Team Building Events

Team building events are a great way to renew morale and enthusiasm at work, and bring everyone together for some constructive fun outside of the office. Team building activities are as varied as the individuals who participate in them, and can be adjusted easily to accommodate groups of different sizes, incorporate themes specific to your company, and more.

The primary purposes of team building events will also vary slightly depending on your circumstances and priorities, however in general they serve to reinforce the essential elements of good teamwork including:
- building or repairing interpersonal relationships
- trust and communication
- uniting individuals who contribute different skills in working towards a common goal
- having a clearly defined goal and plan for reaching it
- problem solving and staying focused in the face of obstacles
- functioning as part of a greater whole

While the fundamentals of team building are essential to achieving success, it is easy to lose sight of these principles as we go about our daily work routine. Team members may be at odds with one another, or unclear about their particular role within in the organization. For these reasons and more, it is important to periodically, if not regularly, take the time to remind everyone of your shared commitment and goals, the strategies you are implementing together in order to achieve those goals, and your current success rate.

By addressing these ongoing issues together you may be able to pinpoint specific areas to work on with an organizational consultant. However, organizing some team building events will help strengthen your team at a basic level, whether you choose to combine them with a more targeted problem solving approach, or not. Team building activities tend to concentrate on reviewing and practicing the elements of teamwork in ways that are fun, humorous and engaging, and therefore help dissipate tensions and stress from work, renew relationships, and remind everyone of what a great team they make. A combination of bonding exercises, opportunity to play, and participating in a group problem solving activity of some kind, a team building event offers a range of benefits.

From helping to maintain a more harmonious work environment, to ensuring individuals are confident of their place within the organization, and improving productivity in general, investing in team building using the many creative approaches available is worthwhile for many reasons. It takes some work to ensure a team is functioning as a cohesive whole and achieving their full potential, both as individuals and together. Show your team you believe in their capabilities, taking steps to address problems and celebrate successes together. Take the time to make sure your team is capable of accomplishing all they can, and create a forward-thinking organization with a shared focus on future success.

Team Building Ideas

For a wide range of fun and creative team building ideas, one needs only browse the latest trends in organizational consulting approaches, and use your imagination. Virtually any kind of group activity can be geared towards good team building strategies for a refreshing way to get your company back on track and even open up new directions for you to go together.

Art activities can provide a creative way to engage people on a different level, particularly if structured in a way that requires interaction. Consider the value in assigning each person to one color, for example, as just one possibility to promote cooperation in order to co-create a complete picture. Encourage abstract images and conceptual thinking to help overcome fears about artistic limitations – people will likely find they are more creative than they originally thought.

Cooking is another popular choice for teambuilding, as a way to have everyone contribute a task towards creating the final product, or dish. This approach offers the added benefit of sitting down to enjoy the fruits of your labor together, literally. Consultants offering cooking activities are generally able to set up everything you require in ordinary boardroom or conference settings, providing a ready-made way to get your people working together on something a little different.

Outdoor activities are another good way to get your team’s energy flowing. Everything from scavenger hunts, to wilderness survival simulations, to team sports can help reinforce the essentials of teamwork in accomplishing more together than we can as individuals. As in the other types of activities, it is generally most helpful to structure the exercises in a very specific way, taking steps to ensure “an even playing field,” as the point is to encourage equal participation by all. This can be done by using non-traditional equipment for sports, making up rules, etc. to maintain a focus more on fun and cooperation, rather than all-out competition.

A wide variety of team building ideas are available through business consultants specializing in organizational culture. Using their carefully developed methods, products and services can help streamline your team building process, and provide you with fun ways of improving your team’s cohesion and effectiveness. Good teamwork requires more than just a talented group of people, and investing the necessary time to develop your group as a team will provide countless payoffs in both employee moral and company productivity.

Investigate the possibilities to creatively address any setbacks your team is experiencing, or just generally refresh everyone’s focus and commitment to working together for optimal achievement. A motivated team that is confident in their individual roles and clear on the direction of their combined efforts is the recipe for success that will take your company where it needs to go.

Team Building Training

Where “training” is concerned as a part of team building, this often refers to a more skills-centered approach, rather than the more generalized methods of team development. However, your team building training will depend both on the needs of your organization, and the style and capabilities of the team building consultant you bring in to facilitate the process. Virtually any team building activities can be made more or less training-oriented to suit your goals and expectations.

Team building is a process of bringing together individuals who need to work cooperatively and providing activities or exercises that help develop the basic skills required for effective teamwork, including:
- good communication skills, including conflict management
- the ability to clarify goals and work cooperatively towards achieving these
- staying focused on the task at hand
- problem solving
- the importance of each individual’s contribution towards the greater goal

These general concepts will carry over in the form of improved interpersonal relationships at the office, improved morale and more effective communication and cooperative efforts during the course of daily work. The ultimate result of a happier, more motivated team is increased productivity for the company as a whole.

As mentioned, these benefits can be augmented by focusing on specific problem areas your team may be encountering, or areas for improvement. It may be helpful to sit down together before choosing an approach to training, to allow each team member to voice any concerns, issues they would like help addressing, suggestions, and so on. The intention behind team building and training is to empower each team member to be as effective as possible, not to point out deficiencies or place blame. The more involved each individual can be at each step of the process, the more helpful the experience is likely to be.

Finding ways to help a group of individuals function effectively as a cohesive team is a process that requires structure and commitment over time, as well as regular review. Like any other relationship, communication, change and growth are all necessary components of the way team members work together, and the working relationship will evolve naturally over time given the attention it needs. Periodic team building training will ensure everyone is on the same page, and going in the right direction.

Take some time to explore the vast range of team development resources available and start to think about methods that may be the most useful for your team. Try to keep an emphasis on the fun side of learning and make the experience an enjoyable one. Remind your team of their many strengths as you explore ways to become more effective together. With a clear, shared focus on goals you maximize your combined ability to reach the desired outcome, and can look forward to celebrating future successes.

Team Building Training - Improving Your Team Work

Team building training should include all levels of an organization, from the senior management to the front line workers. The approach to training for team building would vary from organization to organization, depending upon its needs, but with one aim – to improve the team’s performance. There is a need to remove organizational barriers that come in the way of teamwork. Team building training will make a tremendous difference to your workplace by training your staff in the professional approach towards team performance.

Team building training of your team members will help in the following:
• Rooting out the causes of poor team performance
• Increase in productivity of the individual and the team
• Improve interaction between the team members
• Improve their problems solving ability
• Improve overall managerial and leadership skills
• Improve support and trust levels among team members

You may have tried various methods in the past and they may have worked. You may wish to stick with those tried and tested methods . . .and why not? With the times changing and the need to be successful, - the first time . . . every time, - team building training methods too, need to be scientifically conducted.

Team Building Training – Customized Methods
Effective teams just do not happen; they need to be built, brick by brick, to generate the best results for your business. A high performance team needs to learn the skills to work within the group, or with multi groups, effectively. There cannot be one single training method for team building across the board. The team building training methods is customized to suit the organization’s specific needs in the given situation.

In any organization, the most important resource is its people. The better trained its team members; the more effective they are in a business environment. In a team, it is vital that each member knows how to communicate effectively with each other, and how to motivate each member to be effective and be up to his or her potential. The team building training helps the team members to reach their peak performance within the team. The customized team building training methods ensure the team’s success, as well as that of its individual members.

The training for team building starts by first testing each member of the team, and a composite team report is then prepared. The report lists out the steps an individual needs to take to fit in, and work better with, the team. The strengths, as well as the weaknesses, are discussed. Suggestions are made to improve personal effectiveness in the team. The team is assessed to see if serious conflicts exist. If they do, training sessions are conducted with this in view, and are focused on the causes of group tensions, and the ways to reduce them.

Most team building training sessions are live training sessions, with a focus on specific circumstances. Discussing team problems with a rank outsider, such as the team-building trainer, may be easier. Also, as team members, you may be too near trees to be aware of the wood.

Ten Reasons To Implement Choice Theory In Your Organization

What is Choice Theory (CT)? CT is a theory of the explanation of human behavior. CT has applicability to both a person’s personal and professional life. It teaches us about our five basic needs, how to meet those needs in a responsible way, and how to take personal responsibility for getting those needs met.

I have assisted many companies with implementing the concepts and principles of Choice Theory (CT) in the workplace over the years. Their reasons ranged from mere curiosity to desiring a total immersion of their company into the concepts and principles of CT. Those companies that were committed to learning the CT model and implementing it correctly received better than expected results.

One of the elements of implementing CT in the workplace is to put the three conditions of quality in place. Those three conditions are:

1. Create a need-satisfying environment for your employees.

a. Employees need to feel connected to each other, management and the mission and vision of your company.

b. Employees need to feel empowered by having their opinions sought out and listened to and having their work respected.

c. Workers need to feel safe on the job. This pertains to their emotional, as well as physical safety.

d. Workers need to have the ability to make choices and exercise some independence within the definition of their jobs.

e. Workers need to experience some fun and learning on the job.

2. Workers must only be asked to do useful and meaningful work. If this is not clear, management must take the time to explain it if quality is what you are seeking.

3. Finally, workers need to be asked to self-evaluate their work. This self-evaluation component is far beyond the scope of this article but suffice it to say that two main components are required for employees to be able to accurately and honestly self-evaluate.

a. There must not be fear in the workplace. If employees believe that management will hurt them with the information shared during self-evaluation, then management can hardly expect honesty.

b. Also, there must be a very clear and definite matrix of what quality looks like. The employee must have an ideal with which to compare their work.

When these components and others are added to the workplace, you can expect:

1. Increased employee satisfaction. Employees will be taught that they have the potential, capability and responsibility to personally get their five basic needs met. This awareness will result in a decrease of a sense of victimization and complaining, because employees will be focused on solutions they can implement instead of the problems that exist.

2. A unified approach to conceptualization of issues. Once all your employees understand CT, they will be conceptualizing problems in the same way. This unified approach will decrease a lot of competition among your employees and will result in the creation of a unified, cohesive and committed group of workers who believe in the direction your company is headed.

3. Room for individuals’ strengths and unique approaches. CT is a framework within which to operate that encourages people’s personal expression. Employees will be able to include their unique and creative talents, as long as they don’t conflict with CT principles.

4. More effective communication. When everyone in your company understands the basic framework for conceptualizing human behavior, then communication is enhanced. There will be fewer misunderstandings because all are speaking the same language.

5. Less employee stress. Many employees experience stress on the job. This usually comes from a lack of understanding about responsibilities. CT assists employees to understand that the only person they can control is themselves. Once people stop expending energy trying to change people or circumstances beyond their control and instead begin to focus on what adaptive response they can take, stress levels dramatically decrease.

6. Decreased employee turnover. When management learns the steps to create a need- satisfying environment for employees, while holding them accountable for their work, employees become dedicated and committed to the work they do. When people are in environments that meet their five basic needs, there is motivation to stay in that environment.

7. Increased creativity. When employees work in an environment created by their employer that allows for self-expression and encourages personal power, limitless creativity is unleashed, which often results in business improvement and expansion.

8. Enhanced relationships. CT teaches people to get their needs met without interfering with others meeting their needs. When this happens, the status of their current personal and professional relationships improves both at work and at home. The possibilities are endless!

9. Improved services to customers. Using CT/RT, employees assist customers to clarify what it is they want and to evaluate the best ways for getting there. Customers appreciate this approach, which will improve customer satisfaction, resulting in repeat business and an increase in referrals.

10. Decreased Resistance/Increased Cooperation. When CT is implemented in the workplace, employees become less resistant and more cooperative because they are being heard. When we stop pushing people in the direction we think is best and focus instead on building better relationships, resistance is decreased and cooperation is increased.

Ten Simple Things That Helped Make Me Millions

I’ve had my own business since I was 9 years old. I’ve started, bought, sold and helped out in many different kinds of businesses over the thirty some odd years since then.

I’ve done everything I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve had a lot of fun. Some of the highlights: I worked on Wall Street, I helped take a company public and I threw one of the biggest VC names in the country out of my office. I’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the online and offline space, and I’ve seen the insides of a lot of the biggest companies in the US.

I made my first million the old fashioned way — I worked my butt off. And I’ve got a lot to show for it, for which I am both humble and grateful. Understand this — I am a successful entrpreneur and I am proud of it.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? I’m getting there.

People always ask me if I have any advice for being successful. They ask if I could name the things I think have contributed the most to my success. I’d like to share my observations from thirty years of business experience. They are applicable both online and offline.
Here are my top ten tips for success:

1. Always make sure all of your emails and phone calls get returned. I make a lot of contacts and requests via email, phone or even in person. I am absolutely shocked at the number of people who don’t bother to return the request. It is classless and disrespectful to ignore someone’s request, and it makes them angry. Angry people tell other people how you have wronged them. The fewer people out there talking ill about you the better.

When I was at Modem Media I got between 1000 - 3000 emails a day. I was buried in emails. My assistant went in and cleared out emails when she could, forwarding the ones she knew she or one of my underlings could handle. But she left the rest for me. I would spend at least an hour a day returning them. Sometimes all I said was Call so-and-so or Thanks for the heads-up, but most of them got answered. The priority was clients, then managers then normal people. If you’re not going to answer correspondence from clients or peers, don’t give anyone your email address. Funny thing about most of us…if you have an email address and invite us to use it, we expect an answer. I’ve written three emails to Darren Rouse at ProBlogger.net. He has not answered a single one. While I think some of his stuff is pretty good, I find his unresponsiveness disappointing and I don’t find him as authoritative as I used to.

I sent an email to the President of Staples (the office supply chain) on a Saturday afternoon a few years ago. I got a personal response from him the next day (Sunday), and we resolved my problem with the help of one of his EVPs. If he can respond to one of my emails, so can Darren Rouse.

2. Help anyone who asks. It doesn’t matter what it is — if someone asks you to help them and you can do it, do it. Whether it entails rolling up your sleeves, writing a check, giving some valuable time or just answering a question from someone who doesn’t know as much as you, suck it up and do it.

3. Always know more than most people about your industry or business. I’ve always been a technologist, so this has been engrained in me since I was 16. Read about things in your field every day. Go to a seminar or trade show every now and then. Participate in discussions or forums, on or off-line. It will keep you connected to the people in your industry and make you a guru. The Internet is an amazing tool for getting this done.

4. Treat your employees like gold, because they are. In my own businesses my employees get away with a lot. They are well paid, get surprise perks all the time and can come and go as they please. Some take advantage, but they don’t last long. Being a jerk to your employees will always come back to bite you. It will also mean that you’ll get hosed a few times, but you probably would have anyway.

Make the workplace fun, comfortable and as casual as you can. Show your employees by example how you want them to treat customers and co-workers. They are going to follow your lead. If they hate coming to work it will show in what you produce.

At Modem Media I organized a yearly barbeque in the front parking lot. We had pork, BBQ sauce from Texas and lots of other stuff I’m not going to get into here. It was a small gesture but it went a long way.

5. Acknowledge everyone who helps you advance, especially those who did not gain from it. This is another thing that I am shocked more people haven’t caught on to. I said in an earlier post that I regularly comb my log files for people who have social bookmarks pointing to this blog site and send them a quick email thanking them. I stopped counting the number of people who email me back shocked that I would take the time to thank them. Why shouldn’t I? They took time out to help promote my blog, and got nothing in return. A thank you acknowledges their time and effort and solidifies them as an ally. Trust me…you need all the allies you can get.

6. Befriend your competitors. This is another one that should be second nature. Yes, you are all competing for customers, but you’re all frogs in the same pot of boiling water. I own the biggest wine shop in my hometown. If we don’t have something that a customer wants we will call another shop and see if the customer can get it there. It was a shock to both customers and competitors that I would send customers to another store. It say it’s good for the customer, so it’s good business.

7. Keep your sense of humor…it’s huge. My second day at Modem Media I was sent to John Hancock’s Boston HQ. Modem had been working on Hancock’s online/offline strategy for months. It wasn’t finished and there was a lot of tension. After two days me and the head marketing weenie were called on the carpet by a screaming middle manager.

She said You have been disappointing me for two months! and continued reaming us. I waited a few beats and said Excuse me…I have only been disappointng you for a couple of days. Color drained from the marketing weenie’s face, but I could tell the client was trying hard to keep from bursting out in laughter.

8. Overdeliver to your customers, let them know you are watching out for their business, and treat them like friends. I spent a lot of time on the Compaq campus in Houston. We were competing with Price Waterhouse for Compaq Direct’s technical business and PW had the ear of Compaq’s CTO or CFO or some such person.

But I had the trust of the person directly under that exec, and he was the one doing the work. My team was on top of everything, and we covered his back. He knew he could count on us, and he knew that we could help him navigate the jungle. We lost the account for a while, but we still had a retainer for me to fly in once a month to help out. I would fly out there, we would have lunch and I would fly back. Sometimes the conversation was technical, sometimes it was marketing-related and sometimes it was purely personal.

We eventually got the contract back because my guy knew we were part of his success, and he knew he could count on us.

9. Get a hobby, hot tub, motorcycle, drag race car, whatever. You need a transition away from business to something else. Make sure you have one. It will give your mind an opportunity to disengage and allow you to background process all of the stuff you are thinking about. Moving stuff from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind is like exercising using different muscles — it will help get results. I can’t tell you how many times I have resolved problems while riding on my motorcycle.

10. Be very careful who you choose to advise you, but have a go-to team, and always defer to someone smarter than you. People mean well, but it takes far less courage to poke holes in someone’s idea than it does to accentuate the positive. Keep some solid advisors around you. I have a team of all-stars that includes my wife (very practical), my attorney (one of the best business attorneys in the US), my other attorney (one of my good friends and another practical guy), and my accountant (very serious but very financially adept).

I think I know everything and I will defend my positions viciously. All of my advisors are smarter than me about something, and often they can convince me to go to their side because I remember that.

One last observation — don’t give up.

Regardless of the crap you read about getting rich quick, it doesn’t happen that way most of the time. Some of us make it look easy, but it isn’t. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

Ten Tips For Creating A Terrific Employee Appraisal System

Face the facts: Creating a new performance appraisal system is a difficult undertaking. It’s even more difficult if the organization doesn’t have a logical, well-tested, step-by-step process to follow in developing their new procedure.

Based on my experience in helping dozens of companies create performance appraisal systems that actually work, here are ten tips that will help any company create a new performance evaluation system that will provide useful data and be enthusiastically supported by all system users.

One — Get top management actively involved. Without top management’s commitment and visible support, no program can succeed. Top management must establish strategic plans, identify values and core competencies, appoint an appropriate Implementation Team, demonstrate the importance of performance management by being active participants in the process, and use appraisal results in management decisions.

Two — Establish the criteria for an ideal system. Consider the needs of the four stakeholder groups of any appraisal system: Appraisers who must evaluate performance; Appraisees whose performance is being assessed; Human Resources professionals who must administer the system; and the Senior Management group that must lead the organization into the future. Identifying their expectations at the start helps assure their support once the system is finally designed. Ask each group: “What will it take for you to consider this system a smashing success?” Don’t settle for less.

Three — Appoint an Implementation Team. This task force should be a diagonal slice of both appraisers and appraisees from different levels and functions in the organization. The implementation team is responsible for accomplishing the two major requirements for a successful system. First, developing appropriate appraisal forms, policies and procedures. Second (and the task too often overlooked) assuring a successful deployment.

Four — Design the form first. The appraisal form is a lightning rod that will attract everyone’s attention. Design the form early and get lots of feedback on it. Don’t believe anybody who tells you that the form isn’t important. They’re wrong. If you’re designing a new form internally, make sure it assesses both behaviors and results.

Five — Build your mission, vision, values, and core competencies into the form. Performance appraisal is a means, not an end. The real objective of any performance management system is to make sure that the company’s strategic plan and vision and values are communicated and achieved. Core competencies expected of all organization members should be included, described and assessed. If your mission statement isn’t clearly visible in the performance appraisal system, cynicism will likely result. Values become real only when people are held accountable for living up to them.

Six — Assure on-going communication. Circulate drafts and invite users to make recommendations. Keep the development process visible through announcements and regular updates. Use surveys, float trial balloons, request suggestions and remember the cardinal principle — “People support what they help create.”

Seven — Train all appraisers. Performance appraisal requires a multitude of skills — behavioral observation and discrimination, goal-setting, developing people, confronting unacceptable performance, persuading, problem-solving, planning, etc. Unless appraiser training is universal and comprehensive, the program won’t produce much. And don’t ignore the most important requirement of all: the need for courage.

Eight — Orient all appraisees. The program’s purposes and procedures must be explained in advance — and explained enthusiastically — to everyone who will be affected by it. Specific skills training should be provided if the new performance management procedure requires self-appraisal, multi-rater feed-back, upward appraisal, or individual development planning.

Nine — Use the results. If the results of the performance appraisal are not visibly used in making promotion, salary, development, transfer, training and termination decisions, people will realize that it’s merely an exercise.

Ten — Monitor and revise the program. Audit the quality of appraisals, the extent to which the system is being used, and the extent to which the original objectives have been met. (One of the great advantages of an online performance appraisal system is that all of these data are available instantaneously.) Provide feedback to management, appraisers and appraisees. Train new appraisers as they are appointed to supervisory positions. Actively seek and incorporate suggestions for improvement.

A company’s performance appraisal process is critically important. It answers the two questions that every member of an organization wants to know: 1) What do you expect of me? and 2) How am I doing at meeting your expectations? Using these ten tips will help you develop or select a system to will give accurate and complete answers to everyone.

Test Your Money Management

If you were asked about your finances at night, awaken from sleep will you remember the figures? Will you remember your deposits, your debts, your net savings, your average monthly expenses? Not many of us can answer these questions. Money is one of the most important parts of our life, but we don't know much about our own finances in precise terms. Is that not surprising?

Money management plays a very vital role in success. If you were to put the same questions to a very successful person, you will get all the answers with analysis thrown in for good measure. Those who make very big money understand the importance of money management. Unless you manage your money, you will not be able to make best use of it. I would discuss few important parts of money management here.

<strong>Debt</strong>- don't take debt if you can manage without that. The thought that you have debt makes you feel uncomfortable and kills enthusiasm. Ask two persons about their life- one who has no debt but lives very simply and other who has debts and lives lavishly. You will find out that one without debt is enjoying his/her life more.

<strong>Increase Savings</strong> - Save more and spend less. Your savings will not only be useful for a rainy day but also create a war chest for you that can be used when the right opportunity arrives.

<strong>Increase Profits</strong>- target good profits and try to reach that figure in your business. If you are employed, set targets for your salary and achieve it.

<strong>Reduce Costs</strong> - Wherever possible, reduce costs. Avoid all unnecessary expenditure. Reduce every cost. Live frugally till you save your first million. After that it will become easy to earn more and spend more. If you do that right from the beginning, you will never be able to save your first million.

The 3 Secrets of Team Motivation

Do you want a highly motivated team who don't take time off
work, don't keep looking for other jobs and make a positive
contribution to your business?

If the answer is "yes," then there are three steps you need
to take with each member of your team.

Step 1 - Spend some quality time

I didn't say "quantity time" I said "quality time." One or
two minutes of quality time on a regular basis are far more
productive than a one hour review every year.

You need to get to know each member of your team better and
they need to get to know you.

This will help you build a positive relationship with each
team member. You'll gain a much better understanding of
them and how they're handling the job.

It will also give the impression that you care about the
individual and show that you're there to help with problems
both personal and business.

Spending quality time will encourage opinions and ideas to
flow from them and allows you to explain the company's
mission. It gives them a feeling of being in on things which
is a huge motivator.

It will also help you build an "early warning system" of any
problems both business and personal.
Finally, it builds team spirit and morale.

Step 2 - Give feedback and coach

You need to regularly tell each member of your team when
they're doing well and when not so well.

I read some recent research that suggested 65% of employees
in the US received no recognition at work in the past year.


My experience tells me that it's much the same throughout
the world and much worse in some countries.

Some managers still believe - "why should I praise people
when they're only doing what they're paid to do."
If you want a happy and motivated team then you need to
tell them when they're doing well.

It's also important to tell people when they're not
performing well. There are too many managers who either
ignore poor behaviour or come down on the person like a
ton of bricks.

There are particular ways to give feedback and coach
and they're described in detail in the book - How to get
More Sales by Motivating Your Team.

Step 3 - Be a believer

We're now getting into the area of "Empowerment" which was
first introduced in the 1980's and became a bit of a
management buzzword. However, I believe that it's one of the
most promising but least understood concepts in team
motivation today.

I'm a fairly down to earth practical sort of person
(probably comes from my engineering background). I'm not big
into motivation theories unless I can see the benefits for
me - I see a great deal of benefit for managers and team
leaders in Empowerment.

Empowerment is about utilising the knowledge, skill,
experience and motivation power that's already within your
people.

The majority of people in teams and organisations
throughout the world are severely underutilised. Your team
have probably more to offer in terms of skill, knowledge and
experience.

Put this to the test right away - implement these steps,
motivate your team and achieve your business goals.

The 7 Rules of Upward Communication

Bit by bit, your workplace is changing.

As the old industries disappear, and along with them, control styles of management, so new structures and new systems are taking their place.

Where once the manager sat atop the pyramid, and issued commands to the team below, today there is every chance that it is the team that sits astride the pyramid and issues information to the manager below.

Today, it is teams that have the information and knowledge. It is the teams that know how the business's customers feel. And teams that can manage by themselves.

All this means a re-think on the traditional nature of communication.

Where once the predominant flow of communication was from the top downwards, in a one-way flow, in today's information age, communication is multi-directional and purposeful. It goes anywhere and goes where it is needed.

That can be up or down, horizontally across, and all ways diagonally.

And one of the key skills of this kind of communication is Upward Reporting.

This skill requires: knowing how to get and keep the ear of your boss; reporting in a timely fashion; knowing what he or she needs to hear; being short and accurate; balancing problems with solutions; and being willing to be questioned and cross-examined.

To illustrate Upward Reporting, here is a set of rules posted by a manager to a self-managing team on how she wants to be kept informed.

"When you report up the way, please remember...

<b>Rule 1: </b>Keep me regularly informed; I hate nasty surprises.

<b>Rule 2: </b>Don't deadline me.  I know it's been done to you, but please give me some time to think.

<b>Rule 3: </b>Only bring matters that you really can't resolve.  Anything else will just go back to you.

<b>Rule 4: </b>Don't leave out the bad points because you want to look good: tell me it all.

<b>Rule 5: </b>Give me at least three options for every problem.  I prefer to choose and it's quicker.

<b>Rule 6: </b>Do your homework before you come; I don't want you to have to go away and look something up.

<b>Rule 7: </b>Remember that this is how you'll want your staff to report to you when you're in my position!"

Communication is, and always has been, the glue that binds an organization together. Just because the predominant direction of that communication may have shifted from top-down to bottom-up, doesn't mean it is any less important. Learn how to properly report up and you'll master the new regime.

The Art Of Employee Motivation

If you think that your employees’ poor performance on their designated jobs is costing you a whole lot of lost profits, then instead of just doing a total overhaul of your employee roster, why not try to do some employee motivation tactics to get them to actually come around and be able to save your company from looming bankruptcy. It really is fairly easy and simple to rouse some employee motivation, you just have to take these techniques to heart:

People nowadays are concerned of the lack of importance that is being put into health care plans. Is your company one of those companies that do not provide their employees with the health benefits that they should be entitled to? This is a possible reason why your employees’ morale are down. You need to reassess the situation and try to give them the health benefits that will ensure them that they will be protected by the company that they have been loyal to even in their times of sickness. Always remember that a happy worker is a satisfied worker so make sure to use this employee motivation tool in order to give your employees' morale a much needed boost.

Remember, companies are usually employed with some women who will, most often than not, become mothers. So it is highly important that you know their needs especially during the time when they would want to avail of their maternity leave. It is important that your company, no matter what kind of product or service you offer, is always sensitive to your employees needs, no matter what their gender is.

When it comes to having a good health plan for your employees, you must be sure that your health plan is actually of any good or else it would not really do any good to your employees’ morale. Make sure that the health plan will be able to cover all their basic needs and it wouldn’t really hurt if you throw in some added kicks.

Basic health care plans that you can use for employee motivation actually covers the following: full coverage for any basic illness or injury, coverage of hospital payments in case the employee has to be checked-in at the hospital or if there are some minor surgeries that need to be done.

Added benefits to further boost employee motivation through a health care plan is through having their dental health covered as well as their optical needs, eyeglass subsidies as well as free dental cleaning and check-ups will be a good treat for your employees and will surely be a great added employee motivation move.

Apart from having a good health care plan for your employee motivation tactics, you must also be able to provide for them some other additional care such as an insurance plan which they can rely on in case something bad happens to them when they are still of service to your company. Even if this employee motivation move will not be availed by the employee’s family during the time of his or her service, your employee can still choose to continue on paying for the premiums of the insurance plan even after he or she has retired from your company. Unfortunately for your employees, once they resign from a job position at your company the said insurance plan will be revoked since the company will not be able to pay for your insurance premiums anymore (remember, all the payments from these employee motivation tactics will actually come from the employee’s salary).

Another great employee motivation move for loyal employees of your company is to have a car loan ready for them, employees who have already served some considerable amount of years in the company should be entitled to a car plan wherein deductions from their salary will be used to pay for their vehicle of choice. This is a great employee motivation move since those who are cannot afford a car (a brand new car at that!) would actually want to continue staying in your company because of this added employee motivation benefit.

From time to time, especially during special occasions, you need to be able to give your employees some added morale boost by organizing events or parties that will foster camaraderie among your employees. A little good time certainly wouldn’t hurt anyone and this will all be in the spirit of good ole’ company fun. Employee motivation directed events such as Christmas parties and company picnics are surely a welcome treat to your seemingly overworked and over fatigue employees.

You must also remember to give your employees some time to unwind like providing your regular employees the benefit of having a two-week paid vacation leave. That’s the least you can do for your employees who you have been held captive for the majority of the year in your office.

These are really simple and easy employee motivation tactics that you can do in order to boost your employees’ morale and to be able to ensure a good upkeep of your company.

The Balanced Direct Sales Mom

If you're already in direct sales, you know that it's not always easy to keep the priorities straight. Particularly when your business is just starting, but also when you get things going at a good clip in your business, direct sales can take on a life of its own and quickly cross the boundaries of happy home life. Here are 10 quick tips for helping to keep the Mom part of your life at the forefront while still running a successful Direct Sales business.

1. Plan - Sit down with your calendar and write out everything non-direct sales business related first. Decide which of those things are non-negotiable no matter how many people want to do parties on that day. And then keep them non-negotiable! Write in kids events, date nights with hubby, vacations, birthdays and birthday parties and plain old "just because" family time.

2. Power Hour - One of my favorite speakers in the direct sales field is Belinda Ellsworth. Her power hour is a tremendous way to manage your business life. It's simple too! Here's the quick rundown: Take 4 manila folders. Mark 1 as recruiting, 1 as booking, 1 as customer service and 1 as downline management. Decide on an hour in your day when you are going to work the phones for your business. Take your folders, set a timer and work each folder for 15 minutes only. When the 15 minutes is up, move to the next folder. As you interact with customers, recruits and downline put the information in these folders until the next time you sit down for your power hour. You will be amazed at how much work you can really accomplish when you are focused for that hour of time.

3. Office door - Use it! After you are done with your power hour or email time or whatever, walk out of the room and CLOSE the door! Or if you're working with the laptop (see below) turn it off and close the laptop.

4. Get a laptop. A laptop with wireless Internet is a great tool for moms. You can get them pretty inexpensively now too. While the kids are doing their homework, pop open the laptop, sit WITH them and do your emails then. When they're done with the homework, close the laptop and be done with your work as well.

5. Freedom Friday - Decide on one day in each week where you will be "off". This can be Friday or any day, but decide on it and then actually do it. Commit to it with your kids, put it on your calendar and enjoy it. You'll love it and the emails can wait! Once your customers and downline understand that this is your day off, they will respect it.

6. Use the "open date card "concept.  Determine which days of the weeks you'll be doing parties and write those down on a separate booking calendar or individual party date cards. When you are at your parties and getting future bookings only book parties on the dates that you set in advance on that calendar or on the cards. If someone needs a different date than you have available, find her another consultant (preferable in your downline!) to take the party.

7. Automate - Use the tools of the Internet to automate as much of your business as you can. Use an auto-responder for your recruit email packets and your downline training. Have a voicemail message available with a 10-minute presentation on your business that potential recruits can call before they call you with questions. Do conference calls with your downline so that you can address issues with the whole group rather than one on one with each of them, etc.

8. Involve your kids - Make your direct sales business a family affair. Employ your children to help with putting labels on catalogs, filing your paperwork, packing up your supplies for your parties, making the bank deposits, etc. As they get older their work responsibilities can increase too. You can even pay them tax-free and write it off as a legitimate business expense. Talk to your accountant about this great home business benefit.

9. Hire a maid. If your business is really on a roll and you need to spend more time on business, don't take that time away from your family, take it away from other parts of your life, like the housecleaning instead. Hire a maid to do the big housecleaning jobs and use the time you'd normally be doing that to hang with the kids. It'll be worth every penny.

10. Have fun - remember that your kids are only young once. They need you to be mommy FIRST and businesswoman second, even if your family does need the extra money your Direct Sales business brings in. Work smarter, not harder and enjoy your kids while you can.

The Basics Of Project Management

Any project can only be successful if the people behind the project implements proper project management skills or hire a reputable and dependable project management group.

Project management may sound like a complicated term and it really is as it involves the process of organizing the different factors involved in creating and completing a project.

All projects should start out with a good plan so that the project creator would know the things required for the project to proceed as well as the necessary timeframe within which these requirements must be accomplished. The project plan should identify the scope of the project and the people accountable for the various aspects of the project.

The plan should include the costs involved in managing the project including the costs involved in hiring human resources and materials for the project. A good and realistic plan will enable the project manager to fulfill the project requirements on time and in an efficient manner.

Like every other project, a project management plan should include a good plan for human resources as they will be the best resources the project manager can have. Another important aspect is the communications plan not only between and among the project manager and the employees or workers. It should also include a good communication system with the outside world.

The project manager should be more wary of a good communication plan especially if the project has a very great impact in a certain community. If this is the case, the project manager should also make sure to include a public relations plan as well as a communications plan in cases of emergency or negative reaction from the public.

Risk management should be one of the most important aspects of the project plan. The project manager should avoid being reactionary whenever emergencies or negative publicity comes up. To avoid this and to become proactive he should establish a contingency plan for possible situations.

One of the most challenging projects to handle or to manage is a software project because of the technical emergencies that may happen, the sudden changes in costs and the sudden changes in technical people involved in the software project.

However, a project manager should always be prepared for any eventuality for any type of project he is handling. The best thing to do is to prepare a very efficient project management plan so that he is not caught unaware of very important aspects of the project.

The CEO And The Yellow Notepad

It was just a Yellow, Legal sized Notepad, but it made this millionaire CEO's sales force more productive, less stressed and happier, at work and at home.

How could a simple yellow notepad have such power?

Here is the story:

The millionaire CEO gave each of his employees a yellow, legal sized notepad and a pen. He also gave
them these instructions:

1. Carry the notepad and pen with you at all times during your workday. Keep it handy, and within reach.

2. In the morning write down a short "To Do" list in the notepad,list the things you want to accomplish that day.

3. During the day use the notepad to capture every name and phone number of anyone you talk to, write down email addresses, flight times and reservation numbers, meeting times and dates, record virtually every bit of important data into your yellow notepad.

Here is how they benefited from this simple positive habit, and how you can also, regardless of who you are, or what you do. (businessmen,housewives, students, CEO's, etc.)

1. When you need to call someone back, their number is always just a glance away.

2. What was that fight number again? What was that policy number
the insurance agent gave you 3 days ago? What were the directions to the wedding? It's all in your yellow notepad!

3. It helps you keep track of your "To Do" list action items.

Your yellow notepad becomes a Rolodex, Meeting Planner, Map, and one stop source for all of your important information that you gather every day. (Remember how you used to jot down that information on little bits of paper? Remember how you could never find that one piece of paper with the phone number you needed?)

You will not believe how many ways this little positive habit will benefit your life! You will be less stressed, more efficient at everything you do, and your friends, relatives and co-workers will always know that you have the important information at your fingertips.

Buy a Yellow Legal Notepad today and get started!

The CEO is 10,000 feet above the fire

How many times have you heard a business owner or manager say that they spend their workday “always sweating at putting out fires?”  I hear it all the time.

Think of a raging forest fire.  There are sweaty fire fighters working hard, just yards in front of the flames.  There is one person in a helicopter 10,000 feet above the flames.  Those on the ground and the one in the helicopter are all looking at the same fire but they have totally different views.  Those on the ground are “putting out fires.”  The one in the helicopter is directing the fire fighting effort.

In business, even the smallest of businesses, the CEO directs the fire fighting effort.  That person must have a vision of the future and direct the troops on the ground in the proper direction.  If the CEO gets down on the ground and picks up an axe to put out the current fire, while that effort may be beneficial, who is insuring the future?

In small businesses, owners and managers must spend time and effort at work on the front lines, but many are so busy “putting out fires” that they never make the time to go up in the helicopter and see the whole fire.  To do it, the CEO must discover the changing winds of the marketplace to best utilize the assets available so they are not overspent on dying embers (completed projects) when they are needed on a flare-up (hot opportunity) somewhere else.  The CEO must look beyond today and prepare for tomorrows battles whether fluctuations in the cost of fuel, changing whims of fashion, or increased competition.

If only for a little while every week, get into that helicopter.  Look towards the future, plan for it, and guide your troops to contain the fires.  You might not get so sweaty but you’ll be doing a great job for your company.

The Chief Cause Of Business Failure And Success

Business rises and falls on leadership. According to business guru, Brian Tracy, “Leadership is the most important single factor in determining business success or failure in our competitive, turbulent, fast-moving economy.” Still not convinced? Based on a study by Jessie Hagen of the US Bank, here are the main reasons why businesses fail:

• Poor Business Planning

• Poor Financial Planning

• Poor Marketing

• Poor Management

Proper application of these key factors is a function of good leadership. Let’s look at some of the conclusions of the US Bank report. According to Hagen’s study, in the Business Planning category, 78% of businesses fail due to lack of a well-developed business plan. It boggles my mind that so many people go into business without a plan, as if it were the ice cream flavor-of-the-month! Is it any wonder that when I came across the DEA Police & Government auction site of confiscated property, there is a gleeful statement that declares, “Most businesses fail within their first two years, so chances are, you will come across some relatively new merchandise. At (our) auction, get what you need without paying full price.”

If you just rolled out of bed with ‘a great business idea’ and don’t want to be a part of this grim statistic, run to your nearest bank, get a free business plan template, and write your plan now! Honor the time-proven cliché, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Leadership is about planning for success before it happens. Sun Tzu, the 6th century Chinese philosopher, in his epic work The Art of War, gave some sound business advice that still applies today: “When your strategy is deep and far-reaching, then what you gain by your calculations is much, so you can win before you even fight. When your strategic thinking is shallow and near-sighted, then what you gain by your calculations is little, so you lose before you do battle.”

In the Financial Planning category, a whopping 82% of businesses failed due to poor cash flow management skills followed closely by starting out with too little money. Business leadership is about taking financial responsibility, conducting sound financial planning and research, and understanding the unique financial dynamics of one’s business. Before even starting a business, show your plan to your accountant and get their counsel. What a concept! Asking for the advice of someone who sees the bottom-line realities of business day in and day out; someone who sees the birth certificates, successions, and autopsy reports of thousands of business entities. It just makes good business sense. But many people will ignore this advice and eventually meet with business disaster. [Word of caution: don’t rely on just one opinion. Get at least two or three opinions from different accountants to get a more informed view].

The third business failure factor profiled in the report, and a critical one, was Marketing. Over 64% of the businesses surveyed in the Marketing category failed because of owners minimizing the importance of properly promoting their business followed by ignoring their competition. Again, as a business leader, you must be able to effectively communicate your idea to the right people and understand their unique needs and wants. Leadership is all about taking initiative, taking action, getting things done, and making decisions. If you’re not doing anything of significance to market and promote your business, you are most likely headed for business failure. I recommend every time you get up in the morning, jot down 5 new things you can do to promote your business and go DO them! If you can’t think of anything to jot down, I highly recommend reading Jay Conrad Levinson’s book, Guerrilla Marketing, which has oodles of useful information and tips on promoting for small business.

Know your competition. Leadership is also about providing value to people. If your main competitors are all providing a better quality and lower priced product than yours, how can you possibly create any value? Either you harness your strengths to provide different benefits such as speed, convenience, better service; lower your price and improve quality; create a different product for an unmet demand; or get out of the game.

Finally, one of the most important reasons why businesses fail is due to poor management. In the Management category, 70% of businesses failed due to owners not recognizing what they don’t do well and not seeking help, followed by insufficient relevant business experience. Not delegating properly and hiring the wrong people were major contributing factors to business failure in the Management category.

Leadership is about knowing yourself – understanding your strengths and weaknesses. Leaders are aware of their potential. Losers ignore their potential. Leadership is ultimately about influence and delegation. As a leader, you must have the humility to be able to surround yourself with people who are brighter than you and who can make up for your weaknesses and limitations so you can do what you do best: seize the day and lead!

The Corporate Divide

The corporate structure continues to change in that companies are continuing to increase in size through mergers and acquisitions.  As this progress goes forward it seems that we have lost sight of some of the basic elements that make companies successful to begin with.  Most of us in the corporate world find ourselves in situations where time is critical to meet pace with ever changing demands.  The pitfall here is that we tend to loose sight of some of the necessary elements that insure success.  As I mentioned in a previous article some of us still manage our workforce using the “flog them until they drop” philosophy.  The problem here is that this approach typically leads to a workforce that is stressed beyond belief and pushed to the point that they just don’t care anymore.  What I see typically are people who feel like they have been disenfranchised by their employers and will tend to gravitate towards the path of least resistance typically to the detriment of the employer.

The problem as I see it is that these same exact people given the opportunity to excel will do so if provided the opportunity.  This is something that should not be taken lightly in that it affects the overall productivity of the workforce.  The question then becomes what to do about it.  The answer is often not that hard, but as with any problem that exist the first step is to recognize it.  Often the cure amounts to no more than giving the employees the feeling that they are involved in the process and important to the outcome.  The lack of interest typically displayed in corporate America today comes from the sense that the employee doesn’t feel like they are involved.

The cure for this is making the effort as managers to insure that the employees do feel a sense of importance.  I would encourage each and every one of you to give the employees a sense of involvement by making the effort to let each one of them know that the success of the company depends on it.  The truly amazing benefit of this is that your life as a manager will get easier and more importantly the bottom line will reflect it.

The cost of management meetings and avoiding wastage of man hours unnecessarily

In today’s office environment, meetings with top leadership, management, colleagues, customers, partners or subordinates may necessitate you to go to the next cabin, another building or even to some other state or another corner of the world. All these trips, if unnecessary, cause a huge blow to the company’s finance and employees’ crucial man hours.

If the corporate meetings are important for business, they also kill crucial man hours. Even though you know the skills of good time management, it can be difficult during office hours, especially when one has to work around other people’s meeting schedules. Therefore, just for the reason that some one has to organise a face to face meeting, not only does a horde of the company’s pounds get spent, the meaningful work hours get wasted.

How meeting cause wastage of man hours?

Attending the meetings which are not necessary for you is a classic example of wasting time unnecessarily at office. Statistics showing the number of meetings that are organised with the people who are not required to be there are astonishing. They make one wonder, how much time people waste like this? How much crucial time and the planning for that goes wasted with these unnecessary meetings?

Here arises the problem that one cannot express his or her desire to avoid a meeting or get it cancelled on the whole because it may offend the boss or a colleague. It may also upset the whole work schedule of the person who is attempting to schedule the meeting?

In the present times, when everyone is suffering from the problem of overwork, the meetings which last too long and are actually unnecessary prove to be the wastage of time and money. According to a recent survey held by New York Times, some companies are finding out ways to reduce their meetings in size. The survey encompassed about 613 workers of an office team, about more than one-fourth of respondents choosing to reduce the number of meetings.

The computer software company IBM became so focussed about how to avoid the unnecessary meetings that they made it mandatory for the top leadership not to approve any unscheduled meetings. The decision came after their estimation that about more than thirty thousand members of the sales force were spending six hours a week on an average, while preparing for or attending meetings. The sales persons were given directions that they just needed to have one meeting a week with their manager for coaching.

Ways to avoid meetings that waste money and man hours

Online meetings

Today the advancement in technology has helped organize online meetings. This has proved to be a boon for all those who have to travel extensively to attend meeting which do not matter to them. It provides the organisation’s team an ability to not only meet the bosses or colleagues online, but also to share documents, applications, display web pages and organise polls. The ability to facilitate meetings online, with the same effectiveness of speaking and getting replies immediately at a fraction of the otherwise cost, has made online meetings a huge hit.

You can make your choice out of several online meeting solutions, such as e-mail chat software, video conferencing, web conferencing, tele conferencing and other online collaboration tool. Selecting the right solution that fits your needs is based upon several different factors, such as the number of participants in the meeting, or on the multimedia materials that you desire to have. Also, for the online meetings you need to plan everything in advance. The success of meetings also depends on the technology resources present for the participants of meetings.

You can also rely on complete software of online meetings, such as, Microsoft. Such software provides whole technology solutions for web conferencing that one can use in the office to organise meetings with both large and small groups, sitting at any corner of the world.

The Microsoft Windows Messenger can connect the team members directly with their colleagues all over the world through text chat, voice and video. This messenger also comes with other features that make your virtual meeting even more comfortable. You can auto select Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to display more than one time zone to have the ability of scheduling the meetings accurately with your global colleagues.

However, one has to be completely careful while opting for online meetings. A web meeting is not a substitute for other kinds of meeting, particularly the face to face meetings. The main blunder that the small businesses usually make is assuming that the new online fast and affordable technology can actually reduce their travel expenses.

After you have had a web meeting, you may realise at the end that probably you should have had a face to face meeting. It is also not so easy to have high quality web conferencing software. You may make mistakes in selecting one or your other office may not have the same features that your messenger has. An unsuccessful web meeting can cause you severe losses in business and sales. For example, a sales presentation may not be so efficient online as it can be face to face. Also, if you are addressing your staff in an online meeting, its failure may cause lost productivity to the organisation.

The Critical Components of Human Resources Training

There are a few ways human resources training is conducted. For many large companies, a well-trained human resources department is key to running a successful business. Employees of these companies need a place where they can go when a payroll discrepancy occurs, a complaint needs to be filed, or when management needs a report on productivity and or labor management. The human resources department becomes a voice for the employee who is not always heard in a large company. This is why training is so important. Human resources training occurs in all cities in most major companies.

Most colleges offer degree programs in human resources. Usually two year degrees, many schools now offer four-year degrees which also incorporate business management and dispute resolution. These degrees can be taken to any company in search of a trained human resources person. There are many areas in human resources training one can specialize in from payroll, benefits, workman’s compensation, to running a human resources office. There are many career opportunities for those who want to help those who work in factories, and other large industries.

Online training has become popular in recent years. With schools like the University of Phoenix and others, a person can receive human resources training from the comfort of home. If a person wants to take many classes or just on or two, online programs offer flexible schedules. Many people who take classes online have jobs and other commitments. They might be looking for additional human resources training or are trying to find a new career path. Either way, these schools offer the same classes as traditional classes at a university.

Sometimes companies will sponsor seminars for their staff. This is another way human resources training is offered. Through these seminars, people learn about conflict resolution, which are ways to handle arguments between two or more people. Conflict can occur at any time during the workday. It is important how a person handles it. With proper human resources training, a person can diffuse a situation which could have resulted in physical or verbal violence. These seminars, taught by private consulting companies are one or two days. People leave these seminars feeling better about their jobs and able to implement new skills.

Human resources training is on-going. There is something new to learn whether it is a new payroll program, a new labor tracking program, or how to handle employees who are angry and need someone to talk to. It is important to remember that people have concerns and need to have someone who will listen and take the proper measures to ensure their complaint does not go unnoticed.

The Effectiveness Of Online Training

Online training is known by numerous names and acronyms—computer-based training (CBT), web-based training (WBT), cyber-training, distance learning, e-learning, etc. By whatever name, online training is a method of delivering training through an electronic medium without the immediate presence of a human instructor. By taking advantage of technology, online training can be more cost effective by delivering more knowledge in a more flexible and efficient manner.

There are distinct advantages to online training that may apply to your organization. With an online training course you have the ability to consolidate education and training across geographical and time constraints. Courses can be delivered to people in different offices without the expense of travel and with less interruption of work schedules. For individuals with busy schedules, online training courses offer the flexibility of being available when the people are able to take the training.

This flexibility is the strongest facet of online training and the flexibility extends beyond scheduling. For many people, an online training course supplies material in a more palatable manner then instructor-led courses. This certainly isn’t true for everyone, but the power of online training to help many people makes it an important tool for your training program. Online training is self-paced and includes interactive tutorials, questionnaires, case studies, self-assessment, and other features that easily assimilate to individual learning styles. Because people have more control over their training experience, online training offers the opportunity to learn in a non-stressful environment.

An online training course combines the advantages of uniformity in training and self-paced training. The basic course is the same for each trainee (while still offering you the chance to tailor instruction more easily) but can be delivered to different people at different times. While a human instructor is only available a limited time, online training materials don’t “go home” and trainees can review the subject matter as needed or desired. Support can be supplied via e-mail or phone.

Online training most likely will not require any additional equipment at your location. Training is delivered through existing computers and an Internet connection. Most online courses will run through any Internet browser on any operating system. You will need to dedicate newer and powerful computers to the training is the course has graphics, sound or video. Don’t make the mistake of using old castoff computers as your training computers. That will just make your trainees frustrated.

Still, being in an electronic format alone does not ensure that training is effective. How do you make the online training course effective for your people? To be effective, an online training course must be interactive without being messy. Bells and whistles are not always a benefit if they overburden the user. The course material and its interface should be streamlined. So, while you can incorporate video and audio instructions, interactive simulations, testing modules, and the like, the question you should be constantly asking is: “does this add to the substance of the course?” Does the way information is being portrayed supplement the learning object of a particular topic. If it does not add to the real content of the course and increase the knowledge of your trainees, then all of the flash and pizzazz will end up being more distracting than helpful. Likewise, always be sure that the learning interface, navigation graphics, and control buttons are easily understood and useable.

The self-paced flexibility of online training can also be a negative as well as a positive. Flexible should not mean unstructured. Yes, people can take the training when it fits their own schedule, but that schedule should still be a structured, set time, not just starting and ending when they feel like it. Thus, you probably want to have the online training course only available on computers inside a dedicated training room. Assign specific times for trainees to come for training in an environment where they can train undistracted. Really, your online training environment should be similar to an instructor-led training environment—a room conducive to learning and concentration where trainees can get the most out of their time.

When designed and carried out systematically and in an organized manner online training can be highly effective. Either as an addition to or a replacement for the face-to-face classroom environment, online training can be a strong part of your organization’s training environment.

The Employee Time Clock

Many of us still remember those punch clocks that our parents used to punch in and out of work, these machines were planned to keep an eye on the time employees spent and hopefully worked at the work place.

For many years, companies have relied on employee time clocks to accurately record how many hours are worked by each employee every week. Even though clocks have changed, these companies need to have some type of system that they can use to create payroll and ensure employees are getting paid for each hour worked. Employees these days use cards that they swipe along a slot, which reads their name and records the time they clocked in. Employees must also clock out each day the same way.

After the pay week is over, the central computer system tallies every employee’s hours and prints them out on a spreadsheet. This makes the payroll process efficient and rids much human error.
The employee time clock is something that has been tied to the factory and to productiveness, it is very surprising to learn that a lot of workers during the years have tried to find creative ways of using the time clock to their advantage, it is even more surprising to understand how much time and effort was spent into making sure that the time clock was always one step ahead and that company rules made absolutely sure that no one even thought of messing with it.

The employee time clock is usually located near a main entrance or break room area. Employees who do not get paid for lunch breaks must clock out during lunchtime. It is against any companies policy to use another employees time card or to clock in or out for them. This type of behavior usually results in both employees being fired. It is considered fraud to use another person’s time card.

The employee clock is a time saver in that payroll hours are automatically added up by the computer system. This is not to say the machines are perfect. Sometimes the magnetic stripe on the machine or the card does not work properly, so an employee’s time will not be recorded. Other times an employee might forget to clock in after lunch. These errors will need to be fixed in the computer system.

The employee clock will also be around for payroll needs. Even though there have been advancements made to make the clock more efficient, the principle of the employee clock will not change. Hourly employees need a way to keep track of their time. Companies need logical ways to record and monitor an employees time to ensure they are putting in the hours they need to continue being a productive employee.

With the development of computer software and better time clocks the old fashioned time clock slowly disappears from our lives, but new and better tools are added daily to ensure employees time is well spent.

The Evolution Of Employee Motivation

The concept of employee motivation is not at all a new idea. It has been around as long as there have been employees and employers. While the concept itself is not new, new research and awareness have made new aspects of employee motivation not only a possibility, but a reality in the world today.

It was not at all uncommon in the past for an employer to offer some system of rewards and privileges as a means of employee motivation. Recent thinking however has given way to the fact that this process may actually alienate other workers who, for whatever reason, may not be as capable in a particular field or endeavor. Ultimately, the belief was that this was actually contrary to effective employee motivation and in reality, decreased employee productivity. Since the main idea behind employee motivation is to increase worker productivity, this was seen as very limited in scope and detrimental in the long run regarding employer-employee relations.

Recent beliefs and ideas have introduced new concepts to the field of employee motivation. One of the most common “new” areas of growth in the area of employee motivation is through the use of work teams.

This concept of employee motivation had its major start in the aerospace industry. It allowed a group of dedicated employees to focus together as a team on any given project. This idea of employee motivation worked especially well since it allowed for creative input from a number of employees without restricting the thought of any single person or alienating any one employee in particular. When the projects went well, the employees were celebrated as a group or as a team, offering employee motivation to the whole group instead of to any one individual.

This concept of employee motivation has since evolved and become common in many fields of study. There are a number of seminars offered which are specifically designed and promoted as a means to offer not only employee motivation, but to create an atmosphere of team work that is surprisingly beneficial to worker productivity. By allowing the people to work together as teams, and as is often the case in these seminars, making any one employee’s success dependent on the ability of the team as a whole, the workers are unified and become more closely knit and function much better together. This has had profound and far reaching effects in the area of employee motivation.

The Impact of Sickness Absence Among Workforce

Studies have revealed that sickness absence, from short-term and longer-term sickness, is one of the major reasons for employee absences. Stress is also emerging as a major factor with its impact higher compared to earlier periods.

Any absence management program would hence require special focus on sickness absence.

<b>Different Kinds of Sickness Reported for Sickness Absence</b>

Minor illness such as colds, flu, stomach upset and headaches are the most frequently reported kinds of sickness, among both manual and non-manual employees. Employees might just call in sick reporting such problems.

Manual workers engaged in physically demanding work tend to suffer more from physical ailments like back pain and musculo-skeletal injuries. For non-manual employees stress is a major problem, with one study reporting it as the second most frequent type of sickness, after minor illnesses.

Recurring medical conditions is another major contributor to sickness absence.

<b>Stress-Related Sickness Absences</b>

Excessive and sustained pressure of work can lead to stress when it goes beyond acceptable levels of pressure. In such cases, employers can be held liable for compensation payments for stress-related injuries.

Even psychiatric disorders can result where employees have to work in a confusing, non-rewarding and non-empowered manner, without support and understanding from their managers.

Stress adversely affects health, happiness and performance at work. Even without compensation payments, stress can cost the employer in the form of lower level of employee performance.

Stress is not a single illness, but a range of health problems arising from varied kinds of work pressures.

Under law, employers are obliged to assess stress risks in workplace and manage things in a way to reduce incidence of stress.

<b>Impact of Stress Assessment on Sickness Absence</b>

Even without the compulsion of law, enlightened employers would recognize the impact of stress risk assessment and remedial workplace measures. Stress is estimated to cause the highest level of sickness absence in this century.

Interacting with employees through questions, attitude surveys and job satisfaction surveys are the typical ways for stress-risks assessment. The assessment seeks to assess whether:
<ul>
<li>Employees find jobs too demanding</li>
<li>Employees are able to control how the work is done</li>
<li>They receive adequate support from colleagues and managers</li>
<li>They are clearly aware of their roles and responsibilities</li>
<li>They have to suffer unacceptable kinds of behavior from others</li>
<li>Organizational changes are affecting them unduly</li>
</ul>

<b>Reducing Sickness Absence</b>

The stress risk assessment factors mentioned above would give an idea of how stress can be reduced. Develop policies and job specifications that help employees understand their roles and responsibilities clearly. Give them some leeway in how the work is done. Create a workplace atmosphere where workers seek to help each other instead of find faults with each other. Educate the employees so that they are better able to cope with problems.

For sickness absence in general, it is important to let employees know the procedures involved in availing sickness absence. Some kinds of short-term sickness might need only self-certification while others would need a doctor's certificate or even an examination by the company doctor. Employees need to inform their supervisors about their absence and the reasons for it.

A return-to-work interview after a sickness absence, particularly short-term sickness, can help the organization identify real problems and take suitable measures. Managers can discuss the situation with the employee and help the latter with the problem.

Managers are trained to conduct return-to-work interviews and to help employees with health-related problems. Sick pay is often restricted to discourage availing sick leave to the extent possible.

With the help of occupational health specialists, organizations can take steps to reduce the incidence of occupational health risks at the workplace.

Measures such as the above could have a significant impact on sickness absence.

<b>Conclusion</b>

Minor illnesses and stress are emerging as the major contributors to sickness absence. In certain industries, occupational health risks can contribute to increased sickness and absence. All organizations could benefit from carrying out a stress risks assessment survey of their workplaces, and adopting policies and job practices that reduce stress. A return-to-work interview by properly trained managers can help identify problems early, and help employees handle them.

The Importance of Organization

When you begin a business, you begin a challenge that is unlike any other. Suddenly your life is much more complicated than you ever thought it would be. The case is certainly no different with a food concession business. Some may think that it is much easier to deal with, but that is just not the case. While the concession trailer business is a difficult undertaking no matter what you do, there are many things that you can do to make your life easier. One of the most important traits to make sure that you perfect when opening and running any business is organization. Developing your organizational skills can help you have a much easier time with paperwork, routine for business, and can make your life easier in general.

The first thing that getting organized can do for you is to give you help with your paperwork. Keeping track of income, expenditures and taxes is all a part of running a successful business. Coming up with an organizational system can help obliterate confusion. Having receipts, ticket books, and an up-to-date list of income and expenditures cuts down on clutter as well. Plus, when you need to find something, you can go right to the items you are looking for because they are well organized. There are several systems out there that you can put into place for your concession business. There are electronic tracking systems available or you can come up with a system that is all your own that can work for you. Taxes are something you must keep very close track of or it becomes difficult to prepare them when the time comes. Payroll is something else that organization can aid with if you have employees.

Organization doesn’t just come in handy with regard to paperwork. It can also help when you are dealing with inventory and daily and weekly business routines. Listing the things you expect from your business operations and from your employees is a great way to make sure everything gets done when it is supposed to. Also, having a system for the stocking and restocking of inventory can make the business run a lot more smoothly. If you don’t have a system in place, do some research. The internet is a fantastic source of information. Also, asking people in this line of work the way that they handle their businesses can be of tremendous help.

 Organization is not simply for the business world. It can make your overall life better in general. Organizing your life will make things easier to find, save you time, and could even save you money. Wasting time looking for things you’ve misplaced and forgetting to take that defective product back to the store can cost you two of the most valuable commodities that exist. Time and money don’t grow on trees and if you take the time to organize and then you keep it that way, they are two commodities you don’t have to worry about losing. Organizing your business can bring you the same benefit, in a much bigger way. The value of your time is more and the money you stand to lose is a much higher amount. The price for being disorganized in your business is definitely a hefty one.

The Interim Management Lifestyle

Interim management isn’t the career for you if you don’t like challenge and change. But for those of us who love both, it brings a rich variety of enhancing and intensive experiences: exposure to different industries, products and processes, and a variety of organisational structures, and cultural styles and the opportunity to establish an outstanding “track record for delivery”, added to which interim managers love not having to go through rounds of appraisals only to be told that: “unfortunately budgets for salary increases are limited”.

Show Me The Money
In fact, performance can probably never be more directly linked to pay. Even new interim managers can raise their fees for the next assignment as much as they like - providing the market thinks they're worth it. Enough said you might think, but operating through a limited company also reduces tax costs if more remuneration is taken through shareholder dividends. And don’t forget that the cost of IT, office furniture, consumables, some utilities, vehicle running costs, and indeed VAT, can be borne by the business.

No Such Thing As Job Security Even in a “Permanent” Role Whilst even the best executive interim managers can be hit hard by an economic downturn, arguably there's no such thing as a "permanent” line management role any more. Anyway, even in downturns can’t interim managers just drop their fees to become more saleable? Well the truth is, it doesn’t always work that way. Nevertheless, many interims feel more (not less) secure, in the knowledge that their career has more longevity than the corporate alternative.

Interim Management Lifestyle – More Choice
It’s true that an interim management lifestyle means greater choice: flexibility between part-time or full-time work, working at home or on site, the frequency and duration of holidays. It also means that because of the objectivity that comes with not being a permanent employee, during assignments organisational politics are less of a grind.

Interim management also means that a great career doesn't have to come at the expense of unsettling the family by relocating every three years or so. But it sometimes means working away from home perhaps for four or five nights over a long period, which isn’t easy for young families. And don’t forget to start pulling your weight around the home and talking to your spouse over dinner after spending nine months on your own in a hotel!

Yes executive interim managers have more flexibility to spend quality time and extended holidays with the family between assignments, but realistically it isn’t always spent on a beach somewhere. Between interim management assignments the role morphs into “Sales Director” and interims become relentless networkers. So if you’re not good at self-promotion or not keen to become good at it fast – give it some thought. And then there’s the tedious administration: paying bills, filling in VAT returns.

There is however a somewhat perverse upside to invoicing!

The Key Importance of Workforce Management for Organizations

Unless yours is a one-man organization, you achieve your organizational goals, to a smaller or greater degree, through a workforce. If that workforce is not productive, the efficiency of goals-achievement suffers and costs of achievement go up.

To some extent, productivity can be ensured through use of fear. However, in modern organizations operating in a competitive environment, fear is becoming less and less effective. Workers have increasing choices for selecting their employers.

This is particularly true of IT workforce with the specific kind of skills that your organization needs. You have not only to find people with the right skills but you also have to retain them. Both productivity and customer service can improve significantly if you are able to maintain a stable workforce.

It is in this context that workforce management has become a key management area these days.

<b>What Is Workforce Management?</b>

Workforce management seeks to develop a workforce consisting of happy and productive workers through:
<ul>
<li>Good payroll and benefits packages and administration</li>
<li>Best HR practices that help recruit and retain the right kind of workers with the right set of skills</li>
<li>Training and developing the workers into a team with the right mix of skills and fitting in with the organizational culture</li>
<li>Monitoring performance and rewarding good performers</li>
<li>Forecasting requirements and developing career and succession plans to meet the requirements</li>
</ul>

While the above is the generally accepted view of workforce management, newer and specialized definitions have also developed. These specialized kinds of workforce management cater to the emerging needs of service organizations and call centers.

Workforce management software can help service organizations through:
<ul>
<li>Forecasting work orders</li>
<li>Planning the number of skills of technicians needed to service these work orders</li>
<li>Planning the tools and vehicles needed for the servicing</li>
<li>Scheduling the workers, tools and vehicles in an optimal manner using predefined rules</li>
<li>Assigning work orders to particular technicians in each area</li>
</ul>

For call centers, workforce management software can:
<ul>
<li>Forecast call volumes throughout the day</li>
<li>Plan shifts in a customized manner</li>
<li>Schedules workers by skills and experience</li>
<li>Forecast seasonal changes in volumes</li>
<li>Monitor performance</li>
</ul>

<b>Workforce Management Contribution to Bottom Line</b>

The diversity of skill sets required in modern IT departments make it critical that these be assessed and managed properly. Otherwise, the IT department would rather be a drag on the resources of the organization instead of being a contributor to its bottom line. There would be an imbalance in the demands and availability of specific IT skills.

Service organizations need to optimize the contribution of their workforce through scheduling and routing of their field service personnel. This scheduling is a complex exercise that needs to consider the skills, nearness to the service sites, availability of needed parts and other factors. It would need specialist workforce management software to handle this complexity in a reasonably satisfactory manner.

<b>Conclusion</b>

A workforce with right skill sets and experience can make a real contribution to achieving organizational objectives. With an increasingly competitive marketplace for skilled workers, only a highly effective workforce management could help organizations hire, develop and keep their skilled workforce. Workforce management software can help IT and service organizations optimize worker satisfaction and performance.

We will look at different aspects of workforce management in a series of articles.