In our experience, we have found that there are several reasons managers fail to get employees to see and acknowledge that they have a problem. They assume. Many managers bypass the step of getting agreement because they assume that an employee views the problem in the same way that they do. However, that is often not the case, especially when the performance problem is a pattern of behavior rather than a single event. People generally do things that they perceive to be in their own best intere More..

5 Ideas To Leverage The 3 Stages Of Career Development In Your Organization

In most industrialized nations, the average age a student graduates from high school is 18 years old and the average retirement age is 65 years old - a difference of 47 years. On average, most people work 40 to 50 years of their lives. It is well established that during these 40 to 50 years of employment workers undergo at least three distinct phases in their career development: 1. The "Bring It On" Stage 2. The "Realistic" Stage 3. The "Reinvention" Stage The Bring It On Stage ranges fro More..

Gossip And Rumors And Hearsay, Oh Why?

In the Wizard of Oz, it was "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Many organizations today are singing a slightly different tune: "Gossip and rumors and hearsay, oh why?" It is estimated that gossip and rumors within a company can cut productivity by as much as 50%. Of course this translates to lower profits and can negatively impact the company in the long-term. In addition, more employment laws and regulations are being drafted to ensure employees and companies are protected from libel and sla More..

Importance of Just-In-Time Inventory System

In today's competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid demands and quickly changing business environment is putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. Now the manufacturers put pressures on their suppliers. One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become prohibitive. A wiser approach is to make your production agile, able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done b More..

How to Keep a Good Employee: Look, Listen, Learn

Recently a client told me a wonderful story about how a change of attitude helped her to keep a valued employee. Angry and grumbling about one of the provisions in the company policy, the employee asked for a private meeting with my client, the owner of a small sales company, and began to tell her in direct terms what was wrong. The client couldn't hear anything the employee was saying because she was too busy planning her own rebuttal strategy. It was important to let the employee know that th More..

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure the Right Things.

Measure the right things.It's not enough just to measure-you have to measure the right things. A common measurement trap is to measure something because it's "interesting." If knowing a measurement won't change anything (e.g., help you make a decision, verify an assumption or prove the problem is solved), then don't waste your time measuring it. Another common trap in defining the problem success criteria is to lose the direct connection to the problem. Somehow it's very easy to unintentionall More..

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Project Management Skills

Solving a big problem is a project: you're far more likely to solve it successfully if you treat it like one. That means you'll need to identify tasks, make and adjust assignments, and keep track of what is due when. Get on the right track immediately by starting a task list as soon as you start working on the problem. Every time you think of something that needs to be done, put it on your task list along with the owner, due date and completion criteria (how you're going to know the task is suc More..

Focus on Outcomes to Keep Your Business On-Course

Did you know that an airplane in flight is off course nearly 98% of the time? No flight is completed in a straight line from Point A to Point B. Gravity, side winds, updrafts, and downdrafts are continually moving the plane off course. And yet, the majority of flights arrive at their planned destinations safely and on time. How do airline pilots make this happen? They continually keep the outcome or result in mind, say departing from Los Angeles and arriving in Honolulu. Pilots constantly make c More..

Stopping The Brain Drain: How To Capture Key Business Knowledge Before It Walks Out The Door

The verdict is in: More and more baby boomers will be leaving the workplace sooner, rather than later. Many industries are predicting that between 25 and 45% of their more senior employees will soon be departing their organizations. And as they leave, they will be taking vast amounts of accumulated business knowledge with them. Why the mass exodus? As the age of the workforce increases, a greater number of people will be leaving their jobs due to death, disability, or retirement. For several de More..

Running Successful Meetings - The Key Steps To Getting It Right

We all complain about meetings which are a waste of our time and the truth of the matter is that so many are exactly that. We've also seen the "corridor" meeting that takes place afterwards where it seems the real decisions are taken, or the agreed decisions are overturned. You'll get your chance at some point in your career to run your own meeting - is yours going to go the same way? or will you make sure it's effective and does the job it is supposed to? Well run meetings contribute to team More..

Increase Productivity: Five Powerful Actions

How can you make the best use of your energy to increase productivity each day? Here are five actions that can increase productivity and leave energy to spare. They will also help you to achieve more balance between your work and personal life. The key to increased productivity is to focus on managing actions and energy rather than time. I am going to refer to time as energy because using time always involves energy expenditure. Investing your energy wisely will provide you with additional ener More..

Selective Job Cuts Often Benefits Firm More Than Broad Layoffs Over Long Term

It is difficult to pick up a newspaper or listen to a business news broadcast without being greeted with the announcement of another massive corporate layoff or cutback. The economy catches a chill and, as a result, the corporate world catches a profits "cold." Before long the pink slips begin to fly. We have come to accept this as the inevitable employment cycle. Is it any wonder that employees feel so little loyalty toward their employers? On the other hand, corporations seem to have no alter More..

5 Surefire Ways to Bring Your Business Objectives Full Circle with Technology

All small to mid-sized company owners want to know where their dollar is being spent when it comes to computer technology in their organization. The challenge is for them to get the information they need to make the right purchasing decisions. 'Tell me in English why you think we need this technology in our company?' That question goes through every company owner's mind and mouth. Getting the answer that makes sense to them is another story. How can the people in charge of your company understan More..

Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed

We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. The raw material was placed on pods, delivered for production, removed from the pods, placed on a staging fixture, removed from the fixture and process materials were then placed on another pod and delivered to an internal customer. Internal customer had to place on still another pod. Someone suggested placing the material from More..

How To Own A Business... Instead Of A Job

often as business owners we forget to enjoy ourselves. We forget that we deserve to be paid far more than any of our team.Every week for week after week we are often challenged financially. We work 60 hours or more a year and possibly take a few weeks holiday at Christmas, when there might not be as many customers around. If I am talking about you these wo things I am about to reveal are exactly what you have been looking to learn about. The two things every business needs more of are... team More..

Turnaround or Terminate? How to Deal with Problem Employees

Do you struggle with a "problem" employee? If so, join the crowd! Many of my coaching clients - businesses owners or managers - tear their hair out over one or more toxic employees. In our business environment, we tend to recreate the dynamics of the family we grew up, so no wonder problems develop. It's amazing often a business owner or manager will endure a "problem" employee, unable to help the employee make positive changes and unable to fire them when necessary. Tolerating a problem employ More..

Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss

Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure.Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or more such persons along the way. "The actions of an insecure boss will eventually create an insecure organization,riddled with anxiety and indecision," says Ramon Greenwood, senior careercounselor at Common Sense At Work.com. "People will spend more time lookingover their shoulders than looking ahead. Good defenses become more importantthan effecti More..

What is the Most Difficult Part of an Improvement Program?

Answer: Starting one. Most of us realize that there is probably a better way to perform certain functions or tasks, but improvement programs seem to take second seat to getting the product out the door. But wait a minute. Wouldn't streamlined ways of doing the work help to get the product out the door faster? Of course, but it is just so hard to set aside time to "think" about improvement programs, let alone initiate them. Most process improvement activities today are part of a technology initi More..

Warning! Meeting In Progress; May Be Hazardous To Your Career

There ought to be a sign posted on every closed office and conference room door that reads: Warning! Meeting In Progress! May Be Hazardous To Your Career. Because most meetings burn up a lot of resources that could be spent on usefulpurposes. These sessions are either not necessary, or they are so poorly organizedand conducted that they achieve only a fraction of their purpose. You'd think any thing that dangerous would be drastically reduced if not eradicated.Not so, the number of meetings ap More..

How to Save Money on Training

1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing, practicing, and experiencing. Effective instructors customize their programs to meet people's needs, provide counsel on individual challenges, and respond to questions. Videos, CDs, and E-learning are seldom effective for primary learning. Since the greatest cost of learning is the payroll cost of the participants, you want to make sure the program delivers results. 2) Hire external experts. They can speak candidly about crucial issues relat More..

10 Fundamentals for Effective Meeting

Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterize an effective meeting. Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort. A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning,characterized by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget. Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriateprocess, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these t More..

13 Comments on Bad Meetings

Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass on to newemployees. Long pointless meetings are useful in that they keep incompetent people frominterfering with those who are working. An employee who needs permission to buy a box of paperclips can spend tens ofthousands of dollars worth of employee time on bad meetings. Many people attempt to save time by Not planning. This false short cut guaranteesthat everyone will spend more time later. Unstructured spontaneity leads to se More..

Show Me the Money!

Are you ready to raise money for your startup? Leslie Mitts, Managing Practice Leader at the Wharton SBDC and Lead Advisor for the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, tells us that most entrepreneurs coming through her programs are focused on raising capital, even though there are higher priorities in many of their businesses. Since fresh dollars help drive the business engine, this is a natural entrepreneurial concern. But are you ready to raise money? Going to investors before you are reall More..

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Using, Choosing, and Using an educational consultant

Introduction The aim of this document is to provide advice and guidance in choosing a consultant in the field of education. You may be the headteacher or principal of a school or college, an officer in a local education authority (LEA) or school district, or the director of a private company wishing to undertake work in the educational sector. This article focuses mainly on information and communication technology (ICT), but the underlying principles also apply more generally. Using a consulta More..

Integrity... Should It Matter?

In our fast paced work culture, manned by technology savvy generation in a globally competitive environment, quality and productivity became the battle cry of corporations to stay in business. Though this is not necessarily bad, an equally important ingredient to succeed is seemingly taking the back seat. Knowledge and Skill--- two competencies, through the years, were given much emphasis by the corporate world. As long as the job is done, the sales target is met, attitude, character and habits More..

Creativity and Innovation Management - Idea Progression

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, developmen More..

Creativity and Innovation Management - Money Doesnt Do It

Creativity and Innovation Management - Motivation and Management Layers

Creativity and Innovation Management - Psychological Reward

How To Use Outsourcing To Beat Your Competition

Outsourcing is when you hire outside professionals or services to take on part of your business workload. You may want to outsource part of your work because you don't have the room, you need an expert, you have periodic busy periods, or you need more production to get orders out on time etc. You could outsource accounting, secretarial tasks, factory help, computer training, web design etc. Below are ways to use outsourcing to beat your competition. By outsourcing part of your workload you can More..

Personnel Access Poses a Continued Risk

The Security Consultant's Perspective... Implementing Personnel Security Initiatives should be the objective of every security director, human resource director, facility manager and safety manager. Key to the assurance of who gained access to your facilities is the knowledge of having a centralized identification system that allows for verification and retrieval of historical data through collaboration by the team mentioned above. I believe a solid ID Badge System is your first line of defense More..

Managing People - Why Is It So Difficult?

Managing, supervising, being a team leader is the hardest job in the world and I'll tell you why. Imagine what it's like to drive a car. You turn the key to start the engine, select drive or the gear you want and press the gas pedal. The car then moves off and if you want to turn you rotate the steering wheel to the right or left and to stop, you press the brake pedal. All this was quite difficult when you first learned to drive but its easy now. If I asked you to drive my car, you might take a More..

Managing People - No One Shows You What To Do

Imagine the following scenario - you pay a visit to your doctor one day and in the course of the conversation he or she lets it slip that they have no formal medical qualification. However, everything's okay because they've been involved in the "doctoring" business for years, had lots of experience and have read several books on the subject; I bet you'd be out of there like a shot. Imagine another situation where you're looking to employ an auto mechanic to look after your company vehicles. One More..

Managing People - No More Mr Tough Guy

I believe the media and our culture sends the wrong messages about how to manage people and this makes it difficult for Business Owners and Managers. We've all heard the old clichÃƒÂ© "nice guys don't finish first" and that has a huge impact on how managers deal with their people. We're led to believe that successful managers are tough, courageous "no nonsense" type of people. And if you're weak or soft with your people, then you'll get walked on and taken advantage of. A manager will often lo More..

Motivation - It Starts with Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement is about recognition or attention from another person. It can be physical such as - a pat on the back, a touch or a handshake. It can also be psychological such as - a word of praise, a compliment, even a "hello!" It can even just be time spent with the person. Physical and psychological attentions are absolutely vital to human beings. We all need it and we need it every day. However, it must be said that every human being has a different level of need for acknowledgement. If y More..

Difficult Staff - It Pays To Get To Know Them Better

It's very easy for a business owner or manager to fall into the trap of condemning one of their team as a no-hoper or a problem child. It may turn out that this person shouldn't be on your team however as Abraham Lincoln once said about someone he had a problem with -"I don't think I like that man, I must get to know him better." Of course, we're not just talking about difficult members of your team; we're talking about all of them and how important it is to understand them as individuals.It's More..

Strategic Clarity for Communication Management

Over the past few weeks I've been developing plans for a communication project, a media relations campaign. That's prompted me to reflect again on the communication management process by which we transform communication ideas into operational activities. For me, the communication management process has four phases: conception (strategy); development (tactics); operations (execution); and review (evaluation). Coming out of the conception or strategy phase, I think it's essential to have strate More..

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim Franklin, preparing the PR for his latest book which offers an introduction to Continuous Improvement (CI) at beginner level, encompassing Lean, TQM, Six Sigma and the other related methodologies of CI. He was developing an analogy of a geographic expedition to describe Continuous Improvement. As you start out on an expedition, you can see the horizon clearly as being the final destination, but as you walk towards it, it recedes an More..

Listening Strategically

Usually, we're most interested in communicating outwardly; getting our messages out to others. But finding ways to hear what's going on around us can be just as important. Let's start by identifying three different types of listening we do. The first type - informal listening - comes naturally, as in listening to another person. I take in what you have to say, and how you say it. A second type, competitive intelligence, is a systematic process for monitoring sources and gathering information. More..

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