always stayed with me, once said that most problems in a team revert back to the leader. I firmly believe that how a leader explains or communicates is often the root cause when teams don’t meet an objective. Yes, the individual responsible for executing has a part to play, but it is up to the leader to ensure that the objective is understood. The leader must create clarity, measurability and accountability.
Hahn goes on to note that the key reasons why expectations go unmet are:
1) Clarity – we make too many assumptions about how well what we’ve communicated has been understood.
2) Listening – we’re generally not good listeners and as such we often miss what our team has to say. Instead when we don’t get what we want we just ask again in the same way
3) Blame – when things aren’t going according to plan we assume that it’s the team’s fault ….if only they were more ….. motivated, eager, talented …..etc etc
Hahn continues that the impact of this happening over the long term is a lack of trust. “You don’t trust your team to follow through on your projects, and they aren’t trusting you as a leader to provide clear direction.”
So what’s the solution?
Hahn has created a list of 6 best practices for ensuring expectations are clearly understood.
1) Know what you want. Get clarity on your goal and ensure you are crystal clear on what outcome you want. “Before unloading your own confusion on your team, take the time to get clear on your goal.”
2) Clarify. Be specific about what you mean and what it looks like, give examples and follow up to ensure you have been understood.
3) Consequences. If the goal isn’t met, be clear what the consequence will be.
4) Create time for discussion. Put importance on this goal and don’t allude to it in fly by meetings. Scheduling time for a discussion underlines it’s importance.
5) Support. Ask how you can help or what part you can play in a successful outcome.
6) Listen to understand. You and your team both want a successful outcome. If your team raises objections, listen to understand what the challenges are and hold the space to find solutions together.
Read the full article here.
The 5 Ws
For me, it’s critical for leaders to discuss and agree the why, what, where, who and when of any objective, the 5 Ws, to ensure the team has full understanding and clarity about what is expected.
Why – be clear on the purpose, what’s at stake and what is important about the activity.
What – be as specific as possible about what is being asked or required and what success looks like. A good way to articulate this is to think about the desired outcome.
Where – clarify where the work is intended to be done
Who – it’s critical to be clear when you are communicating with a team who owns what and that can relate to specific activities, sign off, decision making, review etc
When – again being specific about the timeframe is critical
The other thing to think about is the ‘how’. The level of detail required here depends on the experience and competence of the person taking on the assignment and a good leader will adapt their approach based on this. For more information check out the article by Mary Ellen Sailer.
So, to make giving effective feedback easy, first make sure you have set clear expectations from which to measure success and base your feedback on.
