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January tends to be the time of acknowledging losses, commemorating victories, and setting goals for the coming months and years. The custom of making New Year's resolutions originated with the Roman god Janus in 153 B.C. Janus had two faces, one peered backward to see the past and the other looked forward to view the future. The Romans employed this symbolism as a means of asking for forgiveness for past mistakes and as a method to promise to improve both the present and the future for everyone. Today, we continue this tradition by making resolutions to give up bad habits…

The foundation of all successful relationships and the driving force behind most of our actions is trust. Trust underlies our willingness to spend our hard-earned money on goods and services, to commit our lives to another person through marriage, or to make plans and decisions based on advice given by a professional. Therefore, it’s not surprising that most people look for a financial adviser they can ‘trust’. After all, they will be entrusting their financial security (and potentially that of their children or grandchildren), plans and hopes for the future and disclosing almost all that there is to know about…

As inflation continues to soar and the increasing cost of living hits households across the UK, businesses must openly address this situation with their teams if they want to retain top talent. Some firms are seeking cost-cutting measures in anticipation of another recession. And while at some point, it might be unavoidable to cut back on expenses, you may want to consider doing the opposite when it comes to retaining your top teams. The cost of hiring new staff is typically much higher than the cost of keeping your existing team. A replacement of a salaried employee costs on average…

As the world’s labour market continues to shift, the companies that retain key talent and invest in their teams will also be the ones that invest time, money and effort into new employee onboarding. The goal of onboarding should be to reduce the time it takes for new hires to feel at ease with their new responsibilities and to excel in their roles. This is only possible if onboarding procedures are strategically created with this purpose in mind. But with the emergence of remote and hybrid employment, onboarding has grown much more complex. According to HR respondents in a Workable…

Given today's climate, business leaders actively seek solutions to reduce total expenses while maintaining their competitiveness in the post-lockdown market. To achieve this, we suggest analysing your organisational structure and where, how, and by whom specific tasks are carried out, as these all significantly impact the company's profitability and productivity. Although outsourcing is an expense, it can help you develop your business and save money in the long run. Freeing up time is one of the key advantages of outsourcing for business owners and leaders. Instead of spending all those hours doing or managing mundane, repetitive, or even specialist jobs,…

"Having a good manager is essential, like breathing. And if we make managers better, it would be like a breath of fresh air" Michelle Donovan- Director of People Operations, Google In any firm, practice managers are vital to ensuring business success. Without them, deadlines may not be met, quality may suffer, and business growth may slow down. Yet very few of them come to this role as experienced leaders who are excellent at walking a tightrope as they attempt to balance many plates of various responsibilities and points of view across the organisation. It takes time to grow into this…

Effective leadership shows not only when things are going well but also, and perhaps even more so, when times get rough. Good leaders are admired (rather than feared) by others, motivating them to work more and make more meaningful contributions to the organisation’s success. Leadership does not imply working alone to achieve a goal. In truth, leadership entails inspiring and motivating others to collaborate toward a common goal. Today's leaders must possess optimal leadership performance techniques to inspire engagement, transformation, innovation, and long-term success. If you’re now wondering whether your leadership style is indeed optimal, let's hope you’ll find out…

Is there a better way to create a successful financial planning business? The simple answer is yes, use OKRs. Airbnb, Google, Intel, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Uber all use objectives and key results (OKRs) to drive their success. You can too. The good news for financial planning businesses is that OKRs can be easily adopted, regardless of the size of the business, without adding significant new costs or overheads. OKRs were developed in the seventies by Professor Andy Grove at Intel as a goal-based management framework that helps companies implement and execute strategy while keeping everyone motivated. How do traditional OKRs…

We want to help firms build great businesses and sustain them. Being future proof is a critical part of that. Over the last months we focused a lot of our blogs on the topics of people and processes but to build future proof businesses firms need to do a lot more. We see the following areas as critical for success: Being agileAgility is the organisation’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly to change, which could be driven by various factors, such as changes to client demands, markets, regulations, or other unforeseen events like pandemics. To remain at a competitive advantage…

Nowadays, most initial interviews are conducted via video calls and ‘old fashioned’ telephone interviews are seldom incorporated into the interview process. While potentially controversial, I’m about to argue that a simple telephone conversation could prevent you from making a bad hire. Here is why. Our ability to make ‘good decisions’ when it comes to hiring is affected by numerous factors, and some of these are unconscious. While I hope your recruitment process is always consistent across candidates and responses are marked using a uniform approach, fundamentally your decisions are subjective due to being based on your perception of what you…