Management Articles & News
Business Relationship Germs
In management seminars I often compare debt to an infection. A reasonable amount of debt will not kill a business, but too much debt will. While most businesses carry a substantial amount of debt from time to time, it must be maintained in an acceptable relationship to stockholder’s equity.
Don't Take New Hires for Granted
Hiring good people is only half the battle. The other half is keeping them, especially in a relatively strong economy where quality people are difficult to attract.
Are Your Sales Meetings Boring?
Many sales meetings are boring and a waste of salespeople’s time, say the majority of salespeople I interview. A review of what’s going on in the market is good to know, but to be effective, sales meetings need to be a lot more than that venues for quick market updates.
Passion for Profits
Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don’t have the time to be all things to all people. In the early stages of a business, the owner or manager waits on customers, does the buying, collects past due accounts, supervises just about everyone on staff and may even stay late to stuff the monthly statements.
Safety Policy Sample Outline
Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most larger corporations outsource such jobs or they have someone on staff with the proper credentials in risk management. Imagine writing the safety manuals for NASA? I had the opportunity to be in the unique position of being able to imagine just such a thing when writing our company safety manuals. It takes lots of studying and review of case law to do it properly. Each industry is somewhat different and hopefully you know your industry and ...
Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question
Meetings – they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today.
Drafting an Employee Manual Sample Outline
One of the hardest things I had discovered running my company was drafting an Employee Manual. Also added to the stress was the fact that if you made a mistake someone could sue you and you might lose all your hard work and money that you had earned thru blood, sweat and tears as an entrepreneur. You will need an employee manual for your company to protect yourself; but where do you start?
You Can't Not Communicate
Most of us would like to be better communicators. As leaders, co-workers, team members and in all of the other roles we play both professionally and personally, we know that communication is a major key to success.
CEO's Role in Family Business
I first met Roland (not his real name) in 1972. He was a high school student working a summer job in his father’s business.
You Get the Behavior You Reward
On consulting assignments, here are some of the questions I frequently ask the employees I interview:
Influencing the Organisation
There is a saying about management that suggests some managers are so focussed on the details of a business, that when the Titanic was sinking those particular managers were still straightening chairs in the dining room. Whether we love ‘em or hate ‘em, managers are here to stay, and their job is fundamentally to manage the resources within an organisation for optimum efficiency and effectiveness, and by doing so to achieve the organisation’s goals. To help them do this they have the gift of ...
Five Steps to Successful Business Succession
The great majority of family businesses in North America are still owned and operated by descendants of the founder. The business acumen that these first, second, third, and sometimes fourth generation managers possess largely determines how much longer the business will remain under family control. To perpetuate a business, the current owners and managers must first identify and then prepare a successor to take the reins.
Management Apathy
I recently received a most interesting phone call. When I answered the phone, I immediately recognized the name of the company as one of the most visible distributors in our construction supply industry. The owner described how this seemingly invincible 75-year-old firm had very little to show for all those years except their good name. In fact, over the past five years, their sales had deteriorated by over one third. The owner cited two major factors that he believed to be ...
How to Overcome Your Fear of Firing
OVERCOMING FEAR OF FIRING “It was obvious that this employee could not relate well to clients. But I could not bring myself to fire him.… and while I wavered, things only got worse for everyone in the department.” Having to fire someone is one of the most difficult actions any manager or executive may have to take. It is an action that many manager’s find endless excuses to avoid, as did the executive quoted above. Yet, in certain cases it is unavoidable. Firing is a managerial art that many ...
Human Resources: The Misidentified Subject
Interest in the field of human resources has exploded in recent years due to the promises it offers for a better understanding of human beings at work. The term is now as ubiquitous as it has once been obscure. It is taught in schools and universities; it has turned into one of the main functions of a corporation in addition to marketing, finance, and accounting. Yet despite this trend, there are still many challenges facing the field. It seems like the subject of HR is talking the talk ...
Deciding What to Delegate
DECIDING WHAT TO DELEGATE: Once the benefits of delegation are established and obstacles removed, the next step in the delegation process is to decide what work can and should be delegated. In general, work to be delegated should adhere to the following guidelines: — It can be handled adequately down the line. — All necessary information for decision making is also available down the line. — The work involves operational detail rather than planning or organization. — The task does not ...
Muggers in Our Midst When Rumour and Gossip Pay You a Visit
‘I heard it on the grapevine’ the old song goes. But the grapevine has the potential to cause your business strife, misunderstanding and ruin! In effect the rumour mill and gossip are dangers you cannot ford to ignore. People who indulge in these behaviours are like muggers – they leave you feeling you have been robbed!
A Fracas in the Franchise Keep Your Customers by Keeping Your Workers
As a previous owner of a Franchise I know the importance of maintaining employee commitment, loyalty and enthusiasm in maximising customer satisfaction, generating positive customer perception and protecting your investment.
Delegate Tasks to the Right Person
SELECTING THE RIGHT PERSON: To whom should tasks be delegated? Selecting the right subordinate to do the work is an evaluative process, and managers must be able to identify individuals both capable and willing to handle responsibility.
Giving a Good Appraisal Interview
Although this performance discussion is an opportunity for you to discuss your employee’s work during a given period of time, it is also, and importantly, a time for you and your employee to check perceptions and reach mutual understandings and agreements about the purposes and priorities of their jobs. This discussion can positively influence your mutual working relationship. For the performance appraisal process to fulfill its purposes, both of you need to actively participate. If you find ...
Implementing Change
There are different reactions that individuals experience during time of change. Understanding the emotions of an individual may better help them get through the period of unexpected change. A possible reaction is anger towards person(s) responsible for or involved in the change. One may return to old habits, the familiar comfortable way of doing things, avoiding reality and denying the change. Thinking becomes rigid and new ideas, methods, structures, etc., are perceived as threatening so ...
Problem Solving
When problem solving, you may recognize that you were working on a symptom instead of the problem. An analysis of the more clearly defined problem may require an alteration to the objectives or the ideal solution. These reviews and changes are costly in terms of time and effort which emphasizes the need for rigid scrutiny during the initial problem definition to avoid wasted time and effort. Once implementation begins, it is even more difficult to learn that the entire action plan and ...
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Improving Workplace Safety
This article relates to the Safety and Working Environment competency and explores how your employees feel with regard to their physical and environmental working conditions, the quality of their equipment and tools, and overall attention to safety within the workplace. Every organization is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of their employees. An unsafe working environment can lead to accidents, lawsuits, and missed work. Such incidents can result in significant costs to your ...
Goal Setting
The goal-setting process enables an organization to check on the attainment of both its short-term and long-term objectives. When properly done, this process provides an array of valuable benefits and is a link to coaching, motivation, and performance management. Working without goals is much like trying to bowl without pins at the end of the alley. There is nothing to aim for, no way to determine how many pins you have knocked down. Human beings, by their very nature, are scorekeepers; we ...
Delegation Obstructions
OBSTRUCTIONS: 1. Staff deficiencies. Lack of confidence in employees quite understandably leads to a reluctance to delegate. When deficiencies exist, action must be taken to restructure jobs and/or retrain, reassign, or as a last resort terminate employees. 2. Management deficiencies. Intimidation or lack of organization on the manager’s part makes effective delegation impossible. In such a case, it is the manager’s responsibility to seek training in the delegation process via seminars, ...
Top Ten Tips About People Management
To get the best results you have to be very good at Managing People...and it's not as hard as you might think. Here are the secrets of the very best managers:-
Across The Interview Table!
Job interviews are easier for the interviewer or the interviewee if you plan and prepare and use proper interviewing techniques. On this page are job interview questions and purpose of each interview question, because there is a purpose behind each and everything that we do and similarly there should be a purpose behind each and every question that we ask in interview. Good job interviews processes and methods increase the quality of people in an organization. Poor job interviews methods ...
Transparency: A Key To Your Effectiveness
Last month I talked about the Skilled Facilitator principle of being curious. This month I want to talk about the complementary principle transparency. Transparency has recently become a popular topic in business as organizations seek to build (or rebuild) trust with customers, shareholders, and employees. This morning as I opened the op-ed page of my Sunday New York Times, the title read, "The New Public [NY Times] Editor: Toward Greater Transparency." Whether you are a leader, consultant, ...
How to Delegate Effectively
ACCOUNTABILITY: Delegation is not complete unless subordinates are held accountable for their work. They should be accountable to only one person—usually their immediate manager—and must understand what criteria will be used in judging their performance. They must also understand that unless the job is done successfully, they will be replaced. Though ultimate accountability cannot be transferred and does rest with the manager, managers must be willing to support the actions and decisions of ...
The Measurement of Manager Training
THE MEASUREMENT OF TRAINING: Evaluation is one of the most valuable — and challenging — aspects of a training manager’s job. A well-planned and on-target evaluation process can be the tool which separates a superlative training department from a merely satisfactory one.