The Financial Reporting Council has come up with another small headache for business owners.  In an attempt to improve on the current ‘going concern’ statement that Directors must tick in current year end accounts, the FRC has hit on the idea of getting Directors to commit to saying how long they think their organisation will stay viable.   Under the proposed new code a company board will have to state that the company is viable for ‘the foreseeable future’ and to identify how long that ‘forseeable future’ is. What we are looking at here is accountability.  How accountable Directors and Boards [&hellip

  There are many different views as to which attributes are essential to be an excellent CEO.  Take a moment out from your busy urgent day-to-day business and consider some issues which are important for business leaders, issues which others rarely – or dare not – ask them, and that with the pressure of business, they may not often askthemselves: Awareness, Vision, Imagination, Responsibility, and Action.  Question yourself   Do I really know what is happening within my organisation, and outside? Can I make sense of it? What is the extent and limit of my responsibility? Am I responsible for [&hellip

One of the services we supply is support for people whose jobs have been made redundant: particularly in situations where people are looking not just to find a similar job to their previous one, but want to review their career direction in the light of their strengths and interests. Richard Hovey, one of our coaches, has been asked to join the Redundancy Support Service provided by the Chartered Management Institute for their members.The CMI seek to develop leadership excellence among their 90,000 members and this extended service provides support for members facing redundancy. We’re pleased that this appointment recognises the [&hellip

Our most popular grant scheme (the Leadership and Management Advisory Service) ended in April and the new batch of grants focus on businesses that want help to grow fast – whether they are established businesses or start-ups. Three of our coaches are specially authorised to deliver coaching under the new schemes. This grant programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports coaching for leaders in businesses seeking high growth. Key extra criteria are that turnover is more than £1 million and there are not more than 250 staff. (A similar grant is available for new businesses with no [&hellip

Next Monday 2nd July between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. David and I will be chatting with Gerry and Peter on Swindon Radio. We’ll be answering questions to help people with business growth, career development, and handling stress. The conversation is fluid, affected by any phone calls you make! This is Swindon Radio’s show “Mind your own business” – the show that looks at issues of concern to local businesses. You can listen – anywhere – on the internet at Swindon Radio 105.5 (click on Listen Live) or on a real radio in the Swindon area at 105.5 FM. We look [&hellip

Isla and I visited Swindon Connections last night to meet with existing and potential clients. The speaker was Nikki Owen who talked about developing charisma in corporate life. One of the things that fascinated me most was her “Rotten Apple” experiment to show the difference it makes if you have love in your heart when communicating at work or at home

Swindon Connections:Diane Morgan was our rep at last week’s Swindon Connections meeting at Swindon’s Jury’s Inn. “I made several new contacts and bumped into an old friend who I hadn’t seen for nearly four years. I was also introduced to Dave Plunkett who’s recently taken over the running of Swindon Connections – he’s got some interesting and innovative ideas for future meetings.”  The guest speaker was Ben Kench whose unlimited enthusiasm for seeing small businesses develop caused quite a stir. Amongst his 7 tips for business growth is the importance of getting a really good business coach. In fact he [&hellip

NRG Networks offer free training days. Everyone wants more business through Word of Mouth: generate results not just activity byTurning Networking into Business and Move your business forward, clarify your objectives, and achieve your short term goals byDeveloping effective 90-day action plans NRG run networking lunches to help people to grow their business: at selected venues over the next few months they have extended this to a whole day event to provide training on these topics. This will take place in the morning and afternoon, around the usual networking lunch. You just pay for the lunch. There’s lots more information [&hellip

The application deadline for the £1000 Leadership and Management Advisory Service grant for businesses and social enterprises that want to grow is fast approaching. Although the scheme is due to end at the end of March, Skills South East (who oversee the scheme in SW and SE England) have announced an application deadline of this Friday 17th February. This is to give them time to process applications. You do not need to have worked out exactly what you want to do with the funds in order to apply, so I suggest that you consider applying before the deadline and then [&hellip

I’ve been asked to do a series of talks as part of NRG networking lunches (12:30-2:30 p.m.) Details of the talk are below, with upcoming dates. I look forward to seeing you there.The talk is free, however there is a charge for the excellent lunch!For venues and pricing, and to book, go to the NRG events page. Upcoming dates in 2012.Thursday 16th February, BristolThursday 5th April, North Somerset Seeing Eye to Eye or Seeing RedDo you know how other people see you, and what effect this has on your relationships? Have you ever found that you just can’t see eye [&hellip