Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

2010 New Year’s Resolution for Your Business

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

2010 is a new year and it is a new opportunity to “manage your business like a business”. 

Imagine you are planning a trip from one city to another city in a state you have never been.  Being from Wisconsin, I like to use San Antonio and Houston Texas as examples.  Picture a state map of Texas which you have found from a search on the Internet.  One star shows San Antonio in the southern part of the state and towards the east you see another star which shows the city of Houston.

Now, I am going to drop you off in San Antonio and ask you to drive to Houston using this map.  You can do it.  You probably would start by asking someone for directions, usually a clerk at a convenience store or a gas station.  Then you begin by driving southeast on the highway, watching for directional signs, hoping to find one that tells you what exit to take sending you in the right direction towards Houston.  The trip would take quite long time and you would spend money on gas, lodging, food, and most likely experience a lot of frustration along the way.  Who would travel this way?

Most of us would buy a road map with the individual highways and city streets clearly marked.  We would then be able to estimate who much gas we might need, we would call ahead and make hotel reservations in Houston so when we got there we knew we had a place to rest for the night.  We might use the Internet and plan where our favorite restaurants where or plan to try a famous restaurant we read about in a travel magazine.  We would do research for the trip in order to have a pleasant experience with a lot less frustration.

That is what strategic planning can do for an organization.  It is like traveling with a road map rather than a state map.  Organizations that use strategic planning often have a more specific focus and direction for accomplishing their goals.  A strategic plan can be one of your most valuable completive advantages!

Let me know what you think.

 

Take Care,

Gary

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Provide your manager’s with the proper ‘people tools’.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

A job description summarizes the most important features of a job, including details regarding required tasks, knowledge, skills, and abilities.  Most employees will do what is expected of them if they are aware of what those things are.  If they are unsure, they will most likely error on the side of conservatism so they don’t get into trouble.  As a manager/owner you may expect more than your employees are delivering simply because they’re unaware of what you want or because they are being evaluated on other things.  As an employee I’m going to do what I am being evaluated on first, then if I have time I will do the other things on my list.

Besides giving your present workforce guidance as to what you expect of them, job descriptions can also aide you and your management team in;

·        the recruitment process

·        the selection of new hires

·        the training of current and new employees

·        the performance appraisal process

·        the improvement of employee retention

Having job descriptions can save your company money as potential job candidates may chose to ‘self select’ out of a job position before you hire them because they are fully aware of what you expect and they are not willing to do that type of work.  This can save hours of lost training time, reduce employee turnover, and improve employee morale.

A job description is just one of many valuable tools your managers can use to manage people in a way that protects every person’s self-esteem and also gets the job done.

Let me know what you think.

Take Care

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