Business Courses

5 Reasons You Should Outsource Your Online Tasks

If you've been online for a while, either as an internet user searching for information or an online business owner, you might have seen the ups and downs of netpreneurs.

You may also, for some extends, get frustrated by the result of your online activities. Especially if you are an online business owner. You just don't see any substantial growth of your online business.

What went wrong? You might think. You've bought all the manuals. You've followed all the how tos. You've set up all the necessary softwares.

You start to think about being cheated by those so called 'experts'. You become afraid of failure in pursuing online business success. You start to think to just quit.

But, don't quit!

What you might've missed was proper strategy you should've built to make your online business grow. What you've done was just tactics. You checked emails. You searched for resale rights products, you hunted for affiliate programs, you submitted you website urls, you wrote articles, you submitted articles, etc. All those activities consumed your time. You never have the time to rethink your strategy at the first place.

Your strategy is your guided approach and principle toward your goals and vision. If you have not got vision, you're doomed!

When you've set your vision and goals, it's easier to develop you online strategy and outsource most of you online tasks.

Here are 5 reasons why you should outsource your online tasks:

1. When you set you vision and goals, it is then easier to value your time. By outsourcing you reduce the amount of time you might have wasted.

2. You need to speed up your process to see result. By outsourcing you eliminate the hassle of doing-it-all by yourself that may drag you off.

3. You need to increase your productivity. You only have 24 hours a day. No more. The most productive activities need the most of your time. You're investing your time by outsourcing the most repetitive time consuming tasks.

4. Sometimes you just need an expert to do your tasks. You don't have time to learn all the techie things. You just waste your time learning HTML or PHP just to make your site ups and running. Scripting, creating logo, submitting articles are tasks that should be outsourced.

5. Outsourcing clears up your thinking and makes you more concentrate on developing your online business strategy.

The next thing you should consider is where to outsource your tasks. You have to be careful in choosing your outsource partners.

5 Reasons Why Recordkeeping Is So Important

When you decided to start your business, was your first priority concerned with setting up your filing system for recording your expenses? I seriously doubt it. This simple task (yes it is simple) is usually the item that is the last thing on the new business owner’s mind. The more “important” issues of what product to sell, how am I going to advertise, how much money is it going to cost me, and how much money can I make are the first questions we consider when going into business.

The task of recordkeeping is usually procrastinated until the very last minute, when it is required. It is time to file your tax return, or time to go to the bank to get a loan for the business and the banker wants to see some financial records for the business. This can be a very daunting and cumbersome task if you have to dig through receipts and expenses for the whole year! No wonder we hate keeping records. That’s no fun!

Well, guess what? If you aren’t keeping good, timely, and up-to-date records monthly, you don’t need to be in business. That’s right. I said it. Here are the top five reasons why I truly believe this statement.

1. Lost tax deductions = Lost Money If you are throwing your receipts in a shoebox each month and not keeping an organized record of your income and expenses, I can bet you money that you are losing out on some major tax deductions. A smart businessperson keeps track of her income (cash in) and expenses (cash out) monthly, sometimes even weekly. You do not need a fancy accounting software package to do this. You don’t even need a computer! Simply keep a journal monthly and log in all of your receipts and invoices, and there you have it.

2. High CPA/Tax Preparer Fees = Lost Money I can speak from personal experience, that if you bring in that shoebox of receipts for the year and expect your tax preparer to record and properly deduct your business expenses on your tax return, you are sadly mistaken. Tax season is the busiest time of year for these professionals. If you expect them to do your bookkeeping and recordkeeping as well, expect to pay for it. They don’t have the time, or the desire to make sure that every receipt is accounted for. As a businessperson, it is your responsibility to make sure they are given the right totals and you can trace it right back to your tax return.

3. Too much time spent looking for receipts The time you spend looking for a past receipt for a particular purchase for whatever reason, you can be utilizing this time in advertising your business or producing your product. These are important money generating activities that you are sacrificing due to your lack of recordkeeping.

4. No financial statements Every business owner should review at least the profit and loss statement (income statement) for their business MONTHLY. This important piece of paper tells you if you are making money or losing money. How can you possibly run your business and make a profit if you are not analyzing your sales and expenses continuously? A good recordkeeping system will allow you to have this information at your fingertips.

5. No need for expensive accounting software If you are just starting your business, or are a small business owner, you more than likely do not need software to prepare your books. A simple journal that is kept monthly of your income and expenses is all you need. At a glance, you will know how your business performed for that particular month.

As a business owner, you need to realize the importance of a good recordkeeping system. This should also be a task that the business owner performs for at least three to six months before delegating the job to someone else. You will be able to run your business more effectively, determine possible cycles in the business year, and know where your money is going. Your business will be much more successful if you keep a simple recordkeeping system.

5 Mistakes I made in 2005

Even though I’m pretty happy with how 2005 turned out, there are still some things I wish I had done differently. Here are 5 things I aim to change for 2006

1. Didn’t take time out for me. I admit it, I have the typical entrepreneur bug. I spent way too much time working on my business and not nearly enough time on me. In 2006, I plan to take more breaks and schedule in some “me-time.”

2. Wasn’t as consistent with my own marketing. Much like not taking time out for me, I also struggled with not taking as much time as I should have for marketing my own business. (Remember the old adage of the shoemaker’s children running around barefoot? Marketing my clients’ businesses always came before my own.) Now, my business has grown rapidly, so although I’m not exactly complaining, I do wonder where I’d be if I had been more consistent about my own marketing.

3. Got distracted. One of my biggest problems is what my coach, Melanie Benson Strick, Success Connections, calls “bright shiny object syndrome.” That’s where you find yourself chasing all sorts of bright shiny objects (also known as “new” opportunities or “new” ideas) rather than focusing on your core business systems. What happens is you end up with a lot of half-finished or barely-started ideas and very few actually completed.

I unfortunately have this syndrome bad. Although I’m much better than I used to be, I still allowed myself to get distracted by a few half-baked plans in 2005.

Which leads me to #4…

4. Didn’t attain a couple of my business goals. Because I allowed myself to get distracted, I didn’t meet a couple of business goals in 2005. Needless to say, this mistake is at the top of my list of issues to address in 2006. Now that I know how to eliminate the vast majority of distractions, I’m looking forward to getting even more tasks accomplished in 2006.

5. Waited too long to do the things I did right. Okay, I know this is the wrong thing to focus on, but I just have to say it and then I can move on. 2005 was such a banner year for me and a large reason for that was because of the 5 Things I Did Right (you can read that article on my blog, http://www.writingusa.com/blog). But unfortunately, I also can’t help wondering where I would be if I hadn’t waited so long to start doing those things.

Okay, I said it, and now I can move on. But please, if nothing else, don’t make THIS same mistake – read my article on the 5 Things I Did Right and see if there are a few things you can implement in your business. That may be the ticket to turning 2006 into your best year ever.

5 Hidden Traps in Meetings

If you have sat through a few bad meetings, you must have experienced the following traps. Here they are and how to fix them.

1) People think they are experts.

Many people tell me that they know how to hold a meeting. Actually, all they do is host a party. They invite guests, provide treats, and preside over a conversation. People talk. People eat. And nothing happens. Or, if they somehow manage to reach an agreement, no one implements it.

> What to do: Learn how to lead a real meeting. Schedule a workshop or buy a book. When results really matter, hire a facilitator. Recognize that there are modern tools that help people make methodical progress toward results. These tools are practical and easy to use. Of course, you have to know what they are in order to use them. Call me (714-528-1300) for details.

2) People think they are inspiring.

Many people believe that long-winded announcements impress others. Actually, it's the opposite. A long lecture quickly becomes a boring (and sometimes offensive) harangue. Why? Most employees want an active role in contributing to the business, and thus listening to a speech feels like a waste of time.

> What to do: Design meetings that give the attendees opportunities to contribute. Plan questions that direct thinking toward the results that you want. Use activities that help people make decisions. Distribute announcements in letters, memos, or E-mails. Or, if you must use a meeting, keep announcements brief (less than a few minutes).

3) People think others agree with them.

Many people rely on nods, smiles, and eye contact to measure acceptance. Actually, most employees will do anything to appease a boss. And if the boss seems to be upset, the employees will become even more agreeable. Then, once the meeting ends, the employees will do one of three things: 1) forget the lecture, 2) ignore the message, or 3) sabotage the idea.

> What to do: Conduct meetings by a process that everyone considers to be fair. Use consensus to reach agreements and make decisions. People will accept decisions that they helped make.

4) People think others are clairvoyant.

Many people call meetings without an agenda expecting that everyone will arrive sharing their vision for what needs to be done. Actually, everyone brings their private hopes, fears, and vision to the meeting. Without a clear agenda, the result is something between chitchat and chaos, depending upon the complexity of the issue.

Note: A vague agenda, such as a list of topics, is almost as useless as no agenda.

> What to do: Write out your goal for the meeting. Then prepare an agenda that is so complete someone else could use it to run the meeting without you. Specify each step and provide a time budget. Send the agenda at least a day before the meeting so that the attendees can use it to prepare. Call key participants before the meeting to check if they have questions or want to talk about the agenda.

5) People think meetings are necessary.

Many people respond to every emergency, surprise, or twitch by calling a meeting. Actually, a meeting is a special (and expensive) process. It should be used only to obtain results that require the efforts of a group of people working as a team. A meeting is NOT a universal cure for everything. Meetings held for the wrong reasons, waste everyone's time.

> What to do: Challenge every meeting for its ability to earn a profit for your business. That is, make sure the value of the results is greater than the cost of holding a meeting. If any other activity can accomplish the same result, use that other activity.

5 Great Reasons To Hire A Telecommuter

How would you like to hire someone that is more motivated and more qualified to do the work and costs you less than your average employee? No, I am not talking about hiring someone illegally. You can accomplish this simply by employing a telecommuter. Let’s take a look at 5 very good reasons, why it makes sense for you to consider telecommuting from an employer’s perspective.

1) Less Overhead
How much is all this office space, furniture, computer equipment along with your IT department to maintain them, utility bills etc. costing you? Telecommuters do not require any of the above, which will cut your overhead cost tremendously. Telecommuters use their own office, their own equipment from computers to paperclips; use their own power, phone and Internet connection. If their computer acts up, it’s up to them to get it up and running again.

2) Less Benefits To Pay
Most telecommuters are independent contractors. You do not have to provide for health care, workman’s compensation or paid vacation. Consider the tax benefits as well; there is no employer portion of federal and state tax to pay.

3) Hire Experts When Needed
Do you need someone to write the occasional press release and maybe come up with a revision to your brochure every once in a while? Instead of hiring someone fulltime as your marketing person, consider outsourcing the tasks to a freelance telecommuter. You will pay per project, or hire your freelancer for a few hours per month, instead of creating a marketing position. Freelancers give even small businesses the opportunity to hire an expert for almost any task.

4) On Demand Work
Do you expect a temporary increase in your workload, be it seasonal, or because you just landed a large project? Why not pick up a few telecommuters for the task instead of working with inexperienced temps, or hiring in-office personnel that you may not need three months down the road. Telecommuters combine the flexibility of temps with the on-the-job experience of permanent employees. You get the best of both worlds.

5) More Motivated Workers
Telecommuters have a very good reason why they want to work from home. Whether that reason is being able to stay home with the kids, a disability, or avoiding a long commute, being able to work from home makes them happy. As you well know, happy employees are more motivated, don’t count the minutes until they can leave the office and overall get more work done.

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to give telecommuter a try the next time you need a highly motivated, experienced worker, but aren’t in a position to create a permanent onsite position. Once you have experienced all the benefits a telecommuter brings to your organization, you may even consider converting even more positions to telecommuting.

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.

5 Action Ideas to Deal with Difficult People

When was the last time you had to deal with a difficult customer? It was probably and external customer but perhaps it was an internal customer, such as a member of your team, a colleague or even - your boss!

I'm sure that you always want to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers. However, in the real world, things go wrong and mistakes are made. These "customers" will often judge your level of service based on how you respond to a mistake. Do it well and they'll probably forgive you and possibly even say positive things about your business or your abilities to other people.

The important thing to realise when dealing with an upset customer, be they internal or external, is that you must -deal with their feelings, then deal with their problem. Upset customers are liable to have strong feelings when you, your product or service lets them down and they'll probably want to "dump" these feeling on you.

You don't deal with their feelings by concentrating on solving the problem, it takes more. Here are 5 action ideas that deal with the customers' human needs:

1 - Don't let them get to you - Stay out of it emotionally and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively. Customers may make disparaging and emotional remarks - don't rise to the bait.

2 - Listen - listen - listen - Look and sound like your listening. The customer wants to know that you care and that you're interested in their problem.

3 - Stop saying sorry - Sorry is an overused word, everyone says it when something goes wrong and it's lost its value. How often have you heard - "Sorry 'bout that, give me the details and I'll sort this out for you". Far better to say "I apologise for ......" And if you really need to use the sorry word, make sure to include it as part of a full sentence. "I'm sorry you haven't received that information as promised Mr Smith". (It's also good practise to use the customers name in a difficult situation).

4 - Empathise - Using empathy is an effective way to deal with the customers feelings. Empathy isn't about agreement, only acceptance of what the customer is saying and feeling. Basically the message is - "I understand how you feel". Obviously this has to be a genuine response, the customer will realise if you're insincere and they'll feel patronised. Examples of empathy responses would be - "I can understand that you're angry", or "I see what you mean". Again, these responses need to be genuine.

5 - Build rapport - Sometimes it's useful to add another phrase to the empathy response, including yourself in the picture. - "I can understand how you feel, I don't like it either when I'm kept waiting". This has the effect of getting on the customer's side and builds rapport. Some customer service people get concerned with this response as they believe it'll lead to - "Why don't you do something about it then". The majority of people won't respond this way if they realise that you're a reasonable and caring person. If they do, then continue empathising and tell the customer what you'll do about the situation. "I'll report this to my manager" or "I'll do my best to ensure it doesn't happen in the future".

Make no mistake about it; customers, be they internal or external, are primarily driven by their emotions. It's therefore important to use human responses in any interaction particularly when a customer is upset or angry. If customers like you and feel that you care, then they're more likely to accept what you say and forgive your mistakes.

4 Tips To Ensure A Rewarding Experience When Hiring Others

Hiring an employee can be a big step for many small business owners. It means the end of doing EVERYTHING yourself and passing off some of the work!

In order to make the experience rewarding for both you and your employees there are a few things that every boss and leader should do…

1) Reward people for a job well done. Its frustrating working for someone who enjoys all the financial rewards of the efforts put forth by the entire team, especially if they don't recognize what everyone has accomplished and contributed.

It doesn't take much to acknowledge the effort of your staff. It makes a HUGE difference in the working atmosphere when you take a few moments to acknowledge your team. People like to know that they've done a good job.

2) Always provide a balance between positive and negative comments. Your job as a leader is to recognize the talents of those around you and feed them with the motivation and positive energy to take YOUR ideas to entirely new levels. Help them serve you better by building up their confidence... not tearing it down.

3) Step up and accept responsibility for your projects. At the end of the day if things don't go according to plan, in my opinion, the responsibility falls onto the leader's shoulders. Stand up and accept the responsibility should anything ever go wrong.

If your staff always bear the burden of projects gone bad, it will drag people down and destroy your working environment. Start contributing to the emotional bank account of those around you.

If you acknowledge the behavior you want to see more of, you'll start seeing more of it. Be positive and accept some responsibility when things don't go according to plan.

4) When you have good people it's your responsibility as a leader to hold on to them. People with talent will take your company to entirely new levels but if they keep leaving, the growth of your company will be stinted.

People with skills know that they have options. Hanging the carrot of a potential big pay day will only work for a certain period of time. After a while it wears off and they start looking elsewhere. The last thing you want is for them to end up with your competition.

So the moral of the story is find good people, train them, treat them well, and your business will take off.

Recruiting Software VS CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

What is CRM? If I buy CRM software will I be a better recruiter?
Should recruiting software have CRM features? Do recruiting software vendors include CRM in their product?

I think CRM is a lot of smoke created by some very good marketing people who could sell ice to Eskimos.

A common definition for CRM is “The process of using information to find, secure and keep customers. The people, events, and questions associated with marketing, sales, and service”. Yikes! I thought that is what recruiting is?

Why am I on such a soap box? Because I talk to about 50 different recruiters and recruitment firm owners a week and every once in a while I get asked does this software contain CRM. A few years back when the question was asked I was at a loss for words. I had no idea what they were talking about. I was terribly concerned that after 25 years in the recruiting industry putting in 10 hours a day seven days a week I had completely missed something and an entire process went right over my head.

So I went to work reading and studying everything I could find on CRM and came to the conclusion that CRM and recruiting software are one and the same. If your recruiting software does not have the characteristics defined by CRM then you do not have recruiting software.

First of all, who are the customers of an executive recruiter? Candidates and clients are! As any recruiter knows the product of a recruiter is also the customer, the candidate, one unique characteristic of the recruiting industry.

Let’s go back to that CRM definition above. “The process of using information to find, secure and keep customers”. Your recruiting software must be used to find and track candidates and clients. Once found the software has to keep them available to you through periodic contact.

Next, “The people, events and questions associated with marketing, sales and service”. Ok, if your recruiting software cannot help you market to different demographics of clients and candidates then why are you using it? What are you using to market to clients and candidates? Do you have a separate system for this? Do you have a separate database for marketing to clients, a separate database for marketing to candidates? Do candidates sometimes become clients? Do clients sometimes become candidates? Is candidate John Smith repeated in the client Database and then again in a separate marketing system? How silly these questions are! If you answer yes to any of the above I suggest you reconsider your whole approach to recruiting.

And if you have this separation how in the world are you ever going to keep track of the events and questions? Perhaps if they are all separate I can sell you business idiot consolidation software that will pull all these desperate systems together for you.

So I will answer the leading questions. If I buy CRM software will I be a better recruiter? No, because you’re an idiot for having recruiting software that is not also CRM. Should recruiting software have CRM features? Of course, CRM and recruiting software are one and the same thing. Do recruiting software vendors include CRM in their product? Yes, if they don’t they are not a recruiting software vendor.

A Mobile Merchant Account

If you operate a mobile business and worry about taking credit card payments the old fashioned way, rest assured that a mobile merchant account can provide you with up-to-date technology that will give you the lowest retail rate and instant card feedback while in the field. You won’t have to worry that you might not learn that a customer’s credit card is rejected when you return to the office. Nor will you have to leave a statement and hope the customer remembers to send in a payment. Now you can apply for a mobile merchant account that will provide you with up-to-date wireless equipment that can provide confidence and security while you are processing payments on the road.

When you are ready to apply for a mobile merchant account, you will be happy to know that many companies can give you an answer the same day. As long as your company has a decent credit history and is able to pay monthly fees for account services, you should have no problem in getting approved for a merchant account. If you conduct business while on the road, for example, by delivering floral arrangements, making service calls, or providing transportation, you can collect credit card payments at the point of sale rather than waiting to send a bill or hoping the customer will have the correct amount of cash or pay with a check that won’t bounce. If you plan to attend a trade show, a conference, a convention, or a seminar where you will be selling products, you can take along a wireless credit card processor to make sure you get paid the same day. Wireless units come with or without printers. They will let you get the lower retail swiped rate, along with immediate authorization and sales confirmation, instead of paying the keyed-in rate if you call the credit card number into the office for processing.

Your mobile merchant account will help you save money and time. You can handle the credit card processing yourself instead of hiring accounting staff to send out bills and call for collections when checks bounce from the back. You can even get additional mobile equipment to support your business transactions while in transit, like a pager or an e-check processor. Most units are small and easy to transport in a vehicle of just about any size. They fit neatly on a table for indoor business purposes, too. No special training is required for operating them. Just read the instructions or talk to the account associate to learn how you can start accepting credit card payments quickly and easily.

The rates for utilizing a merchant account are not prohibitive. Plan to discuss the fees with your lender to be sure you understand the pricing for each type of service. Your credit card processor may be billed at so much per transaction, or you might be able to request a monthly percentage rate. Find out why so many business owners are using credit card processing equipment that can be obtained with the help of a mobile merchant account.

4 Better Ways to Handle Complaints

If you WOW a customer at the Moment of Truth , the average customer will walk away and tell 5 people about the experience.

If you fail to meet the customer's expectations at the Moment of Truth , customers are very likely to tell 11 people about the problem they had with your company.

If you drop the ball with customers at the Moment of Truth , but rebound with a quick customer recovery, research shows that the customer will tell up to 17 people about your service recovery.

Did you get that? Customers will tell 5 people if you WOW them, BUT if there's a problem and you quickly fix it, they will tell more than 3 times as many people as they would if no problem had occurred at all.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to grow your bottom line is to equip your front line employees with skills to respond to complaints and problems in such a way that they completely regain goodwill and restore the customer's confidence.

Read on to find out exactly how to do this.

 1. Resolve problems as quickly as possible. The faster the resolution, the better the chances for maintaining loyalty. TARP, Inc. found that ninety-five percent of complaining customers would remain loyal if their complaint was resolved on the first contact. That number dropped to seventy percent when the complaint was not immediately resolved. In fact, the speed of resolution has a greater impact on future loyalty than the resolution itself. Strive to resolve complaints on the first contact and when that isn't possible, final resolution should occur within 5 - 10 business days in order to maintain and build loyalty.

2. Give Them Something. Coupons, product samples, and other freebies have a definite impact on loyalty after a service failure has occurred. Years ago American Airlines gave me 7000 frequent flyer miles after I experienced a gruesome delay. And that gift of miles, was enough to make me come back. But don't take my word for it: A study conducted for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP) found that 58% of complaining consumers who received something in the mail following their contact with consumer affairs departments were delighted, versus only 40% of those who did not receive anything. Giving customers token items, such as coupons or product samples, after a service failure both increases the perception of value and serves to maintain loyalty.

3. Only allow the friendliest, most helpful, and diplomatic employees to talk to customers. Employee courtesy and attitude are critical factors in regaining the goodwill of customers who have experienced a problem. Customers contacting a company with a problem want to talk to a person who is courteous, professional sympathetic and understanding. Additionally, employees must be skilled in communicating with diplomacy, expressing empathy, and representing the company credibly and convincingly during times of consumer distress. The attitudes and behaviors of frontline professionals form powerful lasting impressions with customers whether these impressions are positive or negative.

4. Encourage your people to "Be Gumby". You remember Gumby don't you---the green rubbery figure that Eddie Murphy portrayed so hilariously on Saturday Night Live? In my seminars I teach employees to "Be Gumby" when it comes to dealing with customers. By being Gumby, I mean do whatever it takes to service customers. This includes being flexible, bending over backwards, making a 180 degree turn when you were heading another direction on a non customer-impacting task. It might even mean standing on your head. The idea is to be completely customer focused. Being Gumby guarantees you'll always make customers happy.

3 Worst Mistakes People Make in a Presentation

Truly memorable disasters don’t just happen. They require a special blend of misunderstanding and misguided effort. Here are three ways to guarantee a disaster in your next presentation, and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Believe in Magic

Show up hoping that a coherent, eloquent, useful presentation will magically appear once you start speaking. Avoid any type of preparation. Just wing it.

> What Happens
Everyone is amazed by the presentation because they expected more. They are also bored and disappointed. They may even become upset because an unprepared presentation insults the audience by wasting their time. Unprepared presentations sound like, well, unprepared presentations.

> Instead
Prepare. Identify the goal for your talk. Design a presentation that achieves that goal. Talk with key members of the audience about their expectations. Rehearse.

Mistake #2: Memorize your speech

Spend untold hours committing every precious word to memory so that you can recite it even if awakened in the middle of the night.

> What Happens
You sound like a machine. And if you stumble on a word, you can become stuck--speechless. I've seen this happen, and it's painful.

> Instead
Learn your presentation. Yes, write a script. Memorize the first and last sentences and then practice giving the presentation without looking at the script. Practice many times. Eventually, you will learn how to convey the key ideas in a natural, normal way.

Mistake #3: Talk About Yourself

Focus entirely on yourself. Tell about your background, your credentials, and your history. Tell your story. Just talk about yourself. Make the presentation all about you, yourself, and your life.

> What Happens
They listen politely. If you manage to be entertaining enough, they may actually pay attention. Otherwise, the audience reacts by thinking, "So what?"

> Instead
Talk about the audience. That is, talk about what they need and how they can achieve it.

3 Ways To Protect Your Customers

Customer security is one of the prime considerations of any retail outlet today. Whilst implementing key marketing strategies in order to promote products and increase sales, retail managers also need to be thinking about how safe their customers feel in-store and ways they can improve the attractiveness of their space for shoppers.

Lighting

Good lighting is a key aspect of the customer experience. Stores require lighting that allows customers to see what they are doing and to ensure that no area of the shop is dimly lit or dark, as this is where thefts or attacks could occur. This is particularly important in fitting room areas and in toilet and baby-change facilities where customers are out of the general flow of the shop and there is a reduced staff presence.

CCTV systems

Customers are comforted by the presence of CCTV systems in retail stores. They know that these systems are designed to prevent crime and automatically feel safer in an environment where cameras provide a deterrent to would-be criminals. A CCTV system also often means at least one member of staff dedicated to security and this also makes customers feel more at ease.

Space

The retail environment is one that’s constantly under threat from petty crime – from shoplifting items to pick-pocketing customers. This type of crime is easier to commit in small, crowded shops, where people are more tightly packed into a space and it is difficult for staff, security cameras or general shoppers to see what is going on. It’s easy for people to put goods in their bags without paying for them or to steal a handbag and be out of the shop before anyone’s realised. A key way to defeat this type of crime is by arranging your goods so that there’s more space in the store. This makes it immediately more obvious if someone is acting suspiciously, and customers are more likely to be aware if someone is too close to them or demonstrating threatening behaviour.

There are various other ways that you can make your customers feel safe, but lighting, space and visible CCTV security go a long way to reassuring customers that they are shopping in a safe environment. The safer and more confident your customers feel, the more likely they are to spend money in your store.

A Golden Rule To Manage Job/Workplace Stress

A Golden Rule To Manage Job/Workplace Stress: Having gone for a sea bath, don't be afraid of the oncoming waves. Take your plunge!

* Getting a job, involves lots of stress.
* Getting a job, without the stressful environment, is a blessing.
* Getting a job, with the type work profile that you like, a cheerfully disposed staff, and the administration that maintains the human relations at its best, is a boon!

You put in your best efforts, but everyone around you is dissatisfied. The reasons are beyond your understanding. Your fellow-workers are not happy with you; some of them do not hesitate to taunt you. Your boss frowns at you for nothing. Your wife nags you for your late arrival by 30 minutes from the office. Traveling through public transport, leaving your kid to school, going to the market in between hustle and bustle of office and home-what more is required for you to say, ‘oh, this hellish life!’

These are some of the issues that contribute to your job workplace stress.

If someone else is to be blamed for your stress, blame yourself much more for giving that prominent place for the Satan of stress. Throw him out lock, stock and barrel from your personality. Take a firm stand. Yes, it is possible; it is achievable.

A story goes thus: An educated youngster, fed up of his job workplace stress, ran away to Himalayas. There he met a Yogi. The youngster prostrated at his feet with all humility, and prayed that he wants to stay at His hermitage, as he was fed up of the city life and the job workplace stress.

Yogi’s reply was historic: Don’t runaway to any Ashram; create an Ashram, where you are!

What you need to to is to analyze and understand your stress. Take out the negativities one by one. Unburden the burden! Mind in itself, doesn’t have any existence. It is supposed to be a bundle of thoughts. Take out the thoughts, one by one and reduce the heavy load that you unnecessarily carry on your head.

There was another young man who wanted to take a bath in the sea. He stood at the seashore all the time worrying- let these waves disappear from the ocean, then I will take bath. Will that situation ever be possible? The message to such an youngster would be- having gone for a sea bath, don’t be afraid of the oncoming waves. Take your plunge!

With a positive bent of mind it is possible to control and transcend job workplace stress. Stick to your job, have patience and understanding! Go placidly amidst the noise and din. Everything is happening, as it should!

Monsters in Meetings - Part 2, Multiple Conversations

Side conversations ruin meetings by destroying focus and fragmenting participation.

Here's how to bring your meeting back on track when a side conversation starts.

Approach 1: Ask for cooperation

Start by asking everyone to cooperate. Look at the middle of the group (instead of at the people talking) and say:

"Excuse me (pause to gain everyone's attention). I know all of your ideas are important. So, please let's have one speaker at a time."

"Excuse me. I'm having difficulty hearing what [contributing participant] is saying."

"There seems to be a great deal of interest for this issue. Could we have just one speaker at a time?"

These statements diplomatically acknowledge that a side conversation is occurring without naming the participants or putting them on the spot. Hostile statements, such as: "Hey you! Stop that!" will create hard feelings that undermine your effectiveness as a leader.

Approach 2: Change the process

If side conversations continue, change the rules to make cooperation more convenient. For example, you could use a speaking prop.

A speaking prop is an object that entitles the holder to speak. When the person finishes speaking, the prop is passed on to the next person who wants to speak. Possible props include a gavel, paper cup, or toy. If you are working on a controversial issue, select a soft object, such as a teddy bear or foam ball. It reduces stress and potential injury (if thrown).

Introduce the new process by saying:

"We seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for this issue. So, let's decide that only the person holding the gavel (cup, teddy bear, foam ball) may speak. Is that okay?"

Notice this statement begins with a complimentary acknowledgment of the situation (multiple conversations) followed by a suggestion and ends with a request for cooperation.

Use these techniques to regain control of your meeting.

This is the second of a seven part article on Monsters in Meetings.

3 Steps to Stop Absence and Make People Happy At Work

If you're an employer or a manager then work place absence is costing you money, inconvenience, and upsetting your customers. And as we all know, not all days taken off work are due to genuine sickness. Many employees "take a sickie" because their morale is low and they just don't like or can't do their work.

The challenge for employers and managers is to make people happier at work. And if people are happy at work then they are less likely to take a day off every time they wake up with a stuffy nose.

Some bosses think that paying more money, improving job security or working conditions is the answer. It isn't and it's also something that can be very hard to achieve.

People who employ or supervise other people need to become more tuned to their employees' emotional needs and find out what really motivates them. This is also much easier to achieve than paying more money or improving job security, however there is no quick fix.

To reduce the amount of absence there are three steps you need to consider.

Firstly, pick the right person for the job. You need to get better at interviewing and selecting people.

Take more time over it;pay more attention to the applicant's

human side rather than their qualifications or experience. Get to know them better.

Find out what makes them happy, how well they get on with other people and how much energy and enthusiasm they have. Make sure they know what they're getting into and be sure the job suits them.

Secondly, you need to believe in your people. If you've interviewed well and picked the right person for the job then you need to trust them to do that job. You need to constantly demonstrate to your people that you trust and believe in them by what you say, your tone of voice and your body language.

If you believe that your people are not to be trusted, that they're unable to make a decision without checking with you. That they'll turn up late and go home early, then that's exactly what they'll do.

If on the other hand you believe that they'll do their job well, that they can be trusted to make decisions and they'll give you a fair day's work, then it is more likely this is what you'll get.

As with all theories there is no guarantee that it will work every time, however the majority of employees are reasonable people and if you treat them as such then they are more likely to behave in a positive manner.

The third and probably the most important thing you can do to reduce abscence and motivate your people is to give them feedback and coach them.

This is where so many employers and managers fall down in dealing with their people; they're hopeless at giving feedback. Many managers are uncomfortable telling staff how they feel about their work performance.

Most employees want to know how they are performing in their job; they want to know if they are doing it right or how they could do it better.

If you really want to motivate your people then you need to give them feedback on what they're doing well and what needs improvement.

When you notice an employee doing something you do like, tell them about it. When you notice something you don't like, tell them about it.

Do it as soon as possible. Acknowledging a job well done is not much good six months later. Also, if you don't immediately call someone's attention to something you're not happy about, then they'll assume its okay. Either that or
they'll think you didn't notice or you don't care.

Do it in private. Why is it some managers still feel its okay to reprimand someone in front of their colleagues? Even the mildest rebuke can have a negative effect on morale.

When you do speak to the person use "I" messages. Say things like "I liked the way you did that" or "I'm unhappy with the way your reports are always late and I'd like your views on why this is."

Avoid "You" messages such as "You're doing great." That can come across as patronising or insincere. "You're doing that all wrong" may cause conflict, lower
morale and may not sort the problem.

Focus on one or two things. Don't run off a whole list of attributes or misdemeanours. Also be specific about job behaviour, focus on what the person did or didn't do, don't make a personal attack.

Employees will feel happier if they perceive their employer or manager as a reasonable and fair individual - someone who is quick to praise but also says when they're not happy about something.

The message is - if you want motivated staff then make their work interesting, give them feedback and give them the feeling that they're involved in the business.

We can make the job more interesting by giving people more responsibility, assigning projects and by training and developing them. We need to regularly give people feedback on how they're doing; focussing on what they're doing well rather than on what is not so good. To meet their need to feel involved we should regularly communicate both formally and informally. We could also involve staff in meetings they might not normally attend.

These steps will take time and thought however they'll make a huge difference as to how employees feel about their work. If they feel good and gain satisfaction from their work then they're less likely to find a reason to "take a
sickie".

The Occupational Safety Health Administration:ergonomics Education For The 21st Century Workplace

The Occupational Safety Health Administration -- OSHA -- is dedicated to assisting the owners, operators and managers of business enterprises in the United States in creating safer and more healthy work environments. In this regard, OSHA has created educational opportunities which the owners, operators and managers of business enterprises can take advantage of when they are interested in workplace safety and ergonomics.

The educational opportunities that are provided by OSHA when it comes to ergonomics and the workplace takes two different formats in this day and age. First, OSHA provide written educational materials -- both in real world and digital form on the Internet and World Wide Web. Second, OSHA provides in person training, seminars and classes designed to assist the owners, operators and managers of a business enterprise in designing safe, healthy and ergonomically designed workplaces.

OSHA provides its written and digital educational materials regarding ergonomic issues for no charge to business owners, operators, managers and employees. They offer a wide array of different written materials, educational materials that can be used to work towards a safer and healthier workplace.

As an aside, in addition to the written materials provided by OSHA, the agency has also developed video presentations and audio materials that can also be helpful to a business enterprise intent on designing a truly ergonomically effective workplace. In most instances, there is a nominal charge for these video and audio materials. Many of these items are suitable to be used in workplace training seminars and sessions.

As referenced above, OSHA -- through its trained staff -- is also in the business of providing onsite training to businesses (and employees) regarding issues relating to workplace safety and health. This includes training in regard to ergonomic related matters and issues.

The onsite training seminars can be had in many different forms and on many different topics relating to workplace health, safety and ergonomic issues. Indeed, the staff of the local OSHA office will be able to work with a particular business in designing and developing an onsite training seminar that will meet perfectly the needs and objectives of a particular business, its managers and its employees.

Information on the educational materials and opportunity that are available through OSHA can be found at the agency’s website, the address of which is http://www.OSHA.gov. The site is user and consumer friendly and easy to utilize and negotiate.

The Occupational Safety Health Administration:ergonomics Education For The 21st Century Workplace

The Vital Few

Back in the 19th century, an Italian economist quantified the general relationship between a minority of producers and a majority of output. Sound familiar? The simplified version of Vilfredo Pareto's ratio, known as the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle, says that in most cases, 80% of production comes from 20% of producers.

Quality guru J.M. Juran referred to Pareto's principle as "The Vital Few and the Trivial Many". If you are running a company, the 80/20 rule has powerful implications for every area of your business.

Pareto's postulate says 20% of your effort will generate 80% of your results. There is also a corollary: 20% of your results absorb 80% or your resources or efforts.

The game is knowing which is the right 20% - distinguishing the Vital Few from The Trivial Many. 20% of your customers yield 80% of your revenues, and 20% of your customers yield 80% of your profit. But not necessarily the same 20%.

Your sales force (even if it's just you) will intuitively spend more time with the top 20% customers, but will it be the right 20%? There is also likely to be a top 20% of customer types, a top 20% of territories, and a top 20% of distributors.

Which customers get the most service? Your service team spends 80% of its time on 20% of the customers - although they may not be the most profitable 20%.

Focus your attention on the Vital Few customers. Rank your customers in order - find out who are the top 20% - in profits, not sales - and focus your sales and service attention on them. Determine which 20% are using 80% of your resources. Are they your top profit generators? If not, charge them for the resources you shower on them, or discontinue services to that tier.

Salesperson productivity also fits the 80/20 rule. 20% of your sales force produces 80% of your sales. Should you lavish equal resources on all your salespeople?

Invent Ways to take your 20% and make them even more effective. An assistant or a dedicated account team could be concentrated around your top performers to increase their productivity even more.

All prospects are not created equal. 20% of your prospects have the potential for 80% of your future profits. Are your salespeople spending their time proportionately? Have them do an opportunity analysis to highlight the Vital Few.

Market segmentation: If you have multiple products, services, geographies, customer tiers, etc., 80% of your profits will be come from 20% of the segments. Fully allocate your costs and rank your segments in profit order. Consider dropping, selling or trading less profitable ones.

Production: You may find that 80% of your products or services are created by 20% of your people, 80% of your problems are fixed by 20% of your people, team, and, 80% of your problems probably come from 20% of people. All a different 20%! Wouldn't it be helpful to know which 20% is doing what?

Quality: 80% of your defects are found in 20% of your product units. Also, 80% of the defects come from 20% of the defect types. Spend lots of energy figuring out how to prevent those 20% and you've made huge gains in quality.

Employee retention: Have you identified your Vital Few? Most of us have, so why are we treating all employees the same way. Besides better bonuses, keep the top 20% on board with non-monetary rewards like offices, training bonuses, better tools, assistants, vacations. These are just some of the rewards (consider them investments) justified by greater productivity - which leverage that productivity even further.

80/20 works wonders for time management. Odds are, 80% of your time is spent on Trivial Many activities. Do the 80/20 analysis and discover which executive activities produce the most value for your company. Refocus your time and place your attention on the Vital Few. Delegate the Trivial Many, or drop them altogether.

Are you getting the hang of this? 80/20 analysis can be applied to every aspect of your company. Look for things with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. We've touched on sales, marketing, quality, compensation, and executive effectiveness. How else could 80/20 help you produce extraordinary results?

To get a copy of our 80/20 Sorting Worksheet visit http://www.paullemberg.com/toolsandtips.html. The worksheet is useful for analyzing sales, markets, personnel, strategies, etc.

Will You Be a Good Manager? Test Yourself

Manager means to manage any work or an organization. To manage is not that easy. Imagine the size of some of the large organizations. Their turnover exceeds GDP of many countries. But the companies have to be managed effectively and efficiently and good managers are needed to do that. It applies to self-run businesses. If you don't know how to manage your business, it will suffer. How to test yourself and know if you are a good manager or whether you have the qualities to become a good manager? Let us find out.

What are the qualities of a good manager? Let us summarize. To know the goal of the organization and to achieve those goals with minimum resources and maximum effectiveness is the first goal of any manager. If the primary goal of your company right now is to increase sales, irrespective of profits, you have to do that with given resources. If the goal is to increase profits, you have to do that by cutting costs, improving sales, raising prices, and improving employee effectiveness and raise profits.

The quality that is most important for a good manager is skill and knowledge. Unless a manger has skill to perform a job, nothing will work. The second important quality is focus. A manager should be focused to the goal of the company and his/her every action should go in that direction. All such sub skills as Time management, Human resources management, Marketing, Production and purchases are part of the larger goal. Each of these has to be made more effective and efficient.

One important factor that at times overrides all others is vision. What is the vision of the manager about the organization? How does the manager look at the future and what is larger game plan? These are very important to formulate policies, which will satisfy the goals of the organization. No organization is static. It is a dynamic mix of many forces that has to be managed to move in a single direction. The test of a manger lies in doing this. Test yourself against all these requirements and find out the strengths and weaknesses. Once you know your weaknesses, you can work upon them and improve your performance. Try some quizzes from the Internet on Business & Career and try answering them. The tests will help you greatly in finding out more about yourself.

Without Workforce Planning, Your Organization Could Become Extinct

Workforce planning is a key workforce management step for long-term survival in a situation where workers are aging or leaving, and business environments are constantly changing.

You need to replace over aged workers and workers who leave. You also need to adapt to new business environments by getting people with needed skills.

Workforce Planning Goals

Existing workload determines current workforce levels. So the first step of workforce planning is to assess this workload, its skills set composition and location requirements. To assess this requirement, you answer the following questions:
<ul>
<li>What kinds of skilled workers do you need to achieve your organizational purpose?</li>
<li>How many persons with each kind of skill are needed to achieve targeted performance levels?</li>
<li>Where would these persons be needed - geographically and departmentally?</li>
</ul>

Answering the above questions is only the starting point of workforce planning. A complete plan would also identify the strategies needed to get the people required to man your workforce, and to keep the people with you.

For the longer-term, you need to estimate:
<ul>
<li>The number of workers who would retire or leave and have to be replaced</li>
<li>Additional numbers of differently skilled persons who would have to be added to meet expansion needs</li>
<li>Likely developments affecting your business and the likely changes in the number and composition of your workforce under the new environments</li>
</ul>

Workforce planning is a continuous process that needs to be updated as the requirements and forecasts change.

Implementing the Workforce Planning Process

The key requirement for successful workforce planning is to get your managers to understand the significance and key importance of workforce planning. Without their active involvement, you cannot expect to develop realistic plans that are affected by diverse factors.

Create a workforce planning team consisting of employees from different departments, with required knowledge and interests. Define the team's role and responsibilities.

Use modern software tools and planning systems to speed up the processes of data collection, analysis and generating preliminary plans. These can then be human-reviewed for fine-tuning.

Start carefully with a smaller scope, review the processes, get feedback and improve the effectiveness of workforce planning exercise.

In the case of large enterprises with geographically spread operations, the workforce planning exercise should be decentralized and the unit plans should be consolidated.

Workforce Recruitment and Development Strategies

Workforce planning is not just an exercise with numbers, though numbers are important. You have to look at the labor market and competitive conditions, and develop strategies to attract and retain the kind of workforce you need.

Think through the policies and practices you need to attract and retain talented people. Build your brand as a good place to work in. Create working conditions and a managerial culture that would make your people want to remain with you.

Spell these out and include them in your workforce plan.

Conclusion

For organizations to survive in the long term, they must be able to attract the right kind of talented persons and to keep them. Workforce planning helps you to assess your people needs, in both skill sets and numbers, and start developing and implementing strategies and policies to attract, develop and keep the kind of workforce you need.

Work Efficiency - Are Employees Really Overworked?

The Statlook system’s unique function is tracking the company’s computer usage mode. A wide range of cross-sectional reports illustrates the users’ activities in each period of time and in the context of used software. By means of the Statlook system you can practically control all employee activity, beginning from the registration of Internet site visits, through the usage of each application and documents opened statistics, control of software installed, as far as the ability to view the screenshot and counting the keystroke rate.

Miscellaneous reports present very clearly which applications were used most often as well as which of them and for how long were in the foreground. On one hand, it allows you to assess the applicability of software installed, and on the other hand it may be the basis for assessment of employee commitment in completing his tasks.

Statlook then combines two functions: it allows you to use your application licenses rationally and significantly enhances office labor efficiency.

Normally, the first tangible results can be noticed right after the implementation of Statlook. The employees' awareness of the presence of the Statlook system on their computers is enough to obtain measurable effects within a very short period of time. Many non-productive activities will be reduced drastically as soon as Statlook is installed.

Due to its reasonable price, universal appeal and operating ease, Statlook gains popularity in Europe and the United States. The number of the companies that apply this tool exceed 5000 at present.

An internationally operating company A plus C Systems is now creating its authorized partner system. Negotiations are conducted with several leading IT companies, among which are software resellers, network integrators, and hardware providers. They are engaged in implementing safety procedures as well as Software Asset Management. By the end of the year, A plus C Systems intends to gain 50 partners all over the world, offering them very good business conditions as well as full technical and commercial support.

3 Opportunities To Help You Make An Extra Income Online

I have been in exactly the same position, for years I have been searching the internet for ways to earn an extra income, not to make me a millionaire over night but just to make enough to help with the bills or to have some extra cash in my pocket for the little luxuries in life.

With so many sites trying to take your money it is not easy to wade through the scam sites and the legitimate opportunities. What as well if you don’t have any idea in what is a good product and will make money and what is a bad product that will just drain your resources? Over the years I have tried so many of the so called opportunities and been burnt financially.

I now believe that I have found the 3 best opportunities available that require a little bit of thinking and time but can give you great rewards once you follow the proven system. Remember you don’t get anything in life for nothing! This is a golden rule to remember, no matter what you do it is important that you need to work at it, how much you work at it can depend on how much you get out of it, not only in a financial sense but also on a personal level.

The best products are ones that can make you an ongoing cash flow, ones that have longevity and have entered a market place where there is a niche. It is no good trying to sell something online where the market is already swamped with goods, this will just lead to your product being another one of hundreds without a customer in sight. This is where the research and the years of hard work have been put in to provide the best products available and you can be a part of this.

The website gives you an overview of the 3 best finds on the internet and gives you the opportunity to make some extra money with a small amount of effort. Remember my golden rule, the more effort you put in the more you will get out. To find out more about these opportunities then go to http://www.toponlinebusinesses.com The website breaks down the best 3 opportunities and gives an overview of what is on offer, take a look today, the sooner you take a look the sooner you can get started and build a brighter future.

Workforce Management Policies to Keep Skilled People

You might be able to attract people with high value skills through a well-presented ad. However, to keep them with you, your organization must have put in place workforce management policies that make these people want to continue with the organization.

The policies must fit in with the organization and the place where it is located. If the policies are incompatible with the existing organization and place, they are likely to remain just book policies that will not be implemented in their true spirit.

We look at some standard workforce management policies that can create an environment that make people want to remain with you.

Organizational Culture: We mentioned how the organizational environment affects the policies that can be implemented in their true spirit in an organization. You could consider creating an environment that would facilitate the development of your workforce into a cohesive team of achievers. Basically, what you try to do is to create an organizational culture where people tend to help each other rather than blame or hinder each other.

Induction Training: Help new employees to quickly become a productive member of your team through an effective induction process. Introduce them to other team members and help them absorb your organizational culture, and to become familiar with the ways of working in your organization.

Clear Goals and Roles: Develop job descriptions that indicate clearly what team role each employee should seek to play, and what goals the person should seek to achieve.

Goals Aligned to Higher Level Goals: Carefully align employee goals with the team goals, which are aligned with successively higher level goals culminating in overall company goals. That way, the employee would find it easy to contribute in a meaningful manner, and be rewarded accordingly.

Work Environment: Arrange workstations, facilities and tools that help employees perform without undue stress. Uncomfortable workstations, high noise levels, having to find needed tools yourself, and so on are stressful and make employees look for better places to work in.

Credible Performance Measurement and Reward Structure: One of the best motivating factors is being recognized and rewarded for good performance. The performance must be measured in a way that the employee can understand clearly. Good performance, which can also be measured in terms of contribution to team effectiveness, should be rewarded consistently and without discrimination.

Skills and Career Development Options: Each employee should be able to develop his or her skill, and a career development path should be open for his or her progress in the organization. A certification program can add to the attractiveness.

An Effective Mentoring Program: A mentoring program that helps each employee achieve personal and company objectives should supplement the above. The mentor would try to help the employee meet company expectations in a way that also meets personal expectations.

Conclusion

Carefully developed workforce management policies that would fit in with the organization and the place where it is located could pay high dividends. Your organization would then find it easier to attract the right kind of people, with the right skill set that you need. More importantly, you would find it possible to retain these skilled employees in your organization.

We looked at standard workforce management policies that can help you develop a highly motivated workforce in your organization.

Working Time Directive Issued by the Council of the Europen Union

The Council of the European Union issued the European Working Time Directive in 1993. The directive seeks to ensure a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers, at the same time avoiding administrative, financial and legal constraints that could hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings.

The directive regulates the minimum rest periods, shift working patterns and other miscellaneous things. The directive asks member states of the European Union to take measures to ensure compliance with the provisions.

Minimum Periods of Rest

The minimum periods of rest seek to protect the health of the employee.

DAILY: A minimum of 11 consecutive hours of rest in a 24 hour period should be ensured
BREAKS: Where the working day is longer than six hours, every worker should have specified periods of rest of specified lengths. The rest periods can be negotiated at organizational or industry level or legislated
WEEKLY: In addition to the 11-hour daily rest, each employee is entitled to a rest of 24 consecutive hours in a week
MAXIMUM WEEKLY WORKING TIME: Average working time for each seven-day period should not exceed 48 hours, and can be agreed upon through negotiations or legislated
A minimum of 4 weeks annual leave, that cannot be cashed out except on termination, should be granted to each employee

Night Work and Shift Work

NIGHT WORK: Normal hours of night work should not exceed 8 hours in a 24 hour period. Where the work is hazardous, night workers should not have to work more than 8 hours in any 24 hour period
HEALTH ASSESSMENT: Night workers are entitled to a free health assessment before they are assigned to night work, and periodical assessments at regular intervals thereafter. If a night worker suffers health problems because of night work, the person shall be transferred whenever possible to suitable day work
GUARATEES FOR NIGHT-TIME WORKING: Where employees face safety or health risks linked to night-time working, certain kinds of guarantees should be provided
NOTIFICATIONS: Employers who use night-working regularly should notify competent authorities if they so request
PATTERN OF WORK: Where work is organized according to a certain pattern, work should be adapted to the worker, with a view to alleviating monotonous work and risks to health and safety

Miscellaneous Provisions

The miscellaneous provisions are of a general nature and include such stipulations as:

Where there are more specific community provisions concerning certain occupations or activities, the more general provisions of this directive will not apply
Organizations, industries or states can go in for provisions that are more favorable than those in this directive
Member states shall put in place necessary measures to comply with the provisions of this directive before 23 November 1996

Conclusion

The European Working Time Directive is a directive issued to member states of the European Union. The directive has made certain provisions regarding periods of rest, night work and work patterns with a view to safeguarding the health and safety of workers. Member states have to put in measures to comply with the provisions before 23 November 1996. They are free to provide more favorable provisions than those suggested in the directive.

Work-Life Balance and Workforce Management

Individuals face demands on their time from work and life requirements. If they cannot balance the requirements, it could mean an unhealthy life or unemployment. Work-life balance has become an important topic of study and discussion because of its impact on public health and business results.

Public health is affected as high-pressure work demands can lead to stress-related illnesses. The situation is aggravated because work can affect the way one lives, and unhealthy life choices are all too common.

Business results are affected because stressed employees are poor performers and unhealthy life choices lead to greater incidence of sickness absences.

With both governments and businesses interested in the issue, work-life balance has indeed become a center of considerable attention.

How Work Can Affect Life

A healthy life requires attention to important life areas such as family, children, friends and hobbies. A high-pressure work situation and time spent on commuting can eat into the time available for workers to attend to these areas. As a result, these important areas tend to be neglected.

Job security has also suffered with changing trends in industry. Information technology and competitive pressures have led to the practical disappearance of the earlier phenomenon of lifetime employment with one employer.

Employees are generally looking for better opportunities while employers might be seeking ways to reduce costs by replacing employees. Both these lead to frequent job changes and even to re-locations, adding to the stress and pressures faced by employees.

Add to these the stress of constant technological changes and the need to learn new things, and you get a future-shocked generation.

Results of Unbalanced Work-Life Situations

Rise in workplace violence, increase in levels of absenteeism and rising trend of workmen's compensation claims have made employers keenly aware of the need to attend more to the work-life balance of their employees.

In the personal lives of employees, inadequate time for family life and parenting lead to marriage problems and a generation of children increasingly addicted to harmful substances and ways of life.

Pressures created by the work situation are also affecting health and sexual lives.

Achieving Better Work Life Balance

Personal ambitions, a consumerist culture, an emphasis on "work-ethic" to the neglect of personal lives and the time squeeze caused by the demands of work, commuting and personal affairs are all contributing to the upset work life balance.

Remedial measures need to focus on certain key areas, including in particular:

Personal training to focus employee attention on the important things for a healthy life of fulfilling relationships
Employers realizing the benefits of helping their employees find a work-life balance, through training programs, flexible working hours, and other measures

Studies have indicated that by allowing some degree of control for employees to choose when, where and how they work, employers can realize significant business benefits.

Conclusion

When demands of work leaves little time for important areas of life like family, children, friends and hobbies, work-life balance gets upset. The result can be felt in employee health, levels of stress, marriage, problem children, low work performance, absenteeism and so on.

Achieving better work life balance requires both employee training and employer orientation changes.

Workplace Conflict: FAQs - An Interview with Judy Ringer

Does conflict disrupt your workplace environment? Read on! Judy Ringer answers some commonly asked questions on the subjects of workplace conflict, difficult people, and how to manage them more effectively.

Q. What are some typical breakdowns in the workplace?

JR: I wouldn’t call them breakdowns, but conflicts. A typical conflict is what is sometimes called triangulation. One person is upset with their coworker, and instead of speaking with the co-worker about their concern, they talk to someone else about it or many others about it. Office gossip starts this way.

Different work styles, misunderstanding of roles, jumping to conclusions -- these are all ways that conflicts get started.

Q. Why do people keep falling into the same traps in the workplace?

JR: Our training is insufficient. We’ve been trained to deal with conflict in ways that are not useful. A typical myth about conflict is that it is negative. And so we see people around us either avoiding it or acting out their feelings. The triangulation example demonstrates this myth. I’m afraid to speak directly to you about a conflict, but I will talk to others about it. And so the problem doesn’t go away. In fact it often gets worse.

We keep falling into these traps because we see others doing it that way. In spite of the fact that it doesn’t work, it’s what we know so we keep doing it, hoping for a different result. Of course that doesn’t work, and we keep having the same conflicts.

Q. Please give some examples of disrespectful behavior.

JR: This is an important question. It helps to understand that behavior that appears disrespectful to me may not appear the same to you. Did she mean to be disrespectful? Or is she just tired this morning? Or shy? Or preoccupied? (The list goes on.)

On the other hand, ignoring a new supervisor’s request to perform a task differently can show disrespect, especially if you don’t communicate about it. Eye rolling, sighing, clicking your tongue, giggling conspiratorially with another coworker -- these often show a willing disrespect.

Sometimes we don’t know we’re being disrespectful. It’s important that new employees understand the work culture and what does and does not constitute disrespect. Social skills are learned. One of the supervisor’s jobs is to help employees understand when their actions are perceived as disrespectful and to give them alternatives. A good supervisor is a good teacher.

Q. How do I know if my boss is a tormentor or a teacher?

JR: Ha! That’s up to you. You decide. You have that power. Our most difficult situations, coworkers, and bosses can turn out to be teachers if we choose to learn something about why we react to them. What would it take to change my attitude from making a judgment about them to being curious about them, or being curious about my reaction to their behavior?

And I don’t mean to say that the boss is necessarily right or that his behavior is beyond reproach. What I mean is that I have to make some choices about how to handle what’s coming at me from this person. I could talk to him about the impact his behavior is having on me, the team, and our ability to get the job done. Or I could complain to others. Do I have the awareness and skill to notice my resistance, check out which of my buttons are being pushed, and make a wise decision about how to proceed?

Maybe I find that if I change slightly I can regain some confidence and equanimity and be able to handle the situation more effectively. This is how a tormentor becomes a teacher. As I learn about myself I begin to have new options.

Q. How can an employee create a win-win situation with a tormentor?

JR: You begin by being curious. What would make a reasonable, rational person behave this way? The answer is usually something you can identify with. For example, an authoritarian boss usually has values around perfection, looking good, being in control, and getting the job done correctly. I certainly can identify with these intentions. The way the boss acts out the intention may be rough. But now you have the basis for a conversation. You’re entering in a more positive way, and you can talk about commonalities.

Another way to create win-win solutions is by asking useful questions of the other person. What is important to them in this conflict? What would they like the outcome to be? One of the best questions I ever raised in a conflict was to ask the other person what caused them to be so upset with me, and what I might have done differently. She was happy to tell me. I learned a lot.

Q. What are some tips to handle strong emotions in the workplace?

JR: Begin by acknowledging the emotions. Take a minute and take stock of your own emotions. Name them. Are you angry, sad, happy, surprised, disappointed? Usually there are many emotions happening simultaneously. Acknowledge as many as you can. Next, identify the underlying causes. Often there’s a story connected to the emotion that’s causing you to react but has nothing to do with the current event. If you can identify the story (usually an old, familiar one), you can bring some awareness to the situation. The awareness tells you how much of the emotion has to do with the current event and how much of it is from the past event. Once you know, you can choose how to utilize the energy. For example, with a huge emotion, you might be tempted to hide it or to act it out on the other person. When you get a sense about why the event is so charged, you’ll regain some balance and be able to make a wiser decision about how to (or even if you want to) have a conversation with the person instead.

Acknowledge the other person’s feelings as well. Consider what story they might be telling themselves, and inquire about it. For example: “You sound upset (acknowledgment). Are you? Have I said something that caused you to react this way (inquiry)?” It just takes practice, like anything else.

Q. Can you give five tips to managing a difficult conversation?

JR: Most books on this topic, though they may speak differently about them, identify the same basic skills for handling difficult conversations:

1. Start with yourself. Acknowledge your feelings and gain control of them. Breathe. Identify your desired outcome for the conversation and try to guess at theirs. What do they want? What do you want?

2. Be curious. Inquire. Find out how they see the situation. Ask useful questions and listen. Don’t judge or make assumptions. Don’t take it personally. This is their story and they can tell it whatever way they want. Support them.

3. Acknowledge their story and their feelings. Validate their concerns. This doesn’t mean you agree. It means that you hear them. It’s a tremendous gift and moves the conversation in a useful direction. You get a gift, too. You learn a lot about what’s important to this person, which will be helpful when you begin to look for solutions.

4. Advocate for yourself. What is your story? What are they not seeing? Explain how the situation looks from your perspective. Go slowly and don’t assume.

5. Build solutions based on new understanding. As you begin to listen and talk, information comes out that will help you co-create effective solutions with your partner.

Workplace Discrimination And Harassment

Australian Federal and State legislation states unlawful discrimination occurs when a group of people, individuals are treated less favourably than any other person or group of people because of their ethnicity, race, colour, sex, marital status, age or disability, religion and sexual reference, whether your a member of a trade union and any other characteristic specified under anti-discrimination or human rights legislation.

Workplace discrimination and harassment can occur in:

· Employment and selection of staff.
· Training and type of training being offered.
· Being considered for a transfer, promotion or sacking.
· Work place conditions.

What is defined as unlawful harassment?

Under Australian state and federal legislation unlawful harassment can occur when a person humiliated because of their race, or intimidated and insulted because of there colour, ethnicity, or any other specified characteristic under anti-discrimination or human rights legislation.

Workplace harassment can include behaviour such as:

· Mailing or submitting sexually explicit or suggestive letters, notes or emails.
· The making of derogatory taunts or comments about a persons religion or race. telling insulting The making of jokes about particular racial groups.
· Nude or pornographic posters displayed.
· The asking of questions about a persons sex life or personal life.

The nature of harassment and or discrimination.

No matter the seriousness of an incident, whether it be a one-off or prolonged and long termed, it will still be judged as harassment or discrimination. If left unchecked the continued harassment will erode the drive and ability of the individual or group to eventually effect the overall performance of their work performance.

However the absence of any formal or verbal complaints is not necessarily any indication that harassment or discrimination is not occurring. In a lot of cases the person or group being harassed or discriminated against will not complain or report the incident in the belief that they will be deemed as wingers or the incident is too trivial. In most cases the victim of the workplace harassment or discrimination is lacking confidence in their own ability and has fear of retribution or even worse, being dismissed.

Hostile working environment

As an employer you will also need to be aware of your responsibilities in making the work environment a safe place from a culture of sexual or racial harassment. Both are deemed as HOSTILE. An example of a potential hostile working environment would include the display of nude or pornographic material, swearing and crude conversations, racially or sex specific jokes.

What can not be classed as harassment or discrimination.

However it must be remembered that comments and advice given by supervisors, work colleagues and managers on the work performance or work related behaviour of an individual or group should not be confused with workplace harassment or discrimination.

Feedback during normal performance appraisals and work performance meetings will always be deemed as stressful and will in some cases effect the well being of the person or group being appraised. However, managers and supervisors should always keep these concerns in mind and perform any necessary appraisal with sensitivity without avoiding the need to provide full and frank feedback to their staff.

What is workplace bullying?

Sourced the from ACTUQ/QCCI/Qld Govt Dept of Workplace Health and Safety , they claim that workplace bullying is "the repeated less favourable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate workplace practice. It includes behaviour that intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates a worker".

Bullies will use their status or power of position in a company or business to target both men and women with their bullying practices. Bullying behaviour can range from obvious verbal or physical assault to very subtle psychological abuse.

This behaviour would include:

· Psychological harassment. (mind games)
· Excluding or isolating targeted employees.
· Assigning impossible tasks or jobs to targeted employees.
· Physical or verbal abuse.
· Inconvenience selected employees by deliberately changed work rosters and shifts.
· Yell and scream offensive language.
· Intimidation
· Undermine work performance deliberately by withholding vital job information.

Write A Winning Business Plan-The Neatest Trick In The Book

“Writing a business plan” sounds really tough, and it can be. But there are a number of things the smart entrepreneur can do to make it easier.

For instance, justwhatkindofstuffyouthinkgetsreadlikethis? Imagine pages full of that, with virtually no margins, no paragraph breaks, no breathing room. Lenders, investors and angel investors are confronted with piles of business plans like that every day.

Take a breath. Then lure your reader into the plan with snappy headlines and easy to read formatting.

Do you know why the Wall Street Journal and USA Today use headlines? Because it’s the only way anyone will read a story. More to the point, it’s the only way anyone will buy their paper. (Mmmm, sounds like you may have something in common with newspapers.)

Take a look at your favorite newspaper. Those headlines tell a story. Sometimes they ooze with conspiracy, and once in a while they stand majestic. Note:

Martha Jailed
The War is Over
The Watergate Starts to Smell

Your business plan needs to do no less. The headlines and section heads need to draw the reader in, not with an announcement, but with an invitation. Compare these:

The Executive Team
The Audio Industry
The Advisory Board

with these:

Strong Executive Team is Led by Industry Insider
Audio – the Industry that Reinvents Itself
7 Top Scientists Lead the Advisory Board

So which set are you going to read?

Lenders of all ilk get far too many business plans – certainly more than they can possibly fund. Simply getting your business plan read is a big step in the right direction.

Try this trick. Imagine that you are indeed writing a newspaper, one that competes with another strong paper in your town. What headline would you put on that paper to encourage readers to buy yours, and not the other?

Honesty, of course, is essential. But within that honesty there are a thousand ways to make the same statement. How many ways are there to say that it is spring time?

· It is spring
· It is April 22
· Lilacs are in bloom
· Snow is melting in the mountains
· Baseball camps are in full force

And how many ways are there to say that your business idea is a good one?

· This is a good idea
· An innovative approach
· A sure-fire winner
· A strong contender for funding
· A strong team in an equally strong market
· Lots of community support
· This fills a need in the marketplace
· The company draws on the experience of each of its members
· Two years of strong growth
· Impressive projections

Now jot down some headlines for your company. You may or may not be able to use them. Try first just to jot down every idea, a brain storming session.

Now use the best of those headlines to help structure your business plan. If “Nobel Prize Winner Heads Advisory Board” is your strongest headline, then lead with that story. If “A Prime Location in a Prime Shopping Center” is your strongest headline, then that is your lead.

Let the strength of the headlines pull your business plan up a notch or two. The power of your business may surprise even you!

Before you actually begin writing, take the time to really look at a good publication, something like the Wall Street Journal. Look at the styling and the use of headlines and sub-heads. Note how the ideas keep a steady flow, with an invitation to read.

Your business plan likely won’t look like the venerable WSJ, or any other major publication, but odds are that it will look a whole lot better than most, and it will therefore be read much more readily. And that, after all, is what you are after.

Business Courses

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5 Reasons You Should Outsource Your Online Tasks

5 Reasons Why Recordkeeping Is So Important

5 Mistakes I made in 2005

5 Hidden Traps in Meetings

5 Great Reasons To Hire A Telecommuter

Ten Reasons To Implement Choice Theory In Your Organization

5 Action Ideas to Deal with Difficult People

4 Tips To Ensure A Rewarding Experience When Hiring Others

Recruiting Software VS CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

A Mobile Merchant Account

4 Better Ways to Handle Complaints

3 Worst Mistakes People Make in a Presentation

3 Ways To Protect Your Customers

A Golden Rule To Manage Job/Workplace Stress

Monsters in Meetings - Part 2, Multiple Conversations

3 Steps to Stop Absence and Make People Happy At Work

The Occupational Safety Health Administration:ergonomics Education For The 21st Century Workplace

The Occupational Safety Health Administration:ergonomics Education For The 21st Century Workplace

The Vital Few

Will You Be a Good Manager? Test Yourself

Without Workforce Planning, Your Organization Could Become Extinct

Work Efficiency - Are Employees Really Overworked?

3 Opportunities To Help You Make An Extra Income Online

Workforce Management Policies to Keep Skilled People

Working Time Directive Issued by the Council of the Europen Union

Work-Life Balance and Workforce Management

Workplace Conflict: FAQs - An Interview with Judy Ringer

Workplace Discrimination And Harassment

Write A Winning Business Plan-The Neatest Trick In The Book

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