Tag: culture

New year, new you. You’ve probably already heard this countless times but its safe to say that you’ll hear it a whole lot more as you make your way through the five weeks of January. What this actually means for each individual is obviously very different. For some, its gaining financial freedom, achieving a health goal or learning a new skill. For others, it’s fulfilling a professional dream – like owning your own business.

The uniquely challenging global events of the past few years have underscored the critical importance of people management for companies. Disruptions, including the pandemic and its aftermath, forced organisations to clearly define priorities and quickly build up specific capabilities in employee health and safety and more flexible working models.

The concept of diversity is well understood in most businesses, as is the negative impact of having leadership teams made up of people who are homogenous in their backgrounds, beliefs and cultures. Research has shown, for example, that greater diversity in start-ups is equated with greater likelihood of success.

We can learn a thing or two from the global movement of rugby players, applying similar principles to business that will give organisations a competitive edge.

Several research studies have shown that people spend most of their time at work. The average time spent in the workplace, over a lifetime, is 90,000 hours - a third of a person’s life. This means that organisations have a captive audience whose attitudes, thoughts and ideas can be positively influenced or changed not only for the gain of the company but also for the greater good of society.

An essential business guide on how to develop an organisation’s innovation culture and internal entrepreneurs (intrapreneurs), with an emphasis on African innovation cases. The Intrapreneur’s Journey: Empowering Employees to Drive Growth is a must-read for any entrepreneur, innovator, manager or senior executive who wants to successfully compete in today’s fast-changing world.

More South African businesses than ever before are looking to globalise as they seek to take advantage of our country’s competitive currency, optimal time zone and low cost environment. In fact, South Africa's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector experienced an average compound annual growth rate of around 25% between 2015 and 2021, according to a recent report published by Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA).

GG Alcock was born in Msinga, then one of the most poverty-stricken and violent parts of KwaZulu-Natal. His activist parents, Neil and Creina Alcock, raised their two sons in a mud hut with no running water, electricity or modern conveniences and they grew up like young Zulu boys, herding goats and hunting small animals.

“Don't harm your neighbour” is much better advice. This is a passive rule. It does not require you to do anything, just to refrain from doing some things. I believe the gap between these two rules summarises the gap in Western society between left and right, between Democrats and Republicans, between the kindly, caring, sharing, socialists and the individualistic, thinking, independent, self-reliant capitalists. Both sides passionately believe that their rule is the better one.

How small businesses manage growth, and the expansion of their teams is always a hot topic. We are often asked how best to go about it as many businesses make the mistake of thinking growth and expansion is directly linked to their staff complement, yet this could not be further from the truth.