COVID-19 and it’s rapid spread globally led to President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing a National State of Disaster in response to the pandemic on Sunday, 15 March 2020, and outlining Government’s measures to contain the spread of the virus. Since then, businesses in South Africa have responded quickly and comprehensively. This week I have received e-mails…
Read MoreCreativity at work unpacked
Creativity at work is sometimes viewed as the exclusive purvue of ‘artsy’ careers – marketing, the arts, interior decorating, that sort of thing. But in this era of rapid change in technology, increasing need for understanding the human experience at work, customer satisfaction expectations and the arrival of AI and Machine Learning, this old-fashioned view…
Read More3 Low-cost employee engagement ideas for SMMEs
Low-cost employee engagement initiatives may sound like an oxymoron. So many of the approaches used by top employers can be expensive to develop, implement and maintain. In our recent South African Company Culture Health Index survey, we asked respondents to tell us which engagement initiatives really matter to them, and guess what? It wasn’t the…
Read MoreEmployee Engagement: Achieve results with benefits that matter
Employee engagement is a key concern for any purpose-driven business. In our South African Company Culture Health Index, we asked our respondents to tell us how their companies are trying to engage with them, and how important each engagement effort is to them. The results might surprise you. Employee engagement efforts and their value…
Read More20 Qualities of Leadership
These 20 qualities of leadership are cited most often in articles on the subject. We wanted to find out how well South Africa’s company leaders are performing in each area, according to the people that work for and with them. Using the responses from our South African Company Culture Health Index, we developed this infographic.…
Read MoreResults from our 2019 South African Company Culture Health Index
28 October 2019, Johannesburg – In August 2019, simon-pure Consulting launched the first South African Company Culture Health Index survey. Born of the boutique consultancy’s belief that culture can make or break a business, the survey aims to generate insights into how healthy South Africa’s companies are in terms of culture, and what can be…
Read More5 Signs of dysfunctional culture
A dysfunctional culture within a company can seriously hinder its success, or even break a business. As Peter Drucker said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Yet often, businesses focus on revising strategy again and again before they ever look at their culture as a possible reason for their struggles. As more and more organisations around…
Read More5 Tips for a successful seller-doer sales model
Many technical service businesses rely on a seller-doer model for sales. It makes sense because, for these types of professional services, salesmanship is about being a technical expert, and customer service is about offering the best possible design solution, at a reasonable cost. But not every engineer wants to sell, nor is every technical genius…
Read MoreWhy you should create an Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP)
Employee Volunteer Programmes (EVP) are a relatively new concept in South Africa, but there are many excellent reasons to implement them. An increasing demand for businesses to be more socially conscious is a global trend, and South Africa is no exception. Today, 5 September, marks the UN’s International Day of Charity. It serves to promote the UN’s number…
Read More5 Tips for succeeding at change
Traditional change management is on its way out. And for very good reasons. It is just too slow to keep up. Constant change that defies start and end dates, rapid advances in technology such as AI and process automation, and increasing workforce flexibility mean that businesses have to adapt their approach to managing change. Or…
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