Tag Archives: empowerment
Innovation and the Art of Coffee Making
Innovation in all firms is essential. It allows the firm to maintain competitive advantage by evolving its products and services to better meet customer needs and grow market share. People innovate. So how does an SME principal achieve an environment of continuous innovation by staff to assure his or her firm’s future? This blog addresses the attributes needed to assure innovation. It starts by setting out a model for innovation, using the coffee-making baristas improving espresso to espresso’ at Costa as an example. It discusses planned innovation versus spontaneous innovation. And it ends by laying out the six Creative Enablers needed in all firms. Continue reading →
Empower your managers: let them manage
We recently worked with a firm that had a strange management structure. We were asked to suggest corrective action when the incidence of disciplinary and grievance went sky-high.
The firm employed Regional Managers each responsible for several centres geographically spread across the UK. Each centre was managed by a Centre Manager. In any situation where the Centre Manager needed to exert his or her authority, the effect was diluted because Centre Managers were not allowed to discipline the staff under them. Only Regional Managers could discipline. Any appeals were heard by the Director, the Regional Managers’ boss.
