Management Skills Articles

Responsibility is a word with many meanings. The Oxford Dictionary definition offers: - The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone: women bear children and take responsibility for child care - The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something: the group has claimed responsibility for a string of murders - The opportunity or ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization: we would expect in

If you gather 100 experienced leaders together to share with you their most important secrets for success, you probably wouldn't hear a lot of academic theory or jargon. Instead, this is a good idea of what you’d hear: - Put ethics first. If you make unethical decisions for short-term gain, you will lose in the end. Let your principles guide you in the many decisions you must make regarding business practices and people. You will regret it if you don’t.

by Janet AttardrnAs the recession grinds on, more and more businesses and consumers are feeling the pinch. Hit by a double whammy of lower-than-expected sales and difficulty in getting credit, some businesses and consumers are trying to solve their cash problems by paying their bills more slowly. And, unfortunately, bills from small businesses are often the ones that businesses and consumers think they can delay paying. That doesn't mean your business should accept slow payme

Poor management is one of the many reasons why most small businesses fail. Regardless of what form it takes, this problem eventually leads to the untimely death of a small business. Fortunately, poor management largely remains an issue that can be addressed by applying something which is common to all successful small business managers-having the right management skills. Whether you're planning to put together a small business or already running your own, the right management

I often receive questions about accountability in the workplace. I figure if one person asks, several more are wondering the same thing. So I'll be addressing some of these questions in this and future articles. Question: "Alan, how can leaders hold employees accountable for their mistakes, but promote innovation at the same time (which requires failure to some extent)?"

Tradeshows continue to be one of the best investments to market your products or services to industry profes-sionals, potential partners, and customers. It provides a hands on approach to marketing that truly help busi-nesses break free from the initial barriers of entry and find their way into a competitive marketing. In order to make the most out of your time at these events, here are some of the do's and don'ts of attending a trade show. The Do's of Attending a Trade Show

Have you ever thought how can you make your organization or company more successful? While you have already enhanced the quality of your products and services, promoted your brand in the market and have attracted many new customers, what else can you do? Well, improving your employees' performance and reducing costs are two important aspects you might have overlooked till now. In such case, it is time for you to consider it. Below is a nice post about monitoring and protecti

When it comes to running a successful business, there are several ethical procedures that businesses need to take, and one of the biggest issues is disposing of client records. Businesses will typically print a copy of the customer's receipt, which will be kept for records, and that is perfectly fine; however, they need to ensure that this process is secure. This means that the business will need to ensure that the client's personal information is not easily accessible if bys

A corporate shell could be liken to a house that had been occupied by a family, prior to the family moving out it was a home. But now it is just shell, a skeleton a plain house with nobody in it, but if a family was to purchase the house and moves in, it becomes a home. nnSimilar, a corporate shell was once the home of an operating company but once the operating company ceases to reside there because of adverse circumstances ( bankruptcy or liquidation ) all that remains is t

It's easy for a small business operator to delude herself or himself into thinking she or he devotes attention to each employee.nnHere is the critical question, "When you give your attention to an employee, does he or she have to share it with the other employees?"nnYears ago, a youth leader was teaching us to be a camp counselor. He told us one thing which was indelibly etched in my mind forever. He said, "When you spend time with your campers, make sure you give each one so

Learning time management skills is learning life's personal management of time. The principle is very basic: Start managing your own personal time. Learning effective time management is more about consistently learning and applying the system. There are people who got thrilled on the idea, tried it, learned from it, and eventually never did get the hang out of it! Meeting deadlines and completing tasks in and out of ones career life is quite struggling, but relieving and fulf

“It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.” - Bill Watterson I think I’m having another Wake Up Alice/Alex moment. It’s time to come out of Wonderland people. How many of you are playing the role of King or Queen of Denial? You know, that’s when you think that if you don’t address a problem in your business it will go away. NOT! You keep thinking that if you just work harder everything is going to get better, and miraculously your employees a

Importance of communication with channel partner is next to the incentives you may be offering to your channel partners. Effective communication is the foundation of the performance of your channel marketing programs. By communicating regularly and also appropriately, you can keep your partners encouraged and maintain long-term mutually beneficial relationship with your channel partners. This post offers you useful information regarding channel marketing, advantages of channe

Writing the Project's Business Case 1 Why do we need a Business Case? Let us begin with where the project starts off from. In any business change will be required, even if it is to progress the business against targets that have already been set. It may be introducing a new sales strategy and action plan. It may be a venture into a new sales channel or establishing a base in a new country. It could easily be looking at introducing a new product to complementing your existing

How many of us feel our joy comes from things outside of us? Many of us see joy as the result of being able to do work that we love. We like the people and the company; we love our work. We have issues with the people and the company, and joy flows less freely. Don’t get me wrong; the right environment can help produce joy on the job. Yet what if you could bring joy to anything you do? Doing so can transform the mundane into the enjoyable and let loose incredible energy for

I was coaching an executive in a $4-billion company. He had read my book and now I was working with him one-on-on to teach him the accountability system. He told me that as a result of our work, he had started scheduling regular accountability meetings with all of his direct reports, but he was having a hard time keeping track of everything they'd talked about. And that made it difficult to follow up on what he had asked people to do.

"The increasing availability of new information and communication technology is one of the key ingredients that makes a high-involvement management approach possible. This capability, more than any other, makes it possible for individuals to become self-managing, to be involved in the business, and to control processes and operations..." — Edward Lawler III, The Ultimate Advantage: Creating the High-Involvement Organization Shortly after Vanessa, our second daughter was bor

Getting new traffic to your site is one thing, but creating customers out of that traffic is an entirely new chal-lenge. In fact, only about 2% of traffic that visit a website will actually become a customer or take some sort of action (conversion). The goal of retargeting is to take advantage of these visitors and attempt to entice that re-maining 98% into becoming a customer at a later point.

Do you ever wonder how it is that some small business owners seem to have both an off-line and online presence? They might even be the same size as you in terms of staff or perhaps even a soho-entrepreneur and yet it appears that they've got a marketing team equivalent to that of a ten people. You wonder how on earth are they pushing out all of that content in some many places and running their business at the same time.

Have you heard the expression that "life is a journey, not a destination"? Well, when it comes to setting goals for your organization life is a journey on the way to a destination. Destination goals (such as revenue and staffing targets and other specific outcomes) are important, but you're not going to reach them without specific stepping stones. Journey goals (such as improving your leadership skills and relationships) are those steps that will get you there.

"He who is not prepared today, will be less so tomorrow." — Ovid, Roman poet Effective learning and capability development doesn't happen just because we want it to. For example, empowering without enabling isn't just foolish, it's unethical. It's like putting a complete novice at the controls of a clunky old airplane and "empowering" him or her to land in the middle of a ferocious thunderstorm. If our organization's systems don't work well, if our skill levels aren't stron

Every day the world is introduced to new technologies, products and services; gadgets, websites and apps all designed to improve our lives and increase the efficiency of the small business owner. We are told by the 'latest marketing gurus' that we must do this and we must have that.

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Management Skills, those skills which allow one to manage either their personal time, plans, and goals, or professionally manage a group of people, deadline, or project. Meryl Runion is the Official Guide to Management Skills .nn Launching a Leadership Revolution: Mastering the Five Levels of Influence , by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, is a valuable resource for people interested in Management Skills , and it is

When I attend or speak at seminars or talks about marketing, I mingle around and ask the group of marketing executives, SMEs or entrepreneurs the same question. So what brings you here today and what do you hope to walk away with at the end of the session. The responses tend to a variation of these two comments; 'Our marketing budget has been cut, yet I have to exceed the number of leads from last year' or 'I am looking for one or two low cost tactics that I can go back and implement right away that will give me a huge reach.'

It had been one year to the day since my friend Jake had relocated to Florida to beef up profits at a medical equipment company. Since I was in Jake’s area on business myself, we agreed to meet after work for drinks to celebrate. Jake had every reason to think he’d get a glowing evaluation on his performance review. But when he trudged into the bar at my hotel, Jake looked like he was down in the dumps, not on top of the world. "They gave me the sack! Can you believe it?" As

I spent a month in Europe after college (thanks Dad). I was 22 and had never been out of the country, barely able to speak my own language much less anyone else’s, with little more than a train pass, some traveler’s checks, and some dry shampoo. When I got home, I bragged most about how I’d avoided all the American tourists, how easy they were to spot, how loud they were, how stupidly they dressed, how embarrassing … like I wasn’t one of them. Big difference, of course: they were tourists, and I … I was a traveler.

Keith was in his mid-50s, and was a managing partner in a large CPA firm. He'd gotten to that level because he was very good at business development - specifically, bringing in brand new clients. His partner group, on the other hand, were mainly in the 40s. They were all highly competent in their technical abilities, but not very good at bringing in new business. Up until then, they hadn't needed to conce themselves with that - it was raining clients. And they also saw plenty of growth just from adding on new services to existing client accounts.

Making the decision to branch out on your own is not one to be taken lightly. Entrepreneurship is truly a personal journey like nothing you've experienced before. My first venture into entrepreneurship began in 1993 when I made the decision to leave the corporate world and set up my own boutique apparel sourcing agency. Like so many other people, I was convinced that it would be an easy task as I was going into the same line of work that I had just left. I knew the business like the back of my hand... or so I thought.

Every organization is subject to growth, after being in the corporate sector for a while. Though entrepreneurs aim on expanding their clientele and resources, they fail to concentrate on efficient data management. As your company grows, so does the magnitude of your data. It is vital to maintain a single, centralized data management system, which aids in efficient management and administration of your enterprise. At times, different departments in the same organization use di

I’ve been lucky with bosses over the years. No real bad ones. A couple of great ones. None of them perfect. (They’d say the same of me, I’m sure.) These days, my bosses are the managers and leaders in our classes every week. To all my bosses, I offer these top 12 to-dos for the new year. Focus on just one a month—building momentum as you go—, and you’ll be much closer to perfect this time next year. 1. Walk (Jan) It’s hard to lead from an office chair. Your team wants to see you (believe it or not), and they expect you to be available and accessible.

In business, one skill rises above all others in determining how much success will occur: choosing the right task to work on next. Let me explain why I came to that conclusion. While working as director of strategic planning for a Fortune 200 company, I recall a time when my list of "official" assignments had 112 items on it. As you can imagine, I wasn't going to get around to doing most of those tasks, even if I just delegated them.

This article describes how investments in many types of training programs are usually wasted, and how to implement the best available options for enhancing learner retention and increasing your organization's ROI. The Problem Do any of these challenges sound familiar to you? - We spent quite a bit of money to train our staff, and now 6 months later nobody is using it! - Everybody liked the program, and they were positive when they walked out the door, but nothing seems to have really changed….

What comes to mind when you hear the term mobile marketing? Some may immediately think that this is about SMS marketing or that you need to have your own app. Not so. Mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device such as a cell phone or defined as 'the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication.' According to KPCB Internet Trends 2013, 15% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. There is no doubt that this number will continue to grow with more consumers coming to your website from a mobile phone. As a business, are you ready?

When you're creating an Upfront Agreement to design how you and your team members will work together, one item you may choose to include is "Making Requests." First, make sure you each have the same definition of the word: a request is just a request; it's not an order, dictate or command. There are no request police.

In today's tough economy, with more and more people struggling to either find a job, hang on to the one they have, or make their businesses prosper, it's important to recognize everything we can do to help us be more productive. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote an intriguing book called Learned Optimism. In his book, he offers many simple techniques to break an "I-give-up" habit and develop a more constructive explanatory style during challenging times.

OHSAS 18000 can be describing as an international occupational health and safety management system specification. It includes two parts, 18001 and 18002 and embraces a number of other journals. It is intended to help organizations for controlling occupational health as well as safety risks. In addition, it was developed in retort to pervasive stipulate for an acknowledged standard against which to be certified and assessed. It is a standard document that does not specify "how

From the minute you come in the door, your workday calendar is filled - there are internal meetings, client meetings, project lists and other commitments. One leads right into the next, with no break in between. Sound familiar? You're overbooked! In today's culture, if you're not doing something at all times, you're perceived - by others as well as yourself - as being unproductive. So you schedule back-to-back-to-back meetings that have you doing, running, running, running, doing, doing, doing, from one activity to the next. Here are three major consequences of being overbooked:

As one year winds down and another lies ahead, it's an excellent time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. I recently went through this process with two different firms when I facilitated their offsite retreats. They had both asked me to help them create a theme for 2012. For one of the companies, it was a matter of revisiting an older strategic plan they were already happy with, but had put on the back burner when the economic landscape changed. Their theme became "Resetting the Plan in 2012."

Before you call your next meeting, the FIRST step is to decide if it is really essential. To determine that, ask yourself the following: - Is this meeting essential? - Can we do without it? - Can we accomplish the task without a meeting? - Can it wait another week? - Can we get things done with few meetings? Then, if you have decided a meeting is the best way to accomplish your objective, the following tips can help you conduct more effective meetings:

Since the Global economy plummeted into the depths of recession, we have heard much mention of job-related stress. Managers are often commenting on management training courses that their staff are now more stressed. Despite having received widespread publicity, few people are aware of the damage which this 'ailment' can cause, and of the relatively simple measures which can be taken to prevent its development. While most company employees suffer from stress, salespeople are

By the time you finish reading this short article, you'll discover the #1 secret to reaching your peak performance level. It has been proven again and again that all successful people have used this secret at some point in their lives, and that this secret is responsible for generating ...

People often ask me why regularly scheduled accountability meetings are so important. They struggle with the thought of adding one more thing to their crowded schedules. Although the meetings do take time, it's clear that skipping them costs even more because of the extra time needed to hire, train and retrain new staff, or to do projects yourself because your people are not accountable. "Can't we just chat for a few minutes in the hallway?" is something else I hear quite a bit. And these hallway meetings are a big part of the culture in many organizations. But they don't always work.

What is the single biggest financial asset your business has? Every company has one, even if you don’t think you do. You won’t see it listed as an asset in your balance sheet but it underpins the value of your operations more than anything else you’ll find listed. What is it? Your Brand. Where did I leave my brand…?

When it comes to meeting people and presenting in person, you are in a good position to ‘read the room’, to get a sense of how your information is or isn’t being accepted. You can see first-hand the nuances of body language, facial gestures and signs of disengagement of people looking at their mobile phones.

“People with high levels of personal mastery cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would chose to walk on one leg or see with one eye.” – Peter Senge

This weekend we visited our college sophomore for Parent’s weekend. Aside from being a whole lot of fun to be invited into your young adult child’s first “home,” there was an opportunity to experience college life on campus. We attended an evening of music showcasing a dozen or so singing groups in the “a cappella,” style. This format showcases the purity of the human voice and the rich, dense harmonies that can be woven into song exclusively with the human voice and no instr

by Janet AttardrnIf you're a business owner with good credit, you probably take your credit card for granted. You use it to pay a lot of your business expenses – especially anything you purchase online. You don't think twice about the card, because you know the credit card company will renew your card whenever it expires. Or, if the credit card company stops providing credit and cancels all its accounts (as one credit card company did in 2009), you'll just get yourself anot

Simulation means recreation. However, the project simulation deals with the software requirement analysis and if the SRS report is being made properly then in that case you will seldom find the need of simulation and this is certainly a great aspect. However, you will find that if the project analysis is not being done properly then in that case the chances for the simulation are very high. However, you will realize that the need for the good SRS is immense and you will have

Counseling Coaching Coping Cure - which to choose? A therapist, a coach, a doctor or self-reliance. I believe that there are six energies that each provide us with our daily source of motivation: the energy of music, movement, meditation, humour, learning & conversation. What I have learned with regards to my own issues is that conversation is an energy source that I need several times a day, every single day.