Leadership Development Academy: Why Every Company Needs One

No business market has ever remained static. As with everything in the world, markets constantly fluctuate because of many external reasons, and they often shift on a month to month basis. As it’s the case with every market, the talent market works in cycles too. It too constantly switches from the market being focused on employers to a market focused on employees, and that switch sometimes happens very quickly.

According to the latest statistics, the unemployment rate of the US has dropped to 3.7% in September of 2018, which is vastly different than to the 9.6% of September of 2009 when the Recession was still in effect.

Even though having a low unemployment rate is generally seen as a good thing, it can cause harmful effects to many employers, namely because there is a much smaller pool of potential candidates to choose from. There is a much smaller number of skilled candidates to pick from, and the number of candidates that lack the required skills is increased.

Considering the case and continuing trend of low unemployment rates, it’s becoming very necessary for companies to foster and develop talent internally. This means that businesses need to invest in their employees so that they have an increased chance of retaining them.

Kyle Porter, who is a CEO of SalesLoft, recently said that whenever a company loses an employee, it’s rarely the individual’s fault. Per his words, a company has to create an environment that the employees would prefer to work in, one that would allow them to grow and improve.

When the unemployment rates are higher and the market shifts its focus to employers, paychecks are the biggest driving force behind employee retention. But in today’s talent market, most businesses have to poach talent from other companies, simply because the talent pool has significantly dried up.

What can companies do?

Most business can do good to learn from the financial market. The best and most efficient investors usually get creative with how they play defense and offense on the market. Their goal becomes to lose less than the average or get the maximum possible return. This can be the best lesson companies can utilize to keep their talent pool steady.

If the market becomes increasingly defensive, as it’s currently doing, possibly the best move would be to play aggressively. Companies like Lippert Components, and their CEO Jason Lippert, have devised a very effective strategy to reduce the number of employee turnover and increase their talent pool. They focused on honing the leadership capabilities of their employees in a very direct and straightforward manner, and to create a company culture that would benefit every individual within its ranks.

With the creation of their leadership academy over a four year period, where they trained employees to become much better leaders, they reached excellent results. The employee turnover rate reduced to 30%, which is well below the industry standard, and they saw an increase in work application. All of this because the company realized that in order to be as efficient as possible they needed to create a culture that would nurture its employees.

Achim Neumann, President of A Neumann & Associates LLC, an M&A Advisory Firm in New Jersey says, “One of the core responsibilities of an employer is to develop and nurture the skills of their employees. It’s something that many employees have come to expect and for a good reason. That always leads to a much more efficient business or company.”

Every business and company can implement the same idea of a leadership academy. A budget like the one of Lippert Components isn’t required, because all it takes is the drive to improve. The business that strives to be as good as possible needs business leaders who will drive the company to gradual success over time. True success doesn’t come overnight, and there are three things that every business should be aware of:

  • Feedback is crucial – one of the worst offenses a leader can make is think they’re doing a fine job without any feedback. Employee feedback is something no business should skip out on, as it can create tons of potential situations for improvement.
  • Modernization – many businesses the world-over don’t modernize at the appropriate rate. This means to create valuable content with modern principles, instead of being stuck in a position where the content doesn’t feel relevant and fresh.
  • Learning and improvement – leadership is a skill that is learned by doing. Simply by focusing on learning as much as possible, a leader can create many opportunities for improvement for every individual in the business.
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Does Your Small Business Take Identity Theft Serious Enough?

In the world of identity theft (specifically information critical to one’s business), cyber-criminals oftentimes do not care whether your company is large and well-known or just a small business with a handful or workers.

As too many business owners have discovered (especially in recent years), cyber-criminals oftentimes don’t discriminate when it comes to trying to wreck a company. They will strike wherever security seems weakest, hoping to cash-in on a large amount of data.

With that the case, what exactly is your small business doing to thwart the attempts of identity theft thieves from striking your brand?

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Know the Signs of a Weak Business

One of the first things that cyber-criminals look for when trying to steal identities (consumer and company data) is a weak security system.

It is imperative that you test your security system and firewall, making sure it is as close to 100 percent foolproof as possible.

Keep in mind that many cyber-criminals will “test” a company’s system regularly, looking to see where it is most penetrable. If your system is far from perfect, your business stands a good chance of being that company that is hit.

Among the practices you should have in place:

  • Security – Number one on your list should be a secure system that discourages cyber-criminals from hitting your company in the first place. Test and re-test your security software, seeing where your online activities may be the most vulnerable. If you’re stuck on a security software company, look to reviews of providers to see which one gets the highest ratings from industry experts. Also make sure that your server provider has a sound system on their side of things. One way to test your system is by having employees (see more below on their role in your company’s defenses) pose as cyber-criminals, trying to penetrate your security network. If one or more of your workers can get through, just stop and think about what a professional criminal can do;
  • Employees – Along with your security system, your employee are in essence your first line of defense. Their practices alone can oftentimes dictate whether or not someone with evil intentions can crash your system. Just as employees should be your biggest defense backers, some companies have come to discover that inside jobs were what ultimately led to being hacked. Make sure during the hiring process that you only bring in the brightest and most honest workers available to you. Yes, it can be challenging at times finding those individuals (see more below), but taking a little extra time in doing so can save you money and headaches down the road;
  • Outsourcing – More businesses find outsourcing their needs to be the way to go, especially since they don’t have to pay benefits to someone (typically works as an independent contractor) who is not on the company payroll 40 hours a week. Due to this, sometimes company and consumer data can be compromised. It is important that you vet each and every individual you consider outsourcing work to. Even more critical, only share important company and/or consumer data with those you fully trust, not to mention have secure servers at home or in their offices;
  • Travel – It isn’t uncommon for big and small business to ask some employees to travel for work from time to time. As a result, employees will oftentimes take company laptops with them in order to work out on the road. While the accessibility is great, one of the dangers in doing such is the vulnerability to being hacked. If an employee is working from a hotel room or even a café, can they say with 100 percent certainty that the server they are working off of is totally protected? In most cases, the answer to that question is no. If you’re not 100 percent sure the server is safe, don’t work from it and expose sensitive company and customer data. Save such efforts for when you get back to the office, working off of a server you know is fully protected.

At the end of the day, your business communications are at the forefront of lessening the chances of being attacked by cyber-criminals.

Making sure employees, management, and the security system software provider/s you work with are all on the same page makes a difference, especially if you plan on taking identity theft seriously.

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Where do I start with buying shares?

In recent years, buying shares has become an increasingly appealing investment opportunity. In today’s technologically advanced society, there are now all manner of platforms through which you can buy shares, whether it’s over the phone, via post, online or even through a mobile app! However, with all these options on offer, the practice of buying shares can often seem daunting. Here are our top tips on where to start:

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Carry out extensive market research

Due to the fluctuating nature of the stock market and share prices, it is important to carry out extensive research before you commit to purchasing and selling shares. By investigating online and learning about a company’s recent stock market performance, its reputation within its field of industry and the economy as a whole, you can assess the short term and long term risks of investing in particular organisations.

It is also important to consider your long term stock market prospects. Do you want to rapidly buy and sell shares to make a quick profit or are you interested in becoming a minority or majority shareholder within a particular company or organisation? Although the stock market offers rife opportunities for rapid sales and quick profits, becoming a shareholder within an expanding organisation or an established corporation can equip you with the opportunity to benefit from exclusive shareholder discounts, or even to influence how the company is run.

If you intend to become a minority or majority shareholder within a company, it is important that you research the practice of shareholder’s agreements and the Disclosure Letter, UK laws differentiate from other areas of the EU so be careful that you are reviewing the correct information for your locale. Understanding these important legal documents can prove crucial in protecting your rights, responsibilities and long term investment opportunities as a minority or majority shareholder.

Choose a suitable stockbroker 

You have to buy shares through a broker who is registered with the stock exchange. As matters stand there are several stockbroker options at your disposal, including established City traders, the stockbroking divisions of large banking corporations or building societies and financial advisory firms who offer stockbroking services, as well as various online stockbroker companies. It is important that you extensively research the legitimacy, brand reputation and share purchasing processes of these organisations in order to find a stockbroker who is best suited to your particular investment interests.

Create a brokerage account

Now you have a stockbroker you can set up a brokerage account! This is the main account through which you will buy and sell real shares either online, over the phone or via the postal service. When choosing a broker account, you should scrutinise the terms and conditions of each account in order to assess whether it is suited to your investment interests. For instance: will you be charged inactivity fees if you don’t trade regularly? If you intend to rely on your shares for a regular income, how much will the withdrawal fees be? What are their interest rates? You should consider all of these factors before committing to opening a broker account and commencing trading.

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