Up at 0400 today to catch up on a few things. By 0700 I was back on schedule, turned my attention to the next task, a mug of tea and poached egg on toast. Shower, iron my shirt and off to Norwich for my first meeting. 

It went well, I celebrated by going to the gym before my next meeting with one of my Regional Managers, I managed to take in a 45 minute spin class. The cycle shorts reminded me, I really should try and lose some weight. This was probably the most time I've spent in the saddle since the charity ride last year.

Yet another shower and back into work mode, to meet with my Regional Manager.  We had a productive meeting about his area and the networking developments and training events for existing customers to make sure they get the very best from the marketing platform. After the meeting I sat in the car and made a number of calls to the sales team and a couple of clients to see how they were getting on. A few more calls followed to try and arrange the next induction event for next week.

I then started the journey to home office to catch up on some planning work and on the way put a call into Andy, who is working at full pace to get the next developments to the site launched. His commitment is second to none; boy what I could do with a staff of Andy clones. I guess the budget for tea would need to be increased, but I'm guessing it would be worth it.

Arrived at the office late afternoon and things didn't quite go to plan, I received an email from a client who needed some attention and so that became my priority. Andy and I exchanged some more calls on matters relating to the next launch and some marketing material and then I got down to my planning.

I spent some time composing an email to the team to remind them about their goals. I can't wait to see them really take off, I can taste their success. If they stay the course and remain motivated and focused. When I first started this journey Andy and I decided we were looking for superstars. We recruit people who may not be the finished product sometimes, but they have the potential. For me this is the biggest buzz of business, seeing others really make it, watching them develop, it's brilliant.

My top tips for the day:

As a business leader you need to be constantly working to increase or maintain your team's enthusiasm and motivation for the job in hand. Engagement is all important, try these simple tips:

Be a facilitator - your team will feel engaged when they can see progress towards their goals or targets. Therefore you should provide a clear set of goals and resources in support of those goals.

Make their tasks meaningful to them - in addition to your clear mission, let your people clearly see how their actions contribute to the company's vision and services to those all important customers.

Reward and recognise results all the time - you shouldn't wait for the goal to be achieved before you show appreciation, do that each day for the positive work your team do.

I use the weekend to catch up on planning and reading, I'm also looking forward to a bit of a sleep in for a change! 

Watch out for more tomorrow!