IT was "Stand by your beds" time for Worcester's business community when the Army's former highest ranking female officer stopped by to give it some advice.

Brigadier Nicky Moffat was the guest speaker at Finditinworcestershire’s "Leadership and Management" event at Worcester Warriors Sixways stadium and told how proven successful military methods can help small businesses compete at a global level.

She used her own experiences in the army to demonstrate the qualities a leader in any industry should have, such as empowering employees through "mission command", where people are told what to do, but not how, enabling them to be innovative and find their own solutions.

Brig Moffat also discussed the importance of celebrating everyone’s successes to further aid motivation, showing delegates a note she sent to a corporal in Afghanistan congratulating him on his excellent work. The message was an example of how investing just 30 seconds to write a note to a colleague can make someone feel highly valued and respected.

Delegates were also able to take part in a range breakout workshops, with topics including "Managing Talent in the Business" and "Leaders’ Ability to Manage Performance".

More than 140 local business attended the event and made the most of the morning by taking part in Finditinworcestershire’s popular networking session, where they were able build contacts and connections with leading businesses throughout the county.

Kathryn Wagstaff, project manager of Finditinworcestershire, said: "Leadership and management are two skills that you can never invest too much in and Nicky demonstrated this perfectly by showing how tried and tested army methods can be applied to businesses and repeatedly drive performance improvement. We have received some great feedback about our free workshops too. Many of our attendees were given further leadership and management tips in these that they can go back and apply to their business.”