Friday Footnote #40

Each week we share loads of content amongst Team ION and with our network. Content which inspires us, which we find helpful or that just makes us smile. We thought we would start sharing these insights every Friday. Welcome to Friday footnote.

New Horizon's (and how ION can help!)

A recent Federation of Small Business report, New Horizon's, discussed how small firms are navigating the Covid-19 criris. As the report summary detailed, 'with hugely uncertain futures ahead the resilience of the country’s 5.8 million small businesses has never been more on display than it has during this pandemic'. Acts of kindness and community engagement were recurring themes, with everyone coming together to support each other in these unprecedented times. You can read the full report on the FSB website.

One particular finding from the report which we found particularly interesting was that '51 per cent of small businesses reported that leadership and management skills are most important for the future growth of their business'. Over 10 years, we have worked with small (as well as medium and large) businesses from all over Wales to develop and enhance the leadership skills of owners, managers and key decision-makers, aiming to raise productivity in the workplace whilst developing sustainable, profitable enterprises. In that time, we have worked with over 1400 leaders in over 1000 businesses. You can hear from just a few of the people we have supported on our YouTube channel.

Our leadership programmes are currently fully-funded until the end of August 2021. We were delighted to recently announce our next ILM Level 5 Leading Growth programme which will be starting in July 2021. If you agree that leadership and management skills are key for your business future growth, find out more about our upcoming courses.

Need help improving performance or productivity in your organisation?

If you are looking at how you can fill missing capability to boost performance and productivity in your organisation, there is increased funding available to support a Smart Partnership or a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Swansea University, providing you with access to the knowledge and expertise you need.

Smart Partnerships (SPs) and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are part-funded government programmes aimed at boosting organisational performance and productivity through collaboration with UK Universities. At Swansea University they are ran by the Research, Engagement & Innovation Services (REIS) team, which ION are proud to be part of.

You can find out more about Smart Partnerships and KTP's on the Swansea University website.

Jess Hughes from REIS will be joining us at our #IONOpenDoors session on Thursday 4th March to chat more about the programmes and how businesses can get involved. If you want to find out more, you can book to come and join the conversation.

Inspiration

• Redesigning the post-pandemic workplace (MIT Sloan Management Review)
• 7 Zoom mistakes you might still be making - and how to raise your video skills (TED Ideas)
• 'Enabling Welsh Manufacturing Towards a Sustainable Recovery' webinar (ASTUTE 2020)
• 5 keys to overcoming the fear of failure towards a culture of innovation (Forbes)
• Two in three manufacturers say Covid-19 has accelerated their digital transformation (The Manufacturer)
• How gamification could fill the corporate learning gap created by Covid-19 (The HR Director)
• A remote work prognosticator predicts what's next for the workplace (Fast Company)
• How to reset your mindset to achieve exponential personal growth (Inc)

Music is Everything

As I am sure we have said many times, we are big music lovers in Team ION. From #popmaster (got full marks just 2 weeks ago!) to various people within the team having some serious musical talents, music plays a big part in our lives. This week our Bangor colleagues pulled together a motivational playlist to get them into a positive mindset. You can check out the playlist on Spotify.

This is also a chance to re-share the Team's WFH playlist which we compiled when we first went into lockdown. Check out our WFH playlist, again on Spotify.

Team ION

PS - Missed previous #FridayFootnotes?