
Leading by design
Founded by Mark Spurgeon and Michelle Shirtcliffe, Publica is a digital agency with design in its DNA and an attitude of undying optimism. If you ever need convincing of the

Founded by Mark Spurgeon and Michelle Shirtcliffe, Publica is a digital agency with design in its DNA and an attitude of undying optimism. If you ever need convincing of the

New Zealand’s media has been awash with inspiring tales of business owners defying the pandemic through reinvention – by navigating and pivoting across alert levels, and emerging wiser and better

How can businesses boost their online presence in the wake of covid-19? Richard Conway shares three ways to take it to the next level. Many businesses still rely on offline

Frustrated by a lack of sales from your sales team? Logan Wedgwood explains why “accountability”, when it comes to sales, is meaningless. Now, more than ever, New Zealand’s businesses need

Mat Wylie explains why you should go back to the basics of good, solid team management to vastly improve your customer satisfaction score and grow your business. Imagine that your

With employment relationships under severe covid-induced pressure, Jo Douglas offers some timely guidance on how to deal with behavioural issues in the workplace. In what has been a difficult year,

Founded by Mark Spurgeon and Michelle Shirtcliffe, Publica is a digital agency with design in its DNA and an attitude of undying optimism. If you ever need convincing of the diversity of Publica’s creative abilities, just listen to Mark Spurgeon and Michelle Shirtcliffe reel off some of their team’s achievements. The list includes software, apps and platforms to manage everything from rostering, to treating and managing sleep problems, brain wellness, and charitable giving. On the design side, standouts include branding and creative for the Pop Up Penguins art sculpture trail, an awareness campaign for the New Zealand College of Midwives, and the naming and spatial design of Christchurch Hospital’s new children’s unit. It’s all a result of the depth of

New Zealand’s media has been awash with inspiring tales of business owners defying the pandemic through reinvention – by navigating and pivoting across alert levels, and emerging wiser and better prepared for our ‘new normal’. Here is a tiny selection of those warriors’ stories – delivering useful lessons on innovation and resilience. Well here we are at the tail end of 2020. If we hit ‘pause’ and review the past nine months we can be forgiven for thinking “did all that really happen?” Unfortunately we’re surrounded by reminders – the ubiquitous face-masks and sanitizers, the shuttered business premises and ‘closed’ signs, the struggling tourism, hospitality and tertiary education sectors. For business owners there have been countless stories of resilience and

How can businesses boost their online presence in the wake of covid-19? Richard Conway shares three ways to take it to the next level. Many businesses still rely on offline transactions. Even in today’s digitised world, it’s not that uncommon at all. Whole industries are built from the ground up around face-to-face interactions. But the novel coronavirus has made that option untenable for many. So what can you do to keep your head above water in such difficult times? Let’s look at how Covid-19 has pushed businesses online, and what you can do about it. How has business changed? Is it too late to change with it? During the initial outbreak of the virus, businesses that already had digital

Frustrated by a lack of sales from your sales team? Logan Wedgwood explains why “accountability”, when it comes to sales, is meaningless. Now, more than ever, New Zealand’s businesses need sales. However, there is a real problem that has been intensified due to the current economic pressure businesses are facing. That problem is business owners and managers feel a need to ‘crack the whip’ or ‘hold people to account’ or ‘drive their people to get results’. This is wrong. Accountability, as it is commonly thought of, shouldn’t be a thing. Instead, better conversations within a business need to take place to allow people to take ownership. I firmly believe that when people sign a job description and turn up to

Mat Wylie explains why you should go back to the basics of good, solid team management to vastly improve your customer satisfaction score and grow your business. Imagine that your business was a sports team; and your industry the championships. How are you going to play the game? How will you win customer experience – and therefore win over customers? Get the basics right Watch any game, and I guarantee the captain of the winning team will say the same thing almost every time: “We just did the basics well.” Yes, they might have a team of talented players and yes, they probably had good tactics, but often winning comes down to doing the basics well. Providing great customer

With employment relationships under severe covid-induced pressure, Jo Douglas offers some timely guidance on how to deal with behavioural issues in the workplace. In what has been a difficult year, employers are seeing worker emotions bubble over – manifesting in aggressive behaviour and allegations of bullying, unnecessary anger and outbursts. If you look at most company policies under serious misconduct, aggressive or verbally abusive conduct will be listed there as a potentially disciplinary offence. Worksafe tells us that “bullying” is a hazard in the workplace, so employers must do something when this happens. But in the current environment should an employer be quick to discipline or dismiss? From what I’ve seen, people are at their breaking point emotionally. Lockdown restrictions
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