Connections Business Process Management And Six Sigma

Writen by Peter Peterka

One of the most powerful ways to improve business processes is combining business process management (BPM) strategies with Six Sigma strategies. BPM strategies emphasize process improvements and automation to drive performance, while Six Sigma uses statistical analysis to drive quality improvements. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive, however, and many companies have discovered that combining BPM and Six Sigma can create dramatic results.

BPM basics

Let's first take a look at the basics of BPM. It uses a four step method to create better processes and improve performance. The steps are as follows:

• Map the process (whether new or existing) from start to finish, capturing each step along the way

• Execute the process by using people and automated applications, with specific assignments of responsibilities and accountabilities for each step

• Manage the process through information flow, actions and related activities

• Analyze process performance and metrics, using findings as the basis for continuous process improvement

BPM has a strong base in software applications to help streamline and automate processes. At the software level, BPM is commonly applied within a single department or group to improve a specific process.

From the software level, BPM expands to a suite of software applications. The suite level enables BPM to link multiple departments or groups that affect processes. It promotes information sharing and accountability through use of a work portals where multiple users can share knowledge, documentation, and process management.

At its highest level, BPM expands to an enterprise-wide system. This level combines software and IT aspects with management practices to address broad structural and systemic issues within a business or organization. Business practices and operations are examined from a holistic standpoint, paying close attention to how occurrences in any one part of the system have a ripple effect across the organization.

Six Sigma basics

The concept of Six Sigma was developed at Motorola in the 1980's as they worked to improve the quality of their products and services. By implementing a systematic, rigorous routine, they were able to improve their products and increase customer satisfaction, thus increasing profits.

Six Sigma approaches business processes from a highly statistical standpoint. It incorporates three levels of activity:

• Metrics – statistical focus to make process outcomes 99.9997% defect free, otherwise expressed as 3.4 defects per million opportunities

• Methodology – structured approach to solving problems that uses specific tools and process mapping to achieve the metric goal

• Philosophy – the enterprise-wide embrace of defect reduction by making decisions based on hard data and customer focus

In short, Six Sigma allows an organization to reduce the variability in its products and services so that waste is reduced, efficiency is improved, and customer satisfaction is dramatically increased. Business problems are solved through rigorous application of data collection and analysis tools. The training that Six Sigma users receive is quite intensive, progressing through several increasingly sophisticated levels based on experience and accomplishment. Professional Six Sigma consultants and practitioners usually work to become certified at the various levels, increasing their ability to help guide development and implementation of Six Sigma methodology.

The methodology of Six Sigma is key to its success. An organization follows a five step progression that uses factual information and statistical analysis to address achievement of operational goals. There are some differences in the five steps depending on whether they are used to improve an existing process or design a new process. The end goal, though, is always to achieve the standard metric of 99.9997% defect free performance.

Combining BPM and Six Sigma

With this basic understanding of BPM and Six Sigma in mind, it is easy to see how powerful it can be to combine the two practices. Their strengths complement each other and create a synergy that infuses the entire operation with a focus on quality and performance.

The strength of BPM lies in its ability to automate processes and workflow through modeling and examination of inputs, outputs and performance. It is not as strong, however, in its ability to analyze data associated with very difficult or multifaceted problems. Six Sigma fills this gap by providing the statistical analysis needed to deal with complex problems.

The strength of Six Sigma lies in its rigorous approach to data collection and analysis. Through this process it is can identify even the smallest opportunities for process improvement, maximizing an organization's ability to institute necessary changes. It is not as strong, however, in its ability to monitor process improvements and ensure they are applied across the board. BPM fills this gap by providing tools to automate process improvements and connect those improvements across the entire organization.

Both BPM and Six Sigma represent significant commitments on the part of a business or organization, and they take time to implement them thoroughly. Tremendous organizational change is often required, leading most companies to start with a single department or pilot project and expand their use over a multi-year period. It is well worth the time and effort, though, to generate the substantial business improvements that are typical with BPM and Six Sigma.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a Master Black Belt, and has over 15 years experience in industry as an improvement specialist and engineer working with numerous companies, including 3M, Dell, Dow, GE, HP, Intel, Motorola, Seagate, Xerox and even the US Men's Olympic Team. For partial list look here. Peter is a certified a Master Black Belt and holds an MS degree in Statistics from Iowa State and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue. Peter worked for 3M over 10 years where he gained extensive experience applying Sigma Methodologies to a variety of processes.

Peter Peterka is also President of Six Sigma us. For additional information on Six Sigma Green Belt or other Six Sigma Black Belt programs contact Peter Peterka.

Drafting An Employee Manual Sample Outline

Writen by Lance Winslow

One of the hardest things I had discovered running my company was drafting an Employee Manual. Also added to the stress was the fact that if you made a mistake someone could sue you and you might lose all your hard work and money that you had earned thru blood, sweat and tears as an entrepreneur. You will need an employee manual for your company to protect yourself; but where do you start?

Here is a sample Outline, I prepared for our franchise company, which can help you. After you have addressed all the issues in this outline you may wish to have it reviewed for legal clarity as the wording in a manual can mean life or death in a court of law. No matter how you feel about the issue, if you do not pay attention to the details in your Employee Manual you might find yourself in the poor house due to a vindictive employee with a ruthless attorney. Here is the sample outline;

EMPLOYEE MANUAL

I. HIRING PROCEDURES

A. Where To Find Good Labor

B. Grooming

C. Uniforms

D. Attitude

E. Promptness

F. Temp Agencies

G. Payroll Taxes

H. Worker's Compensation

I. Sexual Harassment

J. Pay Scales -Sales-Office-Washers

K. Benefits

L. Promoting

II. CONTRACT LABOR

A. Piece Work

B. IRS

C. Rentals

D. Expenses

E. Agreements

F. Non-Competition

G. Sales (Commission Only)

III. SAFETY

A. Operations

B. Set Up

C. CDL Records

D. Insurance

E. Claims

F. Slip And Fall

G. OSHA Standards

H. S.B. 198

I. Appeals Board

J. Goggles, Gloves, Boots

K. Industrial

L. Equipment Use and procedures

IV. MOTIVATION

A. Take Employee Aside

B. Thank Him/Her

C. Special Note

D. Letter Of Recommendation

E. Etc.

V. AWARDS

A. Deserving

B. Gifts/Scholarships ($100-200)

C. Certifications

D. Promotions

E. Raises

VI. REPRIMANDS

A. Documentation

B. Privacy

C. Actions

D. Deductions

E. Suspensions

VII. TERMINATION AND FIRING

A. For Cause

B. Lack Of Work

C. Quality Standards

D. Mutual Termination

E. Employee Theft/Fraud

F. Disclosure Of Secrets

G. Office Staff

H. Operations Procedures

I. Sales People

J. Firing

K. Referrals After Termination

L. Referrals Upon Firing

VIII. BUSINESS FORMS

A. Applications

B. Independent Contractor Agreement

C. Non-Competition Requirements

D. Etc.

Lance Winslow

12 Tips For Effective Leadership

Writen by John Edmond

Having and maintaining effective leadership over people in the workplace, whether they are your employees or just individuals you supervise, is the key to keeping employees producing at their best. Below are 12 quick tips to help you produce and maintain effective leadership at work:

1. Ask yourself, on an ongoing basis, of everything happening what is the most valuable use of my time, right now?

2. Manage your work and your employees by objectives. Effective leadership is demonstrated by instructive your staff on exactly what you would like them to do, and then, where possible, leaving them to get on with it. If it is not possible only provide them with necessary supervision. Do not watch every move.

3. There is a philosophy called the Philosophy of Continuous Improvement. This involves getting a little better at everything you do every day until you are performing to the best of your abilities. If you practice this then your employees will copy you.

4. If you are in charge of an employee that has exceptional talents which you are not currently taking advantage of, but are useful in your workplace, then create a new position for that specific skill.

5. Have an open door policy and take the time to truly listen to your people when they need or want to talk with you. You will increase their motivation by ten-fold.

6. Recognize that people not products or your bottom-line, are your most valuable asset and work to increase the value of your people. This is one of the most important aspects of effective leadership.

7. Make your employees feel important and valuable to the business. Only then will you be able to motivate them to peak performance.

8. Work hard to create a work environment in which people feel terrific about themselves and their duties. Only then will you be demonstrating truly effective leadership.

9. Always keep your word. Do not promise something and forget it and similarly do not warn about the consequences of a particular action then overlook it. Integrity is the most respected and valuable element of effective leadership. Make sure people know where they stand.

10. Take Albert Schweitzer's advice (Humanitarian & Nobel Prize Winner) when he said "Men must be taught at the school of example, for they will learn at no other."

11. The leader is the individual who masters his or her fear and moves towards an objective in spite of that fear. Remember everyone is afraid of something you just can't see it in everyone.

12. Dress for success. Image is important when leading other people. It take no more than 4 minutes (often much less) to create a lasting impression of effective leadership. It is important to always work on that 1st impression as employees and customers judge you by the way you act and look in those first 4 minutes.

John worked for many years in insurance and finance and now writes on a number of topics including small business and financial advice. Go to Small Business and Finance for more information.

Design For Six Sigma

Writen by Peter Peterka

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is the application of Six Sigma principles to the design of products and their manufacturing and support processes. Whereas Six Sigma by definition focuses on the production phase of a product, DFSS focuses on research, design, and development phases. DFSS combines many of the tools that are used to improve existing products or services and integrates the voice of the customer and simulation methods to predict new process and product performance.

DFSS can be compared to DMAIC (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and often the acronym DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) is used to describe the strategy of DFSS. The precise phases or steps of a DFSS methodology are not universally defined. Most organizations will implement DFSS to suit their business, industry, and culture. DFSS methodology, instead of the DMAIC methodology, should be used when:

* A product or process is not in existence at your company and one needs to be developed

* The existing product or process exists and has been optimized (using either DMAIC or not) and still doesn't meet the level of customer specification or six sigma level

DFSS is a way to implement the Six Sigma methodology as early in the product or service life cycle as possible. It is a strategy toward extraordinary ROI by designing to meet customer needs and process capability. DFSS can produce the same order of magnitude in financial benefits as DMAIC. But it also greatly helps an organization innovate, exceed customer expectations, and become a market leader.

DFSS is the Six Sigma approach to product design—namely, designing products that are resistant to variation in the manufacturing process. Using DFSS means designing quality into the product from the start. You are preventing wasteful variation before it happens, thus being able to identify and correct problems early when the solution costs are less. A successful DFSS implementation requires the same ingredients as any other Six Sigma project: a significant commitment and leadership from the top, planning that identifies and establishes measurable program goals and timeline, and the training and involvement of everyone.

Planning for DFSS requires collecting the necessary information that will allow for error free production of defect-free products and processes that satisfy the customer profitably. DFSS attempts to predict how the designs under consideration will behave and to correct for variation prior to it occurring. That means understanding the real needs of your customers and translating those needs into vital technical characteristics of the product and ultimately into critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the product and process. You can then use design of experiments (DOE) to develop a robust design that optimizes efficiency and reduces defects.

Valid and reliable metrics to monitor the progress of the project are established early in the project, during the Measure phase if using DMADV. Key inputs are prioritized to establish a short list to study in more detail. With a prioritized list of inputs in hand, the DFSS team will determine the potential ways the process could go wrong and take preemptive action to mitigate or prevent those failures. Through analysis, the DFSS team can determine the causes of the problem that needs improvement and how to eliminate the gap between existing performance and the desired level of performance. This involves discovering why defects are generated by identifying the key variables that are most likely to create process variation. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) can be used for both the design of the product and the design of the process.

DFSS provides a structured way to constructively use the information learned from these analyses. Armed with real data produced by the DFSS process, you can develop competent manufacturing processes and choose processes that are capable of meeting the design requirements. Further analysis can verify and validate that the product design will meet the quality targets. This can be accomplished through peer reviews, design reviews, simulation and analysis, qualification testing, or production validation testing.

The benefits of DFSS are more difficult to quantify and are more long-term. It can take over six months after the launch of the new product before you will begin to see the true measure of the project improvements. However, the eventual return on investment can be profound. This is especially true when the organization can use the DFSS project as a template for fundamental changes in the way it develops new products and processes across the organization.

Peter Peterka is a Master Six Sigma Black Belt for Six Sigma us and has implemented Six Sigma in a variety of organizations. For additional information for Six Sigma Training and Six Sigma Consulting please contact Peter Peterka at http://www.6sigma.us

Business Architecture Amp Management Some More Useful Elements

Writen by Hans Bool

If you apply the rules of (business) architecture in management you will be able to build a coherent business.

Have you ever seen a church with a roof vault somewhere in the middle? If you walk in a library you see books. Easy. The main function of a library is to present books and other communicating material in a way that it is accessible for the public. A retailer has borrowed this concept, but the library was there first.

Architects have thought about this. They now about functions, they develop (design?), a matching form or construction and – although you may not like the style – the whole will normally be inline. Is your business Aligned?

There are also many problems with buildings designed by architects, because they will not always match the environmental characteristics.

As an entrepreneur you are your own architect. As a business manager you are much more dependent of the form (construction) chosen by others. Anyhow it is still your job to signal where a business is no longer sound. Where there are too many organizational style flavors that do not match internally.

It is not difficult to experience this. Maybe the stock market will help you. You gather a portfolio of investment instruments (resources) and they are balanced at some point in time. You will always have stock that are underperformers. That is not the problem. The problem is that at one point in time you choose, to buy and hold, the other time you are day-trading, and the next moment you let third parties advice about your portfolio. And as a consequence, you sell at the worst moment in time.

Business architecture is about being aware that the whole is more than the sum of the individual parts. If you think that there is a point in this, but you wouldn't know where to start, ask a consultant that is experiences with this topic.

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account

The Seven Essentials Of Business Communication

Writen by Lee Hopkins

There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:

• Structure

• Clarity

• Consistency

• Medium

• Relevancy

• Primacy/Recency

• Psychological Rule of 7±2

If you are going to communicate effectively in business it is essential that you have a solid grasp of these seven elements.

So let's look at each in turn...

1. STRUCTURE

How you structure your communication is fundamental to how easily it is absorbed and understood by your audience.

Every good communication should have these three structural elements:

1. an opening

2. a body

3. a close

This structural rule holds true no matter what your communication is -- a memo, a phone call, a voice mail message, a personal presentation, a speech, an email, a webpage, or a multi-media presentation.

Remember - your communication's audience can be just one person, a small team, an auditorium full of people or a national, even global, group of millions.

In this instance size doesn't matter -- the rules remain the same.

Opening

An opening allows your communication's audience to quickly understand what the communication is about.

Short, sharp and to the point, a good opening lets your audience quickly reach a decision of whether or not to pay attention to your message.

Time is a precious resource, after all, and the quicker you can 'get to the point' and the faster your audience can make that 'disregard/pay attention' decision the more positively they will view you --- which can be VERY important if you need or want to communicate with them in the future.

Body

Here's where you get to the 'heart' of your message.

It is in the body of the message that you communicate all of your facts and figures relative to the action you want your communication's audience to take after attending to your message.

Keep your facts, figures and any graphs or charts you might present to the point. Don't bog down your audience with irrelevant material, or charts with confusing, illegible numbers and colours.

--SIDE BAR--

There's a key to rapid uptake of your message -- KISS.

Pitch your presentation's graphics at a grade seven child. If THEY can follow and understand them, chances are good that your audience will too.

--END SIDE BAR--

Close

The Close is where you sum up your communication, remind your audience of your key points, and leave them with a clear understanding of what you want them to do next.

The more powerfully you can end your communication, the more easily remembered it will be by your audience.

2. CLARITY

Be clear about the messaqe you want to deliver, as giving a confused message to your audience only ends up with them being confused and your message being ignored.

If you are giving a message about, say, overtime payments don't then add in messages about detailed budget issues or the upcoming staff picnic -- UNLESS they ABSOLUTELY fit in with your original message.

It's far better and clearer for your audience if you create a separate communication about these ancilliary issues.

3. CONSISTENCY

Nothing more upsets a regular reader of, say, your newsletter than inconsistency of your message.

Taking a position on an issue one week, only to overturn it the next, then overturn THAT position the following week, only breeds distrust in your message.

And distrust in you!

People who distrust you are exceedingly unlikely to take the action you wish them to take. They are also highly unlikely to pay any attention to your future messages.

As well as consistency amongst multiple messages, be aware that inconsistency within your message can be just as deadly to audience comprehension.

At the risk of sounding like the Grouchy Grammarian, please make sure that your tenses remain the same, that your viewpoint doesn't wander between the 1st and 3rd person and back again (unless you deliberately want to create a linguistic or story-telling effect — be careful with this!) and that your overall 'theme' or message doesn't change.

4. MEDIUM

If the only tool you have in your toolbag is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail.

Similarly, if all you believe you have as a communications tool is PowerPoint then pretty soon all you'll do is reduce very communications opportunity to a PowerPoint presentation. And as any of us who have sat through one too many boring slideshows will attest, "seen one, seen 'em all."

There are a myriad of was you can deliver your message - the trick is to use the right one.

Which is the right one?

The one that communicates your message:

• with the greatest accuracy

• with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension

• at the lowest fiscal cost

• at the lowest time cost

Note: it must meet all of these criteria. There's absolutely no value in spending the least amount of money if the medium you choose doesn't deliver on any of the other criteria.

So what media are available? You have a choice from any one or combination of the following:

* paper-based memo * letter * one-to-one face-to-face presentation * seminar * one-to-one phone presentation * meeting * one-to-many personal presentation * plain text email * one-to-many phone presentation * text + graphics email * voice email * webpage * webcast/webvideo * radio broadcast * television broadcast * press release * tv/film commercial * cd-rom/dvd

Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical, as the fiscal costs of some in the above list are higher than others. Get the media mix wrong and you could end up spending a whole lot of time and money on a very visually attractive business communication that delivers next-to-zero ROI (return on investment).

5. RELEVANCY

It never ceases to amaze me that business managers still believe that everyone would be interested in their message—and then proceed to subject any and everyone they can find to a horrendous PowerPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

Ugh!

The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

• the power and memorability of its opening

• the power and memorability of its close

Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as a 'Recency Effect'.

Since individuals differ in which Effect is the most dominant for them, it is best to 'cover your bases' and make an effort to have both a powerful and memorable opening and a powerful close.

A powerful opening can be anything that captures the audience's attention:

• a quote,

• a joke,

• a loud noise,

• a preposterous statement.

Just make sure that your opening remains consistent with and relates to the subject of the communication.

For example, whilst the opening line, "Free Sex is available in the foyer" would no doubt get your audience's attention, if the theme of your communication thereafter is about some process re-engineering going on in your department, your audience would be annoyed (some would be very annoyed at your duplicity. They'd feel duped!

Equally, a powerful close that bears no resemblance to the main body of the communication would just confuse and disappoint an audience brought up to expect something more.

And don't think that humour will save you.

Business communication is a serious business and very few people have the skill to be able to deliver a humourous message that the audience will retain and act upon.

A fantastic example of how humour engaged an audience but failed to elicit the desired response is from Jeffrey Robinson's superb book 'The Manipulators'.

One of America's great comedic writers, Stan Freburg, was convinced to dabble in advertising. Deciding that his own agency should be called, 'Parsley, Sage , Rosemary and Osborn, a Division of Thyme, Inc.', Freburg created a series of incredibly funny adverts. On the strength of these, he was hired to create an advert for Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), forever remembered in the annals of advertising as 'White Knuckle Flyer'.

"He was aiming at people who hate to fly and are forever worried that planes crash. To pacify them, he got the airline to hand out security blankets — literally, tiny blankets with the PSA logo — to any passenger worrying that flying might get them killed. It was hilarious. And the airline died laughing.

"Somewhere between gag writing and all the fun," comments Jerry Della Femina, who was called in by PSA in a panic to undo what Freburg had done because they didn't think they were going to survive him, "someone had to sell something. The kiss of death in advertising is when you make the mistake of falling in love with your own words." PSA had succumbed to humour and, unfunnily, went out of business.

As Granville Toogood says in his excellent book 'The Articulate Executive', humour is a very risky strategy. If you are determined to use humour in your presentation, then please follow Toogood's recommendation:

• Tell the story as if it were true. The punch line is a lot funnier if we aren't expecting it

• Tell the story to make a business point. If you don't make a point, you have no business telling a joke

• Make sure you tell the story correctly, don't mess up the punch line, and make sure it's appropriate.

The opening and closing of your business communication are the two most easily remembered and therefore essential elements. Make sure you give your audience something to remember.

7. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RULE OF 7±2 (seven plus or minus two)

Psychologists have long known that the human brain has a finite capacity to hold information in short-term or 'working' memory.

Equally, the brain is also structured to retain information in 'clusters' or groups of items.

These clusters or groups average, across the whole of mankind, at seven items, plus or minus two.

Which means that your audience is only able to hold on to between five and nine pieces of information at any one time. Similarly, your audience will group your business communication's message with between four and eight other messages in their long-term memory.

Now do you see the importance of clarity of message and of having a distinctive and memorable opening and close?

If you want your key points to be remembered even five minutes later, it is essential that you limit your business communication to between just five and nine key points.

Equally, if you want your key action points to be remembered five weeks later, ensure that your communication is amongst the five to nine most memorable messages your audience has attended to in the last five weeks.

The human brain 'chunks' information together, so if you have a long document or communication that you want to deliver, especially on paper, then structure your document so that you have:

• 7±2 'chapters' or sections

• 7±2 sub-sections in each section

If you find that you end up with 10 or 11 sub-headings in a chapter, or sub-sections in a section, see if you are able to either consolidate two or three sub-sections in to, or create a new main section out of them.

CONCLUSION...

There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:

• Structure

• Clarity

• Consistency

• Medium

• Relevancy

• Primacy/Recency

• Rule of 7±2

If you are going to communicate effectively in business it is essential that you have a solid grasp of these seven elements.

---

When you match consumer psychology with effective communication styles you get a powerful combination. Lee Hopkins can show you how to communicate better for better business results. At Hopkins-Business-Communication-Training.com you can find the secrets to communication success.

How To Do Swot Analysis For Your Business

Writen by Sanjay Sharma

SWOT analysis is needed for all business to understand how to improve their business.

To have best SWOT Analysis we use below method

SWOT on Strengths that you can use for improving your business.

SWOT on Weaknesses that are barriers in your business progress.

SWOT on Oppotunities your business have

SWOT on threats that are needed to be avoid.

After doing a SWOT analysis your business becomes more reliable and your goals are met easily.

SWOT analysis is very comman technique used by many companies for reengineering their working process.

With Softtanks Business Software you can do Computer Analysis, Strategy development, Marketing Study of your Products, Customers and Competitors which are very important aspect to study for better business Managment.

For Industrialists Visit us here.

Technology PeopleVisit us here.

Best Swot Analysis Software: Get it from Softtanks.com

Know The Law On Overtime Pay

Writen by Bill Lee

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 at 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

Boost Employee Productivity Without Increasing Salaries Proven Yet Little Used Strategies

Writen by Tayo Solagbade

The Situation - Career Prospects And Expectations

"Destiny is not a matter of chance but of choice. Not something to wish for, but to attain" - Williams Jennings Bryan

1. New/Young employees often come in with high expectations but sometimes encounter harsh realities when things don't go as the expected. They wonder what it would take to succeed in the organization, but find no one ready to tell/show them. Some search for help from bosses/seniors, books etc. Others give up.

2. Old/Experienced employees have been around for a while/passed through the phases being undergone by New/Young ones. As a result, some are highly enthusiastic, because things worked out, while others are frustrated. Each person's state of mind affects the way he does his/her job. And they also bring their "Attitudes" to bear in their interaction with new/young entrants.

3. The Decision Maker/Organisation has a vision - the achievement of which will depend mainly on the performance of the workforce. Some decision makers therefore pay attention to building and maintaining employee "morale". Others don't.

The Problem Identified

Some oganisations simply send employees on routine training. They neglect to investigate what an individual employee's REAL developmental need is. Many times, this requires involving the employee - else the training expenses and time/resources committed towards making it happen will end up effectively wasted.

The need to be a "meaningful specific": Most employees fail to realize they are primarily responsible for their own development. They wait on the organisation - and end up losing out.

b. Developing the new &/or experienced Managers: Does employee training really work? Organisations fail to evaluate employee training by measuring performance - post training - for improvement. So, many times, they waste money, since the desired improvements are often not achieved.

Is it the number of training courses someone attends (and where!) that determines if she/he will become a "high-flyer"? Or is it the learning impact of the developmental experiences afforded that person? Does it always have to be a training course? Why not a coaching session with an experienced other, or an external consultant. What about regular cross-training secondments?

c. The "Mental Attitude" of many employees: What should qualify you for promotion, salary increases or secondment opportunities? Is it your "number of years in service" or the number of certificates/degrees you have? Or should you be looking at how much you have improved in your ability to do your job?

Would you develop stage fright if asked to do your boss' job for 24 hours while he/she goes away on a sudden trip? If yes, why not learn all it takes to do THAT job now, by working more closely with/studying your boss? That way, when the opportunity comes, you'll perform well enough to get recommended - and promoted.

d. Absence of a culture of "sharing": Some people are scared of sharing what they know with others, because they think it will make those they share with exceed them in performance. Is it wise for you to teach others around you what you know? Does "sharing" your knowledge with others in anyway help YOU to progress?

What happens when the older/more experienced people fail to share with the newer/younger ones? One thing at least: the organization loses/suffers. Avoidable mistakes are repeated. People continue to have longer - instead of shorter - learning curves. There is needless negative competition, which ultimately leads to politics, bad blood = LOW MORALE = POOR PRODUCTIVITY.

e. Decision Makers Must Lead! Who sets the example for others to follow? If leaders outlaw the habit of "Knowledge-Hiding", and promote the active exchange of ideas/knowledge, with frequent, open recognition of individual contributions, would things be better? I say YES.

The Alternative Proposed - Specific Actions That Organisations Can Take To Boost Employee Productivity/Job Satisfaction:

1. Deliberate Exposure To Developmental Job Experiences: What can an organization do to ensure an enabling environment is created for her employees to continuously deliver exceptional performances on the job?

Organisations' decision makers need to do MORE careful thinking so as to discover better ways to provide job-based developmental experiences for their employees in a more deliberate and constructive manner. Numerous successful career persons interviewed on the "secrets" of their successes, have repeatedly acknowledged their on-the-job experiences - both good and bad - as having had the greatest impact on their development.

It is instructive to note - and I can confirm this based on my personal experiences, and observations while in paid employment - that certain types of jobs offer MORE potent developmental benefits for employees than others. A company that seeks to help employee develop fully, would therefore be wise to take time to identify such jobs, and structure the development of her employee talent/pool around them. For instance, depending on the organisation's intended career destination for a particular individual s/he would need to be put into jobs that offer experiences which challenge the employee to develop competencies that give him/her a better chance of succeeding.

ONE EXAMPLE: Line Managers Are Potential Top Executives/Managing Directors

Some people start out as line mangers with responsibility for managing large workforces, to meet challenging output goals within tight deadlines. And they go on to excel in the role. If they go on to demonstrate a capacity to adapt to staff/executive roles, where softer skills and tasks delegation take priority, they are likely to achieve rapid career advancements, and eventually, occupy top positions in the company.

Line management roles (e.g. shift duty management of a bottling line workforce) build mental toughness, quick thinking, inside knowledge of what happens in the lower cadres, and other qualities that facilitate leading assertively at the corporate level.

All the time I spent in my last workplace(a fast-paced multinational manufacturing company), I noticed - for instance - that virtually every single HR Manager(and even the Organisational Development Manager, one step above the HR Manager) that was appointed had - at some point early on in his/her career - been a shift brewer. The shift brewer's job in that company typically involved supervising brewing operations on an eight hour shift, while doubling as responsible manager for other operatives across the entire brewery - especially on night shifts, and public holidays.

It is my considered opinion, that the experiences gained in taking complex, sometimes delicate decisions, and handling people belonging to different work groups across the brewery, effectively prepare managers who are lucky to work as Shift Brewers, to function in the role of an HR Manager etc quite well.

One reason why I am so sure about this is that that I excelled in virtually every position I was assigned, from the time I started work in the company as Shift Brewer till I voluntarily quit as Technical Training And Development Manager(TTDM) - by which time I had also successfully acted(within 6 months of being promoted TTDM), as Production Manager i.e. departmental head. I was able to do most of this by drawing on many challenging experiences I had successfully undergone in the course of working as a duty shift brewer. It's one job that I would recommend highly for its management talent development potential.

A company that is able to identify what competencies a particular job can build in an individual, can therefore be more deliberate in assigning their employees with noticeable talent to it. They would, by implication, KNOW what to expect to see in the manger AFTER s/he has been in that position for a defined period. If s/he displays evidence of having acquired the expected competencies, it would be a sign for management to proceed to the next stage of his/her developmental plan. It would also be confirmation to decision makers, that efforts to help him/her develop are unlikely to be wasted.

"The Lessons of Experience" - GET THIS BOOK AND USE IT!

A management research publication that I consider too authoritative and practically relevant to ever become dated or obsolete for application is: "The Lessons of Experience" by Morgan McCall Jr., Michael Lombardo and Ann Morrison(Lexington Books, 1988 - ISBN 0-669-18095-5). It is a published study of the careers of about 200 highly successful corporate executives which revealed that virtually all of them attributed their achievement of significant workplace successes to the daily, on-the-job experiences and challenges they had -especially those which required them to succeed at the first attempt, at things they were previously UNFAMILIAR with.

Yes, I know it's been almost 2 decades since this book was published. However I also KNOW from reading it, that EVERY single chapter in it contains extremely valuable insight - timeless experience based wisdom - for the successful development of management talent in ANY organisation. Wisdom, that a decision maker who wants results would find invaluable.

Take it from me. It does not matter how many new management fads have come up since when this book was published. If you have not read this book, you are unlikely to be doing ALL that you can, as well as you have the resources for, to get the most out of your employees!

Why am I so sure? Well, I owe quite a lot of the significant career achievements I recorded, in relatively short space of time, while in paid employment to my application of the ideas contained in this book for myself. And that's the other thing that makes the book a must-have. It actually provides, for the individual employee as well, inspiration and plenty of relevant advice on how to make the most of workplace assignments and develop skills to deliver satisfactory performances consistently.

2. Get Buy-In Of Senior Executives - Their "buy-in"/commitment is crucial. They, all through the cadres of management leadership, must show - consistently - a clear commitment to sustaining whatever initiatives the organisation chooses to promote for adoption by employees. If this does not happen, very little will be achieved.

3. Concentrate More On In-House Training Sessions. Why send another group of employees out to attend a training course, when a competent, experienced employee who has attended the course (and has shown evidence of improvement on her job) is available? Apart from being familiar with the peculiarities of the working environment of her colleagues, such an employee would also be able to develop case studies by drawing from her personal experiences. These she could then use in giving illustrations, which the others are likely to be familiar with - and able to relate to. The learning experience will consequently become more real/successful.

Projects based in-house employee training could be considered. In this case, a group of employees is made to learn by working together in multidisciplinary teams on real-life problems drawn from their working environment. This kind of approach will ultimately result in a learning atmosphere that enables the organisation identify/discover and fully utilise "trapped" pockets of experience and workplace "wisdom".

4. Encourage A Self-Development Oriented Reading/Thinking Culture. The employee must be made to understand and appreciate the fact that s/he is ultimately responsible for his/her career development. The organisation will however also need to create an environment that stimulates, in the employee, a sustainable interest in taking control of his/her development.

A good library well stocked with relevant books, magazines etc all loaded with up-to-date information, will not get visited, if employees are not made aware of the existence and availability of its contents. Employees should also be encouraged to purchase useful ("How To") books and do it yourself tools (e.g. Typing Tutor CD, Presentation Skills Tutor CD etc). The role of the Internet as a POWERFUL, yet highly cost-effective learning resource for personal development cannot be over-stated.

Decision makers/leaders, who are in a position to influence, should themselves set the example by adopting a healthy reading/thinking habit. Among other things, they can take time to stimulate the thoughts and interests of their reports by sharing insight they get from reading. Before long the culture will spread across the departments and the organisation as whole with very noticeable benefits.

There is of course the need to strike a balance between reading, and reflection on what is read. This last point underscores the fact that reading should not happen without proper evaluation of the information/knowledge encountered prior to its application.

"Reading without thinking gives a disorderly mind, and thinking without reading makes one unbalanced" - Confucius

5.Use Job Secondments More Consciously - And Deliberately - For Development. This is partly related to the first point raised in a. above. Secondment of employees to higher or parallel positions to the one they are already familiar with, could be better utilised to develop them. One thing that might need to be done is for the organisation to make every employee realise that going on secondment is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. In other words, going on secondment is meant to be a developmental move.

Further, upon completion of the acting assignment, the boss to whom the seconded employee reports needs to challenge him on what learning he picked up. In fact, it has been recommended that upon returning from such secondment the employee should be made to take a short break to reflect on his experiences, and submit a written report upon returning to work.

Nothing helps to cement learning achieved from experience better than a review via personal reflection. During this activity, all actions carried out during the secondment are evaluated on their own merit, and decisions reached by the employee on how she would behave when confronted with similar challenges in future.

6. "Experience Sharing" By Older/Experienced Employees With Newer/Younger Ones. This can be done with a view to shortening the latter's learning curve - and is strongly recommended. For those who had the opportunity of living with aged parents or grandparents and elders, the value of key life learnings picked up from those who experienced them will remain immeasurable.

We sometimes hear people talk about some young man or woman having an "old head on his/her young shoulders". Most times, such person(s) - when asked - attribute the qualities for which they have been acknowledged, to the time they spent with older persons while they grew up.

The foregoing makes it clear that it would be more profitable to get older/experienced employees to share what they know, with younger/less experienced ones, so the latter can leverage that knowledge to deliver satisfactory productivity, with less effort, at less cost(to the company - especially in terms of mistakes on the job) and in less time.

Summary

Any organisation that can commit to a sustained application of the strategies outlined above - in conjunction with the use of many practically relevant insights available from the reference book I described earlier ("The Lessons Of Experience" by Morgan McCall Jr., Michael Lombardo and Ann Morrison) is quite likely to boost her employees' productivity and job satisfaction, without necessarily having to continually increase salaries or offer other "traditional" incentives.

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade - works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably.

Download FREE demos of customisable Excel-VB driven spreadsheet application such as (1) an Automated Invoice, And Delivery Note Generator (2). a Personal Bank Deposits/Withdrawals Monitor™ (3) a Church Records Manager™ or (4) an Article Readers' Interest Index(RII)™ analyser from http://www.excelheaven.spontaneousdevelopment.com

Add Value To Your Hr Practice

Writen by Rey Misoles

As HR practitioner, are you a Cost-Center or Profit- Center? How do you contribute to the bottomline results of your oganization?

By the way, this is not just for HR people but also for non-HR managers who understand that human resource management is a line function.

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HR discipline is a closed niche, at least from my perspective. This has both a positive and negative impact. Let's try to discuss some of the points.

The Good Side

Being highly-specialized, HR is an indispensable factor in every organization. In fact, when companies implement labor-saving device like retrenchments and lay-offs, the last one to go will always be HR people. Most often, they don't go at all.

The nitty-gritty, or what is sometimes called the "dirty job," will always be HR's – nobody wants to handle them, definitely not manufacturing or sales. Even to the point of disciplining their own men, departments oftentimes rely on HR to do this for them – which I believe is a practice that belongs to the old school of thought. And the ultimate horror of management function – terminating employees, is always the butter on HR's bread. No wonder, we're always the last to go!

These are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, on the importance of the HR function in an organization. What a big tip!

The Bad Side

However, being highly-specialized also brings with it a great disadvantage. In terms of promotions and organizational movements, seldom is HR considered if at all. That's why we almost always see somebody who joins an organization in the HR department, and retires in the same department 40 years after. Not too bad! I mean, at least one keeps his job over the long haul.

Another point is, we are most often considered as idea-implementers and not idea-generators. We may have spearheaded a company-wide "Employee Suggestion System," without even participating. Why can't we? Of course – it seems awkward if we give rewards to ourselves (just in case our suggestion gets implemented). Well, some mature organizations have a way out of this trap.

O-I-C

So how do you get out of this cycle (please note I didn't say "vicious;" if you think it's a vicious cycle, please read again The Good Side).

By putting yourself into the company's profit stream. Mind you, it's not easy. You need to develop some new skills, something that contributes directly to your company's bottomline. It means investing in yourself – time and effort. Again, it's not easy. It takes 1,000 hours to learn a new skill; 5,000 hours to master that skill.

Oh my, I'd rather stay in HR (did I hear you say that?). For those who dare to venture, come with me! Let's get down to specifics.

One very good skill you can learn is making a website. Please don't shout at me – "IT BELONGS TO IT DEPARTMENT." In todays hi-tech everything, you can't leave your fate to anybody's hands. You must learn how to do it if you want to survive.

But what are the benefits of learning this skill? Good question. And this is especially true to companies who maximize the use of modern technology. As HR, we have lots of programs – recognition, simple celebrations, current updates, name it you have it all. Wouldn't it be nice to have at your fingertips the skills to document and show these activities right after the event? Yes, you have IT – who is also very busy with their priorities. You may have your request done, but . . . you know what I mean.

Knowing how to create a website, creating an HR website, and being current and up-to-date in bringing your activities to your constituents is such a great feeling - and an excellent morale booster. Besides, it makes you a valuable player in your organization, too. Believe you me, it's not easy – but it's not that difficult either. If you only have enough "why's," you will suddenly have more than enough "how's."

"But it's not in my JD." Yes, that's why it's called extra mile.

To get yourself started, I'm giving you access to a user-friendly resource where you will learn the basics – from the perspective of a newbie:

http://leadersladder.org/newbieclub/tund.html

Oh, I forgot to tell you. It's not just about website building. It's everything about your pc and the internet. Enjoy!

- Let me know when you've created a new website, I might have a tip or two to improve it!

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Please feel free to email me your comments, reactions, or suggestions so that others may also benefit. It is one way where we can help our fellow HR practitioners grow and improve in this super-complicated field of people-management.

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"Don't bother just to be better than your

contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better

than yourself."

- William Faulkner

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THE REVOLUTIONARY NEWBIE CLUB LEARNING SYSTEM will totally transform the way you use your PC and the Internet. The Website is different. The Free Tutorials are different. And your way of life will be different from the moment you enter this remarkable site. Get over NOW and watch the magic happen. It's at

http://www.newbieclub.com/?leaders_ladder

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Rey Misoles is CEO and Managing Director of MaP Consulting Group, a consulting and training outfit for developing managerial competence.

Creativity And Innovation Management The Value Of Due Diligence

Writen by Kal Bishop

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are other useful definitions, for example, creativity can be measured according to the number of ideas produced, the diversity of those ideas and the novelty of those ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

The Value of Duel Diligence

One consideration innovators should be wary of in the rush to market is to not forego due diligence. That is, the temptation to forego, among other things, investigation into an idea's feasibility, adequate market analysis and the questioning of the dominant assumptions. Due diligence is important for a number of reasons, including:

a) There may be no time before a product is rushed to market but time always seems to be available when faults are discovered. The cost of retracing steps and reengineering products runs into the billions.

b) Most innovations fail. And one of the major reasons for failure is the lack of a focused product that solves particular problems.

c) Group-think and other negatives cause bad decision-making and consequently unrealistic expectations. Clasic examples include the Segway Human Transporter and the Internet boom of 2000.

These topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author's name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop MBA, is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

Casing Your Institution Article Ii Finding The Hidden Lessons

Writen by John Gilmore

In the previous article we discussed the over rules of an institution in comparison with the covert rules. Now that you have had time to explore the overt rules thoroughly, it is time for you to explore the covert rules. One must know the overt rules very well, before one can see the covert rules, because they are just about invisible and they are usually in opposition to the overt rules.

The overt statements and documentation of an institution, if it is democratic, states what the people want: What the members, employees and leaders plan on together and decide in the open. The covert rules are the habits of the institutions carried on by the people who agreed with the overt statement publicly, but not for real, so to speak.

These people have a great deal of power within the institution. They want it to survive for a long time. More importantly, they want to be a part of it for a long time and they want to feel comfortable there. They don't want it to change enough for them to have to change and adjust to it. It is like an administrator of a church once jokingly said, "If people come here and there is a copying machine here just about to fall apart, people want that copying machine to stay there from the time they arrive until the leave."

When people become involved in some institutions, especially voluntary association like clubs and congregations, they don't want any change. They want what they joined to exist and stay the same way as when they joined it. This is unrealistic, of course, and those who want to freeze the institution know this, but they do not recognize that they are engaged in such fruitless behavior as trying to freeze a dynamic, living entity in time.

The only real way to understand the overt rules of an institution, other than by breaking them and receiving a great deal of chastisement, is by examining the fruit of the institution. What is the fruit of the institution? It is something that comes as a result of the influences of the people with covert power. One can find the covert rules by looking at the physical parts of the institution.

Where is the building located? Who are the real constituency, or the people that it caters too? Who are the employees? What is their racial makeup? What is their educational level and cultural class? If it is a multi-cultural staff who is in charge overtly, and who really has the power covertly? These are some of the questions that you should be asking yourself. It takes time to gather this information, of course, but it can be done. Firstly, one must know the overt statement and belief systems, and then one can compare those statements to what one sees. If one hears the overt statements over and over again, but in action sees the total opposite in planning and behavior, one is seeing the overt rules right before one's eyes.

No institution becomes the way it is by coincidence. It comes from the thoughts and behaviors of someone in that institution who is working to guide it. If the elected leadership is stating one thing and working to bring about their vision along with the people's visions and it isn't happening it is most likely that some hidden power group is organizing to stop it from happening. This group is not working haphazardly, even if we cannot see them, they are working in a well organized fashion to hinder the changes in the system so they can create it as they would have it.

You can tell what the people at the real center of power want by looking at what is there. It is that simple. Let us review a bit and explain it by an equation If we learn what the overt mission of a system is and compare it to what we have in the system we can clearly see what the covert power structure wants.

External Actions – Overt Mission = Covert Mission.

According to this equation and the book, Leading God's People, by Richard Bondi, a systems theorist, the way to work to change the institution, therefor, is not to work on the overt mission, it is to work on the covert mission. The leadership of the institution needs to be in touch with the constituency constantly and to bring the covert into the open as much as possible. The leadership is always learning about the overt mission and bringing it out into the open. When every one sees what is going on in the dark and then discuss it and decide if they want to continue to do those behaviors or not openly, they can adopt new rules and regulations as to whether to allow them to continue or not.

Confronting this small group of power people, however, takes a strong leadership and also a strong institution where all of the members and constituency are dedicated to the overt mission. If the leadership is not dedicated to the overt mission itself, or the members and constituency don't care enough about it to do anything, the system becomes high jacked by a small group of people and it freezes in time. It doesn't grow anymore. It chases off people who are enamored with the overt statement, and it eventually dies or becomes meaningless. This is not a problem if one wants to have an fraternity of social club. This may be good behavior, in fact, but if ones overt mission is outward focused, this can be a very big problem.

For your assignment this week be observant and answer the following questions:

Who is the elected person in charge?
Who is really in charge?
Who has the real power?
What is the makeup of the leadership and employees?
Who is the constituency?
What type of employees or leaders tend to suddenly leave for no apparent reasons?
Where does the money come from?

These are just a few questions that you can ask yourself. Finding the answers will lead you to the overt rules of an institution. This, however, can take several years, if the institution is very good at hiding them, or the people involved are purposely working behind the scenes. One shortcut to finding them is talking with people who have somehow broken them. They can tell you exactly what the covert mission is. Talk with those who have been involved for a long time, but who are not at the core of institutional power and you will get a good view of what is really going on in your institution.

Next we will zero in on the makeup of the power group and the tools they use in order to push their agenda forward. There are innocent people who blindly work to support their own agenda out of fear and those who know very well what they are doing and who support their own agenda because they are used to doing so in other areas of life. We hope that the experience provided by the course will suite you well. A Return to Being Human Religiously, a book written by Dr. John W. Gilmore, can provide you with much more information on the inner workings of institutions.

Dr. John. W. Gilmore is a writer of several books on Spirituality and Growth. He is an ordained minister with a D. Min. degree in Spirituality. He is a certified Reiki Master Teacher, Massage Therapist and Reflexologist. Dr. Gilmore is also a teacher of marital arts and spirituality. For more information and for his latest book, Reclaiming the Religion of Jesus in a Modern Age and more articles like this one, look at this e-zine, or visit our free Casing Your Institution 101 Journal at http://www.dswellness.com It will lead you to a free online course that you or your employees can do. Reunion of Souls, Dr. John W.Gilmore. A book of deep spirituality in Sci-fi form.

Why Assumptions Are Bad For Business

Writen by Stephanie Ward

We make assumptions when we don't fully understand a situation. It is a natural reaction to immediately fill in any missing information by making up our own story. We do this because we like to try to make sense of people and situations. The problem with this is that most of the time our story is incorrect which causes all kinds of complications. The fact is, we don't know what the truth is unless we ask.

As much as we would like to think we know what others are thinking, we simply can't read minds. Sometimes we think we have the super power to know the reasons why people do the things they do (without asking them) which is pretty presumptuous. Remember, not everyone sees the world the same way you do (shocker, I know, but it is easy to forget).

Need another reason to stop making assumptions? Try turning it around, do you believe that other people can read your mind? Would you rather that someone makes up a story (an assumption) about what you are thinking and feeling? Or, would you prefer if they ask you?

When you ask instead of assume, you may not always get an answer you like or expect. Still, asking is much better than making up your own story because then you are in the position to make an informed next step.

Asking questions seems like an easy thing to do so why don't we do it more often? Why do we sometimes become paralyzed when it comes time to: - Contact a client to find out why they haven't responded to a phone call or e-mail - Ask a partner if they are satisfied with the way you work together - Ask a colleague if they still plan to make that introduction for you that they promised

It goes something like this. Let's say you see a prospective client at a networking event, he sees you too but when you try to approach him for a chat he leaves abruptly. That is all that happened, you don't know why he had to leave and yet your mind starts making up a story, an assumption.

You might think he doesn't like you or that he isn't interested in your business. That may or may not be true but why bother thinking negative thoughts when you don't really know the reason he left.

If you want to know the reason, ask! You may find out that he just went outside to put money in a parking meter, that he had a family emergency, or something else which was not related to you at all.

So how do you do it? When asking questions, do so in a non-judgmental way with the intention to discover the truth. Stick to the facts and use a neutral tone when asking questions verbally.

If you're still not convinced, here are seven reasons why you, and your business, may be suffering because of assumptions. Making assumptions is bad for business because doing so can:

1. Cause unnecessary stress

2. Waste time and energy

3. Create misunderstandings

4. Cause you to miss out on great opportunities

5. Lower your confidence and create self-doubt

6. Lead you to offer the wrong product/service

7. Create obstacles that don't exist

Hopefully it is clear why assumptions are not good for your business and you are willing to stop making them. Making assumptions isn't good for any relationship which means you can apply this to your personal life as well. After all, you do have a life outside of your business right?

My challenge to you is to start paying attention to your thoughts and become aware of when you are making assumptions and then get into action and ask the right questions.

Asking questions is simple, and not always easy. Find the courage to do what may feel difficult and just ask. Ending assumptions is like any skill, it takes practice. The more you do it the easier it will become!

Life & Business Coach Stephanie Ward helps business owners set their profits on fire! Grab your free monthly profit tips plus bonus report at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com

Daycare Management Software Saves Business Owners Money

Writen by Matt Menster

Daycare Management Software

Here's the scene. XYZ daycare has 200 children enrolled in it's business records. A certain child has a medical need, but the assigned physician needs to know of any possible allergies that the child may have. "Sally", of XYZ daycare company scrambles to find the child's medical file. She is on her way to retrieve the record and suddenly realizes that the records have been moved to a different room. After a few minutes, Sally finds the child's medical records and all is well.

No big deal right? Actually, it could have ended up as a bad situation. What if the child was in dire medical need, and couldn't receive treatment due to lack of knowledge about the child's allergies to certain medications? All because of the fact that the child's medical records were filed away somewhere unknown to the daycare worker.

So, how could this whole ordeal be avoided? By usind daycare management software. There aren't many versions available, but I found some that do an excellent job of maintaining children's records. The good versions of this software also do a good job in managing the financial records of a daycare business.

Daycare management software was first developed in 2000, and is readily available today to all daycare businesses. Many daycare entrepreneurs are singing praises to this time-saving, cost-cutting software. Sure, some daycare owners still want to do everything the old fashioned way with folders and file cabinets, but more and more are turning to daycare software as a solution.

Click Here For A Special Offer on Daycare Management Software Written and Researched by Matt Menster

The Role Of The Machine Metaphor In Mixedinitiative Organizational Leadership

Writen by Jidé Odubiyi

"Can This Marriage be Saved?" So reads the title of the cover story in the August 15, 2005 issue of BusinessWeek (www.businessweek.com). The article describes the seven-year (1998-2005) story of the merger of Daimler and Chrysler Corporation. As of this writing, the board of the merged companies decided to terminate the reign of the current chairman, Jürgen Schrempp. At the end of this year he will be replaced with Dieter Zetsche, the current head of the company's operations in North America. The article identifies the following five critical challenges facing the new chairman:

1. Improving product quality and worker morale.

2. Securing union support to gain flexible labor agreements.

3. Impressing on company executives to promote flexible and productive operations in North America.

4. Developing and executing a more coherent partnership strategy in Asia.

5. Addressing investor pressure to break up the merger.

The five challenges listed above clearly show that more people related problems (i.e., social issues) will need to be addressed than technology issues. The new chairman must embrace a mixed-initiative leadership style with a proportionate focus on both the technical and social aspects of the organization for the company to survive. This leadership style demands some proficiency in the science of complexity (i.e., the principles of managing the organization as a complex adaptive system) and the machine metaphor (i.e., the routine aspects of modern organizational life—job descriptions, corporate policies, strategic and operational plans, etc.)*. Organizational leaders cannot afford to place disproportionate focus on the machine metaphor in a complex organization.

The Machine Metaphor

The machine metaphor takes an objective view of an organization in which the interactions among the elements are predictable and controllable. Given that premise, organizational leaders take a mechanistic view of organizational management. The mechanistic view considers the organization as a combination of manageable components with organizational charts, job descriptions, policies, operational plans, people, etc. The machine metaphor is based on an organizational management belief that effective management can be realized by managing all organizational components.

The Flawed "People Management" Mindset

In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. "I am not good at managing people" is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security's merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget asserts "The Federal government as a rule is pretty bad about managing people" (Washington Post, National News, July 19, 2005).

This mindset of people management is entrenched in our social and organizational systems. It is very important for organizational leaders to know that machine control techniques apply to things, not people. Except for the military, we manage things. We lead people. The role of a manager is to provide a rich and rewarding environment to enable workers to do their work. A human being is an agent in an organizational context. This agent's behavior is unpredictable. The agent must interact with other human agents, within a team, whose behavior is also unpredictable. The team must interact with other teams in a department. Next, we have inter-departmental interactions, which can lead to inter-divisional interactions, and so on. The result of the interactions is a complex organization, which must adapt to its environment to survive, because the organization is a living system. As articulated by Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja in their book: Surfing the Edge of Chaos, (Random House, 2000), as a living system, the organization must abide by "the laws of nature and the new laws of business".

Whether managing a corner store or a global conglomerate, the manager/leader must always remember that an organization is a socio-technical system and the machine metaphor should be applied only to the technical or machinistic elements. To ensure the survival of the corporation, the leaders need to identify and understand those elements of the organizations that exhibit unpredictable behaviors, and those elements whose behaviors are predictable. They need to master and apply the management science of complex adaptive systems to the former and machine metaphor to the latter. These two approaches constitute the essence of a mixed-initiative perspective.

*(Plsek, PEP&A, Inc; Lindberg, VHA, Inc; Zimmerman, York University; 1997—Some emerging principles for managing in complex adaptive systems).

Dr. Odubiyi is the author of Blueprint for a Crooked House—a book that reflects on the factors that caused the collapse of a $10 billion global joint venture between AT&T and British Telecom. He is an associate professor of computer science at Bowie State University in Maryland. He was a Principal AI Researcher and R&D Manager at British Telecom North America/Concert Global Communications (USA).

http://www.blueprintforacrookedhouse.com

You Get The Behavior You Reward Not The Behavior You Want

Writen by Tim Connor

Behavior that is reinforced is behavior that is repeated. Behavior rewarded is behavior that is repeated.

This simple, yet profound, concept is at the root of more poor productivity, broken relationships, negative personnel issues and high costs of doing business than any other management principle as well as peak performance organizations that grow and prosper each year.

What does the concept – you get the behavior you reward mean and what is the impact of it on your organization's culture and overall performance?

Let me give you an example. You want an employee who is always late to be on time, but you don't bring up his tardiness with him because it is only 10 minutes. So you wish and hope that the person would just get it - the policy is to be on time. But unfortunately, he doesn't get your unspoken message and continues to be late. By not addressing this problem, you are sending the message that being late is acceptable behavior. It also sends a message to other employees who are on time, but might want to be late once in a while, that being late is OK.

There are two ways to reward behavior directly and indirectly. The above example is rewarding behavior indirectly – doing nothing. Here is an example of rewarding behavior directly. Let's say you want your salespeople to spend more time on getting new business but your sales compensation program rewards sales volume only and not new account activity. DA, and you wonder why you have a problem?

There are thousands of ways that managers reward the behavior they don't want, and then act surprised when they get more of it.

What behaviors are you rewarding in your organization that you need to change? One easy way to determine what these behaviors are is to look at the behavior and then determine why that person is acting in that way. If you don't like the behavior, you need to change the reward system. I am not just talking here about financial rewards – but social, physical and so on.

If you are in a relationship and all you ever do is criticize the other person according to your standards, don't be surprised if he/she stops communicating with you. If you nit-pik a person's dress, attitudes, feelings, goals or thoughts to death, don't be surprised if he/she doesn't want to be around you. You get the behavior you reward.

The first step in changing behavior is to recognize the behavior that you would like changed. Next is to evaluate the reward system that is in place either indirectly or directly - why they are acting that way. Next, look at your own behavior and how you are contributing to the actions. This is not an easy task, but one that will pay handsome dividends in productivity, improved morale, improved communication and a better bottom line.

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, relationship, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com.

What Makes A Good Appraisal Interview

Writen by Andrew E. Schwartz

WHAT MAKES A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW?

Here is a tip for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. Give advance notice. Employees like to have advance notice of the appraisal session so that they can think about the past evaluation period from their own perspective. The prepared employee may have any number of things to share about management, the department, or organization, or barriers to their effectiveness. Also, the employee who comes to the session with a list of accomplishments feels a part of the process in a positive way.

State the purpose of the session. The purpose of the session should be to talk about the employee's job performance. It should be an opportunity for the supervisor and the employee to determine where supportive action is needed. The performance appraisal should not be used as a disciplinary tool. Feedback about performance should be given at the time the behavior occurred. As a result, behavior deserving discipline or praise should have been dealt with previously. That is, the performance appraisal is a review, not a first notice for poor or above average performance.

Here are two tips for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. 1. Present documentation. The more facts and dates you have on file, the more acceptable and meaningful both your positive and negative feedback will be to the employee. 2. Stick to observed behavior. Evaluate only what you've seen and heard. Rely on the firsthand evidence. Don't make over-generalized statements or inferences.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Six Sigma Deployment In Smaller Organizations

Writen by Peter Peterka

Six Sigma is not just for large multinational corporations. While there are difficulties inherent in implementing Six Sigma in a small company rather than a large business they can be overcome. Six Sigma can work in any size business because the nature of Six Sigma is dependent upon characteristics inherent in any business, not on the size of a business. Smaller organizations frequently are short on resources and expertise in change initiatives. However, they also have more flexible process flows, a shorter decision-making chain, and higher visibility of senior management. Smaller organizations can actually effectively establish Six Sigma faster than large businesses if deployment scope is correctly managed.

Scope of Deployment

Six Sigma is designed for all-inclusive deployment across an organization. However, s maller organizations do have constraints that limit their ability to initiate a large scale Six Sigma implementation. If your organization does not have the resources to create an infrastructure for organization-wide Six Sigma deployment then start with a pilot program.

One of the beauties of Six Sigma is that its central methodology is scalable. Six Sigma, emphasizes intensive training and extensive analysis—qualitative characteristics that work regardless of the size of the organization. Likewise, Six Sigma DMAIC (design, measure, analyze, improve, and control) discipline s work no matter the size of the organization or even the size of the Six Sigma project. Even a small Six Sigma project can yield significant results. Breakthrough improvements in processes and bottom-line profitability come not from quantity of resources, but the quality and the intelligence with which they are employed.

Small and medium-sized organizations may not have the resources of larger companies; however, in most cases, smaller organizations can be more nimble, flexible, and focused on results. Approaching initial implementation of Six Sigma through a pilot program will yield tangible results without overwhelming your resources from a small "quick-hit" project. These results can then be replicated throughout the organization, in many cases even faster than in a large organization.

Issues Critical to Smaller Organizations

When deploying a pilot Six Sigma project there are several important issues to consider inherent to smaller organizations. First, the choice of a project is critical. The pilot project will set the tone for Six Sigma deployment, so it should be a good one that can show significant and visible results in a reasonably short period of time. The project must clearly address one or more business goals thereby contributing to one or more core enterprise measures. Each project must also be completable within three to four months, so careful upfront scoping is essential. Projects must be continually tracked and updated for line management during existing business reviews.

Another issue is training. In smaller organizations, training budgets and especially time available to devote personnel for training is limited. Thus, it is not always practical for personnel to be absent from their day-to-day duties to attend months of training. Fortunately, there are some Six Sigma consultants who can deliver required Six Sigma training in an accelerated format and even onsite. Thus, smaller organizations can give their people the needed training with less disruption to their normal business, improving internal synergy while providing greater organizational flexibility.

Six Sigma implementation teams can encounter critical resource restrictions, often due to a personnel limitation where people are available for project functions only on a part-time basis. It is essential at project inception that the right people are involved, doing the right things. A small but committed force of the right people with proper training, given the proper authority will go far in getting things started. Good and fluid communication is also critical.

Upon successful completion of the Six Sigma pilot, the scale of the deployment is then expanded to other areas of the organization, incorporating the lessons learned from the pilot project. Just as it is much harder for a large ship to turn than a small ship, smaller organizations can change and adapt more quickly than large organizations. That does not mean that small organizations will automatically be successful when deploying Six Sigma, but making change take place and getting buy in to the changes are easier.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a Master Black Belt, and has over 15 years experience in industry as an improvement specialist and engineer working with numerous companies, including 3M, Dell, Dow, GE, HP, Intel, Motorola, Seagate, Xerox and even the US Men's Olympic Team. For partial list look here. Peter is a certified a Master Black Belt and holds an MS degree in Statistics from Iowa State and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue. Peter worked for 3M over 10 years where he gained extensive experience applying Sigma Methodologies to a variety of processes.

Peter has successfully developed Six Sigma deployment strategies and training for Product and Process Development, Manufacturing and Business Process Improvement. His broad experience across many technologies helped him gain insight on how to apply Six Sigma methods to Business Processes. Six Sigma.us

For additional information on Six Sigma Deployment or other Six Sigma Master Black Belt project programs contact Peter Peterka http://www.6sigma.us

Employee Retention Its A Changing Game

Writen by Michael Beitler

As a management consultant, I have seen some poorly conceived retention policies at otherwise well-run companies. The philosophies underlying these policies lack some basic knowledge of two things:

1. human nature, and

2. the changing world around us

Human Nature

Let's start with human nature. The practice of management requires an understanding of how people work. Successful managers can be forgiven if they do not know how a particular machine works, or how to debit and credit the general ledger, or how to write HTML code. But, managers must know how people work. Specifically, they need to know how people work well.

People are motivated by goals… their own! Organizations that help individuals achieve their goals and career aspirations have less trouble with retention. Are you helping your best employees achieve their goals?

I recently read some research findings that were just plain silly. The findings you ask: Workers leave organizations for two reasons:

1. they feel mistreated or unappreciated

2. they can get more money/compensation from another organization

The researchers went on to say, most workers are unaware of more money at other organizations until they feel mistreated or unappreciated. Did you catch that? If not, re-read the "two" findings.

Here's my interpretation: If you treat your workers well and make them feel appreciated they will stay with your organization; money is not the primary driver for workers leaving. Help you workers achieve their goals. I believe "appreciative" workers are more motivated than "happy" workers.

Before you think this is more "soft" management talk, let's look at some "hard" facts. The average cost of hiring a new worker is one-and-a-half times the worker's annual salary. And, the average worker will need a year to master his/her job skills.

The Changing World Around Us

As the world changes around us, we must change the way we think about retention (and everything else). Gone are the days of the homogeneous workforce. The world is being changed by unstoppable trends: globalization and an aging workforce.

Future work teams will include three generations of workers (a 23-year-old worker, a 48-year-old worker, and a 73-year-old worker), workers with different religions and nationalities, and workers with dramatically different life experiences.

The brain drain in developed countries can be slowed by retaining older, highly skilled workers. But, that is not nearly enough. Companies must compete globally for talent. (And remember what is necessary to retain these individuals. We must understand their individual goals and career aspirations.)

American companies that hope to depend on American talent exclusively will fail miserably. American knowledge workers are losing their competitive edge. Let's look at some more "hard" facts:

1. In China, 42% of students earn undergraduate degrees in science or engineering. In the U.S., the figure is less than 5%.

2. Only 70% of U.S. high school students graduate. The U.S. public education system was recently ridiculed by a British news journal. When you consider that the British public school system is arguably the worst in Europe, Americans should hear this as a wake-up call.

3. Only 32% of U.S. students leaving high school qualify to attend a four-year college or university.

Add to this some alarming facts about off-shoring. One organization recently said it was off-shoring jobs to India not simply because the cost was lower, but because the quality of work was better. The off-shoring of high-level professional jobs (such as engineering and IT) is now a common practice.

Conclusion

Organizations must do two critical things:

1. develop retention policies that recognize the need to understand the individual workers' goals and career aspirations, and

2. learn how to recruit and develop talent from around the world.

These are big changes for most organizations. Is your organization ready for these changes?

Dr. Mike Beitler is the author of "Strategic Organizational Change." Get a free 7-part mini-course and learn more about the book at http://www.strategic-organizational-change.com