What Is an Operating Plan and Why Do You Need One?

What Is an Operating Plan and Why Do You Need One?

Most companies spend valuable time and resources creating strategic plans, giving their best to outline a strategy that establishes a solid long term vision. While having a strategic plan is necessary, a vast number of organisations often lack a critical strategy...
Business Builder’s Advantage: Build a Better Business

Business Builder’s Advantage: Build a Better Business

Our sole mission at The Alternative Board is to provide business owners and team leaders the insight and tools they need to become better leaders running stronger, more successful organisations. That has been and always will be our driving force. We launched The...
Put Your Oxygen Mask On First

Put Your Oxygen Mask On First

Running a business today is no small feat. For many private business owners from Perth to Sydney, it can feel incredibly isolating. You carry a level of responsibility that doesn’t switch off when the sun goes down. Decisions follow you home to the dinner table....
DISC: Powerful Insights and Improved Performance

DISC: Powerful Insights and Improved Performance

Understanding people is the key to building high-performing teams. DISC assessments provide a clear, practical framework to do just that. In this white paper, we walk you through how DISC assessments work, how to interpret the insights, and how different...
10 Ways Business Leaders Can Get More Time In Their Day

10 Ways Business Leaders Can Get More Time In Their Day

For many small and medium business owners, the biggest challenge isn’t ambition. It’s time. Running a business means wearing multiple hats. One moment you’re leading the team, next you’re handling operations, reviewing finances, replying to emails, or solving...
Financial Metrics That Every Business Should Track This Year

Financial Metrics That Every Business Should Track This Year

Many business owners make the mistake of confusing basic accounting capability with true financial literacy. Being able to keep your books balanced is important, but it doesn’t give you the deeper, more dynamic understanding of your business’s financial health that...
5 Ways to Boost Your Company’s Cash Flow

5 Ways to Boost Your Company’s Cash Flow

Few metrics matter more to SMEs than cash flow. Revenue might suggest growth, but cash flow determines survival, flexibility, and long-term opportunity. In practical terms, cash flow is one of the clearest indicators of a business’s financial health. When cash flow is...
Evidence-Based Power of Peer Advisory Boards

Evidence-Based Power of Peer Advisory Boards

At The Alternative Board, we are committed to continual improvement. For nearly five years, we have worked closely with a team of independent researchers led by organisational behaviour expert Dr Roman Terekhin. Their work examines a wide range of peer advisory boards...
10 To Do’s for the New Year: A Checklist for Small Businesses

10 To Do’s for the New Year: A Checklist for Small Businesses

The beginning of the year is an ideal time to step back from the day to day operations of your business and make space to tick a few important items off your list. Here are 10 practical tasks that will help you begin 2026 on the right foot. Strategic Planning Review...
What Is Future-Proofing? How to Make Sure Your Business Thrives

What Is Future-Proofing? How to Make Sure Your Business Thrives

The business of doing business is evolving at breakneck speed these days. Advancements in technology, changing consumer preferences, and a range of global dynamics continue to create both opportunities and challenges for small to medium sized businesses and the...
How to Navigate a Changing Business Landscape

How to Navigate a Changing Business Landscape

With so much change happening in business, from new tariffs and global shifts to the unprecedented impact of artificial intelligence, smart business owners know they need to recognise and respond to changes in their market, customers and industries. But recognising...
Telltale Signs Your Team Needs Management Training

Telltale Signs Your Team Needs Management Training

Business leaders often struggle with developing and training their mid-level management teams. In fact, managers are often the most poorly trained employees in an organisation. A 2023 Chartered Management Institute (CMI) study showed 82% of new managers had no formal...
Success by Design: Leveraging the Right Opportunities

Success by Design: Leveraging the Right Opportunities

Over the past decade, Mikael Wedemeyer and Nathan Mussig have gained invaluable insights into running a successful business as partners in Niche Studio, a web development and design firm. Discover how The Alternative Board’s Business Builder’s Blueprint...
Creating a Stronger Team Starts with Better Management Habits

Creating a Stronger Team Starts with Better Management Habits

The equation is straightforward: a leader with poor or ineffective management habits will likely get less from their team, while employees under strong business leadership tend to work harder and achieve more. Think about the benefits when small business team...
Want to Keep Employees Happy and Productive: Here’s How

Want to Keep Employees Happy and Productive: Here’s How

“Employee happiness” might not appear as a line item on your profit and loss statement, but it can make or break your business. In Australia’s competitive job market, keeping your team happy is not just about being a “nice” boss. It is about attracting the right...