Business Management

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Few Employers give adequate attention or planning to employee motivation – especially when it comes to new employees. Many are just ‘thrown in at the deep end’ and expected to know everything from day one.

But if you want your business to stand out from the crowd – you really need to make employee motivation an integral part of your business management systems.

In fact. looking after a new employee during their first few weeks at work can mean the difference between their success and failure as employees as well as YOUR success and failure as an employer, director or supervisor.

Proper orientation determines how fast the new employee can be productive and efficient in his or her new job while giving you a good opportunity to make your new employee an efficient part of your team.

Below are 15 suggestions that will help you deal with your new employees during their first few weeks to help make sure that they get started on the right track.

1. Have a induction policy for welcoming and training new employees. Don’t just leave it to whoever is available. Human resources should cover the HR side of the induction with a trainer (if you have one) or a senior manager or supervisor covering the more hands on part of the job. Either way the following is a minimal of what is required.

2. Give your employee a warm welcome. Don’t just point them to the area they work and let them get on with it. Nothing makes a new employee feel comfortable more than a warm welcome.

3. Give them a brief description about your role as a supervisor. Knowing who’s in charge and what you expect from them will make them more comfortable with you as the boss.

4. Give your new employee a welcome tour of the whole department or, if the site isn’t too big, the whole site. Make sure they know how to get to the bathroom, emergency exits, cafeteria, etc.

5. Give them a brief summary about the company, its history as well as its mission and objectives.

6. If possible demonstrate your company’s products and/or services, paying particular care to the products relating to the area in which the employee will work.  This will make them more secure and confident with the work that they are going to be doing.

7. Explain to your new employee how the company works particularly if the company has any unusual working practices or a different structure than the norm.  Again, this will help familiarize them with the company.

8. Tell your new employee about the company’s competitors and what is being done to make sure that the company is staying ahead of the competition.

9. Explain in detail your new employee’s responsibilities and describe their job functions. Don’t leave it to the other employees to teach them the rudiments unless there is a trained member of staff whose job it is.

10. Let your new employee be aware of what you and the company expect from them. This includes proper work ethics, productivity, teamwork, and appearance.

11. Explain the specific conditions and requirements of employment, including hours, pay, pay periods, holiday pay, sickness provisions, pension, medical benefits, lateness etc.

12. Be very clear about the safety rules, policies, procedures and regulations. Explain and show proper use of safety devices.

13.Introduce your new employee to his or her co workers along with a brief description of their jobs and responsibilities.

14. Outline opportunities for promotions and other opportunities.

15. To give them time to acclimatize give them a work buddy, a friendly experienced worker, to show them the job and work with them for the first week of two.

Covering all of these basics will help new employees settle in and they will be more efficient able to be contribute much more quickly compared to employees that are just left to their own devices.

Get Heaps More Employee Motivation Tips at Small Business Marketing Institute – In Fact, Get Several Valuable Free Reports Just for Subscribing to Our Newsletter http://www.SmallBusinessMarketingInstitute.com.au

Okay, I’m guilty of running into this fantasy a lot.  It probably should be higher on the list than 13b, but here’s what it looks like. “There are leaders and followers. Effective leaders get the most skilled workers they can, set high goals and expect them to figure out how to reach them.”

You might be wondering, “Where’s the fantasy in that statement?”

There’s actually lots of truth to it, but the fantasy lies in the expectation, which often leads to frustration and tension.

Here’s what the reality of effective (performance improvement) leadership looks like to me… Effective leaders get the best people they can, they do set high goals…. And get this…. “THEY SPEND LOTS OF TIME DOING FOLLOW-UP TO ENSURE GREAT RESULTS.”

I don’t think most leaders I work with initially realize they are operating with Fantasy 13b. It fits their environment, where’s there’s lots more to address on any given day than they can get to. It’s also fits being a little or a lot ADD, so the preference is to attend to the next new thing, not do repeated follow-up to ensure people are on track, to remove obstacles that crop up, etc. However, when we move on to the next issue, we don’t properly document what has already been done, or not done for that matter. Without this documentation, gaining an accurate understanding of what worked and what didn’t work just got a lot more difficult.

What if effective leadership looks like 20% working the NEW and 80% doing effective FOLLOW-UP? BTW, the effective part of follow-up isn’t reading status reports, or sitting in operational review meetings. It’s asking the questions that get to why people are doing what they’re doing, where they expect to get to next, and them knowing with certainty that you’ll be reviewing what happened when they get to next.

Let’s start at the beginning, at the underpinnings of leadership. When you look at a tall building, what you see are the visible spaces above the ground. The pillars which hold it together are hidden. But this foundation must be resilient, or the whole building would collapse. Similarly, the foundation of effective leadership is largely invisible. But it rests on two behaviors. One is building trust. Next is promoting what I termed “spark.”

Leading at Light Speed© is a new leadership book for anyone and everyone who cares to build high performance organizations that perform at very high levels, as measured by profitability, growth, and customer retention. In this increasingly connected and complex business world, change is happening at lightning speeds..  Leading at Light Speed describes in detail ten quantum leaps (specific ways of acting and behaving) that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Preface …………………………………………………………………….. vii

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….. xi

Quantum Leap 1: Align the Core Values ……………………………  1

Quantum Leap 2: Sharpen the Focus ……………………………….. 31

Quantum Leap 3: Lead Through Others ……………………………. 54

Quantum Leap 4: Manage Decisions Well …………………………. 80

Quantum Leap 5: Accelerate the Pace of Change ……………… 117

Quantum Leap 6: Stimulate the Creative Process ………………. 150

Quantum Leap 7: Spread Systems Thinking ……………………… 170

Quantum Leap 8: Communicate in 12-D ………………………….. 198

Quantum Leap 9: Start With Yourself …………………………….. 220

Quantum Leap 10: Help People Assume Responsibility ………. 250

About the Author ……………………………………………………….. 279

Index ……………………………………………………………………….. 281

In the book, the ten quantum leaps are fully explained, with examples and action steps to develop these areas within your own organization.

Leading at Light Speed reveals how to create a high performance organization step-by-step with detailed chapters on how to be an effective leader in times of increasing complexity and accelerating change. It contains surprising tools, tips, and approaches we’ve learned over the past 10 years that helped leaders build the best performing companies in the country and in the world. We have helped private, nonprofit, and public organizations. All different kinds of corporations can benefit from the tools in Leading at Light Speed.

Add Leading at Light Speed to your arsenal today!

Written by Eric F. Douglas, the CEO of Leading Resources, Inc – providing business management consultants for leaders and leading organizations. Workshops, tools, and management consulting to help your organization succeed in times of accelerating change.

“You manage things and you lead people” is a tried and true business axiom. When you consider it this assertion truly makes sense and it really is sound business.  The statement is revealing to all of us that people are not to be managed, but led.  In order for management to lead successfully they need to get management leadership training.

This is one way management usually evolves in a company.   A person has some kind of expertise.  The know-how might be to produce a product or offer some type of service.  The individual next takes that expertise and starts a company.  Then they hire a few individuals to get the job done and the business starts to develop.  As the company grows up they have to employ more people because the owner is unable to handle everything that is going on.   So the proprietor takes Ralph, one of the best employees, and makes him a boss.  Ralph has certainly not been a manager before so Ralph does not have any concept of how to handle it.  He wanders along trying to do the best job he can.

When the organization gets much bigger more people are elevated to supervisors.   And so on it goes.  What happens is the organization grows to a level which it is unable to break through since the potential of the leadership to lead is limited.

Without having management leadership training brand new managers will often replicate those who have been their managers.  Truth to say, that’s not the formula for accomplishment.  Managers require adequate teaching to perform both managerial and leadership capabilities.

The leadership abilities ordinarily have to have a good deal more improvement in comparison with the managerial functions.  The main reason that’s the case is because the majority of businesses have got methods in place currently.  Those techniques at the very least work well enough to produce some kind of satisfactory outcome.   It is the capability to obtain outcomes through people that typically is gravely missing.

Anytime managers lack the ability to acquire outcomes thorough people, they usually end up doing the project themselves.  After all, the reason why these people got the position as manager was because they had been an excellent member of staff.   As soon as such a thing happens a cycle begins of subsidizing the task of someone else.  You can really start to see the domino impact this may have on the business.  The manager starts to subsidize for the staff member.  Now another person has to subsidize for the manager because they are performing the worker’s work.  Then somebody is doing the work belonging to the someone who is subsidizing the boss.  Soon many people are simply subsidizing and being subsidized.

How you can break the cycle is to have managers lead and obtain business results properly.  For that reason managers need to master the skills of motivation, communication, goal setting, delegation, trouble shooting, and making decisions.  When managers have these kinds of skills they can lead with confidence.

The only method for managers to acquire these kinds of abilities is through leadership development training.   There are a number of elements to look for in choosing training for leadership.  Most notably you should evaluate the actual process they will use for the participants to master the material.  Material which is introduced all in one sitting is simply not the most beneficial strategy to learn leadership skills.  Material that is introduced over a period of time has proven to be more effective.

In conclusion, you want to put money into your leaders so the company can achieve outcomes beyond what presently is being generated.   Don’t leave the success of your leaders to chance.

No matter what type of business you are running, The more Engaged your employees are the more successful your company will be.  Employee Engagement is the number 1 indicator of a  organization that will enjoy ongoing success.  The difference in productivity between an engaged employee and one that is actively disengaged, or  doesn’t care about work anymore  is 64%.  The fact is that most Small to medium sized businesses consider that they have their employees fully engaged, however, stats show that as much as 60% of the workforce right now is either not engaged in their work or actively disengaged.  That means for companies who have anyplace from 25 – 250 people in their organization are losing tens of thousands of dollars a year to low productivity .

The challenge  , who has the time to address employee engagement, when there are so many other factors to deal with in our daily business lives.

The Solution is in setting up three simple steps to make sure your  best people is actively engaged, and stays that way.

The first step is to find the right people for the career  .  Often we look to skills and experience while making the choices who to offer the opportunity  .  Whereas it makes sense to do Skill Testing, and background checks to make sure you are getting the right skillset, it is more important to assess the personality type that succeed  in your organization.  Employee assessments have changed in the last few years.  Now it’s simple to set up, administer, and develop the personality profile that you need for success in  your company.

The second step is to define the values that lead to your company success, help everyone in the organization understand what they are and why their important, and then set up a recognition program that allows anyone to recognize anyone else when they are helping the company to build on these values.  A peer to peer recognition program is of the essence(p) to ongoing engagement, and can easily be found, and implemented in your organization.

Lastly, keep the lines of communication flowing.  With the generation of employees entering the workforce now, constant feedback is essential.  Too much productivity is squandered by employees wondering how their doing, rather than focussing on the next task at hand.  With certain employee assessments, you can receive a full coaching report that helps managers and owners communicate effectively, and avoid common misunderstandings.

When building a high performing, and engaged workforce, it is essential that you find the right people,  let them know exactly what behaviour leads to company success, and keep communicating with them the way they can understand and hear it.

As a business owner, now might be the best time to get help from an ISO 14001 consultant. In a lot of respects, this can become more than just a feather on your company’s cap. It can also help define and strengthen your company’s character and deepen its role in making the world a better place to live in for everyone.

For a lot of businesses, general objectives revolve mainly around making more profits. These days though, it is hardly feasible or wise to maintain only this single-minded drive. Nearly every business, regardless of type or size can have an impact on the environment. Whatever you do can either worsen environmental degradation or help in preservation. It is now therefore, every business owner’s responsibility to strike a balance between making profits and promoting environmental responsibility. This is where becoming ISO 14001 certified becomes important.

What exactly does getting a thumbs up on this area mean? It is an indication that a business has met the requirements for an environment management system. The 14001:2004 member of the 14000 family in particular seeks to provide only general requirements. No specific elements are given simply because different companies have different details. Nonetheless, taking a generic approach remains sensible since a common, general ground for environmental standards is necessary among various industries and sectors.

Certification is beneficial in a number of ways. First of all, a company that passes ISO 14001 certification comes out as automatically compliant with legal requirements. What partly keeps you in business other than customer satisfaction is compliance with government standards.

Legal compliance or going beyond this is advantageous in other ways. It is for example a good business image boost. With certification under your belt, you are able to build a great reputation for yourself, your company and your brand. This can then lead to attracting more customers and getting more sales conversions.

The most important advantage of all is the control and prevention of negative environmental impact. This means you become a contributor to the global preservation effort which has an effect on overall power and cost regulation.

An ISO 14001 certified system is particularly critical because it is the key to setting up a solid and structured blueprint. This is a necessity if you want to make sure that your goals for profits do not clash with your intention to maintain good environment policies.

Certification can be applied for by any company, regardless of size. Obtaining the assistance of consultants however can help in a lot of ways. Getting a consultant will automatically mean spending a sizeable amount on fees. You shouldn’t worry about this though since you will eventually get to save more through the recommendations of a consultant. A qualified expert can dig into your present system and point out what needs to be changed or improved even before you get audited. Consultants can also offer help when it comes to documentation and staff training.

Getting ISO 14001 certification is not a matter of life and death. It is however part of your moral responsibility to make sure your company doesn’t add to environmental woes. Contact ISO consultants Melbourne specialists now.

This video provides a short presentation by Harry Puckering, management trainer, on how to improve your organisation’s performance management process. Harry summarises the current situation in most of the organisations he has encountered and presents a simple solution to improve the effectiveness and impact of PM.

When things go wrong, it is common for people to blame external factors such as “I don’t have the time,” “if it’s not on my calendar, then it doesn’t get done,” “I simply have too much work.” Instead of passing blame, implement performance technology that increases visibility on what’s priority (based on intended outcomes), and accountability as everyone has access to initiatives, action plans and status of the plan.

Click here for more on performance solutions.

This video gives information on automating software deployment and implementing ITIL based workflows to improve the quality of application and patch management.

Software deployment has many challenges ranging from the emotions behind decision making to the often under-estimation of time required for successful deployment.

For more on software adoption and deployment, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/software-adoption/

The video above provides a good explanation of performance management. However, we’ve created a simple rating scale that helps determine how effective people in an organization typically work – or how likely they are to be successful.  It’s not only a helpful rating scale on 9 behaviors that consistently divide highly effective vs less effective people, it also turns out to be a good predictive device to assess the relative resistance to change.  e.g. the more scores at the bottom of the scale, the bigger hill you have to climb. Click here to download it at no cost. To learn more about performance management, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/leading-performance-improvement/

Whenever I think or read about performance improvement, it always seems to start with setting goals, or a planning process that is heavily weighted on outlining the top goals, objectives or initiatives. When I’m sitting in on such an experience, pretty soon in the back of my head I’m hearing Tattoo in Fantasy Island yelling not “The Plane, The Plane,” but “The Plan, The Plan.” About then I’m starting to get antsy and a bit bored with the process. Why?

The reason is I think goal setting is a similar to Fantasy Island for most of us (including leaders), unless we have a good plan, have enough discipline to work the plan, and are willing to pay the inevitable price that will be required to reach the improvement objective.

When you look at people’s goals, do you see a clear, strong plan to reach them? Do you see a plan that addresses the top obstacles? A plan that includes a timeline of deliverables?

What if goals without a plan were called fantasies? Imagine seeing a report of the Strategic plan with the heading of “Corporate Strategic Fantasies” – it might make more sense.

What are you working this month, goals or fantasies, reality or Fantasy Island? Goals are critical, but they sure seem over-rated in terms of performance improvement unless they are supported by a people and a plan.

Goals worth setting must be measured. Without measuring the outcome or status of a goal, you limit your ability to optimize the parts of the plan that are working, while minimizing the non-effective parts.

For more on performance improvement, see www.performancesolutionstech.com/

Okay, I’m guilty of running into this fantasy a lot.  It probably should be higher on the list than 13b, but here’s what it looks like. “There are leaders and followers. Effective leaders get the most skilled workers they can, set high goals and expect them to figure out how to reach them.”

You might be wondering, “Where’s the fantasy in that statement?”

There’s actually lots of truth to it, but the fantasy lies in the expectation, which often leads to frustration and tension.

Here’s what the reality of effective (performance improvement) leadership looks like to me… Effective leaders get the best people they can, they do set high goals…. And get this…. “THEY SPEND LOTS OF TIME DOING FOLLOW-UP TO ENSURE GREAT RESULTS.”

I don’t think most leaders I work with initially realize they are operating with Fantasy 13b. It fits their environment, where’s there’s lots more to address on any given day than they can get to. It’s also fits being a little or a lot ADD, so the preference is to attend to the next new thing, not do repeated follow-up to ensure people are on track, to remove obstacles that crop up, etc. However, when we move on to the next issue, we don’t properly document what has already been done, or not done for that matter. Without this documentation, gaining an accurate understanding of what worked and what didn’t work just got a lot more difficult.

What if effective leadership looks like 20% working the NEW and 80% doing effective FOLLOW-UP? BTW, the effective part of follow-up isn’t reading status reports, or sitting in operational review meetings. It’s asking the questions that get to why people are doing what they’re doing, where they expect to get to next, and them knowing with certainty that you’ll be reviewing what happened when they get to next.