Making Sure Your Staff Are Performing to the Best of Their Ability

Julie Starr • March 21, 2022



When you take on staff, you take on a lot of responsibility and work in simply managing them. While staff will form the backbone of your business, keeping the cogs turning and pushing things forward, they also need to know what is expected of them and to be provided with everything they need to perform to the best of their ability. As a business owner, it’s your job to ensure that these boxes are being ticked. Here are some areas to focus on to ensure that your staff can perform well and benefit your business as best possible.

Ensure Responsibilities and Expectations are Clear

The first step to ensuring that your team is performing well is to make sure that your definition of “performing well” is clear. Your staff members need to know what is expected of them in order to organize their time, work, and performance to reach the goals expected of them. This is where KPIs can come into play. KPIs are “key performance indicators” and they essentially set the bar that you expect your employees to reach. Each KPI you set should be realistic and achievable. Purposefully setting goals that are too high can cause staff burnout and job dissatisfaction, as people feel under too much pressure. You should also set clear deadlines for tasks to ensure that your staff knows when projects and other work will be due. This also helps with performance monitoring using an online assessment platform , allowing you to provide more work if your employee doesn’t have enough to do and to intervene and resolve problems if KPIs aren’t being met.

Provide Team Building Opportunities

As the old saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. Your team needs to work together well to be as productive as possible. Sure, individual brilliance is desirable and your employees do need to be able to work independently to get individual elements of tasks completely. But they also need to work together for group projects to come to life. It’s important to note that, sometimes, you will have to get involved to encourage teams to work together seamlessly. People are only human and, often, team members may find it difficult to break the ice and get talking. At other times, there may be conflicts that need to be resolved. Here are some suggestions that can help with both of these situations.

Arrange Team Building Activities

Let’s start with breaking the ice. The best way to achieve this is team building activities and there are a number of ways you can approach this. Some companies choose to do regular, short team building activities that get people engaged with one another on a regular basis. Simple and straightforward ideas include coffee breaks, walks to get outside and chat with one another, ice breaker conversations, and more. Others prefer large-scale events, perhaps annually or bi-annually. These can include full-blown team-building days, packed with activities. If you like, you can try a combination of the two.

Have Conflict Resolution Strategies in Place

If employees are having conflict with one another, you need to do what you can to resolve this and get everyone back on neutral territory. HR departments are great at managing this, so try to make sure you have a HR team or specialist within your company. Strategies can include supervised conversations in a private and confidential environment, as well as steps such as separating staff members who particularly cannot get on.

Provide the Right Software and Tools

Keeping up to date with the most recent software and tools can help your employees to perform as best possible. You can have the most skilled and competent team in the world, but if they don’t have what it takes to complete their jobs to a high standard, they’re not going to be able to work their best. Of course, when managing different roles and departments, you may need suggestions when it comes to keeping on top of all of this information. Ask members of each team to fill in regular surveys detailing whether the software you’re providing is up to scratch and, if not, to make recommendations that could resolve issues the individual or team is having. You may want to make these surveys anonymous, as people can often avoid being completely honest with their answers if they think there could be some sort of personal repercussion.

These are just a few steps you can take to help your teamwork to the best of their ability at all times. Keep them in mind and try them out – they could really help to get the ball rolling!

5 Simple Ways to Make Your Online Business More Sustainable

By Julie Starr • August 9, 2025
Running an online business can feel like a constant balancing act. You’re trying to grow, keep customers happy, and still have time for yourself. The trick to making it all work long-term is to build habits and systems that last. You don’t need a complicated plan or endless resources to do it either. Here are five straightforward ways to make your business more sustainable without overcomplicating things. Focus on long-term customer relationships If you want your business to last, you need customers who keep coming back. That doesn’t just happen because you’ve got a good product or service. It’s about making people feel valued every time they interact with you. Simple things like remembering their name, following up after a purchase, or sending a quick thank-you email can make a huge difference. People are far more likely to support a business they feel connected to, so keep those relationships personal and genuine rather than purely transactional. Make your marketing work smarter A big part of sustainability is making sure your marketing isn’t draining your time or money. You want it to be efficient and get results. This is where working with seo consultants can help. They know how to make sure people can find your business online without you throwing cash at random ads. Even if you can’t hire someone right now, you can start by focusing on keywords, improving your website’s loading speed, and posting valuable content that answers the questions your customers are already asking. Streamline your products or services It’s tempting to try to offer everything to everyone, but that’s rarely a good idea. The more you offer, the more time, money, and resources you’ll end up using. Instead, focus on the things you do best and make them as good as they can be. When you streamline what you’re selling, you can put all your energy into perfecting it, which makes it easier to maintain quality over time. Customers notice when you consistently deliver something great, and they’ll trust you more for it. Keep an eye on your finances No matter how much you enjoy the creative or customer side of your business, the numbers are what will keep you going long-term. That means knowing what’s coming in, what’s going out, and where you can cut costs without cutting quality. Set yourself a monthly check-in to look at your spending and profits. If you spot something that’s not working financially, don’t leave it for months, hoping it will improve. Tackle it early and you’ll avoid bigger problems down the road. Look after yourself You can’t run a sustainable business if you’re running yourself into the ground. Burnout isn’t just bad for you, it’s bad for your customers and your bottom line. Make sure you’re setting boundaries, taking breaks, and switching off when you can. That might mean scheduling a full day without work every week or turning your phone off after a certain time. The more balanced you are, the better decisions you’ll make, and the easier it will be to keep your business moving forward without constantly feeling like you’re in survival mode. Sustainability in business isn’t about doing one big thing; it’s about making intelligent, consistent choices that build over time. Start small, keep checking in on your progress, and before you know it, your business will feel a lot steadier and more future-proof than it did before.

Sustainable Choices That Heavy Industry Businesses Can Easily Make

By Julie Starr • August 8, 2025
Are you hoping to build a heavy industry business? It’s the kind of company that can have globally sweeping positive and negative effects. On the one hand, you’re contributing to the industry, ensuring there’s enough supply to meet demand, and you can do your best to operate in a sustainable way that prioritizes the environment. But on the other hand, the heavy industry has long been the most significant business polluter in the world. Despite advancements in industry technology and usage, their ranking relative to other sectors, such as food and beverage , and shipping and logistics, has remained unchanged as of 2025. Requiring extensive use of large, heavy, and expensive machinery, the fumes produced by heavy-duty factories in sectors like mining, aerospace, nautical, and metal production regularly cause harm to both human and animal life. It’s why anyone interested in investing or scaling within an industry like this needs to focus on their company’s carbon footprint. There are various ways to ensure you’re limiting your harmful output and waste, and you’ll want to use as many as possible within your operation. Check out our recommendations below. Work with Green Suppliers No matter what stage you sit at in the hypothetical supply chain, you’re likely to source at least part of your overall production material from a supplier. If that’s not the case, you’ll still need to work with companies that provide machinery and equipment, as well as replacement parts for these industrial items. All in all, to make as sustainable a choice as possible, you’ll want to commit to working with a ‘green’ supplier who makes eco-conscious choices at every step. Eco-friendly suppliers will strive to both implement sustainable practices within their production line, as well as provide sustainably made and/or extracted materials. The products and/or parts they send out are likely to be recyclable when they reach their end-of-life period, or they’ll run a scheme where you can send old or broken parts back to them. Offset Your Carbon Emissions Offsetting carbon emissions converts the waste output from your operations into something more positive. If you’re interested in programs like this , you can use official government platforms or climate charity websites to contribute. You’ll be able to find a variety of projects that have been undertaken to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and they’ll be located in various regions across the world. You can choose to patronise as many of them as you wish, but if you want to focus on specific types, you’ll also be able to do so. When approaching a program like this, it’s usually best to offset month by month, as this helps you stay on top of your carbon footprint. Be sure to invest in as much carbon removal per tonne as your business has potentially contributed to the atmosphere in the last month. But before you go any further, there’s one thing you need to keep in mind here: Carbon offsetting is just one sustainable practice you can turn to, but it’s not the only one your business will ever need to use. Yes, it’s one of the most sustainable practices a heavy industry business can invest in. But that’s only true when it’s partnered with real-time carbon-lowering efficiencies within day-to-day operations. Repair, Rather Than Throw Away Repairing is the best option if a repair is possible. This should be the first step when evaluating old or broken-down equipment. If it can be salvaged, it should be. Otherwise, you’ll have to replace the equipment in question. Not only is that expensive, but it also means more waste to manage. And not all heavy industry tech can be recycled. Sometimes it’s potentially hazardous and needs to be disposed of carefully, and this could have harsh impacts on the surrounding environment. Repairing is your best bet, at least 80% of the time. You can get back up and running faster, and you don’t need to account for a large investment at short notice. And more equipment can be repaired than you might think. It’s not just small, singular parts that can be pulled out. Entire internal systems in even large vehicles, such as freighter ships, can be replaced by secondary parts. A marine logistics provider or deep-sea fishing operator would save a lot of money just by ordering a Cummins Rebuild Kit for one of their vessels. Deciding to put the ship out of commission and eventually scrapping it will contribute to the large-scale waste common in companies like this. Aiming to repair and limit environmental damage will get that same boat back onto the waters in seaworthy condition. Operate with Lower Emission Logistics Shipping your products to businesses and markets always generates a carbon footprint. Unless you’re operating only within the local area and you’re able to transport products back and forth on foot, this is an unavoidable issue. And seeing as you’re a heavy industry business, that’s not very likely. But some shipping options are better than others. Indeed, there are low-emission choices to be made, and you’ll want to look into these logistic partners only. You’ll likely find that air travel is a total no-go zone. Alternatives to this are long-haul road transportation or a traditional shipping company that operates via sea. Yes, even trucking your products over land generates a lot less carbon waste that can damage the environment than flying something! Staying Green as a Heavy Industry Player Working sustainably within the heavy industry is a career-long project. You’ll need to continually make moves to consider what could be streamlined into something greener and less consuming next. In the end, this can help your long-term costs decrease and stay low. Fewer risky investments, fewer fees from environmental bodies, and more productive time within your business. So, it’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth it