Sage Blog

It’s back! The Apprentice hit our screens again last night, giving us all a masterclass in business acumen, leadership and strategic nous.  Well, maybe not.

Sage's very own Lord Iain Sugar

The two teams were tasked with making, marketing and selling their own brand of sausages.  For the boys (Team Synergy – 0/10 for originality) up stepped Dan Harris as Project Manager, a brash, confident Sales Director – surely the ideal candidate for a sales task. For the girls (Team Apollo) Joanna reluctantly came forward; a more reserved character who runs her own cleaning company.

The winners?  The girls won narrowly by £15 profit, but in reality they should have won by a greater margin. Why?  Epic failure on the leadership front for the boys’ team!

The David Brent style of management

Unfortunately Project Manager Dan had read a few chapters of the David Brent Management handbook.  He was aggressive, confrontational, lacked direction and alienated virtually all of his team.

Great leaders inspire, motivate, lead by example and empower their workforce to be the best they can be.  Dan showed none of these qualities.  The outcome was a fragmented team, in-fighting and a feeling of dictatorship.

The girls, by contrast, were a much better as a team.  Joanna communicated well, constantly asking her team for input and instilling a real democratic culture.  They were a real unit – cohesive, co-operative and all wanted to succeed for their Project Manager.

What is great leadership?

Great leadership is about people.  Great leaders can galvanise people and get them all pulling in the right direction. If you can crack this then you won’t go far wrong as a manager.

The result in the boardroom was a foregone conclusion as the boys rightly turned on their failing leader. Despite the very vocal Stuart’s last ditch attempt to get himself fired, Lord Sugar made the right decision: Dan – you’re fired!

Tip for the top: Liz or Stella could go far.

Next for the chop: Alex or Melissa

Watch episode 1 of The Apprentice here

Iain Ramsay, Keeper of the Sage Store and The Apprentice fan

How many projects are you currently running?

Maybe you’re building a house, setting up a new department or implementing a new network? You may even be developing and rolling out new software like us here at Sage. Some of you may feel you’re not running any. Yet if we stop and look, we’d all be surprised at how many projects are happening in our businesses.

Chris Riding shares his tips for managing projects in business

What makes them unique is that they have a start and a specific end with clear outputs or deliverables. There are lots of different ways to run projects. I personally follow the Prince2 approach as it can be tailored to Sage’s needs easily.

Tips for managing projects in business

At Sage, we follow a few key ideas when starting out on any project:

1) Start simple – Think about the basics.

What do you want to achieve at the end of the project? What needs to be done to get there? A good approach to this is to use mindmapping, or other tools, to help you decide on how you’re going to achieve this and who needs to be involved.

 2) Make sure your output is clearly defined.

If you don’t know what it is you are delivering and how you’re measuring success at the end of a project, you’re not going to know if you achieved what you needed to do. Make sure you’re realistic in what can be achieved and by when.

3) Get the right people doing the right things.

You may be an expert in lots of areas, but you’re not the best at everything. Make sure you use your biggest asset, your people, to do what they’re best at.

4) Don’t get mired in process and documentation.

It is important to be organised, but people are put off by project management when they see it as formal, restrictive or stopping agility. Project Management is just a tool like any other, helping you achieve what you need to do in a controlled environment and in a timely and cost effective way.

There are plenty of good resources available online such as PM Toolbox and Ganthead.com (for IT project managers) that can help you if you want to use a structured approach to your project, all of which can be tailored to suit your needs.

5) Follow through on the project.

Many fail as people start with good intentions, but get distracted by the day job. Make sure when the project does end that you refer back to your original aims and take the time to review what you did.

Project Management should be a cycle of continuous improvement so identify what will need to be done differently next time to make it better. Just as importantly, remember to look at what went well and what should be celebrated.

So, what are your top tips for managing projects in your business?

Written by Chris Riding, Sage Project Manager