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    How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company?

    One of the most important things to remember as a business leader is that you’re not alone. There are plenty of others who have (or will in the future) experience the same challenges, situations or dilemmas as you – meaning that there are a lot of experiences for you to utilise. Learning can occur across industries and roles so, even though your processes or goals may not be the same, the opportunity to apply experiences to your own business is limitless.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Applying external learnings to part of your business

    Effort: Medium
    Impact : Medium
    It’s vital to scrutinise the advice you receive and decide what’s suitable before you apply external learnings to your business.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Develop your goal setting and planning routine

    Effort: Low
    Impact : High
    Working on your routine adds rigour to the planning process and makes sure your team can work effectively. Get started with our five-step plan.

    Action plan

    Understanding where you add the most value as a leader

    Effort: High
    Impact : High
    Our five-point action plan will help you identify where you add value, so that you can be more effective in your role.

    Action plan

    Improving your accountability as a leader

    Effort: High
    Impact : High
    Implementing a system to hold yourself accountable ensures you’re making progress, rather than simply flitting between tasks.

    Action plan

    Creating a roadmap to evolve as a leader

    Effort: Medium
    Impact : High
    Being proactive about the steps you need to take to develop as a leader means you can support your company’s growth. Follow our five-step plan to create a roadmap for your development.

    Action plan

    Taking action to overcome a problem in your business

    Effort: High
    Impact : High
    If you’ve found a potential problem in your business, the next step is to decide on the actions you’re going to take in response.

    Guide

    An introduction to applying learnings from other businesses to your own company

    Other companies are a valuable source of inspiration, ideas and good practice. Our guide explains how to apply what you’ve learnt.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that's available

    Learning from each other

    Learning from each other

    Struggles you experience as a leader aren’t unique to your business. By talking to other small business leaders, you can share experiences and grow. The Alternative Board has looked at the process in more depth.

    What is a non-executive director?

    What is a non-executive director?

    Some business leaders use a non-executive director as a sounding board for ideas, utilising the experience of someone from outside the business to guide them through. The Institute of Directors explains more.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Real business story

    Outside perspectives helped us seize opportunities for improvement

    From dealing with operational tasks to involvement with strategic planning and input into HR issues, it’s easy for SME leaders to forget to come up for air once in a while.

    Real business story

    Successfully applying peer learnings requires careful thought

    Learning from other businesses provides ideas and inspiration for how your company can evolve.

    Real business story

    Effective people management is key to safeguarding your business

    Safeguarding a business and the quality of products or services being provided is critical to financial security. Failing to do so could lead to cash flow and profitability issues.

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making?

    Leadership & Strategy

    As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth?

    People & Team

    How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How can I keep my best members of staff? How can I reduce employee turnover? How can I run a better appraisals process? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How should I performance manage my staff?

    Planning

    How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to invest in my business? How do I know when to scale up my business?

    Sales & Growth

    How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How can I identify new customers to target? How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How can we develop new products and services? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How do I benchmark my business against competitors? How do I build a network to support my business? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth?
    All