Business Management

Supervising and Managing a Cleaning Crew

2009-07-07T06:21:00.001-07:00

A word on Liability Insurance

The people you hire will be going into you're clients home so you will want to make sure their bondable just in case the worst happens like damage. You should have liability insurance. Shop around for the best available prices.

Communication is Key

Communicate better with cell phones or 2 way radios. Being able to convey accurate instructions or to efficiently dispatch your fleet (if you have one) would improve customer service. Communication is your top tool for keeping your clients happy, without communication you have nothing except for minor chaos so to speak. Another element to success is to ensure that everyone on the cleaning crew interacts well with each other, this makes for a happier work environment and more efficient workers.

Strengths, Weaknesses and First Name Relationships

Each worker will have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cleaning, compliment their weaknesses with other coworkers strengths, in return you will get a thorough job done. Address the members of your cleaning crew by first name to make them feel like they are part of a team, calling them by their last name doesn't pack the same punch as a first name relationship does.

Finding Workers

To recruit workers for your cleaning crew advertise in your local paper or find help via word of mouth.

Scheduling Software

The number of people cleaning per site will depend upon the size of the house your cleaning. If you plan on operating several groups of cleaning crews you will want to make sure your organized as far as booking appointments and knowing where each crew member is at.

Managing Successful Programmes

2009-07-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Before I evangelize the merits of programme management I want to clarify what a programme is and what a project is. This might seem a little trivial but I've seen these two words used so interchangeably across many organisations in many countries with people calling a project a programme and vice versa.

A programme is a temporary and flexible organisation which is formed to coordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organisation's strategic objectives.

A project is also a temporary organisation which will deliver one or more outputs in accordance with a specific business case.

Programmes create outcomes and projects create outputs, and programme management does not replace the need for competent project management. A programme acts as an umbrella under which projects can be coordinated and integrated in order to deliver an outcome which is the sum of the projects' parts.

With that out of the way, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has a framework known as 'Managing Successful Programmes' (MSP). This framework provides proven programme management best practice for successfully delivering transformational change.

Organisations that have embraced MSP have enjoyed the benefits of transforming themselves successfully as opposed to being amongst the many that suffer painful or disastrous transformation.

These days, more and more C-level executives are recognising programme management as a powerful tool, which when used well, can facilitate 'successful' transformation programmes as opposed to ugly monsters which get out of control and wreak havoc.

At the highest level, programme management aligns corporate strategy, business-as-usual and the delivery mechanism for change. These are three critical elements which must align if transformation is to be successful.

MSP principles represent success factors that underpin the likelihood of successful transformational change programmes. These seven principles have been derived from lessons learned in both the public and private sectors.

Positioned within the seven principles are nine governance themes which help put in place the right leadership, delivery team, organisation structures, controls and control information to optimise the likelihood of delivering the planned outcomes and benefits.

Then finally comes the transformational flow which provides a path through the programme lifecycle from conception to closure.

If you're still asking 'why should I use programme management?' consider the fact that most organisations are likely to fail to deliver change successfully if there is:

* insufficient board-level support
* weak leadership
* unrealistic expectations of the organisational capacity and capability
* insufficient focus on benefits
* no real picture of the future capability
* a poorly defined/communicated vision
* a failure to change the organisations culture
* a lack of stakeholder engagement

Are You Doing the Moon Walk

2009-07-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Are You Doing the Moon Walk --- Going Backwards While Moving Forward

The death of Michael Jackson recently was a tragic event. No matter what you thought of Michael personally, there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented entertainers of all time. His singing and dancing talent showcased so effectively by his performance in the video and album "Thriller" will be remembered forever as the Capstone of his career. I, like millions of his fans, mourn his passing.

However, the one thing that I remember the most is his invention of the "Moonwalk". The "Moon Walk" is a dance move that looks as if you are going forward when in reality you are moving backward. Michael made that move famous. His tragic sorrowful death reminded me of that move. The Moon Walk itself brings to mind how many businesses often struggle to achieve success; doing things that are supposed to gain market share and create success. And yet, many find that even though they believe they are doing all the things the "experts" say they should be doing, real success eludes them. They feel like they are moving forward but in reality they are moving backward. They are doing the "Moon Walk". This can be particularly evident during tough economic times.

Make Sure You are Relevant and Current

You need to be relevant & current - don't get stuck in the past with past practice that may have put you in a comfort zone because business was so good the "fish were jumping in the boat". Most of the time there is no shortcut to success. Relevance is more than just following best practice. It is more than just developing a contingency plan. Every effective leader I have ever known understood this principle. They are aware that their impact on the success of their organization was based on their vision, values and core beliefs they shared with all their employees.

Focusing on "the positives of the past" is a valiant intention to be sure; I wonder, though, how realistic and relevant past practice is if past success was simply the result of economic conditions and not effective leadership and a solid management team. If that is the case, you will simply begin doing the "Moon Walk" with no real vision based plan to deal with the current economic situation. Good anecdotes, memos to employees and resting on past success and past practice with little success substance will not solve today's problems.

Being current and understanding the real challenges you face is just as important as making sure it is relevant. Running a responsible business isn't something you just decided to do overnight. Hopefully you have been making conscious best practice business decisions for a long time and you are still learning as you go. Every step along this path during economic crisis is important, from high-level market driven decisions to individual employee relationships. Take the time to review best practices as they apply to your business. Look at your processes, your procedures and your policies. Do they reflect good management principles or do they become a little spongy due to past practices? Are they relevant to what is happening in your markets today?

A Vision is Still Critical

Businesses focused on developing sustainable long term market share growth during tough economic times often have a longer time-horizon and a broader set of goals than companies that have not stayed current and relevant to their market place. Typically they are dissatisfied with the status quo and not only have developed contingency plans for the short term to deal with economic crisis but they have not abandoned their long term strategic vision for the company; Albeit, they may adjust it according to current relevancy.

To succeed in today's economic environment leadership must build a foundation that allows the creative energy released by employees to actually work. We must leverage employee dedication and sacrifice that stems from ownership of the Vision-Values and Core Beliefs that has been engrained into the culture of the organization. The CEO or owner of this type of company generally conveys a well-articulated set of principles that guide the business and help to instill the same values in employees. By declaring their goals publicly this type of leader inspires trust and respect which is the baseline for employee commitment to success during tough economic times and long term growth.

This broader vision of success requires new business tools, practices and relationships. Being receptive to new ideas and suggestions opens the door to an array of business opportunities. That's what being current and relevant is all about. You can not afford to wallow in a pool of pessimism and past practice without opening your mind to new ideas and new options.

Be Open Minded

The internet revolution brought on many changes to the market place and presented enormous opportunity. Before this revolution took place, undertaking large projects, entering new markets or working globally was the exclusive privilege of large corporations and conglomerates.

In this century, innovative use of 'virtual' corporations, strategic alliances and other partnerships and ventures means smaller companies can now compete and generate business outside their traditional markets. Communication technology allows global orientation for even the smallest business and the greater efficiencies that can be offered by a team of small players enable these firms to perform on the global stage.

Dealing with economic crisis requires the application of sustainable business principles that are current and relevant. You must maintain a forward momentum regardless of circumstance. Realize that every problem and challenge you face on a day to day basis as a result of the faltering economy are the same issues and challenges faced by your competitors. Ask yourself this question. "Can you outperform the competition?"

Improvements in your sustainable business practices must come from new ways of thinking about meeting customer needs, and redesigning operations with a priority focus on servicing your customer. You can't afford to do the "Moon Walk" if you are to thrive during tough economic times. Prepare yourself and your management team to be forward thinking and open to new ideas.

Focusing on Qualitative Market Share Growth

One of the biggest challenges in creating a sustainable future and gaining market share in a tough economy is the ability to refocus policy and practices across a variety of functions. The focus on revenue growth was appropriate prior to the current economic environment when "fish were jumping in the boat." Today, however, focus must be on market share as opposed to top line growth. Remember, if sales decline by ten percent but the market itself declines by twenty percent, effectively you have gained market share. This is an important principle that everyone on your team must understand. High-performing organizations integrate market share focus and performance management best practices more than other organizations. Conversely, low-performing organizations consistently underutilize these best practices and lose focus on market share.

Execute the Plan

The inability of organizations to effectively execute their contingency or strategic plans is one of the major factors limiting success; success measured by market share growth. Recent management research and literature has thoroughly documented the importance of execution in creating success during tough economic times. Organizations execute their strategies through the creation of contingency plans and strategic initiatives, comprising any number of initiatives, programs and projects that become the vehicles for realizing the corporate vision that is current and relevant.

Whether a company ultimately succeeds or fails during these economic times depends on the effectiveness of the actions taken to deal with current challenges. Before these actions can be taken, however, companies must recognize these challenges for what they are to take appropriate actions.

Women in Leadership - This Countries Most Under Utilized Asset

2009-07-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I am definitely a card carrying member of the Baby Boomers. I also admit that during my early career in the 70's, I could have undoubtedly been considered a poster child for the "Male Chauvinistic Pig" movement. However, experience and maturity have taught me a great lesson regarding leadership and the abilities, intelligence and values of the female employee. Today, I firmly believe that women in the workplace are the most under utilized asset this country has.

We have come a long way from that chauvinistic attitude of the past that believed men are simply better, more natural leaders; the belief that women's careers were compromised by their responsibilities at home? Yes we have come a long way. But, Statistics are still shocking for women who hope to succeed in the business world. Today, women occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States but only 6% of the Fortune 500's top executives are female. (Newsweek Magazine)

In your industry this percentage may even be lower. The "glass ceiling," or the idea that women successfully climb the corporate ladder until they're blocked by this transparent ceiling, has been accepted as the largest obstacle to female leadership in the workplace. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin claimed to have put millions of cracks in this ceiling but it hasn't been completely shattered yet.

This ceiling represents many characteristics that even most men would challenge and yet they still exist. There are barriers that limit industry's ability to capitalize on the enormous amount of leadership potential that exits in almost any work place in this country. Barriers that women encounter at all levels include prejudice resistance to women's leadership, leadership style issues and family demands.

These obstacles may even create an uneasy feeling for women or their relationship with leadership and the power it commands. A few female leaders have told me that they fear that the power of leadership can give off the impression that they are ruthless or pushy. These are Issues that challenge their basic character and femininity; Challenges that men don't have to encounter.

Diversity is Strength

Companies that recognize the female leadership talent pool that exists within the confines of their own office will implement specific initiatives to leverage that talent. One of the very basic and first steps to recognizing this talent is to begin evaluating the female employee based on specific contributions as opposed to hours worked. Creating work teams, project teams and management teams that include more than one loan female allows that talent to grow and prosper instead of being suppressed by male domination. Closing the leadership gap and leveraging this talent has to become a priority for businesses of all nature if we are to remain competitive in the global environment. For this country to have this much inherent talent and yet very few women in the top levels of the chain of command is disturbing.

But Women have Babies

So What!! The idea that women having babies need broader support and special handling is simply hog wash. Women that strive to be leaders and want to contribute at a higher level of hierarchy are often more capable of managing a life balance than most men. And yet, experts have stated that the average lifetime earnings of a highly-skilled female leader who has a child in her 20s is $625,000; while the average lifetime earnings for those having a baby in their 30s is $750,000. For those who have no babies, lifetime earnings reach $913,000." Does that sound discriminatory?

Women in Business have been Stereotyped

Rachael Roy, a top designer and CEO of her own company stated that "Many young women apply self worth to the attention they receive from men. This type of attention is instantly gratifying."

This is unfortunate because this type of gratification contributes to the stereotype and inhibits leadership confidence and leadership integrity. This is social conditioning. There is no more important skill in attaining success than your ability to communicate effectively. Yet women are often sabotaged by their communication skills. Differences in how men and women communicate are rooted in social conditioning. Stereotyped behavior has been expected of women since time began. Women are not expected to argue, displaying anger. Women are expected to be polite in the workplace and not curse. They are expected to be cooperative and, by and large, docile.

Men Have Different Rules

The same rules or expectations do not apply to men. Women have always been encouraged to speak softly and smile a lot and yet men are not chastised for emotional outbursts most of the time. This gender differentiation begins early in life. Men in the business world generally have few, if any, qualms about issuing orders or voicing complaints. Many women tend to be uncomfortable pulling rank; they seek agreement and consistency. Disagreement and conflict don't affect men in the same way; some even enjoy it, while women typically go out of their way to avoid confrontation.

Men expect and are expected to be successful. We certainly are willing to take full credit when we do succeed. The principle for success on the part of women is different. Many women only hope to be successful. When women do succeed they are more apt to demonstrate true leadership character by attributing their success to teamwork or the support of their peers and subordinates.

Women Do Have Power

Traditionally, in the business world, the male model of authority was considered superior to the female model of collaboration. However, it's becoming abundantly clear that effective communication is the essence of good leadership and that is what really counts. Either style can be effective based on ones individual leadership model. The key to success lies in focusing on and creating for one's self a style that encompasses the best of both authority and collaboration with an emphasis on a servant style of leadership.

Women as a group can be very powerful if they would only embrace that power. They must reject in disbelief that business is strictly a man's world and that they must follow mans rule. Women have different values, different styles and different approaches to many things. Men could be well served to listen more. We must leverage every asset we have to maximize success. Women may not have all the answers but I submit they may have many that we as men haven't realized yet.

So, as you review your employee development plans, don't ignore the potential that may exist at the receptionist desk, customer service or accounting where you traditionally find many of your female employees. Search for leadership potential regardless of gender and you may find a number of diamonds in the rough.

Communication is Critical to the Success of Six Sigma Initiatives

2009-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

It is important to resolve the resistance and change issues through well-planned communication plans. Six Sigma is not about simply undertaking technical improvements and statistical tool usage.

Improvement efforts have to be supported by good communication plans - and people skills play an important role in overall project success.

Six Sigma Project Launch

Six Sigma is not just improving the process. It is also about bringing in a Six Sigma culture to the organization. Communication has to be started from the point of project launch.

Projects are undertaken for different reasons. If it is communicated to the employees at an appropriate time, it can be helpful in reducing the fear of the project for any reason. A well thought out plan to communicate the aims of the Six Sigma project makes the process of improvement very easy for the team.

The medium of communication could be in the form of meetings, emails, etc. The communication should explain what Six Sigma is, what its advantages are and how it differs from other quality initiatives like TQM and CQI. It may be even about basic concepts that are quite easy to understand.

It is important to anticipate and be ready to respond to questions, such as what is in it for the employees, how they will be affected, how will it affect the department and how everyone will be able to participate with their existing workloads.

It should also explain how it would benefit employees in terms of their career, job security, and so on.

When designing the plan, consideration has to be given to five major factors:

- Who the target audiences are
- What Six Sigma strategies need to be utilized
- How the process will be an ongoing one
- The use of various media for communication at various stages
- Clear and concise utilization of a variety of media

There are a large number of tools that can be used for communication.

Though face-to-face meetings are popular for a regular and ongoing communication process, other tools like emails, newsletters, brown bag lunches, CEO memos to employees, intranet postings, surveys and feedback reports and even quizzes are just as useful.

Advantages of Communication

Communicating with customers is also important when you are planning a Six Sigma project. When you undertake a Six Sigma project, the aim of the project is the customer satisfaction - not just internal, but also external.

Process improvements are useful not just to employees to reduce cycle times and output, but they are also useful in giving to the customer what they expect. Good communication can further help the team understand the CTQ factors of the business processes.

Similarly, when projects bring about improvements, they can be showcased to customers as well. Communication also helps resolve resistance issues that could snowball into major barriers to successful implementation.

If communication successfully tells the employees that there is full support of top management, and it is beneficial with no risk to them, then resistance can be reduced substantially.

Communication from the beginning till the end of the Six Sigma project is extremely important to project success.

Leadership Tips - Stand Up Meetings

2008-09-07T09:46:00.003-07:00

Do any of these statements apply to you?

* My calendar is so filled with meetings I can't find time to get real work done.
* Meetings that I attend seem to expand to fill the allotted time; we could accomplish just as much in half the time.
* I know we need the daily ops meeting (or the weekly project status meeting) but it's becoming tedious.

Most of us can relate to at least one of these statements, many can relate to all three and probably add a few more bullets of their own.

The best thing you can do with a meeting that is not a good use of your time is to not attend.

But what about meetings that you know are needed? Information needs to be shared, action items need to be assigned. Email won't work, because there's too much of a chance for misunderstanding and you need face to face discussion.

Try the stand up meeting.

Its very name conveys a message that no one is going to come in and settle into a comfortable position for this meeting. Stand up meetings are perfect for regular status updates and efficient assignment of work activities.

Here are some considerations that will help you hold effective and efficient stand up meetings:

Location: Ideally, hold the meeting in an open area with no tables or chairs. Lobbies, vacant offices, an open corner are all good candidates. If you have to use a conference room, push the table and chairs against the wall and don't let anyone sit down.

Chair Person: Think drill sergeant. This is not a role for the timid. You need someone who will start the meeting on time, even if no one is there! He or she needs to work the agenda rigidly, cut off discussion and send it offline when needed, clearly outline the action items and end on time.

Agenda: Keep it very crisp. Total agenda time should not exceed 15 minutes. Status updates should be limited to 5 minutes. Don't be afraid to have 2 minute items if that's all that's needed. Cover the open items from last meeting. Are they closed? If not, carry them forward with clear owners.

Don't provide coffee or heaven forbid, food. You can even go one step further and not allow people to bring their own. That will make everyone focus on getting done.

Now when you read all this it sounds harsh, but that's nor the case. When you value other people's time they will be appreciative. That is exactly what you are doing here.

Run a stand up meeting well, and people will know they can show up, get up to speed, be confident they know who is working on what, and get back to work.

James Bellini - Historian of the Future

2008-09-07T09:46:00.002-07:00

As far as job titles go, 'Historian of the Future' is an absolutely doozy. However, as one of the leading practitioners of this fascinating trade, Dr James Bellini, can testify, the description can lead to a few misunderstandings: he is most definitely not, for instance, a magician.

"Let me be clear: I don't have a cloak, a pointy hat and a magic wand," Bellini jokes - and he absolutely can't tell you who's going to win the 3.30 at Ascot. What he can do, however, is draw upon a career spanning decades of research and analysis, networking and award-winning creative endeavours to produce assessments of the likely state of the future which are as informed, and as entertaining, as any you'll encounter.

When SSON meets Bellini, the good doctor - whose PhD "in military stuff" came from the London School of Economics - has just finished presenting to the 8th Annual Shared Services Week in Sitges, near Barcelona. His talk - the first plenary of the event - has ranged from early corporate history, via demographic change in modern Europe, through 'Gutenberg 2.0', to the rise of a new wave of consumers and the hiring challenges posed by the emergence of 'Generation C'- and he's scattered some pretty brain-bending statistics along the way.

For example, those of us in the audience now know that by 2040, if current trends are maintained, Italy will have 20 million fewer inhabitants; that "in 1965 there were 10,000 people for every computer, but by 2015 there will be 10,000 connected devices for every person"; that "over 50 per cent of people on the planet have never made a phone call"; that by 2020 Japan will be the oldest society in the developed world, and the USA will be the youngest.

It's from a vast archive of such data, analysed through methods many years in the perfecting, that Bellini is able to create the "works of informed imagination" that make up his futurological output. Facts and figures, he says, are the currency of futurology and he declares that, magpie-like, he "will steal anything without remorse" which will contribute to his understanding of the myriad forces shaping the times to come.

This understanding has developed over the course of a distinguished and varied career which has seen Bellini finding success as an academic, a think-tank analyst, a reporter and TV presenter, an author, a narrator and, of course, a public speaker. If, however, this suggests chameleonic professional tendencies to accompany his corvine approach to data, Bellini's wry grin, penetrating stare and uncompromising wit mark him out as resolutely human - as does his unwillingness to pander to social niceties: his latest book, tackling corporate deceit and the pervasiveness of misrepresentation in the business world, is appropriately titled The Bullshit Factor.

Bellini moved from university (St John's College, Cambridge) into advertising, among other roles - but it was in Paris as the first British member of the highly regarded Hudson Institute (co-founded by Bellini's early mentor, nuclear strategist Herman Kahn) where he won his spurs, and plaudits, with a series of predictions for major European economies, starting with France. He and his colleagues were a long way ahead of the curve in foreseeing the French economic revival of the 1970s and '80s, and their success did not go unnoticed; brought in by the BBC as a consultant on a similar predictive piece about the British economy, Bellini ended up fronting the program as lead reporter. Perhaps unpredictably - even for this most promising of seers - television, and a modicum of fame, had come knocking.

Although he discusses his successes with disarming humility, Bellini's career in television left him much to crow about: seven years as a studio presenter with Sky News and Financial Times Television; stints presenting Panorama, Newsnight and The Money Programme; and a host of awards including the Prince Rainier II Prize at the Monte Carlo International TV festival and a special award given by the United Nations for his work on the epic documentary series The Nuclear Age - as well as rather less glittering roles such as presenting a TV version of Cluedo. Meanwhile he continued to predict, to analyse - and to publish, with a series of well-received tomes reaching the shelves from the 1980s onwards.

By now Bellini had established a reputation as one of the most perceptive and intuitive pundits on the current affairs circuit, and the step to public speaking to compliment his flourishing literary career was a logical one. His natural flair for business (he has served in executive positions for numerous companies) and for communications, combined with his specific spheres of interest, mean that - although he's just as happy to present to the likes of Greenpeace "for a cup of tea"- his natural constituency consists of relatively high-powered businessfolk with a vested interest in understanding the foundations of the future (exactly the kind of people attending Shared Services Week, in fact).

And some future it'll be. Bellini paints a fascinating picture of societies, businesses and economies on the brink of truly fundamental change; while he maintains that in general "nothing is ever really new - it might be different, but it's not new", at the same time he posits developments which, in terms of the way organisations are structured and run, are as new as anything which has preceded them since the Stone Age.

"Shared services is not the sexiest area of management, but it's one of the most important. It is about creating things which haven't been seen before in business history: internally profit-driven services. This is not, however, truly revolutionary: yet in the next 10-15 years I do see a revolution, a period comparable with the beginning of corporate history," he says. "We'll see as much change [in organisational structure] in the next 15 years as we saw in the last 5,000."

A major facilitator for this restructuring is, of course, the globalising information revolution, which is occurring at a mind-boggling rate.

"The pace of change is becoming a lot more compressed... Moore's Law is probably already out of date. We have to generate new words to deal with the rate at which information is growing," he says, citing as an example the rise of the "exabyte" - one billion billion bytes or, in more antique terms, one trillion big books full of data.

The implications for business of this staggering acceleration of development are, of course, manifold; but Bellini sees one of the most crucial impacts taking place in the field of recruitment and HR, and beyond that in the way business itself is conducted on a personal level.

"The people you employ in future will be very different from those you've employed in the past," he cautions. "Your future talent comes from what some people call Generation Y but I prefer to call Generation C" - the connected, communicating, completely digital creator-generators currently en route to adulthood.

"They are digital natives, very different individuals, living, educated and working in digital spaces. Sharing is instinctive among them... It's not about being selfish but about cooperating in effective, efficient ways."

Bellini believes that the arrival of this generation will force employers to reassess age-old practices such as recruitment, interview techniques and training. After all, this is a generation with a decreasing attention span but a marked increase in the ability to multitask and shift from one task to another very quickly; if a trainer begins to lose the attention of his or her trainees, Bellini asks, who will be to blame - the trainees, who have developed in a fast-changing, rapid-fire digital environment, or the trainer, who has not? The answer is implicit in the question, and Bellini warns that companies expecting their new recruits to bend to an established, 'old' modus operandi will find themselves left behind: "the talent war will become more acute," he says, and it's a war no company will be able to afford to lose.

The nature of employment itself will also change, the doctor reckons. Long-term contracts in fixed locations will become increasingly obsolete; the future will be made up of task-based employment of "clusters" of employees coming together to address specific needs, offering complementary skills for comparatively short, intense bursts of productivity - often working at distance from homes around the world.

For older employees such a shift might represent a vast challenge and perhaps an assault on traditional comforts such as job security; for the digital natives of Generation C, however, such practices will be second nature - and Bellini uses the example of Hollywood film production, which has been from the off a task-based environment, as how businesses and entire industries can work on a different, and potentially formidable, model.

The future will also bring us a very different consumer class, Bellini promises. Societies are getting older, and the old are becoming more affluent: in the UK, for example, in this "New Age of consumers" over-50s already own over 80 per cent of the nation's assets, and the country has reached a tipping point when there are more retirees than there are children. Meanwhile family sizes are decreasing, creating a growing deficit in the workforce of the future: we are approaching the "post-kids future", Bellini says somewhat ominously.

"This has huge consequences for everyone," he says. "Take R&D: the reason cars are the way they are, with four seats, is because the nuclear family model was the dominant one when car design was at its most dynamic. Four family members required four seats. Now the nuclear family is not the dominant model: what will the layout be of the car of the future? Or take cereal packets: they were sized for a nuclear family. Now that size is no longer appropriate."

Different needs require different provisions and Bellini urges today's companies to plan properly for a very different breed of consumer. The older generation - which will live longer than any in human history - will have different high-value requirements which will need to be met; meanwhile, the younger generation will be comparatively less affluent but will have very different needs and will expect those needs to be met in very different ways. Marketing, design, sales: all will have to undergo their own revolutions.

"There is a conversation going on, a huge worldwide conversation. You will not control this conversation, though it will be about you and will impact upon you," he cautions. Of course, this lack of control might terrify many businesses and practitioners - especially those in shared services for whom maintaining the right level of control over processes is such a fundamental aspect of the job - but it also represents a unique opportunity.

If, as Bellini assures us, the next few years will see us having to "revisit the idea of how to think", such reengagement with processes and the reasons behind them - driven in no small way by the digital natives making up the next generation of employees - will surely lead to sweeping changes in almost every aspect of doing business. The cost and efficiency savings currently held up as world-class by leading shared service practitioners could pale into insignificance against the benefits - tangible and intangible - brought by new approaches to the very raison d'etre of business and the economy, and by the technological revolution whose ultimate consequences even this most esteemed of futurologists can only ponder from afar.

Giving 300 Percent

2008-09-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

If you've heard it once, you've heard it one hundred ten times--that overused cliché urging you to give 110%! But, times change and 110% is no longer good enough. If I am in a leadership role I want 300% from my people. You should, too. This isn't about inflation; it's about a better way of thinking about motivation and employee productivity. But, if giving 110% seemed hard, then wouldn't 300% be nearly impossible? Not with the right kind of leadership. Let's take a look.

When people show up to work, you already have 100% of them. You have their physical bodies. Let's call this their hands. The show up and execute tasks in order to deliver some level of production that will enable them to keep their jobs and keep getting a paycheck. However, in business, having just 100% of someone won't bring about success because you are missing 200%--a very critical 200%.

The next 100% is their head-more specifically, their brains. When we get this 100%, we get a thinking contributor to the team. They are not satisfied by simply doing the work. Seeking out intellectual stimulation, they like to think up better ways to do the work. They enjoy being recognized for the contributions they make to the team, and being asked, "What do you think?"

With hands and head, we have 200%. That's not bad, but it's not enough to defeat your competition, whose employees are giving 300%. And that final 100% is the heart. When we get this from our employees, we get their dedication and commitment to the task and to the cause. People who put their heart into their work jump in with both feet and are emotionally engaged in what they do. But, the only way to get your employees to bring this to the job is for leadership to treat them with trust and respect, and to help them see their contribution to the bigger picture. These folks come to work because they want to--not because they have to. They are bright, and emotionally committed to the objectives of the firm. The companies that get 300% from their employees are the ones that win in business.

I realize that 300% is optimal. Maybe on some days, we get 100% of their hands (meaning they showed up for work), 55% of their head, and 71% of their heart. That's still significantly better than a measly 110%. Of course, if they don't show up, you get 0%. Employees who are not challenged to use their head and heart are much more likely to be absent from work. But those who are asked to contribute 200% and 300% have greater reliability. It has everything to do with feeling like you are making a valuable contribution and that you truly are part of the team.

I encourage you to start looking at your people through these three lenses. If they're not showing up--if you don't even get their hands on a regular basis--do you really have room for them on your team? But, just coming in isn't enough. Are they thinking on the job? Are they looking for and suggesting new and better ways to get the work done? Finally, are they passionate about what the company does, and their role in it? The only chance you have for people to give you 300% is to lead them well. In other words, are you giving 300%, too?

How Do You Choose the Right Company For Your Commercial Cleaning Needs?

2008-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

When you have a commercial business there are many things that you need to do to keep your business running smoothly and to maintain the building your business is in. One of the things that you will need to do is to find a commercial cleaning company that can help you keep your business clean and maintained. There are many different companies that you can choose from for commercial cleaning but you need to find one that is close to your local area.

When you are trying to choose a commercial cleaning company you need to find one that strives to understand your business and how things work, so they can get their job done without disrupting yours. This will help you minimize any down time for your business but will also help you get the commercial cleaning done. The cleaning company that you choose needs to be able to carefully plan the cleaning process to make sure everything gets done without disruption to your business.

It is a good idea to find a commercial cleaning company that has multiple cleaning capabilities. This will mean that you can use the same company for all of your cleaning needs. You can even find a company that will handle the cleaning and landscaping for your building if needed. Many companies will have the ability to remove almost any type of material or waste with their cleaning equipment. You will need to find out what materials the company can remove, so that you will know who to contact if you have a waste to be removed.

A good company that handles commercial cleaning will not only use their top of the line equipment to offer you full service cleaning but they will also carefully plan their cleaning process for your business, which will mean that you wont have the down time because they will come in a clean when it wont be disruptive to you.

It is very important that you take the time to look at all of the different companies that you find to do your commercial cleaning. There are many of them available and you want to look online at their site to find out what they can offer you but you also want to contact them because you wont know if they will work the best for your business until you have a chance to talk to them and ask questions. Finding a commercial cleaning company doesn't have to be difficult but you do need to take the time to do your research before deciding.

Removing Business Costs - Seven Deadly Sins to Avoid

2008-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Cost removal is just another form of change. Yet we see companies in every sector making the same mistakes time and again. So here are seven deadly sins of cost removal that it will pay you to avoid.

1. Cutting costs across the board A flat rate budget cut typically does more damage to the high-value, high-revenue parts of the business than you ever recover from cost savings. Worse, costs you cut like this will creep back within two years. Think instead about the causes of your costs and remove these instead.
2. Wimping out Fear of the impact of cost removal is no excuse for not doing it. Uncomfortable conversations now are much better than redundancy conversations later.
3. Waiting for perfect analysis If you are hemorrhaging cash now, every day's delay costs you money. A quick and dirty analysis will give you 95% of the data you need to proceed quickly and do straightaway most of the right things you need to save money. Is the extra 5% of certainty worth the extra days and weeks of delay?
4. Getting in your people's way Your people know better than you do where waste and inefficiency reside. They will find and eliminate it--provided you set demanding standards for delivery. If people know what is required of them, they will astonish you with their performance.
5. Spending more on compliance than you are saving Cost removal often means new policies and procedures. Yet in many companies the cost of complying with new policies far outweighs the savings that are made. Know how much it will cost to manage your new policies and only implement those which are cost-effective. As my mother would say: don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
6. Creating a new organisation structure Whenever the sky is falling, the first response of many corporate Chicken Lickens is to change the organisation. Usually this is a mistake. First, it distracts people from the real issue: running the business more efficiently. Second, it adds cost--cost to do it, cost as it beds down, and cost as new organisational interfaces are created. Third, it delays real action to improve performance. Fourth, companies hide behind it so that they don't have to talk about getting rid of people. So why do companies continue to do this? Usually because it is easy and looks like real action. But rearranging the deckchairs did not stop the Titanic sinking...
7. Damaging customer service to save costs This is not to say that you should avoid making customer service efficient--but never knowingly preside over a reduction in customer service standards for the sake of short-term savings. The savings will be temporary - the loss of customers, sales and reputation will not.

Many companies fail to improve their cost performance because they don't think effectively about which costs to remove and how best to do so quickly. If you avoid the seven deadly sins described here, however, you will have a fighting chance.

Is That Clear? Crystal, Sir

2008-08-22T23:30:00.002-07:00

Remember Tom Cruise' military lawyer character responding to Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessep in the film A Few Good Men? They were talking about following orders and the murky unwritten laws of military procedure in this classic from the nineties. But, I wonder how many crystal clear affirmative responses you'd get if you asked your staff if they understood your firm's purpose or your company's vision. Not many is my guess.

This is not surprising as research suggest only about 5% of organisations can claim their employees genuinely understand the company's strategy. But what's worse is the seemingly tacit acceptance of many leaders who seem to think this is ok and that they'll still achieve their goals/targets/dreams regardless!

Well if you're a leader, you might be one of the lucky ones and do just that. But just think how much luckier you could be if you had all your team focused on the same destination with a shared vision, clear goals and an understood purpose. In fact just think how much more successful you could be if when you asked your team, "Are we clear?" they all responded with one voice "Crystal",... we'll drop the "Sir".

The best and most successful leaders in business (and in all forms of life for that matter) know how important it is to set out and clearly communicate a vision and purpose for their team to rally behind. But the trap many 'start up' and 'SME' leaders and entrepreneurs fall into is thinking that vision & purpose stuff is just for the big boys. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fail to set out and communicate your vision and purpose and you'll fail to achieve anything much.

So how do you do it? Well as a leader, you obviously need to have a clear view of where you're going and how you're going to get there. This might entail a degree of new strategic thinking, but in most cases in my experience, you already know this, that's why you're an entrepreneur. What you really need to do is to communicate it to everyone else in a way that highlights your goals simply and clearly. In fact alongside your personal dreams for the market size, share and value of your company you should have another key goal: to make sure everyone else in your team shares your vision.

There are a number of ways to do this but the golden rule is to make sure your vision is connected to your key performance measures and that everyone can see this in a unified and connected manner. People need to know what they're trying to achieve in terms of their own detailed targets and how this fits in with the 'bigger picture'. Mind maps of some description are a great way of showing these interconnections. On top of this an eye catching visual will go a long way to grabbing people's attention and getting the point across in a highly imaginative way.

As an example, a new team recently formed as part of a leading UK drinks distributor felt they had a job to do in getting everyone to understand their vision and how their team would benefit the rest of the organisation. The first step was to set out a clear purpose and goals and to underpin this with a set of actions and behaviours that would move them towards their goal.

They did this by drawing a map of their vision using the circle as the foundation, which helped to suggest unity and team spirit, essential ingredients in any form of communication where more than one person is involved. The main ingredients of any vision and goal map are:

• Make it inclusive - not hierarchical.
• Puts organisation and personal outcomes on the same map to ensure alignment of everyone's efforts.
• Make the targets easy to track and don't have too many of them.

The feedback was instantly positive from within the team and from the rest of the organisation. If all that was required was to get everyone 'crystal clear' on the vision and goals, the map would have been enough. But the team leader wanted to really nail it and make it instantly clear right across the business just what his new team was there to achieve.

This is where the second element came in - a dramatic and inspiring visualisation of the vision and ideas incorporated within the map.

Visualisation and the ability of pictures to tell stories and communicate purpose and vision is a massively under utilised area in business and for little effort, can reap massive returns. The resulting illustration engaged people emotionally as well as analytically.

Armed with the vision map to communicate key actions and ideas and the picture to reinforce the story and navigate the route, the new team were well on their way to achieving their vision and goals.

Leadership vision is about people and you can only move people in a particular direction if you can communicate the destination and the path. Remember:

• "Today > 75% of the average company's market cap is attributed to intangibles - brand, databases, information and people" (Kaplan & Norton: Strategy Maps - 2003)
• "Communication enables us to plan, achieve, reflect and share experience. It underpins just about everything that shapes our lives" (Prof. Nigel Nicholson LBS)
• "...the best efforts of the leader come to naught if he has neither the means nor ability to communicate." (Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein)

Learning Organizations - Creating a Climate For Success

2008-08-22T23:30:00.001-07:00

You are a newly appointed manager of an organization that is identified in need to improve organizational learning to remain competitive in your market. The only problem is there is no established program and you haven't had any training on it. What can a new manager due to make a difference immediately? How can you create a climate of learning in your organization and why should we care?

One of the most powerful truths about the global economy is that in order to remain competitive and even survive, organizations must devote themselves to learning from ongoing operations. That's the only way you can maintain competitive advantage because the other businesses around you are studying you and your customers looking for ways they can take over your market share.. It's only by learning deliberately, carefully and thoroughly that we can continue to serve our customers and provide a valuable service. This translates directly to our ability to grow and thrive.

Here are some tips and mindsets that will guide you in developing a learning culture:

1. Make sure that you take the time and all work events to reflect on the lessons learned from what just happened. It's not enough to complete a task and then move onto the next one. You must build in time to consider deeply what we can learn and apply from this situation to others in the future. Reflection is the key but it takes time and training.

2. Treat failure is a natural part of the learning process. Failure is simply feedback and a learning opportunity. If you seek to play the blame game you will stifle any interest in learning and people will get into the self-preservation mode and that is a sign of approaching doom.

3. Make sure that you do not allow an elite group or a single point of view to dominate decision-making. The learning process requires multiple points of view and alternative strategies to be considered especially when you're dealing with uncertainty and complexity in your marketplace.

4.Go out of your way to create a climate of support of innocent openness so that your people feel safe about raising questions and offering new ideas.

5. Train your employees in conflict resolution and the mature expression of conflicting ideas in a constructive manner. You'll find this skill to be immensely valuable in all of your group problem-solving processes.

6. Deliberately use cross functional teams in order to get the benefit of different approaches and expertise by design. Given a chpoice, people will tend to form groups of like-minded individuals and that's no way to take advantage of your natural diversity.

Developing a learning culture is no small task, but it is absolutely essential if you want to continue to compete in the world market. It takes time and leadership and a commitment to seeing it through, but your time and effort will be amply rewarded. You can expect to see your people catch fire and begin contributing far beyond your initial expectations and their own. Good luck!

Does Action Have Intelligence?

2008-08-22T23:29:00.002-07:00

Say what? Are you crazy? If I act before I think, I have no idea what the consequences of my actions will be.

You're right! But, it really depends on the context of your action habit. In working with the people that I've had the pleasure in working with over the years, I've discovered an interesting thing.

Way too many people fail in whatever they are trying to accomplish because they are thinking "TOO MUCH" before they're acting.

This is an interesting concept. Think before you act! You may have seen it on a billboard somewhere, it might be a lesson you and I learned in elementary school, or maybe your wife or husband says this to you daily. Either way, you've heard and understood and most of you have lived by it.

I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has helped you, however. I'm sure you can come up with many ways this process has disempowered you, or stifled your success, or even stopped you dead in your tracks because you are always looking for the perfect action strategy before you even take any action.

What is the perfect action strategy? In my opinion there isn't one. As a matter of fact, I believe if you always try to make your activity perfect, you'll rarely even get started. This is the problem I find - that most of us think way too much before we act.

This is the equivalent of someone wanted to learn how to ride a bike by going out and buying the best books and video instruction on the subject. The bottom line is that you quickly realize that even if you have the best instruction on the planet, the knowledge on how to ride a bike can only be received AFTER you've put on your helmet, your knee pads and jumped on that bike to take it for a spin.

So if this is the same for riding a bike, why isn't it the same, for starting a business, investing in real estate, starting a fitness program or even taking on a spiritual path?
Hmmm... That's a good question, and although there are "more correct ways of doing things" YOU'LL NEVER TRULY KNOW, unless you DO SOMETHING!!

It's the quest for the PERFECT ACTION/STRATEGY which is impossible, because there is an innate intelligence within an action habit. What that means is that learning how to do something well, means you must do it.

The doing, not the planning, will create the perfection. You can plan while you DO but never plan "TOO MUCH" before you do.

How do I know I'm planning too much? Or I'm taking in more knowledge than I need? Easy. You know you're planning too much if you aren't getting anywhere. For example, could I really sit here and plan out an 'EFFECTIVE' exercise program or an 'EFFECTIVE' business plan for anyone without knowing what they can and can't do, what they're willing and not willing to do, or even if their direction is the correct one? It's not possible.

You need to get in action, right now, today. Then, let the results of the action dictate the direction, because action has its own intelligence. You will glean more results, and "what not to do" information from picking up the phone and getting into the action of making phone calls and by gauging your "realistic response" - not a fictional one that you make up in your mind. You'd get your results quicker if you got out of bed and went straight to a treadmill, rather than sitting down 'TRYING TO THINK ABOUT' a perfect diet and exercise program. I'm told the Devil is in the details. Well, that might be true, but you can also say that the Devil is the perfectionist planning.

Here's what you can do to break out of the mold of perfectionistic planning.

Put a time limit on your planning before you begin planning.

Make sure you take action the moment you finish putting a time limit on your planning.

The activity of the planning must start TODAY. Not tomorrow. No Excuses, Make sure you're doing something TODAY toward your desired outcome. Make that phone call, clean up the office, send that email, make that connection, or go out and shake a hand or two. YOU MUST DO SOMETHING TODAY.

After you've done your one thing for today, make a pact with yourself that you will take one activity daily that adds to the momentum of your outcome - NOT an activity that adds to your planning, learning or prioritizing.

Celebrate! Make sure after you actually take that first step, and CELEBRATE. Even if things don't go the way you expect, at least you're on the bike!!!

I'm sure there are times that you need to plan a lot, like a big project, a business plan, etc.

However, if you stop and take a look at your life and ask yourself, where have I over planned and underachieved, my guess is that you'll find many areas, and that's ok!

Welcome to humanity! The next issue will be about getting you beyond your unexpected failures.

How to Measure Your Hourly Progress

2008-08-22T23:29:00.001-07:00

Have you ever started on a project and 10 hours later you are no where near being finished? Or how about you received an order to fill and you never completed? So many business entrepreneurs as well as others have trouble measuring their hourly progress. So many people never know where to start; others do not know how to manage. Whatever your case maybe whether you want to succeed in life as well as business you will need to know how to successfully measure your hourly progress.

When just starting out in business its ruff, with so many ideas and things on your mind the day can fly by in an instance. This is why to properly be proactive and very productive you need to track your every step of the way. If not, time will pass by faster then a speeding bullet.

Here are some things you can do to help with this situation.

-Create a to do list, and update this list every day(remember when working for yourself no one will have what needs to be done all laid out in front of you, you will need to log and track it yourself)

-Complete you to do list. So many people will get the first step correct and completely pass the second, Completing what you have logged and scheduled in. a schedule or to do list can prove to be one of the most efficient tools in your life as well as business adventure and can lead to overall better productivity.

Set goals. See goals and track your status from how far away to achieving those goals you are. Goals can be a great thing to have; they keep you on top of your game, life and give you motivation when you need it the most. Having to self motivate yourself can be a daunting task however, if you have goals that are in place it pays all the world and proves help you reach your success. When setting goals set a realistic achievable goal, instead of setting a goal for the month or the week or the day set a goal to obtain by the end of the hour. Work through and achieve. The mind comprehends in work progress. This is what slows the feeling of time down.

Now that you have these three tools you can now measure your hourly progress with ease.

Step one; create your to do list and map all task and daily chores.

Step two; get on your horse put your mind and creative energy to work and bust through your task

Step three; have goals posted up around your home or work place in the instance you are confused stuck or fall out of interest you can refer back to and self motivate yourself back on track to obtain success. If you stick to the plan and put your mind to work use your creative energy wisely you will have no problem keeping track of your hourly progress.

Business Training Modality - What Works Best For You?

2008-08-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

Business training content should be something that will enhance your business and help you increase your revenue, skills or happiness; however, the way in which you learn should help you determine how those skills are best processed by you.

Essentially there are 3 different learning modalities:

Visual - You find writing things down, or highlighting them to help you best to recall the information. Diagrams, photos, video or even cards with notes on them - remember flash cards in math? All of those are helpful for those that process things visually.

Auditory - You learn best by closing your eyes, blocking out the world and listening. Word Association is an effective tool that you use to remember things. Tapes and teleconferences are fabulous ways for you to increase you business acumen.

Kinesthetic - You learn best by jumping in and doing it. You are the one that glosses over directions and fiddles around with things until you know how to do it. Lessons that include games, role-playing and props (or physical examples of something you can touch) make a much bigger impression on you.

Most people do not have just one modality. I learn best kinesthetically, but I also learn well visually. Sitting still through a lecture or teleseminar is difficult for me, no matter how interesting the subject matter. To counteract this tendency for my mind to wander in situations such as teleseminars, I tend to doodle about what the person is speaking about or take notes. If the speaker is referencing things from the web I will bring them up on my computer. I do have to make an effort not to become too involved with whatever is on the web so I tune out the speaker. I know the point of my doodling or surfing the web is to keep my mind engaged on what the speaker is saying.

The most important thing to do is think about the ways you process information best and then choose the classes or lessons that work with that modality. If there is a class or seminar that you want to be involved in that is not your strength, think of ways to incorporate your learning modality. Someone who is auditory might want to record a seminar to listen to later. Someone who is visual might choose to take notes and go over them with a highlighter later. A kinesthetic person would choose to jump in and try out whatever it is they are learning to see how it feels. Play to your strengths, while still being aware of your weaknesses.

Organization Behavior - Navigating the Seven C's of Corporate Culture Change

2008-07-15T19:44:00.001-07:00

If you are in any leadership capacity within any organizational structure, it behooves you to have at least a cursory understanding of Organization Behavior tenets. In other places it may be referred to Industrial Psychology or other such terms, but they all refer to how an organization behaves both in a macro and micro level. How people react individually within company settings, how people interact with one another, and how the company as a whole reacts, are all components involved in the studies of Organizational Behavior.

Dating back to Plato, where in his frustration with the Grecian leadership at the time, quite successfully described in his 'Essence of Leadership" the qualities of effective leaders and persuasive communication. Since that time many have applied the techniques of science to better describe the working environment. The goal of all of theses social sciences is to attempt to predict, explain, and control the outcome thereby generating controversy over the ethics of 'controlling' workers behavior.

Understanding these principles gives a person no more control over another any more than understanding mob psychology can help a policeman control a riot. Yet just like the policeman, a leader with understanding could predict possible outcomes when certain variables are introduced. Utilizing this knowledge along with effective communication can help bond a group into a cohesive team that will willingly move toward a common goal.

There are many modern models available to research from the Carnegie School of thought to the Arbinger's Institute where studies in self-deception are the focus. Remember that no one model is perfect and that every company must be selective in what they try to implement. Submitted here are the 7 'C's to developing a change in any corporate culture.

Commitment

Don't start any change process unless leadership is committed to the end result. There is nothing more demoralizing to a workforce than to have change imposed for the sake of change. Make sure that it is understood by everyone in leadership that there is a goal and commitment to that goal is expected and accountable.

Catalyst

What is the root cause of why leadership would want to change a corporate culture? Bad employees or bad processes. It is the difference between pruning a bush or tying it to a support to help it grow. Make sure you understand the implications before you begin.

Clarity

Describe the goal, why the goal is necessary, and what benefits are realized when the goal is achieved. Sell it, and keep on selling it.

Compatibility

Make sure that what you are trying to implement fits the organizational structure. Trying to implement LEAN manufacturing techniques in a telemarketing office is probably not a good fit. That doesn't mean that trimming non-value-added portions of a telemarketing process is not an obtainable goal, it does mean that configuring the model to fit the environment is paramount.

Change Management

Understand the change process and how it affects people. Learn to be able to identify where individuals and groups are along the change process and help them get to the next level.

Consistency

As a leader you cannot waiver from the road. You must see the goal and help others to visualize where it lies. Whether your style is militaristic (there's the hill, let's take it), or encouraging (I can see the top, we can make it, you can do it), you are the keeper of the objective. Stay the course.

Celebrate

Reward those who promote the new environment and celebrate as a whole when you reach significant milestones. The people involved will make or break the attempt, make sure they understand just how important they are to the process.

Metrics Learning in Different Aspects

2008-07-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Managers who want to ensure improvement in their department will find values in metrics learning. This is a great way of hitting targets and being on top of things. Metrics are measurable components of performance. These are the things that managers should measure to know if the program or the operations department is meeting the goals. As a standard, these metrics are placed on a scorecard that is also known as the BSC or balanced scorecard. This is what managers look into during monthly or quarterly business reviews with clients. The targets are measured against the actual scores and there are baseline scores that need to be checked to see if the current processes are normal.

Managers should be aware, though, that metrics are not the same in every company. It should also be noted that it is a mistake to copy the metrics of other companies, even if the industry is the same. The issue here is that different organizations have different targets. There may be metrics that are applicable in one company but not in another.

One common example of a metric is attendance. This is a must for employees of companies that offer real-time solutions, like customer service hotlines and fast food joints. There will be no one to answer the phones or cater to companies if the employees are not around. This means that the attendance of these employees should be measured regularly and there should be a threshold as to how many absences these employees can take. In other companies that primarily deal with sales, attendance is not much of an issue because as long as employees hit their target sales or quotas, they are allowed not to go to work for their remaining days in a certain period. As a result, the weight of attendance in the overall performance of the previous company is higher than the latter.

Another common metric that companies have is CSAT or customer satisfaction. This is a metric that is commonly found in industries where there is direct communication with customers. Normally, surveys are sent to customers and the customers will answer these surveys and send them back. This becomes the venue in informing the company the areas in which it can improve on. CSAT is commonly found in the fast food industry and customer service-oriented forms, like phone hotlines. However, this metric is not that applicable in manufacturing industries.

Manufacturing industries, on the other hand, focus more on production. The performance of employees is measured by the amount of products they can produce at certain time intervals, provided that the machines are working right. Obviously, attendance is also a great factor in manufacturing industries because people will not be able to produce goods if they are absent.

And lastly, the biggest challenge in metrics learning is quality. This is practically the essence of all types of outputs. High quality is often correlated with high customer satisfaction rating and high productivity, precisely because people buy goods and services due to quality, not just the price. Managers should carefully look into this metric if they really want their businesses to succeed.

Survival of Your Company Through a Strong Motive Metrics

2008-07-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

To be sure that you won't be losing everything in the early years of your business, sufficient preparation, like hiring the best people, being organized, and setting up strong and solid motive metrics should be present.

When you start a company, you must plan everything very carefully. Just like a building, foundations need to be strong in order to hold the entire structure for a long time. No matter how rough the winds may be, you can be sure of the building's stability. A young company is always easy prey for larger and older companies. Especially if your company is directly in competition with these old-timers, they will make sure they get all your customers, or worse, even buy you out.

To prevent older and larger companies from getting at you, putting up a solid defense and outsmarting them should be the first things you do. By solid defense, we mean that you do not give in easily, like losing customers. Turn customers into loyal consumers of your products and services. For sure, even if you think your competitors are almost at the brink of stomping you down to the ground, loyal customers will be your life support and their patronage will keep your company alive.

Other than making an impression and making your customers loyal to your brand, you can do a lot of strengthening at the backend of your company as well. This is your work force or your employees. If competitors are not able to penetrate and get in the front door with your customers, they can sneak in at the back and take aim at your employees. Knowing you have an outstanding line up of workers, they can "bribe" these workers to leave your company for theirs by offering attractive compensation packages. Being old and well-established companies as they are, you know they can afford that.

To remedy this possibility of pirating your employees, you resort again into making your workers loyal to your company. If you can successfully motivate your employees from the start and you engage in open communication by showing them what your plans are for the company, you just might increase your chances of keeping your workers loyal to your company. Instilling in your workers the right amount of motivation weighs heavier than a fat paycheck.

The success rate of making workers loyal and stay in your company is never 100% because there are workers who would not hesitate moving to other companies for larger compensation packages. This should be understandable, after all your employees are working in your company for money in the first place. Knowing the inevitable fact that piracy of your workers can be the most serious threat to your company, continue to organize your company further and make sure to practice excellence all the time. If this is unavoidable, then the main thing to do here is to implement quality motive metrics. This way, your employees will be motivated enough to stay loyal to your company and remain under you employ. Incentives and bonuses are definitely a must here so make sure to be ready with these.

Developing a Store Scorecard That Works

2008-07-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

Attaining success in retailing would not be so much of a challenge with the use of a balanced store scorecard. This tool allows retail companies to be able to integrate the principles of a Balanced Scorecard into their business strategies.

Retailing is commonly defined as the sale of goods and other merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store or small business lots, where consumers make their purchases. Purchasers from retailers can be private individuals and businesses or corporate accounts.

Usually, the price technique employed by retailers is cost-plus pricing. This is done by adding to the retailer's cost to a particular mark-up amount or percentage. Another commonly used technique is the suggested retail pricing, which involves using the price suggested by the manufacturer. To increase the efficiency of retail sales, many companies have adopted the principles of the Balanced Scorecard to achieve success in their business operations.

The BSC management approach was pioneered by David Norton and Robert Kaplan, Harvard Business School graduates. This concept seeks to strike a balance between a company's business activities and the company's performance in terms of achieving strategic goals over a certain period of time. In the context of retailing, it can be used to measure employee performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. By using numbers or numerical data, like sales figures, the BSC arranges data in such a way that managers are able to detect changes in business results, including very minor changes that could cause a significant impact in the future. Unlike other performance evaluation systems, the BSC does not only focus on traditional financial metrics, but it also takes into account other business perspectives, including the financial perspective, internal business processes perspective, innovation and learning perspective, and the customer perspective. The financial perspective is obtained through the use of financial indicators that determine progress. This perspective is that which many shareholders are most concerned of. Internal business processes perspective, on the other hand, takes into account processes, like production, sales, and logistics, and relate them to the criteria of efficiency, quality, and cost reduction. The innovation and learning perspective, meanwhile, measures anything that is important to employee development and retention as well as skills improvement. Lastly, customer perspective seeks to gain a positive customer perception of one's business.

The first step in the adoption of the BSC approach in a business organization is to create a model for a scorecard. This requires the development of a common goal that could serve as a basis for achieving success in all departmental endeavors. Moreover, key factors that are important for organizational success need to be identified. These critical success factors need to be integrated into performance evaluation systems to make all employees more aware of them. Then, the concept of BSC and a detailed explanation of how the company intends to achieve a balanced success need to be cascaded to every member of the organization. With a store scorecard, the principles of the Balanced Scorecard will be easier understood by all members of the organization regardless of their respective departments.

Grounded Leadership - Making a Difference in the Tough Times

2008-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

You may be familiar with the children's verse: "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down", with the weeble being a doll that has all it's weight at the bottom. And come what may, the doll will always return to a centered position no matter how hard it is pushed over. Imagine this in the form of a leader. Imagine what it would be like to be able to remain steadfast as a leader in the face of huge challenges. What does it take to remain grounded so that your team can perform at its best...even through the tough times?

The last decade has seen unprecedented economic success with year after year of continued growth. Leading others in organisations can be both rewarding and challenging in the good times...but what about when the going gets tough? How do you motivate, even inspire others in your organisation when recession hits, when downsizing begins. And how do you do that when your job could be on the line too? Now the time has come for coping with an economic environment where things aren't automatically going well - something we've termed as 'Grounded Leadership'.

The news headlines are pretty stark. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England recently said "...the nice decade is behind us". Predictions abound of a global slowdown in the economy. Some organisations such as high street retailers in the UK are already beginning to cut back. It could be only a matter of time before many organisations begin to tighten their belts, to ride the rough waters of a slow-down in a bid for future success.

Resilient organisations need rugged leaders, so how can leaders continue to bring the best out in their teams, to achieve more with less with a backdrop of threatened cutbacks and downsizing? Even more challenging, how do you do all of this when you know deep down that your job could be on the line too?

First ask: Who am I being?
Imagine you're an actor in a long-standing TV soap. Your character is loved by millions of viewers and you have settled into the role...it's now become your life. And then, out of the blue, the producers decide that your character is going to meet an untimely end. How do you think you would react as a professional actor? Would it be to become 'victim' to the circumstances and let your feeling affect your performance? Would you be happy with the rest of the cast and your avid fans seeing you at your worst in the final stages? Definitely not! We know of course that true professionals would put their own feelings to one side and deliver the performance of their lives. They would be guided by the thought of the cast, crew and their loving public thinking of them for years to come in glowing admiration....their 'performance of a lifetime'. So the first place to start in being a 'grounded leader' is to ask yourself, "Who am I being, victim or the complete professional"?

Second reflect: How is the team responding?
There is no doubt that change creates emotion. What's more change in difficult times can create anxiety, even stress. Of course stress in small doses is a positive thing. For example some of the world's best presenters rely on the nerves beforehand to help them perform at their peak. There is a point however when stress and anxiety become debilitating. Once this point is reached, the effects can be all consuming and are likely to effect performance negatively, something an organisation is desperate to avoid when the tough times arrive. So how can we recognise the difference between 'healthy' levels of stress and levels that need handling?

The answer is to be on the look out for defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is the human being's built in behaviour that provides protection against anxiety and our self-esteem. They also help us vent our feelings of angst about the situation we find ourselves in. Literally dozens of defense mechanisms have been hypothesized over the years. The help that we can get from observing defense mechanisms is that if we notice a significant increase in them in those around us, they act as an advanced warning system that tells us how people are responding to change.

Defense mechanisms work by protecting our own sense of self-esteem and well being by minimizing the incongruities between the external world and ourselves. For example, denial is one of the most common defense mechanisms we can see in ourselves. Imagine, hearing the following conversation around the coffee machine at the office in when the company experiencing tough economic conditions: "But our organisation will be OK, we've got plenty of cash assets and the management team wouldn't dream of laying people off any of their loyal staff."

It's a fair assumption that the group could be stressed or anxious and coping with it through denial. Here are some more common defense mechanisms a grounded leader will be on the lookout for when things become more challenging and anxiety creeps in. Which ones do you notice happening more often in those around you in a time of crisis? Here's the five we come across most frequently: Repression or "I'm doing everything to pretend it's not happening" Repression is the fundamental mechanism of defense. Repression is the process of keeping things out of our consciousness. If you did something last week you are utterly ashamed of, you try not to think about it and eventually may even be unable to recall doing it. Everyone uses repression, but excessive repression has a cost. That is, repression requires large amounts of psychic energy and energy tied up in this fashion is then unavailable for other, more adaptive uses. But remember that there is only so much psychic energy to go around. Sigmund Freud called these suppressing energies 'anticathexes'. As more and more anticathexes are put into place, behaviour becomes more and more constrained, controlled, and inhibited. With too many anticathexes, there's little energy left for anything else.

Denial or "Yeah, but this won't effect me"
When people are overwhelmed by a threatening reality, they often turn to denial: refusal to believe that the event took place or that something is the way it is. Consider the mother who refuses to believe that her son has been killed in an accident and acts as though he's still alive. Denial also is implicit when a child assumes a role of power while playing, thereby hiding feelings of inferiority. Denial complements repression. Both keep from awareness things that the person feels unable to cope with. The two differ in the source of the threat. Denial keeps from awareness something from the outer world, whereas repression keeps from awareness something from the inner world. What they have in common is a defense against coming to terms with change and therefore preventing the ability to embrace it and move on.

Reaction Formation or "This is the best thing ever...honest!"
One way to guard against the release of an unacceptable impulse is to make a point of emphasizing its opposite - a process termed reaction formation. For example, a team member may deal with hostile feelings towards impending changes in the organisation by repressing their true hostile feelings and replacing them with effusive, 'over the top' positive displays. Reaction formation is usually detected on the basis of the intensity of the reaction and on the basis of its appropriateness. If the person seems to "go overboard" with the behavior, or seems "driven" to engage in it at any cost, then you may be seeing reaction formation.

Projection or "They've been waiting for this opportunity"
In projection, anxiety is reduced by attributing your own unacceptable impulses, wishes and desires to someone else. We all have a tendency to assume that other people are much like we are - a kind of benign projection. But if we see something unacceptable in ourselves, projection provides a way to hide from it, while still expressing it in a distorted form. For example, if you have feelings of hostility and resentment toward others, you may deal with them by developing the belief that others are "out to get you.' Projection serves to disengage oneself from aspects of one's own feelings and actions, but it also can cause problems. It can make people behave in ways that increase the likelihood of confirming their distorted view. If a person projects his hostile feelings onto others, he may act aggressively in order to defend himself. If the victim of this aggression retaliates, the person has confirmed his faulty view that others are hostile toward him. What gets lost, of course, is the fact that he induced the hostility through his own actions.

Rationalisation or "Well under the circumstances how do you expect me to feel?"
In rationalisation the person reduces anxiety by finding a rational explanation (cause, or excuse) for doing what otherwise would be unacceptable. Rationalisation often occurs along with projection because the target of the projection often provides a basis for the rationalisation. Consider the example we just used: the person who defends himself against aggression by acting aggressively. If others are hostile (the projection), it makes perfectly good sense to act aggressively in self-defense (the rationalisation). Rationalisation can also occur in the absence of projection. After a failure, for example, rationalisation maintains your self-esteem. If you've been told that your role will no longer be needed, you may convince yourself that you were thinking of moving on from this 'dead-end' role anyway. The man who is snubbed when asking for a date may convince himself that the woman really wasn't that attractive or interesting after all!

Third share: What I'm Noticing?
Roger Schwarz's ground breaking work on transparency gives us some great advice on how to begin communicating with those around us in a way that encourages mutual learning - something that Grounded Leaders always seek to encourage. Here's a simple framework you could use to share your observations with a team member when you feel they are using defense mechanisms. It follows a simple structure:

1 Behaviour
2 Feeling
3 Consequences
4 Check

And it would sound something like this: "John, I've noticed that on a number of occasions you've said that this won't effect us in the team..." (Behaviour) "...and I'm feeling that this might be some form of denial".... (Feeling) "...the consequences of denying this situation may be that we don't recognise what it's true impact might be and work through it..." (Consequences) "...so why don't we share our thoughts on what could happen and how we could handle it in a good way, what do you think?" (Check)

One trap we've seen many leaders fall into is to treat team members in the same way irrespective of their temperament and the behaviours they are exhibiting. In fact we've also come across some models of 'reactions to change' that generalise on how people respond to changing circumstances.

Our overall guidance is that reactions to difficult times will vary hugely and the grounded leader will use self-reflection, careful observation and transparency with individuals to help them achieve reduced anxiety and higher levels of performance that starts from where each individual is.

Current Aviation Metrics and the Up-and-Coming Strategies to Expect

2008-07-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Oil prices have been rising rapidly over the past few years and almost every operation powered by oil and anything that is related with the oil industry is affected by this crisis. This is most especially true in aviation where gasoline is an essential. Not only this, but the lack of air traffic system and the sufficient manpower are also problems that the aviation is facing. This is why the proper aviation metrics have to be implemented.

These metrics are mainly concerned with the development of solutions pertaining to operation management, with every plan of alleviating the whole system. There are actually three factors that have to do with this.

First and foremost is fuel, which is the number one concern of most people. If the general distribution and oil prices become higher, airfare prices will most likely increase, and this can have detrimental effects on the industry of air travel, particularly because consumers would be discouraged from traveling by plane. Any plans of market expansion just may be set aside due to the notion that air travel can now be considered impractical in terms of finances. In addition to that, air planning has never been this difficult as you combine factors, like the plunging of dollar, financial assumptions, and the engineering of the jet fuel transport, which are all affected by the increasing fuel prices. With a small change or difference in every digit, relative changes in airline strategies occur so as to enhance revenue.

Pilot shortage for small lifts or regional airlines is worsening as well. Skilled pilots are now hard to find because of there are some airline companies that are pressured with other commitments. If a pilot were to choose between flying the mainline to Tokyo and flying to mere domestic lands, of course, it would make sense for him to choose the mainline. This is, after all, more challenging and more fulfilling in terms of career path. However, there are not too many flights flying out to Tokyo than to domestic lands, and the more competent pilots would be the ones assigned to man these international flights. Thus, it would be harder to find competent pilots for the smaller flights instead.

The aviation department should not be too much alarmed with these predicted impending setbacks in the near future. With the implementation of metrics, carefully planned following strategies and competitive tactics can be made to prepare the aviation industry. Some of these are as follows:

1. Expansion will be put on hold until there is significant revenue gain and a more stable air traffic system is established.

2. The quality of revenue is better than the quantity of revenue. The volume of passengers might be important, but flying a few people to business locations beyond the carrier's boundaries should be considered significant as well.

3. Scrutinizing the current market to keep track of revenue is essential.

4. Block times are also examined since air routes with a lower block speed demands more crew and aircraft time as well as fuel.

These aviation metrics are now carefully discussed to ensure that airline companies still meet their goal while maintaining their operations intact.

The Overlapping of Executive Coaching Suggested Methods

2008-06-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

Although a myriad of methods for executive coaching exists, there is considerable overlap among these methods. For example, there appears to be agreement regarding the stages of executive coaching: relationship building, assessment, intervention, follow-up, and evaluation. These stages are typically consistent with most consultation interventions.

There is also agreement regarding the desirable assessment techniques and instrumentation, including 360-degree feedback questionnaires, behavioral interviews, and psychological instruments, such as personality and leadership style inventories (Brotman et al., 1998; Kiel, Rimmer, Williams & Doyle, 1996; Kilburg, 1996a; Luthans & Peterson, 2003; Peterson, 1996; Richard, 1999; Rogers, Rogers & Metlay, 2002; Saporito, 1996; Thach, 2002; Tobias, 1996).

A review of the literature depicted a similar overlapping with respect to suggested core competencies that executive coaches should posses if they desire to hone their skills and reach the upper echelon of clientele. The recommended core competencies constitute a skill set weighted toward being a trusted and approachable coach who can establish long-lasting relationships with a variety of people throughout an organization. Core competencies are comprised of skills, aptitudes, knowledge and methods (McClelland, 1973; Spencer & Spencer, 1993).

A collective listing of the suggested core competencies from the literature, based upon anecdotal evidence and supposition, include:

1. Approachable: puts others at ease; warm, pleasant, and gracious; sensitive to and patient with the interpersonal anxieties of others; builds rapport well; and is a good listener (Bluckert, 2005a; Brotman, 1998; Kilburg, 1996).

2. Associates comfortably with top management: deals well with senior executives; understands the thinking patterns of top executives; uses business acumen and pattern language; and develops appropriate methods (Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

3. Compassion: authentically cares about people; concerned about their life issues; available and ready to help; offers empathy when needed (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Lazar & Bergquist, 2004).

4. Creativity: develops innovative and distinctive ideas; effortlessly connects problem issues into distinctive action plans (Brotman et al., 1998).

5. Client focused: able to meet the desires of the client and client, develops trusting and respectful effective client/client relationships (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Linkage, 2006).

6. Integrity and trust: trustworthy; confidant; can speak the truth in a diplomatic and supportive manner (Bluckert, 2005a; Brotman, 1998; Lazar & Bergquist, 2004; Peterson, 1996).

7. Intellectual horsepower: is smart, intellectual, and capable; functions well in an analytical setting (Brotman, 1998; Kilburg, 1997; Linkage, 2006).

8. Interpersonal savvy (Relates well to all people): develops rapport, actively listens, builds trusting, and respectful relationships (Bluckert, 2005; Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn).

9. Powerful listening: uses active listening; fully hear the client; reiterates client's opinions despite disagreement (Bluckert, 2005, Brotman, 1998; Killburg, 1996; Trudeau, 2004; Wasylyshyn, 2005).

10. Deals with paradox: able to be fully present with the client; uses a strong and empathetic approach when needed; self-confident yet humble (Brotman, 1998; Tobias, 1996).

11. Politically savvy: diplomatic; uses sensitivity in an organizational setting; strategically plans and thinks; identifies corporate politics as a necessary function and adapts well to it (Blackman, 2006; Brotman, 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Executive Coaching Research - Part I

2008-06-28T05:23:00.002-07:00

Researchers have concluded that executive coaching lacks significant, reliable empirical research (Kampa-Kokesh & Anderson, 2001; Kilburg, 2004, Wasylyshyn, 2003). Individual executive coaches have contributed to the professional literature articles and books outlining their protocols, techniques, and deliverables. Their provisions are needed in order for the field of practitioners to define this consultative method and its components.

As executive coaching gains a stronghold on tried and true developmental practices, the requirement for rigorous research on core competencies and related training of them has emerged. Researchers must also assist in resolving or clarifying the disparity that has developed between the variety of protocols, methods, and techniques in executive coaching and offer a means to validate practitioners' claims (Brotman et al., 1998; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Kleinberg (1996), who is an executive coach with a background in psychology, argues that executive coaches who do not possess rigorous psychological training deliver more inefficiency than proficiency. In the event an executive is experiencing psychological difficulties, which have gone undiagnosed or untreated, coaching may add insult to injury. Additionally, many self-styled executive coaches know little about business and/or coaching. Executive coaching provides executives with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills along with interpersonal skills, and become more skillful in leading teams of people through organizational upheaval and business transformation (Neimes, 2002).

Kilburg's (1996a) classic review of the literature revealed that there existed more than ten years ago a paucity of empirical data, as applied to the art and practice of executive coaching, to support the techniques and approaches coaches use. Today, the breadth of research does not equal the coaching industry demand (Kampa-Kokesh & Anderson, 2001; Kilburg, 2004; Wasylyshyn, 2003).

Judge and Cowell (1997) presented a snapshot of those who have become coaches, how they are coaching, who is being coached, and why they are being coached. In a survey of 60 professional coaches, the authors suggested that executive coaching is a derivative of executive development programs.

Regarding the coach's experience through the conduit of methodology, Judge and Cowell (1997) made an interesting yet unsubstantiated statement: "One factor that differentiates coaches is the level of assessment they perform. The best coaches conduct 360-degree assessments of the executives, which includes surveying and interviewing all the people with whom the executive interacts regularly" (p. 74).

Other means of data gathering experienced by the coaches in the study included observation in the workplace, peer assessment, and gaining input from clients (Peterson, 1996). Some coaches, presumably not the best, interviewed clients in relation to leadership, behavioral issues, and the performance of informal assessments. The researchers noted that this less robust methodology might have been sufficient depending upon the client's ability for accurate self-assessment.

Executive Coaching Research, Part II

2008-06-28T05:23:00.001-07:00

Kilburg's (1997) review of the literature revealed that numerous articles have been written in the general area of coaching. However, as applied to core competencies and the art and practice of coaching techniques, limited empirical data was available to support the techniques and approaches coaches' use with business leaders. Wasylyshyn (2003) found this to have been true six years later.

Brotman (1998) echoed Judge and Cowell's (1997) research findings. As might be expected within the context of development, the authors reported that the higher a person is promoted, the more likely they will participate in executive coaching. In addition, the researchers discovered that educational experiences of the executive coaches varied greatly. The greatest amount of participants had a bachelor's degree, but the undergraduate degrees varied widely in specialty. Those with master's degrees were concentrated in business and the social sciences. The study also revealed that over 40% had doctoral degrees.

Age and gender demographics did not show the same variance. Most of the coaches (approximately 60%) were male, and 80% were between 35 and 55 years old. Very few were younger than 35 (which seems reasonable considering the experiential element). Other investigators obtained similar findings during their research into the executive coaching demographics (Edwards, 2003; Goldsmith and Lyons, 2006; Kilburg, 1996).

Hollenbeck and McCall (1999) proposed that executive coaching effectiveness has tended to be appraised anecdotally rather than by empirical evidence. Fortunately, the small body of empirical research has been growing.

In 2001, Kampa-Kokesh and Anderson published their landmark literature review, in which they found only seven existing empirical studies: Olivero and Kopelman (1997) investigated the outcomes of executive coaching in a public sector agency; Judge and Cowell (1997) surveyed executive coaching practices; Gegner (1997) studied the effectiveness of executive coaching through quantitative and qualitative methods; Hall, Otazo, and Hollenbeck (1999) interviewed both executives and coaches regarding executive coaching practice, effectiveness, and future directions; the fifth study investigated the effect of eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) as a technique used in executive coaching; Laske (1999) explored the transformative effects of executive coaching on an executive's professional agenda; and Garman, Whiston and Zlatoper (2000) examined public perceptions of executive coaching.

Executive Coaching Research, Part III

2008-06-28T05:22:00.002-07:00

Kleinberg (2001) explored the manner in which a model for executive coaching applies and correlates with current practices of executive coaches. His research focused on the personal and professional experiences that influence the approaches and change methods employed by a group of executive coaches with their clients. Following Kleinberg's thorough review of the literature, it appears that while executive coaching is currently a popular topic for discussion, it lacks theoretical understanding and has not been well researched.

Kleinberg used thematic analysis tests (TAT) and qualitative, semi-structured interviews to explore the responses of 13 U.S. executive coaches in relation to their coaching experience. The interviews were coded into emergent patterns and themes using thematic analysis. The findings were categorized under three fields: descriptive and factual, thematic essences of the executive coaches, and cross sectional. Descriptive findings included work experiences; recipients of coaching/range of outcomes from coaching; coach qualifications and training; use of coaches' resources; and process and outcomes of executive coaching. Thematic findings included: how the coaches described themselves; beliefs about expertise and success; life experiences; communication; use of theory and interpretation; individual characteristics of the executive coaches; and confidentiality and trust.

Although possessing some validity for an executive coaching model, Kleinberg's conclusions presented several obstacles to generalizability. First, the sample size was small, as was the case in Orenstein's (2002) study. Kleinberg had 13 self-identified U.S. executive coaches who responded to questions that he hoped would provide him with an understanding of what theories might be present in the emerging field of coaching.

Second, was Kleinberg's projection or desire for the participants to say that their methods possessed both scholarly and practitioner-based theory and application. The result of this project may have been asking people to make judgments about professional issues beyond their current or conscious level of knowledge and understanding. Third, the Pygmalion effect may help explain why the participants in this research project were able to report such a wide range of positive outcomes for their clients.

There is a paradox with the use of the qualitative research design. Qualitative research yields detailed information about experiences, interactions, quality, story lines, themes, patterns and behaviors, etc. (Spencer & Spencer, 1993). These types of findings are not inherent in quantitative research designs. Kleinberg (2001) suggested it was difficult for him to determine whether the questions asked of research participants yielded the information that he was looking for.

Kleinberg maintained that there is virtually no way of identifying people known as "expert" executive coaches for research purposes due to the wide range of standards and beliefs about what this actually means. Kleinberg suggested researchers' first need to define parameters that define what "expert" means. The coaches in his research were self-identified as such. Only one participant had extensive training (10 years in the fields of phenomenology, ontology, and communication, in addition to a doctoral degree). Additional limitations identified by Kleinberg were personal attitudes, health concerns (illness, low energy), life concerns, time commitments shared by coaches, which might have affected respondents' willingness to share additional information during the interviews.

Executive Coaching Research, Part IV

2008-06-28T05:22:00.001-07:00

Anderson (2001) surveyed executives from a Fortune 500 company who had recently been through an executive coaching program. The research was designed for executives to speculate the monetary value of the coaching based upon their work subsequent to the coaching received. Compared to the amount spent on coaching, the study reported a 529% ROI and additive intangible benefits. When employee retention (presumably from executives who remained because of the firm offering coaching) was factored into the equation as a benefit, the ROI increased to 788%.

Overall, productivity (60% favorable) and employee satisfaction (53%) were cited as most significantly affected by the coaching. Respondents defined productivity in this context as relating to their personal or to their work group productivity and half (50%) documented annualized financial benefits, but could not quantify them. Based upon multi-source feedback, corporate management believed the ROI from executive coaching was of significant value to the overall corporate profitability.

This study is worth citing for several reasons. First, the executives were from a Fortune 500 company. Second, the evaluating company and author was an independent third party. The executives had recognizable potential in that they were already identified for an executive development program. The employees reacted positively to executive coaching, believing that the interventions brought both corporate and personal benefits. Finally, the author had leadership positions in several professional groups that have excellent reputations in the training and development community.

In a more recent study, Orenstein (2002) challenged the prevailing understanding of executive coaching as an exclusively individual intervention. Orenstein believes executive coaching is a complex and demanding process that encompasses multidimensional interrelationships among the client, the organization (client) and the coach. She uses four premises that guide the process, including, (a) the role of the unconscious in individual and group behavior, (b) the interaction between the individual and the organization, (c) multilevel organizational forces, and (d) the coach's use of self as a tool.

In one of the largest studies involving executive coaching, Smither, London, Flautt, Vargas, and Kucine (2003) evaluated the effect of executive coaching by using multisource feedback ratings from executives in a global corporation. The focal point of their research was to discover the impact of executive coaching as it related to actual behavioral change and improvement. The study involved over 1,300 senior managers who had received multisource feedback on their performance with the results being made available to the researchers. Just over 400 of the managers (29.7% of the original group) were assigned to work with executive coaches.

Smither (2003) had several hypotheses related to executives who worked with coaches. They proposed that those who received coaching would be more likely to set specific goals, share their feedback (asking for ways to improve), and improve in their future multisource ratings. The study's outcome demonstrated that clients who worked with executive coaches were more likely to set goals that were specific and garner ideas from their supervisors for personal improvement. Additionally, managers who were coached improved more than the non-coached managers in their ratings from both direct reports and supervisors.

As a result, of the study, Smither (2003) made an important observation: practitioners may wonder whether the small, albeit positive, effect sizes observed in the current study are sufficient to justify the investment in executive coaching. Because the standard deviation of job performance in dollars is likely to be large for senior managers, even small improvements in performance may be associated with meaningful economic benefits. In the end, the authors think that judgments about the practical (e.g., economic) value of executive coaching must await further research.

Executive Coaching Research, Part VI

2008-06-28T05:21:00.001-07:00

Bluckert (2005) examined the coaching relationship as a critical success factor in executive coaching. He set out the characteristics of a successful coaching relationship and how to establish it. His findings were that the relationship is not just a critical success factor, but also arguably the critical success factor in successful coaching outcomes. Key characteristics of the coaching relationship such as rapport, trust, support, and challenge were critically examined and found to be vital to coaching success. Bluckert's arguments point to a need to direct the emphasis of coach training more strongly toward the core competencies needed in the development of the coaching relationship.

It has been suggested in the literature that variables to success using executive coaching include the coach's experience, education, coach training, and methods used (Blackman, 2006; Joo, 2005; Kampa-Kokesh, & Anderson, 2001; Stevens, 2005; Turner, 2006; Wasylyshyn, 2003). The same researchers found that superior executive coaches have been found to use varying protocols, assessments, and relationship-building techniques. As mentioned earlier, these coaches have enjoyed successful practices, despite their anecdotal approaches.

Many, if not most of the superior executive coaches, rely upon an academic background to propel them into the higher echelon of coaching. Many up-and-coming executive coaches, who possess graduate degrees, and have completed training with coaching institutions, do not experience similar accomplishment. With the desire in the coaching industry to rely upon empirically validated training, it becomes important to understand the core competencies developed and possessed by superior executive coaches.

One of the more intriguing areas of potential research for the expanded use of executive coaching concerns Wasylyshyn's (2003) assertion that executive coaches should be well versed in the use of soft skills. According to Wasylyshyn, with regard to psychology, there are certain general psychological skills essential for effective executive coaching, including interpersonal effectiveness, listening, empathy for widely differing groups, patience, adaptability, analytical problem solving, creativity, and humor. Those executive coaches who have found it difficult to break into the upper echelon of corporate coaching and do not possess a psychological background have been found to lack proficiency with soft skills.

With the aforementioned research findings considered together, this may assist the executive coach in adopting core competencies and practices possessed by superior coaches. This ability may render executive coaching more useful and effective by helping to establish a closer coach/client relationship quicker through a system of core competencies that incorporates effective interpersonal skills and assessment techniques.

IT’s The End Of An Era As Gates Logs Out

2008-06-27T22:31:00.001-07:00

Bill Gates is retiring, sort of. He is still only 52, and he is going off to spend more time guiding the world’s richest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He will still be Microsoft’s chairman and largest shareholder, but Friday is his last day as a full-time worker at the software giant, marking the unofficial end of his career as a business leader.
And what a career it has been. Gates has been an animating force behind the PC revolution, helping to build a huge global industry and engineer blockbuster products like Windows and Office, used every day in offices and homes around the world.
The Harvard dropout was the wealthiest person on the planet for years worth more than $100 billion in 1999 though his fortune is now about half that because of the decline of Microsoft’s shares and his continued donations to his foundation, which is focused on global health and education.
Despite his success, Gates is moving on as the company he co-founded in 1975 is struggling to find its way. The center of gravity in technology has shifted from PCs to
Net, altering the old rules
of competition that
were so lucratively
mastered by Microsoft.
For millions of users, cellphones are beginning to edge out PCs as the tool of choice for many computing tasks. And Google, the frontrunner in the current wave of internet computing, has wrested the mantle of h i g h - t e ch leadership from Microsoft.
A l - though Gates will spend one day a week at the company, it will be up to his successors, led by Steven A Ballmer, the chief executive, to master the challenges of the internet or watch Microsoft’s wealth and stature in the industry steadily erode. Bill’s legacy is Windows and Office, and that will be a rich franchise for years to come, but its not the future, said David B Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School.
Still, the Gates legacy is impressive. In addition to software itself, Gates and his company have shaped how people think about competition in many industries where technology plays a central role. Today, there are more than one billion copies of Windows operating system on PCs around the world. Industry experts and economists say that Windows is not necessarily the best or most admired software for running the basic operations of a PC Apple’s Macintosh can claim the most devout fan club. But Gates grasped and deployed two related concepts on a scale no one ever had in the past: the power of network effects and the value of establishing a technology platform. Put simply, the network effect describes a phenomenon in which the value of a product goes up as more people use it. Email messaging and telephones are classic examples. A technology platform is a set of tools or services that others can use to build their own products or services. The more people who use the tools, the more popular the platform can become. Gates took advantage of both notions and combined them to build Microsoft’s dominance in PCs, spreading its influence with PC makers and software developers.
Today, there are many thousands of software applications that run on the Windows platform, not just word processing and spreadsheets but also specialized programs in doctors offices, factory floors and retail stores a broad network on a nearly ubiquitous technology platform. “Gates saw software as a separate market from hardware before anyone else, but his great insight was recognizing power of the network effects surrounding the software,” said Michael A Cusumano, a professor at the MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “That,” Professor Cusumano added, “was the essential difference in the paths of Microsoft and Apple, the early leader in personal computing.” Apple focused on making outstanding products alone, while Microsoft nurtured a growing ecosystem of outside software developers who use, and are dependent on, Microsoft’s technology”, he said. “The result,” he added, “is that, while Apple continues to make outstanding products, more than 90% of personal computers run Microsoft software.” In the early years, it was unclear how much Gates was pursuing each opportunity as it came, as opposed to carrying out a grand strategy. “He certainly had large ambitions. When he was a Harvard undergraduate, Gates lamented that so many of his fellow students pursued a narrow track for success instead of being willing to take big risks to do big things,” recalled Michael Katz, a Harvard contemporary who is now a professor at New York University. In a Harvard Business School study, published in 1994, Gates spoke of MS’s strategy in terms of network effects and technology standards that, combined, enabled the company to command mkts. NYT NEWS SERVICES

Barriers to a Successful Business

2008-06-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

If you are a student of people like I am then you know that there are certain traits that lead to success. I personally love going to malls, finding a quiet place to sit, and just watch people walk by. I often try to imagine what makes them tick, what decisions they are wrestling with, and what challenges life has thrown their way. Businesses are much harder to watch, but the successful ones all seem to have common characteristics too. The author of the book, Good To Great, went much further than just sitting in a mall watching. He and his team spent months and months investigating what it takes to be a great business. What he found can be read in his book, but I want to dig into why many, dare I say, "Most" businesses don't succeed.

First, lets take a look at what a barrier is. A simple definition is something that keeps you from reaching that sought after goal. Barriers come in many forms and hinder even the most successful. Such as:

o Harry Truman failed so often in business and politics that he once wrote a letter to his wife, Bess, in which he said, "I can't possibly lose forever."

o Early in her career, Lucille Ball was fired by a producer who told her, "You're not meant for show business. Go home."

o After an early performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley was told that he should stick to driving a truck since he obviously had no future as a singer.

o Rudy Kipling was fired from his first job as a newspaper reporter because his editor told him, "You don't know how to use the English language."

o After completing his first novel, Stephen King decided it was terrible and threw it into the trash. His wife fished it out and sent it to a publisher. Thus started a very long and successful writing career.

The question that I hope you will answer by the end of this article is, "How do I overcome the barriers that I am facing today, and the barriers I will face in the future?" After reading this statement you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, this article is supposed to be about barriers to a successful business." Believe it or not, it is this business man's opinion that the real barriers to a successful business lies within the mind.

Yes, common barriers to a successful business can be the location of the business, the amount of capital and funding it has, the experience of the staff, and how much in demand the product is. But... I believe that the following ten barriers will keep your business on the sideline even if you have the best possible location, all the money in the world, a team that is known as a "dream team", and a product as great as an umbrella in the rainy season.

Barrier #1: Lack of focus - Recently at a golf tournament his name was sitting where it is found most often, at the top of the leader board. He was playing great golf and the "pack" was trying every shot in their bags to catch him. He continually stepped up and hit one magnificent golf shot after another. Then I noticed something. After each shot, while the crowd was roaring cheers to their great hero, this golfer stayed focused on his game. During the entire round he rarely took off his "game-face". It was this focus that enabled him to hit those great golf shots, to win the tournament, and will very possibly be what makes Tiger Woods the best professional golfer the PGA has ever seen. Just like Tiger, in order for you to reach your goals personally, as well as professionally, you must stay focused.

Barrier #2: Mind Set - When you get up in the morning do you set in your mind to end the day with several victories? It is easy to say, "Yes," but do you really set out to sell more than you ever have, work smarter in order to accomplish what were only dreams a few years ago, or purposefully develop a team that will help you reach the summit in your profession? The problem is negativity, and negative thoughts. Before you stop reading consider this. Recently I was playing in a doubles tennis tournament with a person that I had never played with. We were playing the best team in the tournament and I wanted to win badly. The reason we lost was not lack of skill or even luck, it was my partner and his negative mental attitude. Literally, his mind cost us the match. How much is your mind costing you?

Barrier #3: Belief system - I don't believe things always happen just because you say they will happen. I do however believe that there is power in words. Just like your mind set, your belief system must be positive in order to have positive results. It is just like the little train climbing the mountain, "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can." You stand a better chance of accomplishing your dreams if you surround yourself with positive people, mentally feed on positive thoughts, and speak positive words.

Barrier #4: Making excuses - Recently I was working with a business person that said she really wanted to accomplish great things. During our dialog we began digging into why she had not accomplished the first steps of this journey. What she said actually shocked me. She began making one excuse after another as to why she had not accomplished even the most basic of her goals. When I called her on this she didn't have much to say. She realized that she was going to have to take steps in new and unfamiliar territory if she would ever accomplish her dreams. What excuses are you making today that are holding you and your business back?

Barrier #5: Fear - We have all experienced it, and to some degree are controlled by it. How do I know this about you? Think back to when you were a kid. At some point you probably didn't like to go in dark rooms or walk down dark streets where scary sounds seemed to come with every step. The feeling you felt then will cause you to reach for the light switch today. In my 20+ years of leadership experience, I have found that there are at least four common fears that affect even the most seasoned leader. More than likely, at least one of these fears affects you each and every time you relate to a person on a leadership level.

Before, you read these fears, please prepare your mind to read them openly and honestly. This article is not meant to delve deeply into the psychology of each fear, but to share how they influence you as a leader. The fears I see most often in the lives of leaders are:

* Rejection. I have never met a person that likes to be rejected. Leaders that have had bad experiences with rejection will guard themselves from being rejected. Most often I see this as the turtle syndrome. The leader is afraid to stick his head out of the shell and take a risk, develop a new program, hire a new employee, or ask someone to take on a certain task. As a leader you have to realize that there are risks involved, and those risks come with rejection. You must stop, look at your options, decide on what to do, and then take action.

* Loss of control. This fear is often seen in powerful personality types. This is not to say that the leader is a control freak, but control is a "comfort zone" to this person. The fear of losing control is displayed in a leadership style often called "micromanagement." In other words, the leader is afraid to delegate responsibilities because if things get out of control he will not be able to take corrective action fast enough. What you must realize is that you are in control of very little. Life is basically out of your control. Managing people with a strong, controlling hand will not allow them to take on new problems nor will it challenge them to make progress in areas where they have never been before.

* Employee dependence. We all depend on people, from our families, to our doctors, to the garbage collectors that pick up our trash on a regular basis. Employee dependence is a fear that is much deeper than simply depending on someone. The fear comes each day when the leader senses that something may be wrong with his "key" person. The leader then begins to wonder about the loyalty of this person. Asking mental questions like, "What if this person quits? How would I make it without him? What can I do to make sure she is happy in her job? What will my boss do if this person goes over my head with a problem?" On and on the questions go. The grip of this fear is strong, but must be eliminated. As the old saying says, "If you hold on too tight, it will slip through your fingers."

* Financial challenges. Take a day this week and go to your local bookstore and count how many books are written on financial matters. You will probably find that there are more books on this one subject than any other. Leaders are always facing challenges, but financial fears have a way of gripping like no other. New programs or ventures take capital. Employees needed to expand and grow increases the salary budget. Additional equipment to increase overall efficiency requires funds to be spent. The strength of financial fears often causes the leader to begin accepting the status quo; and will often cause the leader to give up on his dreams.

These are four fears that I often see in leaders. I encourage you to plan some time in your schedule this week and think through this. If you find that one, or more, of these fears have a grip on your life then allow your mind to reveal the root cause. Finding the root cause today will begin a healing process that will result in you being a better leader tomorrow.

Barrier #6: Being satisfied - It has been said if you are not going up you are going down. I don't know if that is totally true, but I do know that being satisfied for any length of time in your business will cause your success level to go down. Your competition will catch up with you, your staff will get bored, and profits will begin leveling out.

Barrier #7: Busyness - Many authors more published than I have written on this topic. They have filled many pages and books on this subject. I will make one brief statement that will have what I hope is a great impact on the future of your business. That statement is, "You need to begin tomorrow working 'on' your business, not just 'in' your business." What that means is that you need to look at your business from 35,000 feet and begin to develop strategies that will produce financial growth, staff satisfaction, and organizational goals achieved.

Barrier #8: Trading greatness for being good enough- Referring again to the book "Good to Great" you must fight the temptation to just be good enough. I have never been fond of white-water rafting, probably because I don't like cold water. The sport consists of a raft, fast moving cold water, raft riders, and a raft leader/guide. I once saw a picture of a group of girls out for some white-water rafting fun. The girls in the picture were all smiling and waving to the camera while the leader's eyes were straining to see down stream. No doubt he was looking for the next big rock, up coming turns in the river, or other challenges that they would have to navigate.

To move your organization to a great one you must keep "going" towards the organization's mission and vision. A great organization is one that overcomes the obstacles and turns in its path.

Barrier #9: Removing the glass ceiling- Many people, as well as organizations, excel into greatness, but stay there only for a short time. It is this author's belief that there is something supernaturally built into every human being. That something is the desire to win, but at the same time the fear of losing. It seems that for many there is a glass ceiling that holds them down, keeping them from reaching new levels of success. What is your glass ceiling?

Barrier #10: Giving up - When you get a minute do a word study on the word: Gambaru. It is a word with a rich meaning that runs deep in some cultures around the world. Gambaru simply means to not give up. A short definition, but you and I both know it is not that simple. When things get tough and the future of your career, life, or business looks like it will not make it you must not give up. You must jump out of bed each day, full of vim and vigor, ready to conquer what ever comes your way. You simply just can't give up!!!!

Jeff Earlywine began his speaking and consulting career while working on his undergraduate Business degree. His experiences have led him to work in many difference areas of business and non-profit organizations.

Jeff has been coaching and training people for most of his life. He has coached multi-millionaires in areas such as personal finance, business operations, accounting systems, and legal issues.

* MOTIVATING SPEAKER

Jeff has always had a very unique communication style. A style that challenges his audiences to grow to their potential. His down to earth stories will have them laughing one minute and stretching beyond belief the next.

* CONSULTANT

Jeff has spent over two decades consulting with hundreds of different organizations all across the nation. Serving as a consultant at The Injoy Group challenged him to be his best while he worked with the best. Jeff has assisted many organizations in Vision Casting, Strategic Planning, and Future Planning.

* EXECUTIVE

Jeff's unofficial title is, "Minister of Organization," and by this title you might know this is his greatest skill. That skill gave him the passion to organize many different departments in rapidly growing organizations. That skill also developed a staff capable of growing each of these departments after he was gone.

The Right Tools Aren't Enough, You Have to Plan For Operational Excellence

2008-06-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

As manager of Performance Improvement for a 400 bed hospital, I had ten years to focus on pulling the organization together as a team. It was almost a dream world for operational excellence, with an executive staff that was behind the improvement process, the finances to support improvement efforts, and hospital managers and staff who were willing to work hard to learn and apply the right tools. In 1992 the hospital brought in Florida Power and Light's training team to help us build the process, using FP&L staff who had been instrumental in leading that organization to the first Deming Award earned by a U.S. corporation.

Those trainers brought serious tools, including everything from statistical process control to facilitator and team leader skills training. Besides learning these tools myself, 100 of my management colleagues spent close to 30 classroom hours - and countless hours of practical application - developing skills to lead this sort of process. One of our first efforts was to train 35 facilitators to work with the various teams throughout this medical organization. And we followed that by training 1200 staff members in the basics of effective team membership to support the efforts that we expected to grow from this organized approach.

A DESIGN FOR THE PROCESS

At the start, a Design Team was chartered, which included executive and director level staff, as well as hand-picked front line people who were committed to making the whole process work. Every bit of the process was carefully planned, because this was one effort we intended to make successful. Budgets, time allowances, purchase of materials, and even chartering of an oversight department (Performance Improvement) were detailed out, and the likely areas of need were identified for initial efforts. Even a performance-based incentive plan was established, one in which all full-time staff could share the monetary results that we hoped would result from this sort of all-out approach to improving

BUILDING TEAMS TO BUILD SUCCESS

Over the course of those ten years my department saw over 200 teams formed, and conducted an annual PI Olympics which showcased the efforts - and the outcomes - of each of those teams. Those team efforts were broad! We saw functional teams that evaluated the billing and accounting processes, management teams that took on leadership approaches, and dozens of cross-functional clinical teams improving everything from surgical cycle time to patient scheduling and transport. It was an eye-opening experience, and one that resulted not only in many improvements, but also saw employee morale soar, with turnover dropping to match the best in the state. Why was that? Because people love to be involved in a process that is obviously making a difference.

WHY IS SUCH AN APPROACH EFFECTIVE?

Operational excellence, continuous improvement, lean, six sigma, and performance improvement: all have evolved from the same basic approach, starting with the assumption that people working together will accomplish more than any single leader can ever hope to do. To be effective, the approach has to include common goals, goals that leadership has identified as being basic to the success of the organization. The goals have to be obvious to all players, and must emanate from a solid understanding of the needs of the external customers purchasing the services and products of the company.

LEADERSHIP HAS A CRITICAL ROLE

Management must agree to work with one mind toward those goals, and this is more difficult in larger organizations, because it's easy for large departmental or divisional goals to take the place of the highest level goals - those that insure the longevity and success of the organization itself.

Because of this issue, executive leaders have to take the time not only to develop the highest level goals, but also - and most importantly - to "make the connections" between those highest level goals and the activities that produce the supporting results in the various parts of the company. What does this mean? It means thinking through the contribution each department makes to the overall success of the corporate goals. Company staff, even the "lowest level" staff, are intelligent enough to re-aim their efforts for significant improvements IF they understand how their part contributes to the overall success of the corporate goals. Is that connection-planning too much to ask of executives? Believe me, such planning will provide results wildly out of proportion to the time taken for the effort.

RESULTS HAVE TO BE MEASURABLE

Finally, it's relatively easy to build momentum at the front end of an improvement initiative if there is common purpose among leadership and staff. But the process is doomed to failure if the measures for successful results have not been defined. That starts at the highest level, and is followed with careful development of supporting measures down through the whole organization. This isn't rocket science, but it does mean analyzing lower level measures to find which will drive reliable, repeatable improvement of those at the higher, organizational level. Again, why is this so important? Because it connects the efforts of staff to visible improvement - people need to know that their work is making a difference.

Shifting Non-Performers to Performers

2008-06-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

A quick Goggle search reveals 3,000,000 mentions of non-performing employees. Peruse the top ten and the prevailing theme is ways of firing, punishing or putting up with them. Rarely is it mentioned how non-performers became that way or how the cultural beliefs created the situation. The Ivy Business Journal in March/2003 presented research which indicated that the cause of under performance was not the lack of talent, but the prevalent un check assumptions and perception held by management about the capabilities of those deemed to be under-performers. Finally ... some intellectual insight in print.

The insight isn't in blaming the manager. It comes when you study the dynamic that spirals up or down, mostly down.

Subtle doubts enter the boss's mind. Does this employee lack the 'right stuff'? The trigger can be as simple as two different images of what was required but no one verified whether both were on the same page. The spiral heads downhill from there. After that, all incoming data is used to support or substantiate the premise.

Second, the boss starts to control selecting tasks that fit lower expectations, subliminally sending out the message of not being good enough. Motivation and morale take a beating. Being inspired to contribute isn't even on the map. The employee is passed over for the interesting projects and the 'set up to fail' is on its merry way.

As if that were not enough, the message and perception spreads to their social network like an underground fire in a bog, burning quietly yet destructively under the radar. Unless there is a high level of self-awareness on the part of at least one of the individuals, no one will notice the ripple-effect. This is how 'dead wood' is created.

So what does it take to convert and transform the situation?

Someone has to notice, to see what mental chatter is saying about the employee and the situation. The trigger to suspend judgment and be curious.
The best thing that could happen is that the same self-aware person sets time aside to ask and then listen. Really listen. Not interrupt or comment or commiserate but just listen for ten to fifteen minutes solid. The quality of the question is critical as is how it is asked and the abundant presence of curiousness.
From that set of insight gained from listening with the senses, not just the mind, perceptions can be explored, as long as the mind remains open to learning and understanding.
With insights gained, the leverage point and opportunity to shift perception and rebuild trust emerges through seeing what lies at the heart of the matter.

Deeper understanding is the podium for transforming the situation from non-performing to releasing pent-up potential. That doesn't inform all situations.

Some non-performers are created through entitlement to benefits. Their personal security has been delegated to the organization's structure and culture. And they like it that way. When you challenge that sense of safety and security, you will create a group of unhappy campers. Creating a shift from a place of entitlement is much harder as it requires going deep into the individual's desire for safety and security to reconnect them to a place of empowerment outside of structure. Unfortunately, people in this position might be the first ones to pull the plug on themselves when a pink slip arrives at their door. Their sense of identity depends on the structure, not who they are.

2008-06-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

Going green at home is something everyone who watches television has probably heard plenty about. However, going green at the office is a relatively uncommon topic, and yet many companies in the U.S. are taking step to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases that affect global warming.

The best part is, you can quickly and easily do your part to green your office with just a few simple tips. They don't take much time, but they will make a world of difference.

The areas you can focus on in the office are plentiful, but here are 3 that can get you started. They involve your office air conditioning and heater settings, office lighting and office equipment use.

1. Install a Programmable Thermostat

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy offer staggering reports and suggestions on temperature control and lighting. You can save as much as $150 every year in energy costs by installing a programmable thermostat.

This apparatus allows you to set the temperature for when the office is closed and when it opens, and for when there is a higher flow of traffic or no traffic on the weekends. In turn, you will be setting your temperature according to office hour factors.

Constant raising and lowering of temperature makes your air conditioning and heating units run overtime which can also cost you. So, once you have programmed your thermostat, don't touch it!

2. Replace Light Bulbs

According to the EPA, using ENERGY STAR qualified light bulbs use 75% less energy than their run of the mill counterparts. They also last 10 times longer and produce 75% less heat which will reduce cooling costs.

By changing out the lights you are currently using, you should see an immediate change in your electric bill, even if it is just a few dollars. And chances are, your savings will be a lot more than that.

3. Check Office Equipment

Some questions you should ask yourself are:

How old is my equipment?
How often do you use each machine?
Do they power off automatically?
Do they stay on overnight?

Computers, copiers, printers and fax machines suck up the most energy in an office and are oftentimes left on 24 hours, 7 days a week.

In 2007, qualifications for office equipment to be rated with the ENERGY STAR changed, which should lead you to consider trading up on older models. ENERGY STAR equipment on average are 25% more efficient, power down automatically when they are not being used, print double sided to reduce paper waste and run cooler yet again saving you on cooling costs.

Unplugging equipment will also save your office on energy. If something is not in use or over the weekend, unplug your machines. It will only take you an extra 30 seconds to go around the office to unplug machines that are not currently in use. It is a simple solution to keep your electric meter outside from rotating.

Try it out. Go outside and look at how fast your meter is going around. Now go back into your office and unplug you equipment. Then, run back outside and check your meter again. You will notice a considerable difference by simply pulling plugs when you are not using the machines they are hooked up to.

Implementing these steps will show off your "Green Wisdom" and it's basic stuff you do at home; turning things off when you are not using them and replacing the old with newer, more energy efficient products.

A Brand New Vocabulary

2007-11-25T20:13:00.001-08:00

When Merriam-Webster announced in July 2007 the twenty new words that had been accepted into the dictionary, I was delighted to hear "ginormous" had made the cut. What a great word! An obvious merger of "gigantic" and "enormous", it far more accurately conveys the sense of hugeness neither of the other words adequately communicates alone.
The word handily describes the humongous untapped innovative potential within any organization - the power of passionate employees working together.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, breakthrough ideas come from collaboration rather than a genius working alone. The light bulb, for example, came from the creative efforts of everyone on Thomas Edison's laboratory team who shared the same vision and passion about creating something brand new.
In a June 2007 U.S. News & World Report article, Keith Sawyer, author of "Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration", was interviewed about his research that spawned the book in which he talked about the need for a shift in current management thinking that would enable the unleashing of this innovative spirit.
Envision, if you can, a culture filled with a brand new vocabulary:
Full autonomy freely given to small groups of talented people and an absolute willingness to accept and embrace the surprising and ingenious outcome of uninhibited collaborations.
Now, consider what might be possible in your organization! A recent study cited in the same US&WR article showed 14 percent of the "substantial innovations" that come out of small groups account for 61 percent of all profits.
What do you think would happen if you were to remove every barrier that prevented employees from forming collaborations on their own to come up with solutions to your most vexing problems and develop new ideas? Do you know what your employees are passionate about? Do you have a clue about what they love and excites them about getting up every morning? If you were to discover employees' passions and connect them to their jobs, you'd have the key to making work effortless joy! I believe you'd have something truly rare and totally... ginormous!

Risk Management in IT Systems

2007-11-25T20:12:00.002-08:00

A risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, will affect your IT system/project objectives (or targets, or goals) and may have a positive or a negative effect. There are usually far more things that are likely to go wrong with an IT system or project than are likely to go right, so risk management is generally the art of trying to prevent things going wrong.
For most IT systems we can identify at least four objectives:
1. Functionality: the characteristics or performance of the expected system
2. Quality: the level of excellence of the system deliverables
3. Schedule: the dates by which functionality has to be delivered
4. Cost: the budget under which the system has to be delivered
There may also be other objectives, such as:
5. Safety: The system may have to work within a safety regulatory framework, or, at minimum, must be safe to operate
6. Environmental: The system may need to work within an environmental regulatory framework, for example, in a power station or in a gas pipeline
7. Political: There may be a need for the system in avoidance of political embarrassment e.g. a new passport control system to replace a discredited one.
A risk is any future event that would cause your costs or schedule to increase, or would result in reduced functionality or quality of the project deliverables or would impact on any subsidiary deliverables you have identified.
The risk management process can be divided into six operational areas:
1. management planning
2. identification
3. assessment
4. quantification
5. response planning
6. monitoring & control
The job of a risk manager is to manage all these processes. Lets have a look at them in turn:
1. Risk Management Planning
A typical plan will define:
1.1. Activities that are to be carried out. including risk identification, assessment, documentation, customer response, tracking of responses and execution of responses
1.2. Roles and responsibilities
1.3. Timescales and work breakdown of who does what
1.4. Criteria to use when assessing risks eg are we assessing based on cost to the project, or effect on timescales, or both
1.5. Reporting method
1.6. Review timescales
2. Risk Identification
The process of identifying what might go wrong with your project. Identifying risks is a matter of accessing information that is available to you as a corporate body.
Typically this uses:
2.1. Risk Databases: a collection of information derived from experience on previous projects.
2.2. Risk Checklists: a list of areas where you might expect problems to occur.
2.3. Information Gathering Techniques: getting information from a wide range of individuals using techniques including brainstorming, Delphi technique, and interviewing.
2.4. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis: can identify risks in the client company which might impact on the system..
2.5. Specialized Techniques: such as cause-and-effect diagrams and various forms of flowcharts.These are often used when interviewing people with specialised knowledge of the proposed systems functions eg engineers or accountants
3. Assessment
This means estimating the severity of a risk in order that you can prioritise and deal with the severe risks first.
Risk severity is usually defined in 3 quantities:
3.1 Impact: the effect if it happens
3.2 Likelihood: the possibility of it happening
3.3 Precision: the degree to which the risk is understood
4. Risk Quantification
Risk quantification is the process of measuring the probability of a risk and its impact on project objectives. Unlike risk assessment, risk quantification aims to produce verifiable numerical values. Risk quantification typically uses techniques to:
4.1. Determine how risks will effect the costs and timescales of the project
4.2. Determine probabilities of finishing on time and budget
4.3. Make appropriate amendments to project plans depending on the risk factors quantified
5. Risk Response Planning
There are four ways in which you can respond to any risk:
5.1 Avoidance: Arranging the system ( or the customers business) so the risk is no longer relevant.
5.2 Acceptance: Acceptance means deciding to live with a risk, i.e. accepting it. (Note, if you do this, you MUST document your reasons)
5.3 Mitigation: taking positive action to reduce the severity of a risk either by reducing the likelihood that the risk will occur (risk abatement) or by reducing the impact that a risk will have when it occurs (sensitivity reduction).
5.4 Transfer: the process of transferring the effects of a risk (usually the financial effects) to another party eg by outsourcing support
6. Risk Monitoring and Control
Risk monitoring and control is an on-going process which should last for the life of the project. Its chief requirements are:
6.1. An organized method of monitoring risks.. Typically this is done as a part of regular project meetings
6.2. Individual ownership of risks. Each risk must have a person who will be responsible for keeping the information about that risk up to date, and ensuring that response actions are carried out.
6.3. A risk information system. A standardized reporting system is advisable to help remove subjective interpretations of risk severity. This is usually an on-line database accessible by everybody on the project.
6.4. Periodic risk reviews. Carried out at intervals throughout projects to determine if risks have changes
6.5. Independent risk analysis.. External risk management contractors are often used to obtain an outside view and ensure the risks are being managed objectively.

IT Consulting Firms - Choosing the Right Partner for Your Business

2007-11-25T20:12:00.001-08:00

Your business relies on technology and computing systems that are becoming more complex by the second. Trusting mission-critical systems to simple backups and upgrades is no longer enough. Many small to medium-sized businesses are finding themselves in need of a solid IT firm to manage their technology needs rather than relying on their "friend of a friend", or part-time computer technician. Here are some tips to greatly increase the odds you choose the right IT consulting firm for your business.
Determine your company's high-level technology needs. Do you have any specific wants or needs, such as email, a website, or a server? Are you concerned about data security or disaster recovery plan? What is it about your significant business processes that can be improved on by technology? What kind of growth do you expect in the next 1-3 years and how will your current technology solution handle it? Is someone even helping you plan for this growth? These are the types of overarching questions you should consider before you consult with an IT firm. Having a list created is key to relating your desires to the IT firm and also provides good basis for a conversation that can be elaborated on. You may not be familiar with your technical options that exist so let your IT firm help you. The IT firm with which you contract should provide a technical assessment that identifies the current state of your technology and learns how it interacts with your day-to-day business functions. How can an IT firm support you in a cost effective manner if they are not familiar with your specific setup?
Make sure the IT firm you select has adequate resources. Your business probably needs 24/7, 365 day support. What does the IT firm have in place to accommodate this level of service? Do they proactively monitor? Do they have offer expedited service? Computers crash at the most inopportune times and your computing needs often do not take holidays. If you contract with a sole proprietor you will be putting your business operations and data at risk by relying on a single individual that can become ill, be out of town, etc. Making sure they are an established firm with a good track record of service to numerous clients is an invaluable, mandatory step in choosing your IT service provider.
Ask IT firms about their processes. Like any business, an IT firm should have established business processes and procedures on how they operate on a daily basis. If these core processes are non-existent then how will the IT firm bring any type of order to your chaos? During the initial meeting, a IT firm should be able to quickly describe their maintenance, repair, service, and support processes and show examples of documentation. Ask about their company's philosophy, mission statement, and examples on how they practice that mission statement every day.
Check references and certifications. Ask potential IT companies for at least 3 corporate references and speak to them. Trust is a difficult asset to hand out to a new IT firm, so speak with someone who has already made the leap. You can also ask for a list of certifications such as Microsoft's Gold-Certified program which assure the company has been through intensive training and quality control programs.
Evaluate the personalities. Ask to meet the folks in the company with whom you will have the most interaction. Are they condescending tech geeks or friendly and approachable professionals in whom you can trust. Remember these folks will have access to all your company data - choose carefully. You are looking to create a trusting relationship so make sure you like them!

Background Check Laws - What Are Background Check Laws

2007-11-25T20:11:00.002-08:00

Searching the details of a person can be an easy task. Pay a few dollars and within a few days time you will receive all the background check results of that person. There have to be some laws to protect people and their privacies and the way the background checks are used.
This is where the background check laws were created. A long list of laws have been crated under various categories, some of the laws have been listed below.
Running background checks for fun cannot be done; you must have a permissible logic or reason behind conducting these background checks. A guarantee must be given from your side. The guarantee must state the purpose of the check and that the reports will not be used for any other purpose.
The background check may come out with negative results in such case you must inform the candidate in advance of the actions which maybe harsh that will be taken against them. If you will cancel their credit or credit card etc it must be informed in advance so that they can think and then take a decision.
When you run a background check before employment certain steps have to be followed. The candidate should be aware that a background check will be run on him. A proper background check authorization in written form and duly signed by him must be acquired. Both these above mentioned actions to be conveyed to the background checking company and a copy of the report must be provided to the would be employee as well.
Asking for a medical background check for the purpose of a job is not permissible. Incase you are keen then you can run a medical background check only after getting the consent of the candidate. This is also known as medical background check authorization form and it should be filled by the candidate and signed by him under no pressure.
Many people run businesses on background checks. They conduct the check and then sell it to others. In this case there are few laws to be followed. The reason the final buyer is buying the background check to be informed to the investigating agency. The name and address of the final buyer also to be informed. If there are more buyers then all their details should also be filed.
There are many more laws which you must abide by when you want to get a background check done. These laws are very simple to follow and an absolute must too.

Manage Your Time to Earn More In Less Time

2007-11-25T20:11:00.001-08:00

People talk about the 80/20 rule quite a bit.
20% of your customers produce 80% of your profits.
80% of your problems come from 20% of the customers.
20% of your activities produce 80% of your results.
Let's talk about this in regard to how you're spending your time. Since 80% of your activities only produce 20% of your results, and the other 20% of your activities are producing 80% of your results...wouldn't you be better off concentrating only the 20%?
Let's say someone works 12 hour days. It's almost unbelievable to me that people work that much, but I've spoken with MANY who do so. Sure I could understand and have done a 12 hour day right before a vacation or on the last day of finishing a project. But working that long every single day? That's the surefire recipe for a breakdown, both physically and mentally.
Applying the 80/20 rule to their 12 hour days means the 80% is 9.6 hours and the 20% is 2.4 hours. If we cut out the 80% that isn't producing very well for them, we would only have 2.4 hour days. Now there's a schedule I like.
Something I often suggest to my coaching clients is to make an activity log for the next week. Every day, simply list all the activities for the day and how long it took you to do them. At the end of the week rate each of those activities by how well it is building your business.
You're going to find you're wasting way too long on certain activities.
You may find like many of my clients these activities include:
- Reading too many blogs (Limit the number you subscribe to)
- Subscribing to Internet marketing newsletters that only sell without providing good quality content.
- Answering Email All Day (no more than twice per day and shoot for once per day or less)
- Surfing the Forums (I can't think of a bigger waste of time if you're not there for the purpose of generating traffic by participating)
- Calling Someone Without a Specific Plan in mind (you can waste an hour with no results - keep it short and planned)
All of the above are activities people do to make them FEEL like they're working instead of doing any real work. They also consume your day.
What are you personally doing that is wasting your time? What do you do to replace the real work of your business?
Usually these are activities that consume much of your day...and don't show any real results at the end. They are part of the 80% producing only 20% of the results.
Next ask yourself which activities really bring in the cash.
For example, for me, these cash producers include:
#1 - Writing (used for the blog, new products, and article submissions)
#2 - Copywriting (sales copy for my sites, tests, and emails)
#3 - Product Development (recording videos and doing interviews to create products)
#4 - Business Development (creating systems for others to do the work - could also be listed as the real #1 cash producer but I love the writing part the best)
Where do I waste my time?
I asked myself this question lately and had to answer I had slacked on following my own email rule (answering no more than twice per day max which I do for the coaching clients). So I'm pushing myself strictly back to this.
I've also allowed myself to check the comments on my blog too often. So for the time being I'm turning off blog comments. For me they are part of the 80% that's not really producing the results.
Be honest with yourself...and figure out where you waste your time. What parts of your business are the 20% producing 80% of the results? Which parts are the 80% only producing 20% of the results? What can you eliminate or outsource immediately?

The Theory Of Constraints And Six Sigma

2007-11-25T20:10:00.002-08:00

Six Sigma-The Best Management Improvement Tool
Every business unit aims at reducing defects and maximizing quality. Six Sigma helps greatly in this regard by eliminating the defects in a work process by a series of methods. Thus, delivering the end-user or customer a high performance, reliable and valuable product.
Theory Of Constraints- A Theory With Substance
The biggest advantage of the theory of constraints is that it not only helps to manage a complex system but also determines the root cause of any problem as well. The very first thing that a business unit must consider before implementing Six Sigma, is whether the chosen project is feasible enough or not. Often, it so happens that on the account of choosing wrong projects, the quality and productivity no doubt increases, but the net profit of the organization remains unaffected as before. This is a major constraint and the theory of constraint works along these lines.
The theory emphasizes five points. They are:
Step 1-Identify System Constraints
First look for the constraints or hindrances in the system of the organization.
Step 2-Decide How To Exploit The System's Constraint
Once you have identified the constraints, then search for a Six Sigma project that will minimize the waste of the constraints by exploiting the constraint itself.
For example, if machinery is proving a constraint in the work process, then apply a Six Sigma solution that concentrates on reducing defects by reducing setup time, eliminating scrap as much as possible and keeping the machine in optimal condition for as long as possible.
Step 3-Subordinating Everything Else To The Decision Made
Next make certain that no other aspect of the system interferes with the throughput (output in a specified time period) of the constraint.
Step 4-Elevating The Constraint
The fourth step entails that the constraints should be lifted or elevated by the way of acquiring additional capability or offloading some load onto other resources within the system.
In machine constraint, elevation of the constraint can be done by purchasing additional equipment or employing workers who possess additional skills in operating the machine.
Step 5-A Constraint Has Been Broken
If a constraint is broken in any of the previous step and another element of the system is now becoming a constraint or a limiting factor for our chosen constraint, then go back to the first step and rethink the strategy.
Theory Of Constraints And Six Sigma-A Winning Combination
The theory of constraints is one of the best TQM techniques because it saves a lot of time and effort. Project selection, the very first step of theory of constraint, helps a Six Sigma team to choose the right project because wasting Six Sigma resources on already strong links of a unit will yield nothing. On the other hand, choosing a weak link for implementing a Six Sigma project will further help in reducing your defect level, thus maximizing quality.
Secondly, the theory by recognizing the constraining element in the very beginning saves a lot of waste of the output of the constraint. Additionally, the Six Sigma team also comes to know about the tools and techniques that can replace the existing constraint and the ones which are functioning well and are not to be touched. However, replacement must be avoided at all cost, unless it is absolutely necessary to do so, because replacements again result in the waste of the constraint. It has been established time and again that, when the theory of constraints is applied with Six Sigma techniques, the results truly provide an efficient, bottom-line improvement.

Business Planning With Six Sigma

2007-11-25T20:10:00.001-08:00

DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Here we analyze how these steps can streamline the business planning process.
Define
This is the phase that requires attention to VOC, which is 'voice of the customer'. Here you are the customer since the business plan is meant to serve you. There are other minor customers, such the government, partners and shareholders etc., and all have an interest in the business. Here you define what you wish to achieve with your business in the near and foreseeable future.
Measure
The purpose for measurement is to set the targets to be achieved. The baseline for measurements is the previous year's budget and accounts. For making a business plan, the previous year's gross margin and profit in dollar terms would serve as parameters to determine the projected targets that need to be achieved.
Analyze
This is the stage that requires you as the business owner to put in the maximum effort, as it is here that you will critically examine your business to identify areas for improvement. As overall business objectives are achieved through a variety of actions, it is necessary to break down the entire process into different activities, depending upon what exactly your business does. However, there are some activities that are common to most businesses that are helpful in understanding the process.
For example, if your objective is to achieve one million dollars in profit with a gross margin of 15 percent, all activities to support this objective will need to be mapped out. This can be easily done with the help of a fishbone diagram, which is a simple graphical tool used to create a structure that would delineate the interrelationships between the different aspects of the business. Using some other analysis techniques along with this will help you gain an in-depth understanding of the more complicated aspects of the business.
Improve
Once you have completed the analysis, it is time to initiate improvement-oriented actions. If you have decided to make improvements to sales through a marketing campaign, the improvement stage is where you determine the modalities.
The entire action plan for overall improvement would be a collection of small, individual activities but each would be tied into the fishbone diagram reflecting support to the overall objective.
This would serve as a reference document to identify the message, targets, timing and vehicle; which would actually detail the who, what, how and when -keeping you focused.
Control
This is the monitoring stage. Here you would list the activities that you would undertake to ensure that you are keeping track of progress, and taking whatever corrective action is required for putting things in order if they go off track.
This may involve some sort of periodical reporting connected to lead conversion, production, sales, cost reporting or service delivery.

Old Fashioned Common Sense Can Be A Good Management Model

2007-10-15T22:59:00.001-07:00

As many of my readers and friends know I have a passion for history, especially business history. I think it's a shame that history has always been taught as though it were made up only of stories of kings and princes. Real history is about business. I'm an American, I'm a capitalist. I love the History Channel, I arrived home one afternoon after a particularly harrowing day. I flipped on the History Channel and started watching a documentary about the Great Fire of 1906 that burned San Francisco to the ground after a terrible earthquake. One interesting story that jumped out at me was the story of an italian immigrant who started a bank, The Bank of Italy, in San Francisco in 1904. His name was Amadeo Giannini. After the earthquake struck, he kept his whits about him. Amadeo saw the fire coming, and, thinking quickly, loaded all of the money out of his vault into boxes, put the boxes in a wagon, covered the boxes with vegetables, and took the money to his home which was several miles outside the city.
After the fire was finally put out (three days later), it had burned all of his competitors's banks down to the ground and all of their depositor's money was lost, "up in smoke" if you will. So Amadeo drove his cart back to town. Finding his bank building burned to the ground he proceeded to make an office out of a plank and two barrels and started making loans to local businesses well ahead of his competitors. His quick thinking had saved his bank and kept his depositor’s trust. A decendant of the bank that he started is still in existence today. Gianinni's Bank of Italy merged in 1929 with another California bank that was the first to develop the concept of branch banking. The name, the Bank of Italy was changed in 1929 with the merger. The two bank presidents agreed to co-manage the new bank and the company formed by the merger still exists. Today it is known as The Bank of America.

Balance Yourself With Your Life Wheel

2007-10-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

The fall season is a time when things change. It’s also a good time to continue to get more balance in our work and life.
Have you seen the life balance wheel? You identify areas of your life important to you, and rate them anywhere from 0 to 10. All-encompassing balance can include areas like: finances, emotions, health, career, relationships, personal growth, community and recreation. The real importance of using this balance wheel is to identify areas in your own life that you value.
Pretend you are looking down at the life wheel and that each of these life areas represents a spoke on the wheel.
With the center of the wheel rating at zero or being totally dissatisfied, and the outer perimeter as a ten equaling total fulfillment, what level of satisfaction do you have with each life area?
As you look at your ratings you have ranked along each spoke of life, a new perimeter comes into focus which represents the balance of your life. How bumpy is your ride? Does it look and feel balanced? In a perfect wheel, you would have all tens, but life isn’t perfect. There are at least seven things to consider when you see your life wheel:
You can be so focused on one area of your life to the detriment of others. Does “all work, no play” sound familiar?
1. For the wheel, (your life), to turn smoothly, you have to have balance, not equality. Imagine the wheel turning with a 10 on your career spoke and a 4 on your family relationships. This would not be desirable as you’re placing too much emphasis on work and possible neglecting your family.
2. Finding balance is a continual process. Your focus can change from year to year and then as the wheel turns, the ride becomes smoother.
3. Use the life wheel to help you more clearly set priorities that bring more balance.
4. Consider what area(s) you need to do something differently in.
5. Find the one easiest thing you can do today to move you toward your ideal life and do it. Select another action in 30 days.
6. If your wheel is bumpy, consider professional coaching to help you create an action plan to move toward what you want.
Fall is a time to enjoy and celebrate life so what are you waiting for? Enjoy your continued renewal process to more life balance.

First Look at Balanced Scorecard Software

2007-10-15T22:57:00.000-07:00

As you begin to realize your dream the business grows. At some point in time, most business owners notice that their heads no longer have “all the information” about the business. If success follows upon success, effectively tracking and evaluating the independent aspects of “the business” or “the enterprise” becomes nearly impossible.
Balanced Scorecard Software, claims to be the SuperHero designed to tame all the wild beasts and capture all the evil villains lurking throughout “the enterprise.” Well, they don't actually say it that way, but the various producers of Balanced Scoreboard Software are claiming some pretty big and important advantages for management.
The balanced scorecard software solutions allow management, (on all levels, in all departments), to check the real status of their own department/division against Corporate goals and against other departments/divisions.
The goal is to be able to install a reporting and management system that will allow looking at the enterprise across divisional lines, in the same way by using the same metrics for each aspect of the enterprise. According to devotees of the Balanced Scorecard the purpose is to enable a business to ensure that is operating under “best practices” guidelines to attain Enterprise goals with the least waste.
The problem with most of these reporting systems in the past has been the trade-off between “doing” and “documenting” when it comes to business activity. Doing lots of work to produce lots of products has often required at least some degree of shortchanging the documentation. Losing track of costs of labor, or other specific items has often plagued business. The developing black holes in the corporate budget, into which millions of dollars are sucked is not only a common issue, but is often associated with an organization which is turning a favorable balance sheet.
The Corporate world has always sought a solution which could produce real-time metrics on diverse aspects of the corporate structure in meaningful slices. “Is HR profitable?” is often an unanswerable question. We hope it is but can we measure its profitability on a day by day basis? Without some really good and accurate reporting and metrics system, we can only guess.
A Balanced Scorecard will (should) offer a tool to check performance, financials and all other characteristics of each segment/department of the entire enterprise. As with all solutions, the biggest and hardest part of setting up and running a balanced scoreboard is determining how and where to implement the solution. In the case of balanced scorecard, the big decision is to adopt the solution. After that, it becomes clear that it must be implemented enterprise-wide to reap the full benefits of the concept.
Adopting the Balanced Scorecard concept may be the biggest corporate decision you make in the next few years. It may be the way to turn your enterprise around by rethinking your corporate goals as part of aligning goals to performance and performance to goals, as Balanced Scorecard is designed to do.

First Look at Balanced Scorecard Software

2007-10-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Managing People - Drilling Versus Skilling

2007-10-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

Too many departments within organisations attempt to skill their employees when they need to drill their employees.
Drilling, or making people practise a skill or assimilate knowledge until it becomes second nature, is used when people are new to a task or need to correct errors in the way they execute a task. It is also used when an automatic response to stimuli is required.
Skilling, or giving people the rationale and the knowledge to adopt certain behaviours, is used when people are fully competent at tasks. It is also used when we want people to be able to interpolate and extrapolate from their current experience.
Drilling involves low levels of cognitive thought processes. It helps embed items held in sensory memory into short term memory and then to long term memory.
For example learning the "Ten Top Attributes of Leadership" from a list created from research by means of reciting the list, keeps the list in short term memory.
Repeating the same list and being tested on the list daily codifies the list into your long term memory.
Associating the codifying of the list into long term memory with a sound, a smell, a sight a touch or an emotion helps in retrieval of the list later from long term memory.
Skilling involves high levels of cognitive thought accessing information from long term memory. It requires analysis and decision making capacity. It is suitable to make people grow and to meet the higher needs of Maslow's hierarchy.
For example, running a course where classroom interaction is encouraged on the topic "What is a leader?" with participants sharing their experiences on good and bad leadership traits. A high level of cognitive thought is required to develop a list of leadership attributes.
Skilling and drilling require different instructional design.
Drilling requires participants to practise, practise and practise until they get it right. For example, learning that 1 + 1 = 2 as I was taught in grade one.
Skilling requires participants to be challenged in what they know as normal. People need to be given circumstances or put in environments where they have to interpolate and extrapolate from what they know to discover the general principles that govern the processes and tasks under consideration. For example, being required to prove that the number 1 exists and 1 + 1 = 2 at university.
It is popular to follow McGregor's XY Theory of motivation and be a theory Y (participative) boss or trainer. That is, to include much cognitive thinking in the training design (to skill). However, there are many times when it is much better to drill, especially where discipline and consistency are required.
Ten examples I can think of are remembering:
What is on the menu as a waiter in a restaurant
The safety procedure in the case of fire
How to reload your gun under fire as a soldier
What cannot be legally imported as a customs officer
What are the features, advantages and benefits of products as a retail sales person
How to answer the telephone in any business
What is in the brand style guide as a marketer
What to do as a pilot when the low altitude light comes on
Navigating through multiple screens and systems retrieve information in a help desk call centre
Where major streets and suburbs are as a taxi driver
There are some common approaches to training instructional design which are good to include.
Common approaches include:
Verbal repetition
Writing down what is said to have two modes of memory retention operating and reinforcing each other
Matching words and phrases to chunk the material to be remembered into smaller "bits" of information
Physical repetition to achieve muscle memory e.g. dancing, sport techniques or conditioned response e.g. emergency response
Quizzes, games and other competitive fun environments to associate feelings, sounds and touch with the information to be encoded
Revising to repeat retrieval and recoding into long term memory
Acknowledging that people will be tested to create higher levels of attention aiding the codifying process
Using fun to motivate and interest people - people remember more of what they are interested in

The Shoddy Wholesale List Myth - Revealed!

2007-10-10T04:05:00.001-07:00

Perhaps wholesale list e-myth schlock revisited, could become another appropriate wholesale business title for describing the current without a stop myth bonanza in our fascinating e-commerce industry. In a way, it is appropriate for many of us to keep glued at those outrageous claims made by other apparent market successes.
Their message is sticking in quite a few of my Puerto Rican friends and other business enthusiastic that follow along. Let us get to read some of these points correctly, in a form of personal opinion for the need of maintaining our right of learning by either personal mistakes or, well, myths that need some pampering for the good!
The still alive wholesale business myth skepticism- I do not have much money to invest in any particular business product right now, what would you recommend? While quite a few might tell you to come back when you find something that you feel passionate about and then arrive back and they shall teach you to sell it, it is not enough. This living legend answer needs to be extended quite a bit more.
Reality being, you can have passion for a certain business but if the business brings no profit that you can count on, why should you bother feeding it more? Myth being, that you should follow a passionate business and the glory shall come! No, an appropriate plan should be: follow a passion, grow your strength a bit more in the most important aspects, sell it or teach it, test and test, results and conclude if it’s worth it when the proper analysis has been performed.
Another big one- I really do not have any time or money to build a business, I already have a family, full time job and a wife to entertain! What irritates me most is that I hear this from my buddies, my friends, the guys I usually drink piña coladas from time to time, problem being they later ask me in a humble way how you do this and that! While Richy Rich is not my name, you guys should also know quite a few things!
If pay check to pay check funds are being spent on mortgage, kids, cars, utility bills among others. You can go to an Internet marketing forum, study the vibe for a few weeks. Read a few posts and finally when you are almost sure, you can ask someone to build you an e-commerce shop and maintain it for you for a royalty fee and just in case, you get that site and pay as example 10-15% of all future business net profits. Having it better, you can negotiate time frame in months or find a partner so you guys can both leverage your timing and wife, husband, kids don’t go bazooka on you. Then upgrading your knowledge about such business by the numerous ways already available should be appropriate.
If it does not make sense yet and you really want to have an additional stream of income for improving your lifestyle, may it be possible and likely that the people that surround you and really care about you would want you to improve but may be a bit frighten from stepping way beyond their natural comfort zones? I know something is for sure, most of them will not understand if you ask- why would they? Key here is getting educated and having a minimum vision of what you want to do and stepping that action plan so you can see the light a bit more!
While it might sound sweet, why not care a bit more about your present, future and what you really want. Be it wholesale, Google Adsense, social networks or among others- choose one and do not whine! We are swamped with work all day, but why does that couch gets lowered once every sit and every weekend has to be about beer?
Then a very respectful question from a gentlemen- buying from US distributors and turning a profit from resell is totally impossible, I want to buy in bulk. It is totally a myth saying impossible on eBay or in a website. While sites like eBay have lots of competition, do know that eBay has plenty of distributors and suppliers selling high priced items in clearance and in brand new conditions. Why step foot in fire when the water is cooler in other popular merchandise? And even then, such distributors are taking advantage of instant traffic- most of them don’t own their personal sites for marketing them.

Modeling NLP for Business Success

2007-10-10T04:04:00.001-07:00

The key aim of NLP is to model the excellence of others. Generally when people are good at something they are not consciously aware of what they are doing that makes them good.
Most of the time people take for granted the things that they do well. For example, I assume most of you are good at walking...but when was the last time you looked at your legs and praised your walking ability, or analyzed what it is that allows you to walk with the unconscious fluency that you use.
modeling in NLP is about discovering what makes the difference between good and great results. An NLP Model of Success takes into account both what your subject does physically and also what goes on inside their head. Some of these elements would be absolutely vital and others might be just idiosyncratic and only apply to that particular person.
If we were to model a very persuasive person, the external model would be what they say. The internal model would be their beliefs and values about what they are doing. In a NLP modeling study you would gather all the information by observation and interview and then start using it. Once they are comfortable with the model they would start to leave bits out and test until they have just the core elements that make up success.
The same approach can be used for modeling an organisation. Any company exhibits a collective behaviour and this is based on the collective thoughts, values and beliefs of the individuals within.
modeling techniques in NLP won't make you Einstein, Bill Gates or a large multinational company. What it will give you is a way of analyzing, recording and transferring the key elements of success in any skill or endeavor. It is simply a way of breaking out of your own limitations and boundaries to become even better at the things you want to achieve, by systematically learning from those that are already proving successful.
Consider for a moment the value of being able to see inside the head of Bill Gates or Richard Branson and then being able to analyse their behaviour and personality for the answers to these questions and others I am sure you can think of:
What motivates you to create your success?
What keeps you going when it isn't going the way you want?
What do you believe about yourself and the world around you to be able to create this success?
What specific behaviours do you exhibit to create this success? Now imagine being able to do the same thing but with a successful organisation.
You might already notice that only one of the questions above concerns their behaviour...actually about what they do. The other questions are all about what is happening inside their heads. This is because, in most circumstances, behaviour follows thought. Let us consider a simple example, take these two beliefs:
I could never be a millionaire
My destiny is to be a millionaire; I just need to make it happenThe person with the first belief is not likely to make the effort or take the actions to go down this route but the second is likely to be always looking for the opportunity to move in this direction. An over simple example, but I hope it makes the point that internal thought proceeds external behaviour and consequently is far more powerful.
How does all this help create a successful business?
Firstly let's talk about individuals. Have you experienced or met people that have this experience? They know what to do to create success, or get things right or get rid of the problem, but they are continually repeating the same behaviour and making the same mistakes. This is still because what happens inside your head is the most powerful aspect of your behaviour. So if you can get this aligned with creating success then your external behaviour can be more easily modified to get the results.
By knowing what makes a successful sales person, trainer, business manager in your company or industry gives you several advantages. Firstly you can look for and recruit specifically for the right values and beliefs as well as skills and experience. Secondly, individuals can through a variety of NLP techniques and related exercises modify their own values and beliefs to give themselves more successful in their endeavors.
Secondly, by modeling successful business you can gain an insight into the collective beliefs and values that the company has to hold to be successful. Then through organizational development, corporate communications and key business statements you can align your organisation with these values and beliefs.

Managing KPI

2007-10-10T04:03:00.002-07:00

In order for any business to be able to effectively starting managing KPI (key performance indicators) they must first decide what these are actually going to be. However when selecting them a business should limit themselves to those factors which they consider to be essential to the business in order for it to achieve its goals.
Another important thing when choosing your KPI's in order to manage them effectively is a business should keep them to a very small number. By doing this a business is more likely to be able to keep everyone who is involved in the business attention focused on what is required of them in order for them to achieve their goals.
The main reason why many businesses today are using key performance indicators in their business is not only as a way of getting staff to work more productively but it acts in some ways like a carrot on a stick would to a donkey. It also provides staff with a clear understanding of what is required of them in order that the business and they achieve the goals that have been set before them.
Once you have the KPI's chosen you need to allow all members of staff to know what they are. Certainly one of the quickest and simplest ways of doing this is by sending an email to them or placing them on the company's intranet system. You may also choose to actually print them off and place them in places where they are prominently displayed such as in the office canteen or in the conference room.
But not only should you be showing the employees what each KPI is you also need to show them over time what progress is being made in order that the targets and goals are being met. The more people are provided with information relating to their KPI target the more motivated they will remain in order to reach them.
Along with telling staff what the key performance indicators are it is important that you allocate a certain role or step in the process to achieving the businesses goals to a particular member. Once you have decided just which member of staff will be dealing with which particular sector of the KPI you then need to spend time looking at the ways in which they can achieve their goal of completing the task. You may find that for some staff members it may well include them undertaking some additional training, but in order for your business to attain its goals this may be necessary.
Certainly the more a business is capable of managing KPI's then the employees within the company will find it much easier to meet and attain the goals that they have been set. If you keep the above in mind you will find that actually managing yours will be much easier than you first suspected.

How To Manage Up - The Art Of Managing Your Boss

2007-10-10T04:03:00.001-07:00

The art of managing your boss may sound like some subversive corporate political undertaking. However, I assure you it's not, if done properly; your boss will thank you. Managing your boss can be the ultimate win-win scenario for your career and organization. Most workers view the corporate chain of command as a psychological hierarchy written in stone. The chain of command clearly dictates, who reports to whom.
In order to break out of this psychological bondage, one must consider why they would want to manage his or her boss. The benefits of managing boss is numerous, one of the chief reasons would be because you are the expert at what you do, not your boss and you have the best vantage point of what should be done either in your department or with your position.
A number of companies have readjusted its hierarchy to a flat system, meaning they are trying to give more authority in a linear perspective to empower more employees to become more effective at getting things done. The desired effect of going flat is to reduce the time lost at going through a typical corporate chain of command. These companies understand that where an individual is positioned within an organization hierarchy is of less importance than what the person knows.
This brings me to my initial point of managing your boss. Conventional wisdom tells us to be a good leader we must first become a good follower. Accepting this hypothesis as being true, the first place to start is managing you. A self-analysis should consist of a personal strengths and weakness of your management skills. Some personal questions to ask for self-assessment are:
1. Can you verbally and visually show enthusiasm for most duties in your department?2. Are you able to focus your attention on department goals in lieu of your own personal goals?3. Are you committed to lifelong learning? If so, how many books have your read, seminars attended, or classes taken in the last six months?4. How do you respond to rapid unorganized change?5. Can you train and develop individuals to perform effective tasks?6. Can you arbitrate disputes amicably between parties that are equally passionate about their positions?7. Can you look at the grand view of the company rather than just your small piece of the pie?
Self-assessment is just the initial step; since most of us view the world through our own kaleidoscope. The importance to have others, preferably not friends to answer these questions about you becomes paramount. The ideal situation is to involve at least six different individuals who are impartial towards you as a manager or personal friend. In the event you are unable to locate at least six impartial people, use friends or teammates. Using friends or teammates pay particular attention to the answers. Any responses that are not a consensus on a particular question is probably a good indication of an area that needs to be addressed by you.
Equipped with the skill set necessary to manage your boss; you should have a through understanding of what motivates your boss and why. As strange as this may sound; all bosses are not motivated by the bottom-line. I can hear the rumblings now that I don’t know your boss; understand that each boss is responsible for a certain set of objectives or goals if you will; this is not necessarily their primary motivation. Some bosses do it for the recognition, ego, money, prestige, and many other reasons. The germane fact here is that you should be aware why your boss does things, so you can appeal to his or her primary needs. When you understand what makes the boss tick then you can direct him or her to the most effective problem solution that is inline with your own core beliefs.

Increasing The Velocity Of Your Corporate Client's Money

2007-10-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

Forward-thinking businesses are seeking to integrate payment systems with business management systems, improve liquidity management, and automate payment processing. For banks, the opportunity lies in offering next generation cash management and liquidity services that truly meet the demands of business.
Banks rightly pride themselves on their status as trusted financial advisers to their corporate customers. And yet, there is a wide gap among the banking community in its current knowledge about what ERP systems are capable of and their importance to the effective management of a business. Banks that understand how corporations systems sit together, the role of legacy ERP applications in the organization, and the place that corporate-to-bank connectivity has in that framework will greatly enhance this status.
We look to banks for their expertise in managing money, investments, liquidity, credits and payments, not for their prowess in IT. Yet, a number of banks are investing heavily in developing payment systems for their customers (SEPA) and wider cash management requirements, which are inflexible, of limited functionality and unable to adapt to change.
Corporations currently require payments systems that are capable of sharing information in a variety of flexible and customized formats. Corporations need – and are increasingly demanding of their banks – a cash management system that is bank-neutral and integrates with their back-office financial management or ERP systems. Businesses are looking to link their physical and financial supply chains to provide company-wide visibility and control of business and financial processes. Corporations need flexible solutions featuring systems based on open standards, and able to adapt to evolving regulatory and business requirements.
In both our quantitative surveys and focus groups, our research shows that corporate customers have a clear need to receive additional structured remittance information that will allow them to apply a payment quickly. This will enable an efficient posting and reconciliation process. Many companies have expressed a great deal of frustration that the capability is not available
Treasury functions at many organizations are facing the same critical dilemma. Profit pressures are forcing your corporate client’s treasury departments to be more efficient and cost effective in their cash management. However, as treasury staffs and resources continue to shrink, the question on the minds of treasurers is: How can I do more with less?
The highlights of this system would be as follows:
Fully automated, next generation enterprise payment system offering a revolutionary change in Payments Infrastructure
Common payment & remittance interface
World class management team – top banking & payments leaders
Common gateway for Domestic & Cross Border Payments
Flexible format for exchanging remittance information – with 72 easily customized fields, 3 of which are mandatory (Invoice #, Date, Currency)
A/P and A/R software that integrates with electronic payments
Provides Straight through Processing of electronic payments into major accounting systems (SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, QuickBooks, etc…)
Merges payment instructions with settlement
Least cost routing – ACH, Wire Transfer, Check, Swift, etc…
Converts currency and settlement on the fly
Greatly reduces settlement, fraud & FX risk
Compression from batch to real time
Highest levels of security, compliance and fraud control
Fully Scaleable with simple integration
Web Based and simple to use from the convenience of any Web Browser – Easy for the sender & receiver
Cost effective, feature rich and fully automated
ASP model – can be White-labeled
Full audit trail with 7 years of payment history
Business Case for the Banks
Enhances your banks capabilities to include remittance information with payments
Enables your banks cash management systems to integrate more effectively with accounts payable and accounts receivable systems to facilitate straight-through-processing
Having remittance information with the payment would increase efficiencies and enhance value to your corporate clients
Provides Thought Leadership and trusted financial adviser status to your corporate clients
Improves efficiencies, enhances value & promotes growth
Accelerates the cash inflows
Slows down the outflows of cash
Manages liquidity and/or borrowing costs
Improved relationships with corporate clients
Enables banks to proactively monitor, predict and pre-empt their corporate customers’ liquidity requirements
Business Case for the Corporate Client
Standardized, automated means of processing electronic payments
Payment includes the remittance information
Adds convenience, speed and security to the processing of B2B electronic payments and emittance information
Automatically moves the remittance information with the payment
Based on open standards, and able to adapt to evolving regulatory and business requirements
Ease of use from the convenience of any Web Browser
Integrates seamlessly into the entire information processing network, with a minimum of cost, delay and disruption – Simple integration
Real time information for ease of account reconciliation
Spend less time on non-core account payables and receivables management, and focus on the core treasury and finance challenges
Provides the ability to purchase Spot or Forward Foreign Currency Transactions including gain or loss (for forward contracts and/or revaluation purposes) for posting to the accounting records – FX Capable

Occam's Razor at 2am - Help Desk Escalation

2007-10-10T04:01:00.002-07:00

Occam’s Razor at 2am (Incident Management)
The Principle:
Occam’s Razor is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. Many people have heard it phrased more commonly this way “All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one," or alternately, "we should not assert that for which we do not have some proof." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.
Now for the story:
It happens when you least expect it and are sleeping (for most Problem Escalation Teams).
You get the call (at 2am) that something is not working and you have to dial in or participate on a call.
At this time, a series of people have already attempted to resolve this problem. It is very likely that they have tried simple things and that if the application is downed for more than several hours; they have moved into more complex solutions. I have found that in these calls, we typically fail to answer 4 questions.
1. When was the last time this was working correctly?a. In my line of work, it was usually working within the last 12-24 hours.b. Its relevant because things don’t break for “no reason”…the cause may not be known, but it usually happens from an action, or omission of an action.c. Is it working correctly is some locations and not others (i.e. Web based architecture is broken, but local networks are up.2. What Incidents were opened today (check all resources)?a. We had several different queues and people that helped in different locations.b. Call ANY resolver and ask them if there touched anything today.3. What upgrades or implementations occurred or were ATTEMPTED?a. This can contribute to problems that were missed in Testingb. Attempts can cause breaks, but if it is not rollback, or not rollbacked correctly this can cause unknown issues.4. When was the last time this server was rebooted?a. Windows Patching can cause issues since the testing on these is not rigorous.
These 4 questions usually lend themselves to resolution. At one 2am call, the IT team had been working for an extensive time (13 hours) and they were getting ready to rollback patches from 2 weeks ago, when I entered the call. I asked the four questions mentioned above and found some compelling information.
It was at question 2, that we took a step to resolution. Earlier that day, someone had opened a ticket where the root cause of the incident was a missing .exe. The Resolver did nothing wrong by replacing the missing .exe. He resolved the incident as he should have.
I asked our IT guys to run a directory compare of .exes and .dlls and found some missing items from a working app (another site) to the broken app. We found 3 things missing. We copied them back in and magically things started working again.
These 4 questions have helped me immensely but also helps focus where to start looking. In effect, everyone is looking for what changed. This helps refine the search and brings folks into the loop on what occurred. It is my contention that after a few hours of resolving a problem, we tend to go deeper, when in reality; we might want to consider more shallow, back to basics.

The Secret to Making More Money

2007-10-10T04:01:00.001-07:00

Do you feel like every dime you make gets sucked into a black hole to pay bills and leaves you asking yourself, “Where did all the money go?” Want to know an age old secret?
You have to make the money before you can spend it!
How do you do that? It’s called INCOME PLANNING. Here are some steps you can do every week to make more money.
RESEARCH YOUR MARKET –
First, find out what products or services your customers want and then provide that. One way to find out what they want is to look over your sales receipts, and find out what product is selling the best. Ask the customers 1) why they bought the item, and 2) what they expected it to do for them. Now use what they said in your advertising to promote that product.
PROMOTE TO YOUR MARKET –
There is an art to promoting something so that it will be responded to by your customers. Promotion does not necessarily mean offering a discount. It’s more important to find out why a customer wants or needs what you have to offer, and what they will base their buying decision on. Price may not be as important as fast delivery and dependable service.
Find inexpensive, but effective ways to promote. Collect business cards from potential customers, and send them a personal letter letting them know how your products/services can benefit them. It is one of the least expensive, most personal promotional actions you can do. A series of postcards mailed at regular intervals to current and potential customers can also be very effective.
Another great way to get new business is to ask your satisfied customers for referrals. You can make it fun for your customers to participate by creating a referral game they can play, where they get something in return for a certain number of referrals who buy. Let your customers help you out. They really do want you to do well in your business.
SELL AND DELIVER -
Selling is easier when you are genuinely interested in your customers and want to help them. ASK you customers what they need and want. Then it becomes much easier to sell them that product or service. For example, a family of 4 who wants a van to cart the kids and their equipment around to sports activities is going to walk off in disgust if the salesperson is showing them 2-door sports models, despite the fact that the sports car is a good deal.
Once you’ve sold the product or service, fast, courteous, professional delivery is key to customer satisfaction. This is especially important if you are in a service business. Delivering what you promised, when you promised it, can mean repeat business and referrals for new business.
PREVENT THE WASTE OF RESOURCES -
For every dollar you agree to spend in your business, ask how it is going to bring $5 or more worth of income back into your business. Carve out a percentage of the income every week to fund a promotional budget and then figure out the most effective ways to reach your customers within the budget. It is no laughing matter when the income you worked hard to earn gets wasted on things that do not give you a return on your investment.
REPEAT SUCCESSFUL PROMOTIONAL ACTIONS –
Look back at when you were last making the most sales. Find out what your successful actions were at the time and do those actions again.
Focus your time, energy, and creative thinking power on planning how to get the money in. That gets the cash flowing in the right direction and puts your attention back on servicing your customers and you will enjoy your business even more.

International Business - Can Americans Cope

2007-10-02T22:33:00.002-07:00

The world may be flat and international companies may believe that they know all there is to know about business overseas. Nonetheless, the recent “lead paint” problems with China would suggest otherwise. Mattel may be saying “sorry” to the Chinese, but the real question is “where was the on-site management in the first place?” Most likely enjoying their “perks” instead of minding the store.
Establishing an international operation or assigning personnel to an existing one requires planning and development that is generally overlooked. Having spent the past 25 years watching American companies fumble overseas, I've been fascinated with the trials and tribulations of expatriate living. International assignments require both savvy business acumen coupled with the knowledge and understanding necessary to live and function successfully in a foreign environment. A compensation system based on performance rather than greed might also be useful.
There are several reasons for this:
1. American companies continue to think of themselves as American, not multinational, thus assignments overseas are not viewed in a strategic totality, but rather as a nuisance that must be dealt with from time to time.
2. The majority of the literature on the subject appears in personnel and/or training development magazines, thus the key decision makers in a company are not exposed to the problem on a regular basis.
3. The cost of establishing an in house development program is a visible budget item and considered high, relative to the numbers transferred each year. Thus picking consultants (one from column A, one from column B) to present a less than integrated approach is seen as a quick and cheap fix.
4. Then there is the attitude displayed by company and individual alike that" no one tells me how to act overseas, I'm an American, I'm great, I know all there is to know, they need me and if they don't like it they can lump it."
5. Lastly, compensation programs not tied to performance but linked to in country costs and keeping up with the “Jones”, defeats any real incentive to produce.

Bosses Need Gift Of Better Meeting Leadership

2007-10-02T22:33:00.001-07:00

Studies show millions of meetings are held each day in the United States and that thousands of dollars are spent per meeting hour where the meetings include multiple executives as attendees. Are all these meetings a business investment or a waste of time? Sadly many of those same studies indicate the managers attending the meetings felt up to half their time investment was wasted. If meetings are important enough to hold, then why don’t the bosses of the organization insist they be better lead?
Can the gift of better meetings be this year’s ultimate management prize? If meeting leaders can learn to accomplish more in the same amount of time or less, then the answer is most definitively yes. If the answer is yes, then how can this gift of better meetings come about?
There are lots of good training courses and books on meeting management. When looking for a good meeting leadership course, besides using the words “meeting management”, search for courses that include some form of lead or facilitate in the course title. Sometimes meeting management course titles seem to be disguised as something else or the meeting training is a component in a larger package offered as a longer workshop. The benefit of taking a course is concentrated effort on learning the tools and techniques along with networking and ideas from other course participants who have the same business world experiences. The main disadvantage is time away from the job to attend the course, which is why many do not take advantage of this formal training option.
Reading and following a book on meeting management is a viable alternative to formal training, if the meeting leader commits to following the guidelines and the book includes examples or usable forms. One option with examples and forms is the new book “R.A!R.A! A Meeting Wizard’s Approach” (ISBN 1-4196-5367-9). This book and others on meeting management may be bought through Amazon or ordered from bookstores. The primary advantage of informal learning from a book is that it is portable and may be read on or off work hours using small segments of scattered time rather than consecutive hours. Books often include the same benefit of tips, tools, and techniques but in a different format than found in a formal course. The disadvantage could be the lack of networking and discussion with other course participants who are learning the meeting leadership material at the same time. However, this disadvantage may be overcome by forming a book study group at the jobsite or having a regular meeting team explore the book’s materials and learn better meeting management together.
Going back to the meeting studies, they also show that the number of meetings is increasing and their duration is too. To save dollars, time, and management worry - offer bosses the gift of better meetings as a direction towards higher profits and increased productivity. Better meetings lead to more productive employees, less time and dollar cost wasted, and less cost means higher profit margins. Make meetings a business investment instead of a waste of time by reading a book or attending a course so more people become better meeting leaders. Give and share the gift of better meetings this year.

Just Say No to Interruptions

2007-10-02T22:32:00.002-07:00

As a business owner, everyone wants a piece of your time. With an onslaught of people demanding your attention and only so many working hours in the day, event the smallest interruptions can keep you from accomplishing your goals and running your business to its fullest potential. With PDAs, bluetooth, wireless internet and other gadgets and gizmos making us even more accessible 24/7, sometimes you just have to say ‘no’ to interruptions. Of course, as with everything, this is easier said than done. Here are three easy ways to make sure you set aside interruption free time everyday.
Turn Off the ComputerMaximizing productivity is a great way for a business to tap into hidden profit potential. I tell my clients to notice their productivity levels throughout their day and throughout their week. Most of them tell me that they are most productive when they are not emailing or on their computer. Sending a quick email often isn’t as quick as we think. It can take time to craft perfect prose to send out to clients and friends alike. It is also easy to get distracted on the wide world of the internet and lose precious time mindlessly surfing around. To avoid getting sidetracked, determine your internet and computer needs and then decide when you will turn off your computer. I suggest that you make a list of goals for each day before the day begins (I make my lists at the end of the previous day). Then, in the morning, I work on projects and other tasks and make phone calls before ever turning my computer on. I find that I accomplish much more in those morning hours than I do while reading and responding to emails in the late morning and afternoon. Of course, depending on your industry, it might be wise to inform clients and vendors of your routine, so they will not send you an urgent email instead of calling you in the morning. Or you could have an automatic email response message to call you in the case of an emergency.
Open for BusinessEven if you turn your computer off your employees can still interrupt you in the office. In order to be an accessible, helpful and involved boss, but still have time to run your company, you must devise a simple but effective method of avoiding untimely interruptions. You could institute an ‘open-door policy’ in your office and let it be known that when your door is open your ear is as well. However, when the door is shut, you would only like to be contacted in case of emergency through your assistant (who may be able to handle the emergency in the first place), if possible. Open communication in the workplace is vital to the happiness and productivity of a company, but if we sat around and talked all day, when would the work get done? A productive work environment should include a combination of time to talk and time to do. So while meetings and ad hoc brainstorming and conversations are great; sometimes, you must declare it time to close the door on interruptions and get some work done.
Hold the PhoneDuring the time when you are avoiding interruptions from email and your office, it’s best to divert your calls to voicemail or have someone else handing your calls, so people who can’t see your door closed won’t interrupt you either. If someone else will be fielding your calls make sure you tell them exactly what you want them to say. “Ummm, he’s not here,” does not make you sound like a super successful CEO. Remember your brand image is created as a result of all the things that people see, hear, and experience when they interact with your company. So perhaps Mr. Smith is with a client right now, may I take a message,” would portray more of the image you want. When you are ready to return your calls, you want to make sure you can do it efficiently and effectively. Instruct the person taking your messages to also get all of the relevant information for you including: who, they are, what they want, and how urgent this is, and where you can best reach them. This will give you the opportunity to deal with inquiries according to priority and make sure that you are well prepared with all of the information you need when you call them back.

Crazy Ideas

2007-10-02T22:32:00.001-07:00

“Sometimes it’s the crazy ideas that work.” Is the end line in an article in Inside Housing called Mobile Rescue.
The article is about helping the homeless in Richmond, Virginia. Local church groups had both money and volunteers, but they were unable to secure planning permission for a hostel. Volunteers didn’t feel comfortable working on the inner city streets – remember this is America where homeless means roofless.
So how did they solve this problem? They bring the homeless to the suburban churches each and every night – and have done for twenty years. Every night 120 people are collected in specific buses at specific points around the city and shipped to different churches. These are the 120 who have booked in for the night – and they need to do it every night. They are given a bed and a meal, and then local agencies talk to them and try to sort out their issues. In all, about 170 people are involved in helping the homeless from various agencies. During the night both church volunteers and staff from Caritas, a homeless charity in Richmond, are there.
On the surface, it seems crazy, doesn’t it?
And yet it works.
When I first read the article, I thought it was nuts. Then I started thinking about the logistics, the expenses – all the practical aspects. This set up has done a number of things. To begin with, it certainly keeps overheads down. No building, no building related expenses, no security concerns, no expenses for volunteers coming into the city centre. The situation has brought all the agencies together, and, according to the article, kept the issue of homelessness in the minds of the local churches and people. The volunteers are working in an area of town they are comfortable with, they are able to give meaningful help to a serious local issue, and be involved in a church project.
It turns the whole issues on it’s head – why not bring people to the services, rather than the tradition bringing services to people.
It’s also a perfect example of creative thinking and not giving up when you can’t get what you want. I assume that the first idea was to create a hostel, and, when that was made impossible, someone came up with another idea which gets everyone to the same end.
So what’s the crazy idea in your office? Haven’t had one? Why not? The next time you are confronted with a problem, try turning your traditional solution on its head and let the creative genii out of the bottle. You may just find that this works – not just in the short term, but as a long term solution. Remember, it’s worked in Richmond for twenty years.

Tips to Ensure Your High Performing Teams Are Prepared for World Class Skills

2007-10-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Do you feel your workforce is equipped for the challenge of 'World Class Skills' ? Do you know that the skills they are using today will be effective for the work of tomorrow? Well, if we had a crystal ball, then we would be able to see the future. One thing is for sure, there is an increased need and demand for training and managing skills effectively. The more you invest in your people resources, the more likely the pay off will be a growing business.
This means that training and its effective use, is becoming increasingly important. The UK 'Leitch Report' (Dec 2006) - aiming for World Class Skills offers a challenge for all to grasp. To be part of the leading economy, means that businesses must invest in their people. There are several ways to do this:
ensure that you have a good quality management system (QMS) in place - such as ISO 9000/2000, or appropriate standards/ awards such as EQFM.
develop and foster a culture of innovation and its promotion, through involving the people who work for you, as well as from customer feedback.
ensure there are opportunities for your people to learn, and to be self aware - do they understand their strengths and potential? Or does the appraisal or assessment process leave them uncertain and unsure of their value and contribution? How will you ensure good team building and learning?
create access to a range of learning opportunities and methods - no single method suits all the different learning styles and needs. Good learning inspires and promotes innovation. Yet, there is one area of training, that can accelerate all the others. What if, your people had the tools and skills to be able to manage change more effectively, to learn and develop the required new skills more easily?
What if, you could accelerate the pace of learning in a way that was comfortable to individuals so you could similarly accelerate your business? Now you can, with the help of accelerated learning techniques. This combined with individual development analysis, together with you business goals and plans can take you forward.
Quality in Mind offers consultancy services in Training and Career Planning for Individuals and Workforce Development. Sue has a background of careers guidance with adults, working with both individuals and organizations; training in employability skills, professional assessment and the processes of careers guidance.

Epos Systems - History and Technology

2007-09-26T05:06:00.002-07:00

History of EPOS technology
Before the evolution of EPOS systems, merchants relied on cash operated registers to tally their sales. Prices were manually punched in and totaled by cashiers and inventory records were kept by hand. The cashier’s notes were then transcribed into an accounting ledger to keep track of finances. Inventory was managed by physically counting items in storage and carefully writing down every item purchased and sold.
It was not until 1986 that IBM introduced its first computer based EPOS system. Manufacturers developed credit card devices that were integrated into a company’s EPOS system. Registers are now multi-function and can be used for employees to clock in, for age verification and gift card activation. They can also be used for charging credit cards.
Recently, EPOS made a significant leap with enhanced capability and total compatibility with other electronic management tools. Initially, it was too difficult to transfer data between manufacturers or even other cash registers. There was no portal that allowed a smooth transfer of information between different EPOS systems and software. However, it is now the norm for all EPOS terminals to be operated by Windows based programs.
Benefits and uses of EPOS systems
While cash management is one of the main components of EPOS systems technology, these systems now employ a wide variety of functions. They are used for inventory management, service management, customer relation management and even payroll modules. In fact, they are sometimes referred to as retail management software because of the absolute integration between business management and technology in the last twenty years.
A manager can, at any given time, access the necessary figures from the EPOS system, including total income, net income, the amount that needs to go to the government for taxes, number of items of any particular piece of merchandise that was sold, the number of units that should still remain in storage, and what products need to be reordered.
EPOS Effectiveness
Without an EPOS, many retail stores would find it simply impossible to handle the day to day cash management and inventory requirements.
The advent of EPOS and its integration with financial and inventory control has given businesses the insight and effectiveness to manage their products, control inventory and keep abreast of their business operations.

Can Strategic Thinking be that Simple?

2007-09-26T05:06:00.001-07:00

In business sometimes, "humorously", people relate strategic thinking to something expensive or very clever.
In the academic circles, it is certainly a word preserved for the gurus to use as they please, not to mention using it as a buzzword to attract the attention of rich business leaders.
In career industry, the word strategic thinking almost certainly crop up in any conversation to do with promotion or demotion of an individual. "You don't think strategically" or "he thinks strategically".
Does this ring the bell?
Trying to decipher the meaning of the word by reading the strategy gurus' books, takes you into the jungles of an intellectual pursuits that will end up making you feel not so clever after all.
It may also force you to hire some of these strategy gurus to do this expensive thinking for you in the end.
Let's try to work this one out and see what this strategic thinking is all about.
The word Strategic comes from the word Strategy. We all know that the word strategy is actually more expensive than the word strategic, and of course, it is the cause of this entire expensive business world we live in.
Strategy simply put is "a way of thinking", the thinking of the General, or the leader on the battlefield of war or business.
Generalship is all about winning, how do they do that? by utilising all the resources available to the them systematically to achieve the purpose of war. The same definition applies in business; strategy is for winning by utillising all the organization resources to systematically achieve the purpose of the enterprise.
The word "Strategic" therefore, means what is "essential" to strategy or in line with the strategy.
This mean that any function within the organisation that acts or plans without taking into account the overall strategy or purpose of the company, is by nature not strategic.
This brings us to strategic thinking which I hope you figured it out by now...
Any thinking that is in line and guided by the company purpose and strategy is "Strategic Thinking".
Let me give you an example.
Few years ago, British Gas in the UK changed its vision and wanted to expand its activities. The new "mission" statement indicated a new direction for the company, "We take Care of the Essential" they announced.
This mission statement suggested that British Gas intended to enter new businesses that is essential to achieve this new purpose .i.e. utilities must now include electricity, telephones, water as being essential. Other essentials such as roadside recovery, home appliances maintenance and so on and so forth were now needed to fulfil this new purpose.
In fact creating a "monolithic" IT System to cross sell products from all these "essentials" became also "essential" and a became a major IT strategy too.
British gas went and bought the AA (The Automobile Association), which was certainly a "strategic" move and essential to the overall company mission and strategy.
Now, the AA in its infinite wisdom decided to buy a "golf club" and establish a new business and facility for its customers.
Such a business is certainly not strategic because it is not in line with the overall company mission or strategy.
How such a new business venture was approved by the main board of the company is beyond anyone understanding.
Nevertheless, speculating on the continuity of such a business venture must really be a child play.
Low and behold, within two years the business was closed down as not being "strategic" or in line with the company overall strategy, in other word, not a strategic business.
Now, when British Gas decided to change its direction completely and focus solely on energy; forced by the turmoil in the energy market, most of its businesses became non-strategic instantly. The demise of these non-strategic businesses to the trained eyes of any "strategic thinker" was a matter of time.
As it happened, Within couple of years, British Gas sold its banking business, the Automobile Association, and the Telecoms business.
Thinking Strategically, the company started to search for more energy assets to secure supply for its customers, short and long term while of course staying in line with company overall "new" purpose" and overall strategy.
This example shows you that, the same thinking i.e. buying the AA and then selling the AA were both strategic thinking and correct at the time of execution.
Strategic thinking therefore is NOT that complex or must be preserved for the elites of society to do. It is basically non-emotional thinking and essential to a specific strategy or mission that one has in mind.

Managing From A Postion Of Strength

2007-09-26T05:05:00.002-07:00

Don’t be held hostage!
During a recent roundtable discussion of management styles and techniques with several colleagues, I was asked to write about a couple of subjects that make all the difference in how managers can be more effective in leading their teams.
The first topic applies to the leadership position we all want to be in…where we can manage from a position of strength, and not be held hostage by a weak team of direct reports.
When a manager does not have a ready-to-promote group of hungry candidates, he or she can very easily be held hostage by the current group of subordinates who may not be motivated to do their best or may not be of the quality needed to get the job done.
It’s hard for the manager to uphold high standards if there is no evidence that someone equal to or better is ready and hungry for the job. That’s why there is nothing more urgent and important than having a strong development program in place that is ongoing and teaches the skills people need to be promoted to the next level.
Every time these sharp, hungry, and determined candidates can be shown to aspire, the rest of the group will know that they can and will be held accountable for their behavior and performance.
So how does one accomplish this? Think about this…which is more important, selecting the best candidates to develop or the program that not only tells and shows how the skills are done, but actively involves the students in applying the behaviors?
Before I get further into the development and training elements, let me focus on the importance of selecting the best candidates.
This second topic speaks to the value of panel interviews for selection of candidates to mentor and develop up to the selection of promoting the very best.
Rule to remember, you will be spending more time than usual in working with these candidates; so it’s critical to make great choices.
Why is it so important to have a group of people involved in choosing the best? Shouldn’t you, the boss, be capable of making those decisions? Of course you can…you’re the most qualified, aren’t you?
Let me address the value to the candidate – who has to WANT the opportunity. Forcing or coercing someone into something they are resistant to usually spells failure for them. So if you have that person who wants to learn and grow, you’re halfway home.
Being put in a position where the candidate has to interview for the opportunity, lends added value to the proposition – it’s not just handed to them, they have to earn the right. They will prepare, they will put their best foot forward, they will want to show you they deserve this opportunity.
Next, let’s discuss the value of panel selection interviews as to the mentor/trainers of your potential candidates. Won’t they try harder to help their protégé be better? You can be sure they will take pride in signing off on their “product”…and this will likely improve their own performance.
If some of these mentors are part of the interview panel, they will be far more involved in bringing only the best to the table.
As to your team and developing these high potential candidates – they will take more ownership in the trainees and the program, especially if we involve them in the development and training content. And if one or more of the candidates are their own direct reports, you can be sure they will hold those individuals to a higher standard of excellence since they will be reflecting directly on their boss.
Let’s come back to Training and Development – if you’re going to spend your time with one or two, why not involve a dozen? What’s the worst that can happen? Your choices of finding the best are greater, those people have all developed stronger skills, and you have likely helped a few to learn what level they are best suited for.
Volumes have been written on how to train and develop people, whether for skilled positions or management. What I would like to address is a basic principle for learning that applies to every person, regardless of skill or intelligence level. That principle includes three elements to teaching and learning. First, we have to “Tell” what the behavior is, then we have to show what that behavior looks like, and critically, we must involve the individuals in learning the behavior by doing it. Practice and repetition build the skill. Rest assured, just telling will never get the job done; don’t ever assume it will.
More food for thought…at the end of the development program, when it comes time to promote on or some of these outstanding people, we need to conduct a round of panel interviews to find the best candidate of this fine group whom we want to promote. What better way to find out who is best prepared for the new opportunity than to have a panel work through the interview process together and build a consensus?
Put this all together and we have a situation where everyone wins. The end result is that you can be a more effective leader, you’ve surrounded yourself with high performers, and you’ve built a legacy of building and sustaining high performing teams. You can home and sleep at night!

Presenting - Allow

2007-09-26T05:05:00.001-07:00

"The feet are going to be where they are until you get them to where they need to be."
Participants were exploring the concept of leadership authority versus title and the statement was beginning to reflect a whole new meaning as people struggled with how to allow the horse to move forward. The more task focused they were the less successful they felt. People were getting stuck on make.
After two days with legendary horseman Ray Hunt, cowboy logic just seemed to apply when the task overshadowed intent.
Horses have the incredible ability to bring out our desire to see results. We create a plan, see the simplicity and the inherit logic and get frustrated with the lack of progress. What becomes quite clear is that make is not an option with something ten times your size.
So the key question in working with horses is, How do we influence change? How do we allow an activity to look more appealing? A question that parallels what many leaders struggle with these days. Dedicated, hard working and successful, frustrated professionals have shared the same woe "How do you instill desire in others? How do we allow them to realize the satisfaction of a job well done?"
Last month I introduced a three year old colt Rhys. Working with him has been an interesting experiment in making the "allow" look appealing. Once trust was established, it has been incredibly rewarding to see how quickly things have progressed.
Despite pride in his progress, what has changed most is me! I no longer approach a horse with the belief that they should know, but rather with the question "What might the horse's perspective on my request be? Am I setting things up to allow the horse to be successful?"
Rhys may still have his tentative moments but the more I confirm that he can trust me, the more willing he has been to reflect that trust. While there are many statements that could suggest the horseman's perspective, it is the words of Kouzes & Posner which I think best reflect the challenge in working with a young horse.
"Leaders must never take credibility for granted. Credibility is one of the hardest attributes to earn and sustain. It's personal and it's fragile, it's earned minute by minute; month by month; year by year and can be lost in short order if not attended to."
Each horse I have the opportunity to work with confirms there are many pieces to a part. I am also reminded how easy it is to lose trust when emotions get in the way and I assume understanding should be there. I am seeing the importance of waiting to allow the horse to be successful.

The Business Benefits Of Customer Relationship Management - CRM

2007-09-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Not only can customer relationship management (CRM) save your business a very considerable amount of both time and money, there are also many other benefits. One of the most important and useful benefits will be the development of better relations with all of your existing customers, which leads to increased sales.
This is possible by being able to better anticipate the specific needs of your customers, based on historic trends. Being able to effectively understand target customer requirements and the cross selling of other products by highlighting and suggestively selling alternatives or enhancements is also another major benefit you will learn with CRM.
With CRM your business will have the ability to go after their specific target market with their communications focusing on their customers’ needs, giving your company a more personal approach. Your company will also have to focus on the development of current products and services so that you will be able to get more customers in the future.
In order to keep your business at the top of its game you need customers satisfaction and retention which will help insure that your company’s great reputation in the market place will continue to be high and also grow with time. Your company will get an increased value from their existing customers while also reducing the cost that is usually needed for supporting and servicing them. This in other words will increase your efficiency while reducing the total cost of sales.
CRM allows your business to take care of its existing customers more effectively while also concentrating your efforts on finding new customers to expand your market. It is best to learn as much as you can about your specific target market so that you can better identify new prospects and increase your total customer base. No matter how successful your business is there is always going to be room for improvement and growth. Your customers’ needs will change over time so you must be on top of the trends.

Do You Know How to Delegate Effectively?

2007-09-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

For business owners, executive team members, managers, and supervisors there is no more important activity than delegation. As a manager, it is your job is to get work done through others.
Delegating work to others is a High Payoff Activity. Therefore, being able to effectively delegate is essential to productivity and the operation of your business. Oh by the way, wives, husbands, friends, associates, and colleagues can become involved in the delegation process too.
This is a skill for both work and life! Here are some ideas to aid you in your delegation.
Manage Your Own Delegation Attitude
Many supervisors I work with believe that their direct reports have too much work to do. So they are hesitant to delegate more. That is a mistake!
You should not judge what another person is capable of accomplishing. Share your plan to delegate work with your delegatee. Ask them to keep a prioritized list of work to be done.
Check with them every week to see what has been done, is not getting done, and is planned to be done the next week. If important tasks are not being accomplished, morph into your role as a productivity coach, delegate to others, or hire a new person to accomplish the uncompleted items.
Your biggest mistake would be to prevent your direct reports from handling additional tasks from which they can learn and grow. Your goal should be to train them up to replace you. That way you are freed-up for promotion.
Plan with Your Delagatee
Sit down with your delegatee and plan out the delegation together. That way questions may be answered, clear expectations established, and assumptions surfaced and explored. Without this, it is likely that communication of the delegated item will be unclear at best.
Make it Written
Writing crystallizes thought and crystallized thought motivates the correct actions and results. Identify and write with your delegatee answers to the following items:
- A very specific and detailed task description
- Benefits to you and to the delegatee
- Training required to enable task completion
- Method of tracking progress
- Progress reporting schedule
- Authority and responsibility assigned
- Trigger boundaries and how to get your re-involvement if or when necessary
Follow-up
Set a schedule for any training, progress reporting, and for reporting the final results or product associated with the delegated task. If it is a recurring task, establish a schedule of reporting the results that will build confidence with you along the continuum of:
- Wait until told- Seek approval and then act- Act and report immediately- Act and report routinely
Many times delegation can lead to undesired results or quality of work that is unacceptable. I call this waste.
Delegate right the first time by thoroughly planning and communicating the delegated item. Then, enjoy the benefits that effective delegation can bring to you and your delegatee.

Recognition Awards - Boost the Morale of Employees and Motivate To Perform To The Best

2007-08-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

How recognition awards can help you and your company
In more ways than one, a corporate world is like an ocean. At times, the winds are so rough and the waves so choppy that you need a collective effort from each and every member of your company to ensure that you bypass this torrid time effectively.
At the end of such a phase, a recognition and reward program can help boost the morale of every employee in the company and also motivate them to perform to the best of their ability.
Recognition awards can be given to a group for their exceptional performance or to an individual for his remarkable contribution towards the success of the organization in a year.
Types of Recognition Awards
Employee Service Award
The employee service award is usually given to an employee who goes beyond his daily tasks to contribute towards the growth of the organization.
Performance Award
These awards are different from the performance incentives that the company gives and are looked upon as recognition for the performance of the employee.
Best Customer Service Award
Similarly, the best customer service award can be given to the employee who gives the most exceptional customer service to the most valuable assets of the company, the customers.
Attendance Award
The attendance award is given to those who are present on all days of a quarter or a year and shows the employee that his presence on a particular day is important and valued by the company.
Gifts Galore
The tried, tested and proven way of giving out an award is to give trophies. This method still finds a lot of takers and is preferred by most companies.
But now companies are also looking at more innovative and interactive means of morale boosting. Many companies set up a branded website with a list of items that can be awarded to an employee.

The Challenge of Database Management

2007-08-21T05:13:00.001-07:00

Many of the outsiders to the database management world see the entire concept as something that is relatively easy. All too often those great database engineers are somehow deemed lesser than those who pursue careers, which are more openly perceived as difficult and intellectual. However, these notions are ill conceived and few ever actually come to grips with how challenging database management can actually be. There are dozens of aspects which prove challenging from the initial planning and construction of the database to the day-to-day administration. Almost every step and action is meticulously planned out and recorded and even seemingly unimportant errors can cause disastrous results. Oh no, database management is anything but simple, those who toil away for hours on end constructing and refining search algorithms or complex relations deserve much more respect and admiration than most ever receive.
An unfortunate reality is that the general population, even those who work in the IT fields think of a database as nothing more than an excel spreadsheet and while the core premise is very similar, the functionality is vastly different. Those who plan, construct and manage databases put far more thought into them than any spreadsheet. With possibly millions of entries and complex relations between each one, it can get quite confusing when working with. Database management is the job which pits resources against intellect. While the majority of database management related tasks could be brute forced with enough resources, which is a piggish waste and often times not an option in a world in which resources are expensive and in great demand. The average database management personnel can create and run algorithms, which cut down the necessary resources by a great magnitude and are an invaluable skill.
The every day functioning world and even your very own privacy are squarely seated upon the backs of those who dedicate their lives to database management. Any service or company that collects and stores any information relies heavily on efficient databases. Any service that is provided to you relies on databases to keep all the data in order. A simple mistake can cause the whole system to come screeching to a halt or even worse, all your private data can be leaked to all sorts of dubious individuals. For these reasons, many database administrators have to be at the top of their games and be informed both with basic management and security. The job requires a great deal of dedication and with this dedication comes a great deal of stress. Database management is a crucial job and while it’s very demanding, those who perform it rarely see the appreciation for keeping those critical errors to a minimum.
With the lack of appreciation and the overall obliviousness to the subject of database management, it’s a miracle they still chug long at the pace they do. It may not be the most glamorous job and it may not get you recognized by those who try to rank careers in terms of their merit of difficulty, but let it be knownst to those who are considering entering the field, it is a highly rewarding job and be warned, it’s not as easy as others make it out to be.

How the Law of Attraction Can Help Your Business Prosper

2007-08-21T05:12:00.002-07:00

The law of attraction, sometimes referred to as karma, applies to much, much more than just your personal life. The law of attraction is evident all throughout the universe so it is no wonder that a number of people are using the power of positive thoughts and actions to experience unforeseen success and profits in their businesses. As with other areas of your life, the law of attraction can have detrimental effects on your business as well if not used correctly.
So, what is the key to using the powerful law of attraction to improve your business and see it flourish?
It’s actually quite simple. The law of attraction is the universal understanding that your life is a reflection of your actions. Basically, what you accomplish and receive in life is the result of your thoughts and actions. Good thoughts and good deeds bring about success and happiness, while negative or hurtful actions end with complications and sadness.
In accordance with this simple law, you should concentrate your business efforts on benefiting the community and doing good for those around you. In turn, you will be rewarded for your good actions with increased profits and a growing business. If, instead, you embark on a business endeavor designed to deceive consumers into purchasing your product or service, you can expect troubles and hardships along your path.
It is very easy to use the law of attraction within your life, as well as your business. If your business has recently experienced a period of problems and complications resulting in a large loss of profit, consider your own thoughts and actions during that time frame. Were your own negative ideas and emotional vibes to blame for the poor performance? Did you have an adverse interaction with one of your employees or possible with a customer? Or maybe you expressed undesirable opinions and wishes regarding a competitor?
Your thoughts, ideas, and attitude also play a role in the law of attraction. Even if you are nice and amiable towards your competitors and others, your mental state must correlate with your actions or you will still lack a completely positive future.
There is nothing wrong with competition. Competitiveness is what drives businesses to improve and expand, giving us new products, better services, and a wider selection to choose from, but unhealthy competition typically results in failure. It is important to remember, in your quest for making your business number one, never wish hardships or destruction on others in the race. Simply strive to do your best. Put your energy into improving yourself rather than trying to harm or destroy your competition, even if it is only in your thinking. These thoughts and intentions only create tension and a negative ambience. Sending these discouraging feelings will return you with negative results of your own.
According to the law of attraction, your thoughts and actions determine your fate, therefore you have the power to decide your own destiny. If you strive to create goodness, you can achieve your dreams. Look around you and notice those who recognize the law of attraction at work and are continuously seeking to improve humanity. They are typically friendly, easy-going, and understanding. Those who do not make an effort to do good are usually frustrated and short-tempered, often getting angry over the slightest problems. You will see the same effects on businesses. Those who follow the universal law operate efficiently and enjoy success, while those who do not are falling behind and operating in a chaotic state.
While no one can truly control everything in their life and undertakings, applying the law of attraction to all that you do can have extremely positive influences on your life. Reducing the amount of negative energy in your life can help you deal with problems and obstacles so you can succeed.

Quality Plans

2007-08-21T05:12:00.001-07:00

An organisation needs to define how it ensures that products and services meet pre-defined standards and this is often described in a quality plan. A quality plan outlines the quality practices, resources and sequence of activities relevant to a particular product, service, contract or project. Quality must be planned because the organisational management system must be able to stand above any individuals. Quality plans can also be developed for new products or processes as a means of controlling key activities and ensuring that practical problems can be identified and modifications introduced at the planning stage. Quality cannot rely on informal actions because non-conformance will eventually occur. When developing quality plans the following needs to be considered:
1) Customer requirements for quality plans;2) Independent certification bodies requirements for quality plans (if appropriate); and any3) Opportunities for improvement of the current quality management system or the potential to control quality parameters that are not adequately controlled.
Quality plans describe the methods for product inspection and testing. The methodology needs to include the:
a) product parameters to be measured that define "quality";b) inspection points in the process where the parameters need to be measured;c) standards or specification the parameter needs to comply with;d) documentation that includes the specification details;d) inspection and/or testing equipment required and the methods and frequency of equipment calibration to ensure the results are reproducible and valid;e) legal and/or market (customer) requirements for testing and demonstrating conformance to the specification;f) testing methodology; andg) skills, knowledge, degree of training and level of competence required for the personnel carrying out the inspections and tests.

How To Get The Best Out Of Your Employees

2007-07-23T20:55:00.001-07:00

Running a company is not only about profits and sales but also about proper human resource management. Needless to say, for a successful organization there is no more important task than to develop a strong employee structure. It is one of the most valuable asset and a very vital and integral part of any organization or business. Therefore you should know how to get the best out of your staff. Read on to discover the steps by which you can get the most out of your employees-
Don't lose them - You might one day come across one of your employees who think he needs to get out of your organization because he is not growing. Every employee feels the need to be recognized or appreciated. You might lose out on one of your top performers and manpower is one of the most precious assets of any company or business. The performance and attitude of your employees can result in success or failure of any business. Therefore in order to retain them you need to be cooperative and provide them with timely promotions and satisfactory peaks.
Build strong foundation - Employees form the basic foundation of your business. Learn to build a strong employee base. Therefore you should know what your employees expect from you learn to get involved with them on a personal level.
Motivation leads to more efficiency - Motivation can get the best out of any human being and the best way to motivate your employees is to provide proper employee incentives. Employee incentives can be very effective in getting more productivity out of your employees. Proper collaboration and team building also leads to motivation which in turn lead to greater efficiency and productivity from your employees.
In the present day every business needs to develop a good customer base which can be impossible without efficient and productive sales team. Therefore nurture your staff and treat them like family. Therefore treat your employees as one body and clarify the roles and responsibilities. Understand the work flow in your organization and learn how to put values into action. Measure employee performance and provide them with satisfactory incentives may it be in form of money or asset.

The Morale Myth

2007-07-23T20:54:00.003-07:00

Why is it that no matter what you do to boost morale, from parties and picnics to pats on the back, you end up with the same short-lived results? You know, everyone's happy for a couple of weeks, then they default to heel dragging and excuse making again? If you're banging your head against the wall looking for new tactics, the only guarantee is a sore head. Here's why. Traditional tactics address symptoms, not causes of low morale. Look to mechanics rather than people when seeking solutions.
Employees want to feel good about the work they output. Most want to excel and see hope for advancements in position and pay. But when they’re always swimming against the current, they lose hope. As a leader, your role is to equip employees with the right tools to do their jobs well. Functional equipment and systems breed success and maintain hope. Sometimes management tries to make everyone happy without really addressing what’s causing unhappiness to begin with. The mistake is more common than people realize.
Vermont’s Sugarbush ski resort suffered low morale at its ski school a couple of seasons ago. When parents came to sign in their children for daily classes, they could expect to wait at least an hour in long, winding-out-the-door lines. Management directed employees to use the lengthy Disney-Magic-Moment approach to greeting customers: how’s your stay and how’s your life. Overheating under a bazillion layers of ski clothing, sweat-soaked kids whined and wailed about the uncomfortable wait. Tempers flared. Irritated parents and frantic employees clashed, using words so colorful they’d have burned a sailor’s ears. To alleviate congestion, management solicited “group think” from employees. Frazzled, the well-meaning workers spit out ideas like expand the size of the facility and buy faster computers. When in doubt, make a bigger place to house even more angry customers…yeah, right. Good intentions, wrong solutions.
One afternoon, some outside help pointed leadership in the right direction. Solutions emerged when simple questions were asked. By late afternoon, management and staff began restructuring procedures. They didn’t leave until 2:00 the next morning. Here were the questions they asked: 1. “What do our customers really want?” A skier’s “Magic Moment” happens outside, on the slopes. Check ‘em in and move ‘em out like cattle. That meant reworking the ticketing and check-in systems to expedite the process and get adults outside fast. Forms were filled out at stations before customers got in line. The fastest-working employees were put on the front lines. Trainees worked at slower times. 2. “How can we further reduce congestion?” Many people who were waiting in line wanted services unrelated to the ski school. Management stood at the doors to redirect non-ski-school customers to other buildings. Those seeking season’s passes, rentals, and adult lessons comprised nearly 25% of the people clogging up the check-in lines. 3. “How can we direct the flow of people more smoothly?” Too often, people entered (or re-entered) via exit doors. They interrupted check-in employees with unrelated questions, added to confusion, and slowed the process. By removing outside handles on exit doors, no one could sneak in. Anyone entering the building would have to get past the gate-keeping management team guarding the main door.
Even though the sky was overcast and the wind chill factor drove temperatures below zero, the sun shone in the Sugarbush ski school that same day. These few changes shortened wait time from over an hour to less than 10 minutes per customer. Common-sense systems and procedures resulted in happier customers and employees.
So what can you do to get started? Here are some places to look: 1. Check the toolbox. Are you asking subordinates to fix a leaky roof with a sledgehammer? Frustration erupts when there’s a gap between what's expected and what's achievable. 2. Be a matchmaker. Do you have qualified, competent employees assigned to the right positions? Do the positions meet the skills of the available work force? Should the position be human-filled or automated? 3. Get in sync. Do your systems enable employees to meet customers' needs? Remember skiers didn’t want to wait in a bigger building, they wanted to glide through the check-in process and hit the slopes. Find out what customers want. Then use the info as a basis for strategies and tactics. Realize also that customers don't always know what they want: it's your job to know. 4. If you’re the lead dog, get out front. Are you creating a better mousetrap, or are employees constantly thrown into problem-solving exercises? Input creates buy-in, but too much is a burden. Employees want management to plan, direct and lead. 5. Mirror, mirror on the wall… Are employee complaints repetitive? Have you listened to or ignored feedback? Maybe you’re the problem. 6. Walk a mile in their shoes. Have you ever performed an employee's job for a few days? You may find that you’re expecting him to complete jobs that are unclear, work with tools that are broken or slow, and perform with inconsistent direction. You control the checkbook and can fix problems on the spot. 7. Thrill seeking on the job? If you’re always trying something new to keep things interesting, cut it out. People like a change of pace…sometimes. But too much change creates stress. Build good systems and save the adventures for vacation.
Mass mental sludge is a symptom of dysfunctional systems and equipment or lagging employee skills. Morale won’t improve long-term if your aim is to cheer up people. Keep a sharp lookout for real issues plaguing employees to improve morale and give your headache the sendoff.

How's Your EQ?

2007-07-23T20:54:00.001-07:00

I was coaching a manager recently on one of his leadership challenges which was complaints from his staff. He was struggling to understand why they kept complaining about his managerial style. "I'm addressing everything they brought to my attention!" he said in frustration. In our coaching conversations, we discovered that he was weaker in the 3rd EQ skill described in this week's article.
What is EQ?EQ (emotional quotient) is otherwise known as Emotional Intelligence. Now hang on, some folks have an adverse reaction to the words Emotional Intelligence because it sounds.... well... too emotional for the workplace. Is that you? :-) Wait! Keep reading! :-) Even the NFL and the US military have embraced the use EI training because of its profound impact on leadership success. Basically after over a decade of research, it has been proven that your EQ or Emotional Intelligence has the greatest impact on your professional excellence.
Simply put, Emotional Intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions, and your skill at using this awareness to manage yourself and your relationships with others. Your own success as a leader in your organization is dependent on how strong you are in the four EI skills that I'll share below.
1: Self AwarenessHow much are you aware of your own emotions as they happen? How well do you understand your tendencies for responding to different situations and people? Some people struggle with recognizing what emotion they're experiencing in the moment or they may even suppress or ignore it. If you tend to be very aware of your emotions in different situations, you are probably strong in the skill of self awareness.
Quick Tips for Improving: Observe what you are feeling when different situations unfold. Monitor your own thoughts and feelings. Try to discover why you react the way that you do. Record the trends you see. Ask someone you trust to observe you and give you feedback.
2. Self Management If you have a high awareness of your emotions, and you use that awareness to stay flexible, and you can positively direct your own behavior in different situations, you are probably strong in the EI skill of self management.
Quick Tips for Improving: Jot down a couple of situations where your emotions get the best of you. Notice your reactions and buy yourself some time before taking action. Don't ignore or minimize what you're feeling, but slow down and think. If you were watching a movie of yourself in that situation, what advice would you give yourself? Consider your options and choose a positive direction for your behavior or reactions.
3. Social awareness: Ever been in a conversation where the other person got angry at you and you say to yourself "What? Why is he angry? What did I say?" :-) In the scenario I opened with, the manager I was coaching struggled with this particular EI skill. He was not strong on picking up on the emotions of others (his staff) and he continued to be blind-sided by their negative perceptions of him. If you are savvy at picking up on the emotions of other people and you observe what's not being said, you're probably strong in the EI skill of social awareness. You understand what other people are thinking and feeling even when you don't feel the same way.
Quick Tips for Improving The next time a trusted friend or colleague tells you something, try telling them your perception of what they're feeling and see if you are correct. Or, if you are with a trusted friend/colleague in a group situation, share what you think is really going on beneath the surface in that group, or between people and see if they agree.
3. Relationship Management This one comprises the other skills above and can sometimes be the most difficult to achieve. Basically, you are using your awareness of your own emotions and the emotions of others to manage relational interactions to create positive outcomes even in difficult conversations.
Quick Tips for Improving: Get with that trusted friend or colleague again. :-) Ask them a few questions like... What do I have a knack for that helps e get along with other people? What holds me back from relating as well as I could to others? Is there a behavior that you think I can tone down?
Skimming the Surface: I know that in this article, I've only skimmed the surface of how you can excel with Emotional Intelligence. That said, Emotional Intelligence can be developed even if you are weak in all areas. With the example of the manager that I was coaching, we first discovered the areas where he was weaker, then used skill-building techniques over a few weeks. In the end, he was blown away by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from his staff. His success as a manager became almost effortless after his skills in EI dramatically improved.

5 Tips for Becoming a More Caring Manager

2007-07-23T20:53:00.001-07:00

What kind of manager are you? Do you want your people to be successful? Are you genuinely happy for your associates when they experience success, or are you always peering around the corner hoping no one is more successful than you? Are you secretly happy when they fail and get “egg on their face?”
Why is it so difficult to be genuinely happy for the success of others? As children, we cheered for our teammates when they scored the winning run. With our own children we’re always celebrating their achievements at soccer games, plays and spelling bees. My children are a different breed altogether. They are more likely to be working the lights and sound board at the latest production, rather than performing in front of the camera, but rest assured, we always relish their success. The best managers delight in the success of their teams. They realize that their success depends on the achievements of everybody, and that the more the group achieves, the more they will grow and develop.
Short-sighted managers are the curse of any organization. They are constantly looking over their shoulders to see if anybody is gaining on them. Reminds me of my days as a somewhat (much less, really) decorated high school cross-country runner. Common practice for runners was to be continually looking over our shoulders to see who was gaining. We were discouraged from doing this and told, instead, to keep looking ahead. This turned out to be great advice for later in life.
As promised, here are five tips for becoming a better manager!
1) Tell your people how much you need them.
William James, a writer and philosopher, said that the greatest human need is the desire to be appreciated. Get out from behind your desk and start roaming the halls and factory floors. Tell your people you are happy they are on the team. Let them feel valued.
2) Ask for their opinions.
You would be very surprised how much your people know. They can really help, if you let them.
3) Show others that they are superior to you in at least one way.
Let people feel good. You don’t have to have all the answers. I never have. It is much easier to let others shine. One of the parts of hitting the “Grand Slam” with your customers is motivating associates and making it fun to work with you. When people feel motivated they are more likely to do a better job.
4) Create obligations for the right reasons.
Some managers create projects that make their people look bad. For many years I owned and operated a chain of wine stores in Chicago. I remember a few cases where managers gave people jobs that they were destined to fail. Their manager’s objectives were to look better in my eyes. They picked the wrong guy for that nonsense. I wanted everybody to do well.
5) Show your lighter side – create laughter.
Life is hard enough without taking everything seriously. Further, numerous studies show that laughter actually has many physical benefits for the body. Remember how your mother told you not to worry about everything because you would get an ulcer? Turns out she was right. When you experience stress, your digestive system shuts down a little. When this happens too often, the effects (one of them, ulcers) can be very harmful to your health.
Well, that’s enough of the medical advice. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. Get out there today and compliment someone on your team. Give them some relevant, timely and specific feedback. As the one-minute manager would say, “Catch someone doing something right” and tell them about it right away. The results will surprise and motivate you, not to mention the positive effects on your team.

What is your Management Style?

2007-07-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

Management style includes being proactive or reactive, supportive or punitive. The best managers are proactive and supportive. Reactive managers don’t really manage at all.
The Reactive Management Style
This style is very common. Such managers are often punitive as well. Reactive managers don’t really enjoy the management process. They got promoted by being functional experts. In management they still want to do what they most enjoy doing – devise expert solutions. They may hold regular meetings on a proactive basis, but they want competent subordinates who can get on with their work without bothering them. However, they want subordinates to come to them if they have a problem.
The Punitive Reactive Manager
No one likes to hear about problems. Reactive managers with a punitive style don’t mean to be mean. They just get annoyed when they hear that a project might be off the rails. They may not even lose their temper but their irritation is still visible in their tone of voice and body language. Their immediate priority is to fix the problem. They convey the message that they hope their subordinates have learned from their mistake and won’t let it happen again. This is punitive: it instills a fear of failure in team members and makes them hesitate to inform managers about problems in future. A punitive style increases the likelihood of further errors and an early departure from the company.
The Reactive Supportive Manager
Reactive supportive managers also want subordinates to operate independently. But when problems are brought to them, they behave like a coach, a sounding board and a helper or enabler. They help subordinates see what went well, commend them for good efforts and help them learn from their mistakes in an encouraging manner. But this is still not the most effective management style. Management is like investment. To manage resources invested, it is imperative to prevent errors before they happen. This means being proactive.
The Proactive Punitive Manager
Such managers meet with staff frequently. They have such a fear of failure that their anxiety to avoid error is punitively communicated to their teams. They are always asking questions about progress in a tone that creates fear in their teams and motivates them to hide mistakes if possible.
The Proactive Supportive Manager
These managers also hold regular meetings but staff are asked to talk about what has gone well since the last meeting before the discussion moves on to problems. Issues are anticipated and avoided by cultivating an atmosphere of safety and openness. Positive feedback that is genuinely felt is offered and employees are encouraged to think of solutions to problems in a supportive, coaching manner.
Naturally proactive supportive managers deal firmly with serious performance problems but they are more effective than the other styles because they cultivate a positive team spirit

5 Practices of Extraordinary Leaders

2007-07-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

After extensively researching ten thousand leaders and fifty thousand staff members, the authors of the book The Leadership Challenge uncovered 5 principles for how leaders get extraordinary things accomplished in organizations across the globe.
While in my senior management roles, I read The Leadership Challenge book and also attended their leadership training. I embraced these principles whole-heartedly. These five leadership principles are by far some of the most powerful yet simple ways to excel as leaders. And if you are an aspiring leader, this is a great place to start--the authors embrace the reality that, in organizations, leadership is everyone's business. Do you live out these five leadership principles? Read on to find out...
1: Challenge the ProcessLeaders tend to challenge the norm and with challenging they innovate. They are willing to step out and take risks to find new and better ways to do things. A good question to ask is what norms are you living with and how can you challenge yourself and your staff to innovate their way to new and better ways to work and accomplish goals. And mistakes along the way are simply learning opportunities through which you can innovate even further. What's one status-quo in your organization that can benefit from you or your staff challenging the process?
2: Inspire a Shared VisionSuccessful leaders possess the ability to inspire others and get them excited about how things can change, the way things can be and the path to getting there. First, leaders must be personally passionate about those possibilities. Also, leaders must know their people well enough to connect with their interests when sharing the leader's vision for the future.
People act when they believe that their leaders understand them and have their best interest at heart. Consider where it may be a challenge to get your staff on board with a new task or initiative. How well do you know your staff? Do you know them well enough to enlist their support by connecting your vision with their interests?
3: Enable Others to ActIt probably goes without saying that leadership is a team effort. The book suggests that a simple test for detecting if someone is on the road to true leadership is in the frequency of the use of word "we." Leaders do not hoard power; they give it away. People feel a strong sense of ownership when they are included. Is your language as a leader fostering teamwork? In what ways can you make your staff feel more enabled? Effective leaders make people feel strong and capable and they provide the training where needed to enable their staff to act.
4: Model the WayModeling the way begins with first becoming aware of our own values and beliefs so that we can then stand up for them. Leaders model the way through personal example and not through eloquent speeches. They model the way through simple daily acts and they are willing to do what they are asking their staff to do. As a leader, consider how clear you are about your values, principles, and beliefs and how consistently those values are lived out as a model to your staff. What are some small ways in which you can model the way for your organization?
5: Encourage the Heart Let's face it, work can sometimes be challenging. People in our organizations can become frustrated and sometimes discouraged. Leaders who display genuine acts of caring inspire their staff to carry on. They do this through group celebrations and individual recognition. We often underestimate the value of a personal handwritten thank-you note for example. And we sometimes get so busy meeting one milestone after another that we forget to stop and celebrate the accomplishment.

Time Management for SME Owners

2007-07-05T02:20:00.002-07:00

SME owners have to manage everything: from the hiring and managing of employees to seeking clients to planning the business strategies for the company. Is there a more efficient way out?”
“I just haven’t got the time”
Does that sound familiar?
Well, it sure does to the majority of SME owners. What probably once started out as a “One person operation” has now grown into a real business and in some cases has turned into an uncontrollable monster that has got out of hand.
The problem?
From juggling the accounts and doing all of the hiring and firing through to creating more business and forming the company strategy, the SME owner usually finds it hard to let go. After all, they were responsible for the initial growth of the business, indeed they still are, but there must be a more efficient way of getting everything done and still having a life too!
The notion of us not having enough time is not new. However, time cannot be managed.
Time cannot actually be controlled! We can only manage ourselves and our use of our time.
So what can the SME owner do to make the most efficient use of their time?
In order to do this, the SME owner needs to identify two critical areas:
1. What they should be doing on a daily basis to add the maximum amount of value to their business;
2. What are their current time stealers? The tasks and the occurrences that get in the way of them achieving No 1 above.
Many SME owners get so bogged down with “The doing” that they fail to identify what it is they should be doing and what actually gets in the way of them doing it!
Know what you are worth…
An old mentor of mine once said:
“If you could take the tasks that you are currently doing that have the biggest impact upon your business in terms of profit and turnover and just do them all day, every day, what would they be and what would the impact be?”
These were wise words!
As soon as I started to only do the tasks that were on a par with or above my hourly rate and gave the rest out to others, my business soared.
The same can be said with SME owners.
Many SME owners think that by “letting go” of certain tasks or hiring others to do them, it adds to their cost base. Yes, it does add to the cost base but what does an additional 80 per cent of you doing what you are best at generate for your business in terms of turnover and profits?
Identify the time stealers and put a plan in place to arrest them!
Where does your time go?
Many SME owners get so caught up in the day-to-day running of their businesses that they just don’t realize where their time goes. Before they know it, it’s 6:00pm and if you ask them what they have achieved they probably couldn’t tell you.
The first step in sorting out your time management problems is to identify where your time goes – keep a log of what you do and when you do it.
Complete that for a week or two.
After you have compiled your log, take a look at it and identify the most frequent time stealers that reduce your effectiveness in the workplace.
These could include:
• Doing work that others should be completing
• Answering emails/too many emails coming in
• Telephone interruptions that should not have got through
• Interruptions from staff that could have gone elsewhere
• Unnecessary meetings
• Tasks that you should have delegated
• Tasks and decisions that you have been putting off
• Getting involved in the “doing” too much
• Putting out fires
• Poor communication
• Duplication of work
• Lack of skills or knowledge
• Lack of planning
• Tiredness
• Can’t say NO
• No system to organize your day
All is not lost, however. You can reclaim your time!
Here are 10 techniques and strategies that you can use to manage your time more effectively. Top 10 time management tips
1. COMPLETE A BUSINESS AUDIT EACH MONTH
Take a look at your business and make a note of your top priorities for each day/week/month. Make a decision on where you want to focus your energy and then look at everything else you have been doing and decide what to do with it.
2. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
Work out what areas you add the most value to the business and make a decision that at least 80 per cent of your time will be spent on these activities.
3. DELEGATE
Let go of the reins and delegate your work more often. Whatever task you do from now on ask yourself “Should I really be doing this?” and “Can someone else do this instead?”
4. OUTSOURCE
You and your staff do not need to do everything you know! Nike doesn’t actually make shoes! Could you outsource some of your tasks and operation to a third party outsider?
5. PERSONAL ORGANISATION
Make proper use of TO DO lists and your diary – make using them a habit. Can you automate any tasks like getting email on your mobile phone?
6. PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
By simplifying your business and your processes you can make it a lot easier to run and this in turn will lead to saving you a lot of time.
7. IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS
You will get the most out of your staff and save yourself a lot of time in the process if you can communicate what you want in a clear, concise manner. Assertiveness skills will also allow you to say “NO” in the right way to requests and will allow you to manage the frequent interruptions that you get on a daily basis.
8. FOCUS ON STRATEGY
Know where you are heading and why you want to get there. This will keep you focused on what is important. Continually revisit your strategy to make sure you keep on track and away from all of the distractions.
9. IMPORTANT AND URGENT TASKS ARE NOT THE SAME
As soon as you can make this distinction you will be able to categorize your tasks accordingly and know what to do with each one.
10. KEEP ON IT!
Keep analyzing where you are spending your time on a monthly basis and make adjustments to what you should be doing and how you are doing it. We all stray off track from time to time so don’t beat yourself up about it, just take stock and move forward.

Management Crisis - How We Got Here and What to Do to Improve

2007-07-05T02:20:00.001-07:00

Management is in a state of crisis. Managers, in the aggregate, are doing a poorer job than ever. There is much evidence to support this claim. The causes are formidable, but not insurmountable. Improvements can and must be made.
Evidence of the current management predicament is substantial including but not limited to the following:
1) Studies
In his book, Engagement is not Enough, Keith Ayers references a Gallop Organization study that performs research on worker engagement - a direct reflection on management. Results indicate that only 30% of American workers are engaged. 54% are not engaged, and 16% are actively disengaged.
In The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey, cites British sociologist, David Halpern’s study that reports only 51% of employees have trust in their senior management and only 36% of employees believe their leaders act with honesty and integrity.
2) Anecdotal Evidence
When prompted, there are few people that don’t have at least a half dozen management horror stories. Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, has had enough material sent to him by readers to last multiple lifetimes. Management, with good reason, is ridiculed more than ever. The insanity that goes on in the workplace routinely supports the adage that truth is stranger than fiction.
3) Wholesale abandonment of Responsibilities
Not only do many managers occasionally neglect certain responsibilities, but many have completely abandoned them. For example, it used to be that one could obtain career advice and counseling from her/his manager. This crucial management service is to a large extent non-existent, so much so that an entire new industry, career coaching/life coaching, has sprung up to fill the unmet need.
The situation is severe. The costs to individuals and American businesses are astounding. How did we get to this state?
Again, there are many reasons, but a primary one is the assault on management in the past few decades. Downsizing, Rightsizing, etc. have decimated the ranks of middle management.
Managers are scared to death that they are next on the chopping block. Their main goal is to stay employed, so they do everything in their power to avoid the hatchet. This results in a climate dominated by a complete aversion to risk, where change is non-existent, policies are followed robotically, and sucking up to superiors and dodging responsibility have evolved into an art form. These practices have been institutionalized. They are passed on via example from one manager to the next.
Managers are also being asked to do more. They are being asked to do their “day job” and manage groups on the side. As organizations continue to flatten in the name of cost-cutting, they are asked to manage more and more people and organizations.
Managing people is a very difficult job. The above conditions don’t make it any easier. Combine them with the fact that managers are frequently selected on a whim, provided little to no training and coaching, are not adequately measured on or held accountable for their performance, etc. and there is little wonder that lunacy has becomes commonplace. Many poor performing managers actually think they are doing a great job which enhances the lunacy.
What is the solution? How do we get out of this mess?
There is no silver bullet - no million dollar manager in a minute. Instead, managers must return to effective execution of the basics.
A manager’s main job is to achieve the organization’s mission which involves returning positive results through the resources at her/his disposal (people, process, tools, etc.). In order to achieve increased productivity and efficiencies, the manager must care for the resources. Start doing it! Teach team members. Help them with their careers. Get them the training they need to do their jobs better. Break down the administrative barriers. Cater to their needs.
Bring honesty back into the workplace. Keep commitments. Achieve goals. If there are no goals, create them. Share them. Complete projects on time. Give timely and accurate feedback. In other words, start doing what we all know we should be doing.
But what about the lack of time? Managers must prioritize better, and educate their bosses of the importance of doing so. Organize the work week. Block off time to do the most critical things. Learn to say “no” to new responsibilities so there is time to concentrate on those that are most important.
It’s not easy. If it were, everything would be just dandy. There is indeed more pressure on managers. That’s no reason to give up. We need to do better. The good news is that even small incremental improvements result in significant progress. The key is to ACT. Concentrate on the executing the fundamentals. Good things will follow for you, your organization and your company.

People Management - 5 Key Secrets For Management Success

2007-07-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

To get the best results you have to be very good at managing your people. These are skills that are mostly ones that you can learn and develop, and, of course, it really helps if you have a natural capacity to get on well with people too.
Practicing and building your abilities is not as hard as you might think. Here are the simple secrets that you can focus on to make the difference.
1. Do What It Says On The Tin - Manage!
Your people see the name on your badge, or your door (or your parking space) and they expect you to do what's expected of you. They want you to lead from the front and show you're in charge. This is about leadership; being the last on the ship and heading the charge into battle. When things get tough you dig in and show up.
Managing is about making sure you recognize what your responsibilities are and deliver them, and only them. People management skills deliver by giving others some responsibility and letting them get on with it. And that you are accountable for it all. No-one else; no shirking and blaming others. It's you.
2. Build A Great Team
If you really want to make the best of your people asset, you get great at leveraging the amazing talents of all your people. Squeezing their potential to the full by supporting, guiding and coaching (maybe even 'coaxing' them!), to realize what is possible.
You see, a manager's role is to deliver success. And not just in the results in their business - psst, it's more. People management skills are totally about a legacy of developing and utilizing capability fully. Gluing individual talents together. Making the whole bigger than the sum of the parts.
3. Ooops - And Let's Not Forget Those Results
Bottom line, is that you have to deliver the day to day, year by year business and profits or other success measures expected of you. It's what pays you and your people.
So, you have an obligation to keep your eye on the ball and deliver. Your people will depend on you to lead them to success, with their help, of course (and believe it, they will be your rocks, if you do this right). They trust you to work hard enough to make the numbers stack. In the tough business world we inhabit, their jobs depend on it.
4. Build Relationships
OK - let's rewind a little. It helps you as a people manager if you get on well with people. If you are a people person. It's pretty much a pre-requisite. When you are wringing out performance from your people, it really helps if you have a rapport together.
And it's easy to do.
You show an interest in them. You ask them questions that show an interest in them as people and not just colleagues - what's important in life to them. You listen effectively and hear what they say. More, you start to anticipate what they are on about when they talk to you. Or before even. And, of course, you treat them as equal human beings and show trust and respect to them.
Then it works.
5. Accept Feedback
The final key people management skill is an ability to show a little humility. You aren't perfect - not at all. The very best managers listen hard and learn much from their people too. It's a fine-edged balance that they get just right. Managing how they absorb and react to feedback is a testament to who they are. And they get back the reward for the way they handle what their people share with them about them.
Listen, your best advocates are the people you listen to and help you develop yourself. Then they listen to the constructive way you help them. It's two-way traffic and mutual support. It's invaluable. It's terrific.
Five little steps that will help your people management skills succeed. You may need to flex and change a bit. You may need to gulp down a bit of your pride too and change your behaviors.

Procurement and How It Relates to Office Furniture

2007-06-20T21:01:00.001-07:00

Office furniture procurement and purchasing departments can have similar responsibilities. Generally, procurement departments are more prevalent in large corporations, universities, and governmental agencies.
In addition to purchasing responsibilities, procurement staff can determine standards for the office furniture used in their facilities. This office furniture procurement staff could work with a combination of their own design and planning department, an architectural firm, a design firm, their office furniture dealership, or furniture manufacturers to determine standard furniture products.
Setting standards can be beneficial to your organization. It is a time consuming process, but it will save you a great deal of time later on. Some of the benefits are:
Appearance Of Your Facility: Standardized products, finishes, fabrics, etc. give a much more professional appearance.
Cost Savings: Companies or organizations that purchase a large quantity of furniture can negotiate a special pricing contract with a manufacturer when the majority of your purchases are made by that manufacturer.
Better Service: If you have a purchasing contract, the staff at one dealership will handle your account. You will get to know the staff who handles your account as well as the delivery and installation staff.
Benefits From The Office Furniture Dealership: Certain services that can be additional charges (such as CAD, inventory, measuring, reconfigurations, etc.) will be performed at no charge.
Simply Your Process: This can save your organization a huge amount of time and money. Once standards are determined, they can be put together in a manual or on a web site.
If you responsibilities involve the purchasing of office, there are several things I would take into consideration before signing on the dotted line.
First - All fabrics, wood finishes, laminate finishes, paint finishes, product lines, etc., must be popular and there are no plans to discontinue the finishes you select. This is really important and I suggest that you request (in writing) how this will be handled by the manufacturer if something is discontinued.
Second - The manufacturer's quick ship program would be another consideration. When you place a very large furniture order, quick ship usually doesn't apply. However, certain products, finishes, fabrics, etc., are available on quick ship for smaller add on orders you need to placed later. Even the pull style or edge detail could determine if a certain product is available on quick ship. Again, if quick ship is an important feature for your company, bring it up in your initial meeting and request that this information be included in your contract.
Third - If you are interviewing for an office furniture dealership, don't let that decision entirely up to any other person or company. You must be involved in this selection process. It's nice to meet the principles of a dealership, but it's more important that you speak with the people who will handle your account. Ask someone in the group how long they have worked together. If your company has special needs or critical time restraints, make sure you bring that up during the meeting.
Finally - Ask for several references for anyone you don't already have an ongoing relationship.

Leadership and Management - Hand and Glove

2007-06-20T21:00:00.003-07:00

I have been fascinated over the years by the debate, research and discussion about leadership and management. Increasingly there seems to be a focus on the differences between leadership and management and it seems to me that this has developed in part because of deficits in one or the other.
Most of us would like to become, or to think of ourselves as, strong leaders. There is something appealing about the idea of creating and pursuing a vision and influencing others to support the necessary transitions. True enough, if it wasn't for good leadership, nothing would change or improve.
However, not as many people seem to be as drawn toward being a good manager. Maybe I am misreading the "climate", but management is often associated with the mundane, the routine and a whole range of "left-brain" activity for which the kudos are few.
There appears to be a perception that one can be a leader or a manager, but not much acknowledgement that those skill sets can reside in the same individual. I believe this is an erroneous view.
My view of leadership and management is that they do require different skill sets, but must co-exist in order for any change to occur effectively. It is like a hand and a glove. Put together they make a great partnership.

Exit Interviews - It's Not You, It's Me

2007-06-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

With the rising emphasis on employee retention and reducing organizational turnover costs, more and more organizations are using exit interviews as a means to better understand why employees choose to jump ship. An organization will subsequently use this information to help improve any existing employee retention program it may have. The typical exit interview involves the employee's direct supervisor, HR manager, or both, questioning the employee as to his or her motives for leaving the organization. The idea is that the insights gained from the exit interview can be used to improve the chances of retaining current employees as well as new hires in the future. This approach is great in theory; however in practice it has some serious shortcomings.
An important question that must be asked is how candid is a departing employee likely to be with his or her employer. It is understandable that an employee is likely to be less than forthcoming with any negative comments he or she has about a manager or the organization. The reason for this is simple: the employee may have to rely on his or her former employer as a job reference in the near future and will seek to avoid burning any bridges a prospective employer may have to cross in his/her decision to hire the departed employee. The result is an interview where the departing employee essentially tells the organization: It's not you, it's me.
It's not you, it's me – five words immortalized by Seinfield character George Castanza. In a most memorable episode George's girlfriend tells him she wants to break up. When asked why she replies "It's not you, it's me." George of course flies off the handle claiming that he invented that very breakup line, and that if anyone is to blame, it is most definitely him.
This scene is essentially an exit interview set in the context of a typical relationship. George's girlfriend no longer wants to be with him, so to make it easier for both parties she uses the line it's not you, it's me. The end result is that George never really learns why he was broken up with.
This is the primary downfall of relying on the information gathered in an exit interview. It is, by human nature, difficult to tell another individual the reasons for terminating a relationship. Because of this many departing employees offer vague or roundabout answers to questions about their former employer. Instead of giving the real reason for their departure, an exiting employee might give reasons such as: a desire for a career change, the need for a substantial pay increase, or a desire to work closer to their home or family. In some cases these might be legitimate reasons for choosing to leave an organization, but many times what an employee is really saying is: the work wasn't challenging or stimulating enough, you couldn't pay me enough to put up with my supervisor any longer, or that my work environment was so unpleasant that and I couldn't stand thinking of coming to work one day longer.
In many cases there is a huge difference between what an employee says is the reason for his or her departure and the true reason that he or she is leaving. This disparity can be devastating for an organization that relies too heavily on what a departing employee claims are the reasons for his or her exit. The reasons one employee states for leaving do not necessarily translate to reasons that other employees may choose to leave. The truth is that what bothered one employee may not necessarily bother another in the least bit. Furthermore, correcting the complaints of one employee may adversely impact the work conditions of a dozen or more currently satisfied employees.
Another serious shortcoming of using exit interviews to improve employee retention and reduce turnover costs is that the information gathered is done after the employee has already left or chosen to leave the organization. Consider this: you take your car into a mechanic after the engine seizes up. The mechanic informs you that you failed to use the correct weight of oil needed to properly lubricate your particular engine. While this is likely information that you could use in the future were you to own another car with the same type of engine, it does little to remedy your current situation of owning a two ton paper weight or make up for the large financial loss you have incurred.
What if you had known in advance that your engine required a different weight of oil than most other engines on the market? Surely you would have purchased the correct oil to prevent the inevitable engine failure. At the same time however, if you were to rely on the mechanic’s feedback about one particular engine and use the specially weighted oil in your spouse's car and any future car your family might own, you could well be setting yourself up another catastrophic engine failure. The point of the metaphor is that what works for one employee might not work for others and may actually repel them from your organization.
What if you were able to know in advance what would or wouldn't work in your efforts to retain individual employees in your organization? Wouldn't it stand to reason that your rate of employee retention would improve substantially?
You are probably saying to yourself, "That is great, but how exactly am I supposed to get that information?" Thankfully, The Rainmaker Group has some of the most powerful tools available to provide managers with this critical information about their employees. Through the use of a powerful set of personality assessments measuring an employee's behaviors, values, and personal talents a manager can obtain a wealth of information about each employee in three easy to understand reports.
With this information in hand a manager can better understand the factors important to retain each individual employee. This is the information an exit interview seeks to uncover except this time it is objective and forthcoming with the employee outlining the reasons her or she will stay with the organization as well as the reasons why he or she will be likely to leave. The great thing is that the information is all available in a timely manner that can be implemented immediately.

Electronic Document Management - The Basics - Part 1

2007-06-20T20:59:00.004-07:00

Document management can mean many things to many people, and can serve a variety of purposes. The intention of this article is to list the components involved in document management and to briefly describe each one. At the conclusion, there are also some important factors to help in selecting a document management system.
If you've never used a document management system, then it is entirely possible that you aren't aware of how valuable these products can be. Companies and individuals who manage a diverse array of documents have found that document management systems serve to simplify their lives and make both storing documents and later obtaining those documents much easier. n cause a document to disappear into a virtual black hole, never to be seen again.
The entire process of document management can be broken down into four categories: file capture, file processing, file management and file storage. A company may require one, two or all four of these processes.
File Capture
File capture may consist of scanning paper documents, capturing existing electronic files (ex: .doc, .pdf, .tif and scanned documents), and capturing documents from applications with print drivers.
Scanning – if you have a large quantity of paper documents that need to be scanned and introduced to a DMS (Document Management System), then you must consider:
1. How you want the information to be retrieved and stored; and
2. How you want indexed information to be introduced to the DMS.
The manner with which you plan to access the documents later will determine which file format type the files will be saved under. The most common types for scanning output are .tif and .pdf.
The advantage of .tif file types is that they are the smallest file types and therefore take up the least amount of storage space. The advantage to .pdf file types is that they provide better options for content text searching (searching every word of a document), are easier to edit, and are overall more flexible.
The method of introducing indexed information (any field used to search and categorize documents) can range from fully automated to fully manual to somewhere in between. The more automated the process, the more file processing will be required. Extensive automation will make your project more complex and costly, but if you handle a large volume of documents, the automation will quickly pay off in the form of reduced manpower.
The actual physical scanning of the documents can also be fairly automated with batch scanning, bar codes, and database validation. Batch scanning reduces the labor in introducing the documents to the scanner. Instead of the scanner operator separating every document, scanning it separately, and then saving the file into a directory, the operator simply places all of the documents into a feeder by the bulk. The scanner then detects a document change by a blank sheet, bar code, or some other indicator.
Bar codes can also be used to represent a group of information or a client or project to populate multiple indexed fields. If you have an existing client database in your current ERP system or even QuickBooks, this data can also be used to populate or validate indexed fields.
Capturing electronic files – Existing electronic files - such as .doc, .xls, .dwg, and .dgn, - are easier to capture into a DMS. These files contain hidden properties called metadata, which can be mapped to a field in the DMS. This information might include created date, author, title, title block, and other useful information.
Once this data is mapped, these fields will be automatically populated when the electronic files are introduced. These files may be saved to a directory into which the DMS imports them, files may be dragged into the system, or a mass import may be used to bring in legacy documents.
Electronic files may also be captured through print drivers. If you commonly print reports from an application or save them to a directory, you may use a print driver to introduce them to the DMS, which will ultimately save time. Faxes may also be saved to a directory from which the DMS can pick them up for distribution before they ever go to paper.
File capture is relatively easy, but a simple digital file without any additional processing isn't much use. You may take the file and name it and file it in Windows Explorer, but when you are cataloging hundreds or thousands of files, this is not a feasible system. Human error, if nothing else, will prevent every single file from being named correctly and stored in the proper location. Even one misplaced file can wreak havoc for a business.

Team Leadership - The Power of Team Leadership in Business

2007-06-20T20:59:00.003-07:00

Leaders are often metaphorically compared to eagles. Rightfully so; because like eagles leaders posses a keen since of vision and have a tremendous strength of character. However, the misnomer is when leaders assume they should be found alone like most eagles. The sighting of a noble leader may be rare; however a good leader should never be alone. When a leader acts as a lone ranger, taking all the responsibility upon himself; it is neither good for him or for the people. Both he and the people will eventually wear out.
The power of team leadership in business is that there is more strength in numbers. TEAM when taken as an acronym means Together Everyone Achieves More. Team leadership manifests the backbone of leadership – empowerment. Through training followers to become leaders, the leadership is replicated.
The replication of leadership in a group allows for more productivity in the same amount of time. For example when a leader is tasked with solving problems that his people are having, he may be able to meet with three people in an hour. However, if he has trained three of his people to be additional problem solvers, together they can see twelve people in the same hour. That is a four hundred percent increase in productivity.
The core discipline in leadership is problem solving. The leader is responsible for providing strategies that overcome the obstacles that seek to impede progress toward the goal. When team leadership is employed the burden of the obstacle is dispersed and the power for productivity is increased.
There are 3 steps to producing powerful team leadership.
Step 1Create a New Identity
The leader must begin by changing his priorities with the team. He must no longer allow himself to be burdened with lower level problems; but must reserve himself to be available only for the most difficult problems. This is one the critical differences between progressive organizations and stagnate groups. When the pattern is set that the leader will solve everything, the members of the group are stifled; and are crippled from developing their potential.
Step 2Develop a Training Culture
The leader must teach all his people all the principles and strategies he employs in making decisions and solving problems (fearful leaders are always scared of giving away trade secrets for fear of being replaced). It is important that he teaches his people to share with their peers their learning for reinforcement (this is critical to develop a culture of training). Open sharing is necessary to promote team because it builds trust. It is secrecy that breeds contempt and conspiracy.
Step 3Initiate New Leaders
The final step is for the leader to empower his most initiated people to the role of problem solver. The new leaders would be responsible for solving all other problems in order to reserve the most difficult problems for the primary leader. The replication process of team leadership makes it uniquely powerful because of its inherent succession plan; thereby eliminating the break in continuity of leadership should the primary leader be absent or displaced.
Leadership is a powerful tool; it must be in order to get the team to overcome all its obstacles. Therefore, its power should not be horded by one person. Absolute power corrupts the best of intentions. However, the power of leadership dispersed throughout a team and harnessed by the unity of mission is the best medium for use of this power in business.

Leadership - A Passion for Vision Statements

2007-06-20T20:59:00.001-07:00

"The only kind of leadership worth following is based on vision" writes Don Midgett, author of Mission and Vision Statements: Your Path to a Successful Business Future. "For a business to succeed in the unpredictable and competitive 21st century it's important to have leaders with vision; leaders are responsible for what happens in the future. It is in their leadership that they will develop a vision statement which serves as the heart of any size company-from the self-employed to a department of a multi-tiered organizational conglomerate."
Todd Buchholtz, in New Ideas from Dead CEOs: Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office writes of the experiences of the l0 most revered business leaders of the 20th century; their ups and downs, effects on their given industries and their relationship to modern day management practices. The singular characteristic present in his choices was their passion for something newly created, either in product or way of business. It was their passion to create something new "to excel in their chosen industry behind something they fervently believed in" above a need for wealth or power. They, like other visionaries, understood their mission and desired future or vision for their company.
A businessman named Fred Smith had an idea to deliver important documents over night. He imagined airplanes from all over the country flying in to a central hub city after midnight, sorting their cargoes and flying off. He named his business Federal Express, Fed-Ex for short. His vision statement: "A vision of truly reliable mail service."
For Steve Jobs, of Apple Computer it was to "start a revolution in the way the average person processes information." With the successful Nordstrom family it was to "create an experience with our stores."
"It is the business visionary who, having focused his passion on the mission of his business and created a mission statement, then seeks to formulate and implement his desired future with a clearly stated vision statement. This is followed by effective communication, clarity and commitment, to both his management team and employees," said Midgett. It is very important for leadership to have a mission statement that clearly defines one's purpose, as well as a vision statement that unmistakably defines the company's desired future.

Psychopaths Uncovered - The Path to Freedom

2007-06-20T20:58:00.004-07:00

The incidences of psychopathic behavior in Australia and around the world have substantially increased in the last 10 years.
It is reliably estimated that 10% of managers or co-workers in Australia exhibit and engage in psychopathic behavior of some type. Psychopathic incidences are rising rapidly in the workplace where pressure is common place in order to survive.
1. What is a Workplace Psychopath?
They look and dress the same way as most businessmen they may even use the same language. Some of these people are fairly persuasive, they can manipulate, they’re very charming, some of them even charismatic. And a lot of people, they like them, they think they’re kind of fun to be around, but it takes a long time before you can figure out that something is really amiss here. (Professor Robert Hare).
Insincere, arrogant, untrustworthy, manipulative, insensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others, remorseless, shallow, meaning the person seems not to have feelings, is incapable of experiencing or understanding the feelings of others. Tends to blame others for things that go wrong, has low frustration tolerance and is therefore impatient with things. Erratic, unreliable, unfocused, and is selfish, parasitic, they take advantage of the goodwill of people they work with as well as the company itself. (Dr. Paul Babiak).
2. Psychopathic impacts on your business
a) Increased friction and general unrest at your business,
b) Increased absenteeism,
c) Decreased productivity,
d) Decreased profits despite sales,
e) Excessive customer complaints,
f) Increased ‘grapevine’ and rumour mill traffic,
g) People regularly resigning from their positions,
h) Low levels of trust,
i) Higher employee turnover than is normal for your industry,
j) Cash Flow issues, insolvency and in some cases bankruptcy,
k) Stress and relationship issues (workplace and private),
3. Psychopathic impacts on your Employees
Victims of a psychopath can suffer;
a) Insomnia,
b) Anxiety and stress,
c) Social withdrawal,
d) Nervous Breakdowns,
e) Family and social conflict,
f) Loss of self esteem and in extreme instances suicide.
Psychopathic behavior comes under occupational health & safety and the employer has a legal obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all persons attending the workplace.
4. Possible Psychopathic Indicators
1. Does your boss or workmate come across as smooth, polished and charming?
2. Do they turn most conversations around to a discussion about them?
3. Do they discredit or put others down in order to build up their own image and reputation?
4. Can they lie with a straight face to their co-workers, customers, or business associates?
5. Do they consider people they’ve outsmarted or manipulated as dumb and stupid?
6. Are they opportunistic, ruthless and hating to lose and playing to win?
7. Do they come across as cold and calculating?
8. Do they sometimes act in an unethical or dishonest manner?
9. Have they created a power network in the organisation, then used it for personal gain or against you the employer?
10. Do they show no regret for making decisions that negatively affect the company, shareholders, or employees?
5. How to manage a suspected Psychopath
a) Investigate Carefully!
b) Speak to workers and managers that have worked with the suspected person and get their opinions.
c) Realise that many psychopaths work on the premise that their behaviours and conduct go unnoticed. This is their Achilles’ heel.
d) Have other trusted employees keep and eye open on the person and pass on examples of inappropriate behaviour to you.
e) Keep thorough documentation.
f) Ensure your workplace health and safety systems are working and in place.
g) Ensure your employees are aware of your grievance procedures and act swiftly if you receive a complaint. Complaints need not be written.
h) Take professional advice – Biz Momentum can assist you. You must ensure you comply with many regulations and a myriad of legislation so as not to be caught up in the litigation trap.
6. Dealing with a Psychopath
a) Act by calling a meeting with the person,
b) Say to the person ‘Something is not right here and it is affecting our business. I need to get to the bottom of it and have some concerns about the negative behaviours and comments that you seem to be displaying’.
c) You must confront the person with cast iron proof, giving examples of actions and behaviours you are concerned with,
d) Allow the person to put their side of the story to you and consider what they say.
e) Decide what to do on your evidence and the person’s response,
f) If you decide to terminate employment, terminate the employment relationship after taking advice as there are pitfalls you need to ensure you are covered against which overlooked may provide legal/industrial redress against your business,
g) Ensure you have all the facts well documented and take advice before you proceed with your decision. An ounce of prevention is preferable to a ton of cure.
h) In some cases put the Police on notice (we have on behalf of clients).
Biz Momentum have assisted many businesses successfully resolve or remove employees who have caused havoc in the workplace through psychopathic behaviour and are able to assist your business receive positive outcomes. We are experts in this area and have many clients who can attest to this fact! Dealing with difficult people requires lots of experience and finely honed skills.

Know the Ins and Outs of your Store

2007-06-20T20:58:00.003-07:00

Store image and sales are greatly affected by the method (or lack there of) of merchandise displays. Window displays create traffic while in-store displays really sell the products. To be effective with retail store display, it is vital to really understand your business from the inside out. What does your store stand for? What kind of image do you exemplify through the types of products, pricing, and quality? Knowing your business also includes researching the clientele. By examining demographics, conducting price comparisons, and recording customer reactions to promotions, a manager or owner will begin to feel the pulse of the market. Once all of these things are understood, tackling the display design will take the business to a new level. Store display designers must have a firm grasp on fixture types, materials, props, lighting, color, and balance, while considering the many factors affecting the business in the big picture.
Acquiring displays and fixtures for the interior of a retail store is similar to hiring new employees. Their contribution to a sale is almost as high as a human associate, and so much care must be taken to choose wisely. A poor retail display can have the same affect as a bad employee, or even worse. Interior displays should capture the attention of customers, create activity, and influence a buyer's desire. Every inch of the store should be considered a potential display space. Study other successful displays and sketch out product display ideas on paper ahead of time. While mapping it out, break the store into display sections, or focuses. One should be in the main aisle, another in a high traffic area, and the last near the checkout counter. Most displays should consist of a grouping of similar merchandise or sale products. The most popular merchandise is likely to keep customers searching for more. Store fixtures like showcases, slatwalls, gridwalls, hanging racks, tables, floor stands, and baskets commonly used for product grouping. Departmentalize various displays so that impulse buys are near the check out, specialized goods near the back, and small, expensive products in showcases.
External and window displays play a huge role in creating traffic for the store. Displays that are viewable from the outside should be changed a dozen times during the year or more, thus requiring some planning. Each exterior display must be interesting to the demographics you are targeting. It is as if an exterior display were like a human face, the first thing people see when meeting a new person, and first impressions are very important. Window displays are considered one of the most valuable assets for a retailer, and some creativity will go a long way. A window display should have props (possibly mannequins), a background, and signs to set the tone, but product positions, lighting, humor, and drama will make a window display complete. There is no limit to the effectiveness of a creative window display. Resist the urge to clutter up the display with too many products, and keep it simple, unique, and fun.
The decisions you make on interior and exterior displays should reflect your knowledge of your customers, your products, and your desired image. There is definitely a learning curve to creating great store displays, but the value of these displays should not be underestimated.

The Shopper's NEED and Retail Store Display

2007-06-20T20:58:00.001-07:00

Shopping is not just a necessity. It is a pastime. Millions of Americans choose to shop for reasons of entertainment, relaxation, and enjoyment. The lighting, colors, textures, and products create an atmosphere that many people find fun and exhilarating. As a shopper purchases new merchandise, there is actually a release of endorphins that produce emotions of enjoyment and satisfaction. Obviously this is not true of all merchandise, but it is those exceptional products that make the whole shopping experience worthwhile for most people.
These exciting products and merchandise luxuries keep shoppers shopping, not just from a need for the actual product, but also from the emotional feeling of getting something new. Shopping exhilaration is further accompanied by successful "need" marketing. This type of marketing projects the value and need of a particular product for a specific demographic, or even the population as a whole. The shopper may need this type of toothpaste to have white teeth or perhaps they need the perfect outfit to appear successful, there are so many convincing forms of "need" marketing. Combined with the rush of the shopping experience, perceived product needs can be extremely helpful to retailers.
Producing a store environment that is attractive to the senses and appeals to the customer's perceived need does not have a quick and simple solution. It is a good idea to spend some time brainstorming the store's assets and how they apply to this kind of marketing before putting up a single shelf or placing any products. What will be the most appealing product? What kinds of colors, textures, and lighting can you use to enhance the shopping experience for a certain merchandise type? If a store sells baby clothes, the fashionable pinks and blues might work best for coordination, or if a store sells hardware or machinery, metal fixtures that appear durable my be best.
Once a basic design or theme is in place, the search for the perfect fixtures can begin. Product display is extremely important, and it begins with shelving. Shelving is the most basic type of display fixture, and if chosen wisely can be extremely effective. There are now so many choices such as gridwall or slatwall fixtures, wooden shelving, and stand alone systems. Some shelving systems are more flexible than others for particular merchandise. For example, slatwalls provide a large variety of accessories for virtually every type of product.
After some of the larger fixtures have been chosen, the lighting design can begin. All products must be well lit, and for this to happen, the right type and style of lighting should be used for different types of display fixtures. For example, spot lighting will not work will for wooden shelves, because this creates extreme shadows, and track lighting works well for jewelry showcases.
The basic idea of all retail store design is to make products extremely visible while keeping the environment enjoyable and appropriate for the merchandise. If this is accomplished, then the pre-established concepts of need and shopping as a pastime will carry over into the success of any retail store.

Keeping a Smile on the Customer and the Employee

2007-06-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

The time for complaining about the general public is over for those that desire to be successful retailers. It is no longer a seller's market, and the average consumers is more educated and more savvy to the advertising world than ever before. The customer must be the first priority. If there are no customers, then there is no business. This goes for every industry, retail or not. This does not mean that associates should just bite their lip and deal with the general public's incessant demands while retraining the urge to scream or strangle. Retailers who deal with customer faces every day must find a new way to provide great customer care while keeping a positive attitude and enjoying the work. Here are just a few ways to look at customer service that can really lend some patience and enjoyment to the job. It is important to keep reminding employees and sales associates of these things in order to keep happy customers and happy representatives.
Customer care is a great way to keep repeating customers. If sales associates work for a commission or some kind of bonus, this may be the inspiration they need to insure the customer will come back and buy something again. Shoppers are known to request the same associate in a retail store because they feel like their experience went well last time and they feel more comfortable working with them now.
A slightly less common but equally helpful strategy for helping sales staff enjoy their jobs is to lead by example and provide extra service just for personal enjoyment. Open doors for customers as well as employees more often, or bring someone a coffee on their break. You can even spend an afternoon helping an associate restock the slatwalls, or rearrange a showcase and get to know them a little better. Being in the mind of good service starts with an attitude toward serving others in life, just because it feels good. Satisfying a customer, who was screaming with frustration in the moment before, can bring a great amount of satisfaction. Having a manager that displays this quality will impact the rest of the sales floor, and it is not a bad idea for the owner to partake as well.
When dramatic customer situations arise, customer service should be at its best, not its worst. Teach service employees to calmly and quietly listen to a customer's requests in their entirety, rather than quickly trying to identify the problem and fix it. Many customers simply want to be heard and sympathized with. Sometimes a situation may be irreversible, but it may still resolve happily if a customer feels understood and appreciated. Remember that this is a paying job, and while some people are beating up their aching muscles roofing a house, this job exercises the muscles of patience and the ability to problem solve.
Maybe there should be a time scheduled to talk about some of these things with managers or employees so that everyone can begin enjoying their jobs rather than dreading the general public. Similar to the restaurant industry, retailing is a consumer driven service industry and it provides the things that people need and desire to live their lives. Don't let negativity and resentment put a damper on customer service, it could end up crushing the business.

7 Steps To Planning A Great Presentation

2007-06-03T21:23:00.002-07:00

Imagine you have just been asked to give a highly complex presentation to the Board of Directors. One of the biggest mistakes you can make at this point is to start thinking about what you will say. Instead focus on planning.
So how might start the planning? Here is a simple but effective 7 step process.
Step 1: Develop Objectives
Before you do anything get clear on your objectives for the presentation. Possible objectives might be:
• To inform the Board of the current financial position and future forecast
• To secure the funding for a new computer system
• To get buy-in to a new performance management system
• To secure support for an increase in staff numbers
Take the time to get clear on your objectives from the presentation.
Step 2: Assess Your Audience
Whenever you are assessing your audience, try to step into their shoes as the recipient of the presentation. Think about:
• The level of knowledge they have about the topic
• The level of resistance you are likely to encounter
• The perceptions or views they might have about you or your team
• Any insights that you have gained from others about the style or type of presentation they respond well to
Step 3: Brainstorm Ideas
A brainstorm is quite simply a dump of ideas on what you could cover. Remember the first step is to get all possible ideas down. It is not about evaluating at this stage. Keep brainstorming until you run dry on ideas.
Step 4: Identify Common Themes
It is likely that when brainstorming, you will have come up with similar things that you can group into an overall theme. For example, if it is a financial performance presentation you might have included budgeting, forecasting, treasury and working capital that you put under a theme called financial management.
Alternatively if it is a human resources presentation you might have included recruitment, selection, retention and personal development that you capture under a theme called talent management.
Step 5: Produce An Outline Structure
On one piece of paper sketch out the theme on each slide and the two or three messages you want to get across.
Step 6: Prepare The Presentation Materials
The key things to be aware of in preparing your presentation materials are:
• The appropriate number of slides- my rule of thumb is 5-7 maximum for a 10 minute presentation
• How much text to include- in my experience bullet points are best
• Use animation only if it adds something
• How you will deal with numbers- an excel spreadsheet is not appropriate so you need to think of alternatives if it is numbers based presentation
Step 7: Practise Practise Practise
Running through your presentation at least twice is an essential part of your planning. Don’t neglect it as it will serve you well when it comes to the real thing
Finally, remember that most of us are not that enthusiastic about presenting and thorough planning can make all the difference.

Becoming Successful 21st Century Corporations

2007-06-03T21:23:00.001-07:00

The Globalisation and Internet are the two major forces that are responsible for the radical changes that are going on among the business firms in Asia. Successful 21st century corporations responded
well to the threats and opportunities of the business environment. What makes these corporations different? Its the effective management systems in place that is responsible for their success.
Successful organizations, adopt effective management system and policies that are able to generate profit through their employees. Cascio (2006, p.27-29), in his book titled 'Managing Human resource: productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits'(published by McGraw-Hill) lists seven practices/dimensions that form part of the 'management systems that produce profits through people' . They are:
Job Security: Though the life-long employment is no longer possible, successful business organizations continue to offer high degree of employment security for their employees. Unless the organizational and HR policies reflect the organization's commitment to their employees' job security, it will be impossible to get the employees full support and commitment. There are organizations that take extra-ordinary steps to keep their labour force at the optimum number from day one, to avoid any subsequent lay-offs. To these successful organizations, hiring employees is a last option. This is radically different from those firms which hire and fire without any strategic HR planning. Job security to become a reality, HR managers and senior management need to adopt strategic human resource planning.
Selective Hiring: Not every Tom, Dick and harry get a job. A well planned and carefully administered recruitment and selection is the basis by which selective hiring to managed. According to Cascio, it is only possible to hire selectively when the following requirements are met.
There is a large number of potential candidates
Organisation is clear about its human skill requirements: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Attitudes, personality attributes and Talents.
Selection focuses on attributes of candidates that are difficult to change. If you can select the right candidate with the (Talent, Abilities, Skills and Knowledge) in the first place, you need not spend your time and resources to train them.
Decentralisation with Autonomous Teams: The traditional centralized structure depended on command and control approach to get things done. Employees working in teams are able to respond to the unique and demanding business situations much more effectively. Enabling employees to take responsibility and depending on other team members.
Comparatively high Compensation: Successful 21st century corporations pay well,
compared to their competitors. These organizations adopt unique and innovative compensation practices for all their employees
Comprehensive Training: Management systems that recognize the power of training invariably do well. Despite the fact that they practice selective hiring, successful organization know the importance of keeping their employees knowledge, Skills and Abilities current to suit to the changing needs of the enterprise. They focus both on technical and people related soft skills training. Training is seen by these firms as a competitive tool in terms of recruitment, retention and employee performance. Training is also a powerful tool that enable the employees meet their self actualization need, a top order need identified by Abraham Maslow as part of Hierarchy of Needs theory.
Active Involvement of Everyone regardless of status: The management systems of successful organization incorporate policies and HR practices that take full advantage of employees' ideas, talents, skills and knowledge. It taps the expertise of everyone in the organization. Recognizing the talents and skills of all employees and enabling and encouraging them to offer solutions and ideas for the well being of the organization, breaks the status barrier that is common among majority of the organizations. Every employee in the firm is made to feel important and their contributions are valued and recognized.
Practice Open Book: In successful organizations, the access to information is not restricted to a small group of elite managers. Successful corporations share information among the employees, so that they are able to use the information to make better decision. In the modern world, it is difficult to argue that knowledge is power, unless that knowledge is put to practice. To apply the existing knowledge to changing business situations, employees need information. Management systems of organization 'that produces profit through people' recognizes the power of information sharing.The qualities of management systems of successful 21st century corporations highlighted by Cascio can be the basis if you are serious to transform your business practices. Be practical. Identify one area from the above seven dimension, and work towards improvement. Start reviewing the current HR practices. To move forward you need to ask questions. The best way to unfold new ideas is to use the 5W + 1H model (What, When, Why, Where, Who and How) extensively. Welcome to the club of Successful 21st Century Corporations.
Once you get started, just remember you are on your way to join the elite club of successful 21st Century Corporations.

The Training and Coaching Partnership

2007-06-03T21:22:00.001-07:00

For many companies, training can drop off the agenda for a variety of reasons. The company may be going through a period of growth, with tight deadlines to be met. The challenges of the market place may squeeze resources for training. This begs two questions: firstly, when planning financial forecasts, is staff training considered a priority; and secondly when budgets are squeezed how can a company maximise its financial investment in training?
During periods of growth and high demand there are new challenges to be met, with customers demanding a high quality relationship with any service or product provider. Managers and staff will be asked to deliver customer service that will delight customers, to ensure customer retention and continued growth. This challenges organisations to attract and retain people who can deliver the growth the business needs. To use a sporting analogy, the team that wins trophies will not maintain peak performance without continued dedicated training and coaching. Training without coaching is not a viable option as the coach is there to create the desire to attain even more to ensure a winning mentality. In business, many companies fail to recognise this, focusing on training as a separate process, divorced from the key task of improving performance and building the motivation and commitment that builds a winning attitude across the whole organization.
For those companies who are facing financial challenges it is all the more important that there is a guaranteed return on investment when training is delivered. To spend thousands of pounds on training that improves performance for a few weeks is not a viable option for many. To avoid this, the impact of training packages can be enhanced by the inclusion of dedicated coaching, to ensure that staff can fulfill their potential. Coaching can make the difference and create a culture which will provide a motivated and enthusiastic work force that will exceed expectations and grow with the business.

Deadlines Matter, But Only If You Enforce Them

2007-06-03T21:21:00.002-07:00

Imagine if your local newspaper didn’t show up one morning because those operating the press at the paper just didn’t make their deadlines? How would you feel? What would happen to those employees the next day? Imagine if all of the local gas stations had bags over the nozzles because the deliver trucks were behind on their deadline and the pumps were empty? How would you feel?
We take for granted that some suppliers we count on always make their deadlines, so why are we not as expectant for our business deadlines to be met?
Routinely when working with executives reviewing strategic planning objectives, goals and targets, I hear “We’ve not got to that yet.” Over and over. Excuses often follow, and the justifications invariably are tossed around.
What happened to commitment? What happened to a deadline being a deadline? If leaders are quick to dismiss deadlines and not consider them a true end point, how will anyone else in the organization take targets seriously?
Deadlines are a managerial tool that when enforced requires people to take action or deal with the consequences. One of the reasons businesses get their butts kicked is because the front office has become slack in their drive for making things happen in a timely manner.
This year for the first time in my life my tax information didn’t get in on time. My accountant called to tell me he was filing for an extension, followed by lame excuses. Did he check with me first to see how I felt about this? No. Will he be my accountant after this? Not on your life. Slack attitudes toward deadlines means slack attitudes are acceptable in everything else. I have no room for those people on my team.
Deadlines are:
• A managerial tool to establish a date for something to be completed – no excuses.• A target time frame to keep everyone focused on an accomplishment.• An opportunity to separate the meaningful commitments from the hollow promises.• A way to keep people challenged and moving forward.• A method of keeping things from dragging on endlessly.• A way to establish yourself as a leader who plays to win.
How do you know your deadline is realistic?
Deadlines can often be set arbitrarily with a randomly selected date or with a focus of “I have to have it now” because an emergency is driving the deadline. (Said emergency is often caused by something else left undone or not on time.) Deadlines should be set with an expectation of being met. Based either on past history, or a clear understanding of exactly what is required to be accomplished, deadlines should have some input from those expected to execute it.
A marketing firm has a distinctive competence of magical deadlines. They can brainstorm with a company all day long and by morning have full prototype printed and ready for review by breakfast the next day. How do they do this? The team responsible for making this happen understands their hours are more night shift than day shift. They also understand that by meeting such aggressive deadlines they get to work with a company that creates buzz and can charge a premium and pay premium. It’s the understanding of what can be done.
Sometimes you have to make midcourse adjustments to your deadline. The key with such adjustments is the “why” the adjustment is being made? Did you set an unrealistic deadline? Was there a factor you forgot to include? Or, did something happen along the way to shift the target you were going after or the scope of what is being done by that deadline? Midcourse corrections because of oversights and lack of being realistic to begin with could erode the respect people have for your deadlines.
If you are making changes because of now important information coming to light, or changing the scope of the project and want to set a more realistic deadline based on the different tasks being added, then you are making savvy decisions your team will respect.
Deadlines are deadlines
Once deadlines are left to pass without any consequences, the management team soon realizes deadlines are merely suggestions and can be easily talked around. Next thing you know, opportunity is lost, laziness sets in and getting steamrolled by the competition is no longer feared – it is actually being invited – without even realizing the offer of the invitation; leaving executives to wonder, “How did that happen?”
Look at the deadlines you have on current projects, corrections of previous errors, and strategic initiatives and ask yourself – how seriously are these deadlines being taken? Now look in the mirror and ask the hard question: Why am I letting people ignore my deadlines?
Good leaders understand how to effectively set aggressive deadlines that have reach yet are obtainable. They also understand deadlines get things done.

Implementing Total Quality Management In Small, Medium And Big Organizations - An Observation

2007-06-03T21:21:00.001-07:00

Many big or small organizations had jump into the band wagon to look for a success formula for their business success. The Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of those formula. Though it has been a challenge to implement TQM, there are many success stories. What are some of the Critical Success Factors in implementing TQM?
Total Quality Management concepts is not new in the manufacturing industries. Many of them has witnessed successful organizations are also TQM organizations. If TQM can make an organization successful, who is it not all organizations adopting to the implementation of TQM?In this TQM article, I am delighted to share my experience acquired from companies that I have worked with as a consultant/Facilitator as well as implementer.
For a big organization such as Multi National Corporation (MNC), Electronic Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), there is a Vision and Mission Statement displayed prominently in pertinent locations. There is a systematic documentation system that provides policies and procedure in their operations. For many of them, besides been certified in ISO18000, ISO14000 and ISO9001, they have obtained several product certification such as CE Marking, UL, etc Due to these initiatives and its requirement for its maintenance, a systematic continuous improvement approach has to be in placed and evident throughout the organization in order to fulfill certification requirements. Many of them adopted improvement methodology such as 6-sigma, lean manufacturing, TPM etc. Besides, all of these systems, organizations are very much customer driven.While some of them adopted the TQM in full version (according to the TQM guru's), some has their own version of TQM as they often employee internal expertise.
For medium organizations, many of them has their Vision and Mission established too. And almost all of them are ISO9001 certified. On top of the Quality Policy, documentation system is in placed. For some, addition management system such as ISO14000 and ISO18000. They are fairly active in the compliance to these ISO system. Improvement initiatives are scattered across the organizations and to some extend, ad-hoc problem solving approach is been practiced. A Quality personnel is often assigned to maintain these systems and he is expected to drive it.
For small organization, many of them are ISO9001 certified hence has adopted a basic documentation system. There is a a minimum Quality Policy established due to the requirement by ISO9001. Basis documentation system is in place, compliance to the ISO documentation is often last minute effort. Adoption to systematic improvement methodology seems to be rare. Fire-fighting approach to solve problem seems to be a formula for continuous improvement. TQM is not an approach to be considered as it meant more manpower is needed. In many cases, production personnel is assigned to maintain these systems.
In summary: The adoption of the Total Quality Management system lies with the leadership in the organization. The variation in adopting TQM as a way to run business depends very much on the scale of the organization, leadership and urgency.
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Disclaimer: All rights reserved. This article is written by the author based on his practical application experience. All definitions and interpretation of terminology are his point of view and has it has no intention to conflict with experts in similar topic. The author holds no responsibility for the use of this article in any way.

Leaders Set Goals To Define Priorities

2007-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Setting goals as the way to define priorities, whether in business or in personal life, is what leaders do to maintain direction and focus in their organizations and in their personal lives. Unfortunately, many managers take a tremendous amount of potential leverage out of their organizations by not prioritizing.
I had a boss whose standard answer to "What's the most important thing?" was "Everything's the most important thing." What a copout. We were in a crisis mode and there was a lot to get done, but what that "Everything is important" direction led to was a lot of counterproductive behavior - hunker down and keep the boss off your butt by being busy all the time - 24/7 - and ride it out. Do what you're told to do, and then ask "What's next?" After a year of that no leverage management style he was fired - but not until some very good people had left the organization.
Managers that take the "everything is Number 1" approach are often rewarded for being tough, no nonsense, aggressive problem solvers. The fact that many of the problems they solved were created by them seems to go unnoticed. Actually, instead of leadership, they use a brute force approach to getting things done. That often works in a crisis situation, but when everything becomes a crisis, those managers lose their effectiveness and their people become cynical about how they are treated. Brute force managers rarely have goals they share with people, and even more rarely do they have their people participate in any meaningful way in setting goals and priorities. To many of them, sharing information and open communication are threats to their control. Many of them are quite happy with a compliance level workforce - the "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it" people. There is no leverage in the Brute Force management style.
How do effective leaders create priorities that maximize their own effectiveness and the effectiveness of their organization?
They start with a clear understanding of what the three to five most important things are, personally or professionally. This is tough - there are always many more issues vying for attention than there are resources available to address them. The leader makes the tough decisions - the Brute Force manager doesn't.
Then the leader enlists people in the areas of importance to help arrive at ways to succeed in meeting the most important requirements.
Then the leader creates and communicates and negotiates goals that support the most important three to five issues, or challenges, or opportunities.
The goals are used to create supporting goals, expectations and understandings of importance in the universe of people that can contribute to meeting the goal.
Then leaders act - and expect action from their people.
Leaders protect their own time, and the time of their people, so that maximum focus can be kept on the critical few, and not frittered away on the unimportant many.
And then leaders evaluate, change if change is necessary, and continue to use the process as the basis for action throughout their organization.
And they insist that this process be kept as simple as possible - minimum bureaucracy here. Don't wait for an enterprise wide software system to capture all the data and signups and goal statements. More good goal setting systems have drowned of their own administrative weight than for any other reason. Leaders fight that. Leaders know the critical intersection in goal setting and prioritizing is at the person to person level - not at the form completion and submission point.
And the resulting action they get is so different from the "Tell me what to do and I'll do it" people. Lots of leverage in a shared goal environment - on both a personal and work level.
Leaders know most people want to help, want to contribute, want to be involved in a worthy enterprise, want to be recognized for their contribution. Leaders also know most people work best and most effectively where they have structure and an understanding of what needs to be done. Once they have that, great things start to happen! They no longer have to say "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it" - they know the priorities and what is most important. They can use the freedom that knowledge provides to keep their eyes on the few big balls - and not be distracted by all the little balls that will always bounce around and take up all the time people will let them take up.
Leaders also know there are times when brute force may be the only appropriate tactic - a public safety health product recall, a natural disaster, a systems failure, a fire - all call for everybody pitching in to get things done - whatever that means. But leaders know the brute force tactic is the exception to the rule, and is only used when absolutely necessary. And their people know it - and rather than take it as just another in a long line of fire drills, they pitch in and know their efforts will be part of a worthy enterprise's efforts to succeed. The result is maximum leverage when needed.
If you work or live in an "Everything is important" situation, be careful of burning out. If you can take what leaders do and apply it to your work and your personal situation two things will happen - you'll have more time for the really important things, and your personal and professional success will increase - I guarantee it. And on those brute force days, or weeks, keep the leader's model of goals to priorities firmly in your sights - and get back to it as soon as possible. Start today.

Thomas Edison And Invention Process

2007-05-28T00:10:00.002-07:00

Introduction
Very often people are curious as to whether there is a certain methodology that successful inventors are following that can be adopted by others. In my opinion, one should look no further then Thomas Edison, one of the greatest minds of the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries; inventor who gave the world a long-lasting light bulb and phonograph – just a few inventions that revolutionized and modernized our world. In fact, Edison patented 1,093 Inventions in US alone, not counting numerous patents obtained in European countries like Germany, France and England.
Edison And His Methodology
So, what methodology did Thomas Edison follow when he worked on his numerous ideas? Many researchers and bibliographers who studied Edison’s life claim that the famed inventor didn’t use systematic approach while working on his ideas; in fact, many claim that Edison favored the so-called random approach. In my opinion, above mentioned claims are misleading and should be taken with big grain of salt.
Thomas Edison never rushed into conclusions and methodically studied any available literature on the topic he was working. Edison once wrote the following –
“When I want to discover something, I begin by reading up everything that has been done along that line in the past - that's what all these books in the library are for. I see what has been accomplished at great labor and expense in the past. I gather data of many thousands of experiments as a starting point, and then I make thousands more.”
Respect the Work of Others
One can clearly see that Thomas Edison had the uttermost respect for the researchers who worked before him, either successfully or unsuccessfully. Famed inventor realized early on that his success heavily relied upon work done by others - Edison carefully analyzed facts produced by others, noted their mistakes and learned to avoid these mistakes in the future.
Regarding Trial And Error Approach
Edison did use trial and error (or random) method, but in a different context. Once Edison formulated and documented his ideas, inventor used trial and error approach in determining the best materials that should be used in his inventions. In those days, only rudimental research was done on physical and chemical properties of most materials, including gases and metals. Edison had to rely on his own tests and observations in order to produce a list of materials that were strong enough to be used in his inventions.
Summary
Edison left us with the idea to not just accept what we have, but with desire and hunger to reach newer heights. Famed inventor lived extraordinary life and managed to make our life better by improving on things that no one thought can be improved. The traits and abilities mentioned below are associated with Edison that helped him to achieve his dream of making our world a better place to live:
- Quickly grasp idea or concept - Sketch original design and easily draw a diagram of his idea- See the big picture and not allowing anything to stand on his way to success- Appreciate work done by others and learn from their mistakes
- Pause and quickly re-analyze his ideas, once critical facts came into light
- Test Inventions under most extreme conditions in order to be sure that they will continue to operate properly- To Conceiving an idea and work towards achieving it