99 small things to improve your business - episode 3

I recognize those clothes.

I, you seem to be wearing the same clothes for like weeks on end.

No, it's almost, it's almost like we shot all of this in one day. Isn't it? Nobody will notice. It's fine.

Would you like to look at my box?

Let's have a look in the box. Oh, by the way, I'm Matt, this is Chris. This is Monkey Monday. This is probably episode something of Monkey Monday, but, but the sub episode three of rummaging in Chris' magic box.

Yeah.

And these are 99 ways to maybe make small changes to improve your business. And I pulled out number 24.

Ooh.

Have good tea and coffee in the office.

Yes. No one likes bad tea or coffee and just those small things make a massive difference.

Yeah. Good for your mental, it's just mental health, isn't it? Yeah, it's just happiness. And that is a small thing. It's not a huge expense and shows you care, shows your customers who turn up to your office that you care, the team that you are with that you care. Um, even if you don't have an office and you've got a breakout room, free, great tea and coffee for all.

Yeah. The best you can afford.

Yes. Make it great. Herbal teas too.

Nice. Simple one.

And decaffeinated too, don't forget about that.

Good.

And, uh, go on.

32. Kanban.

32. My favorite. Kanban.

This is, uh, one for Chris Molyneux. Big shout out.

Big shout out to our production guy, Chris Molyneux.

He loves a Kanban.

Can you ban?

Can I ban?

You Kanban.

Uh, we are the marketing agency of Kanban.

Enough said about Kanban, let's move on.

Does everyone know what Kanban is? You've got some cards moving from the left to the right.

Move your stuff from left to right, basically. In the world of Kanban, Trello is a great tool. Pile all the stuff you're thinking of doing into something like a Trello board. Left is not done. Middle is starting to do it. And at the end is, is finished.

Good.

Like that.

That's that's really well described.

Move it from left to right. It's easy. If you don't know what it is, look it up, but yes, um, it can really help. It's a simple, uh, project management philosophy.

Yes.

Can you ban?

I Kanban.

You Kanban.

I Kanban, man.

You will Kanban, man. 22.

Aw.

Hug.

Aw. Only if it's appropriate to do so. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. Talk about hug.

Well, it, uh, everyone needs a bit of love in their lives and just a bit of appreciation and don't be afraid to hug it out.

I like it.

You know, man.

And that's work colleagues or just going home and hugging the cat.

Just, I mean, obviously work colleagues, but it has to be people you're comfortable with hugging. So I, I, I probably wouldn't hug all of our members of staff, but there are other members of staff who would, I would hug you, but I probably wouldn't hug sort of a younger lady member of our team. Cause that might be inappropriate, but I think everyone deserves some hugs.

But if they wanted to hug you, you'd hug.

Oh, then I would, yeah, definitely.

Know your boundaries.

Yeah.

Respect personal space, but when and where you can and it's appropriate, a hug can go a long way.

Yeah. Right.

I like it. It's nice.

42, create a quiet zone. In this world of hybrid meetings, it can be quite busy in the office and with people chattering around and while we did a, uh, workplace survey, and that was one of the biggest problems that people found. So try and create a space where people can go and have a meeting, uh, in the quiet or do some focus time.

Definitely. And again, no matter what business you're in, maybe you're in retail. Um, maybe you are in manufacturing. It doesn't matter. You will, essentially, if you work with people, inevitably, there will be introverts in your team. Giving them some space that's quieter for them to recharge their introverts tokens can really help. It could be a really good thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, we're getting through 'em this week.

Are we? We're smashing them out. 60. Mentor.

Mentor.

Mentor. It sounds like an evil villain name.

You can't just leave people on their own to do work, uh, and expect it to be amazing. You've got to have some kind of structures in place that help people grow and, um, make the business last longer. I think it's important. I don't think we do it like as well as we could and we are always learning, but I think it's something that every business should do.

Yeah. I think there's a difference. Do you think there's a difference between sort of training and mentoring?

Yeah, definitely. Um, Training is more like how to do certain bits and bobs, and mentoring is a sort of more rounded skill. Oh, when this comes up, I, I tend to do it like this and there's sort of a conversation starter, I think.

Yeah. Formalized training, you know, teaching a barista how to make the coffee is, is one thing and how to use things safely, but, um, helping mentor them through, um, a busy day and challenging parts of the um, of the role I think could really help. And there's the, um, Simon Sinek does a really good one. Doesn't he about, is it, is it the guy called Isaac or, where he talks about this one person who worked in two different places. He worked as a barista in...

Oh yeah. Oh yes.

Um, do you remember that story?

Yeah. Both in hotels. Yeah.

Maybe we'll share a link to that one. That's really great. But two places employing the same person and the way that person acted in, in both places was totally different because of the management style and the people around him. And one obviously had people who cared, asked him how he was doing and was showing good mentor, good mentoring and good leadership. And the other place were not doing that. And, uh, they had the same person working for them, but they acted in a very different manner. Okay.

Time for, what are we on? Seven minutes. Oh, we've got one, one or two more, uh, 38. Get brunch delivered once a week.

Wow, once a week?

This is sort of what we do. Isn't it? Is it once a week in our office? Uh, cause I work remotely, I miss out on all of this.

No, it's more once a month.

Is it? Oh okay. Well go for once a week. It's um, it is basically about how, um, if all the team is sat around a table sharing a meal, it doesn't have to be brunch, it, it sort of instills something different in the company. You'll get to talk about issues that are going on. You might not even talk about work. It sort of adds something to people's enjoyment.

Yeah. It's, it's a really nice time to break away from what you are doing. Again, it doesn't really matter what organization you're in, but having it a little bit of space and time to get together socially, um, share some food, share some stories is important. And while we do brunch once a month, I think we, the other two week cycle, we cook for each other. Oh. So, uh, we do more than just the brunch.

That sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Doesn't it sound nice.

Should we do one more? We can do one more. Come on.

Oh, go on then.

Um, content.

Content. Look at all this content we've created just for you guys.

What's this one?

89. Get out there.

I think, um, this was around, uh, a point where... a lot of companies sit there and wait for business to come to them. And I think, um, just being proactive in getting out and about and shouting, shouting what you do to lots of people actually can just bring in business quite easily. So just get out there more often.

Physically or online or wherever?

Bit of both. I think, um, I, I I'd like, um, we've been doing a lot of physical stuff, like getting, meeting up with more people, just like trying to connect with people in the real world rather than pretend people on LinkedIn.

Yeah. And, uh. Yes, cause everyone's pretend on LinkedIn, aren't they?

Well, it's not real, is it.

It's not, is it. No, it's all like the matrix, isn't it. Get off LinkedIn, everyone.

Yeah. Just go out there.

It's fake news.

Yeah, it's fine.

All right. That'll do, won't it. Shall we sing the theme from Quantum Leap again?

You can, I'm not.

Alright. I'll do it in my head.

I've gotta get out there.

You get out there. Bye everyone. Get out there.