Author : Steve Kaye
Your choice of a facilitator can determine if the meeting is a success or a failure.Use these questions to make sure that you are working with the right person.Is the person a professional facilitator?There is more to facilitation than watching people talk. Facilitation is a complex
activity requiring a special blend of sophisticated skills. You want someone who can
identify the real goals for your meeting, plan an agenda that produces a result,
guide people to find their best answers, and maintain a working environment for a
fair process. That is, you want someone who specializes in helping people hold
effective meetings. One clue comes from asking if the candidate facilitator is a
member of the International Association of Facilitators. Dedicated professionals
belong to the associations that serve their discipline.Has the person earned recognition as a facilitator?The International Association of Facilitators grants the Certified Professional
Facilitator designation based on a rigorous skill-based assessment. Candidates
must pass 1) a lengthy written application describing their experience, 2) two oral
exams conducted by certified examiners, and 3) a live demonstration of meeting
facilitation where one of the examiners attempts to disrupt the meeting. You gain
added assurance when you work with a CPF.Does the person understand meetings?That is, does the candidate know how to set up, plan, and conduct an effective
meeting? Does he know how to keep a meeting on track? Does she know how to
maintain a productive, safe environment that allows the participants to work at their
creative best?Does the person understand business?You want a facilitator who understands the dynamics and challenges that occur in
business. You want someone who can speak intelligently with your executives and
staff. You want someone who has worked for a business and attended real business
meetings.Does the person work hard to understand the purpose of your meeting?If you talk to someone who seems too quick to accept your project, be cautious. A
skilled facilitator will ask many questions to understand what you want before
agreeing to help you. This helps identify if your meeting fits the facilitator's
expertise -- some types of meetings may not. And it determines the amount of
effort required.Does the person offer to talk to the participants?Such conversations are essential. They reveal the participants' expectations and
private agendas. They gather background information. And they serve to enlist the
participants' support for the meeting.Does the person apply a variety of process tools?Each meeting is different. And thus each meeting requires different process tools to
obtain useful results. Some people use one process for everything - and while that
can work in some cases, it is a significant limitation.Does the person tell you about your role in the meeting?Certainly you want directions on how to set up the room, what resources to obtain,
and how to maximize the effectiveness of your participation.Does the person charge a realistic fee?Professional facilitators charge realistic fees that are consistent with the value of
their work. A low fee, however, should serve as a warning. Beginners, amateurs, and
part time entrepreneurs charge low fees. Realize that the most expensive part of a
meeting is the cost of the participant's time. Saving money on a facilitator can ruin
the meeting. On the other hand, a huge fee indicates that the person is either a
celebrity or works for a firm with large overhead.Steve Kaye helps leaders hold meetings that produce results - fast and with everyone's
participation. He is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator, author, and speaker. His
facilitation and workshops create success for everyone. Call 714-528-1300 for details.Visit http://www.stevekaye.com for a free report.
Keyword : effective meetings, business meeting, facilitation, steve kaye, facilitator
วันเสาร์ที่ 23 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2551
A Better Way To Work - Workplace Democracy
Author : Rahul Dewan
Recently, during a discussion with Suman, a co-worker in the car while stuck in a traffic jam on the way to a client meeting in Gurgaon, I shared the vision of transforming Srijan into a company in which all its members collectively manage the growth, direction, etc. In response, Suman said, we already have a good work environment within the company; and why we should think of such measures at all?I tried but could not provide an answer; and asked him to allow me to write down why, as I am better expressed that way. On the way back, I did manage to provide an answer, but decided that I would still write it, to share it across our company and possibly consider publishing it in a supportive media publication, to let the idea rub-off on other companies as well.Unlearning the ways of the worldIn the last few years, I have been deeply influenced by books such as "Built to Last" and more recently by "Maverick" and "Seven Day Weekend" by Ricardo Semler talking of his experiments with 'democracy at work' in his company Semco in Brazil. I have also been influenced by the late Sh. P.L. Tandon, the first Indian chairman of HLL, and well-known economist, with whom I had several late evening discussions on 'management' with the heart.To add to all this, we have an advisor to our company who believes in complete transparency at the work place, as a basic tenet to 'building great companies' of the future.Through months and years of training, or may I say, 'questioning' and then 'unlearning' the 'thought paradigms' and 'values' taught to us by society, have I now begun to initiate processes which are transparent, idealistic, and really how, companies must run.Purpose of a businessFirstly, each company must have a reason to be in business. Earning as much money as possible', having the best car, foreign trips, etc. for the promoter and his/her family, could be the motivation. However, this reason alone creates the insane world we live in, with such huge inequities that 60%-70% of our population lives 'below poverty line'. Now, I refuse to be drawn into the technicalities of the BPL category; people, actually much more than the percentage above, are struggling daily to meet their daily basic survival needs. This is poverty; and I do not care if they earn the US$2-3 subscribed as a benchmark by World Bank or IMF to define the 'poverty line'.When I formed Srijan, we did not have much of a reason, except generating financial security, so that I could be involved in areas of political reform in this country. Over the years of training and 'unlearning', it is now a personal dream to create a 'great company' which works for a larger purpose than fulfilling the gluttonous appetite of the shareholders or promoters or even the employees, for money.So what is Srijan's purpose?Srijan will work in areas of 'national significance' such as those which address the social needs of the people of the country, and in-turn the world at large.We believe that Information Technology and Media, both of which culminate in the Internet, has the power to transform lives of millions, by giving them a voice, and an opportunity to come together, share and learn from each other. Srijan will continue to work at the forefront of this revolution.Over the last few years, we have seen the power of communities at work, where one person's willingness to share his university project code, has culminated in an OS which has challenged the might and monopoly of Microsoft, in a manner that no large corporation in the world has been able to do. Linux, is getting mature, and its acceptability increasing by the day. It has given birth to an Open Source movement which is giving the power of choice, affordability and security to the end-user. It is for the first time, in the last 30 years or so, that small businesses are being able to afford IT for increasing their business efficiency. Small IT companies, such as ours, are being able to find a niche for themselves in the product segment by adopting and learning various Open Source products and implementing them for customers. The sense of appreciation in most companies using open source products is quite high, and sooner or later, they do contribute to the movement and the community in effort, money or materials. Srijan remains at the forefront of this movement, with its specialisation in helping customers in the Small-Medium Enterprises, Government, Education and Social sectors, use 'information' and 'knowledge' gainfully for their business/purpose enhancement.Information Technology is only the beginning. At Srijan, we dream that in the near future we shall be able to diversify and create "successful business-models" and work ina) renewable energy;b) promote 'sustainable' organic agriculture;c) water security;d) environment sensitive products' development and marketing;e) health – through preventive alternate medicine and practices;f) micro-financeg) Consulting – to help Indian companies become efficient and effective;h) EducationSrijan is already working on building a 'consulting' division within our company through association with a couple of highly-recognised management consultants, and began our first project in 'assessing water security' of villages in hilly regions of Uttaranchal.We are already working in the sector of micro-finance, though currently at a personal level. I recently lent our domestic-help a few ten-thousand rupees to enable purchasing land in his village, which would in the years to come enable him to become independent and an entrepreneur. Who knows, he may get to run a Petrol pump one-day on this piece of land which is on the road leading to Chilka lake. The only condition remains that once he is doing well for himself in the future, he would help others in-need and with an opportunity, become independent as well.Initiatives at SrijanSo, how does all this relate to my discussion with my colleague, mentioned at the beginning? Well, the only 'humane' and 'sustainable' way to grow and diversify into these areas, is by involving a group of inspired people to work towards these 'shared common goals'. It makes this movement (or the company) much more stable, sustainable and one that lasts.Such a company could only provide a 'loving' and 'balanced' environment, required for creating new brilliant ideas, which will give new direction and new areas of business and thus, profits to the company; and a more equitable society.The challenge is to find the right kind of people. A company must share and 'live' its culture rather than talk about it. It is what one 'does' and not what one 'says' that will help put in place such a culture.At Srijan, we have a good work environment. Inspite, of being small, we are now able to afford better salaries for our people. We have recently redesigned our office to improve the environment and the ambiance, thus making the work hours more comfortable. In order to bring in transparency in management, weshare information on the company's billing to its customers, each other's salaries are known to all key people, including the normally hidden perks to the top management. :-)Although, everyone does not have an opinion in all decisions, we still ensure that everyone is consulted or apprised before any major initiatives. All of us, in capacity as Account Managers, build relationships with our customers. There are 'strategic consultants' associated with us, who are encouraged to make project bids, building customer relationships, deliver the work – independently, without bothering with the bureaucracy of control-based centralised Project Management practices. Quality does not suffer at all. We trust that we are dealing with adults, who are aware of Srijan's 'quality practices' and the 'code of conduct'.This is not where it ends. We have a long-way to go in creating a company led by its people. There is still a lot of unlearning to do, to create a truly great company. However, our open and transparent management practices, often inspired by the leadership of our highly-charged advisors, will ensure that new inspired initiatives keep cropping up, leading us to new directions and new business initiatives within the company, which will help achieve and expand our 'purpose'.Rahul Dewan
Managing Director
Srijan Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
http://www.srijan.in/Rahul Dewan is the Managing Director of Srijan Technologies Pvt. Ltd., an IT company based in India. Under the guidance of J. Sen Gupta, his mentor and a Management Consultant with over 30 years in the industry in TQM and Organisation Development, Rahul worked on bringing democracy at his workplace as well. Initially, sharing revenue statements with people at Srijan, was unimaginable, out of apprehensions that they may either think the company is not too profitable (we're doing very well now) or on the other extreme may think, that they were earning much less than the company's earnings; however, none of this happened, and although people are more vocal about their expectations and desires (this is exactly what we wanted to achieve), their is a more loving environment we have been able to create in the company. Sengupta, enthused by the way Srijan is re-creating itself, has recently agreed to join it full-time.
Keyword : Business, Management, Democracy, Workplace, India, Loving, Environment
Recently, during a discussion with Suman, a co-worker in the car while stuck in a traffic jam on the way to a client meeting in Gurgaon, I shared the vision of transforming Srijan into a company in which all its members collectively manage the growth, direction, etc. In response, Suman said, we already have a good work environment within the company; and why we should think of such measures at all?I tried but could not provide an answer; and asked him to allow me to write down why, as I am better expressed that way. On the way back, I did manage to provide an answer, but decided that I would still write it, to share it across our company and possibly consider publishing it in a supportive media publication, to let the idea rub-off on other companies as well.Unlearning the ways of the worldIn the last few years, I have been deeply influenced by books such as "Built to Last" and more recently by "Maverick" and "Seven Day Weekend" by Ricardo Semler talking of his experiments with 'democracy at work' in his company Semco in Brazil. I have also been influenced by the late Sh. P.L. Tandon, the first Indian chairman of HLL, and well-known economist, with whom I had several late evening discussions on 'management' with the heart.To add to all this, we have an advisor to our company who believes in complete transparency at the work place, as a basic tenet to 'building great companies' of the future.Through months and years of training, or may I say, 'questioning' and then 'unlearning' the 'thought paradigms' and 'values' taught to us by society, have I now begun to initiate processes which are transparent, idealistic, and really how, companies must run.Purpose of a businessFirstly, each company must have a reason to be in business. Earning as much money as possible', having the best car, foreign trips, etc. for the promoter and his/her family, could be the motivation. However, this reason alone creates the insane world we live in, with such huge inequities that 60%-70% of our population lives 'below poverty line'. Now, I refuse to be drawn into the technicalities of the BPL category; people, actually much more than the percentage above, are struggling daily to meet their daily basic survival needs. This is poverty; and I do not care if they earn the US$2-3 subscribed as a benchmark by World Bank or IMF to define the 'poverty line'.When I formed Srijan, we did not have much of a reason, except generating financial security, so that I could be involved in areas of political reform in this country. Over the years of training and 'unlearning', it is now a personal dream to create a 'great company' which works for a larger purpose than fulfilling the gluttonous appetite of the shareholders or promoters or even the employees, for money.So what is Srijan's purpose?Srijan will work in areas of 'national significance' such as those which address the social needs of the people of the country, and in-turn the world at large.We believe that Information Technology and Media, both of which culminate in the Internet, has the power to transform lives of millions, by giving them a voice, and an opportunity to come together, share and learn from each other. Srijan will continue to work at the forefront of this revolution.Over the last few years, we have seen the power of communities at work, where one person's willingness to share his university project code, has culminated in an OS which has challenged the might and monopoly of Microsoft, in a manner that no large corporation in the world has been able to do. Linux, is getting mature, and its acceptability increasing by the day. It has given birth to an Open Source movement which is giving the power of choice, affordability and security to the end-user. It is for the first time, in the last 30 years or so, that small businesses are being able to afford IT for increasing their business efficiency. Small IT companies, such as ours, are being able to find a niche for themselves in the product segment by adopting and learning various Open Source products and implementing them for customers. The sense of appreciation in most companies using open source products is quite high, and sooner or later, they do contribute to the movement and the community in effort, money or materials. Srijan remains at the forefront of this movement, with its specialisation in helping customers in the Small-Medium Enterprises, Government, Education and Social sectors, use 'information' and 'knowledge' gainfully for their business/purpose enhancement.Information Technology is only the beginning. At Srijan, we dream that in the near future we shall be able to diversify and create "successful business-models" and work ina) renewable energy;b) promote 'sustainable' organic agriculture;c) water security;d) environment sensitive products' development and marketing;e) health – through preventive alternate medicine and practices;f) micro-financeg) Consulting – to help Indian companies become efficient and effective;h) EducationSrijan is already working on building a 'consulting' division within our company through association with a couple of highly-recognised management consultants, and began our first project in 'assessing water security' of villages in hilly regions of Uttaranchal.We are already working in the sector of micro-finance, though currently at a personal level. I recently lent our domestic-help a few ten-thousand rupees to enable purchasing land in his village, which would in the years to come enable him to become independent and an entrepreneur. Who knows, he may get to run a Petrol pump one-day on this piece of land which is on the road leading to Chilka lake. The only condition remains that once he is doing well for himself in the future, he would help others in-need and with an opportunity, become independent as well.Initiatives at SrijanSo, how does all this relate to my discussion with my colleague, mentioned at the beginning? Well, the only 'humane' and 'sustainable' way to grow and diversify into these areas, is by involving a group of inspired people to work towards these 'shared common goals'. It makes this movement (or the company) much more stable, sustainable and one that lasts.Such a company could only provide a 'loving' and 'balanced' environment, required for creating new brilliant ideas, which will give new direction and new areas of business and thus, profits to the company; and a more equitable society.The challenge is to find the right kind of people. A company must share and 'live' its culture rather than talk about it. It is what one 'does' and not what one 'says' that will help put in place such a culture.At Srijan, we have a good work environment. Inspite, of being small, we are now able to afford better salaries for our people. We have recently redesigned our office to improve the environment and the ambiance, thus making the work hours more comfortable. In order to bring in transparency in management, weshare information on the company's billing to its customers, each other's salaries are known to all key people, including the normally hidden perks to the top management. :-)Although, everyone does not have an opinion in all decisions, we still ensure that everyone is consulted or apprised before any major initiatives. All of us, in capacity as Account Managers, build relationships with our customers. There are 'strategic consultants' associated with us, who are encouraged to make project bids, building customer relationships, deliver the work – independently, without bothering with the bureaucracy of control-based centralised Project Management practices. Quality does not suffer at all. We trust that we are dealing with adults, who are aware of Srijan's 'quality practices' and the 'code of conduct'.This is not where it ends. We have a long-way to go in creating a company led by its people. There is still a lot of unlearning to do, to create a truly great company. However, our open and transparent management practices, often inspired by the leadership of our highly-charged advisors, will ensure that new inspired initiatives keep cropping up, leading us to new directions and new business initiatives within the company, which will help achieve and expand our 'purpose'.Rahul Dewan
Managing Director
Srijan Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
http://www.srijan.in/Rahul Dewan is the Managing Director of Srijan Technologies Pvt. Ltd., an IT company based in India. Under the guidance of J. Sen Gupta, his mentor and a Management Consultant with over 30 years in the industry in TQM and Organisation Development, Rahul worked on bringing democracy at his workplace as well. Initially, sharing revenue statements with people at Srijan, was unimaginable, out of apprehensions that they may either think the company is not too profitable (we're doing very well now) or on the other extreme may think, that they were earning much less than the company's earnings; however, none of this happened, and although people are more vocal about their expectations and desires (this is exactly what we wanted to achieve), their is a more loving environment we have been able to create in the company. Sengupta, enthused by the way Srijan is re-creating itself, has recently agreed to join it full-time.
Keyword : Business, Management, Democracy, Workplace, India, Loving, Environment
Maintaining Employee Respect in an Uncooperative Economy
Author : Rick Johnson
Next to people, communication is the most critical element to success whether you are in a growth mode or you are facing difficult economic times. However, when times are tough, failure to communicate has much greater consequences. Ineffective communication can accelerate failure in general. Communication is essential to developing trust. Trust is necessary to get people to reach down deep inside and give everything they have under the most difficult circumstances.Colin Powell stated in an interview that as a young twenty-one year old lieutenant he was still trying to figure out the whole concept of mission and people when a crusty old Master Sergeant said to him:"Let me make it clear for you, Lieutenant, so that you never ever doubt again what leadership is all about. Now, listen carefully. I ain't gonna repeat it. A good leader is someone whose troops will follow him, if only out of curiosity."Communicating During a RestructureYou gain trust when people think you care as much about their welfare as you do your own. This is an especially difficult task when the economy isn't cooperating and you have eliminated jobs. That is one of the reasons that it is critical to act swiftly when implementing restructuring plans during tough economic times. It is important to create a big enough shock wave to immobilize the old culture, but you must convince the survivors that they are the keepers and you will all succeed together. Leaders are respected for discipline. Survivors will recognize that terminating people is part of the job if you gain their respect. They will view your decision as a sacrifice of part to protect the whole. Choice is critical. Employees that are C players must not make the cut. Removing non-contributors and disruptions due to poor performance is in fact to the benefit of those who remain.WARNING---Do not under any circumstances keep an employee that is obviously a non-performer due to politics, tenure or relationship with the owner or anyone on the executive staff. This can countermand every honest effort and sincere communication made. It also sends a message of a lack of honesty.The effectiveness of a true leader is not measured in terms of the leadership he or she exercises. It is measured in the leadership evoked. It is not measured in the decisions made, the costs cut, the plans made. It is measured in terms of the growth in confidence, sense of responsibility and acceptance of accountability by the employees that are a result of that leadership."The final test of a true leader is that they leave behind in others the conviction and will to carry on."Leadership and communication help create solidarity. Solidarity implies a unity within a group that enables it to manifest its strength and exert its influence as a group. The very first step required after a restructuring process is mass communication. It may be virtually impossible, as President or CEO or COO, to get out in the field and talk to every employee face to face. Although that should be a priority follow up during the course of the year. An acceptable alternative to reach every employee is teleconferencing. However, most companies are not set up for that process. A second alternative is the production of a videotape that is presented to every employee simultaneously. Mandatory viewing by every employee at a pre-selected time is essential. The video should send a positive message addressing the following issues.• Reasons behind restructuring• Future objectives• Commitment to success• Discussion of survivors and honesty of future actions• Motivational teamwork discussion• Framework for future communications• Discussion of trust and values• Answering questions posed by employees (at least 30 pre-selected questions and others asked by panel of employees)Questions and AnswersIt is a good idea to solicit questions ahead of time to be asked by employees. These questions are the heart of what's now on the employee's mind. Do not duck the tough ones. The employees will know and you will lose respect and trust. Face the issues head on with honesty. Supervisors can generate these questions from the employees company-wide and submit them for review. Every question does not have to be addressed, but the most relevant to the employees must not be ignored. The answers need to be rehearsed ahead of time.The President facilitates this Q & A session but can direct different members of the executive staff to provide the answers. A hand picked group of line employees should be selected to ask these questions of the executive staff on tape. The tape can be edited to ensure a positive message. However, honesty and integrity must be preserved. Answers must be open, honest, sincere and complete. This is only the first step. It is usually the very first opportunity after the restructuring announcement to demonstrate leadership, respect and trust.A mistake many leaders make during the restructuring process is the self imposed responsibility to have all the answers. This is just not true. It is okay to admit to not having all the answers. Good leaders are willing to show their imperfections. Surround yourself with a solid executive team and you don't need all the answers. No one expects perfection, just leadership. Being President doesn't grant you supreme knowledge.Basic RulesCommunication is the breath of life, the first spark in leadership. Communication will hold the company together. Nothing else is so crucial to survival and solidarity. It is especially important that the message is consistent throughout the management team. Just as important is the demonstration of respect, trust and leadership. However, communication plays the most important role in building and preserving that trust and in signifying the presence of leadership. It is a make or break issue.It is not only important that the President knows what the CFO and the COO are doing but he must also know what they intend to do under every circumstance. Once those determinations are made, the employees deserve to know what is planned if they are expected to execute with precision. People need a keen sense of trust and a feeling of being part of the plan. The communication network should connect all employees. Everyone needs to be a part of the overall plan. Miscommunication, rumors and garbled messages cause conflict and distrust. Don't settle for second rate communication, it's too critical to success. If you avoid informing all your employees specifically on matters that affect their lives, you are playing with fire. This kind of action breeds resentment, mistrust and paranoia."Be aware that the single greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been achieved." - UnknownWhy do we have problems communicating?• We are always in a hurry• We do not listen well• We are afraid to ask questions• We don't seek feedback or provide it• We use unclear words or symbols• We do not have the trust and respect of the person with whom we are communicating• We fail to anticipateDifficulty in communications is enhanced when you are involved in crisis situations or adversity of some nature. A restructuring certainly qualifies under these guidelines.Listening skills are especially important. Proof that you are listening is in your actions. Don't ask someone if they understand. Ask them what they are going to do. Listening should dominate your interaction with your employees. Distractions need to be removed. You must have a sincere desire to understand. You must be aware of individual needs. Be attentive and don't assume anything. Ask for explanations. Don't interrupt because you want to talk. Try to keep an open mind. Be compassionate and don't react too quickly. Avoid talking about yourself. These are the basic rules of communication.Leading to Employee CommitmentLeading the restructuring process is not a cakewalk. You need to determine who the real players are. You need to understand what you can really ask of employees during these times. Be careful of misplaced or misdirected loyalty. Be careful of false loyalty. There are limits. You need maximum loyalty from your employees during this restructuring. Make sure you know who you can trust. Commitment demonstrated by the leader can lead to commitment by the employee. They want to take your pulse. They want to believe in you. They need a leader they can follow. It's imperative that you show no signs of weakness and you don't let them down. This goes for the entire executive staff.Employee commitment will soar if you and your executive staff demonstrate a passion for success. Excitement breeds excitement. Success breeds success. The more consuming your desire to fix things, the more you demonstrate leadership and draw support from your employees. The executive management must set the stage. If your company fails, chances are you did not set the proper environment for success. (See an explanation of: Create an attitude, Structure an environment, Develop your team in the article, Success During Recessionary Times.) Your intensity, your focus, your drive and your dedication along with these same attributes from your executive staff are the determinants of the level of commitment and the level of respect you get from your employees. You must be proactive and publicly demonstrate leadership, confidence and commitment. For example, come up with an acronym that reflects the new strategy, such as "A new Vehicle for Success," or "The New (your company name) Company Way." remember that it is important to deliver a message of renewed life to your employees.Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with company executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He's also a published book author with four titles to his credit: "The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Wholesale Distribution," the NWFA & NAFCD "Roadmap", Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales" and a fiction novel - "Shattered Innocence." Rick's next book due to be published in November is titled; Lone Wolf – Lead Wolf, The Evolution of Leadership.
Keyword : leadership, restructuring, turn around, recession, weak economic conditions, management,
Next to people, communication is the most critical element to success whether you are in a growth mode or you are facing difficult economic times. However, when times are tough, failure to communicate has much greater consequences. Ineffective communication can accelerate failure in general. Communication is essential to developing trust. Trust is necessary to get people to reach down deep inside and give everything they have under the most difficult circumstances.Colin Powell stated in an interview that as a young twenty-one year old lieutenant he was still trying to figure out the whole concept of mission and people when a crusty old Master Sergeant said to him:"Let me make it clear for you, Lieutenant, so that you never ever doubt again what leadership is all about. Now, listen carefully. I ain't gonna repeat it. A good leader is someone whose troops will follow him, if only out of curiosity."Communicating During a RestructureYou gain trust when people think you care as much about their welfare as you do your own. This is an especially difficult task when the economy isn't cooperating and you have eliminated jobs. That is one of the reasons that it is critical to act swiftly when implementing restructuring plans during tough economic times. It is important to create a big enough shock wave to immobilize the old culture, but you must convince the survivors that they are the keepers and you will all succeed together. Leaders are respected for discipline. Survivors will recognize that terminating people is part of the job if you gain their respect. They will view your decision as a sacrifice of part to protect the whole. Choice is critical. Employees that are C players must not make the cut. Removing non-contributors and disruptions due to poor performance is in fact to the benefit of those who remain.WARNING---Do not under any circumstances keep an employee that is obviously a non-performer due to politics, tenure or relationship with the owner or anyone on the executive staff. This can countermand every honest effort and sincere communication made. It also sends a message of a lack of honesty.The effectiveness of a true leader is not measured in terms of the leadership he or she exercises. It is measured in the leadership evoked. It is not measured in the decisions made, the costs cut, the plans made. It is measured in terms of the growth in confidence, sense of responsibility and acceptance of accountability by the employees that are a result of that leadership."The final test of a true leader is that they leave behind in others the conviction and will to carry on."Leadership and communication help create solidarity. Solidarity implies a unity within a group that enables it to manifest its strength and exert its influence as a group. The very first step required after a restructuring process is mass communication. It may be virtually impossible, as President or CEO or COO, to get out in the field and talk to every employee face to face. Although that should be a priority follow up during the course of the year. An acceptable alternative to reach every employee is teleconferencing. However, most companies are not set up for that process. A second alternative is the production of a videotape that is presented to every employee simultaneously. Mandatory viewing by every employee at a pre-selected time is essential. The video should send a positive message addressing the following issues.• Reasons behind restructuring• Future objectives• Commitment to success• Discussion of survivors and honesty of future actions• Motivational teamwork discussion• Framework for future communications• Discussion of trust and values• Answering questions posed by employees (at least 30 pre-selected questions and others asked by panel of employees)Questions and AnswersIt is a good idea to solicit questions ahead of time to be asked by employees. These questions are the heart of what's now on the employee's mind. Do not duck the tough ones. The employees will know and you will lose respect and trust. Face the issues head on with honesty. Supervisors can generate these questions from the employees company-wide and submit them for review. Every question does not have to be addressed, but the most relevant to the employees must not be ignored. The answers need to be rehearsed ahead of time.The President facilitates this Q & A session but can direct different members of the executive staff to provide the answers. A hand picked group of line employees should be selected to ask these questions of the executive staff on tape. The tape can be edited to ensure a positive message. However, honesty and integrity must be preserved. Answers must be open, honest, sincere and complete. This is only the first step. It is usually the very first opportunity after the restructuring announcement to demonstrate leadership, respect and trust.A mistake many leaders make during the restructuring process is the self imposed responsibility to have all the answers. This is just not true. It is okay to admit to not having all the answers. Good leaders are willing to show their imperfections. Surround yourself with a solid executive team and you don't need all the answers. No one expects perfection, just leadership. Being President doesn't grant you supreme knowledge.Basic RulesCommunication is the breath of life, the first spark in leadership. Communication will hold the company together. Nothing else is so crucial to survival and solidarity. It is especially important that the message is consistent throughout the management team. Just as important is the demonstration of respect, trust and leadership. However, communication plays the most important role in building and preserving that trust and in signifying the presence of leadership. It is a make or break issue.It is not only important that the President knows what the CFO and the COO are doing but he must also know what they intend to do under every circumstance. Once those determinations are made, the employees deserve to know what is planned if they are expected to execute with precision. People need a keen sense of trust and a feeling of being part of the plan. The communication network should connect all employees. Everyone needs to be a part of the overall plan. Miscommunication, rumors and garbled messages cause conflict and distrust. Don't settle for second rate communication, it's too critical to success. If you avoid informing all your employees specifically on matters that affect their lives, you are playing with fire. This kind of action breeds resentment, mistrust and paranoia."Be aware that the single greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been achieved." - UnknownWhy do we have problems communicating?• We are always in a hurry• We do not listen well• We are afraid to ask questions• We don't seek feedback or provide it• We use unclear words or symbols• We do not have the trust and respect of the person with whom we are communicating• We fail to anticipateDifficulty in communications is enhanced when you are involved in crisis situations or adversity of some nature. A restructuring certainly qualifies under these guidelines.Listening skills are especially important. Proof that you are listening is in your actions. Don't ask someone if they understand. Ask them what they are going to do. Listening should dominate your interaction with your employees. Distractions need to be removed. You must have a sincere desire to understand. You must be aware of individual needs. Be attentive and don't assume anything. Ask for explanations. Don't interrupt because you want to talk. Try to keep an open mind. Be compassionate and don't react too quickly. Avoid talking about yourself. These are the basic rules of communication.Leading to Employee CommitmentLeading the restructuring process is not a cakewalk. You need to determine who the real players are. You need to understand what you can really ask of employees during these times. Be careful of misplaced or misdirected loyalty. Be careful of false loyalty. There are limits. You need maximum loyalty from your employees during this restructuring. Make sure you know who you can trust. Commitment demonstrated by the leader can lead to commitment by the employee. They want to take your pulse. They want to believe in you. They need a leader they can follow. It's imperative that you show no signs of weakness and you don't let them down. This goes for the entire executive staff.Employee commitment will soar if you and your executive staff demonstrate a passion for success. Excitement breeds excitement. Success breeds success. The more consuming your desire to fix things, the more you demonstrate leadership and draw support from your employees. The executive management must set the stage. If your company fails, chances are you did not set the proper environment for success. (See an explanation of: Create an attitude, Structure an environment, Develop your team in the article, Success During Recessionary Times.) Your intensity, your focus, your drive and your dedication along with these same attributes from your executive staff are the determinants of the level of commitment and the level of respect you get from your employees. You must be proactive and publicly demonstrate leadership, confidence and commitment. For example, come up with an acronym that reflects the new strategy, such as "A new Vehicle for Success," or "The New (your company name) Company Way." remember that it is important to deliver a message of renewed life to your employees.Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with company executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He's also a published book author with four titles to his credit: "The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Wholesale Distribution," the NWFA & NAFCD "Roadmap", Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales" and a fiction novel - "Shattered Innocence." Rick's next book due to be published in November is titled; Lone Wolf – Lead Wolf, The Evolution of Leadership.
Keyword : leadership, restructuring, turn around, recession, weak economic conditions, management,
Retain Your Best People
Author : Dorene Lehavi
Many managers and team leaders ask me how to deal with employees in a way that will maximize their potential, create loyalty and respect, and cut down on high turnover and destructive behavior in the workplace. The single most common reason people stay or leave an organization is based on the relationship they have with their direct supervisor. Therefore, the key is to show a keen personal interest in each person. Recognize everyone's uniqueness and find ways to allow that uniqueness to be expressed at work.The following tips can be adapted to your particular situation.- One-on-one Meetings.- Build trust; have meetings in your office over lunch or coffee with each individual.- Get to know your employee by asking about their career goals, even if you have to acknowledge that working at their present job may just be a stepping-stone on the way.- Ask what opportunities for growth they might like in their job.- Ask what part of their present job they enjoy the most. Find ways to give them more of those tasks.- Ask if there is any part of their job they don't like. If possible, relieve them of the particular task. If not, help them find ways to make it more pleasant. Break it down time-wise. Build in rewards.- Always recognize jobs well done; give bonuses, e.g. tickets to movies or other events, recognize the employee of the month, rewards for creative ideas, etc.- Where possible allow the employee to learn a new area of interest. Encourage that interest by sending them to a class, etc.- Set up a mentoring system.If each individual employee feels appreciated they will more likely remain motivated to stay in an organization and consistently provide quality work that is aligned with the company's goals.Dr. Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D. is principal of Next Level Business and Professional Coaching. She coaches Professionals and Business Partners. You can purchase her ebook or soft cover editions of Stop Doing What You Hate…Start Doing What You Love at http://www.StartDoingWhatYouLove.com. Contact Dr. Lehavi at Dorene@CoachingforYourNextLevel.com or on the web at http://www.CoachingforYourNextLevel.com and sign up for her free newsletter, Mastering Your Next Level.
Keyword : business, human resources, leadership
Many managers and team leaders ask me how to deal with employees in a way that will maximize their potential, create loyalty and respect, and cut down on high turnover and destructive behavior in the workplace. The single most common reason people stay or leave an organization is based on the relationship they have with their direct supervisor. Therefore, the key is to show a keen personal interest in each person. Recognize everyone's uniqueness and find ways to allow that uniqueness to be expressed at work.The following tips can be adapted to your particular situation.- One-on-one Meetings.- Build trust; have meetings in your office over lunch or coffee with each individual.- Get to know your employee by asking about their career goals, even if you have to acknowledge that working at their present job may just be a stepping-stone on the way.- Ask what opportunities for growth they might like in their job.- Ask what part of their present job they enjoy the most. Find ways to give them more of those tasks.- Ask if there is any part of their job they don't like. If possible, relieve them of the particular task. If not, help them find ways to make it more pleasant. Break it down time-wise. Build in rewards.- Always recognize jobs well done; give bonuses, e.g. tickets to movies or other events, recognize the employee of the month, rewards for creative ideas, etc.- Where possible allow the employee to learn a new area of interest. Encourage that interest by sending them to a class, etc.- Set up a mentoring system.If each individual employee feels appreciated they will more likely remain motivated to stay in an organization and consistently provide quality work that is aligned with the company's goals.Dr. Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D. is principal of Next Level Business and Professional Coaching. She coaches Professionals and Business Partners. You can purchase her ebook or soft cover editions of Stop Doing What You Hate…Start Doing What You Love at http://www.StartDoingWhatYouLove.com. Contact Dr. Lehavi at Dorene@CoachingforYourNextLevel.com or on the web at http://www.CoachingforYourNextLevel.com and sign up for her free newsletter, Mastering Your Next Level.
Keyword : business, human resources, leadership
What Are the Keys to Increase Your Money Making Opportunity?
Author : Nick Larson
To increase your money making opportunity you may use employees' suggestions. You may well believe you have a better one, but keep your goal in mind. You want to encourage risk taking as well as solving money making problems. The path employees choose to reach the goal may be different from the one you would select – however, if their money making method solves the problem, let them try in their way. Work together to foresee the possible results if the money making idea is put into action. Share some standards for what you consider a good money making idea.Insist that employees contribute their money making ideas. If your employees respond with shuffling feet, averted eyes and a mumbled "I do not know", let them know that you are really want their help. Make them believe this is the case by not answering your own question, even if the silence gets uncomfortable.Agree on the money making business. Ask your employees what they will do that will be different next time. When employees make choices, they select the option they see as the best at the time. Your job as coach is to help them see other money making alternatives.Follow up the results. After employees have had time to put money making solution in place, follow up to see how it's going. You want to follow up to make sure things are going the way you want them to go. If they are not, you need further money making problem solving. When employees put forth the effort to solve money making problem, they are changing their behaviors and may be even their habits. By noticing that money making problem has been resolved through employees' efforts, you help them keep that change in place. Without follow-up employees reason that you probably don't care whether the situation changes or not. Just notice and say something to the effect of, "I see you are working on changing – I appreciate the effort. Keep up the good work."Change doesn't happen in quantum leaps. It starts small and grows as employees get used to operating differently. Help them to make the complete change by recognizing their money making efforts along the way.The Largest Online Money-Making DirectoryThe most friendly forum about online money-makingNick Larson
Keyword : money making opportunity
To increase your money making opportunity you may use employees' suggestions. You may well believe you have a better one, but keep your goal in mind. You want to encourage risk taking as well as solving money making problems. The path employees choose to reach the goal may be different from the one you would select – however, if their money making method solves the problem, let them try in their way. Work together to foresee the possible results if the money making idea is put into action. Share some standards for what you consider a good money making idea.Insist that employees contribute their money making ideas. If your employees respond with shuffling feet, averted eyes and a mumbled "I do not know", let them know that you are really want their help. Make them believe this is the case by not answering your own question, even if the silence gets uncomfortable.Agree on the money making business. Ask your employees what they will do that will be different next time. When employees make choices, they select the option they see as the best at the time. Your job as coach is to help them see other money making alternatives.Follow up the results. After employees have had time to put money making solution in place, follow up to see how it's going. You want to follow up to make sure things are going the way you want them to go. If they are not, you need further money making problem solving. When employees put forth the effort to solve money making problem, they are changing their behaviors and may be even their habits. By noticing that money making problem has been resolved through employees' efforts, you help them keep that change in place. Without follow-up employees reason that you probably don't care whether the situation changes or not. Just notice and say something to the effect of, "I see you are working on changing – I appreciate the effort. Keep up the good work."Change doesn't happen in quantum leaps. It starts small and grows as employees get used to operating differently. Help them to make the complete change by recognizing their money making efforts along the way.The Largest Online Money-Making DirectoryThe most friendly forum about online money-makingNick Larson
Keyword : money making opportunity
What Does Honest Abe Lincoln Have To Do With Company Growth?
Author : Jim Symcox
Is formal training important? After all we can all learn from other employees or from outside consultants we bring in can't we?Well, in my previous life as a consultant IT project director I
noticed people would often be too busy doing their own job
to learn the skills of an outside consultant too.That's despite massive efforts made to train people.But unless skills are used regularly after training they fade
away.Learning from others in your own organisation can also be
fraught.Learning by "sitting next to Nellie" as it's known can work. But
it means that any weak custom and practise procedures are copied.These weak procedures may actually be the direct opposite
of the company strategy.Also if you're learning from someone because they're just about to leave the company. For whatever reason.You don't get their total focus on teaching you their job.So ways of doing things can become less and less effective as
time goes on.That means that service to your customers becomes worse. Simply because the people serving them don't know the best way of working.Research shows that over 60% of customers leave a business
because of poor, ineffective or indifferent service.Let's look at the story of two woodcuttersOnce there were twin brothers. They were tall, strapping lads who had both become lumberjacks at the same time. One year they took part in a logging competition together. Each was strong and beat everyone they came up against. Until they reached the final where they met each other.They seemed evenly matched. The crowd looked and urged them on as they both started cutting timber at a strong rate of knots. After an hour one of the brothers stopped for a few minutes. Let's call him the "idle chopper". He soon resumed work but every hour he kept stopping.Eventually the competition finished and it was immediately obvious that the idle chopper had cut down significantly more wood than his brother.His brother shook his hand to congratulate him and asked, "how on earth did you cut twice as much wood as me despite stopping so frequently?"The idle chopper smiled and said "I wasn't really resting I was sharpening my axe so my cuts went deeper faster than yours with your blunt axe."The "idle chopper" was really the "smart chopper" because he'd taken to heart what President Abraham Lincoln had said.Abraham Lincoln said "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."People can look at training as a complete waste of a company's time. Because it's preventing their staff from getting the job done.But look at the woodcutters the one who kept stopping to sharpen his axe won.The same is true of any company that gives their staff training. It may stop the busy, busy time for a short while but it means that staff become more productive and therefore achieve more.Getting yourself and your staff trained is essential if you want to continue to grow and develop,If you don't you'll be like 90% of businesses over a 10 year time frame and be out of business.It's really that stark a choice.There are a number of effective training strategies that I would recommend you to use.Two of the most powerful are as follows:a) A Weekly Company Workshop
b) Formal Courses - with a twistLet me explain exactly how they work so that you can go and apply them in your business immediately.Weekly Company Workshop1) Set-up an hour per week where all employees gather together.The first workshop is the Set-up and Introduction Workshop.2) In this workshop you all brainstorm the issues and problems that you and your customers have with the company.Someone is designated to takes action notes. That is notes that simply list the actions to be taken with the person responsible and the date to be completed (always before the next meeting).3) You then prioritise and agree the issues amongst everyone there.Hint: Give particular weight to customer issues as they are quite likely to resolve one or more internal issues too.4) Provide a full list of prioritised issues to all attendees. The attendees should be everyone who works for the company, unless they're sick.The Second and subsequent workshops are Issue Eaters5) Take the first issue from the list that was issued the day of the last meeting - it's that important.6) Brainstorm possible solutions to the issue.For example the customers are returning a product to you in large numbers but you can't see why. The issue is "You don't know why the product is being returned".Several possible solutions occur:a) Ring customers and ask them why they're returning them. Also ring customer's who've kept them and ask them why too.b) Send every customer a questionnaire asking several questions, including one on returns and also specifically for the product in question.c) Ask the sales force to go and see each customer and ask for their most honest feedback.d) The managing director to ring the companies concerned to see what the problem is.Collate the answers and provide the information and analysis to the group the following week.7) If the solution calls for a better procedure or company process to be implemented designate someone to write it and for it to be issued before the next meeting for review and agreement.8) Only address one issue per session - even if you finish it in 10 minutes. But you must focus completely on that issue.9) Review the solution and check that it is working. Then sign it off and add to the list of completed issues.Guess what you're building with the documentation?It's a company file that allows new staff to get up to speed on how your company has got to where it is now and what the current procedures and processes are.Not just that. It means that at a stroke you've pooled the brainpower of several people to produce new and better ways of working that help customers and your staff.You tell me. Do you think your customers are going to become even happier with an organisation that addresses and resolved issues?Now you may be thinking I'm only a one person or two person company?This method applies equally well to you too.The great thing about it is that as long as you document you'll have processes in place when you get more staff.Formal Courses - with a twist1) Have a formal training strategy for each person. It doesn't matter whether you're a one person or 3,000 person company. You need a strategy because otherwise you'll get asked for training that doesn't fit with your company goals.2) Plan what courses staff (and you) should attend during the year.3) Attend the course - there should be no excuse for non-attendance.4) Now here's the twist before your staff go on the course tell them that you're going to ask them to do a short presentation on the course at the next weekly meeting to all the staff. The presentation is a short summary of the course content, and the 6 to 10 things that the person has learnt and will apply in their job. Followed by 10 minutes of questions.The reasons for this are:a) Others benefit from hearing what the course was all aboutb) The attendee will pay much more attention to the course and learn more from itc) You're training staff to feel comfortable giving presentations in a relaxed environment.d) Other staff may learn things they can apply in their job.5) Make sure that they do the presentation. If not you get none of the benefits outlined previously. Make sure everyone does the presentation, even someone who is quaking in dread. Help them get over it by letting them stay seated, or just present over 2-3 weeks. But make sure they do present - it must be a condition of attendance.6) Been on a course yourself? Right. You do the same as your staff. They're learning about what you do.Finally and most importantly there is a set of Golden Training Rules I always use which isa) Training must be applied when you return from the courseb) You and your staff must support attempts to use the training. It may not work very well initially as people start to apply it.c) Re-train at intervals because skills can only be improved by repetition. Look at karate, golf, football and other sports you have to keep practising to get better. It's the same with work training.For example people learn everything on a time management course but maybe only apply 10% of what they learnt and forget the rest. When they go again they learn pretty much the same thing but then apply another 10% of what they learn and forget the rest.So over time they apply more and more of what they're taught until eventually they're using all the time management techniques and are experts. Get them to teach new staff!d) Once you've got trained up experts use them to train your own staff.Does training staff stop the company making money? Ultimately the answer is it makes you even more money than you did before they were trained.Remember the two axmen?You want to be the smarter chopper.Jim Symcox, also known as the Marketing Magician has worked as a consultant since the mid 1980's.He is a marketing coach, copywriter and the author of "How to Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors".For a free copy of "How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors email him at web@acornservice.com with "ezine" in the subject line.
Keyword : workshop training, abraham lincoln, step by step, training rules, effective training, time manager
Is formal training important? After all we can all learn from other employees or from outside consultants we bring in can't we?Well, in my previous life as a consultant IT project director I
noticed people would often be too busy doing their own job
to learn the skills of an outside consultant too.That's despite massive efforts made to train people.But unless skills are used regularly after training they fade
away.Learning from others in your own organisation can also be
fraught.Learning by "sitting next to Nellie" as it's known can work. But
it means that any weak custom and practise procedures are copied.These weak procedures may actually be the direct opposite
of the company strategy.Also if you're learning from someone because they're just about to leave the company. For whatever reason.You don't get their total focus on teaching you their job.So ways of doing things can become less and less effective as
time goes on.That means that service to your customers becomes worse. Simply because the people serving them don't know the best way of working.Research shows that over 60% of customers leave a business
because of poor, ineffective or indifferent service.Let's look at the story of two woodcuttersOnce there were twin brothers. They were tall, strapping lads who had both become lumberjacks at the same time. One year they took part in a logging competition together. Each was strong and beat everyone they came up against. Until they reached the final where they met each other.They seemed evenly matched. The crowd looked and urged them on as they both started cutting timber at a strong rate of knots. After an hour one of the brothers stopped for a few minutes. Let's call him the "idle chopper". He soon resumed work but every hour he kept stopping.Eventually the competition finished and it was immediately obvious that the idle chopper had cut down significantly more wood than his brother.His brother shook his hand to congratulate him and asked, "how on earth did you cut twice as much wood as me despite stopping so frequently?"The idle chopper smiled and said "I wasn't really resting I was sharpening my axe so my cuts went deeper faster than yours with your blunt axe."The "idle chopper" was really the "smart chopper" because he'd taken to heart what President Abraham Lincoln had said.Abraham Lincoln said "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."People can look at training as a complete waste of a company's time. Because it's preventing their staff from getting the job done.But look at the woodcutters the one who kept stopping to sharpen his axe won.The same is true of any company that gives their staff training. It may stop the busy, busy time for a short while but it means that staff become more productive and therefore achieve more.Getting yourself and your staff trained is essential if you want to continue to grow and develop,If you don't you'll be like 90% of businesses over a 10 year time frame and be out of business.It's really that stark a choice.There are a number of effective training strategies that I would recommend you to use.Two of the most powerful are as follows:a) A Weekly Company Workshop
b) Formal Courses - with a twistLet me explain exactly how they work so that you can go and apply them in your business immediately.Weekly Company Workshop1) Set-up an hour per week where all employees gather together.The first workshop is the Set-up and Introduction Workshop.2) In this workshop you all brainstorm the issues and problems that you and your customers have with the company.Someone is designated to takes action notes. That is notes that simply list the actions to be taken with the person responsible and the date to be completed (always before the next meeting).3) You then prioritise and agree the issues amongst everyone there.Hint: Give particular weight to customer issues as they are quite likely to resolve one or more internal issues too.4) Provide a full list of prioritised issues to all attendees. The attendees should be everyone who works for the company, unless they're sick.The Second and subsequent workshops are Issue Eaters5) Take the first issue from the list that was issued the day of the last meeting - it's that important.6) Brainstorm possible solutions to the issue.For example the customers are returning a product to you in large numbers but you can't see why. The issue is "You don't know why the product is being returned".Several possible solutions occur:a) Ring customers and ask them why they're returning them. Also ring customer's who've kept them and ask them why too.b) Send every customer a questionnaire asking several questions, including one on returns and also specifically for the product in question.c) Ask the sales force to go and see each customer and ask for their most honest feedback.d) The managing director to ring the companies concerned to see what the problem is.Collate the answers and provide the information and analysis to the group the following week.7) If the solution calls for a better procedure or company process to be implemented designate someone to write it and for it to be issued before the next meeting for review and agreement.8) Only address one issue per session - even if you finish it in 10 minutes. But you must focus completely on that issue.9) Review the solution and check that it is working. Then sign it off and add to the list of completed issues.Guess what you're building with the documentation?It's a company file that allows new staff to get up to speed on how your company has got to where it is now and what the current procedures and processes are.Not just that. It means that at a stroke you've pooled the brainpower of several people to produce new and better ways of working that help customers and your staff.You tell me. Do you think your customers are going to become even happier with an organisation that addresses and resolved issues?Now you may be thinking I'm only a one person or two person company?This method applies equally well to you too.The great thing about it is that as long as you document you'll have processes in place when you get more staff.Formal Courses - with a twist1) Have a formal training strategy for each person. It doesn't matter whether you're a one person or 3,000 person company. You need a strategy because otherwise you'll get asked for training that doesn't fit with your company goals.2) Plan what courses staff (and you) should attend during the year.3) Attend the course - there should be no excuse for non-attendance.4) Now here's the twist before your staff go on the course tell them that you're going to ask them to do a short presentation on the course at the next weekly meeting to all the staff. The presentation is a short summary of the course content, and the 6 to 10 things that the person has learnt and will apply in their job. Followed by 10 minutes of questions.The reasons for this are:a) Others benefit from hearing what the course was all aboutb) The attendee will pay much more attention to the course and learn more from itc) You're training staff to feel comfortable giving presentations in a relaxed environment.d) Other staff may learn things they can apply in their job.5) Make sure that they do the presentation. If not you get none of the benefits outlined previously. Make sure everyone does the presentation, even someone who is quaking in dread. Help them get over it by letting them stay seated, or just present over 2-3 weeks. But make sure they do present - it must be a condition of attendance.6) Been on a course yourself? Right. You do the same as your staff. They're learning about what you do.Finally and most importantly there is a set of Golden Training Rules I always use which isa) Training must be applied when you return from the courseb) You and your staff must support attempts to use the training. It may not work very well initially as people start to apply it.c) Re-train at intervals because skills can only be improved by repetition. Look at karate, golf, football and other sports you have to keep practising to get better. It's the same with work training.For example people learn everything on a time management course but maybe only apply 10% of what they learnt and forget the rest. When they go again they learn pretty much the same thing but then apply another 10% of what they learn and forget the rest.So over time they apply more and more of what they're taught until eventually they're using all the time management techniques and are experts. Get them to teach new staff!d) Once you've got trained up experts use them to train your own staff.Does training staff stop the company making money? Ultimately the answer is it makes you even more money than you did before they were trained.Remember the two axmen?You want to be the smarter chopper.Jim Symcox, also known as the Marketing Magician has worked as a consultant since the mid 1980's.He is a marketing coach, copywriter and the author of "How to Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors".For a free copy of "How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors email him at web@acornservice.com with "ezine" in the subject line.
Keyword : workshop training, abraham lincoln, step by step, training rules, effective training, time manager
Business Management - Be Aware Of Fear And-Greed
Author : Hans Bool
This is probably such a day as many others. Business as usual. Nothing wrong, no alerts, you loose some, you win some. You go with the flow and let your profits grow.... Do not think that this jargon is for investment managers only; business management and investment management is not that different.When you are in the business arena you know that you have to follow the market. You watch the competition, you check the trends and you respond to other incidents that you are involved in. Until that special moment.It starts with rumors, than it's the talk of the town. And then it appears; a new trend. Nearly invisible at first, a big monster a few moments later. Then people will ask you; what are we going to do?From the investment market we know that the market behavior is powered by fear and greed. When the oil price is rising, we fear that it will not lower again, when the US dollar is under pressure it will never go up (a European worry) and if the stock market plunges it will not recover for years.
Closer to the truth is that any movement will have its counterpart. The question is timing. When you are familiar with investments you probably know that you should not try to time the market. Yet does this mean that you should always go with the flow? You cannot (always) stop the flow. But you could try to make a few changes especially when you feel that something is wrong.Take the following heading of a recent article: "bankers enter car-insurance market in order to provide a global service" (a free translation of the Spanish heading in the business paper 'Expansion'). Why do all of a sudden a group of bankers enter into this service, where we know that car-insurance, is not really profitable? Especially bankers that are carrying a portfolio of possible investments should know that the choice for this option excludes some other one. The first few banks will envision an opportunity and respond with greed to new earnings, where a few others fear to be left behind and join the team – after all.This is only one (recent) example of fear and greed, but there are examples to be found on a daily basis. Besides the example of the old versus new economy just check in your organization where you hear about the following arguments:
"If we don't follow we will be left behind (you can hear the child say 'me too') or "if we take this step we are the first and the profits will follow forever."If you are aware however of the fact that each person and company is unique you can benefit from this by selecting those investments or decisions where they fit with your (personal) or organizational profile. If you can trust on the success that your company harvested in the past, you should be confident to continue the same line for the future.
If you want to outperform with your team, you should stay alert for the fear and greed around you.© 2005 Hans Bool / Astor WhiteHans Bool (The Netherlands) is the founder of Astor White a consulting company dedicated to (the human side of) management consulting and e-advice. He has many years of experience in (project) management, consulting and business architecture. He studied economics and has recently published the book: "How to manage your organizational portfolio – just stick to your rules". http://www.astorwhite.com
Keyword : business management, fear and greed, organizational profile
This is probably such a day as many others. Business as usual. Nothing wrong, no alerts, you loose some, you win some. You go with the flow and let your profits grow.... Do not think that this jargon is for investment managers only; business management and investment management is not that different.When you are in the business arena you know that you have to follow the market. You watch the competition, you check the trends and you respond to other incidents that you are involved in. Until that special moment.It starts with rumors, than it's the talk of the town. And then it appears; a new trend. Nearly invisible at first, a big monster a few moments later. Then people will ask you; what are we going to do?From the investment market we know that the market behavior is powered by fear and greed. When the oil price is rising, we fear that it will not lower again, when the US dollar is under pressure it will never go up (a European worry) and if the stock market plunges it will not recover for years.
Closer to the truth is that any movement will have its counterpart. The question is timing. When you are familiar with investments you probably know that you should not try to time the market. Yet does this mean that you should always go with the flow? You cannot (always) stop the flow. But you could try to make a few changes especially when you feel that something is wrong.Take the following heading of a recent article: "bankers enter car-insurance market in order to provide a global service" (a free translation of the Spanish heading in the business paper 'Expansion'). Why do all of a sudden a group of bankers enter into this service, where we know that car-insurance, is not really profitable? Especially bankers that are carrying a portfolio of possible investments should know that the choice for this option excludes some other one. The first few banks will envision an opportunity and respond with greed to new earnings, where a few others fear to be left behind and join the team – after all.This is only one (recent) example of fear and greed, but there are examples to be found on a daily basis. Besides the example of the old versus new economy just check in your organization where you hear about the following arguments:
"If we don't follow we will be left behind (you can hear the child say 'me too') or "if we take this step we are the first and the profits will follow forever."If you are aware however of the fact that each person and company is unique you can benefit from this by selecting those investments or decisions where they fit with your (personal) or organizational profile. If you can trust on the success that your company harvested in the past, you should be confident to continue the same line for the future.
If you want to outperform with your team, you should stay alert for the fear and greed around you.© 2005 Hans Bool / Astor WhiteHans Bool (The Netherlands) is the founder of Astor White a consulting company dedicated to (the human side of) management consulting and e-advice. He has many years of experience in (project) management, consulting and business architecture. He studied economics and has recently published the book: "How to manage your organizational portfolio – just stick to your rules". http://www.astorwhite.com
Keyword : business management, fear and greed, organizational profile
Maximize Patient Collections with a Patient Payment Policy
Author : K Allen
Healthcare practice owners and managers are often astounded to realize that it can cost as much as $6 or $7 to successfully collect a patient payment using traditional invoices through the mail. Considering employee time, as well as postage and envelopes, the cost truly adds up when sending dozens of invoices each week. The hours spent preparing invoices also detract from other endeavors around the office – valuable time that could be focused on improving patient flow, records management, etc. – not to mention that most patients are sent two or even three invoices before they return payment. Establishing a formal payment policy with your patients can help improve collections and reduce practice overhead.Designing a Patient Payment Policy:
When designing your payment policy, spend some time talking with your staff, the person responsible for your billing and colleagues at other practices. These resources often provide insightful information from direct personal experience about what works and what doesn't. Consider the history of your practice in defining how far you should to reach with your payment policy; there are variations from one locale to the next with respect to age, economic status, and so on. In some areas a written statement of which insurances you accept and that "payment is due in full at the time of service" might be satisfactory. Other areas might require detailed information about payment plans, minimum payments and your use of collections agencies to set the appropriate expectations.Just remember to keep it simple. The more straightforward your policy, the more effective it will be. Be upfront about your rules, clear on how you will handle non-payment, and direct with enforcement. Too many practices have found out the hard way it's much easier to offer a clearly written policy in advance than it is to calm a shocked patient down when asked to remit a large payment on the spot.A Few Considerations:
The most straightforward, direct payment policy would require all patient obligations are met at the time of service, but that's not always an option. What about patients who "forget" their checkbook? How about those patients who just don't have enough money to cover an expensive procedure? Below are a few options you might want to consider.Invoicing Charges:
Some practices offer to send out patient invoices in lieu of payment at the office but add an "invoicing charge" to each mailed statement. These charges often range anywhere from $1-$5 per statement and help defray some overhead, but rarely all of it. While invoicing charges can be effective in getting patients to remit payment with the first bill, they can reflect negatively in a saturated market with strong competition between practices, not to mention for new practices seeking to build a patient base.Payment Plans:
Payment plans can be a good alternative for patients unable to meet full obligations at the time of service, but detailed parameters are an imperative. Keep in mind payment plans that run too long increase the risk of default. Some practices have found the best approach is to limit terms to six months or less.For some types of practices, an example payment plan policy might establish a minimum of say, $100 due at the time of service, with the balance divided into equal installments over the following 6 months. Or, you might divide the total balance into 6 monthly installments, with the first installment due at the time of service.Regardless of how your payment plan is structured, it should focus on two equally important goals. First, keep it simple to avoid confusion. Second, find a reasonable balance between collecting as much as possible up front, at the time of the visit, and what the patient can bear. If patients stretch too far upfront, they may not be able to make the remaining payments over the following period, resulting in the worst case scenario for everyone - default.Interest:
Most offices offering payment plans do not charge interest, but it's not an unheard of practice. Interest charges, like invoicing charges, can be a negative determining factor in competitive markets and for new practices. Charging interest also requires additional staff time to calculate invoices before mailing, rarely offsetting the added overhead. Another important factor to remember with interest charges is adherence to the rules Truth in Lending Act. This can add several more layers of requirements to your practice's administration, creating further unnecessary complications.Collections Agencies:
Teaming with a collections agency can provide you with some recourse if patients fall into default, but consider your options carefully as collection agencies can charge anywhere from 15% to 50% on receivables. Any such partnerships should be thoroughly researched in advance, and outlined in detail in your policy, including agency contact information for your patients.No Shows:
Patients who fail to show up for a visit without notice is, frankly, annoying and rude. But invoicing no shows can turn patients away from future visits, not to mention they typically have a very low receivable rate. If you plan on invoicing no shows, keep both of these points in mind as the overhead costs of invoicing may give you enough cause to write it off completely.Alternate Payment Methods:
Consider offering as many payment methods as possible. Recent years have seen a decrease in credit card processing fee, making them more attractive even for practices with only moderate patient traffic. Credit cards can also be used to bill for monthly installments and payment plans if signed authorization is provided. This will also help circumvent the proverbial 'check in the mail,' and, you'll know immediately if the charge is rejected.Communication:
Whatever parameters are defined in your payment policy, communication is key to ensuring smooth implementation. Remember that your office staff is on the front line when it comes to addressing the policy with patients and should be given clear instructions on all aspects. An office wide meeting can benefit everyone, offering the opportunity for staff to ask questions before implementation. Provide front office staff with an "internal" copy of the policy with suggestions on when and how to remind patients of the policy.In relaying the new policy to patients, a sign at the check-in counter stating "All patient obligations must be resolved at the time of service" is an easy first step. Second, create a detailed flyer outlining your policy and keep a stack visible in the waiting area, and, for the first few months, each patient should be provided with a copy of your flyer upon check-in. Front office staff should of advise patients when they call for an appointment and remind them verbally when upon arrival. If steps are necessary, you might require each patient sign a "Payment Policy Agreement" and keep it with their records.Some practices now even send a "new patient information packet" when an appointment is scheduled far enough in advance. This is an excellent opportunity to include billing policies with other information about your practice. Practices might also include background information on providers, healthy living suggestions geared toward the practice specialty, or information on how patients should prepare for an office visit.Implementation:
Creating your policy is the first step to improving out of pocket collections, but it will only be as effective as your implementation and follow through. A few small adjustments to office procedures will ensure this is carried out successfully.First, it should become standard procedure for staff to obtain pre-authorization from insurance carriers - before the appointment, not just before a claim is filed. Create a list of steps associated with scheduling a patient visit that includes researching co-pays, deductibles, visitation allowances, etc. directly with the carrier. Although pre-authorizations can be made over the phone, "self-serve" online with many carriers is much quicker. Common carrier websites could even be bookmarked on workstations for easy access.Second, condition your staff to leverage information from pre-authorizations and discuss patient obligations at check-in. All parties should be fully aware of their responsibilities and patients expected to advise how they will remit payment.Third, to ensure patients don't "get away" without paying everyone should be required to check-out, as well as check-in. All members of your staff - doctors, nurses, assistants, whoever is the last to visit with the patient – should clearly remind them to stop by the front desk or cashier to address co-pays on the way out, and receive detailed instructions on additional balances that will be billed to them.Finally, review the performance of your policy. Allow one or two weeks for changes to take effect and begin evaluation of results. Arm yourself with detailed information about collections rates for the weeks and months prior to the change and compare against the weeks immediately following. Take note of what's going on around the office; evaluate how the staff is managing the new policy and make changes as necessary. If something does not appear to be working, make sure you've given ample time to fully measure results, but don't be afraid to make another change. Remember, maximizing out of pocket collections is an ongoing task, but if done properly it can yield great improvements in your practice's overall profitability.For more information on improving patient collections, Diversity Medical Billng Services is a medical billing company offering a full range of medical billing solutions to practices across the US. You can find more information about the medical billing industry in our Medical Billing Knowledge Center.
Keyword : improving patient collections, medical billing services, diversity medical billing company
Healthcare practice owners and managers are often astounded to realize that it can cost as much as $6 or $7 to successfully collect a patient payment using traditional invoices through the mail. Considering employee time, as well as postage and envelopes, the cost truly adds up when sending dozens of invoices each week. The hours spent preparing invoices also detract from other endeavors around the office – valuable time that could be focused on improving patient flow, records management, etc. – not to mention that most patients are sent two or even three invoices before they return payment. Establishing a formal payment policy with your patients can help improve collections and reduce practice overhead.Designing a Patient Payment Policy:
When designing your payment policy, spend some time talking with your staff, the person responsible for your billing and colleagues at other practices. These resources often provide insightful information from direct personal experience about what works and what doesn't. Consider the history of your practice in defining how far you should to reach with your payment policy; there are variations from one locale to the next with respect to age, economic status, and so on. In some areas a written statement of which insurances you accept and that "payment is due in full at the time of service" might be satisfactory. Other areas might require detailed information about payment plans, minimum payments and your use of collections agencies to set the appropriate expectations.Just remember to keep it simple. The more straightforward your policy, the more effective it will be. Be upfront about your rules, clear on how you will handle non-payment, and direct with enforcement. Too many practices have found out the hard way it's much easier to offer a clearly written policy in advance than it is to calm a shocked patient down when asked to remit a large payment on the spot.A Few Considerations:
The most straightforward, direct payment policy would require all patient obligations are met at the time of service, but that's not always an option. What about patients who "forget" their checkbook? How about those patients who just don't have enough money to cover an expensive procedure? Below are a few options you might want to consider.Invoicing Charges:
Some practices offer to send out patient invoices in lieu of payment at the office but add an "invoicing charge" to each mailed statement. These charges often range anywhere from $1-$5 per statement and help defray some overhead, but rarely all of it. While invoicing charges can be effective in getting patients to remit payment with the first bill, they can reflect negatively in a saturated market with strong competition between practices, not to mention for new practices seeking to build a patient base.Payment Plans:
Payment plans can be a good alternative for patients unable to meet full obligations at the time of service, but detailed parameters are an imperative. Keep in mind payment plans that run too long increase the risk of default. Some practices have found the best approach is to limit terms to six months or less.For some types of practices, an example payment plan policy might establish a minimum of say, $100 due at the time of service, with the balance divided into equal installments over the following 6 months. Or, you might divide the total balance into 6 monthly installments, with the first installment due at the time of service.Regardless of how your payment plan is structured, it should focus on two equally important goals. First, keep it simple to avoid confusion. Second, find a reasonable balance between collecting as much as possible up front, at the time of the visit, and what the patient can bear. If patients stretch too far upfront, they may not be able to make the remaining payments over the following period, resulting in the worst case scenario for everyone - default.Interest:
Most offices offering payment plans do not charge interest, but it's not an unheard of practice. Interest charges, like invoicing charges, can be a negative determining factor in competitive markets and for new practices. Charging interest also requires additional staff time to calculate invoices before mailing, rarely offsetting the added overhead. Another important factor to remember with interest charges is adherence to the rules Truth in Lending Act. This can add several more layers of requirements to your practice's administration, creating further unnecessary complications.Collections Agencies:
Teaming with a collections agency can provide you with some recourse if patients fall into default, but consider your options carefully as collection agencies can charge anywhere from 15% to 50% on receivables. Any such partnerships should be thoroughly researched in advance, and outlined in detail in your policy, including agency contact information for your patients.No Shows:
Patients who fail to show up for a visit without notice is, frankly, annoying and rude. But invoicing no shows can turn patients away from future visits, not to mention they typically have a very low receivable rate. If you plan on invoicing no shows, keep both of these points in mind as the overhead costs of invoicing may give you enough cause to write it off completely.Alternate Payment Methods:
Consider offering as many payment methods as possible. Recent years have seen a decrease in credit card processing fee, making them more attractive even for practices with only moderate patient traffic. Credit cards can also be used to bill for monthly installments and payment plans if signed authorization is provided. This will also help circumvent the proverbial 'check in the mail,' and, you'll know immediately if the charge is rejected.Communication:
Whatever parameters are defined in your payment policy, communication is key to ensuring smooth implementation. Remember that your office staff is on the front line when it comes to addressing the policy with patients and should be given clear instructions on all aspects. An office wide meeting can benefit everyone, offering the opportunity for staff to ask questions before implementation. Provide front office staff with an "internal" copy of the policy with suggestions on when and how to remind patients of the policy.In relaying the new policy to patients, a sign at the check-in counter stating "All patient obligations must be resolved at the time of service" is an easy first step. Second, create a detailed flyer outlining your policy and keep a stack visible in the waiting area, and, for the first few months, each patient should be provided with a copy of your flyer upon check-in. Front office staff should of advise patients when they call for an appointment and remind them verbally when upon arrival. If steps are necessary, you might require each patient sign a "Payment Policy Agreement" and keep it with their records.Some practices now even send a "new patient information packet" when an appointment is scheduled far enough in advance. This is an excellent opportunity to include billing policies with other information about your practice. Practices might also include background information on providers, healthy living suggestions geared toward the practice specialty, or information on how patients should prepare for an office visit.Implementation:
Creating your policy is the first step to improving out of pocket collections, but it will only be as effective as your implementation and follow through. A few small adjustments to office procedures will ensure this is carried out successfully.First, it should become standard procedure for staff to obtain pre-authorization from insurance carriers - before the appointment, not just before a claim is filed. Create a list of steps associated with scheduling a patient visit that includes researching co-pays, deductibles, visitation allowances, etc. directly with the carrier. Although pre-authorizations can be made over the phone, "self-serve" online with many carriers is much quicker. Common carrier websites could even be bookmarked on workstations for easy access.Second, condition your staff to leverage information from pre-authorizations and discuss patient obligations at check-in. All parties should be fully aware of their responsibilities and patients expected to advise how they will remit payment.Third, to ensure patients don't "get away" without paying everyone should be required to check-out, as well as check-in. All members of your staff - doctors, nurses, assistants, whoever is the last to visit with the patient – should clearly remind them to stop by the front desk or cashier to address co-pays on the way out, and receive detailed instructions on additional balances that will be billed to them.Finally, review the performance of your policy. Allow one or two weeks for changes to take effect and begin evaluation of results. Arm yourself with detailed information about collections rates for the weeks and months prior to the change and compare against the weeks immediately following. Take note of what's going on around the office; evaluate how the staff is managing the new policy and make changes as necessary. If something does not appear to be working, make sure you've given ample time to fully measure results, but don't be afraid to make another change. Remember, maximizing out of pocket collections is an ongoing task, but if done properly it can yield great improvements in your practice's overall profitability.For more information on improving patient collections, Diversity Medical Billng Services is a medical billing company offering a full range of medical billing solutions to practices across the US. You can find more information about the medical billing industry in our Medical Billing Knowledge Center.
Keyword : improving patient collections, medical billing services, diversity medical billing company
Developing Global Manufacturing Operations - Issues, Challenges and Potential Solutions
Author : Devanand Devarajan
IntroductionManufacturing companies have started venturing globally to take advantage of low cost manufacturing, geographical location, resource availability and so forth. Developing and managing global manufacturing operations have continuously been a challenging task for company's world wide. This article attempts to explore 10 most significant issues of concern, challenges faced, and potential solutions for multi-national manufacturing organizations as they start operating globally.1. Management PhilosophyManagement philosophy guides the stakeholders of the organization in providing an understanding of what the Company's operations are, where they are heading towards, and why they are in business. Companies need to provide a clear statement of their vision, mission and values to the stake holders. It becomes vital especially in a global company to dedicate thought and efforts in framing this philosophy, as individual companies may have slightly different focus, but the group as such should sail towards a focused destination. Equally important are the business policies and strategies by which the Company targets to achieve its vision. As the company's grow and become multi-national, it becomes imperative to have a clear organizational structure at entity level and individual level. This would form the basis for better communication, development of collaborative operations, and effective decision making. Notably, organizations should adopt ways of proving its commitment to the strategies and philosophies, link their operational and tactical activities towards their vision, and continuously communicate them to their stakeholders.2. Systems and Systems ThinkingSystems are procedural approach that channels the individuals, departments and the management in effective operations at all levels. An organization operating in different countries need to have a common system by which they deal with operations at same level in their entities. This provides a visibility for individuals from different entities in collaborating their work with each other. Also, a system gives the Company less dependency on a particular individual or group of individuals, which growing organizations will realize to be important in the long run. A system provides the multi-national organization a dynamic work culture, and easier adaptability to working procedure.The concept of Systems Thinking evolved with the development of supply chain integration. Organizations that concentrate on the individual development of the entities often fail to notice the integrated links and the advantages they can extract off them. Systems Thinking would help look the whole network of entities as one organization, with one business and one objective, and focus on overall development across the supply chain.3. Collaborative OperationsCollaborative operations help organizations take advantage in areas such as utilization of low operations cost, skilled labor, material availability, and so forth though it poses high demands on seamless business processes, interoperability, supply chain visibility, demand forecasting, and customer integration.As the individual entities of the organization grow, they tend to develop functional expertise in specific disciplines. Often the companies that operate at multi national level concentrate less on getting trained in this expertise from their fellow entities, but involve in sourcing the specific activity to this expert entity of the group. This approach has to be assessed on case to case basis. In a typical organization where the entities do similar activities at different locations, it may not be suitable to source a particular activity to a location. Also an imbalance in a specific functional expertise level among the entities might grow to be a barrier in overall growth.4. BrandingAs companies go global, brand management becomes a key aspect. Customer's perception for a product varies with the country in which it is manufactured. This urges Multi national companies to concentrate on development of brand and strongly commit to their offerings. This becomes an issue of concern especially for companies that go global before creating a niche brand in the market. Multiple brands and multiple product offerings are to be handled with appropriate concern.5. Sigma LevelSigma is a statistical term to express how much a process varies from the target. Sigma level allows comparison of process performance through out the entire organization, provides figures on overall yield, and DPMO. Though industries have risen to the level of six sigma targeting 3.4DPMO, a lot majority of the companies lie in 3 sigma level where they spend at least 30% of its revenue on defects, corrections, reworks, and rejects. Global companies should have a focused roadmap on improving the sigma level and link them to their business strategies.6. Global Distribution and logisticsWith the evolution of global supply chain management, organizations have centralized or decentralized distribution/procurement systems. Applications of appropriate principles of direct shipment, warehousing, or cross docking depending on the Manufacturing/customer locations, customer dispersion and concentration, and transportation involved have saved billions of dollars for multi-national corporations. Also appropriate push-pull systems are designed to their product and demand requirements. Many companies choose to maintain component level inventory of their standard products and some provide customized parts assembly at the final stages.7. Human resource & Cultural Impacts in Global scenarioAs globalization develops and boundaries shrink, growing economies have started accepting and developing multi-cultural working environments. Companies have already realized the need for greater majority of local employees in their established ventures overseas. These companies spend lot of efforts in understanding and promoting cross cultural communication and motivational activities.Another vital factor would be the Company's HR policies, and training and development. HR policies may vary according to the local human resource standards and their conformance to the international standards. Nevertheless companies must ensure a systematic training structure and curriculum for their employees. This will provide organization's in maintaining balanced skills among employees multi-nationally.8. Technology DevelopmentTechnology development is the process of research and development of technology. If companies fail to develop innovative technologies, the competitors take a lead. Technology development has become a continuously evolving activity. These technological innovations provide organizations specialization in product centric or process centric areas that help them differentiate in the market place. Growing companies need to concentrate on research and development on key processes that affect their business.9. Leading Industry practicesLeading industry practices are methodologies and systems that have evolved over time out of continuous research and development. These industrial practices in technology, application, and service areas are growing in a tremendous pace. Organizations that failed to make efforts to move in tandem with these developments are facing difficulties in moving ahead. On the other hand, practicing leading practices provides organizations greater industry recognition, professionalism, cost savings, and also improves employee morale.10. Exploring marketCompanies need to do a market analysis on the trends of the business in their target countries for operations, target market, competitor analysis, government regulations, and so forth. This kind of analysis help companies choose to make an informed decision on whether to serve the local market or be an Export only Unit.Conclusion:These 10 development areas are just part of the extensive list of areas that companies need to concentrate on, nevertheless these would be the most significant ones. The article attempts to highlight some of the modern thoughts and approaches that would help manufacturing industries internationalize in a successful manner.About the AuthorDevanand Devarajan is a Executive in S.E.A. Hydropower and is involved in organizational development and productivity improvement projects. His field of interest and research areas includes Manufacturing Engineering, business development, Six Sigma, and project managment.Deva graduated with a masters in Industrial & Systems Engineering from National University of Singapore. Additionally he holds Six Sigma Green Belt, Cambridge career award in marketing and Masters Diploma in Business Administration. He is a member of number of professional and social development associations.
Keyword : article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email
IntroductionManufacturing companies have started venturing globally to take advantage of low cost manufacturing, geographical location, resource availability and so forth. Developing and managing global manufacturing operations have continuously been a challenging task for company's world wide. This article attempts to explore 10 most significant issues of concern, challenges faced, and potential solutions for multi-national manufacturing organizations as they start operating globally.1. Management PhilosophyManagement philosophy guides the stakeholders of the organization in providing an understanding of what the Company's operations are, where they are heading towards, and why they are in business. Companies need to provide a clear statement of their vision, mission and values to the stake holders. It becomes vital especially in a global company to dedicate thought and efforts in framing this philosophy, as individual companies may have slightly different focus, but the group as such should sail towards a focused destination. Equally important are the business policies and strategies by which the Company targets to achieve its vision. As the company's grow and become multi-national, it becomes imperative to have a clear organizational structure at entity level and individual level. This would form the basis for better communication, development of collaborative operations, and effective decision making. Notably, organizations should adopt ways of proving its commitment to the strategies and philosophies, link their operational and tactical activities towards their vision, and continuously communicate them to their stakeholders.2. Systems and Systems ThinkingSystems are procedural approach that channels the individuals, departments and the management in effective operations at all levels. An organization operating in different countries need to have a common system by which they deal with operations at same level in their entities. This provides a visibility for individuals from different entities in collaborating their work with each other. Also, a system gives the Company less dependency on a particular individual or group of individuals, which growing organizations will realize to be important in the long run. A system provides the multi-national organization a dynamic work culture, and easier adaptability to working procedure.The concept of Systems Thinking evolved with the development of supply chain integration. Organizations that concentrate on the individual development of the entities often fail to notice the integrated links and the advantages they can extract off them. Systems Thinking would help look the whole network of entities as one organization, with one business and one objective, and focus on overall development across the supply chain.3. Collaborative OperationsCollaborative operations help organizations take advantage in areas such as utilization of low operations cost, skilled labor, material availability, and so forth though it poses high demands on seamless business processes, interoperability, supply chain visibility, demand forecasting, and customer integration.As the individual entities of the organization grow, they tend to develop functional expertise in specific disciplines. Often the companies that operate at multi national level concentrate less on getting trained in this expertise from their fellow entities, but involve in sourcing the specific activity to this expert entity of the group. This approach has to be assessed on case to case basis. In a typical organization where the entities do similar activities at different locations, it may not be suitable to source a particular activity to a location. Also an imbalance in a specific functional expertise level among the entities might grow to be a barrier in overall growth.4. BrandingAs companies go global, brand management becomes a key aspect. Customer's perception for a product varies with the country in which it is manufactured. This urges Multi national companies to concentrate on development of brand and strongly commit to their offerings. This becomes an issue of concern especially for companies that go global before creating a niche brand in the market. Multiple brands and multiple product offerings are to be handled with appropriate concern.5. Sigma LevelSigma is a statistical term to express how much a process varies from the target. Sigma level allows comparison of process performance through out the entire organization, provides figures on overall yield, and DPMO. Though industries have risen to the level of six sigma targeting 3.4DPMO, a lot majority of the companies lie in 3 sigma level where they spend at least 30% of its revenue on defects, corrections, reworks, and rejects. Global companies should have a focused roadmap on improving the sigma level and link them to their business strategies.6. Global Distribution and logisticsWith the evolution of global supply chain management, organizations have centralized or decentralized distribution/procurement systems. Applications of appropriate principles of direct shipment, warehousing, or cross docking depending on the Manufacturing/customer locations, customer dispersion and concentration, and transportation involved have saved billions of dollars for multi-national corporations. Also appropriate push-pull systems are designed to their product and demand requirements. Many companies choose to maintain component level inventory of their standard products and some provide customized parts assembly at the final stages.7. Human resource & Cultural Impacts in Global scenarioAs globalization develops and boundaries shrink, growing economies have started accepting and developing multi-cultural working environments. Companies have already realized the need for greater majority of local employees in their established ventures overseas. These companies spend lot of efforts in understanding and promoting cross cultural communication and motivational activities.Another vital factor would be the Company's HR policies, and training and development. HR policies may vary according to the local human resource standards and their conformance to the international standards. Nevertheless companies must ensure a systematic training structure and curriculum for their employees. This will provide organization's in maintaining balanced skills among employees multi-nationally.8. Technology DevelopmentTechnology development is the process of research and development of technology. If companies fail to develop innovative technologies, the competitors take a lead. Technology development has become a continuously evolving activity. These technological innovations provide organizations specialization in product centric or process centric areas that help them differentiate in the market place. Growing companies need to concentrate on research and development on key processes that affect their business.9. Leading Industry practicesLeading industry practices are methodologies and systems that have evolved over time out of continuous research and development. These industrial practices in technology, application, and service areas are growing in a tremendous pace. Organizations that failed to make efforts to move in tandem with these developments are facing difficulties in moving ahead. On the other hand, practicing leading practices provides organizations greater industry recognition, professionalism, cost savings, and also improves employee morale.10. Exploring marketCompanies need to do a market analysis on the trends of the business in their target countries for operations, target market, competitor analysis, government regulations, and so forth. This kind of analysis help companies choose to make an informed decision on whether to serve the local market or be an Export only Unit.Conclusion:These 10 development areas are just part of the extensive list of areas that companies need to concentrate on, nevertheless these would be the most significant ones. The article attempts to highlight some of the modern thoughts and approaches that would help manufacturing industries internationalize in a successful manner.About the AuthorDevanand Devarajan is a Executive in S.E.A. Hydropower and is involved in organizational development and productivity improvement projects. His field of interest and research areas includes Manufacturing Engineering, business development, Six Sigma, and project managment.Deva graduated with a masters in Industrial & Systems Engineering from National University of Singapore. Additionally he holds Six Sigma Green Belt, Cambridge career award in marketing and Masters Diploma in Business Administration. He is a member of number of professional and social development associations.
Keyword : article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email
The High Maintenance Manager: Work with Them or Leave Them?
Author : Glory Borgeson
Over time, I have heard from several
people who shared their stories of working with
high maintenance managers (HMM). The most interesting
were from people with family businesses whose
spouse or parent is a HMM. That adds some interesting
implications!What happens when your HMM has crossed lines with you? Ideally
you want all conflict, especially from situations where
you feel beaten down, to cease. If you have years of
experience working with all kinds of people (including
a few HMMs), you know that striving for conflict
resolution with this type of person can sometimes
be rewarding, and is often frustrating. How far you're
willing to take the process with this person will
depend on what has defined the person as being a
HMM and your current state of affairs (i.e. your
stress level).Use the Help of an AdvocateDoes your HMM respect (and even fear) someone at
the office? Could that person be your advocate?
This is probably the best alternative for getting
the person to change his or her approach and for
reducing the amount of your stress. This is what
I did - and have done a couple times - and it worked
well. It's important to try to talk with the HMM
first, before going to the advocate. It is also
helpful if you, the HMM, and the advocate can meet
together. If that is not possible, a discussion
between the two of them while you are absent is
the next best thing.The advocate needs to know and understand the HMM
from experience and needs to understand the issues
at hand. Be brief and to the point when you update
him or her, giving an executive overview" of the
problem. If they talk together in your absence,
get an update from the advocate, noting the points
discussed, the position taken by the advocate
during their meeting, and the advocate's perceived
response by the HMM.Then schedule a new meeting with the HMM, making
certain you are no longer steamed when you meet.
If necessary, schedule a meeting for a few days
later.Meet With the HMMWhether you have an advocate or not, you will need
to meet with the HMM. Because HMMs tend to talk
very fast and to think while you are talking
(rather than listen to you), remember to speak
slowly. When you take a turn to talk, count 1 or
2 seconds before you start. Be deliberate.
If necessary, write out notes before the meeting,
bring the notes with you to the meeting, and use
them. Notes will help you stay focused.Start the conversation by mentioning something
positive. For example, "When I heard that you
were selected to manage the project, I was glad
about that because I knew you were bringing a
lot of experience to the project."Don't back down on the issues. Don't wimp out.
Don't make excuses for the HMM. Don't accept his
or her excuses (you can listen without agreeing).See where the conversation goes as you discuss your
points. Are you getting any agreement? Is there
evidence that you are being manipulated? Is the
HMM trying to fight with you or is she trying to
solve problems? Can the HMM agree to disagree
with you agreeably? Or does he agree to disagree
in a disagreeable fashion?Getting PushbackIf you don't have an advocate, and meeting with
the HMM proves to not help very much, you need
to decide how much you can take. What other types
of changes can you make? At what point does life
become too short to deal with the situation?
Some of us put up with way too much for way too
long. After some time that can really wear you
down, making you susceptible to stress and disease.
Is it really worth it? If not, what can you do
to make a change?~~~~~~~~~As of this writing, I've come up with 18 bad habits
of high maintenance managers. I've had some fun
discussions with people who currently work for a
high maintenance manager and they've found
it helps to tell stories and
laugh in order to use the laughter to lower the
stress about their situation.If you are currently in a work situation with a
HMM, can you find an advocate to help you out?
Will you meet with the HMM to discuss your issues?
Are you getting pushback? In the meantime,
can you discuss it with someone and laugh?© 2005 Borgeson Consulting, Inc.Glory Borgeson is a business coach and consultant, and the president of
Borgeson Consulting, Inc. She specializes in working with executives in the
"honeymoon phase" of a new position (typically the first two years)
to coach them to success. Glory is the newly appointed executive's
Secret Weapon!. Top athletes have a coach; why not you?Click here for Borgeson Consulting, Inc.This article was originally published in The Business Express, Borgeson's
free monthly ezine. You may subscribe by clicking here:
Ezine
Keyword : Manage,managing,boss,client,difficult,trust,fear,manager,work,stress
Over time, I have heard from several
people who shared their stories of working with
high maintenance managers (HMM). The most interesting
were from people with family businesses whose
spouse or parent is a HMM. That adds some interesting
implications!What happens when your HMM has crossed lines with you? Ideally
you want all conflict, especially from situations where
you feel beaten down, to cease. If you have years of
experience working with all kinds of people (including
a few HMMs), you know that striving for conflict
resolution with this type of person can sometimes
be rewarding, and is often frustrating. How far you're
willing to take the process with this person will
depend on what has defined the person as being a
HMM and your current state of affairs (i.e. your
stress level).Use the Help of an AdvocateDoes your HMM respect (and even fear) someone at
the office? Could that person be your advocate?
This is probably the best alternative for getting
the person to change his or her approach and for
reducing the amount of your stress. This is what
I did - and have done a couple times - and it worked
well. It's important to try to talk with the HMM
first, before going to the advocate. It is also
helpful if you, the HMM, and the advocate can meet
together. If that is not possible, a discussion
between the two of them while you are absent is
the next best thing.The advocate needs to know and understand the HMM
from experience and needs to understand the issues
at hand. Be brief and to the point when you update
him or her, giving an executive overview" of the
problem. If they talk together in your absence,
get an update from the advocate, noting the points
discussed, the position taken by the advocate
during their meeting, and the advocate's perceived
response by the HMM.Then schedule a new meeting with the HMM, making
certain you are no longer steamed when you meet.
If necessary, schedule a meeting for a few days
later.Meet With the HMMWhether you have an advocate or not, you will need
to meet with the HMM. Because HMMs tend to talk
very fast and to think while you are talking
(rather than listen to you), remember to speak
slowly. When you take a turn to talk, count 1 or
2 seconds before you start. Be deliberate.
If necessary, write out notes before the meeting,
bring the notes with you to the meeting, and use
them. Notes will help you stay focused.Start the conversation by mentioning something
positive. For example, "When I heard that you
were selected to manage the project, I was glad
about that because I knew you were bringing a
lot of experience to the project."Don't back down on the issues. Don't wimp out.
Don't make excuses for the HMM. Don't accept his
or her excuses (you can listen without agreeing).See where the conversation goes as you discuss your
points. Are you getting any agreement? Is there
evidence that you are being manipulated? Is the
HMM trying to fight with you or is she trying to
solve problems? Can the HMM agree to disagree
with you agreeably? Or does he agree to disagree
in a disagreeable fashion?Getting PushbackIf you don't have an advocate, and meeting with
the HMM proves to not help very much, you need
to decide how much you can take. What other types
of changes can you make? At what point does life
become too short to deal with the situation?
Some of us put up with way too much for way too
long. After some time that can really wear you
down, making you susceptible to stress and disease.
Is it really worth it? If not, what can you do
to make a change?~~~~~~~~~As of this writing, I've come up with 18 bad habits
of high maintenance managers. I've had some fun
discussions with people who currently work for a
high maintenance manager and they've found
it helps to tell stories and
laugh in order to use the laughter to lower the
stress about their situation.If you are currently in a work situation with a
HMM, can you find an advocate to help you out?
Will you meet with the HMM to discuss your issues?
Are you getting pushback? In the meantime,
can you discuss it with someone and laugh?© 2005 Borgeson Consulting, Inc.Glory Borgeson is a business coach and consultant, and the president of
Borgeson Consulting, Inc. She specializes in working with executives in the
"honeymoon phase" of a new position (typically the first two years)
to coach them to success. Glory is the newly appointed executive's
Secret Weapon!. Top athletes have a coach; why not you?Click here for Borgeson Consulting, Inc.This article was originally published in The Business Express, Borgeson's
free monthly ezine. You may subscribe by clicking here:
Ezine
Keyword : Manage,managing,boss,client,difficult,trust,fear,manager,work,stress
A Time to Focus and a Time to Diversify
Author : Kelly McCausey
I'm the Queen of the Focus message in the Work at Home Mom Community. I believe it's important to have a tight focus when you're developing or growing a home business that will pass the test of time and bring in a reliable income.This is especially true when it comes to a Direct Sales business. If you've opted to join a Direct Sales company such as Mary Kay, Pampered Chef or Lia Sophia you will experience the highest level of success if you keep all of your business attentions on that one company.There is a temptation for some Direct Sellers to branch off into a 'complimentary' business. They may think that a gourmet food company would be a perfect addition to a Pampered Chef business, and at first glance it might seem to be so – but it really isn't.The beauty of Direct Sales is that it's a ready made business. The company has done all the hard work for you when it comes to a sales plan, promotional materials, etc. Marketing experts have designed a system that has been proven to work if you just work it – so anything you do to muddy up the message is going to reduce your effectiveness.There are some businesses that do benefit from diversification, which is just a fancy way to say that you're offering multiple products or services.A home based crafter often creates a wide variety of items, people do love choices at craft shows. An internet marketer will create several different websites of varying topics and interests to ensure that their affiliate income will remain stable through any particular market changes.One of the most interesting examples of diversification that I've seen is being demonstrated by a single mother in my town. Tishia Lee just left what will hopefully be the last of several low paying dead end jobs to launch her own home based business, 'Tishia Saves Time' http://www.tishiasavestime.com).Tishia Saves Time is two businesses in one. On one side she's offering Virtual Assistant (VA) services to busy internet marketers. A VA performs all kinds of administrative tasks according to the needs of a client. Tishia does internet research, answers client email, updates websites, etc.The other side of her business is offline. Tishia offers personal errand services for local clients. She'll pick up dry cleaning or make a run to the grocery store for a low hourly fee plus mileage or she can even be tapped to come over and clean your kitchen on one of those busy days when you just need a helping hand.The two branches of her business flow smoothly together. She has acquired several regular clients and has the flexibility she needs in her schedule, leaving her plenty of time to enjoy her young son.So where are you with your home business? Should you be tightening up your focus or looking for ways to diversify?About the Author:
Kelly McCausey is the host of Work at Home Moms Talk Radio, an internet radio show for home based business Moms and those who would like to become one. Visit her online: http://www.wahmtalkradio.com
Keyword : business,direct sales,focus,errand services,virtual assistant,wahm,work at home
I'm the Queen of the Focus message in the Work at Home Mom Community. I believe it's important to have a tight focus when you're developing or growing a home business that will pass the test of time and bring in a reliable income.This is especially true when it comes to a Direct Sales business. If you've opted to join a Direct Sales company such as Mary Kay, Pampered Chef or Lia Sophia you will experience the highest level of success if you keep all of your business attentions on that one company.There is a temptation for some Direct Sellers to branch off into a 'complimentary' business. They may think that a gourmet food company would be a perfect addition to a Pampered Chef business, and at first glance it might seem to be so – but it really isn't.The beauty of Direct Sales is that it's a ready made business. The company has done all the hard work for you when it comes to a sales plan, promotional materials, etc. Marketing experts have designed a system that has been proven to work if you just work it – so anything you do to muddy up the message is going to reduce your effectiveness.There are some businesses that do benefit from diversification, which is just a fancy way to say that you're offering multiple products or services.A home based crafter often creates a wide variety of items, people do love choices at craft shows. An internet marketer will create several different websites of varying topics and interests to ensure that their affiliate income will remain stable through any particular market changes.One of the most interesting examples of diversification that I've seen is being demonstrated by a single mother in my town. Tishia Lee just left what will hopefully be the last of several low paying dead end jobs to launch her own home based business, 'Tishia Saves Time' http://www.tishiasavestime.com).Tishia Saves Time is two businesses in one. On one side she's offering Virtual Assistant (VA) services to busy internet marketers. A VA performs all kinds of administrative tasks according to the needs of a client. Tishia does internet research, answers client email, updates websites, etc.The other side of her business is offline. Tishia offers personal errand services for local clients. She'll pick up dry cleaning or make a run to the grocery store for a low hourly fee plus mileage or she can even be tapped to come over and clean your kitchen on one of those busy days when you just need a helping hand.The two branches of her business flow smoothly together. She has acquired several regular clients and has the flexibility she needs in her schedule, leaving her plenty of time to enjoy her young son.So where are you with your home business? Should you be tightening up your focus or looking for ways to diversify?About the Author:
Kelly McCausey is the host of Work at Home Moms Talk Radio, an internet radio show for home based business Moms and those who would like to become one. Visit her online: http://www.wahmtalkradio.com
Keyword : business,direct sales,focus,errand services,virtual assistant,wahm,work at home
If You Don't Produce Your Forms on Demand, You're Wasting Money
Author : Robin Henry
Remember the time your company restructured and changed its name? When you threw out hundreds of business cards, a few dozen reams of letterhead and a heap more stuff that added to a huge waste pile? What, you haven't been restructured? Well I have; so often I could write a book about it (and probably will! ... watch this space).When I last worked for a firm that restructured, my staff identified thousands of dollars worth of personnel forms that became obsolete overnight. I hate waste. I couldn't bear the thought of sending all that paper to the dump to be unceremoniously burned.I gave a heap of paper to kindergartens, primary schools and anyone else who could use it. I took home several reams to use for draft copies from my laser printer. But, at the end of the day, I had to send a huge pile of good quality paper to the dump simply because it was out of date.You know what? I learnt from the experience and decided it wouldn't happen again.After the new organisation formed and I took up my Human Resources Management role in the same office, on the same salary, but working for a different organisation (can you believe that?), I made a management decision to use print-on-demand media for as many of the forms and documents used in my department as possible.Out went the need for a four colour corporate logo and reams of letterhead paper; out went the dozens of forms nicely filed away waiting for someone to request an application for this or that, or something else.I had my staff convert all of our documents into Adobe PDF format and file them on our server. For example, when a new starter needed to be signed up there was a plethora of forms relating to the Official Secrets Act, Internet Use policy, superannuation benefits, taxation, dependants and so on. In fact there were nearly 50 pages including the employment contract of four or five pages. Quite a collection.Previously, these forms packs had been held in a suspension file and when needed, we'd simply pull one out ... nicely stapled, and get new employees to complete it.Now, when I knew someone was coming in to sign up, I'd simply go to the folder on our server where our forms were filed, highlight the appropriate forms file, right click and send it to the laser printer. Within three or four minutes I had the collection of forms I needed. Most of the taxation and other
government forms I needed I could download in PDF format from the respective Internet sites, so it was easy to add these to the packs.With responsibility for five offices, it was very efficient to use this system by sending the download link details to the office administration staffs who had forms completed on my behalf. They didn't need to know which form went with which type of employment contract and the opportunity for errors vanished almost overnight. Better still, when there were updates to various forms, I could simply change the original file and know for sure that every office would have access immediately.The change from hardcopy to softcopy had many benefits other than the reduction in waste. It improved our operational efficiency noticeably, especially in rework requirements since nobody submitted obsolete forms. We could use the filing space previously consumed by forms for other, more important documents. And of course, we could email forms or form packs anywhere.Every organisation has a cornucopia of forms and information documentation that can be placed online and printed on demand. If your organisation hasn't yet explored the benefits of printing on demand, perhaps it's a good time to review your work practices now and see whether it may provide you with reduced costs and greater efficiency. Alternatively, if your organisation has the capacity to set up HTML online forms, that might be the way to go.Copyright 2005 Robin HenryRobin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps small and home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is working in the United Arab Emirates.
Keyword : forms,documents,printing,waste management,personnel forms,print-on-demand,save money,savings,
Remember the time your company restructured and changed its name? When you threw out hundreds of business cards, a few dozen reams of letterhead and a heap more stuff that added to a huge waste pile? What, you haven't been restructured? Well I have; so often I could write a book about it (and probably will! ... watch this space).When I last worked for a firm that restructured, my staff identified thousands of dollars worth of personnel forms that became obsolete overnight. I hate waste. I couldn't bear the thought of sending all that paper to the dump to be unceremoniously burned.I gave a heap of paper to kindergartens, primary schools and anyone else who could use it. I took home several reams to use for draft copies from my laser printer. But, at the end of the day, I had to send a huge pile of good quality paper to the dump simply because it was out of date.You know what? I learnt from the experience and decided it wouldn't happen again.After the new organisation formed and I took up my Human Resources Management role in the same office, on the same salary, but working for a different organisation (can you believe that?), I made a management decision to use print-on-demand media for as many of the forms and documents used in my department as possible.Out went the need for a four colour corporate logo and reams of letterhead paper; out went the dozens of forms nicely filed away waiting for someone to request an application for this or that, or something else.I had my staff convert all of our documents into Adobe PDF format and file them on our server. For example, when a new starter needed to be signed up there was a plethora of forms relating to the Official Secrets Act, Internet Use policy, superannuation benefits, taxation, dependants and so on. In fact there were nearly 50 pages including the employment contract of four or five pages. Quite a collection.Previously, these forms packs had been held in a suspension file and when needed, we'd simply pull one out ... nicely stapled, and get new employees to complete it.Now, when I knew someone was coming in to sign up, I'd simply go to the folder on our server where our forms were filed, highlight the appropriate forms file, right click and send it to the laser printer. Within three or four minutes I had the collection of forms I needed. Most of the taxation and other
government forms I needed I could download in PDF format from the respective Internet sites, so it was easy to add these to the packs.With responsibility for five offices, it was very efficient to use this system by sending the download link details to the office administration staffs who had forms completed on my behalf. They didn't need to know which form went with which type of employment contract and the opportunity for errors vanished almost overnight. Better still, when there were updates to various forms, I could simply change the original file and know for sure that every office would have access immediately.The change from hardcopy to softcopy had many benefits other than the reduction in waste. It improved our operational efficiency noticeably, especially in rework requirements since nobody submitted obsolete forms. We could use the filing space previously consumed by forms for other, more important documents. And of course, we could email forms or form packs anywhere.Every organisation has a cornucopia of forms and information documentation that can be placed online and printed on demand. If your organisation hasn't yet explored the benefits of printing on demand, perhaps it's a good time to review your work practices now and see whether it may provide you with reduced costs and greater efficiency. Alternatively, if your organisation has the capacity to set up HTML online forms, that might be the way to go.Copyright 2005 Robin HenryRobin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps small and home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is working in the United Arab Emirates.
Keyword : forms,documents,printing,waste management,personnel forms,print-on-demand,save money,savings,
The Project Management Mindset
Author : Ryan Leibowitz
Project management as a science and art is undergoing key transformations as a result of countless stories of failed projects, cost overruns, and canceling that project that took 2 years of your employee's lives. Needless to say, these scenarios not only cost money, time, and lost opportunities, but also have a longer term impact on the overall morale of a workforce.Though there is no panacea to these inevitable outcomes, it's important to take a look back on the cornerstones that define effective and success-prone project management.Ultimately project management like most disciplines, requires just that-discipline. This discipline of mindset far outweighs any single tool, or management fad with a catchy name. The PMBOK or The Project Management Body of Knowledge is a good reference guide to begin, refocus, or sharpen your project management mindset.Here are some key attributes of the Project Manager mentality:1. A solid understanding and vigilant re-education in the discipline, the science, and the are of project management and it's key knowledge and practice areas.2. The experience and wherewithal to not attack a project with everything and the kitchen sink and instead being able to pick out the appropriate tools for improving implementation and the planning of the project.3. Understand the dynamics of a team, and serve as the glue that holds the members together.4. The ability to incorporate the new methodologies with the old on the fly.5. People, People, People! A knack for understanding how to communicate effectively with your team members as it relates to project changes, overall progress, and transcribing the overall vision for the project throughout it's duration.Overall the skills required to achieve the project manager mentality are: being flexible, possessing strong oral/written communications, the ability to think strategically and solve problems on your feet, team building and interpersonal skills, a sense of accountability for yourself and your team members, and finally the technical credibility to lead the project in question.
Keyword : project management, risk management, pmi, project management software, project management tools, tim
Project management as a science and art is undergoing key transformations as a result of countless stories of failed projects, cost overruns, and canceling that project that took 2 years of your employee's lives. Needless to say, these scenarios not only cost money, time, and lost opportunities, but also have a longer term impact on the overall morale of a workforce.Though there is no panacea to these inevitable outcomes, it's important to take a look back on the cornerstones that define effective and success-prone project management.Ultimately project management like most disciplines, requires just that-discipline. This discipline of mindset far outweighs any single tool, or management fad with a catchy name. The PMBOK or The Project Management Body of Knowledge is a good reference guide to begin, refocus, or sharpen your project management mindset.Here are some key attributes of the Project Manager mentality:1. A solid understanding and vigilant re-education in the discipline, the science, and the are of project management and it's key knowledge and practice areas.2. The experience and wherewithal to not attack a project with everything and the kitchen sink and instead being able to pick out the appropriate tools for improving implementation and the planning of the project.3. Understand the dynamics of a team, and serve as the glue that holds the members together.4. The ability to incorporate the new methodologies with the old on the fly.5. People, People, People! A knack for understanding how to communicate effectively with your team members as it relates to project changes, overall progress, and transcribing the overall vision for the project throughout it's duration.Overall the skills required to achieve the project manager mentality are: being flexible, possessing strong oral/written communications, the ability to think strategically and solve problems on your feet, team building and interpersonal skills, a sense of accountability for yourself and your team members, and finally the technical credibility to lead the project in question.
Keyword : project management, risk management, pmi, project management software, project management tools, tim
Beat Your Competition with These New Year's Hiring Resolutions
Author : Mike Nacke
Another year has passed and it's time to make your New Year's resolutions. While others will be hitting the gym and chomping on nicotine gum, you can get a leg up on your competition with these hiring techniques to build your workforce in 2006.Hire Slow, Fire FastThe first and most important resolution you can make in the New Year is to stop waiting until the last minute to hire a new employee and stop letting the dead weight in your department drag the rest of the group down. Management is not an easy task, and hiring always seems to end up on the bottom of the 'to do' list. Because of this, managers always tend to rush the hiring process since they, "needed someone yesterday."Resolve to make your life easier this year by being proactive when it's time to hire a new employee. By taking the appropriate amount of time to hire talented candidates, you'll save yourself the future management headaches that come from rushed hiring mistakes.Similarly, commit to terminating those employees that aren't meeting your expectations on a consistent basis. This resolution is a little harder to execute since these people rarely do anything to overtly attract your attention to their poor performance. By establishing clear performance expectations, you'll have a better understanding of when to deliver a pink slip.Stop Selling Your JobsOne of the easiest mistakes in hiring is getting overly excited about great candidates and trying to sell them on all the reasons why they should take your job. This can lead to incorrect assumptions about the position, resulting in unexpected turnover and an overall bad fit.To solve this problem in the New Year, commit to creating realistic performance expectations in writing for every employee you intend to hire. This should include a dated timeline of expected accomplishments for the first 30 to 180 days of the job depending on the complexity and breadth of responsibilities.Once you've documented these expectations, openly communicate them to any candidate that is being considered. Also, don't hesitate to talk about the struggles and challenges that a candidate might have. This open communication should weed out unmotivated candidates as well as energize those ready for the task.Stop Hiring on First ImpressionsHow many times have you hired someone you really liked and they turned out to be a poor performer? We often rely on our emotions in hiring which leads to making quick judgments based on our initial impressions. When this happens, great candidates are overlooked because of superficial indicators of their ability while poor candidates are hired for their superior presentation skills. While personality is an important factor, intellectual ability, technical skills, desire, and core values should also be considered in any hiring decision.If you tend to lean toward making snap judgments on job candidates, follow these steps to overcome hiring errors based on initial impressions. First, make sure that before you go into an interview, you write down the areas of competency you intend to assess to get a complete picture of their ability. Second, make a firm decision before going into any interview that you won't allow the first few minutes to determine your decision. Next, make sure you follow through with the proper line of questioning that will lead to the answers you need. Finally, wait thirty minutes after an interview ends to review your notes and carefully consider the actual answers that were given rather than the style in which they were communicated. .Create Hiring Partners, not Hiring VendorsA study released this year by the American Staffing Association revealed that Fortune 500 buyers viewed partnership with their staffing suppliers as an important part of their business. However, the same study revealed that only 2 in 5 customers view their current staffing suppliers as "partners." What this means is that the majority of companies that work with staffing firms consider them a vendor rather than a strategic staffing partner.If this sounds like your company, you may be missing out on some of the major benefits of a strong partnership with your staffing firm. To push this relationship to the next level, ensure that your staffing supplier has a firm understanding of your business challenges by inviting them to your workforce development meetings. Also, work with your staffing supplier to develop a strategic staffing timeline that will ensure that your staffing challenges are addressed as the business grows and the economy fluctuates.This year, resolve to make your hiring process a predictable business practice rather than an unreliable event and 2006 will be a landmark year for your workforce.Mike Nacke is the Director of Development for PrideStaff, a national staffing and recruiting firm and is an expert at building world class workforces. For more information on how to attract and retain passionate employees visit http://www.mikenacke.com
Keyword : Hiring, Retention, New Year's Resolutions
Another year has passed and it's time to make your New Year's resolutions. While others will be hitting the gym and chomping on nicotine gum, you can get a leg up on your competition with these hiring techniques to build your workforce in 2006.Hire Slow, Fire FastThe first and most important resolution you can make in the New Year is to stop waiting until the last minute to hire a new employee and stop letting the dead weight in your department drag the rest of the group down. Management is not an easy task, and hiring always seems to end up on the bottom of the 'to do' list. Because of this, managers always tend to rush the hiring process since they, "needed someone yesterday."Resolve to make your life easier this year by being proactive when it's time to hire a new employee. By taking the appropriate amount of time to hire talented candidates, you'll save yourself the future management headaches that come from rushed hiring mistakes.Similarly, commit to terminating those employees that aren't meeting your expectations on a consistent basis. This resolution is a little harder to execute since these people rarely do anything to overtly attract your attention to their poor performance. By establishing clear performance expectations, you'll have a better understanding of when to deliver a pink slip.Stop Selling Your JobsOne of the easiest mistakes in hiring is getting overly excited about great candidates and trying to sell them on all the reasons why they should take your job. This can lead to incorrect assumptions about the position, resulting in unexpected turnover and an overall bad fit.To solve this problem in the New Year, commit to creating realistic performance expectations in writing for every employee you intend to hire. This should include a dated timeline of expected accomplishments for the first 30 to 180 days of the job depending on the complexity and breadth of responsibilities.Once you've documented these expectations, openly communicate them to any candidate that is being considered. Also, don't hesitate to talk about the struggles and challenges that a candidate might have. This open communication should weed out unmotivated candidates as well as energize those ready for the task.Stop Hiring on First ImpressionsHow many times have you hired someone you really liked and they turned out to be a poor performer? We often rely on our emotions in hiring which leads to making quick judgments based on our initial impressions. When this happens, great candidates are overlooked because of superficial indicators of their ability while poor candidates are hired for their superior presentation skills. While personality is an important factor, intellectual ability, technical skills, desire, and core values should also be considered in any hiring decision.If you tend to lean toward making snap judgments on job candidates, follow these steps to overcome hiring errors based on initial impressions. First, make sure that before you go into an interview, you write down the areas of competency you intend to assess to get a complete picture of their ability. Second, make a firm decision before going into any interview that you won't allow the first few minutes to determine your decision. Next, make sure you follow through with the proper line of questioning that will lead to the answers you need. Finally, wait thirty minutes after an interview ends to review your notes and carefully consider the actual answers that were given rather than the style in which they were communicated. .Create Hiring Partners, not Hiring VendorsA study released this year by the American Staffing Association revealed that Fortune 500 buyers viewed partnership with their staffing suppliers as an important part of their business. However, the same study revealed that only 2 in 5 customers view their current staffing suppliers as "partners." What this means is that the majority of companies that work with staffing firms consider them a vendor rather than a strategic staffing partner.If this sounds like your company, you may be missing out on some of the major benefits of a strong partnership with your staffing firm. To push this relationship to the next level, ensure that your staffing supplier has a firm understanding of your business challenges by inviting them to your workforce development meetings. Also, work with your staffing supplier to develop a strategic staffing timeline that will ensure that your staffing challenges are addressed as the business grows and the economy fluctuates.This year, resolve to make your hiring process a predictable business practice rather than an unreliable event and 2006 will be a landmark year for your workforce.Mike Nacke is the Director of Development for PrideStaff, a national staffing and recruiting firm and is an expert at building world class workforces. For more information on how to attract and retain passionate employees visit http://www.mikenacke.com
Keyword : Hiring, Retention, New Year's Resolutions
Effective Data Management
Author : Halstatt Pires
Mining data is one of the keys to running an effective business. Here's a primer on effectively managing your business data to maximize the efficiency of your business.Effective data management plays an essential role for any growing business. Information technology has generated advanced tools for analyzing and managing data. Use of these tools can improve the performance of almost any operation. Steps made in capturing mass data electronically have developed the need for effective management strategies. Getting more and more data and transforming it into usable information is a major concern of today's services and industries.New technologies require new expertise, internal procedures and decision-making methods. Earlier companies were creating electronic databases, which were non-relational and difficult to use. Now with the use of highly sophisticated software and high-speed computers, businesses are reaping huge benefits from the computer/information revolution. Businesses are continuously making steps in managing data by using various tools to optimize information for sorting, searching and presentation in meaningful formats.Many software programs and database applications are available on the market that enable companies to manipulate data in real time, capture knowledge for future use, ease the progress of operations to save time and costs and also to coordinate operations with partners.The amount of data storage necessary and the duration it is kept online is growing swiftly, yet resources to manage data are limited. Data storage is a test to those companies wishing to maximize the value of their available data and also a huge task for storage professionals to manage and protect this data. Enterprises are struggling to bring together highly reliable platforms that can recognize where data is located in a company and whether it is utilized efficiently. Data management solutions must track, monitor and be vigilant of the conditions of your company data. It should also manage and distribute data efficiently. It should unify and simplify the administration of storage infrastructure.Data is growing exponentially. Companies need maximum scalability, performance and production for data rigorous applications. They also need an easy to use, backup tool that provides transparency to where and how data and storage is utilized. Before choosing such and important process as data management, be sure to research your options and go with a solution that is flexible and scalable.Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems - http://www.businesscreatorpro.com - create web databases, e-commerce sites, business lead management systems and more.
Keyword : data management, efficiency, growth, scalability, applications
Mining data is one of the keys to running an effective business. Here's a primer on effectively managing your business data to maximize the efficiency of your business.Effective data management plays an essential role for any growing business. Information technology has generated advanced tools for analyzing and managing data. Use of these tools can improve the performance of almost any operation. Steps made in capturing mass data electronically have developed the need for effective management strategies. Getting more and more data and transforming it into usable information is a major concern of today's services and industries.New technologies require new expertise, internal procedures and decision-making methods. Earlier companies were creating electronic databases, which were non-relational and difficult to use. Now with the use of highly sophisticated software and high-speed computers, businesses are reaping huge benefits from the computer/information revolution. Businesses are continuously making steps in managing data by using various tools to optimize information for sorting, searching and presentation in meaningful formats.Many software programs and database applications are available on the market that enable companies to manipulate data in real time, capture knowledge for future use, ease the progress of operations to save time and costs and also to coordinate operations with partners.The amount of data storage necessary and the duration it is kept online is growing swiftly, yet resources to manage data are limited. Data storage is a test to those companies wishing to maximize the value of their available data and also a huge task for storage professionals to manage and protect this data. Enterprises are struggling to bring together highly reliable platforms that can recognize where data is located in a company and whether it is utilized efficiently. Data management solutions must track, monitor and be vigilant of the conditions of your company data. It should also manage and distribute data efficiently. It should unify and simplify the administration of storage infrastructure.Data is growing exponentially. Companies need maximum scalability, performance and production for data rigorous applications. They also need an easy to use, backup tool that provides transparency to where and how data and storage is utilized. Before choosing such and important process as data management, be sure to research your options and go with a solution that is flexible and scalable.Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems - http://www.businesscreatorpro.com - create web databases, e-commerce sites, business lead management systems and more.
Keyword : data management, efficiency, growth, scalability, applications
What Advisors, Managers, and Coaches Need to Know in Order to Maximize Performance
Author : John Eliot, Ph.D.
When someone joins a group, a team, or takes a new job, they are seeking some experience or benefit that the group offers. In other words, they see the group as a resource to a particular experience or set of experiences. The choices they made to get into that position and the choice to join the group all have a basis in that which the person is seeking. The person has a vivid, passionate idea in their head which they believe they can turn into reality. They view the group as a resource for their efforts to make it all happen.Too often, however, once a person joins a group they become submissive to the group's hierarchy. In order to maintain a position in the group, they must listen to and follow the authority. In the process, they get caught up in rules, regulations, and standards. Their mission changes. Rather than seeking experience, they start seeking membership. Consequently, the vision they once worked for is deferred, sometimes forgotten. They are trapped in doing whatever it takes to remain as a part of the group. Unfortunately, the person's actions in the present become more about pleasing and worrying about authority, and less about pursuing a dream.The authoritarian mentality can be devastating to an individual with a dream or with untapped potential. As missions begin to change, group members become separated from the idea(s) that gave them energy in the first place. This results in advisors, managers, or coaches having to watch over people more, and to provide motivation for doing things that often seem to have no purpose to students, employees, or players. Leaders complain about group members not taking responsibility. Group members complain about entitlements.Solution: Unlocking Peak PerformancePreventing or removing the authoritarian mentality requires a return to individual dreams. Remember that someone's purpose for joining a group revolves around the experience and benefits associated with that group and how the group fits into the person's vision of turning some idea into reality. It is imperative to understand this motivation. An athlete, student, or employee must be assisted in re-framing their mission—getting away from seeking membership and back to seeking experience.Essentially, motivation for working exceptionally hard depends on a clear and consistent path toward some dream. But what happens with the authoritarian mentality? The path becomes disconnected. Group members fall into the trap of thinking that making it to the next level is a result of impressing the leaders. And impressing leaders is a result of putting up good statistics, following the rules, working extra hours, and kissing select behinds. Unfortunately, the later are not the energizing experiences that draw individuals toward participating in elite groups and what results, in most cases, is a reduction of responsibility and effort.This is why the original mission is so important. If we get a handle on the truly energizing experiences that young adults are seeking, we can restructure their approach so that they are following a path which breads energy and life rather than a path generating frustration and, ultimately, low productivity. The result will be a team-wide focus where it needs to be for developing talent—on exceptional experience not on grades, wins, money, sales, etc.On an action level, the requirements are:1. Establish a qualitative understanding of each individuals' expectations in joining the group. Discuss their dreams, ideas, and visions. Ask them about the choices made along the way to get where they are today. Ask them about the most energizing experiences they are seeking from high level performance.2. Reverse individuals' perception of coaches, managers, and administrative staff so that they are viewed as resources rather than authorities. This requires that group members identify unnecessary obstacles to their experience and for leaders to commit to removing those obstacles. The result will be a team-wide focus on exceptional experience instead of arbitrary measures of success such as moving up levels.3. In conjunction with #2, group members need to be taught how to evaluate their own performance. Self-evaluation needs to be based on the factors in their control associated with reaching sought after experience(s). Coaches, advisors, and managers need to facilitate this method of evaluation through feedback as well as frequent reminders and discussion of peoples' missions.SummaryIndividuals lose motivation or lack to perform up to potential often as a result of their mission changing. Instead of passionately pursuing experience(s) associated with high level performance, they merely try to stay in the group (or, advance in the group with unrealistic hopes that a higher position will finally allow them to chase the experience again). It is necessary to remove this thinking trap, illustrated by the following sequence:1. Making it to the next level = Impressing leaders2. Impressing leaders = Hours, #'s, following rules, etc.3. Hours, #'s, following rules, etc. ≠ Energizing experienceManagers, advisors, and coaches tend to key into the top step of this sequence. The assumption is that, since this is the pinnacle of an individual's current thinking, this must be the motivational engine. It rarely is. Continual attempts to reinforce this motivation usually results in stagnant performance.JOHN F. ELIOT, PH.D., is an award winning professor of management, psychology, and human performance. He holds faculty appointments at Rice University and the SMU Cox School of Business Leadership Center. He is a co-founder of the Milestone Group, a consulting firm providing training to business executives, professional athletes, physicians, and corporations. Dr. Eliot's clients have included: SAP, XEROX, Disney, Adidas, the United States Olympic Committee, the National Champion Rice Owl's baseball team, and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Eliot's cutting edge work has been featured on ABC, MSNBC, CBS, ESPN, Fox Sports, NPR, and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Entrepreneur, LA Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times. Dr. Eliot serves on numerous advisory boards including the National Center for Human Performance and the Center for Performing Arts Medicine. His latest book is Overachievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance. For more information, visit Dr. Eliot's site at http://www.overachievement.com
Keyword : management roles, motivation, peak performance, overachievement
When someone joins a group, a team, or takes a new job, they are seeking some experience or benefit that the group offers. In other words, they see the group as a resource to a particular experience or set of experiences. The choices they made to get into that position and the choice to join the group all have a basis in that which the person is seeking. The person has a vivid, passionate idea in their head which they believe they can turn into reality. They view the group as a resource for their efforts to make it all happen.Too often, however, once a person joins a group they become submissive to the group's hierarchy. In order to maintain a position in the group, they must listen to and follow the authority. In the process, they get caught up in rules, regulations, and standards. Their mission changes. Rather than seeking experience, they start seeking membership. Consequently, the vision they once worked for is deferred, sometimes forgotten. They are trapped in doing whatever it takes to remain as a part of the group. Unfortunately, the person's actions in the present become more about pleasing and worrying about authority, and less about pursuing a dream.The authoritarian mentality can be devastating to an individual with a dream or with untapped potential. As missions begin to change, group members become separated from the idea(s) that gave them energy in the first place. This results in advisors, managers, or coaches having to watch over people more, and to provide motivation for doing things that often seem to have no purpose to students, employees, or players. Leaders complain about group members not taking responsibility. Group members complain about entitlements.Solution: Unlocking Peak PerformancePreventing or removing the authoritarian mentality requires a return to individual dreams. Remember that someone's purpose for joining a group revolves around the experience and benefits associated with that group and how the group fits into the person's vision of turning some idea into reality. It is imperative to understand this motivation. An athlete, student, or employee must be assisted in re-framing their mission—getting away from seeking membership and back to seeking experience.Essentially, motivation for working exceptionally hard depends on a clear and consistent path toward some dream. But what happens with the authoritarian mentality? The path becomes disconnected. Group members fall into the trap of thinking that making it to the next level is a result of impressing the leaders. And impressing leaders is a result of putting up good statistics, following the rules, working extra hours, and kissing select behinds. Unfortunately, the later are not the energizing experiences that draw individuals toward participating in elite groups and what results, in most cases, is a reduction of responsibility and effort.This is why the original mission is so important. If we get a handle on the truly energizing experiences that young adults are seeking, we can restructure their approach so that they are following a path which breads energy and life rather than a path generating frustration and, ultimately, low productivity. The result will be a team-wide focus where it needs to be for developing talent—on exceptional experience not on grades, wins, money, sales, etc.On an action level, the requirements are:1. Establish a qualitative understanding of each individuals' expectations in joining the group. Discuss their dreams, ideas, and visions. Ask them about the choices made along the way to get where they are today. Ask them about the most energizing experiences they are seeking from high level performance.2. Reverse individuals' perception of coaches, managers, and administrative staff so that they are viewed as resources rather than authorities. This requires that group members identify unnecessary obstacles to their experience and for leaders to commit to removing those obstacles. The result will be a team-wide focus on exceptional experience instead of arbitrary measures of success such as moving up levels.3. In conjunction with #2, group members need to be taught how to evaluate their own performance. Self-evaluation needs to be based on the factors in their control associated with reaching sought after experience(s). Coaches, advisors, and managers need to facilitate this method of evaluation through feedback as well as frequent reminders and discussion of peoples' missions.SummaryIndividuals lose motivation or lack to perform up to potential often as a result of their mission changing. Instead of passionately pursuing experience(s) associated with high level performance, they merely try to stay in the group (or, advance in the group with unrealistic hopes that a higher position will finally allow them to chase the experience again). It is necessary to remove this thinking trap, illustrated by the following sequence:1. Making it to the next level = Impressing leaders2. Impressing leaders = Hours, #'s, following rules, etc.3. Hours, #'s, following rules, etc. ≠ Energizing experienceManagers, advisors, and coaches tend to key into the top step of this sequence. The assumption is that, since this is the pinnacle of an individual's current thinking, this must be the motivational engine. It rarely is. Continual attempts to reinforce this motivation usually results in stagnant performance.JOHN F. ELIOT, PH.D., is an award winning professor of management, psychology, and human performance. He holds faculty appointments at Rice University and the SMU Cox School of Business Leadership Center. He is a co-founder of the Milestone Group, a consulting firm providing training to business executives, professional athletes, physicians, and corporations. Dr. Eliot's clients have included: SAP, XEROX, Disney, Adidas, the United States Olympic Committee, the National Champion Rice Owl's baseball team, and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Eliot's cutting edge work has been featured on ABC, MSNBC, CBS, ESPN, Fox Sports, NPR, and highlighted in the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Entrepreneur, LA Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times. Dr. Eliot serves on numerous advisory boards including the National Center for Human Performance and the Center for Performing Arts Medicine. His latest book is Overachievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance. For more information, visit Dr. Eliot's site at http://www.overachievement.com
Keyword : management roles, motivation, peak performance, overachievement
How Well do Employers Really Know What Their Staff Want?
Author : Megan Tough
A major problem for business owners and employers today is getting the best employees and then keeping them. Sounds easy, but any employer will tell you that these activities take up the most time and have the biggest impact on business results. So how do you go about retaining the good people once you've found them?Understanding what your employees want from a workplace sounds like a logical place to start. After all, if you know what your employees are after, you simply need to provide it and all will be well. This is a great theory, but research shows that employers are not that successful at identifying what their employees actually want. In fact there is a significant disconnect between the things that employees say are important to them, and how highly employers rank those same things.This survey first came out in 1946 in Foreman Facts, from the Labor Relations Institute of NY and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949. This study has since been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); and Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).When asked to rank a list of ten criteria, the employees and managers/owners ranked them very differently: What Employees Want What Managers Think Their Employees Want
1 Full appreciation for work done Good wages
2 Feeling "part" of things Job Security
3 Sympathetic help on personal issues Promotion/growth opportunities
4 Job Security Good working conditions
5 Good wages Interesting work
6 Interesting work Personal loyalty to workers
7 Promotion/growth opportunities Tactful discipline
8 Personal loyalty to workers Full appreciation for work done
9 Good working conditions Sympathetic help with personal issues
10 Tactful discipline Feeling "part" of thingsWhat does this mean if you are an employer or a manager in business today?Frequent pats on the back will go a long way towards making your employees more satisfied at work. Happily, it's not always about the money.WHAT EMPLOYEES SAY THEY WANT (in order)
1. Full appreciation for work done
2. Feeling 'part' of things
3. Sympathetic help on personal issues
4. Job security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Promotion/growth opportunities
8. Personal loyalty to workers
9. Good working conditions
10. Tactful disciplineWHAT MANAGERS THINK EMPLOYEES WANT (in order)
1. Good wages
2. Job security
3. Promotion/growth opportunities
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Personal loyalty to workers
7. Tactful discipline
8. Full appreciation for work done
9. Sympathetic help on personal issues
10. Feeling 'part' of thingscomplete potential is here to help you make more of your business. More profits, more income, more of what you want. Remove obstacles to growth and create new opportunities. To get more practical business strategies and tips, sign up to our ezine - Profits for Professionals - at http://www.completepotential.com
Keyword : Employee Wants, Employer Wants, Understanding Employees,
A major problem for business owners and employers today is getting the best employees and then keeping them. Sounds easy, but any employer will tell you that these activities take up the most time and have the biggest impact on business results. So how do you go about retaining the good people once you've found them?Understanding what your employees want from a workplace sounds like a logical place to start. After all, if you know what your employees are after, you simply need to provide it and all will be well. This is a great theory, but research shows that employers are not that successful at identifying what their employees actually want. In fact there is a significant disconnect between the things that employees say are important to them, and how highly employers rank those same things.This survey first came out in 1946 in Foreman Facts, from the Labor Relations Institute of NY and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949. This study has since been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); and Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).When asked to rank a list of ten criteria, the employees and managers/owners ranked them very differently: What Employees Want What Managers Think Their Employees Want
1 Full appreciation for work done Good wages
2 Feeling "part" of things Job Security
3 Sympathetic help on personal issues Promotion/growth opportunities
4 Job Security Good working conditions
5 Good wages Interesting work
6 Interesting work Personal loyalty to workers
7 Promotion/growth opportunities Tactful discipline
8 Personal loyalty to workers Full appreciation for work done
9 Good working conditions Sympathetic help with personal issues
10 Tactful discipline Feeling "part" of thingsWhat does this mean if you are an employer or a manager in business today?Frequent pats on the back will go a long way towards making your employees more satisfied at work. Happily, it's not always about the money.WHAT EMPLOYEES SAY THEY WANT (in order)
1. Full appreciation for work done
2. Feeling 'part' of things
3. Sympathetic help on personal issues
4. Job security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Promotion/growth opportunities
8. Personal loyalty to workers
9. Good working conditions
10. Tactful disciplineWHAT MANAGERS THINK EMPLOYEES WANT (in order)
1. Good wages
2. Job security
3. Promotion/growth opportunities
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Personal loyalty to workers
7. Tactful discipline
8. Full appreciation for work done
9. Sympathetic help on personal issues
10. Feeling 'part' of thingscomplete potential is here to help you make more of your business. More profits, more income, more of what you want. Remove obstacles to growth and create new opportunities. To get more practical business strategies and tips, sign up to our ezine - Profits for Professionals - at http://www.completepotential.com
Keyword : Employee Wants, Employer Wants, Understanding Employees,
Why Talking Last Doesn't Work
Author : Roger Schwarz
"Just talk last." One executive offered this solution to his peers at a recent Facilitative Leader workshop I was co-leading. What problem were the executives facing? It's a common one - you may have faced it yourself.A number of executives had noticed a disturbing pattern when they met with their team of direct reports: after an executive shared his view on an issue, the direct reports didn't say anything that differed with the executive's view. Discussing this in the workshop, the executives thought that their direct reports were being overly influenced by the executive's point of view. In short, the executives felt they were losing valuable information and the best thinking from their team members. They didn't want a bunch of team members who would simply agree with them.The executive who offered the solution, "Just talk last" was trying to ensure that the direct reports wouldn't be overly influenced by their team leader's point of view. It's a solution that I often hear from executives - and one that doesn't work. Here's why: "Talking last" is a unilateral strategy that addresses a symptom without getting to the cause of the problem.If you applied the transparency test (see the June issue of Fundamental Change) to make your strategy explicit, you would say something like this to your team: "I've noticed that when we're discussing an issue, after I talk, no one offers a different point of view. This happens even when you've disagreed with me earlier. I'm thinking that's because you're concerned about disagreeing with me. This concerns me. So, to avoid this situation, I'm going to talk last, so that you won't know what my point of view is and you won't be able to figure out if you disagree with me before you speak. I think this will make you more likely to say what you're really thinking."Making this strategy explicit shows how absurd it is. If your direct reports really are concerned about disagreeing with you, simply requiring them to talk before you talk won't solve the problem. They will just discover another creative approach to avoid having to openly disagree with you."Talking last" doesn't work because it avoids the root cause of the problem - that something is going on in the team that makes it difficult for direct reports to say what they're really thinking. Until you can raise that issue in the team, identify the root cause, and craft a solution that addresses the root cause, no solution will work.Often, part of the cause is related to the team leader. Team members often won't disagree with a leader if they think they will suffer consequences for disagreeing or even if they believe that their information won't make a difference. You know you've solved the problem of "talking last" when you - or anyone - in the team can talk whenever they want without inappropriately influencing the conversation.Here are the first steps you can take to name the issue, engage people in a conversation about it, and test your assumptions about what's going on:1. Tell your team that you've noticed a pattern of behavior that you think is making the team less effective. Tell your team that you've noticed a pattern of behavior that you think is making the team less effective. Tell them that you want to talk about it with them and jointly decide what if anything the team needs to do differently. Mention that you may be part of the pattern without realizing it.
You might say, "Over the last few weeks I've seen a pattern of behavior in our team that I think is making us less effective than we could be. I want to tell you what I've seen, get your thoughts, and see what if anything we do to do differently. I recognize that I may be contributing to the pattern I'm concerned about without realizing it."2. Give specific examples of the behaviors you see that concern you, including that it's a pattern you've noticed. Then ask others if they've seen the same examples or seen something different.
"In general what I've been seeing is that after I share my view on an issue, none of you share a different view, even if you've disagreed with me earlier in the meeting. Let me give you some specific examples and see if you remember them differently. [Give specific examples with people's names]. Does anyone see this differently?"3. Share your thoughts about the team's behaviors with them. Then ask them if you're off base; if they think you are, ask them - what meaning do they make of it?
"Based on what I've seen, I'm thinking you've got concerns about publicly taking a point of view that's different from mine. Am I correct or am I missing something?"4. Be curious; ask about how you may be contributing to the problem.
"I'm raising this issue because I want us to be able to really explore ideas; I think we'll get much better decisions that way. I'm wondering what, if anything, have I been doing that's leads you to be concerned about disagreeing with me?"These opening steps will get you started, but you'll need to ask more questions, test more assumptions, share your own interests and find out others to craft a solution that will address the root cause. If you do this well, you won't have to worry about the when you talk. You can talk first, last, in the middle - at any time - confident that you've created an environment that your direct reports will share what they're thinking.
What are your reactions or own experiences about this? Please join our conversation at the Mutual Learning Action Group.© 2005 Roger SchwarzRoger Schwarz, Ph.D., is author of the international bestseller "The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers and Coaches" and co-author of the recent "Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches," both available on Amazon.com and via other quality booksellers.You can subscribe on our site to Fundamental Change, Roger Schwarz & Associates' free, monthly ezine: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/ezine_signup.html In exchange for subscribing, you'll receive a link to a free .pdf copy of "Holding Risky Conversations," a chapter from our recently-published fieldbook.We write Fundamental Change to help you create workplaces and communities that are simultaneously highly effective and that improve the quality of life.Every month we:* Address issues important to you as practitioners and leaders
* Share client examples and case studies
* Offer tips and tools for challenging situations
* Offer resources to help you become more effective.
Keyword : executive,learning,collaboration,trust,communication,facilitation,leadership,team,effectiveness
"Just talk last." One executive offered this solution to his peers at a recent Facilitative Leader workshop I was co-leading. What problem were the executives facing? It's a common one - you may have faced it yourself.A number of executives had noticed a disturbing pattern when they met with their team of direct reports: after an executive shared his view on an issue, the direct reports didn't say anything that differed with the executive's view. Discussing this in the workshop, the executives thought that their direct reports were being overly influenced by the executive's point of view. In short, the executives felt they were losing valuable information and the best thinking from their team members. They didn't want a bunch of team members who would simply agree with them.The executive who offered the solution, "Just talk last" was trying to ensure that the direct reports wouldn't be overly influenced by their team leader's point of view. It's a solution that I often hear from executives - and one that doesn't work. Here's why: "Talking last" is a unilateral strategy that addresses a symptom without getting to the cause of the problem.If you applied the transparency test (see the June issue of Fundamental Change) to make your strategy explicit, you would say something like this to your team: "I've noticed that when we're discussing an issue, after I talk, no one offers a different point of view. This happens even when you've disagreed with me earlier. I'm thinking that's because you're concerned about disagreeing with me. This concerns me. So, to avoid this situation, I'm going to talk last, so that you won't know what my point of view is and you won't be able to figure out if you disagree with me before you speak. I think this will make you more likely to say what you're really thinking."Making this strategy explicit shows how absurd it is. If your direct reports really are concerned about disagreeing with you, simply requiring them to talk before you talk won't solve the problem. They will just discover another creative approach to avoid having to openly disagree with you."Talking last" doesn't work because it avoids the root cause of the problem - that something is going on in the team that makes it difficult for direct reports to say what they're really thinking. Until you can raise that issue in the team, identify the root cause, and craft a solution that addresses the root cause, no solution will work.Often, part of the cause is related to the team leader. Team members often won't disagree with a leader if they think they will suffer consequences for disagreeing or even if they believe that their information won't make a difference. You know you've solved the problem of "talking last" when you - or anyone - in the team can talk whenever they want without inappropriately influencing the conversation.Here are the first steps you can take to name the issue, engage people in a conversation about it, and test your assumptions about what's going on:1. Tell your team that you've noticed a pattern of behavior that you think is making the team less effective. Tell your team that you've noticed a pattern of behavior that you think is making the team less effective. Tell them that you want to talk about it with them and jointly decide what if anything the team needs to do differently. Mention that you may be part of the pattern without realizing it.
You might say, "Over the last few weeks I've seen a pattern of behavior in our team that I think is making us less effective than we could be. I want to tell you what I've seen, get your thoughts, and see what if anything we do to do differently. I recognize that I may be contributing to the pattern I'm concerned about without realizing it."2. Give specific examples of the behaviors you see that concern you, including that it's a pattern you've noticed. Then ask others if they've seen the same examples or seen something different.
"In general what I've been seeing is that after I share my view on an issue, none of you share a different view, even if you've disagreed with me earlier in the meeting. Let me give you some specific examples and see if you remember them differently. [Give specific examples with people's names]. Does anyone see this differently?"3. Share your thoughts about the team's behaviors with them. Then ask them if you're off base; if they think you are, ask them - what meaning do they make of it?
"Based on what I've seen, I'm thinking you've got concerns about publicly taking a point of view that's different from mine. Am I correct or am I missing something?"4. Be curious; ask about how you may be contributing to the problem.
"I'm raising this issue because I want us to be able to really explore ideas; I think we'll get much better decisions that way. I'm wondering what, if anything, have I been doing that's leads you to be concerned about disagreeing with me?"These opening steps will get you started, but you'll need to ask more questions, test more assumptions, share your own interests and find out others to craft a solution that will address the root cause. If you do this well, you won't have to worry about the when you talk. You can talk first, last, in the middle - at any time - confident that you've created an environment that your direct reports will share what they're thinking.
What are your reactions or own experiences about this? Please join our conversation at the Mutual Learning Action Group.© 2005 Roger SchwarzRoger Schwarz, Ph.D., is author of the international bestseller "The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers and Coaches" and co-author of the recent "Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches," both available on Amazon.com and via other quality booksellers.You can subscribe on our site to Fundamental Change, Roger Schwarz & Associates' free, monthly ezine: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/ezine_signup.html In exchange for subscribing, you'll receive a link to a free .pdf copy of "Holding Risky Conversations," a chapter from our recently-published fieldbook.We write Fundamental Change to help you create workplaces and communities that are simultaneously highly effective and that improve the quality of life.Every month we:* Address issues important to you as practitioners and leaders
* Share client examples and case studies
* Offer tips and tools for challenging situations
* Offer resources to help you become more effective.
Keyword : executive,learning,collaboration,trust,communication,facilitation,leadership,team,effectiveness
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