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

Most colleges offer degree programs in human resources. Usually two year degrees, many schools now offer four-year degrees which also incorporate business management and dispute resolution. These degrees can be taken to any company in search of a trained human resources person.

There are many areas in human resources training one can specialize in from payroll, benefits, workman’s compensation, to running a human resources office. There are many career opportunities for those who want to help those who work in factories, and other large industries.

Online training has become popular in recent years. With schools like the University of Phoenix and others, a person can receive human resources training from the comfort of home. If a person wants to take many classes or just one or two, online programs offer flexible schedules.

Many people who take classes online have jobs and other commitments. They might be looking for additional human resources training or are trying to find a new career path. Either way, these schools offer the same classes as traditional classes at a university.

Sometimes companies will sponsor seminars for their staff. This is another way human resources training is offered. Through these seminars, people learn about conflict resolution, which are ways to handle arguments between two or more people. Conflict can occur at any time during the workday.

It is important how a person handles it. With proper human resources training, a person can diffuse a situation which could have resulted in physical or verbal violence. These seminars, taught by private consulting companies are one or two days. People leave these seminars feeling better about their jobs and able to implement new skills.

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

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1. Focus on one or two key criteria

After a challenging performance appraisal session, it is tempting to draw up a long list of development suggestions. However, in reality it is best to focus on no more than one or two development areas in any performance cycle. Using performance based criteria such as behavioural competencies will help focus the development. As behavioural competencies are based on the requirements of the job, it will also mean that the development is targeted and relevant.

2. Set SMART goals

Once the criteria for development have been prioritised, express each of the development areas as a SMART goal:-
S specific
M measurable
A achievable
R relevant
T time bound

For example:
”I will develop and get signed off by my manager by May this year a business development plan which aims to deliver a 10% increase in revenue.”

This SMART goal is also clever. It delivers something tangible for the business and therefore will get support from management. At the same time, it is also helping to develop such competency areas as ‘Strategic Thinking’ or ‘Influencing’.

To increase the probability of achieving the development goals, it may be helpful to:

    * Break broad, long term aims into smaller, short range manageable steps
    * Consider whether support from others would be helpful. Discuss the targets with colleagues or a coach as appropriate
    * Have a contingency plan in case the targets are not achieved
    * Get specific and frequent feedback from others

3. Identify the Barriers

Once the competencies for further development have been prioritised and SMART goals set, reflect on the issues that currently stand in the way of performing that competency effectively. Understanding what these issues or obstacles are will help to focus development efforts and improve the chances of reaching the development targets.

Clarifying the issues will help to identify exactly what needs to be done to develop strengths related to particular competencies. For instance,

    * An inability to carry out a task may be due to a lack of skill
    * Or lack of appropriate information or knowledge
    * Or not seeing this as the right thing to do or part of the role (an issue about values or self image)
    * Not having the necessary ways of behaving (a trait issue)
    * Not enjoying or being motivated by this (a motive issue)

4. Use Development Approaches which Address the Need

Depending on the particular development issue, select an appropriate development action. For instance, gaps in skills and knowledge can often easily be addressed by training courses. However, traits, motives and self image will require different approaches such as coaching or self directed learning.

5. Constantly Review and Revise Progress

As with any development activity, it is important that regular reviews of progress are built in. If other people are not involved in the review process, set clear indicators of success to enable a personal review.

Indicators might include:

    * Deciding how far targets have been met. This may require feedback from others on how far they see the competencies being demonstrated.
    * Clarifying the things that are helping and hindering progress and what can be done about the latter.
    * Stating ways in which the personal development plan may need revision and the implications of the changes.

Pam Kennett is a business consultant with more than 20 years' experience working with organisations to help them understand the talent of their staff through the implementation of competency models. She has an MBA from City University Business School (London), is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is a registered member of the British Psychological Society.

She is the founder and Director of Chiswick Consulting Limited and can be contacted at +44 208747 1886 or http://www.chiswickconsulting.com

For more insights on how to develop and implement competencies to increase performance, contact Pam

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HERE ARE SOME KEY CRITERIA TO CONSIDER:

WHAT IS YOUR OBJECTIVE?
Do you have specific difficult quality issues that must be resolved? Do you have a pressing need for general overall company operating improvements? Or, are you just looking for a means to force improvement into the organization? Alternatives: Six Sigma is a powerful tool, specifically designed to resolve complex quality problems. It is NOT, however, designed to address overall operating performance issues. Lean Manufacturing, on the other hand, is an all-encompassing philosophy designed to address overall process improvement. It is a comprehensive philosophy and process with a cadre of underlying techniques.

SPEED OF RESULTS NEEDED?
How urgent is your requirement? Is this initiative a leisurely "nice to have" or is there a pressing need for quick, substantial results? Alternatives: Six Sigma is a thorough, rigorous process. It entails a considerable amount of front-end training before any meaningful work can begin. Lean Manufacturing, when correctly applied, can begin generating large results almost immediately.

CAN WE DO BOTH?
Can we effectively transition to both Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma simultaneously?

Discussion: To transition to a Lean environment requires a huge commitment, and focus, from the top. Lean is, in most companies, initially a foreign philosophy. The transition typically requires a culture change and a substantial commitment. This is also true of a full blown Six Sigma implementation. Attempting to do both, simultaneously, will almost always result in neither philosophy being done very well. In addition, the underlying philosophies can cause some conflict if attempted simultaneously. An effective Lean transition has an element of "Just Do It" i.e. reduce the inventory and fix the problems that arise. Conversely, the classical Six Sigma implementation is rigid and rigorous.

WHICH TO DO FIRST?
If it doesn't make sense to attempt to do both simultaneously, is there a reason why one should be done before another? Alternatives: Lean is an overall operating philosophy that drives the waste out of the system. The Lean process will expose problems of all sorts. In the Lean "tool kit" are a host of techniques that are utilized to resolve the exposed problems. One such technique is Six Sigma. The Lean toolkit also contains other quality improvement techniques such as Sequential Inspection, Failsafe, Source Inspection, etc.

Bottom Line: If your process is already operating Lean, and you are now facing isolated difficult quality and/or process control issues, then a Six Sigma implementation would likely be appropriate and beneficial. If, however, your company is still operating in a traditional mode, doing Lean first will almost always generate much more meaningful and timely results.

SYNOPSIS
Six Sigma is a powerful tool when applied to appropriate quality and process control issues. It is NOT, however, an overall enterprise improvement methodology. The Lean Manufacturing transition process can be used to generate cash and overall global process improvements. Six Sigma methods should be then utilized, where appropriate, to resolve specific process quality / reliability issues.

Jack Harrison has been helping companies implement Lean Manufacturing for more than 18 years.

Jack and his team have helped companies remove more than $1 Billion in inventory and helped create industry leaders.

http://www.handsongroup.com [email protected] 407-299-5245

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Distributorships that dominate the world of distribution by always performing in the upper quartile of their industry and those which will play an even greater role in the foreseeable future generally have characteristics that often create a large and incredibly complex set of independent relationships between highly diverse groups of people. Problems with staffing and retention often apparent in their counterparts, the lower quartile performers, may not be due to bad hires or a low unemployment rate. In fact, they may be related to poor leadership insight by not recognizing employees as a core competency in the business strategy.

Although employees may not fit the strictest definition of a core competency, it is a fact that employees are the ones responsible for creating many of the core competencies that create competitive advantage for the company. It is an undisputable fact that failure to recognize the importance of employee contributions will lead to lower quartile performance and even failure regardless of your business strategy. Core competence is professed to be the source of sustainable competitive advantage.

The Three Determinants of Core Competence include:

•    IT MUST BE VALUED BY THE CUSTOMER.
 •   IT MUST BE HARD TO COPY QUICKLY.
 •   IT MUST BE TRANSFERABLE TO OTHER PRODUCTS OR MARKETS.

A BUNDLE OF SKILLS MAKE UP A CORE COMPETENCY - A SINGLE SKILL IS NOT A CORE COMPETENCY.

Employees control and create core competence through their actions and execution. Core competence is built around employee initiative and creativity.

Leadership must figure out how to maximize active involvement and creativity in their employees. Questioning of the status quo and the generation of new ideas is a mandate of success. That success depends on a superior level of performance, a level that requires deep commitment. This commitment will not flourish in the old workplace environments that often were dominated by the “slap and point” method of management or the motivational technique of “the carrot and the club” often used in the past. Manage your assets but lead your people.

That means treating your employees like they are your most precious asset. It requires coaching and mentoring skills. Treat them as a core competence and they will become one.

Leadership is not about...beating people into compliance. It’s not about demanding that people follow you based on your title. When you’re the employer of choice...and again it gets backs–back to culture, and creating an environment where people feel that they’re developing personally and professionally. And this culture isn’t just feel good stuff, I really think in terms of retaining, recruiting–the performance–it leads to more successful companies. If you treat people with dignity and respect, you just need to communicate, and let people know how you’re going about making your decisions. Mike McClelland, CEO, Do It Best

A monthly review process is the cornerstone of effective leadership. During the reviews, critical performance issues are discussed. It is the Leaders job not to simply participate in this process, but to use these reviews as an opportunity to mentor, coach, counsel, and correct issues regarding overall performance. If conducted properly, the review process will become an effective tool in improving both executive Leadership and the entire team’s performance. The purpose of the review is to acknowledge and maintain good performance, as well as improve performance. (e-mail [email protected] for a fre*e self test determine if you are or ready to become a mentor.)

If people aren’t on-board and they don’t respect management’s ability to lead them, failure is imminent. People must be lead not managed. Leadership starts with respect. Respect your employees, coach them, mentor them and support them and they may just become your companies primary “Core Competency”.

http://www.ceostrategist.com Dr. Rick Johnson ([email protected]) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership and the creation of competitive advantage in wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information. CEO Strategist – experts in Strategic Leadership in Wholesale Distribution. Sign up for Rick’s monthly news letter – "The Howl" email [email protected]

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A cohesive management team is the most important ingredient to your company’s success. The management team needs to function as a team to maximize their accomplishments. To quote an over used phrase, teamwork is really key to an effective management team. This sounds like a simple concept but it is more complicated than you might think. It just isn’t a natural act for people to come together and immediately become effective by addressing common objectives, common issues and common problems.

A management team can often become overwhelmed by day to day events which effectively prohibit strategic thinking. Thinking outside the box becomes difficult because they are too busy trying to control what’s going on inside the box. The sharing of common visions and long term goals becomes extremely difficult. Individual personalities, values and personal goals often become roadblocks to functioning well as a team. Getting your management team to focus on common strategic goals is not easy but it is absolutely essential if you are going to maintain competitive advantage and get things done.

Five tips to get your management team to function as a unit.

1. Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.

2. Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.

3. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.

4. Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardize success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives.

5. Create a “Night of the Long Knives

• The “Night of the Long Knives” is a terminology used when the Elephant is too big to eat and you have to chop it up into pieces.

• It is the coming together of a competent team to address common issues & challenges that need to be resolved in the best interest of the entire group

Document current and future challenges, projects, initiatives and issues. Ask your management team to review them, add their thoughts and comment on any issues that may have been overlooked. Lastly, ask them to prioritize the list based on the impact to the success of the organization over the next twelve to eighteen months. Arrange for a two day “Night of the Long Knives” workshop utilizing the following agenda.

   Defining the hurdles to both short term and long term success
    Identification of critical constraints
    Re-Prioritization
    Scenario planning and brain storming
    Action planning both short and long term (12 months)
    Presentation for call to action and resources required

http://www.ceostrategist.com Dr. Rick Johnson ([email protected]) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership and the creation of competitive advantage in wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information. CEO Strategist – experts in Strategic Leadership in Wholesale Distribution. Sign up for Rick’s monthly news letter – "The Howl" email [email protected].

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Human resources consulting firms have been helping companies for years training employees. Many firms advertise on the internet. When a company needs help in conflict resolution, time management, and other human resources responsibilities, they find a firm that will conduct a one or two day seminar to teach the human resources department new skills that will benefit the company. Human resources consulting can breathe new life into any human resources department.

Here are three companies I have researched that provide Human Resources consulting. There are many others out there but these three appear to provide the most complete services for your human resource department's needs. This way, both management and emplyees benefit.

HRC Consulting services,http://www.hrc.com, has been conducting seminars for over twenty years. They are a group of well-trained speakers and teachers that can offer advice to human resources departments on everything from employee issues, to writing handbooks that everyone will understand.

They can teach people how to effectively communicate with employees. Human resources consulting like HRC can change the way human resource departments share pertinent information with employees. They will teach people how to write effective memos, letters, and training manuals. They will also teach how to update existing manuals. HRC is also available to train people how to use payroll software and improve labor tracking.

Paul Hilton Human Resources Consulting, LLC,http://www.paulhiltonr.com, is another human resources consulting firm with over twenty-five years of experience. This group can teach human resource departments by first conducting an audit of their current system of operations. Then they will offer suggestions which can be in the form of seminars or one on one conversation.

They can also teach how to write effective handbooks. Paul Hilton Human Resources Consulting also works with human resource departments on issues that dominate their company. Individual attention is paid to problems the company is encountering or has encountered in the past. This type of human resources consulting pinpoints specific problems and tries to solve them through additional training.

Frederikson Human Resources,http://www.fredhr.com, offers courses in human resources and management. These courses are more specific in nature, but deal with current issues facing most departments. This human resources consulting approach is gaining in popularity because people want to take classes to improve their understanding of human resources and how to make the department more efficient.

Human resources consulting firms can take a look at a human resources department and be able to suggest where improvements can be made. This is very beneficial to everyone involved in the seminars and also to employees who depend on human resources. Firms like the ones mentioned above can be found in any town and online. It is useful for companies to pay for human resources consulting every few years in order to keep people informed and exposed to latest human resources operating standards.

For more Human Resources Consulting Information, visit Human Resources Info

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Employee surveys seem to be the rage these days. These tools can either help you improve your company or waste your time. Their success depends on how you implement them and what you do with the results.

An effective survey will open a window into workers’ minds, letting in refreshing ideas on how to improve problem areas in your organization. Meanwhile, a poorly constructed or implemented survey can do more harm than good by creating unrealistic expectations and highlighting management’s inability to address concerns. Here are seven survey pitfalls and how to avoid them:

1. Magic-wand syndrome. Employers believe that employee dissatisfaction or other issues will disappear once workers voice their opinions. But that is not the case. Your organization must be ready to make dramatic changes or morale will plummet. By surveying workers on issues your company has no plans to resolve or making no changes, you will only decrease morale. The best way to avoid the magic-wand syndrome is to understand that giving employees the opportunity to vent won’t make the problem disappear; management must be ready to take action.

2. Passive workers. The staff believes management is responsible for fixing organizational problems and is waiting for it to fail. Building successful companies requires the efforts of all employees. Your staff must be willing to work with management to improve the company, and organizations should continually solicit input from workers and involve them in resolving problems.

3. Mixed signals regarding confidentiality. To increase participation, employers promise to keep results confidential. But then they require workers to include their contact information to qualify for incentives for completing surveys. Doing so compromises the survey’s integrity and gives the wrong message to your work force. Instead, consider providing a benefit (such as some time off) if a high enough percentage of employees participate.

4. Faulty surveys. Employers ask the wrong questions or offer inadequate response choices, yielding little information. Suppose you asked workers, “How satisfied are you with your job” and the majority responded, “Dissatisfied.” Unless you also learn why they’re unhappy, you won’t know how or where you should make improvements. Focus on your objectives for the survey and construct questions to provide you with the details you need to address your survey goals.

5. Unrealistic expectations. Raising issues that you are unprepared to address is a recipe for disaster. For instance, if you survey workers on compensation, but have no plans to change it, you’ll only frustrate your employees. Workers also think that because of the survey, management will solve every issue right away. Help your staff better understand the survey process by involving them in the survey design and creating a timeline for acting on the results. Be honest with your staff. Let them know that you’ll immediately handle some matters, but others will take more time and you may not be able to resolve some.

6. A one-track mind. Companies ask too many questions about one topic, causing employees to assume that this particular area is more important than others. For example, if the majority of questions are about the company’s pay structure and employee benefits, your staff may mistakenly believe that the organization will be making significant changes in the total compensation program. Address topics equally unless you are looking to focus on one particular part of your business.

7. Failure to benchmark. Businesses ignore the bigger picture. If you benchmarked your results against similar companies’ you might find, for example, that a low score on satisfaction with employee management may be the norm or workers often rate pay as “needs significant improvement.” Comparing information to previous surveys you conducted or against other businesses’ results will provide a broader look at problem areas.

Companies who choose to do employee surveys should do them annually. This will enable you to track your progress. Using a third-party to conduct your survey will provide you with unfiltered information. Regardless of how often you survey your work force, evaluate your process. Ensure it drives business results, generates information you can use to improve your company and gives employees feedback about upcoming changes or ways they can improve the organization. After all, your workers need to know that management is listening when they speak and that change is possible.

© 2005-2006 Human Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.

Roberta Chinsky Matuson is the President of Human Resource Solutions (http://www.yourhrexperts.com) and has been helping companies align their people assets with their business goals. She is considered an expert in generational workforce issues. Roberta publishes a monthly newsletter “HR Matters” http://www.yourhrexperts.com/hrjoin.cgi which is jammed with resources, articles and tips to help companies navigate through sticky and complicated HR workforce issues. She can be reached at 413-582-1840 or [email protected].

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A key feature in lean manufacturing is its simplicity. Simple techniques are used to get to the ultimate goal of lean manufacturing, very effectively and efficiently. One major aspects of lean manufacturing is small continuous improvement which is greatly helped with this concept.

One such simple and powerful tool used in lean manufacturing is 5S. This technique is described as the starting point of the lean manufacturing implementation in many organizations. Significant savings on time, space and reduced defects, reduces accidents and pleasant working environment are direct results of 5S.

5S can be simply explained as follows. 5S simply identifies the necessary things and unnecessary things from your work environment, then it sorts them and discards the unnecessary. Then the things which are required are kept in order so that using them will be easy. In the third step all the areas will be cleaned. When these are in process for sometime, it is the time to standardize the process and the above practices. Good practices in the first three steps will be implemented organization wide so that everyone will operate in the same way. This is the standardization phase of the implementation. When this is done you will need to adhere to this 5S culture. 5S way of life will become standard and everyone will now not feel they have implemented something called 5S, but they will work accordingly.

I am Aza, a process engineer, consultant and the author of the e-book “Lean manufacturing basics” which is freely available on my site at http://www.leanmanufacturingconcepts.com/LeanManufacturingBook.htm

Learn about Lean manufacturing tools and technique – Simply Click Here

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Possibly, the greatest untapped resource in any organization lies in its employees. These days, “giving 100 percent” is not enough to get ahead; you need to become more effective in unlocking your staff’s potential strengths, creativity, and resourcefulness. The best companies have the best people, and the top people are those who think and act faster and better than others. According to Gallup Research, organizations make use of less than 20% of their employee’s potential.

The following seven tips are what I believe are the specific ingredients in bringing the leader and his or her staff to their full potential:

1. Leadership – Being an effective leader helps you and your staff as they look to you for all of the specifics in getting their work done, as with items that follow and more. Allow your staff to think on their own, have trust in them for accomplishing the tasks assigned to them, and in return you will find that managing your employees will help them perform at their optimum level. The job of the leader is to help increase their staff’s effectiveness and to recognize and work to improve whatever limitations affect individual’s performance.

2. Communication – As a leader, talk to your staff and share with them how best to get the task or project done. In doing so, use optimism to motivate and inspire your staff and most importantly, ask your staff for suggestions on how they would get the task accomplished. Having clear expectations and direction from the leader is important so the staff can understand what they are expected to do. The leader is then able to give support to their team to get the job done more efficiently and with less stress and strain on the leader or their staff.

3. Empowering Employees – Allowing your staff to take responsibility and make decisions on their own is what many consider as a boost of self-confidence to employees. Getting your staff more involved in the work they do gives them a sense of accomplishment and helps them build up their self-esteem. Recognize their limitations and assign them tasks where they can use their strengths.

4. Talented Employees – Attracting and retaining talented people with exceptional skills is necessary for any organization and is a problem for many. The demand of hiring talented employees is extremely competitive. In finding new employees, or even in keeping the employees you already have, evaluate each person to see if it is worth your while and theirs in training them for challenging tasks that they will be required do. Developing untapped employee potential is a key competitive advantage for any organization. As a return-on-investment, developing your staff’s skills motivates them toward job satisfaction, as they prefer job challenges to performing the same functions week after week and year after year.

5. Emotional Intelligence – You can easily stick with the way you have done things in the past. But having your staff members shift gears in using their “emotional intelligence” skills assists them when it comes to excelling in their job or being “star performers.” Emotional Intelligence is defined as each staff member and leader having a set of competencies to develop and apply their “people skills” effectively. There are several emotional intelligence skills that affect all aspects of work, and they include: self-confidence, self-control, conscientiousness, adaptability, innovativeness, commitment, initiative, optimism, understanding others, conflict management skills, team capabilities, communication, and the ability to initiate or manage change. Team members clearly understand reactions and how to channel their energy into more productive results.

6. Recognition – Give your staff praise and positive feedback when it is appropriate. Through genuine appreciation, recognize the positive behaviors and achievements of your employees. Look for ways to increase employee motivation by recognizing excellence in the workplace. Celebrate the successes with your team members when they complete a job “well done”.

7. Team Work – Creating an effective team is a challenge to many leaders. Besides the fact that a team player is valued, your staff contributes to the success of the whole team as well as to the project or task, and even to the success of the organization as a whole. For the team to accomplish what they need to, the leader must get the right resources to the team. This goes along with your team members communicating with each other, problem solving on their own, being flexible and adaptive, and most importantly, working together.

Your team members typically will have a variety of unique styles that are significantly common and compliment each other. These are (source: Honey P., 1994, Teams and Leaders):
The Doers – those who make sure the job gets done and gives the team drive. Doers are prepared to get involved to help others. Also, Doers want to see progress and hate wasting time.
The Achievers – Achievers become impatient with delays, and also want to succeed and strive for results.
The Thinkers - Thinkers have good ideas and reject bad ones. Typically, they think the problem through and see solutions.
The Carers – Carers keep the team together, ease tensions, promote harmony, and are sensitive about relationships within the team. Carers are concerned that everyone is fitting in.

In optimizing the full potential of you the leader and your staff, incorporating a number of the ways we have discussed to develop your staff for job satisfaction is essential. If this does not take place, there will be no staff cooperation. As a result, miscommunication will be dominant, teamwork will fall apart, deadlines for any projects or tasks will be missed, and you will end up with high employee turnover. Take full advantage of your biggest asset – your employees. Using what has been outlined here will attract the best people to your organization, create the team any company would admire, and will take you and your organization to the next level and beyond.

Neal Burgis, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO of Burgis Successful Solutions, an executive coaching firm. Neal has 18 years of experience helping people with their goals and performance. He specializes in executive coaching on work balance issues of performance, leadership development, and improving skills, as well as being a sounding board. Dr. Burgis is a National Certified Psychologist and a Certified Executive Coach. He is available to help with your coaching needs either in person or through telephone coach consultations at your convenience. For more information, you can visit his website at http://www.successful-solutions.com or contact Neal at 602-405-2540 or [email protected].

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1. Know what you Do well, and what you Do Not do well-- You think you know what to do to start your new business. Even if you do, you have to look way beyond the start-up phase for traps that can throw you off course. You have to look beyond the start-up and consider your operations, your staff, your sales goals, your marketing plan, your accounting and bookkeeping, your proposals and bids, your scheduling, your customer and vendor relationships, and your follow-up to maintain the business relationships. All of these areas can create unmanageable havoc for your new business and lead to failure. You must recognize the areas where you need help, and hire the help you need.

2. Never start your business before you Plan, Plan, Plan—It is expensive, complicated, time consuming, and frustrating to write a complete business plan. However, even small, unsophisticated businesses must have a business plan. You must have your ideas, goals, milestones, and measurements documented in a comprehensive plan that has detailed information about the competition, your target market, your customer profile, your marketing and advertising, your financial goals, and you plans for growth.

3. Have a professional business identity-- Your business logo is often the first thing your customers will see. It must be professional so that your business looks professional. Do not try this at home! Business cards designed and printed at home will not send the right message about your business. One of your most important investments is in your business identity and your marketing collateral.

4. You and your family must understand and be willing to accept the personal sacrifices that running a business requires-- Most new business owners spend 12-18 hours working every day during the start-up process. This creates emotional and physical stress on you and your family life. You must be absolutely certain that you and your family are ready for this stress before you begin. Be sure that your family understands and supports the time and energy that your new business will require. Try to anticipate and explain the kinds of changes your family will face while you are building your business.

5. An under-capitalized business will fail—Accurately calculate how much money you will need to open the doors to your business and how much money you will need to operate your business and pay expenses until you are generating enough revenue to cover expenses and overhead. Do not underestimate advertising, salaries, taxes, utilities, rent, office supplies, and the many other expenses that you will have to pay. Can you survive financially if you cannot pay yourself a salary during the start-up period? At a minimum your business needs enough start-up capital to pay expenses for 6-12 months.

6. Be sure you do not overlook the laws, codes, and regulations that control your business operations-- Contact County, City and State agencies and determine their requirements. You’ll need a Federal Tax ID Number.

7. Never underestimate the value of networking and building strategic partnerships--You can develop contacts that know and trust you and will do business with you and refer business to you. Networking helps your businesses become visible without much cost, and it helps you build relationships. You can find which business groups meet and their schedules in the Business Journal, and you should sample then and choose one or two that you think are best for your business. Most business networking groups will let you attend a few times without joining. Find groups that have businesses that serve the same client base as your business, and you can build strategic alliances with mutual referrals.

8. Research on the Internet, with Small Business Association, with Governmental Business Resources, and the library—There are many places where helpful information is available for free that will help you start your business, generate revenue, and expand operations. If you need help with your research, you can hire someone to help you!

9. Get and stay current in technology—You absolutely must keep current with technology and use it in your business. You can greatly increase how effectively your run your business with the right software. You want to know what products are being used in your industry and by your competition. Your customers want to hire the company that uses the latest technology.

Jo Ann Joy is the CEO and owner of Indigo Business Solutions. She has a law degree, an MBA, and a degree in Economics. Her background includes commercial and real estate law, accounting, financial planning, mortgages, marketing, product development, and business strategies. She ran a successful business for 10 years, and she has written and given presentations on many different legal and business subjects.

Jo Ann is not a traditional attorney. Rather, she is a strategic business attorney who works closely with clients to create and implement strategies that will greatly improve their performance and success. She uses her talents, expertise, and education to inspire enterprising and imaginative people to make their goals a reality and enjoy professional and personal growth.

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Keeping a Franchise Team motivated is not easy. You see Franchisees are people, people from all walks of life and each one is different. However you can motivate a franchise organization to run like a well-oiled machines or a world class sports team. How so you ask? By constantly reviewing your system, going over your marketing play book and evaluating what you are doing wrong and what you are doing great.

As the Founder of a franchise company I always made sure to do this and I offered a financial incentive for those team members who wanted to join the collective brains of the company and strategize and innovate to do it even better. Below is an excerpt of a common type of email sent out to my franchise team to help evaluate and motivate our team’s performance;

“We are instituting a royalty reduction program for January. I need everyone to write down their goals in definite terms and dates through out the year when you want to hit certain mile markers. For instance, if you want to increase sales by $3,000.00 per month in the first quarter, then we need to know that goal. If you believe you will need a certain type of account to accomplish this then write down the name of that account(s). Have alternate account possibilities. If you want a $5,000.00 per month increase then also write down who you might need to hire to do the additional work, write down their names. Additional Equipment necessary; then write down what equipment you will need to do this increase. It is okay to make hard to get to goals, if you do not then you should transfer and sell your franchise since you at that point would lack significant team spirit.”

This always increased our per unit sales volumes and got our franchisees to set real goals. We learned a lot about our selves and our team, as we motivated ourselves to win and stay efficient. This is a great way to motivate your franchisees, dealers or team. Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

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Experts estimate that over 70% of businesses doing less than $200 million in sales in some way violate the Federal Wage and Hour Law. In my consulting practice, I am amazed at how frequently I find that clients are unknowingly setting themselves up for potential lawsuits.

(See Chapter 10 in my new book, 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot for more information on Compensation Opportunities in your business. See Shopping Cart athttp://www.BillLeeOnLine.com. $21.95 + $6 S&H.)

Liability for overtime that should have been paid, but wasn’t, can extend as far back as three years and can amount to big bucks if very many employees are involved. Typically, the issue of overtime arises when an employee is terminated and goes to a lawyer to determine the possibility of filing a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. If there are no grounds for such a lawsuit, an aggressive lawyer may decide to file for overtime violations if the attorney’s research determines that any were committed.

The law requires employers to pay non exempt workers overtime pay for all hours worked over 40 in any given week.. To be exempt as an executive or manager -- that is, exempt from this law -- an employee’s “primary duty” must be managing as opposed to doing manual, inside sales or other non executive tasks. This means that the person must spend more than 50% of his or her time on managerial duties. The person must also regularly direct the work of at least two other full-time employees or their equivalent.

In other words, the person could supervise four people working 20-hour weeks. He or she must also have the authority to hire or fire other employees and regularly exercise discretionary decision making.

In addition, the exempt employee must be paid a salary of no less than $___ per week. (Check with your labor lawyer to determine the exact amount in your state.)

The biggest problem occurs with supervisory workers whom employers consider to be exempt because they think that these employees are managers. But often their duties are split. One week, one of these workers may function as a manager. But the following week, the person might be performing a sales or routine office function.

Rule #1 – Be sure to have on file a job description for every exempt employee on your payroll. The job description should accurately describe the employee’s duties. This will provide some protection if the person later sues for overtime on the grounds that he or she was not an exempt managerial employee.

Rule #2 – All non exempt workers should sign a time sheet even if they are not allowed to work in excess of 40 hours a week. If employees are required to sign in and out every time they report for and leave work, it will help reduce the company’s liability in future overtime disputes. And of course, these signed time sheets should be kept on file in case you need access to them down the road.

If you question whether one or more of your employees qualify for exempt status, you may wish to contact a wage and hour consultant.

Bill Lee is author of 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot - $21.95 + $6 S&H for the first book and $1 for each additional book. See Shopping Cart at http://www.BillLeeOnLine.com

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Do you know that you get 80% of your results from just 20% of your time and effort and consequently 80% of your time is virtually wasted on non productive activities?. Once you realize this it is easy to take advantage and either reduce the hours you work or significantly improve your productivity.

The 80-20 rule was first discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto a hundred years ago. Using this knowledge is incredibly powerful in combating the "not enough hours in the day" mentality of today's society.

The 80-20 rule means that in any area of our lives, literally 80 percent of our fruits are derived from only 20 percent of doing "what matters". In other words, there is only a very small portion of all that we do each day, regardless of the situation, that brings us the "higher return".

How can you benefit from being aware of this principle? Implementing a strategy based on the 80-20 rule can result in greater wealth and greater leisure time? Just imagine how productive you will be if 80% of your time could be spent on productive activities. You have to realise that the things that matters most should never be at the mercy of activities that matter least.

Here are 5 Steps to maximise your productivity:

1) Keep a work log for at least a week

Write down all of your activities and the time spent doing them. I appreciate this is time consuming initially but it is essential you get a true picture of your working week.

2) Analyse your activities

Separate your activities into high priority - those that produce a return or where only you have the skills to do the work - and low priority - activities others can do where the activity can be delegated to support staff. You will almost certainly find that you are spending most of your time on low-priority activities rather than activities directly providing a return. In almost all businesses these non productive activities tend to absorb time at a far greater rate than they should.

3) Delegate non productive activities

Once you can identify the low priority activities delegate as many as possible to support staff providing training where required. If necessary employ an additional member of staff to take responsibilities - the cost will be more than offset by your improved productivity. There may be a number of low priority activities you are tempted to keep. Unless it is absolutely unavoidable don't be tempted and don't get involved in non productive activities or your productivity will fall.

4) Calculate the time required for any remaining low priority activities

Once you have delegated all that you can, your next step is to calculate how much time you should be spending on the remaining low priority activities to make maximum use of your productive time. Do not work disproportionately hard at these low priority activities and set aside specific time each day or week to complete them.

5) Prioritise your remaining activities

Once you have cleared out the activities that do not bring you any return, it is time to turn your attention to the activities in your life that are bringing the most reward. Prioritise your activities and concentrate most of your time just on a few high-priority activities.

The objective throughout is to maximize your results from the areas of high return and to delegate those activities that have a low return. Having to spend a disproportionate amount of time on non productive activities is a major source of stress for many businessmen. Delegating these activities will therefore have the added benefit of reducing the stress you are under. It is all about doing less work for greater return.

For more success in life, whether that is more money, more time with your family or just making time for golf you should start implementing the 80-20 rule immediately. It will help your career as well as your personal life and, as a bonus, following the 80-20 rule day in and day out can make you very wealthy over the long term.

John Edmond worked for many years in insurance and finance and now writes on a number of topics including small business and finance. For more advice on welcoming new staff go to 15 Steps On How To Welcome Your New Employee or Small Business Management for more selected articles on small business management.

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As soon as one of your best employees walks in, you know what is going to happen. The look on his face says it all. "I am leaving." How did this happen? Did you miss something?

What are the reasons that employees leave? You don't have to look very hard to find answers to that one. This seems to be one of the favorite things for human resource researchers to research. And research they have.

Unfortunately, "leaving" gets too much attention. Retention is the focus that will keep you and your employees happy. Remember, if you aren't actively recruiting your employees, someone else will-and someone is probably recruiting your best and brightest right now.

The case for focusing on retention

Every year, businesses face the costs of replacing their key employees at up to 2.5 times the former employee's salary. Add the costs of recruiting, training, lost productivity, and the business knowledge that your former employees have now taken to your competitors and the figure looms even higher.

And it gets worse. Did you know that up to 38% of your managers, supervisors, and team leaders are about to leave? Monster (the premiere online job search company) has seen a 44% increase in new resume postings. In particular, "confidential" postings from job-seekers hiding the search from their bosses are up 13%. With your good employees leaving and the less productive employees staying, the costs can be staggering.

The hidden costs of turnover

The costs of turnover are usually only seen in basic terms: downtime, recruiting a replacement, and training the new-hire. That's a lot like making a grocery list with "food, drink, and health products." You leave the store wondering why these three items cost so much. When you are shopping for a new employee, here is a real shopping list:

Last paycheck

Leftover vacation hours

Processing the paperwork for separation

Advertising

Meetings

Interviews

Background checks

Medical check-ups

Reading through resumes

Training materials

Lost productivity until position is filled

Learning curve down-time

And you haven't even picked up the milk and bread yet!

What's the solution?

Data can't do anything by itself, and sometimes data can even be misleading. Remember that voluntary turnover data is often gathered from somebody who has already decided to leave. Couple that fact with the adage "don't burn your bridges", and you can quickly see why one of the top reasons given for voluntary turnover is "better pay elsewhere." In other words, nothing personal, Boss.

It is personal!

It is not that people never leave their jobs for a better paying job, but the reason you have lost, are losing, and will lose key talent is probably not related to money. People leave when they are no longer happy. Don't simply focus on the employees on their way out the door. Let's look at the ones who are staying and how to turn the employees planning to leave into key talent planning to stay.

How to slay the turnover dragon 5 Key Retention Factors

If something were stolen from your office-say, a computer-you would probably stop at nothing to find the culprit. Why then do most companies treat the "theft" of an employee as part of the normal course of business? You invest a great deal in each of your employees, so how can you protect that investment? Research shows that when a company addresses the following 5 areas, employees are far more likely to stay.

One: Trust in management

Before you can ask your employees to trust you, you have to determine exactly what your company is all about. How can an employee trust management if he/she doesn't even know what management stands for? Determine your Mission, Values, and Objectives-your MVO statement. There are numerous resources to help you craft your mission, values, and objectives if you have not done so already. If you have already crafted them, it might not hurt to take a second look. Ask yourself the following questions about each element of your MVO statement:

Is this measurable?

Does each element provide value?

Can I explain what it means?

Are our decisions actively based on our MVO?

Once you have determined your company's mission, values, and objectives, you need to measure your employee's alignment with them. This can impart a whole new level of responsibility and accountability in your company. By measuring the performance of your employees with the company's mission, values, and objectives, you can completely align your company.

By incorporating your MVO into your review process, you get an additional benefit- your employees will truly know the company's MVO.

Two: Proper use of skills/abilities

This is one of the most fundamental issues in employee retention: are their duties and esponsibilities properly matched to their strengths and weaknesses? There are many powerful diagnostic systems on the market today-Myers-Briggs and DISC, for example-that can aid you in determining the unique abilities and personality traits of your employees. Many companies have had great success using the Kolbe Index™ which provides a scientifically validated assessment of your instincts that you can put to work immediately in all areas of life. The value of the Kolbe assessment is that you get precise data that outlines how your employees can communicate most effectively, the types of actions that match their strengths, how they can maximize their unique abilities, and how to minimize stress. Why should you help your employees discover their MVO and their unique strengths? Productivity is maximized through alignment of your employees to their MVO and their unique strengths. This will ensure that your employees are engaged, plus they will feel appreciated and valued.

Three: Relationship with immediate supervisor

Would you rather work for the worst manager in the best company or the best manager in the worst company? Given this choice, just about everybody would choose the better manager over the better company. Turns out, unhappy employees are usually unhappy because of a poor employee/supervisor relationship.

The keys to solving employee/supervisor issues:

Discovery: Integrate the discovery of your employees' strengths, values, and goals into your orientation and review programs.

Measure your employees' alignment with their strengths, values, and goals: Make measuring your employees' alignment with their strengths, values, and goals part of their review process. This will help you find a way for everyone to benefit. If one of your employees had a goal to increase her sales by 25%, you could make sure that receives additional support from the company.

Measure the alignment of employee/supervisor and supervisor/employee: Employees usually don't leave jobs-they leave supervisors. By measuring the alignment between your employees and their supervisors, you can find the earliest signals of turnover. If you were to only measure the perception of management, you probably wouldn't hear that the employees don't think things are going well with certain managers. On a positive note, measuring alignment gives you another avenue of praise and recognition of a job well done. Above all, by addressing alignment, you are improving communication throughout the company.

In the traditional orientation and review model, you might not discover the problems with your employees and supervisors until it is too late-when key employees start leaving. By incorporating alignment into your model, you can easily see who to promote, who to train, who to praise, what to fix, and who to fire.

Four: Opportunity to learn new skills

If your company has taken the time to discover the unique strengths of the employees, then this retention factor is even easier for you. When you know the strengths of your employees, you are in a much better position to match your need for new skills in the company with employees who are most suited to those skills. This is a win-win for everyone-your company gains new skill sets, and employees are matched to their strengths.

The most important aspect of this is not simply the opportunity to learn new skills; it is to learn new skills that are matched to their strengths. When you need to train ten people in your company in the latest research methods, it would certainly help to know who your ten best researchers are.

Five: Satisfaction with potential career development

We return again to discovering the MVO of your employees. If you know the mission, values, and objectives of your employees, you are in a much better position to determine the best way to match your company's MVO to your employees' MVO. It all comes down to knowledge. If you take the time to discover who your employees are and what they want, there will be no mystery surrounding career development. Most people have never taken the time to determine their personal MVO. By helping them do this, you achieve success on several levels:

One: They will feel like the company really cares about them.

Two: They will know where they want their careers to go. Three: You will know how to truly maximize each employee's potential.

Bringing it all together

These solutions shouldn't be done piecemeal. Having a mission and values statement is meaningless if no action is taken. Measuring the alignment of your employees to the company's MVO is moot if your employees don't truly know the company's MVO. Without discovering the unique strengths, goals, and values of your employees, you will miss out on your untapped resources. Are there other turnover issues? Of course there are, but when you address the unique strengths and MVO of your employees and focus on alignment throughout the company, many other turnover issues are solved without even trying:

The need for new challenges: You will help them determine their MVO.

Personal happiness: You will show them that the company truly cares about them.

Satisfaction with job role: They will be matched to their strengths.

Teamwork: Alignment will become a key focus throughout the company.

o Communication: By implementing MVO alignment across the board, you will experience a level of communication most companies only dream about.

By discovering the Distinct Natural Abilities™ of your employees and aligning their MVO with the company's MVO, you will build a stable, low-turnover culture that maximizes everyone's potential.

Greg Langston is the founder and President of The Langston Group http://www.coachingresourcesnetwork.com Greg has been described as a focused visionary leader, a creative strategist, and a gifter presenter. A student of excellence, he runs several businesses and serves as a teacher to life and business coaches as well as executives around the globe.

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