Category: Leadership

With responsibility for just about every single person in a business, there’s no doubt that CEOs have a lot on their plate.

There are certainly plenty of rewards that go with the packed in-tray but another consideration for those looking to climb to the very top of the corporate ladder is the number of myths and misconceptions about the role.

Here we’ll attempt to shed some light on the truth behind the headlines.

All that glitters is gold

The glamorous life of the CEO, eh? It must be all about buying the next holiday home, buying a fleet of supercars, and struggling to choose an insurance policy for a new yacht, right?

The truth is this is rarely the case for the large number of people across the world who hold the job title of chief executive officer.

Sure, there are some high-profile CEOs who might live extravagant lifestyles and court the media’s attention. But these are very much in the minority across the board.

Most CEOs are following their passion and dedicated to making their company a better place to work, more attractive to invest in and a leader in giving back to the communities that have been their foundations

The CEO owns the business

In large numbers of cases across the world, this is not the case.

Of course, any publicly traded company that appoints a CEO is owned by its shareholders. Now, the CEO may well be one of those people (and may be a majority shareholder to boot) but conflating the two can often place unfair expectations on CEOs who may answer to others.

In the case of limited companies, a CEO may be appointed by an owner who wishes to remain out of the public glare and task their top exec with making difficult decisions, such as formulating responses to ongoing disruption in the job market.

CEOs certainly wield a lot of power in any business, but it is far from accurate in the case of many to suggest that they, and they alone, have the final say over all business matters.

Net worth figures

Each and every day you might see news stories focusing on high-ranking executives with claims that they are worth millions, if not billions. There are even entire internet sites dedicated to reporting the ‘net worth’ of others.

This leads to immediate misconceptions that this monetary figure must be instantly available to an individual. Even though in reality, it’s a reflection of a present market value and not a realised sum sitting in someone’s bank balance. It may even compromise their safety if they are perceived publicly to be wealthier than they perhaps are.

If they are even accurate in the first place, most likely these sums relate to entire portfolios that might include property, stocks and shares, among other assets. It’s also important to point out that should a high-net-worth individual such as Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk decide to sell all of their shares in their respective businesses, they would almost instantly crash the value of their stocks as well as affect the value of their sector.

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If you talk to company leaders about the current state of business, one thing will come up unfailingly—technology. Technology is changing our whole world, not just business. The tech industry is huge, but its products and innovations reach far beyond the field itself. Technology is impacting all kinds of companies in multiple ways. Whether you are in the business of tech or not, there are new developments and advancements every CEO should know about. Below are some of the technologies that every CEO should invest in.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence, commonly known as AI, is one of the most ground-breaking technologies changing our world. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have; AI can greatly improve your company in multiple ways. For example, AI can consume and analyse vast amounts of data in seconds. It can consume digital media and understand what people are responding to.

It can even make graphic design, create new branding tactics, and provide solutions for overhead problems. AI can help you increase profit. When it comes to this type of technology, you can design it to do exactly what you want it to do. AI makes all kinds of businesses more successful. Whatever field you’re in, every large company should be investing in artificial intelligence.

Biotechnology

Whether you are in the medical industry, tech, or research and development, one of the biggest changes in our lives in relation to technology is biotech. Biotechnology is the combination of technology and biology to create new products, solve medical issues, and help humanity become healthier and happier.

If you are involved in any of these fields, you should be thinking about biotech to innovate, create ground-breaking products, and offer new services to your clients. Luckily, you don’t have to go all in with biotech to get a feel for some of these advancements. You can even look for biotech equipment for lease. As you probably already know, the medical industry is massive, and it is becoming even more influential with the advent of new biotechnologies. Are you a CEO in any of these fields? You should investigate investing in biotech.

Renewable Energy Sources

Whether you are passionate about the planet’s environment or not, every CEO at a high level should be investing in some sort of renewable energy source. The writing is on the wall. Clean energy will become more effective and cheaper over time. It will become untenable financially.

Depending on your business and what field you are involved in, large companies with high energy bills should be finding new ways to power their businesses. You don’t need to be passionate about renewable energy to begin to see the benefits of it. As time goes on, you will be glad that you got in on renewable energy earlier. The taxes on fossil fuels and other dirty energy sources will outweigh the cost of investing in renewables.

Automation

A part of tech advancements that are prompting a lot of questions about what humans will do in the future is automation. You’re probably familiar with the automated robotic arms building, packing, and shipping products. If your company sells products in a large volume, you might have already invested in these machines. However, this is just the beginning when it comes to automation.

Automation will take over a lot of aspects of business. Whether it’s at the brick-and-mortar store or in your factory warehouses, machines will replace humans in many ways. Automation is the ability for machines to perform tasks with no human help. Between automated drivers to deliver products to automated receptionists, this tech is something every CEO should have on their radar.

Extended Reality (XR)

Extended reality is the term that encompasses virtual (VR), automated (AR), and mixed (MR) reality technologies. With XR, tech companies can sell products, entertain, and provide digital space to clients. AR provides ways for professionals to engage with the tangible world with technological tools. This technology and faster 5G internet are making remote medical procedures possible.

When you are a CEO of a large company, there’s a lot of new technology that you should have your eyes on. Technology is becoming a larger part of your job. Technology is changing our world in fundamental ways, and if you invest in specific technologies, your company will only grow and thrive.

If you run your own construction business, then you be aware of just how demanding such an enterprise can be, with the familiar feeling of being continuously pulled in multiple directions as you endeavour to simultaneously care for your employees whilst also keeping your various projects and day-to-day operations running smoothly. By managing your business competently and effectively, you will not only be rewarded with a higher employee satisfaction, you will also increase the likelihood of securing future works by prospective customers, rather than them choosing an alternative from the other 914,000 enterprises in the construction sector.

Keeping projects running smoothly comes down to many factors, including having adequate staff to complete tasks, ensuring you have the proper tools, and being able to transport and store construction materials properly. The latter has never been more important with the current material shortage that the UK is facing. Business owners must keep the materials they order protected, so they don’t end up damaged.

Not sure how to do that? This is the article for you. We’ll discuss all of the things you need to keep in consideration for transporting and storing construction materials.

Consider where you will store materials

With the unpredictable weather in the UK, scouting out the most suitable and optimised place to store your materials is vital. For example, in winter it is imperative to keep materials safe by storing them undercover – preferably in an airtight capacity. This will keep them from getting damp, wet, or accumulating mould, which could potentially render them unusable.

It’s also important to keep materials well-ventilated on hot days. Failure to do this may lead to moisture building which can result in mould forming.

How to store materials

Once you’ve decided where you will store your materials, it’s time to decide how you’ll do it. This will take careful planning but will help to mitigate the risk of your materials getting damaged. Try the following examples to keep common materials safe:

Steel – This metal is susceptible to rust, corrosion and scaling when in storage. Try to coat it in cement wash to prevent any of these from occurring.

Plasterboard – Plasterboard is a vital material for any project which is why it should be kept well clear from any other materials. We recommend using a cantilever racking system to achieve this.

Lumber – This material can be extremely porous, so it will need to be stored undercover. In the unlikely event that it does get wet, be sure to store each piece horizontally with air space between them, so they can dry.

Know the weight of your materials

Take note of how much different objects weigh as this will ensure your staff know whether they can transport it to or from the storage spaces by themselves. Heavy materials should be moved by multiple staff or machinery if possible. By doing this, you’ll be able to prevent injury on site which will keep the project moving smoothly.

Whether you’re managing an in-person or remote workforce, it can be hard to keep track of all your team’s projects. And if you’re struggling, just imagine how difficult it must be for your employees. To solve your problems, you’ll need to find a system that manages their workload.

How to Successfully Manage Multiple Projects

Good project management is necessary for any team tackling large, multi-faceted initiatives. To keep track of your progress, manage your budget, and support your staff, try the following.

1. Opt for One Dashboard for Complete Visibility

If you’re struggling with a lack of visibility across your projects, you’ll need to use a single dashboard to manage them all. Planning and managing your launches in one place lets you see how many projects you have, what items they include, and the status of your project roadmap.

2. Define Project Goals, Responsibilities, and Plans

You need to define project goals, make a plan, assign responsibilities, and set expectations if you want to do away with inconsistencies. Any project goal you set should help your team finish the project to your specifications, but don’t forget to pencil in time for feedback and approvals.

3. Prioritise Projects That Make the Most Impact

While it’s tempting to work on the smallest or easiest projects first, try to resist the temptation. It’s better if you prioritise projects based on their impact on your company goals. When you plan to delegate work, determine which project will lead to better customer retention and start there.

4. Provide Specialist Industry-Specific Software

Depending on your industry, a generic dashboard may not be enough. For example, commercial real estate teams should use real estate development software found on northspyre.com. With this tool, development teams can make more predictable outcomes on all of their projects.

5. Empower Your Team to be Flexible and Adaptable

Project scope, priorities, and deliverables can change at any time, but your team needs to keep track of them, so they can pivot and reassign work. Use a single communication channel (it can be the same tool as your project dashboard) to deliver information to your entire project team.

6. Set and Manage Your Expectations Clearly

Your team will become confused and disorganised when they’re expected to follow multiple managers who have misaligned expectations. Employers should use a tool that allows them to send real-time status and progress updates with a click, like work management software.

7. Balance Workloads and Timelines Across Projects

When you don’t know how much (or how little) someone has on their plate, you’ll cause an imbalance. You should know who’s doing what, who’s overbooked, and what’s causing project timeline conflicts. That way, you can quickly defer, remove, or re-delegate tasks instantly.

8. Adjust Project Schedules to Maximize Efficiency

Project start and end dates must be coordinated, or employees become overworked, and the project gets delayed. Team leads should stagger start dates for similar projects, look out for deliverables that are dependent on another task, and flag duplicate tasks (to consolidate them).

9. Delegate Appropriately Instead of Micromanaging

Micromanaging is ineffective, costly, and a waste of time. Instead of keeping a watchful eye on your staff, trust that they’ll finish projects on time. If you don’t trust them to hand in deliverables, consider retraining them, putting them on another project/task, or speaking to them privately.

10. Track and Safe Workflows Instead of Rebuilding Them

After finishing a major project, create a template you can use to replicate your process. Don’t keep rebuilding your workflow from the ground up. With that said, you should update your template regularly with new steps and tasks you’ve added to your process or workflow.

Running a business is no easy feat, and dealing with the people within it, and the issues that arise from having so many different people in such close proximity, is challenging to say the least. If you have biases in the workplace to deal with, you are not alone. To think that bias is extinct is naïve and therefore dangerous – a problem that is thought not to exist is likely to do harm under the radar. Even if the bias is not malicious, it may still exist and have a negative effect of people of different groups that need to work together. In many respects, the bias may be an unconscious feeling that leads to certain people feeling like they are being treated less fairly or even being discriminated against. The imperfect nature of humans means that we all times judge people based on what we see or what we think about another person. Our brain may have strongly entrenched feelings to overcome, and it can be a battle to stop our synapses from connecting the dots and jumping to quick judgements of people and situations. Our own upbringing, the media, people around us, can all have an impact on how we see other people and while the circumstances that brought about these negative feelings may be uncontrollable, the reassuring thing is that you can do something to deal with the bias that results. Tackling these deep-seated issues is a must and if you are a business owner or in a position of authority, you have a responsibility to ensure that no one in your team is treated unfairly and to help those who need to readjust their view and remove their feelings of bias.

The Bias Crisis

Even in this modern day of age, when prejudice and discrimination should be a thing of the past, studies reveal that there are increasing amounts of women and people of colour that are choosing to leave their jobs due to bias in corporate America. There are greater challenges to minorities than ever before to the point that leaders across business and governmental agencies are treating these issues as a serious crisis. The long-term effects of these biases have severe consequences for the employees, their families, and their communicates. It is vitally important that employees and management staff work hard to address any bias, conscious or not, to resolve this issue. Doing so will improve a company’s reputation, attract, and retain employees and boost productivity.

The most threatening dangers are the hidden ones, the ones that are inconspicuous and therefore more deadly. Bias follows the same pattern, lurking in blind spots of the brain, emerging in subtle yet sinister ways. Simply by judging someone based on their name, the colour of their skin, or even their accent, gives evidence to a hidden, or implicit bias, that needs to be addressed quickly before the problem escalates. 

What can do you do tackle unconscious bias?

Top Tips for Tacking Implicit Bias

There are few key things you can do to improve your workplace environment and create a place that is safe and encouraging for all who work within it.

Accept that unconscious bias is in all of us. Part of dealing with the problem is recognising that there is a problem in the first place. To think that bias doesn’t exist in your workplace is naïve and dangerous. The Implicit Association Test created by Harvard is designed to help people see their underlying biases that they may not even know exist – it can be extremely eye-opening to experience so it may be worth completing this assessment to become more aware of the bias you and others unknowingly have.

Think about your decisions. Implicit bias is more likely to rear its head when it comes to making swift decisions or act impulsively. Take the lead, and encourage others, to slow down, take a step back and make a thoughtful, considered decision.

Widen out your social circle. Encourage social activities in the workplace that make people widen out in their circle of friends. If staff can move around that can choose to sit with different colleagues, opening their hearts to people from different backgrounds which will improve their understanding of the others and create a more related work environment.

Don’t be afraid to establish some rules and speak out. Set some ground rules for behaviour and standards of conduct, make your employees aware of them, and make them live up to them. If you notice bias in someone else, don’t be afraid to bring it up. Have a quiet word with the person involved as they may not even realise that they are giving evidence to any bias. If the problem gets out of hand, speak up and take it to HR. Remind staff that it is everyone’s responsibility to create a kind, peaceful and fair environment to work in.

Humbly apologise when you get it wrong. We’re all going to mess up and make mistakes, but you can show yourself to be a humble leader by acknowledging where you or the company has made errors in fairness in the past. This honesty and transparency will show the desire to change and improve. It will also set a good example for others, to know that even if they make mistakes and show bias, they can admit them, apologise and work hard to do better next time.

Emphasis education. Equality and diversity training is a must to help people get up to speed with current events, challenge their own thinking, and create a fair and equal environment where every team member feels valued, heard, and appreciated. Training sessions and workshops will go a long way in helping people understand the seriousness of the situation and hopefully improve the atmosphere of the office for all.