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Employment Issues

The November Business Owners’ Forum will feature a panel discussion on employment issues. It will be hosted by The ICEHOUSE, Level 2, The Textile Centre, 117 to 125 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell – and will be held on 19 November from 5:30pm (sharp) to 7:00pm. As always with BOF events, discussion will ultimately be driven by those who attend on the night – and the panelists will keep discussions moving along quickly. We have three great panelists, and here’s what you can expect to be covered over the hour and a half:

Rebecca Brennan, a director of ElevateCA Limited will discuss the use of tools for performance management and performance measurement – and some great pragmatic ideas and concepts around getting the most from your team. Rebecca will get straight down to the “how to” nuts and bolts of the subject.

Michael Masterson, a former CEO of the largest contact centre in Australasia who took the business to over 6,500 staff in a short time. Michael has some humourous and pertinent insights from this experience – and is a great advocate of “leading from the front” in order to keep your team fully engaged.

Paul Diver, a lawyer, employment specialist and HR Partner at the ICEHOUSE, who will share some of the latest and emerging legal issues relating to employment in New Zealand. Paul is the Plastics Industry multi-employer collective agreement advocate – and also negotiates collective agreements for the Order of St John, Restaurant Brands, Chubb, Otis, DHL and United Group.

Format is casual over pizza, beer and wine – and Business Owners Forums are always rather lively events! These events are targeted to owners of businesses with $1 million turnover and more.

The ethos of ElevateCA Limited and the Business Owners’ Forum supporters is to give back to the business communities which support us. In line with this ethos, Business Owners’ Forum events are always free of charge.

If you would like to be invited to this event, please contact ElevateCA.

Employment Issues

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Business Owners’ Forum this evening. It was a great turnout, and there was some quality discussion around employment issues from the panel and the participants. The format was intended to be three 15 minute presentations from the panelists followed by 45 minutes of discussion from the floor. But what actually happened was that the participants from the floor drove the discussion along and the evening took on a life of its own.

A great Business Owners Forum session – just what these meetups are all about!

The panelists tonight were:

David Grindle, a partner at Webb Ross Lawyers, who shared with us some of legal trends in getting solutions around the 90 day probationary period – and the redundancy rules. David stimulated plenty of discussion with his pragmatic views and approach to working in good faith with the employment relationship – and fixing things when good faith just isn’t enough.

Rebecca Brennan, a director of ElevateCA Limited, discussed some good practical strategies around performance management and performance measurement. Rebecca drove home the importance of communication and measurement, and got down to the real “how to” nuts and bolts of the subject. Her point that “bad news is NOT like wine – it doesn’t improve with age” was well received and sparked plenty of good discussion about making the tough calls, raising issues early and avoiding the temptation to sugar coat them.

Michael Masterson, a former CEO of a large Asia Pacific contact centre, shared some practical and amusing anecdotes to make his points about keeping your team fully engaged in their work. He advocated what he called the three f’s – fun, focus and fulfilment – in the workplace, and talked about leading from the front and the little things that make a huge difference.

As always, format was casual over pizza, beer and wine – and the event was well attended by business owners who, judging by the show of hands at the end, all got plenty of good tips and points to take away from the evening.

There was some discussion about possible future topic

Managing Cashflow

A big thank you to all who participated in the 17 September Business Owners’ Forum held in Auckland. Business Owners’ Forums have of course been running in Whangarei since the depths of the winter, which seems a long time ago now – but this was the first to be held in Auckland. Thursday’s meetup was at the ICEHOUSE premises in the Textile Centre, Parnell – and the topic was “Managing Cashflow”.

Many in the room on Thursday were of the view that the worst is behind New Zealand businesses from a cashflow crisis point of view – and that those still standing today are likely to survive and prosper rather than become victims of the opposite scenario. But we are of the view that prudent cashflow management is as relevant in good times as in bad, so the topic is as relevant today as it was six months ago.

The skills which the business owners in the room have honed over the course of their business carear – and particularly over the past 18 months – were very useful to share and hear. These will enable stronger cash management going forward – and I’m sure everyone in attendance got something useful from the session.

On the panel at The ICEHOUSE Business Owners Forum event was Michael Masterson from The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, David Caddie, a Commercial Business Banking Partner from the Auckland CBD BNZ – and myself representing an Accountant’s view of cashflow management.

As panelists, we were pretty much let off the hook by a knowledgeable, varied and interactive group of about 40 participants. Our role became facilitators of quality discussion from the floor rather than presenters – which is exactly what Business Owners’ Forum meetups are all about.

So where to from here with Business Owners’ Forums over the rest of 2009?

14 October – @elevateCA space. The topic for the next BOF – in Whangarei – will be Employment Relations. On the panel will be Rebecca Brennan discussing performance measurement and management, a solicitor from Webb Ross discussing some topical legal issues around employment management – and Michael Masterson sharing some insights from his time managing a large multinational team. More >>

19 November – The ICEHOUSE. The topic for the next Auckland meetup will be around shareholders current accounts. This will be a repeat of the successful session on the same subject which was held in Whangarei back in August. More >>.

17 December – @elevateCA space. The final BOF for 2009 will be in the ElevateCA space. The topic has yet to be decided, and will be by popular demand and feedback. If you have any ideas or preferences for this or future subject matter, contact us. More details will be posted on this session during November.

The Business Owners’ Forum is of course supported by ElevateCA Limited, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction Limited, BNZ, The ICEHOUSE and Webb Ross Solicitors.

Thanks again to all those who came along on Thursday, shared on the night and contributed to making this a useful session.

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Managing Cashflow

The September Business Owners’ Forum will cover the topic “Managing Cashflow”. This is the first Business Owners’ Forum to be hosted in Auckland, and will be a repeat of this popular topic which was presented in Whangarei in June. From here on, Business Owners Forums will be held on the third Thursday of every month – and will alternate between Whangarei and Auckland. The September BOF will be in Auckland, October in Whangarei – and so on.

Managing Cashflow is a big topic – there is a lot of content to cover. We have assembled a great panel of three to bring some healthy discussion and alternative viewpoints to the evening. On the panel is Michael Masterson from The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, David Caddie – a Commercial Partner from BNZ and myself – a Director of Elevate CA Limited.

Together we will cover off some practical tips to manage cashflow in your business, the business and tax implications around cashflow issues – and some insights around current thinking from the banks regarding business cashflow issues.

In September, the Business Owners’ Forum will be held at The ICEHOUSE, Level Two, Textile Centre, 117 to 125 St George’s Bay Road, Parnell. This is a great venue – click here for directions. Format is casual over beer, wine and pizza.

September’s event will be on Thursday 17 September 6:00pm to 7:30pm.

The Business Owners’ Forum is supported by Elevate CA Limited, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction Limited, The ICEHOUSE, BNZ and Webb Ross Solicitors. The ethos is to provide a forum for business owners to meet and discuss relevant business issues amongst their peers in a casual environment without a sell from the supporters.

Entry to The Business Owners Forums is by invite – and there is no charge. The target audience is owners of businesses with a turnover of $1 million and above. If you’d like an invite, and you’re not on our list just contact us at forums@businessownersforum.net.nz

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Shareholder Current Accounts

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Business Owners Forum this week with Stuart Spicer, Geoff Griggs and myself on the panel. Feedback has been great. There was plenty of quality discussion around shareholder current accounts – and how to make sure they are tax efficient, protected from creditors – and equitable between shareholders.

The Business Owners Forum is a means for business owners to get together for quality discussion around a relevant topic with a panel knowledgeable on the subject. Format is casual over pizza, beer and wine. The supporters are ElevateCA Limited, The Bottom Line Expense Reduction, BNZ, Webb Ross and The ICEHOUSE – and the ethos of the supporters is to keep the forum free from sales.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – and alternate between Auckland and Whangarei.

The September Business Owners Forum will be held at The ICEHOUSE in the Textile Centre, Parnell, Auckland on 17 September from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. The topic will be “Cashflow”, and the panel of three will consist of Michael Masterson, a senior BNZ banker and myself.

Entry is limited to business owners, and is by invitation. There is no charge.

The October Business Owners Forum will be back to Whangarei in the ElevateCA Limited offices on 15 October from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. The topic will be current employment issues – and an expert panel will be assembled for the session.

The forum is tailored to owners of businesses turning over $1m and upward – so if you fall into that categoty and would like to be included on the invite list, contact me. In a nutshell, the Business Owners Forum is all about quality discussion with no sales.

Oh, and enjoying a beer or wine and pizza with peers.

Fraser Hurrell is one of three directors of Elevate CA Limited, Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors in Whangarei, New Zealand.