Hyperactivity is best known as being one of a number of symptoms that present in sufferers of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) but during this study, in which hyperactivity is taken as a behaviour rather than a symptom of an underlying condition, hyperactivity is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, nor is it always undesirable whether or not is it present due to ADHD, another diagnosed condition or simply as a personality trait.

The study, conducted by Ingrid Verheul and her team, from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), looked at some twenty thousand people in Sweden and Norway and found that, contrary to popular misconception: hyperactive behaviour is not an indication that the sufferer is doomed to lengthy periods of unemployment, not a sign that that sufferers will struggle with work.

Instead, the demands of entrepreneurship (coming up with a new service or product, the lengthy process from drawing board to readiness for that first sale, the drive for funding, research and the endless tinkering to get everything just right) are best served by a high-energy hyperactive person. This feeds into the sometimes obsessive interests of ADHD sufferers, but transforms it from an issue in the classroom, when one’s attention must change from subject to subject in fifty-minute windows, to an absolute positive in the workplace.

This study is timely: there has been an increase of some 43% in the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in young people in the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Brazil – instead of a cause for alarm, perhaps this indicates that before long there will be a new wave of entrepreneurial ventures across the business world, from industry to technology to eco-friendly processes and products.

The post Hyperactives Are More Likely to Become Entrepreneurs appeared first on The C Suite.

According to Steven Covey, leaders must be in a position to adopt these six principles if they need to survive in the face of innovations.

Digital Economy Challenge

In recent years, the digital economy has seen a lot of development and is the most critical engine of innovation, competition, and growth. The new era has completely changed our social life from the way we socialize, work, learn, shop, and even communicate. Every sector is re-shaping its traditional industries and value chain with business models which never existed before. It should be realized that the digitization of the economy could be the most critical transformation of the century.

The digital economy provides huge opportunities for entrepreneurs, small, medium, and large companies. One major drawback of these business setups is that they do not take full advantage of the digital economy. In fact, the European Commission has said only 2% of European enterprises are taking advantage of the new digital opportunities. This is alarming since we understand that the full adoption of digital technology is what will make businesses thrive in the digital economy. The commission stressed that companies that will not enhance digital technology would be excluded from the global market.

No Barriers to Entry

There are no limitations to entry for innovation. The hardware, software, and operating systems, which were once limited, are now readily available and affordable to all companies. Even a sole entrepreneur can access technology, which was not available some years back. The only thriving obstacle towards companies adopting digital technology is the lack of capacities from leadership.

Any company that has the right leadership mindset and capabilities can now transform, innovate, and digitize its products and services.

The post Six Guiding Principles for Digital Transformation appeared first on The C Suite.

When business leaders are caught contravening their own policies, their reputation and leadership capabilities are called into question. To retain their voice and effectiveness as a leader, employers and managers must ensure that their personal values and beliefs align with the vision and mission of the company they represent. You can only put an idea into practice when you believe in it. Business leaders should clearly communicate what changes in routines, procedures and behaviour they want to see and they should model the image they want their employees to present. This helps to enhance employees understanding of the changes communicated and emphasises your commitment as the leader of the team to the changes you want to see within your organisation. Following the same protocols outlined for your employees ensures that you are seen as an effective leader of a unified team, rather than someone who takes advantage of their position to serve their own purposes.

The post Business Leaders Must Walk the Talk to be Truly Effective appeared first on The C Suite.

Servion Global Solutions foretells that by 2025, three-quarters of all client service interactions will happen on these platforms. The effects of voice speakers and smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Alexa is currently being felt. These effects are prevalent in the screenless marketplace, thus posing fresh challenges for existing and new brands.

As these technologies and channels continue to evolve and expand their influence, Servion Global urges the companies to take the task of infusing virtual assistants and smart speakers, head-on. This technology is not loyal to a specific organization both in the pre and post-sales client experience. Failure to adopt this technology might lead your business to be outdone by your competitors.

There is a growing pressure on businesses to build a predictive and nuanced interaction through voice. This growth is owed to the increasing number of millennials with a healthy disrespect for conventional sales systems and has a lot of disposable income. Companies, ranging from healthcare, utilities to the public sector, have to understand the communication needs of the current generation.

The younger generation is reserved for communicating with big corporations through text messages and chats. As neurolinguistics and speech recognition continues to develop, natural communication between man and machine will become standard and familiar. In turn, there will be an increase in the number of people who will place their orders through voice assistants.

The post ‘Pitiless Machines’ Will Kill Your Business If You Don’t Act Now appeared first on The C Suite.

Competition

Much of the stress occurs on a daily basis as workers compete with each other to park their cars. Some try to outwit their colleagues by arriving half an hour earlier to ensure they are first in the queue. Those who miss out are regularly forced to find spaces in the local area that can often be up to a mile away, leaving them with a long walk and a reprimand for arriving late. 54% thought the situation was endangering their chances of promotion.

Arguments

26% believed that arguing about parking spaces and incidents such as blocking in each other’s cars seriously damaged working relationships. Tensions over insurance claims affect around 24% of workers who accidentally damage a colleague’s car while manoeuvring in cramped, overcrowded car parks. Another bone of contention is risking going out in the car for lunch only to return and find someone else has taken the vacant space. Continuous feuding over such incidents prompted many to feel uncomfortable enough to leave their jobs. Public transport and car sharing can help, but one creative solution could be renting an unused residential driveway not far from the office.

The post Lack of Parking Spaces Pushing Employees to Leave appeared first on The C Suite.

1. Employee Awareness

Progressive businesses are actively seeking to become fully customer-centric with every department tailoring its operations to fall in line with providing excellent customer service. It is a process that can often take some time to instill in every employee as many, such as night-shift warehouse operatives, are not traditionally directly involved with customers.

2. CEO Involvement

Many CEOs and boardroom executives are eager to spend valuable time leading from the front by personally developing customer experience initiatives, ensuring that their companies provide unrivalled CX. Some CEOs are even showing remarkable foresight by actively voicing their objectives and concerns in public, endearing themselves to potential customers in the process.

3. New Technology

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are becoming essential technological components of retail. By engaging customers with innovative, immersive modes of shopping both in the High Street and via apps, businesses can keep ahead of their competitors. A company board with effective, imaginative leadership from the CEO, and the willingness to invest in a technological future, should benefit enormously from providing the ultimate customer experience.

The post Customer Experience Must be a Board Level Discussion appeared first on The C Suite.

One in four people will be affected by a mental health issue in their lives. It’s already a legal requirement to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency about a mental health issue that impacts someone’s ability to drive. But fleet managers and employers need to be even more attentive than that, said Peter Golding, managing director of FleetCheck, provider of fleet management software.

2017 research from Mercedes-Benz found that almost one in five van drivers describe their mental health as poor or very poor, with three-quarters of those saying work was a contributing factor.

Usually, if the employee is suffering from stress or depression, the employer only feels the need to become involved if the employee is taking medication. However, research has shown that depression has a direct impact on concentration and reaction times, impacting someone’s suitability to drive. 

“Fleets should arguably be considering these issues and including them in their risk management strategies,” Mr Golding said.

He said FleetCheck is currently developing a risk management app for a client which asks drivers about their mood and health as part of their regular walk-around vehicle checks. The catch-all question captures all aspects of a driver’s wellbeing.

“The app simply asks, ‘Do you feel fit to drive?’ This simple, but fundamental question is one that fleets, in our experience, almost never consider,” he said.

“This is certainly a question that could potentially help to highlight any underlying or emerging mental health problems from which a driver may be suffering that could compromise their abilities behind the wheel.

“As we become better at talking openly about mental health, employers should be doing more to develop policies within their risk management strategy. Across our industry, it would be good to see a greater dialogue develop about this area,” he added.

The post Fleet Safety and Mental Health appeared first on The C Suite.

To manage and build their IT systems, companies are therefore increasingly relying on IT operational analytics tools. These tools collate and analyse data from multiple sources, allowing businesses to spot trends quickly and react to them and to make decisions with a full spectrum of information at hand. Self-service analytics tools allow companies to do this data aggregation and analysis in-house, without outsourcing the work to a third party.

But what makes a good self-service analytics tool and how do you make the most of it? Here are five tips for using self-service analytics to their fullest potential.

1. Make the data available to a range of employees

Traditional business intelligent tools were complex, yielding complicated data only interpretable by a select few. Decision-making was therefore reserved to those few, leading to slow and often tunnel-visioned actions which didn’t take advantage of the range of experience, expertise and talent from across the business. Today data is an integral part of every level of businesses. Staff should have daily access to relevant data gathered by the analytics tools so they can make decisions on their own.

2. Empower staff to use the tools

With self-service analytics tools, employees no longer have to wait for a data report from IT. Instead, they can access it themselves through the system and should be empowered to do so— viewing data in real-time, creating personalised reports and taking necessary actions.

3. Personalise reports for different teams

Different teams within your business with all different data and reporting requirements. Self-service analytics can produce bespoke reports, tailored to the needs of teams and even individual staff members. Personalisation not only enhances productivity but can also guide employees to find the right strategies

4. Enable quick and easy on-demand reporting

Ad hoc reports answer specific questions and are therefore more valuable than standard reports. Staff should be given the ability to create ad-hoc reports through the system without delay, instantly accessing and sharing information pertinent to their work.

5. Use an interface with good visuals

When selecting a self-service analytics platform, make sure it has a visual-driven, intuitive interface. Visuals allow users to view, interpret and analyse data at a glance, without wading through spreadsheets or painstakingly generating their own charts and graphs. Visualisations are also useful for presenting data to others—whether they’re team members, colleagues from different departments, managers or clients. Look for software with powerful visualisation tools, capable of producing charts, widgets, KPI metrics, pivot tables and of allowing users to hone into the nitty-gritty and slice up data to see it in different ways. 

The post Five tips for success with self-service analytics appeared first on The C Suite.

Studies and Evidence

A  recent study  conducted by the head of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour at the BI Norwegian Business School: Professor Øyvind L. Martinsen, found that women make better leaders than men. Martinsen gathered almost 3000 managers and determined their personality and characteristics, including their leadership skills. In his findings, he concluded that overall women triumphed over men in four out of the 5 categories assessed. These categories were: initiative and clear communication; openness and ability to innovate; sociability and supportiveness; and methodical management and goal-setting.

In 2011, Zenger Folkman  conducted some research and found that women have better overall leadership skills than their male counterparts. 16 competencies were looked at and rated by respondents. Out of the 16 competencies, females were rated more positively in 12 out of the 16 categories. Some of these categories included: taking initiative, practising self-development, high integrity and honesty, helping to develop others, building relationships and more.

Communication

Traditionally it is thought that women are better at communicating their ideas and articulating what they are thinking. According to  Nitin Nohria ,a Harvard business school professor, the best leaders ‘spend the bulk of their time communicating, which is why some female leaders excel in this area.

Compassion and empathy

It has been suggested that being empathetic can strengthen successful leadership ability. A study in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology (1995) concluded that women copy other people’s emotional expressions much more than their male counterparts and as a result are much more likely to show empathy.

Perspective

Women also have the ability to look at different perspectives and often look at and work problems out differently to men. They are also better at seeing things from different points of view. Women also like to find solutions to problems that will involve everyone in the process and utilising the different skill sets of various people for a better outcome overall.

Conclusion

Despite there being considerably less women leaders than male leaders in the workforce, women can make great managers and the business world could benefit from having more women at the top, as research has shown, they have many qualities that could help drive businesses and make them thrive. This is reflected in the slow but continued increase of women at the top.

The post Women Rank Higher in Leadership Qualities in Most Areas appeared first on The C Suite.

In 2017, a Scottish householder had to pay a fine of £17,000 for recording a neighbour on CCTV without permission. According to Charlesworth, the judge ruled that the onus was on those who set up a surveillance system to be aware of both the impact of CCTV on an individual’s privacy and of the law. The law is about to change. Under GDPR, courts will consider how the data is stored and potential fines can be as high as €20 million or 4% of turnover, whichever is larger.

Whilst estimates vary, Cloudview believe that there are approximately 8.2 million CCTV surveillance devices in Britain. Many of these are owned by small businesses and in six months’ time they will all have to obey the new regulations.

Regular maintenance checks and a need to ensure that data is held securely, are requirements of GDPR, which small businesses may not see as a priority. Charlesworth believes that whilst from May all owners of surveillance systems will have to assess and update their compliance controls, there is also an opportunity to improve the image of CCTV as a respected service.

James Wickes, CEO of Cloudview, agrees with Charlesworth. He thinks that whilst small businesses need to understand that the regulations apply to all organisations that use CCTV, regardless of size, the available technology can ensure that businesses comply with the new rules and improve both access to data and security.

The post SMEs – is your CCTV system GDPR compliant? appeared first on The C Suite.