Precisely, right on to the rocks! Just like Fabio Capello’s much-trumpeted England squad at the recent World Cup. Could communication possibly have been any worse?
The Premiership is the most watched league in the World. But, how do you transfer the energy, effort and commitment that crackles so convincingly in the Premiership to the heart of the National squad, while also getting results?
You talk. You work. You communicate. You send your team out with a clear game plan, sure of its ground and confident of reaching the right result. Apparently Capello doesn’t communicate well – demonstrated by the players’ confusion on and off the pitch and ultimately England’s defeat.
Many face similar problems in business. We dare not fail, but what can you do? You have to get more from what you’ve got because the transfer market is largely out of the question.
Few of us can go out and buy top-priced talent. But we can turn our team into winners by adopting a winning mentality, backed by a slick business strategy. And we can do that by talking to our people in ways that show we really do mean business.
England’s players were confused – and it showed. There were too many conflicting ambitions on the field when a unity of purpose was clearly required.
2. Deal with egos. Business is a team game and everyone needs to understand their roles. Don’t carry passengers and don’t tolerate disrupters. A happy workplace is a successful workplace.
3. Master the art of motivation. Skilled motivators can create world-beaters. Work with your players. Get to know them better. How does each of them respond to praise, reward and encouragement? Make them proud of what they’re working on.
4. Build good relationships. Witch-hunts destroy belief and morale. You need to create a culture of respect, support and success. Ensure you move as a team. Share your strengths and work on weaknesses with positivity.
5. Talk to them! What is your ‘message of the week’? Do you have cartoons illustrations or video links that use humour to get serious messages across? Is everyone allowed and encouraged to talk and contribute?
Are your people proud to wear ‘The Badge’? Past players say that they would willingly have walked to Wembley barefoot for the honour of playing for England. Would today’s players speak with such pride and passion?
In these challenging times we must learn to work with what we’ve got. But that should never mean settling for second best. Not even England should do that.
To succeed we need focus and purpose. We need team players who are ready and prepared to rise to the challenge.
Above all, we need to talk to, motivate and manage our people. We need to communicate and instil them with the confidence to do a quality job and give back the best performance they can give for reasons that are clearly understood, eagerly embraced and accepted.
When we can persuade our people to perform beyond themselves and strive for something better then we create a team that is ready to compete with the World’s best.
And if you like what you have read please forward this item to Fabio Capello at FA Headquarters. We’ve got just a year and a half left to deliver a very different message and extricate ourselves from yet another scorching embarrassment!
Versarien is an advanced materials company specialising in a new form of metal foam with exceptional heat transfer properties.
Versarien is commercialising a technology that has been developed from a Technology Strategy Board project. The original concept was the product of some research from the University of Liverpool but Versarien has significantly developed this original idea.
The material replicates structures that occur in nature – in this case with a very large surface area and excellent heat transfer properties. The product is unique in that it is very scalable, material-efficient and cost-effective to manufacture.
I am a graduate mechanical engineer who is passionate about UK innovation and manufacturing. I was made redundant from my last job as a main board director of a UK technology PLC. This company was one of the best performing shares on the AIM market during my time there and created significant shareholder value.
I have run my own business previously. I find the constraints of most organisations and the inability to think outside of the box very frustrating. I like to develop good teams that outperform expectations. However some corporate people tend to be intimidated by this fast progress. I like to work in companies that do not limit their success by their own blinkered approach.
We worked hard (and continue to work hard) to plan. We spent a large amount of time on developing a good business plan. A number of contacts aided in the market research.
We are still raising money and it has been a very difficult few months. Raising money for a pre-revenue business is one of the hardest projects I have ever done. It is harder to raise a small amount of cash than a much larger one. We have had a few rejections but only if our technology didn’t fit a sector.
Our product is manufactured in the UK in small numbers at the moment. We use the capacity which is available in the supply chain when needed and source our raw materials in the UK.
We have had to be very creative in trying to manage a limited budget and still achieving everything we need to. We have had to forego wages and put everything we have into the business. Prioritisation has been the key, in my humble opinion, and using every trick in the book to beg, borrow – but not steal.
We are currently operating from my office in Gloucestershire (at home), but we are hoping to move into a factory unit shortly. We have located a very favourable unit on a revitalised Rank Xerox site in Mitcheldean, and Gloucestershire First has been very supportive in helping us.
We have networked heavily, cold-called and built a website. Our marketing is in its infancy and we have just commissioned a press release that will be distributed to our target sector.
We have looked heavily at the market and our offering provides a higher performance for the same price.
We only have three at the moment and another three waiting to join. We tend to use sub-contract services and contacts when needed.
What has your growth been like? We are not in a position to offer our product in volume yet, but we hope to be profitable in month nine of the plan. We are ahead of where we thought we would be.
The lack of available funding and the pressure to keep going has been very disruptive on home life. The constant stress and will power to ‘maintain the faith’ is very difficult. Everyone wonders why you bother and why you don’t get a ‘normal’ job. It can be very lonely. The team around me is very supportive though and I have a great network of people in similar situations.
The greatest difficulty has been finding a way to get to the funding that is available. The current flux generated by the reorganisation of government support hasn’t helped, but it is there if you work hard at it.
There have been a few, but the best would be either attaining a generous Technology Strategy Board grant, securing our first substantial commercial order or getting through to the final of a national competition.
I would not have relied on optimistic funders, but chosen to use the funds we had to get on with the doing – and done less of the talking. Given hindsight I would have bootstrapped the business at a much earlier stage.
I’d advise to set a good plan, to be very critical of your plan and to ask for lots of advice. If you can find a mentor who has gone through it then you will learn a lot. Turn over every opportunity out there.
We hope to take the company public in three years and that it will be a significant global materials supply company by this stage.
From extensive research, interviews and a sprinkling of intuition, Startups.co.uk reveals the 14 business ideas to launch this year
This year, our What business to start in 2018 report forms part of our wider #BeYourOwnBoss2018 campaign.
If you haven’t heard about it yet (where have you been?) we’re on a mission to inspire as many people as possible to start their own business.
One in four people are unhappy in their job, and a recent survey revealed a staggering 61% of employees aspire to work for themselves.
The barriers to starting up should not be underestimated, but with 2017 a record year for start-up funding – and small businesses contributing £1.4 trillion in turnover last year – it’s a landscape with plenty of potential for success.
So, if you are looking to go it alone, what better way to kick off the process than the ultimate business inspiration – our handpicked hottest business sectors for 2018.
We’ve conducted extensive research, trawled through industry reports from leading market insight groups such as Mintel and Euromonitor, and chatted to business experts and innovative start-ups with their fingers on the pulse.
Arguably a little more art than science, and using our own intuition born out of being the UK start-up landscape’s biggest site for 18 years, we’ve got 14 ideas to get your juices flowing.
From blue algae, the superfood ingredient you’ll be hearing lots more about and one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet to Swedish balance-through-moderation philosophy Lagom and 2018’s answer to hygge, there’s plenty to think about.
We’ve got business ideas you can run part-time, such as building revenue-generating games and quizzes for Amazon’s Alexa, setting up a halal-based pop-up stall at the weekends to meet growing demand, or even capitalising on the popularity of 90s fashion nostalgia.
And for those who wish to combine profit and purpose, perhaps becoming a care home developer would fill a yawning gap for our ageing population.
The list spans a whole cross-section of industries from fashion and fitness to proptech and healthech.
They’re different but with one sure thing in common. With the right driving force behind them, they all have plenty of potential.
We’re providing all the inspiration you need, so why not flip Blue Monday on its head and turn a day that we’re told should be filled with misery into the beginnings of an exciting and prosperous future.
Click the buttons above and below to find out the inspirational business ideas that could lead you on a start-up road to success…
Mark Manson is an American self-help author and blogger. He is the author of the website MarkManson.net (which receives 2 million visitors per month) and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living the Good Life (which has sold over 1.5 million copies).
Owning your own home is about as close to the Australian dream as you can get, but, it's also becoming ever elusive. In creative circles it's something of a tight-lipped topic, so this week we go undercover to ask artists anonymously, how did you get your house?
We'll hear from artists from all ends of the spectrum, those who made it themselves, those who inherited a shack in Altona, and those who were given a spare loft in Toorak to see, how does that change your creative career?
Megan Tan, the creator of the hugely successful podcast Millennial, talks how she shapes her business around her life, and how she shapes her life around her business.
This episode will feature three interviews with various artists who have left their burgeoning art careers behind for greener pastures. We ask them "Why?"
Carl Scrase is an Australian Artist, Activist, Writer and Social Entrepreneur. Carl received early recognition for his meticulously patterned found-object sculptures and psychedelic collages. During this period he showed extensively around Australia, having his first commercial solo art show in 2009 at the reputable John Buckley Gallery in Melbourne.He took part in the inaugural Splendid Arts Lab in 2009 and was commissioned to make an iconic 14 meter high Sculpture for the 2010 Splendour in the Grass music festival, the sculpture has since toured to Lismore and Perth.
Carl's creative practice became notably more cross disciplinary in 2010, with large scale works for Next Wave Festival and Art Month Sydney. Carl further expanded his creative practice late in 2010, when he denounced the title artist, in favour of the title ‘social engineer’. 2011 saw Carl develop the Social Engineering Research Initiative (S.E.R.I.), co-found the Wemakeus Collective, take part in the prestigious Young Social Pioneers program and become politically active as a media team member of Occupy Melbourne.
Carl has since moved away from a formal career in the arts after he moved to Commonground, a cooperative living organisation north of Melbourne. He now lives in New Zealand with his partner and child.
This episode we open our Starving Artist confession booth to receive recordings from artists all over the world about their freelancer sins. Let's share in all the hours we've procrastinated, the invoices we never followed up, and the days spent lying around in our pyjamas.
Then we speak with Madeleine Dore, creator Extraordinary Routines, the website that investigates the lives and routines of some of the world's top creatives, to get the top tips on how to set yourself up for a win as a freelance creative.
Curious about how creativity is reflected in our daily lives, she founded the online interview project Extraordinary Routines, sharing conversations with artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to better understand how we live.
Under the Extraordinary Routines banner, she has collaborated with esteemed publications, including a monthly column on Kill Your Darlings, a bi-monthly profile for Audrey Daybook, and previously a monthly series on Australia's biggest design blog, The Design Files.
She was previously the deputy editor at ArtsHub and has written for Sunday Life, Womankind, Muse, 99u, BBC Capital, Kill Your Darlings.
Adam JK goes where many artists don't: branded content. He thinks you can work with brands, and hang onto your creative integrity - this week he tells us how.
Episode 9: #AskAnArtist Creativity, disability, and invisibility with Annika Victoria (AUS) (other artists TBC)
Creative careers are hard. They often involve a gruelling schedule, long hours creating, and a lot of free work. So how do you make it work if you have a disability? This week we ask three artists that exact question.
Annika is a 25-year-old video creator, passionate DIY’er and community leader from Sydney, Australia.
Her Youtube channel currently has over 600,000 subscibers, 50 million+ views, a number of ongoing series and a passionate and enthusiastic fanbase.
One of the most popular episodes from last season was Becky Sui Zhen's interview around choosing whether to have a family. This episode looks at the other side of the child divide? What about creatives who have already chosen to have a family, how do they fit in their art?
We'll speak with three artists, some who regret it, some who don't, to see what changes when family comes on the scene.
Your little girl is about to start college, and you're worried. You know she'll have fun at UT because you did when you were there. Still, the possibility of her drinking and driving almost makes you want to ship her off to Greenville for seminary at Bob Jones ... (almost!). Hopefully she'll meet up with the good crowd -- the Peyton Manning types. Just in case, however, before your angel starts college, educate her on the process of a DUI arrest in Knoxville. This guide will give you the basics of a DUI arrest and help you educate your children so they can make good decisions.
If an officer has "reasonable grounds" to believe that a driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the officer may request a blood test. A driver may not operate a vehicle if he/she is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If tested for blood alcohol concentration (BAC), a driver is presumed by law to be Driving Under the Influence if his/her BAC tests at or above 0.08%. If under age 21, a driver isn't allowed to have a BAC at or above 0.02%.
If a driver refuses to take a test, his/her license will be revoked for a year. And that's not the end of it; the driver can still be found guilty of DUI based on other evidence. If this happens, the driver will: 1) serve the suspension; 2) receive the criminal conviction and punishment; and possibly 3) be required to use an ignition interlock device (see below).
Persons arrested for DUIs often get taken to the Knox County Jail in downtown Knoxville. You can find an arrestee's Bond Amount by searching the Knox County Inmate Population page. Call (865) 215-2476 to be sure of his/her location and for detailed directions on how to bail him/her out. For general information on arrests, securing an attorney, and court procedures, see FindLaw's basic resources on criminal law cases.
First-timers will serve at least 48 hours behind bars, and possibly up to a year. You will also have to pay a fine of $350 - $1,500 and work three full days picking up litter on the side of the road. If your BAC is at or above 0.20%, the minimum jail sentence is 7 days.
With a second or third offense, the length of the minimum jail sentence increases, but the crime is still a misdemeanor (relatively minor offense), and the maximum sentence remains the same. The fines will increase. Additionally, the government can seize your vehicle under Tennessee Code Section 55-10-414. See the State's outline of DUI offenses.
You'll be ordered to serve time on probation. The terms of probation include either: 1) a form of alcohol and drug education/treatment; or 2) participation in a victims impact panel program. In Knoxville, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) generally conducts the panels on the first Monday evening of odd-numbered months. They have historically been located in the Juvenile Court Building at 3323 Division Street.
There are greater legal consequences if there was a minor in the car or if anyone suffered an injury as a result of the driver's impaired state. For example, if a person under age 18 is in the car, the law considers this to be child endangerment, a felony.
DUIs are expensive. In addition to criminal fines, the law imposes fees for participating in drug and alcohol treatment, participation in a victim impact panel, using an IID, taking blood tests, and other required activities as you get back on track.
If you have no prior offenses in the last 10 years, you're likely eligible for a restricted license. To receive one, you must apply for it with the trial judge that handled your DUI case or a trial judge in your county of residence. A judge can limit your driving destinations (school, work, etc.) The judge may also condition your driving upon installing an ignition interlock device or IID. If you have one prior DUI, you may apply for a restricted license, but you must first serve 1 year of license revocation.
As noted above, a court may also order you to install an IID. This a device that measures your BAC via an in-car breath test, and it would be installed at your expense. If you do not pass a breath test, your vehicle will not start. The Dept. of Safety and Homeland Security's website has a complete list and map of East Tennessee installers. Talk to your attorney for more details.