The Biggest Discoveries

Writen by Valerian Dinca

I began my venture into cyber space having some knowledge about computer but I didn't know a thing about the Internet.

One of the very first things I learned soon was that the Internet can be a very lonely and impersonal world. When I started surfing the net, nobody told me what's about. The main rule was learning by doing. Me alone in front of a computer screen hour after hour, day after day, reading, all kind of things I had the chance to see.

My first thought was to find minded people and to establish contacts with. Getting advantage of others experience and expertise, networking with advanced people have been the best Internet practices since the beginning of time.

I was a firm believer in networking very soon. Some of my networkingpals accepted to trade links. Well, this was the first important discovery I made, the fact that link means traffic, visitors, sales, money, success. We can spend a day talking about links and about the ways they help a business. Like a magic wand they push traffic from the linking site to mine and they allow higher rankings on some search engines and directories.

The second big discovery was the newsletter. I learned that best way to target the audience is to publish an ezine. An email newsletter can keep your name in front of clients and prospective clients and build their loyalty At the same time, an ezine will spread the word about your services.

The third discovery was writing articles. They made a name for myself as an expert in marketing and added value to my business. On the other hand they drive a traffic to my sites due the links included in the resource boxes.

Valerian Dinca is a freelance writer specialized in internet marketing. He thinks that every body has skills for starting a home business

Remote Management Challenges

Writen by Assaf Katzir

Our global village becomes smaller and smaller as the communication develops during time. Providing services to every part of the world and receiving services and products from the other side of the globe is a must for many companies. This situation creates a major management and control challenges.

There are many challenging aspects to deal with.

• Communication channels

• Language

• Culture differences

• Working hours' differences

• Measuring remote employee performance

• Periodic team meetings

Communication channels – It depends on the business nature. In case that both sides (management and employees) are working in an office equipped with computer and internet connection and phone then it is not a problem. In this case there are many ways to communicate such as VOIP, Instant Message, Email and direct call by phone. In case that at least one side is not equipped with the mentioned communication channels then it is a bigger challenge and this challenge must have a solution. The solution can be in a form of a contact person that will be available or any other creative way. There must be an open communication channel – it is crucial.

Language – We are talking about different parts of the world, so in many cases it will be hard to find a common language that both sides can speak. Even when both sides can speak a common language, each side has its own unique accent which is difficult for the other side to understand. Sometimes, in order to overcome the accent issue or poor language, a written format can help.

Culture differences – One form of behavior of one culture can be a great insult to the other. It is better to prepare yourself and study a bit about the other culture before having any interaction, it will save inconvenient situations and it might even be the difference between closing a deal or not.

Working hours' differences – The situation of less working hours overlap of two parts of the world, forcing the manager to be more organized and to communicate tasks, instructions, comments etc' on time.

Measuring remote employee performance – As a manager it is not easy to evaluate the products and productivity of your remote employee. A mechanism must be set to enable the management to evaluate the productivity and quality of the remote employees. The mechanism is different for each industry.

Any company or manager that has a remote workforce has to use all organizational and planning skills and to be assisted with tools that will help in controlling of all assignments and required performance.

Assaf Katzir is owner and CEO of Katzir Soze Investments Ltd For useful and quality information for managers, start-ups and small businesses visit Business-Starter a practical business guide at http://www.business-starter.com

Chief Executive Officers Its Lonely At The Top

Writen by Andy Warren

There's not much sympathy for most Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in companies. No matter what the size of the company they tend to be viewed as getting a high salary, lots of perks, no-one telling them what to do and everyone doing what they say.

Some of this is true. However, there is an unseen side to the CEO position that is only really understood by those who have been in the role or those who have acted as their close adviser or coach.

It can be a very lonely place.

The CEO is expected to make all the decisions and direct the company. They're expected to have the answers and to provide the right solution when the company runs into problems. They have to be the face of the company whether the results are good or bad, and they have to take the decisions that no-one else wants to take. They are where the buck stops.

And the hardest thing about all that is that often there's no-one to talk to. It really is lonely at the top.

Imagine you're a CEO. You've reached the top. Everyone looks to you. You make the decisions. You're the one they all turn to. But who can you turn to? Who can you really trust?

Your employees don't want to see any sign of indecision. Your fellow directors are looking for promotion to your position, so you don't want to show them any sign of weakness. The board will be reviewing your performance and pay soon, so you don't want to give them a reason to doubt you. Your partner or your family don't really understand your business and you don't want to burden them with your worries. And your friends are more interested in their own lives or the progress of their favourite sports team. But you just want someone to talk to.

You want someone who you can trust. Not someone to give you the answers, but a sounding board to bounce your ideas off. Someone to help you clear your mind and guide you to the right decisions that you know you can make. You want a friend, a confidant, a business mind, someone who understands, someone who won't judge, someone who has your best interests in mind and no hidden agenda.

If you've ever watched the Godfather, you'll know about the role of Consigliere, portrayed by Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. The Consigliere was the trusted friend, counselor and advisor. And although I'm sure you have no intention of running your business like something from the Sopranos, it's still an essential requirement for most CEOs. The challenge for most CEOs is that they either don't realize this or they realize it and don't know where to find it.

In reality everyone needs someone like this, whether you're a CEO of a thriving company, the head of your family or just the president of your own back yard. It's a role sometimes filled by a coach or a mentor. In some cases you may be lucky enough to have a partner who you can really confide in.

Start looking around today to find someone who can be your consigliere. It may be someone like a coach who you pay to provide the service or it may be a mentor or trusted friend that you can rely on. You'll find that once you fill that role, your life is a lot less lonely and your decisions are lot more easy to make.

You can visit http://www.yourexitstrategist.com for more information, support and guidance and to find someone to talk to who you can trust.

Andy Warren is a qualified chartered accountant, entrepreneur and coach with business experience at director levels in blue chip companies, SMEs and start-ups.

Andy is also a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and has trained with Anthony Robbins in the US in behavioural sciences and life skills. He has extensive knowledge, skills and experience in the field of coaching and developing human behaviour.

Medical Billing Fa0 Record Fields 1 Through 6

Writen by Michael Russell

In the previous installment in this series on medical billing, we presented an overview of what the FA0 record was for. In this installment, we're going to review the actual NSF 3.01 specifications for what is the largest record in the NSF electronic specs. On top of that, there is no limit to the number of FA0 records you can send at one time, as long as they are all legitimate charges.

One thing we should clarify before actually covering the specs in case you're wondering why all the charges can't just be sent in one FA0 record. The reason is that each FA0 record can only send one particular item as each item has to have its charges and other information reported separately. Therefore, if a patient is being billed for a wheelchair and test strips, each item must be in a separate FA0 record. Just wanted to clear that up. Now, on to the records.

FA0 field 1, positions 1 - 3, is the record type and must be filled with FA0. All subsequent FA0 records must also be filled with FA0 as well. Failure to do so will result in the claims being denied.

FA0 field 2, positions 4 - 5, is the sequence number in the claim. Remember we said that you can have more than one FA0 record? Well, each record must have a sequence number starting with 01 and going up to a max of 99. In most cases, this is more than enough to cover all the charges that need to be billed for a patient. If not, then a separate claim must be filed.

FA0 field 3, positions 6 - 22, is the patient ID. This field has been a constant pretty much throughout the NSF specs starting with record CA0. This number must match the patient ID submitted in that record and all subsequent records that transmit a patient ID.

FA0 field 4, positions 23 - 39, is the line item control number. Each item that is billed has what is called a line item control number. It's kind of like a serial number for a product. This number must be transmitted and must be the correct control number associated with that item or the claim will be denied.

FA0 field 5, positions 40 - 47, is the from service date. This is the date of service for that particular item that it was either purchased or rented. It must be filled in according to the requirements of the payer, which can be either yyyymmdd or mmddyyyy.

FA0 field 6, positions 48 - 55, is the to service date. This is the date of service for the item where the period of use ends. This only applies to rental items as a purchase item is consumed and doesn't have a "to date". However, it needs to be noted that many payers have rules that state that even though an item is rented, they do not allow you to span dates. In other words, let's say the item is rented from 20060101 to 20060131. Some payers insist that the to date is filled in with the same date as the from date. So you need to check with your carrier to see what their rules are.

In the next installment in this series on medical billing of electronic claims, we'll pick up with FA0 record field number 7.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Medical Billing

Bringing Ideas To Life Seven Principles For Pulling Together

Writen by Rick Maurer

You're so excited you're practically bouncing off the walls. This idea—your best ever—is not only going to save the company tens of thousands of dollars this year, it's eventually going to be a moneymaker. However, following your presentation, your three colleagues sit staring at you like 'hear no evil,' 'see no evil' and 'speak no evil.' You stare back at them in idiotic wonder: Why don't they want what you want—especially when it's so clearly the best thing for the company?

Almost everyone has this experience at one time or another, and the reason for it is simple: When you make a presentation instead of having a conversation about an idea, it's anyone's guess what's going on in the minds of your 'audience.' Do they get it? Do they like it? Do they like you?

Some idea people really don't care how they're heard. They're movers and shakers who pride themselves on being able to create and implement ideas on their own. Others care more about interpersonal relationships than ideas. For them, what's truly important is being aware of and sensitive to the needs, notions and feelings of colleagues, not bringing great ideas to life.

Being just an idea person or just a relationship person limits your effectiveness in the workplace. The way to bring an idea to life is to focus on developing the idea and enhancing your relationships with coworkers simultaneously. Go into the conference room with the intention of sharing your idea and involving others in shaping, strengthening, and implementing the concept in its final form. By engaging others in the innovation process, you'll emerge with superior results and stronger bonds between people.

Intention is one of the seven principles for pulling together. The others are:

• Recognize resistance. People resist ideas—and those who generate them—for three reasons. Either they don't get the idea (Level 1 resistance), they don't like it the idea (Level 2 resistance), or they don't like you (Level 3 resistance). Identify the levels of resistance you're facing and you can work through them, turning opposition into support. For example, if someone doesn't get your idea, find a different way to explain it, and offer data, examples and anecdotes to make concepts clearer. If people exhibit Level 2 or 3 resistance when you make a suggestion—"I don't like it," or "I don't like you"—their emotions are clearly involved. You'll need to listen carefully to what they have to say and engage in conversational give and take to get at the deeper issues underlying their resistance.
• Consider the context (time + place + relationships = the success or failure of your idea).

Interpersonal and other contextual 'land mines' are scattered throughout most work environments. If you don't survey the land and step carefully, you'll set them off and you and your idea will suffer. 'Land mines' to consider include:

• 1) Your relationship history with colleagues and coworkers
• 2) The way ideas have traditionally been presented and received in your company
• 3) The impact your idea may have on others—for instance, it might threaten someone's job or status
• 4) How the idea might fly given the current economy
• 5) Your company's recent financial performance
• Avoid knee-jerk reactions. When someone cuts you off in traffic, is your impulse to speed up and let him or her know you didn't appreciate it? If so, speeding up (and possibly tailing the person with your bright lights on) is your knee-jerk reaction to the 'trigger' of being cut off. Not only does your knee-jerk reaction not help the situation; it could cause an accident and turn what might have been a relatively minor irritation into a very big deal. The better response? Take a few deep breaths and slow down to put some space between you and the inconsiderate driver in front of you. It's the smarter and safer way to react.

Slowing down and breathing deeply is also a smart response to triggers in the corporate conference room. When someone resists your idea by saying "I don't like it, it's stupid," you might be tempted to knee-jerk with defensiveness ("No, you're stupid."); sarcasm ("Why don't you grace us with one of your wonderfully creative ideas, then?"); force of reason, (you believe that if you explain the idea repeatedly, they'll see its wisdom and beauty and like it); or moving ahead as if the resistance—and the resister—don't exist. The best way to avoid knee-jerking: Discover your triggers and practice stepping back, breathing, consciously relaxing your body and mind, and focusing your attention on positively reconnecting with the people resisting.

• Pay attention: Attempt to detect every detail. You can't influence others if you don't pick up on the positive and negative signals they send by way of body language, verbal cues, tone of voice, and so forth. Listen to their concerns with a willingness to be changed and a willingness to see your idea develop beyond your original conception; observe the interactions between you and those you're working with; and note what kinds of actions—or inactions—follow the group's decision to proceed with your idea. The power of paying attention will guide you in your efforts to bring the idea to implementation.
• Shut up and listen: Dig deeply. Want to know what others need or want from you? Wish you knew if they understood your idea…or if they trust you? The only way to get answers to these questions is to put your goal aside temporarily and check in with the people you're working with. Then, shut up and listen to what they have to say, even when their answers make you uncomfortable.
• Connect without compromise. Make room for others to join you in developing your idea—and be ready and willing to turn it into our idea. When others see that you're eager to hear their fears and concerns, to be influenced by what they have to say, and to blend your goals with theirs, their opposition will turn into support and everyone will win.

Rick is an advisor to organizations on ways to lead Change without Migraines™. He is author of many books on change including Why Don't You Want What I Want? and Beyond the Wall of Resistance. You can access free articles and tools at http://www.beyondresistance.com.

Managing Ineffective Performance

Writen by Kadence Buchanan

Job performance is considered ineffective when productivity is below a standard considered acceptable at a given time. Most instances of poor job performance are attributable to a small proportion of the work force. Ineffective performers consume considerable managerial time and drive the overall company performance backwards.

The causes of ineffective performance can be rooted in the person, the job, the manager, or the company. Usually ineffective performance is caused by a combination of several factors as Durbin states. He discusses the model of control, in order to improve ineffective performance. It is divided into seven steps that could be followed in sequence and are to define effective or acceptable performance, to detect deviation from acceptable performance, to confront the substandard performer, to set improvement goals, to select and implement an action plan for improvement, to reevaluate performance after a time interval and to continue or discontinue the action plan.

Corrective actions for ineffective performers are divided into managerial actions and techniques, and organizational programs. Managerial actions include close supervision and corrective discipline. Organizational programs include career counseling, outplacement, and job redesign (previously discussed). Businesses today may use counseling and constructive criticism to deal with poor performers. As a formal discussion, counseling includes criticism, in order for the low-performer to understand the problem, and strive towards its solution, by developing his or her potential. The challenge from the company's side is to use a skillful manager to perform this kind of help, and to balance the situation of the unsatisfied company and the stressed employee.

Avoiding termination procedures, operations may seek to redesign the job or replace the employee, in a different area that suits him/her better. Job satisfaction is then enhanced, as the employer is knowledgeable of the company's actions regarding his/her well-being and has the opportunity of successfully develop.

Finally, empowerment can increase employees' performance levels. This is explained in terms of allowing employees greater freedom, autonomy and self-control over their work, and responsibility for decision-making. Empowerment takes a variety of forms and managers frequently have different intentions and organizations differ in the degree of discretion with which they can empower employees and its popularity has been driven by the need to respond quickly to customer needs, to develop cross-functional links to take advantage of opportunities that are too local or too fleeting to be determined centrally. Better morale and compensation for limited career paths are other advantages. Potential difficulties include the scope for chaos and conflict, the breakdown of hierarchical control, a lack of clarity about where responsibility stops and demoralization on the part of those who do not want additional authority. Successful empowerment will require feedback on performance from a variety of sources, rewards with some group component, an environment tolerant to mistakes and a widely distributed information system.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Society, Real Estate, and Business.

Increase Business Performance By Setting Performance Standards Amp Expectations For Your Employees

Writen by Megan Tough

The success of your business is directly related to the commitment and productivity of the people who work in your business. And yet it is generally recognized that 60% of employees, or more, are underutilized in their roles at work.

So what are the factors that contribute to low performance standards and expectations?

Communication, or mis-communciation, is one of the major sources of low productivity. The messages that move between the owner, employees, managers and even customers are not understood in the same way. One classic example is that business owners tend to assume that employees and managers see things the same way they do.

Managers tend to lower their expectations (unconsciously) so that they will not have to confront employees. Most people dislike discussing declining performance with their employees, and so actively avoid having to do so by reducing heir expectations of what's required.

Employees have a tendency to protect themselves from possible failure by pushing back on what is expected. They will often negotiate/bargain the job down to a more comfortable level.

Business owners often have difficulty separating what they want done from how they want it done. Telling employees exactly how to achieve a certain goal leaves no room for the employee to think or use their own initiative. Consequently they often stop trying to contribute and become 'sheep" – just doing what they are told. In this catch-22 situation, the owner is forced into a position where they must constantly be telling everyone exactly what to do.

Some owners may not understand the concept of person/job matching, and so have the wrong people in the wrong positions. This situation can be extremely demotivating for the employee.

So how do you go about setting performance standards and expectations?

The owner and employee must collaborate together.

They must work together on the fact that the role the employee is performing can be improved in a way where everybody wins - the employee, the owner, and the business. When you teach the owner to collaborate with the employee, not only does the performance go up, but so does the morale.

Short term goals, or wins, must be established. 90-days is the ideal.

Set specific goals for the employee in 90-day increments so that there will be ample opportunity to monitor systems and progress, as well as to experience wins on a routine basis. Ideally, involve the employee in this goal setting process so they experience some control over their work.

Determine the strengths required to do the job well.

If the employee is going to be successful, the owner and employee must decide jointly what strengths are required, and how the employee is going to be able to apply their strengths. This is where having a good match between the employee and the job is so important. The boss doesn't have to figure this out on their own - the employee will probably already know what's necessary.

Set standards, and determine HOW they will be done.

Decide the standards that will apply to each activity, as well as how the standards will be achieved. Understanding the level of performance required gives the employee a sense of achievement - which is one of the key ingredients to achieving performance standards. This is true for employees at any level.

Establish communication agreements.

To ensure success, the owner and employee must decide at the outset how they are going to communicate progress (and challenges) along the way. Will it be day-to-day? Week-to-week? The minimum time frame is week-to-week. Less frequent than that and it all falls apart.

The employee decides how to achieve the desired results.

The owner will be present and participating for this part, but it is essential that the employee be leading the process in order for them to have ownership. Help the employee take responsibility for deciding how to accomplish the results. You may need to determine if the employee has the skills and development to do this. If they don't, provide maximum guidance to them.

Get it in writing.

If it is not in writing, within one to two weeks everyone will be confused and uncertain. The focus, responsibility, resources, constraints, timetables and measures all need to be in writing. The purpose of doing this is to make sure the owner and employee are so clear on the goals and process that there is no confusion whatsoever. It sets everyone

Establish a monitoring method.

Make sure you get agreement on how the performance will be monitored and how frequently. In order for the process to go forward, the employee needs to agree to monitor their own performance, and the owner must agree to sit down and review it with the employee on a pre-determined schedule. Let them know upfront that if they get busy and start canceling meetings, performance will not improve and expectations will not be met. I recommend having the employee keep track of their progress in writing and advise the owner weekly. A simple weekly progress update is a win-win solution and can take as little as 5 minutes. A monthly sit-down, face-to-face meeting is a must also.

What are the benefits of setting effective performance standards and expectations?

Employees are energized and empowered to take ownership of their positions. Owners become energized and inspired, ceasing to lower expectations in order to avoid confrontation.

The productivity of the company goes up.

Everyone knows what is expected of them, which provides certainty to move forward.

This process, itself, opens new channels of communication between owners and employees.

complete potential is here to help you make more of your business. More profits, more income, more of what you want. Remove obstacles to growth and create new opportunities. To get more practical business strategies and tips, sign up to our ezine - Profits for Professionals - at http://www.completepotential.com

It Philosophy 404

Writen by Lance Winslow

In the not so far-off future information technology systems thanks to rapidly advancing artificial intelligence programs will be able to run entire companies based on the data coming in from the various outlets, factories, distribution points and sales in the marketplace. Additionally these artificially intelligent corporate executives will be able to scan the Internet, the competition and the changing demographics and 100% of the world's demographic regions to make their decision.

These information technology systems with artificial intelligence will all be connected in a net centric way and they will be able to take hundreds of thousands or more, perhaps even millions of points of data and use that to make decisions, which are best for the shareholder, quarterly profits and future viability of the corporation as it keeps expanding.

These information technology systems when connected to an artificially intelligent brain will literally be able to replace the corporate executives and eliminate many of the problems that we find in humans with greed, ego and fear that is caused through change management. Organizational capital will not be a problem anymore because organizational capital will be replaced by hardware and software expenditures in artificial intelligence. In other words you will be able to buy organizational capital and hook it to your information technology system.

Am I scaring you so far; are our computers going to take over the world? Well, eventually it makes sense to have corporations run by computers rather than humans and in a way many of the factory workers who have been laid off by robotics who now have no job, because robotics are said to be more efficient, will now get to laugh last as the corporate executives get the axe.

If corporations are being run by artificially intelligent computers that are hooked to information technology systems then it makes sense that eventually our government will also be run by the same. And although this is just a futurist thought, you can also assume if the IT systems are programmed properly there will be no more corruption in government, as it will run as smooth as possible and sufficiently calm the taxpayers from their distrust in government waste. The importance will be that those who program it will indeed do so in a responsible manner. Perhaps you might consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.

Its Not What You Say Its The Way That You Say It

Writen by Martin Haworth

Sometimes in business there are constructive ways you can develop your people and ways of saying things that will only contribute to their decline.

How will you do it?

"OK, so what's happened? ... Well, yes you can do it that way. And let me show you a way that sometimes works well for us too"

"You did what - that's crazy. Why didn't you do it the way you were told? Don't you ever listen to what I say?"

Two approaches - pretty clearly eh?

If you were on the receiving end of these two acknowledgements of when something seems to have gone wrong, how would you feel about the relationship you have with your boss/manager etc?

Employees try their best - really - in the main they want to do a good job. They don't try to get things wrong - and yet sometimes they do.

That's life.

And we can beat them up for it - or we can understand and help them get over it.

The two approaches above are examples I've come across, in the last week, observing types of manager approach their people when things have gone wrong.

The first was from an excellent manager, who has her team with her, because she supports and encourages them when things don't work out quite right.

The second was from, admittedly, a less experienced manager, who was determined to make an example of his employee (so much so that she ended up in tears).

Employees are a hardy bunch. Frankly, they usually dust themselves down and get on with it.

And each time they are treated without respect it nibbles away at their self-confidence and helps them feel unworthy and useless.

It is not a nice thing to feel after you've done your days work. It impacts on their home life and the way they cope with the world.

Manager two was still embroiled in his own ego and inexperience. Showing his bullying capabilities from a position of power (and in the case mentioned, they were dealing with a very insecure member of their team - one they knew would not answer back).

The language we use as managers can be developmental or destructive - we have that onerous choice to make.

To build people's capabilities or crush them, through the way we speak and work with them.

© 2006-7 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.

Risk Management Selecting Potential Subcontractors

Writen by Michael Russell

The risk management of a project at the top level is complex enough, but when the infeed from outside companies has to be considered as well, it becomes even more so.

Starting with the receipt of an invitation to tender from a potential customer, the steps to be taken to manage the risk associated with selecting suppliers are as follows.

The project technical lead must review all the technical documentation received from the customer. Following the project team's decision that certain items need to be sub-contracted, the technical lead will write, or have a representative write, a technical requirements specification for each item to be sub-contracted, which will form part of the sub-contractor invitation to tender.

In addition, all other members of the project team will review the areas of their own particular discipline (quality assurance, configuration management, etc.) and write their own specifications for flowing down to the sub-contractor invitation to tender.

For each item to be sub-contracted, a procurement package will be compiled. This will contain whatever documents are deemed necessary depending on the complexity of the item in question, but as a minimum the aforementioned technical specification.

To start the risk management process, all documents to be included in the procurement package will be peer reviewed. This involves at least one person of the same discipline comparing the customer requirements with those included in the sub-contractor specification to ensure that nothing has been omitted.

A list of potential suppliers for each item of supply is then drawn up. Ideally, in terms of risk mitigation, there will be a minimum of three companies thought to be capable of fulfilling the technical requirement for each item, preferably more in the first instance. This list is then reduced to a manageable number (the ideal three) by reviewing the possible sub-contractors in terms of the following.

Companies who have supplied goods in the past:

- Quality and reliability of items supplied
- Timeliness of delivery
- Adequacy of documentation
- Attitude, flexibility and co-operation of personnel
- Ease of contract negotiation
- Pricing policy
- After sales service, including warranty

Companies who have not supplied goods in the past

- Reputation in the market place
- Quality assurance certification
- Financial stability

This list is not exhaustive but contains the most important areas to be considered. The most objective way of reviewing the above, is to weight each one in order of importance, devise a scoring mechanism, create a grid to be completed by each member of the review team and calculate the numbers. This method isn't foolproof but is as close as it possibly can be.

At this stage, the project risk has already been reduced because the best few of the potential sub-contractors have been chosen to compete for the sub-contract.

Alternatively, the selection process has shown that there is only one supplier capable of fulfilling the requirements. This requires quite different handling and will be the subject of a future article.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Risk Management
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Look Good On Voice Mail

Writen by Steve Kaye

Your use of voice mail tells others a lot about you. Here's how to make a good impression.

1) Present a Positive Image

Your outgoing voice mail message should be simple, positive, and professional. State your name and company followed by concise directions. You may want to leave a daily message because it shows that you check your messages and tells callers what to expect. For example, "Welcome to Steve Kaye's voice mail at Personal Quality. Today is Monday and I will be out, helping a client improve profits. Please leave a message and I'll return your call tomorrow." This message lasts nine seconds.

Make sure that your outgoing message is unencumbered by music (turn off the radio), rustling papers (sit still), and background noise (close the door). These sounds make it make it difficult for callers to understand your message. Similarly, avoid gimmicks such as singing, reading poetry, or citing long lists of credentials. These appear unprofessional.

2) Practice Professional Courtesy

Some people use voice mail to screen calls. Although this may control interruptions, it becomes rude if you never respond to the messages. Those messages are very important to the people who left them. That's why they called.

Set aside a time each day to return calls. If the messages were left by people whom you do not want to talk to, have an assistant return the calls. Or call back when the other person will be away from the phone and leave a message. The brief moment that you spend on a return message helps the caller continue business and frees you from receiving additional unwanted calls. For example it takes eight seconds to say, "Hi, Chris. This is Steve Kaye responding to the message you left today. Please remove my name from your call list. I have no interest in cryogenic ant farms."

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IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and author Steve Kaye works with leaders who want to be more effective. His innovative workshops have informed and inspired people nationwide. His facilitation produces results that people will support. Call 714-528-1300 or visit his web site for over 100 pages of valuable ideas. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.stevekaye.com

Live Reported From The Stock Exchange Goog 16 Yhoo 17

Writen by Hans Bool

So, this will be continued. The expectations are set!

The one dollar and twenty two cents net earnings ($ 1,22) was (way) below the expectations. And so the stock prices (GOOG: $ 393) fell back 9% today. Both stocks quote below the level of December when the live reporting began; GOOG (-5% from $ 415) and YHOO (-15% from almost $ 41).

These are however absolute returns. The stocks are setup in a race between, but there is no benchmark set for either of them. Lets park that for the next time and we can take the Nasdaq for it (current index: 2301). Also, in order to compare (the competition between) companies you need to analyse the difference in focus. (To be elaborated...)

There are two ways in which a growing company can grow even more and there is only one way in which a non-growing company can grow; the first by buying others and by autonomous growth. Buying other companies is an interesting growth strategy, because the company can leverage on the growth of the stock price. For companies that nearly grow cannot use that possibility.

But what happens when you buy your own competitors? This is the topic of this live reporting. Most companies have a competitive attitude towards the market, to their environment. But what about the internal market; the market inside the company?

Think about a company that is growing on behalf of buying other companies; the competition. Once these companies are absorbed, they will only support the growth of the main (global) company if these new "satellites" are moved into the same strategic direction. If the companies continue to compete internally the net benefits will be less than the sum of the parts.

If you are ambitious to the challenge that the individual parts of your company cooperate rather than compete (and this holds for both companies that are taken over, as for internal departments), than you should use different management principles.

This could start for example by withdrawing some freedom the new satellites have experienced so far, in order to avoid cannibalism and to prosper future synergies.

Hans Bool

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.

Giving Effective Feedback

Writen by Barb McEwen

If there is one area that gives both managers and employees difficulty it is the need to give and accept effective feedback. It is one of the most crucial elements in assisting employees to improve their performance. It establishes a connection between what employees are doing and how their actions are perceived by others. Although receiving feedback is often under appreciated, those on the receiving end must occasionally be reminded that no feedback could be much worse.

Most managers consider themselves to be high achievers. Out of this mindset comes the need to want to move right into problem solving by directing staff to fix a problem in a specific way. This quick fix solution shouts loudly of their inexperience. More seasoned managers know the importance of effective communication and begin the feedback process by listening to their people. They encourage input into the situation in order to determine what may be interfering with getting the job done in the most effective way. Only after they have received input can they can gain a broader perspective of the situation and make appropriate recommendations for action.

Giving feedback is not about dishing out criticism; however, this often proves to be the case when managers find themselves under pressure. It is at these times that emotions get in the way of effective management and much is lost in the process.

Let's put this on a personal level. As a manager, you want to be liked by your employees. You have always resented those who misjudge you and who find fault without knowing the full story. You vowed that when you became a manager that you would not follow this course of action because you know this type of behavior does nothing to improve your performance but rather makes you mistrust people and devalue their capabilities.

"The young carry-out boy was asked, "How long have you been working here?" He replied, "Ever since they threatened to fire me." --Anonymous

Although numerous books have been written about the essential qualities of good leaders, in my opinion, four qualities stand out: communication, trust, competence, and caring.

Effective leaders communicate clearly and inspire others to want to take action. Good leaders are good listeners. They pause often, and acknowledge the presence of others. Most importantly, they stop talking and listen attentively. They build trust through what is said and done. Their competence is judged on how they make decisions and lead people. And, lastly they are people savvy. They are genuinely interested in others and get the job done through collaboration. Good leaders are not Lone Rangers. They do not expect others to be "just like them." But rather, they recognize and leverage the talents of others for the benefit of the entire organization.

Remember, even though you, as a manager, may dislike giving feedback, your employees expect and need it from you. The complaints are not usually about the necessity to improve, but how the situation was inappropriately handled.

Feedback should NOT be limited to the times you do Performance Evaluations but should be an ongoing process between a manager and her or his team. The results are good grades in the four qualities of effective leadership mentioned above.

TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

Rule of 3 x 3

effective feedbackBert Decker is his book, You've Got To Be Believed to be Heard, talks about his 3 x 3 Rule when giving feedback. His method forces the manager to give balanced feedback by focusing on three strengths and three areas of development when analyzing performance and behavior. Capping it to three keeps the information succinct and easily remembered. Decker says, "Receiving three bits of feedback at a time allows people to make course corrections, like a guided missile, as they keep moving onward and upward. The goal is not to flatten someone's ego but rather to give them encouragement and to challenge them to improve.

Focus on Performance, Not Personality

The most effective way to discuss areas requiring improvement is to focus on observable actions, not attitudes. By limiting your criticism to what you see with your own two eyes, it will help you refrain from judgments that can trigger a defensive reaction. An example might be, "I have heard you making a number of personal telephone calls lately, is there something going on that you need our support for?" That is better than saying, "You seem to be making a number of personal calls lately, and this has become very disruptive."

Certain Words Create Problems

Words that are dangerous when evaluating performance are always, never, and worst. If you let slip any of these words, you are overstating your case and not focusing on actual performance. Far better to say, "I've seen you do this three times this week."

New managers who are not accustomed to providing feedback will often sound accusatory when they are trying to assert their authority. If this is you, you will know you are on shaky ground if you find yourself using the word "you" followed by a negative comment. An example might be, "You didn't meet the deadline we agreed to." With this language, tensions will be inflamed and the result will be a resentful employee. Better to say, "We agreed to a Friday deadline. Can you tell me what problems you encountered?" This moves the employee into analyzing the situation rather than becoming defensive.

Use Questions to Give You Leverage

It is often helpful to let employees discover for themselves what could be improved. This tactic works especially well with high-ego performers who automatically resist any input they get as negative. Many new managers make the mistake of talking so much that employees feel like they are being scolded as a preschooler.

It is more beneficial to ask questions to flush out the situation. Prod the employee, in a non-threatening way, into evaluating his or her own performance in an area where you have concern. Stay totally involved in the process by allowing the employee to make recommendations for their own improvement. Learning "questioning skills" is a valuable tool and one that can be taught in the coaching process. Questioning helps you get a broader perspective on a situation and helps you avoid lapsing into the lecture mode.

Be Supportive

There is a fine line between advice and support. Advice involves telling someone how to solve a problem. Support on the other hand, makes the other person feel valued. It is well intentioned and shows a willingness to share observations and seek information to help the employee to succeed. It does not assert superiority or position. Like a friendly but curious detective, you want to investigate behavior rather than take a position that assigns right-wrong labels to a person.

Leaders are Always in Training

Just as professional athletes are in year-round training because they desire continuous improvement, so too should managers be in continuous training. Personal Executive Coaching has proven long-term benefits because executives learn to integrate the skills and apply them on the job. If you expect the best from your people then setting high expectations for yourself is both natural and positive. Set up your Free 30-minute Coaching Session by clicking the appropriate box on the right-hand panel.

Author

Barb McEwen is a well-known Master Executive Coach and Organizational Development Consultant who works with senior executives from around the world to help identify and assess developmental opportunities for both organizations and individuals.

Reprints

You are welcome to reprint these articles. The following quotation must be printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article.

Copyright Barb McEwen and 20/20 Executive Coaching, Inc.
Barb McEwen is a well known, thought-provoking and inspirational speaker. You can reach her at: Barb.McEwen@2020ExecutiveCoaching.com. Learn how to be a more effective manager and leader. Check out her website at http://www.2020executivecoaching.com.

One Simple Idea To Grow Your Business

Writen by Darcie Harris

Perhaps the most common theme I've heard in working with business owners or managers is that they rarely have time to plan for the future. They are so busy with day to day tasks and responsibilities, just getting through their weekly "To Do" list or fighting fires consumes all their time and energy, and then some.

Business owners often tell us that effective marketing strategies are not in place. Why? Because they are too busy selling. New products and services are not being developed. Why? Because they are involved in the delivery of existing products and services. Long-term planning is not addressed. Why? Because they are so busy working on this week's "To Do" list.

The solution to these scenarios is to distinguish long term functions from short term functions. This doesn't mean deciding which tasks you will do today and which you will do at some point in the future. It means knowing which functions make the business healthy in the short term, and which functions make the business healthy in the long term. It's not that one is more important than the other – you have to do both well.

The inevitable reality is that short term functions always crowd out long term functions. For example, let's say I'm in the technology business and provide both "break and fix" work as well as installation of complicated networking systems. You hire me to develop a networked system for your business, which will take some time, some thought, some development. I'm about to begin this project for you when another customer calls and says, "My computer is down and I can't work until it's fixed." Of course I rush off to handle that customer's short-term need at the expense of my long-term project with you.

Situations like this happen every day in every business. It's common for a business owner or manager to handle both marketing and sales for her business. You know you need to sit down and develop a marketing strategy for the next quarter, but cash flow is tight so you also know you'd better get out there and sell something. Short term versus long term again.

The single most helpful action you can take to have the greatest impact on your business is to understand long term and short term functions, then separate them. Let's take a look at examples of both short term and long term functions:

SHORT TERM (if you do these well, your business will be healthy short term): - Accounting; - Administration (systems, procedures, policies); - Sales; - Operations; - Production; - Personnel (payroll, benefits administration).

LONG TERM FUNCTIONS (if you do these well, your business will be healthy long term): - Marketing (anticipating the market & future customer needs; innovation); - Research and Development; - Finance; - Staff development & training; - Corporate culture, teamwork.

The second step is to begin separating those functions for yourself and your employees, realigning responsibilities. Take a look at all the roles you play in your business. Do you have responsibility for both long-term and short-term functions? For example, are you handling both marketing and sales? Or handling both finance and accounting? Many business owners are spread all over the map.

Now look at the responsibility of each employee and ask the same question. Are they responsible for both short term and long term functions? I'm willing to bet that if they are, the long term functions consistently fall lower on the priority list.

The best case scenario is to have different people responsible for long and short term functions, as much as possible. Consider how to realign responsibilities so that certain employees are working primarily on long term functions and others are responsible for short term functions. You may not need to hire anyone new, simply realign who is doing what.

In many businesses with a small staff, complete separation is unrealistic. The next best scenario is to be very aware that you are wearing two different hats, and specifically allocate certain days or even hours to making sure your long term functions are given enough time and attention. For example, if you are handling both marketing and sales, you might block out two entire days each week where you do not schedule sales appointments, but you work on marketing instead. Or perhaps it works better for you to divide your days into morning for sales, afternoons for marketing. It takes discipline, and it's worth it.

Once you have the awareness, you'll see your business through different eyes. Separating long term and short term functions is the most effective move you can make to help you grow your business.

© 2004 Darcie Harris

Darcie Harris is co-founder of EWF International®, an Oklahoma based firm providing peer advisory boards for women business owners and executives. With 30 years experience in marketing, sales, management and entrepreneurship, she is achieving her dream by helping others achieve theirs. EWF International® franchises are available throughout the Southwest.
http://www.ewfinternational.com

Topten Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs

Writen by Gregory Smith

There are many reasons why good employees quit, most are preventable. From my years of experience as a consultant, I've identified a "Top Ten" list of reasons why people leave jobs:

1. Management demands that one person do the jobs of two or more people, resulting in longer days and weekend work.

2. Management cuts back on administrative help, forcing professional workers to use their time copying, stapling, collating, filing and other clerical duties.

3. Management puts a freeze on raises and promotions, when an employee can easily find a job earning 20-30 percent more somewhere else.

4. Management doesn't allow the rank and file to make decisions or allow them pride of ownership. A visitor to my website E-mailed me a message that said, "Forget about the "professional" decisions—how about when you can't even select the company's holiday card without the President rejecting it for one of his own taste?"

5. Management constantly reorganizes, shuffles people around, and changes direction constantly.

6. Management doesn't have or take the time to clarify goals and decisions. Therefore, it rejects work after it was completed, damaging the morale and esteem of those who prepared it.

7. Management shows favoritism and gives some workers better offices, trips to conferences, etc.

8. Management relocates the offices to another location, forcing employees to quit or double their commute.

9. Management promotes someone who lacks training and/or necessary experience to supervisor, alienating staff and driving away good employees.

10. Management creates a rigid structure and then allows departments to compete against each other while at the same time preaching teamwork and cooperation.

Interesting, isn't it, that all ten factors begin with the phrase "Management…."

Greg Smith helps organizations accelerate workplace performance. He is a nationally recognized speaker and author. He has written five books including his latest, Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Transforming Your Workforce from High Turnover to High Retention. Greg has been featured on Bloomberg News, PBS television, and in publications including Business Week, USA Today, Kiplinger's, President and CEO, and the Christian Science Monitor. He is the President of a management-consulting firm, Chart Your Course International, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Phone him at 770-860-9464. More articles available: http://www.chartcourse.com
 

Passion For Profits

Writen by Bill Lee

Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don't have the time to be all things to all people. In the early stages of a business, the owner or manager waits on customers, does the buying, collects past due accounts, supervises just about everyone on staff and may even stay late to stuff the monthly statements.

At each stage of business growth, managers must muster the discipline to delegate more and personally perform fewer and fewer job functions to give them time to think and plan. This is not easy. After all, the business is their baby. They oftentimes gave birth to it and have nurtured it to this point, so trusting someone else to assume accountability for key jobs can often feel somewhat like separation anxiety.

The problem in life is that it's too short to be good at a lot of different things. How many things can you be really good at? If you're great at sales, odds are you are not terrific at collecting. If you're entrepreneurial, odds are that you're not attentive enough to detail to be really good at administrative tasks. And so on.

An observation I have made from performing over a hundred consulting assignments is that most owners, managers and salespeople are quite good at the things that they're the most passionate about.

If managers are passionate about profitability, I've noticed that they almost always generate a top-notch bottom line.

If salespeople are passionate about new business, they bring a lot of new accounts. Or if they are passionate about producing above average gross margins, they find a way to effectively deal with pricing issues.

When executives and salespeople are passionate about golf, skiing, tennis, travel, community or church-related activities, then they tend to excel in those areas, and sometimes to the detriment of their accountabilities on the job.

If you are serious about excelling at something — at anything -- the main question you need to ask yourself is: "Where does my passion lie?"

I have one client whom I especially admire. He is extremely passionate about two things: his business and his family. He spends the great majority of his waking hours dedicated to these two passions.

Like many owners and general managers, he often puts in ten-to-twelve-hour days. But he rarely misses any of his kid's activities. Whenever possible, he manages his business appointments around his family and their needs. On several occasions, I've heard him make appointments around hockey games, school plays, Little League baseball games, etc.

But when it comes to business, he is incredibly passionate about earning a satisfactory return on his investment. To show you just how profitable he has been, over the past five years he has funded the assets required to support a substantial sales increase -- well in excess of 20% compounded annual growth -- out of internally generated profits. WOW! Quite an accomplishment, wouldn't you say? Let me give you a couple of other examples of how this owner's passion for success has resulted in so many achievements.

1. Each of the years I have worked with this entrepreneur, he has asked me to recommend several businesses in his industry that I believe do an overall better job than he does. He runs such a good operation that this was always a tough assignment, but he always budgeted the travel time to gain exposure to highly profitable businesses. "I want to visit operations that can teach me a better and more profitable way to service our customers," he will always say.

2. One year, he told me that he thought he could benefit from gaining more exposure to businesses outside our industry. I recommended that he join a local TEC (The Executive Committee) chapter. He allocates one day each month to meet with his TEC group. Then last year, he joined Young Presidents Organization (YPO) to even further expand his exposure.

3. A couple of years ago, he invested in a right hand man to take over the operations end of his business so he could concentrate on another of his passions — sales. While he would admit that he found it difficult to relinquish control over operations, he knew that his business could not continue to grow if he resisted delegating authority.

The moral of this story is to concentrate on doing primarily what you love to do — which is usually what you do best — and delegate the rest.

Bill Lee is a consultant who works with owners who want to improve their bottom line and author of Gross Margin: 26 Factors Affecting Your Bottom Line. $29.95 + $6 S&H. Bill's newest book is 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot. $21.95 plus $6 S&H. See Shopping Cart at http://www.BillLeeOnLine.com Or call 800-808-0534 to order via voice mail.

Email: blee@mygrossmargin.com

Access And Facilities For The Disabled In Uk Exhibition Centres

Writen by Paul Symonds

Providing access and facilities for the disabled is an important issue and hence below we look at how some of the main exhibition centres in the UK are fairing in terms of catering to the needs of disabled visitors. Ensuring that disabled people have full access to all areas at an exhibition is important. Access needs to include not only the main exhibition halls, but also areas such as the place where the public transport arrives and departs from, toilets and also dining areas. Provisions for the disabled need to include suitable solutions for people with sight and speech impediments, in addition to for people who are wheelchair bound. Below we look at two of the main UK exhibition venues, and the results are interesting.

The Excel Exhibition Centre in London, UK, rates very highly, with this relatively new building designed to meet the needs of disabled people. The Excel Centre has parking spaces for disabled people, with walkways rather than stairs leading to the main centre, with wheelchair ramps and automated doors leading into the centre.

Inside the Excel Exhibition Centre, the floors are spacious and level with non-slip flooring; stairs and ramps all have handrails; lifts have Braille and control panels that are located low down for easy reach from wheelchairs. The centre also has pictured signs so that partially sighted people can find their way more easily. There are also disabled toilets, wheelchair rental and many more things to meet the needs of disabled visitors at the Excel Centre.

The NEC Exhibition Centre in Birmingham also seems to do a lot to aid disabled visitors. The NEC is accessible from the International railway station by a linked bridge, whilst all areas of the exhibition centre are wheelchair accessible by lift and ramp. The main entrances have automatic doors and outside, there are parking spaces for disabled people and wheelchair friendly, park and ride shuttles. Wheelchairs can be hired at the centre. Most of the toilets are disabled friendly.

The NEC helps people with hearing and visual impairments with an audio system that has speakers throughout the centre and large graphical signs, in addition to textual signs. Impressively, the NEC also has a special Telephone Ticket Line for disabled visitors on: (0121 782 3555) when booking tickets, so that you can discuss your needs. Finally, the NEC has an NEC committee who meet regularly to discuss the needs of disabled visitors.

Providers of Exhibition Stands UK and Worldwide

Leadership Style What Makes A Good Boss

Writen by Marcia Zidle

In today's competitive environment, companies realize that a good boss is one who can identify and build on the talents of the staff and knows how to retain top performing employees. Take this quiz and see if you are a good boss.

Use the following scale to respond to the questions:
Strongly disagree--1; disagree--2; uncertain--3; agree--4; strongly agree--5.

1. My employees understand the connection between their team or department's actions and the success of the company.
2. Each employee had clearly-defined work goals and the resources necessary to achieve them.
3. I usually assign the right tasks and amount of work to others.
4. People tell me that I am a good listener.
5. I have created an environment where people get along and work is fun.
6. I know my employees' career goals.
7. I regularly coach my employees in developing their skills.

Scoring:

26-35: You know your employees' needs and strengths and use this knowledge to get the results you want.
11-25: Invest some more time in defining your goals and in getting to know your employees, and achieving results will get much easier.
0-11: Are your employees "results challenged?" Get your act together.

Interpreting the results:

• The first three questions assess the ability to make a connection between organizational objectives and an individual employees contribution.
• The rest of the quiz assesses people skills the ability to get employees to care about the company's goals by giving them room to grow and making the work environment a people-friendly place.
• Pay careful attention to any item with a rating of three or less. Are you too focused on results to take time to build relationships, or are you spending too much time building rapport and net getting anything done?

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job – to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management.

Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks – resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs – fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

Diary Of A Genuine Leader

Writen by Kevin Dwyer

10/01/2005: Finally got board approval for the business plan for 2005. We have some severe stretch targets this year. On top of my mistake in taking the risk of introducing the new product line, it has been a tough sell for us to convince the board we know what we are doing. I guess I can't blame them.

15/02/2005: The management meeting today started out poorly. We did not seem to be making much progress on our projects and I was concerned about it impacting our ability to meet our year end targets. I voiced my concerns and asked for suggestions for getting better traction on our projects. There were a number of good ideas; we settled on getting a facilitator to challenge our prioritisation and resource allocation process.

28/02/2005: A great day all round, I think. We realised that we were actually trying to do too much at once and stretching our resources too thin. We have agreed to delay some projects which are not going to directly deliver on this year's targets.

24/04/2005: Internal audit delivered their report today. We were all stunned to find out that our process for bank reconciliation was open to fraud. We set up an emergency project team to deal with it. I asked the audit guys to stay on to help us develop the project plan.

26/05/2005: The board were not happy with the internal audit report today. I could only offer a "mea culpa" on the adverse findings and then outline what we have done with audit helping to close the issue off. The board agreed to complete a formal risk management strategy to uncover and treat other risks we are not aware of.

30/06/2005: I was interviewed unprepared by the media today. I don't know what they will make of it. I guess I won't have long to find out.

01/07/2005: The press did a good number on my ramblings. The story does not look good for us as an organisation. I will make sure I complete that Handling the Media training. I don't want to be unprepared and unable to handle an interview again.

05/07/2005: Began our planning for 2006 with a brainstorming session today. The guys are going away to flesh out a plus or minus 30% cost for the projects we dreamt up.

11/07/2005: The results at half year are still not what we need. The potential is that we will not meet our year end targets. The problem appears to be in marketing in that we are not getting enough qualified leads and those we are getting are not spending as much as planned.

I spoke to Tom, our marketing manager on how he felt about the results and marketing's contribution. He is embarrassed and feels that he needs to develop an email campaigning system to pre-qualify leads before his guys visit them, but he does not have the budget to do it.

13/07/2005: We held an emergency management meeting today and carved out a budget for Tom's email marketing system to pre-qualify leads. Tom knows that his reputation is on the line as the other guys had to give up some of their budget for this year. Tom says he can have it operating in two weeks. That gives his team four months to turn the marketing effort around.

30/08/2005: My cousin's wife applied to join the company today. My cousin wanted me to help her out. I told him that I could not help and she would have to go through the application process like everyone else.

20/09/2005: Looks like Tom's email marketing programme may be working. We asked if he needed more help. He thinks he is OK with what he has got. I made it clear that his reputation is on the line and that if he needs help he must say so.

We had a good planning session today. Some of the ideas we had were not feasible when we saw the cost benefit analysis. But we seem to be on track to delivering a plan that will work.

13/10/2005: Saw a fantastic system today. The vendors say it will make all of our data available online in real time. It is probably a good idea but it will have to wait for a review next year.

27/11/2005: The board gave us some tough top down targets today. I protested, but we have to live with the hand we are being dealt.

05/12/2005: It looks like we will not reach this year's targets, but we will only be 2% off. With the start we had during the year it has been a good effort and the result was not great but OK. I'll take the flack with the board; the team does not need to be distracted. I think Tom's new system will save us next year.

Kevin Dwyer is Director of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people's behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. To learn more visit http://www.changefactory.com.au or email kevin.dwyer@changefactory.com.au ©2006 Change Factory To see more articles visit http://www.changefactory.com.au

Retaining An Expert What Every Business Owner Needs To Know

Writen by Kathy Szpakowski

As an entrepreneur, hiring an expert can be one of the most efficient ways to turbo-charge your business. However, thousands of consultants flood the Information Highway, and each one promises to positively impact your bottom line. How do you know which expert has the right combination of smarts, skills, experience and personality to move your company in the right direction?

It's no small feat to allow a consultant to make decisions on your behalf. Empowering a consultant to advise changes can bring up feelings of doubt and fear. To help you choose the right expert for you, here are 6 cautionary tips from Kathy Szpakowski, founder of KBS Group, one of the country's most successful, organizational development consulting companies:

1. Make sure the expert has a proven track record for delivering on their promises. Visit the consultant's web site and check on their references.

2. Pay attention to the expert's commentary after you've stated your vision. Do you feel understood? Does he or she "get" it, or do you feel like you need to keep on explaining? If, during the initial conversation stage or in the project outline stage you feel your vision is not completely understood or that there are areas being overlooked or under-valued, consider finding another expert who is more in alignment with your point of view.

3. Observe if the expert incorporates your thoughts and ideas into the conversation. Do you feel a sense of collaboration or do you feel shot down? While working with an expert, there will be times where you might take his or her well-substantiated advice and whole-heartedly agree with certain recommendations, while at other times, you might mildly agree or not agree at all. Based on your discussion, get a sense as to whether this person will be open to a collaborative arrangement, or might be intolerant of feedback or suggestions.

4. Assess if the expert understands the term 'within budget.' Rather than have an expert initially tell you all of the wonderful things they can do for you, then fall over from the sticker shock when you receive their proposal and their terms, tell them the budget you need to stay within. A consultant should not be writing from your checkbook. What is important is your budget; not their price.

5. Agree to a mutually acceptable time frame. In order to ensure that the two of you are on the same page, establish timelines to determine when you want to get started, as well as how long it will take before you can expect to receive recommendations, implement the recommendations, and see results. Make sure there is also a way to measure the results.

6. Trust your instincts. Believe in your intuition. If your instincts and experience in your business tells you to go in a different direction, do it. If you don't feel 100% committed to the recommendations, or have a 'gut feeling' that you and the expert are not on the same page – Stop. Ignoring these feelings and going along with any recommendations that you are not committed to, or are convinced will not work, will only make you right – they won't.

A word of caution: after a positive experience with one expert, entrepreneurs often have a tendency to get lax when evaluating additional experts to assist in other areas of their business. When talking with other experts, it can be easy to fail to completely communicate one's vision, the importance of integrating one's ideas, the necessity to stay within budget and on schedule, and the absolute need to know that your new expert 'gets it!"

Hiring the right expert can be a huge asset to your business, however, you are the only one who will know which expert is ultimately right for you. By applying the advice from the tips above, you can minimize your doubts and fears, as well as create a strategy to find an expert who can truly help you maximize your growth.

Kathy Szpakowski has 25 years of professional experience in sales, marketing, training, organizational and personal development. She is the founder of KBS Group and the creator of "Performance Management Plus" a turnkey solution that has helped entrepreneurs achieve phenomenal results worldwide. www.BetheBest-KBSgroup.com.

Kathy Szpakowski has 25 years of professional experience in sales, marketing, training, organizational and personal development. She is the founder of KBS Group and the creator of "Performance Management Plus" a turnkey solution that has helped entrepreneurs achieve phenomenal results worldwide. http://www.BetheBest-KBSgroup.com

Managing Small Projects

Writen by Simon Buehring

As both an active project manager and project management trainer, I often get asked whether the project management best practices that are applicable for large projects can be applied on smaller projects. This is a really important question and one which all project managers must face up to when managing small projects.

Focusing on project delivery

One of the arguments against using project management methodologies is that they are very process-centric resulting in vast quantities of project documentation which are simply not practical or desirable on small projects. This is a powerful argument and any method which focuses on producing documentation at the expense of delivering the real business benefits of the project will be a hindrance rather than a benefit. After all, the name of the game in project management is delivering business objectives, not producing reams of documents.

There is an ongoing and active discussion within the software development community about the best way to produce software on projects. More recently, some software professionals have argued for more agile methods of producing software rather than the more traditional heavyweight methods which focused on producing vast quantities of documentation.

Agile methods focus on delivery of software rather than documentation. With this in mind, I think project managers everywhere can learn something from the agile methods employed in software development. In short, this leads us to focus on project delivery rather than project documentation, although the critical choice project managers everywhere need to make is how much documentation is really necessary?

Apply the best practices

I am a firm believer in only producing as much as is required by the project. Nothing more and nothing less. A simple rule of thumb is: if it's useful in helping us to deliver the business objectives of the project then produce it, if it isn't useful in helping us to deliver the business objectives of the project then don't waste time to produce it. With this in mind, I believe that in all projects, at a minimum it is best to apply project management best practices.

Let's consider the best practices in turn and see whether or not the overhead lost in applying best practices is worth the benefits which can be gained.

Defining objectives and scope

Even on the smallest project there will be objectives which must be achieved. As a project manager, it is in your interest to define what these objectives are since you are likely to be assessed on whether the project meets those objectives. It is your responsibility to ensure the project meets those objectives and you are accountable for this. In short, the book stops with you.

Now suppose you don't define and write down what the objectives are, you are always going to be at the mercy of any boss who decides he's got it in for you. The defined and documented set of objectives is your insurance policy against your manager later coming along and saying you didn't meet the objectives.

However, there is another reason why you still need to define and document the objectives even on a small project. You want to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders since that is what you are paid to do as a project manager. If the objectives aren't defined, then you won't be able to meet those needs through your project.

Similarly with defining the scope. The scope forms the boundary of your project. If you don't define what it is, the likelihood is that it will grow and grow as the project progresses and although you might have started managing a very small project, before long your project could become very much bigger than when you set out.

You still need to document who are the stakeholders on a small project as well. By defining who these are, you can ensure that you cover all of their needs when you define the objectives and deliverables.

Defining deliverables

Somebody is going to have to carry out the actual work to produce whatever is delivered from your project. Even if the deliverables might be small and don't take much time to produce, they should still be written down. By documenting these things and then having them reviewed by others allows errors to be found. Your aim should be to document a detailed enough set of descriptions of the products to be delivered.

These descriptions will then be used by the people who will produce the deliverables. Even if these descriptions take no more than a page of text, it is important to write them in a clear and unambiguous way. If you don't write down a description, it means that the person making the deliverable can interpret what is required in unexpected ways which will only result in work being done later to correct the mistakes. So, always define and document the deliverables.

Project planning

If you were to walk up Mount Everest, you would never do it without a considerable amount of planning. Even if you walk up the hill at the back of your house, there is probably some planning involved - what time do you go? What should you take with you? It is the same on even the smallest project where you will still need to work out which activities are required to produce a deliverable, estimate how long the activities will take, work out how many staff and resources are required and assign activities and responsibilities to staff.

All of these things need to be written down and communicated effectively to the project team members. I've seen lots of people become unstuck because they think they need to use some kind of project management planning software such as Microsoft Project. This is an unnecessary overhead. I've noticed that people tend to waste too much time making their Microsoft Project Gantt charts look pretty, so that they lose sight of the reason why they are using the tool.

Instead, for small projects I find that creating a bar chart in Microsoft Excel is the best. It is simple and more than adequate for small projects. Just make each column a sequential date, write your tasks in the first column, and fill in the cells to represent the time the activity takes.

In addition to the bar chart, you will need to document the milestones on the project. Milestones are the dates by which you need to deliver certain things, or may be the date on which a major activity ends. The responsibilities of each project member must also be documented in the project plan.

Communication

Even in the smallest project team comprised of just a project manager and one other person, the project manager will still need to assign tasks and responsibilities to the other person. It can't be assumed that they will know what they should do without it being effectively communicated from the project manager. If the project manager doesn't assign them specific activities, then the chances are they will go ahead and work on things which are not needed by the project. So, either the project will end up delivering the wrong things, or the project will get delayed since time will need to be spent later on doing the activities which should have been done earlier.

You can communicate the plans via email, or give a print out of the plan to your project team member(s), or better still, call a meeting and run through the plan with the project team members. Remember, if the plan changes, you will also need to communicate the changes to your team as well.

Tracking and reporting progress

If we still consider our two person project team - the project manager and one other person - the project manager will need to know the progress of the activities which the other person is working on. This can be done in a variety of ways: a short daily email detailing the work completed, the work still left to do, and a list of any issues/problems. In most cases this will be sufficient.

Alternatively a short 15 minute face to face catch up can accomplish the same thing. Or a combination of the two things might be best. In any event, the project manager still needs to be fully aware of the progress that is being made so that progress can be tracked effectively.

Change management

Even on our two person project, changes are likely to occur. Requests for change usually come from stakeholders and it is your responsibility as project manager to assess the impact of accepting these into the project. To do this, you need a good estimate of the impact the change will have in terms of the extra effort and cost involved. This will often impact the schedule as well, so by having a clear understanding of how the schedule and budget will be affected you can make the decision as to whether or not you will accept the change into your project.

On a small project there shouldn't be any need for any fancy change control board to decide if the change is accepted. A quick discussion with the key stakeholder(s) should be sufficient for you to come to a decision providing you have worked out the impact on cost and schedule.

One thing you should never do is simply accept the change. Even if you think the change is small, you should never accept any change(s) without fully understanding what its impact will be on cost and schedule. That is a recipe for what we call 'scope creep' where the project grows bigger and bigger as more and more changes are added into the project. Before you know it, your small project has become a much larger one and you will inevitably fail to deliver your project to your original budget and schedule.

Risk management

There will be risks even on a small project. Make sure you have thought through all the potential risks at the beginning of the project, monitor the top ten risks each week (or top five if the number of risks is small) and keep looking out for new risks. Failing to manage risk properly is one the main causes for projects to fail.

The overhead in managing risks is very low. On a recent project, I drew up a list of what I considered to be all the risks on the project. It came to about 10 risks in all. Of these, five were serious risks. I worked out a plan to avoid or minimise each risk. In all, it took me little over a couple of hours to do this. Then, each week on the project, I would spend say half an hour reviewing all the risks and thinking of any new ones. At the end of the project, whilst some risks actually had materialised, because I'd identified a plan at the start of the project to minimise the impact of these risks, the impact of these risks on the project ended up being minimal.

So, with little up front and ongoing effort, you get a big pay back if you manage the risks throughout the project.

Summary

So, in summary, applying the best practices to even a small project can be done without creating too much paperwork or overhead. The best practices are the things which countless project managers have done on thousands of projects and are deemed to be the 'best practice' because they tend to help you to achieve the best results.

Don't think that because you're managing a small project that you can ditch these best practices because if you do, you will regret it later when your project gets in a mess.

Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer and has extensive experience within the IT industry in the UK and in Asia. He works for KnowledgeTrain which provides training in project management in the UK. He can be contacted via the KnowledgeTrain project management training website.

Create Your Methodology Based On A Standard Framework Part2

Writen by Lucas Rodriguez Cervera

In the previous article I explained why it is a good idea to create a methodology based on a standard framework and highlighted the criteria to choose the most convenient one. In this article I will give some tips for the adaptation and documentation of the methodology.

Understand the framework

Once a framework has been chosen it is time to start building the methodology. The first step is to acquire a general understanding of the framework, a holistic view of its components. You must have a clear idea of its scope and boundaries. It might be useful (if you already have some formal processes in place) to carry out a mapping of your processes to the standard and perform a gap analysis. This is not necessary if you approach the project as a reengineering project, building the new processes from the ground up.

Build a roadmap

Once you have a clear vision of the standard framework's scope and your current situation, you have to define where you want to get (the scope of your methodology). This means that you must have a clear vision of your organization once the new methodology is in operation. You might find that some processes do not apply to your organization or are too sophisticated for your needs.

Be realistic. Take into consideration the resources you have available for the project and the timeframe. Be sure that this strategic vision is known by all people involved in the project and understood and shared by the initiative sponsor.

Now you know where you want to get and the objectives of the project have been defined, it is time to plan how you are going to get there. You can face the project in two ways:

Once-off delivery. The methodology is only only deployed once the full scope has been achieved. Incremental delivery. The methodology is deployed in several iterations, each of which releases a set of processes.

Although the once-off approach can make sense when the scope of the change is limited, I believe an iterative approach increases the probability of success of the project. Try to get some quick-wins by choosing for the first iterations those processes that add visible value or solve a known problems. You will learn with each release and apply that knowledge in subsequent iterations.

Adapt and detail the processes

Standard frameworks are general purpose. In order to be useful to a wide and heterogeneous set of organizations they provide best practices expressed in general terms. It is your task to convert that into actionable pieces of work. After understanding the process as described in the framework, you will have to determine how you want it to be carried out in your organization's context, determine the roles that will be responsible of executing it, the tools that will be used to facilitate it and the documents, information, objects, etc... that it must deliver.

Document the processes

Once the new processes are clear, they must be documented in order to facilitate their communication to the people that will be executing them. The objective now is that the process is executed in the real world according to the new process definition. This can only be achieved through process understanding and buy in of the people who carry out the process, and good process documentation is key for this.

Process can be documented in a wide variety of formats with several tools (from MS word to metoCube, a process documentation tool developed by us at Nevant). Whatever format and structure you choose for your process documentation, always try to keep the following in mind: Process documents must be easily accessible. If they're not, people won't spend time searching for them.

Process documentation must be easily navigable. If people don't find the concrete piece of information they are looking quickly, they will probably desist or waste valuable time.

The tools and templates needed to carry out the work described must be easily accessible from the documentation. Complement textual process descriptions with diagrams.

Lucas Rodríguez Cervera is founder of Methodology & Process a company specialized in human-centric knowledge intensive business process technologies. They pioneered this concept with metoCube.

Tqm Implementation Project Part 5a The Improve Phase How To Do It

Writen by LM Foong

This TQM article is a continuation of the Part 4a article, the IMPROVE PHASE. In this issue, I will share with you how to use Control Lot and Testing and Pilot the Action / Solution in carry out this TQM project using the D.A.I.C. Methodology as described in my previous article.

Just to recap, tools used in the IMPROVE Phase are listed below. I will deal with tools that are in bold:

Brainstorming of action / solution | Selection Grid | Benchmarking | Cost-Benefit Analysis | Control lot and testing | Pilot the action / solution | Force-Field Analysis | Prevention Planner

How to use Control Lot and Testing

This tool is particularly useful to verify if the corrective action / solution is able to meet the team's objective. It is also used to confirm certain control parameter of changes in process. If the control lot is to verify process capability, then the parameter of this control lot must meet the desire process capability as well.

Let's see how to do it. In a coating line, the team has decided to change the belt speed of a conveyor line but not sure what level of speed is most optimized to obtain the best coating thickness control. A control lot in this case will be run with various speed adjusted manually. At each speed, the coating thickness is recorded. At the end of the control lot / testing, a correlation is done to verify which speed yield the most optimum coating thickness. All these test is done in a controlled environment.

Once the control lot is satisfied, record the optimized belt speed, them the team is ready for a larger lot in full production mode and some controlled environment.

Pilot the solution

Pilot run is a common practice for a new product resting. For this D.A.I.C. Methodology, we use it to double sure changes to the production parameters are well implemented. The objective if this tool is to implement the optimized belt speed during full production run. However, the volume of run is much lesser and more attention is given to ensure the new speed is communicated and set for the pilot production run.

As the production lot for the pilot run is more compared to a control lot, care should be given to ensure all new belt speed is set accordingly. Due to the fact that this is like a full production run, team need to put extra attention to any drastic changes to other production parameters. During the pilot run, team would record the effect of the pilot run in terms of coating thickness and other quality specifications. Once it is confirmed, it is considered as successful.

In summary, this IMPROVE PHASE Control lot and testing and Pilot the action / solution would be critical to prevent any unwanted element occurred when a solution is put in placed for production. This is the "hardware" of the solution. In most case, it can be tested and adjusted until satisfactory. However, this alone does not guarantee the success of the improvement project. The human factor or the "software" within the process must be addressed in order to ensure full implementation of the proposed solution. In my next article, I will share with you how this can be accomplished with the last two tools of the IMPROVE PHASE i.e. Force-Field Analysis and Prevention Planner

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Disclaimer All rights reserved. This article is written by the author based on his practical application experience. All definitions and interpretation of terminology are his point of view and has it has no intention to conflict with experts in similar topic. The author holds no responsibility for the use of this article in any way.

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Resource Box: About the Author, LM Foong

The author provides consulting services specializing in TQM Implementations in manufacturing and service sector. He provides facilitation workshops and hands-on application in Cost Reduction and Productivity Improvement projects. He publishes TQM articles, ebooks, case studies, trainer manual and presentation slides. Please click To View Free TQM articles or Please Visit my Web Site for other TQM related matters...