Articles
Which Asset is Truly the Most Valuable to Your Company?
Companies are oftentimes concerned with protecting their assets, and rightfully so! The problem is, a company's most important assets are often overlooked and many times neglected. While your technologies, products and structures are definitely important to the success of your business, these things can be easily copied by your competitors. What your competitors can't copy, however, is your staff. If you really want your company to have an edge, you need the right employees. You need to hire professionals who can do the job right and you need to keep your employees motivated, engaged and well-trained. The right employees can [...]
Six Things that Are Necessary for Good Team Leadership
We all hear the term “good team leadership” in our day-to-day business activities, but do we really know what the words mean? Do we understand how to develop good team leadership and how to make sure our management teams understand the fundamentals of this crucial business concept? If you think that good team leadership simply entails ordering your employees to perform tasks and delegating properly, you're sadly mistaken. If you want to achieve good team leadership in your corporate culture, you have to understand what it is and what it is not. 1 . Focus on the Goals, Purpose and [...]
How Engaged Are Your Employees?
In the business world, each and every employee must take some accountability for his or her own engagement. However, it is important to remember that there is a direct correlation between the level of your employees' engagement and the level of your company's employee retention. Which brings up the question, just how engaged are your employees? Or, perhaps even more importantly, exactly what is your company doing to ensure a high level of employee engagement and, therefore, better retention rates and higher employee morale? Just How Important Is Employee Engagement? Many business owners and executives don't truly understand the importance [...]
What Concerns an Exiting Owner, You ask?
It isn't price first and foremost. It's basically 3 things - coming to grips with loss of control; the legacy issue where the owner knows the business is integral to the community; and a paternalistic feeling toward the employees - what's to become of all those families.
Are “Soft Skill” and “Feelings” Essential Business Skills?
It has long been a standard tradition that a professional must possess certain business skills to succeed in the workplace and that businesses should offer continuing education opportunities to help their employees succeed, thereby helping the business flourish and grow. It seems, however, that reading, writing and arithmetic are no longer the sole basis of a solid education. If recent trends are any indication, learning how to cope with one's feelings and emotions and learning how to communicate effectively are just as important in a professional's set of business skills as their business knowledge and expertise. A Shift in Learning [...]
The Annual Strategic Plan is Dead
The Annual Strategic Plan is Dead A good deal of the corporate planning I have observed is like a ritual rain dance; it has no effect on the weather that follows, but those who engage in it think it does. Moreover, it seems to me that much of the advice and instruction related to corporate planning is directed at improving the dancing, not the weather. ~ J. Brian Quinn If you read this column on a regular basis, you know that I have always been a strong proponent of strategic planning. In fact, over the last seven years I’ve probably [...]