Step 6 of Building a Better Business

Anna Stubbs • August 2, 2023

Be a better leader; build a strong workplace culture

Being a better leader and building a strong workplace culture is crucial to having a better business.



Have you ever considered whether your workplace is toxic? With the average person spending more than 40,000 hours of their life at work, a workplace should be an enjoyable place to be.

We all have bad days, but if the following bells ring… your workplace may be toxic.

1. A lack of trust between owners and the team.
Is there a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’? Everyone should feel part of the team.

2. No Core Values.
Or, worse still, Core Values which aren’t being lived into.

3. After meeting meetings.
Those chats after a meeting where team members go on to discuss the meeting or criticise decisions made.

4. Highly stressful interactions.
Disagreements will happen from time to time, but these should be the exception, not the norm.

5. Team members and owners mistreating each other.
They may be working in self-serving ways rather than benefiting the team and business.

6. No team buy-in to the core purpose or the business's goals.
Or, an absence of purpose or goals completely.

To create a stronger and happier workplace culture, consider the following points:

  1. Develop your Core Values, with help from your team.
  2. Define your purpose; why you exist for your customers - and make it clear to your team how their roles deliver on your purpose.
  3. Make your Core Values and purpose highly visible so your team know them and hold each other accountable to living into them.
  4. Set annual and 90 day goals for each team member so that the sum of the individuals’ goals can deliver on your overall Business Plan.
  5. Celebrate success and recognise team members for great performance.
  6. Meet regularly with the team and give everyone the chance to be heard.
  7. Avoid being held ransom by toxic employees by showing them the ‘door of opportunity’.


A toxic culture will inhibit the success of your business. Take an honest look at your culture and make changes to help build a strong workplace culture.


Need help developing your Core Values or your purpose? We can help!


“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” - Peter Drucker

By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
No one can deny that to grow your business, you must attract new potential customers (or leads). It’s how you generate these leads that’s important though. STEP is a lead generation acronym to help you generate quality leads without pointlessly blowing your marketing budget: S = Strategy T = Target E = Efficiency P = Process
By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential to measure the performance of your business in order to grow your numbers. Of course, the measures themselves are pointless unless there’s reflection and discussion to ensure they’re met. Here’s a simple and effective way to link KPIs to a reporting and accountability framework. Firstly, make sure there is ONE leader for each of the departments in your business: Director, Leadership, Product / Service Development, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR, and Admin / IT. One person can lead more than one department, but two people can’t lead one department. You can also contract out departments to avoid needing a large head count of team memebrs (finance, marketing and IT can be outsourced relatively easily). Be clear on who reports to who . One person can only manage 5 or so people effectively. Consider establishing teams with team leaders to enable you to achieve a ratio under 6 to 1. Set up regular department meetings . This may be the CEO with each of the other department heads, the Operations Leader with the Operations team (if less than 5 in the Operations team) or with the Operations Team Leaders (if more than 5 in the Operations team).
By Anna Stubbs June 3, 2025
One of the simplest ways to grow your bottom line is to tighten your belt and spend less.