Category: Planning & Management

Article Contributed by Hannah Whittenly

Every business owner knows that not being productive hurts the entire company. When there isn’t productivity, there are some serious consequences—loss of money, lack of quality, and even the downfall of the company. That is why it’s important for every CEO and manager in the business world to check themselves and their productivity every now and then and make improvements for the betterment of the company. To help you do that, here are three things that you need to watch out for.

Bad Management

Some people might think a good manager is someone who takes command, but being a leader encompasses much more. A good manager is a coach, an empowering figure, and a person who knows how to spotlight an employee’s strengths. In essence, a leader is a people manager.

The problem is that the idea of being a boss can corrupt the person in charge. This could be signaled by many signs such as a leader who enjoys scolding employees rather than dealing with issues constructively. A bad leader seeks to blame rather than take responsibility. This person may hurt productivity and should be replaced. When hiring leaders, hire the ones who will stand up for their teams, are positive individuals, and have great communication skills.

Disorganization

Clutter is a big problem in some companies. You may not think so, but clutter can actually distract the brain, or it could make some people feel hostile about the environment. Both of these issues can hurt your overall productivity. The best thing that you can do is organize some of the clutter in your office. The best method to go about doing this is to get bins, like those that Quantum Storage has, and start making sure that everything has its place. You may even want to label every bin so that things don’t accidentally get put in the wrong place.

Not Considering Health

You might think the health of your employees is not your concern, but the truth is that it benefits you to make sure that your employees are as healthy as possible. A study shows that employees that eat five or more servings of vegetables and fruit a day are 25 percent more likely to be productive. Employees who are given the opportunity to exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes are likely to be 15 percent more productive as well.

The problem is that most company’s expect their employees to engage in these healthy habits on their own time. Your employees spend a lot of their time with you, so it might be a good idea to promote health wellness in your office. Offer healthy snacks instead of processed foods. Try to get your employees a membership at a local gym or introduce an exercise break at work.

Productivity is not a simple thing to achieve. The first step is to recognize that you are responsible for it just as much as your employees are, so you are definitely heading down the right path.

Article Contributed by Lisa Michaels

Project management is central to a business’s overall success and profitability. When projects, whether carried out for clients or for the betterment of the entire company, become delayed or go off track, they put the business at risk of losing money and jeopardizing its brand.

More businesses today are relying on a management strategy known as the agile methodology. This approach to project management continues to outshine the practices once considered standard for keeping projects on task in the business arena.

Read on to find out how your business can benefit from implementing an agile methodology.

What is Agile Methodology?

The term “agile”, when applied to project management, comes from agile methodology, which originated itself from software development. Along with being applied to projects undertaken by a company, agile can also be applied to every other aspect of running a business including human resources and other key areas.

In fact, when compared to the project management approach known as waterfall, agile is increasingly considered to be the better choice. Whereas waterfall relies on a predictable and rigid method of carrying out a process from start to finish, agile allows for flexibility and individualized attention to a project.

Waterfall follows a one-way progression and does not allow for previous steps in a project to be undone or changed; agile permits project partners to go back and forth in the creation process as needed to meet new expectations or new ideas brought to the discussion table.

Furthermore, agile does not require a long planning process in a project and instead acknowledges that every step of the process may not be foreseen right from the beginning. Because the needs and wishes of the project can be adjusted or changed easily, agile can be carried out in weekly or monthly sprints.

The Principles to Follow for Agile Methodology

The 10th annual State of Agile survey conducted by VersionOne admits that when agile initiatives in a project fail it is often directly related to a business’s resistance to change or to culture issues within a company. In fact, agile requires strong leadership, sturdy commitment, and a clear vision from management to succeed.

For the principles of agile methodology to work in a company, project managers must lead by example and clearly communicate with project members. Frequent updates about status reports, check-ins, feedback, and roadmap updates are all key when utilizing the agile approach.

Managers are encouraged to use video conferencing software for project management solutions and to organize and strengthen interpersonal bonds among management and project members. In fact, this technology is very practical to utilize for the agile methodology when face-to-face interactions among group members are not possible.

One of the most popular communication software options used by agile project managers today is Slack, which offers a free basic edition. Slack is also utilized by NASA and offers both private and open channels for different teams and projects.

Managers also use Asana, which allows for each project task to be split up into different sub-tasks and assigned to individual project members. Asana also permits managers to assign due dates and add files as needed.

A more traditional solution is Skype for Business which allows for polling and whiteboards for 250 project members in video conferencing. It sometimes presents simple problems that are easily resolved with easy troubleshooting tips.

In addition to video conferencing and project management solutions, managers can benefit from utilizing cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive for organized and secured storing and sharing of documents.

The Agile Methodology Process

Agile is a fluid and friendly approach to managing a project as long as a few simple rules are followed. First, project managers should remember to be transparent. Employees want to know what is going on in regards to the project and what problems need to be addressed.

Project members should also work in groups. There should be several smaller groups working toward one key goal rather than one large group working on a variety of tasks together. Each smaller group should also self-organize and decide how they want to accomplish their goals.

Second, after every bi-weekly or monthly sprint, groups should evaluate the project up to its current point. They should reflect on how to improve the project as well as tune and adjust their behaviors to become more effective.

Third, each group, as well as the entire project team as a whole, should adopt the agile project mode and mindset. It is vital that the groups produce visible results and new content to make clients happy as well as to motivate employees.

Group members and managers alike should request feedback, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn and change but also act quickly to fix problems rather than allowing them to continue. Managers should use empathy when interacting with employees to fix mistakes.

Final Thoughts

The Agile methodology gives your business one key advantage: while your rivals are planning and perfecting their projects with the waterfall approach, you are making sales and money. Your customers will also know that your company is growing because you are releasing new features and are capable of changing course to adapt to existing ones.

About the Author

Lisa Michaels is a freelance writer, editor and a striving content marketing consultant from Portland. Being self-employed, she does her best to stay on top of the current trends in the business world. She spends her free time trying out new recipes or reading Scandinavian crime novels.

Business management and marketing know-how isn’t something we’re born with … but it can be learned.

Many business owners — especially those with a non-business background — struggle when it comes to creating a strategic business plan for their business.  Chances are they’ve never ran a business before and, even in their “employment” days, were not involved with the day-to-day business management and marketing of the company that they worked for.

So when it comes to running their business they struggle!

“Still need to figure out (sit down and actually learn) how to do this!” said one business owner to me earlier this week.

And this is typically the scenario I see when I speak with business owners…

• You have a dream for your business;
• You are an expert in whatever it is you do;
• But you have no idea how to take that idea/dream and turn it into a viable and profitable business;

… so you continue on in a state of overwhelm and frustration, with a slow growing business.

Spending some time planning all of your business activities is crucial if you are to succeed long-term.

It’s not just about planning your business – you need to understand the strategy behind what you’re going to be doing.

And you also need to understand how all the different pieces of your business fit together to create one coherent business — this is your business model.

Today, I’d like to share with you my simple, 3-step process, for sitting down and crafting your own strategic business plan.

PLAN – schedule some time in your calendar to work on your business plan. Some people opt to take a mini-retreat away from their office.  It could be spending the day in your local coffee shop, or actually going out of town for a few days.  Or you could just schedule one or two hours and sit quietly in your office planning out your business (that advantage of doing in your office is that you have all your business information right there with you). Whatever works best for you is going to work best for your business.  But the important thing is, you to schedule in the time to create your plan!

INVESTIGATE – what is it you’re going to be offering over the coming 90 days; 6 months; 12 months?  I like to have a loose 12-month plan, but then have a very specific 90-day plan in place.  It’s much easier to focus and implement with a shorter time-frame than it is to do so over, say, a 12-month period.  Sometimes planning out so far ahead can feel overwhelming.  But it is important to have that “big picture vision” in place so that you know where you’re heading.

Also when you’re deciding what it is you’re going to be offering ask yourself, “Does this make sense? Does it fit my big picture vision?”  This is where understanding the strategy behind your business comes into play.  It’s no good deciding you want to do a live event, or offer an online training course, if you don’t understand how this fits into your “Big Picture Vision”. All paths must lead you to that “Big Picture Vision”.

EXECUTE – now that you know what it is you’re going to be offering and when, it’s time to put that plan into practice.  One thing that I do in my business is “reverse engineering”.  I always start with the end date in mind and then work backwards.  For example, if I’m offering a 4-part live training class on a specific date, what do I need to do to promote that training class, and when.  It’s much easier to plan out the promotions if I work backwards from the start date of the class.  That way too, I can see if I’m leaving enough time for the promotions or if I need to adjust something in some way.

So there you have my simple 3-step process for creating your strategic business plan.  Now go ahead and create your own!

Training new employees can be a daunting task for many businesses. Sometimes, they don’t have a complete training program; other times, they just don’t know exactly how to use the training programs they do have.

The problem is that proper training is one of the most important ways to get the most out of employees for longer periods of time. Well-trained employees are also happier knowing that they are completely competent at their job. Whether you’re company has trouble training new employees from the start, or if they just don’t have the proper training program down for teaching new equipment, here are a few pointers that can help.

Hire the Right People

A good training program begins with the hiring of the right people. Everyone isn’t cut out for every position in a business — some people make better managers, other make better workers — and you need to understand which person will shine where.

This can be difficult, but there are some basic things to look for when hiring. You want to hire someone who seems eager to work with you: it’s very difficult find someone who cares about your company from the outset, so this is a head start. Also, look for someone who is eager to learn. Every job in your company has a learning curve, and someone who looks forward to learning will be easier to train. And, as odd as it may sound, hire someone who is not exactly like you. This will help bring in new ideas and perspectives that may be able to help the company in the long run.

Finally, look for someone who is willing to take responsibility. This is a crucial trait that can sometimes be hard to come by, so when you find someone who possess it, jump at the opportunity to hire them. The training will be much easier.

Have Experts on Hand

Anytime you are training someone, you need to make sure that the person doing the training is the most knowledgeable person you have in that field. Learning new things — especially new pieces of equipment — can be a challenge, so having an expert can eliminate the many misunderstanding that can arise during training.

For example, if you are training someone on new powder coating equipment, like this from Reliant Finishing Systems, it will pay to have someone who has used the machine for years to show them the ropes. New machines are often complicated and can have many steps for operation that can be a challenge to learn. With an expert nearby, you can have them really drill down into the proper way the machine should be run, including the safety concerns and any insight they may have gained by using the machine over the years.

Make it Interesting

Whenever you train anybody on anything, you want to make sure that their full attention is on the task at hand at all times. This will ensure that the proper messages are getting through to them and that you will not waste time by having to repeat simple steps. The best way to do this is to keep the training interesting.

You don’t want to drone on or lecture the trainee. You want to engage them so that they feel like they are a part of the process, which will, in turn, make them want to know more. You can also use humor when training. It’s very difficult for people not to pay attention when they can laugh during a situation.

Always avoid long-winded speeches where the trainee doesn’t have anything to respond do. Keep them focused and entertained and they can learn any piece of equipment in time.

Don’t Go Too Fast

People can get “burned out” pretty quickly if you try to cram too much information into a training session. This will make the training less effective and may even force the trainer to stay on simple topics for longer than needed.

Rather, break training sessions into small chunks. Have a short lecture session followed by a hands-on-training moment, followed by a break. This will allow the trainee to process the information more efficiently than if you had a four-hour training session that seemed to blend together. Giving out too much information for too long will have a negative effect on your training sessions, so always mix it up and look for ways to keep the training session moving at a nice pace.

Training can be difficult, but remember these few tips and you can make each training session more effective.

About the Author:

Kiera Vincent works as a business consultant. With a number of years experience under his belt he is knowledgeable in a range of business needs whether marketing, recruitment, or money management.

Not enough clients? Not enough profits?

All it could take are a few tweaks to your business management systems and you could easily turn this around.

I know the thought of creating systems in your business doesn’t sound very appealing or exciting.  But what if I told you that having the right systems in your business can make all the difference between having all the clients you need or not having clients? Or making all the money you need, and not making money?

Business owners forget the importance of systems preferring to focus instead on marketing, which I wouldn’t necessarily argue is a bad thing to do. I have taught for many years that you need to learn how to manage your business before you can market your business.

However if you don’t have any systems in place to support your marketing activities eventually you are going to get overwhelmed. And you’ll find that either you don’t have enough clients, or money, or both.

Here’s why…

Running an efficient business is all about continuously improving and ‘tweaking’ your business management systems so that they grow with your business and not hinder your business.

But why do I need efficient business management systems, Tracey?

Here are some answers!

• To quickly and easily find important contact information.
• To be able to respond to client’s requests straightaway.
• So that you can immediately submit a proposal.
• To keep track of your business.
• To be able to follow-up with clients and contacts.
• So that you can stay on track with your projects.
• To monitor your latest marketing campaign.

Sometimes though problems don’t become apparent with your business management systems until you actually start using them — and then you may find out that they’re not working in the way that you’d hoped.

So what can you do about it?

Step #1 Look at where the problems are.

Are you constantly searching around looking for contact information? Or cannot tell at a glance if your project is on track? Or you don’t know your cashflow situation? Or don’t know how many new subscribers you have this week?

These are typical problems my clients experience, and they can simply be overcome by having the right systems in place.

Now it’s your turn … make a list of the top three problems in your business, and then follow step two below — you may be surprised at what you discover!

Step #2 Analyze what percentage of your time is being spent on administrative tasks.

Keep a diary for a week of how you are spending your time. At the end of the week look it over and see what percentage of your time is being spent on these top three problems in your business.

Let’s take it a step further … what if your time was spent on income-generating activities instead. How much money would that generate for you (simply multiply the number of hours you’re spending on these activities by your hourly rate)?

This is a system I use when I start working with new clients.  I ask them to keep a diary for two weeks and then send it to me so that I can analyze where they are spending their time, and identify solutions for streamlining and improving business efficiency. And in turn, generating more income.

Step #3 Compile a list of all non-income generating tasks that you currently do.

Could some of these be delegated? Would it help if you took on an assistant?

Once you have followed these 3 steps you should have a good idea of where your time is being spent, what your biggest time drains are, and where you can make improvements. You will be well on your way to deciding who you need to partner with (i.e. a Virtual Assistant, bookkeeper) and will be able to see exactly where you need the support or what you can let go of.