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Category Archives:
Planning & Strategy

July 1, 2013

Managing Employee Requests for Time Off

Issue #287

Vacations are necessary for employees (and employers) to rejuvenate and recharge their batteries. For most, a summer vacation is a care-free time away from the non-stop grind of ‘work, work, work.’ But for business leaders and division or department managers, the summer means an influx of requests for time off. The same is true during holiday seasons such as Passover/Easter, High Holy Days, and Thanksgiving. While vacations and holidays may be a happy-go-lucky time for some, it increases the workload and stress level for others. Multiple requests for leave may arrive at the same time. Vacation requests may coincide with other requests for time off such as maternity leave, family reunions, jury duty, and/or sick leave for medical issues. Conflicts are inevitable. What is a boss to do?
Processing employee requests for vacations or leave needn’t be a nightmare. To minimize leave stress, the key is to set clear policies and plan well in advance. When followed, there are best practices which can help minimize problems with those taking leave and those who will cover for them while they’re gone. Some of these strategies may seem strict or even harsh but, in the long run, ensures the overall well-being of both the staff and company. Continue reading →

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June 24, 2013

Business Travel Tips

Issue #286

A half century ago, the average employee or manager at a company could go his or her entire life and never take a ‘business trip.’ Business travel was really just for top executives and traveling salesmen. That is no longer the case. Today, thanks to the Internet as well as and greater transportation options, companies have expanded their geographic reach. Local companies can provide their products or services regionally, nationally or even internationally, with the only restrictions typically from government rules and regulations. With such massive market opportunities has come a greater need for employees to visit clients and potential clients that are farther and farther away. Employees are also traveling more to conferences and trade shows to gain knowledge and hone skills. And, thanks to the expansion of travel choices – such as airlines that provide regular, non-stop flights to more cities and the expansion of fast rail travel — it has never been easier and more affordable for companies to send employees to far-away destinations for business. Likewise, companies are increasingly able to hire top talent in remote locations and have them commute to corporate headquarters as needed for meetings or training.
All in all, business travel made up over 48% of all air travel in the U.S. in 2012, which totaled over 460 million person-trips. However, although it is more affordable and there are more options, business travel comes with its own set of challenges for the person doing the traveling. Security considerations have made travel more tedious, exhausting and time-consuming. Time management is another challenge as employees look to make the most of travel time, and manage the impact of travel on family and personal life. For those new to business travel, it can be painful to learn the ins and outs of traveling. For those traveling for business more and more often, it can be just as challenging to lessen the impact of travel personally and at work. That said, there are ways to lessen the drain and maximize the value of business travel. Here are a few tips to make business travel a little easier.
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June 3, 2013

Time to Prepare

Issue #283

It seems that warnings to “be prepared” are everywhere. Across the central U.S., residents are being warned to prepare for possible tornados. Although tornado season had been relatively quiet this year — with only 72 tornadoes nationwide in April which was 70 percent below the 10 year average, — May brought a swath of tornados from Texas to Minnesota that included 16 twisters in a single day in North Texas and one that devastated the town of Moore, OK. Out west, California is already contending with forest fires in the Santa Barbara area and residents in fire-prone states are being warned to prepare for possible forest fires. States all along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines just marked the beginning of this year’s Hurricane Season on June 1st. Last week was Hurricane Preparedness Week. Natural disasters lurk around every corner.

Just as individuals need to heed the warning to ‘be prepared,’ businesses are tasked with the same assignment. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Preparation is primarily about anticipation and avoidance. Prevent loss. Avoid damage. Minimize harm. Is your business prepared for the next possible disaster… natural or otherwise? That depends on how much you’ve anticipated what could possibly go wrong and spent the time, energy and resources to prepare. It is time to prepare. Ready?
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May 27, 2013

It’s Showtime – Part 2

Issue #282

Once again, you or your company is sending a team to attend the biggest trade show or conference of the year. The top salespeople have been approved to attend. A lot of pre-planning was done to ensure that the company’s investment in sending a team to the show will generate a great return. After all, management will want to know after the show if the money spent was worthwhile. It is important to ensure that attendance at any trade show generates a solid return.
Preparing in advance is the first step. Everyone on the team needs to understand the goals for the conference and that the conference experience should improves business and enhance the bottom line. Here are practical tips for staff to get the most out of every trade show or conference attended. Continue reading →

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May 20, 2013

It’s Showtime… Almost!

Issue #281

Every serious profession in the world has a multitude of trade shows and conferences catering to the sales, marketing, networking and professional development of its members. While there are always local, regional and state shows, each national trade association has one monster annual show that is not to be missed.

Trade shows and conferences serve a multitude of purposes. They facilitate sales and sales pitches from a wide variety of vendors and businesses. Potential buyers can shop around while vendors get to show off what they have to offer. Attendees are also able to interact with many vendors of products and services in one concentrated location. Vendors also benefit from being in a place with so many potential customers. They have the opportunity to see what their competitors are doing, and if they are being successful at it. They can also gauge if new market trends are worth following. A business can create a new image or reinforce an existing brand. It also provides an excellent opportunity for vendors and attendees alike to gain new knowledge by receiving tips, tools, and strategies. For start-ups, trade shows and conferences are an excellent way for the business to make themselves known and for their leadership to learn more about the industry. Conference attendees are also able to attend a multitude of seminars and roundtables to help sharpen the saw.

That said, it is not enough to just show up at the show and soak up the ambiance in a scattered, haphazard way. To get the most from a conference or trade show, it is important to prepare for the show well and then leverage every opportunity once there. While it is usually clear what a vendor must do to prepare for a show, it may not be so obvious as to what an attendee should do to prepare for an important show Continue reading →

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May 13, 2013

Six-Star Service – Part 2

Issue #280

When it comes to service, customers can easily distinguish poor service from good service. Poor service is when a customer is forced to wait 20 minutes in a long line to pay for goods or services at store. Good service is when the store manager directs staff to open as many registers as needed to ensure no customer waits more than three to five minutes to pay for a purchase. Poor service is when an auto service center quotes that it will take two hours to change the brakes on a car but actually takes four hours to complete the job. Good service is when the service center’s manager admits up front that it is going take three to four hours to complete the job and offers other appointment times that would minimize the customer’s wait time. The difference between bad service and good is as obvious as night and day.

Distinguishing good service from great service is a different story. Most people consider five-star service the benchmark of great service…. “as good as it gets”. However, that is not the case. Some companies have raised the bar even further on the concept of excellent customer service. It is called six-star service. What exactly constitutes six-star service? Does it make sense for a company to want to raise the bar even higher on customer service if is already delivering very good service? Is it even possible to consistently deliver six-star service? Continue reading →

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March 25, 2013

The Need To Lead

Issue #274

Much has been written and said about management and leadership over the last century. The question most often posed is whether there is a difference between managing and leading. The simple answer is yes. But separating the two is not so simple. More importantly, in today’s world, not only is it nearly impossible to separate management from leadership, it isn’t even practical or good.

Once upon a time — at the height of the industrial revolution and before the advent of the technological revolution — it was correct to call a manager just that…. a manager. The foreman of an industrial-era factory gave little thought to what was being produced or about the people producing it. His job was to follow orders, organize the work, assign the necessary tasks to the right people, coordinate the results, and ensure the job was done as ordered on time. The focus was efficiency. The typical foreman managed work; not people.

Today, management and leadership go hand-in-hand. They are not the same or synonymous but they are inextricable. If we were to boil it down to a singular statement, the manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate while the leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. But there is more to it than that. In today’s complex workplace, it is vital that every organization have people who can lead and people who can manage… preferably some who can do both. Unfortunately, there tends to be too much management and not enough leadership. What are the primary differences between leading and managing? Why is there a greater need for people who can lead? Continue reading →

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March 18, 2013

Employee Loyalty: A Balancing Act Between Workplace Demands and Employee Needs – Part 2

Issue #273

Companies and their management are constantly weighing the needs of the business with the wishes of employees. It is a balancing act. When done well, a company is able to provide enough flexibility, incentives, inspiration and consideration for the well being of its employees while still ensuring the needs of the business are met. When companies such as Best Buy or Yahoo are struggling, however, management finds itself in the difficult position of having to make sharp adjustments to policies in order to achieve balance again. Those adjustments can often be difficult to swallow for the organization’s employees. In the case of Yahoo, for example, their policy rescinding remote employees primarily impacted about 200 workers employed to work from home full time. The decision was met with a huge outcry internally and a great deal of criticism externally. What Yahoo may have gained in improving innovation and collaboration may ultimately be lost in employee loyalty and morale. That remains to be seen.

While businesses like Yahoo and Best Buy may find it necessary to rescind employee-friendly workplace policies, it is certainly not the national or global trend. Many companies, particularly those that are cutting-edge or are fiercely fighting to lure top talent away from competitors, are looking for more ways to provide employees with a work structure that makes sense for both the business and the individual. This is especially since women now make up such a big part of the workforce. As companies move forward in an age of better technology with employees who value work/life balance, managers will increasingly have to grapple with their own position on workplace policies. What should businesses take into consideration as they try to strike a balance between a company’s needs and the needs of its employees? Continue reading →

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March 11, 2013

Employee Loyalty: A Balancing Act Between Workplace Demands and Employee Needs – Part 1

Issue #272

Across every industry, companies today are competing to hire and retain employees with the strongest skills. While the unemployment rate may still be high, most companies will attest that there is a shortage of top talent. According to Forbes, some of the most sought-after skills today include: critical thinking, complex problem solving, judgment/decision making, active listening, computer, math, operations and systems analysis, monitoring/ assessment, programming, sales and marketing. Anyone with a combination of these skills — the top skills desired for the most in-demand jobs in 2013 — is considered highly valuable. To attract and retain the most talented workers, many employers have offered workplace accommodations that cater to employees’ needs including working remotely, flexible schedules, relaxed work attire, etc. These accommodations are meant to meet needs and thus increase employee loyalty. After all, without employee loyalty, employers have to fill the same positions over and over as the most skilled employees are hired, work for a short time, and then leave.

By the same token, companies find themselves in the unique position of also needing to remain relevant and competitive, which sometimes flies in the face of employee needs. For example, two major companies — Yahoo and Best Buy — recently found themselves trying to balance internal demands against employee needs. At Yahoo, new CEO Marissa Mayer announced that she was abolishing the company’s work-from-home policy in an effort to create a new culture of innovation and collaboration. To do that, she said employees needed to physically report to work. While Mayer said her decision was not meant as a referendum on working remotely, Yahoo did paint a picture of a company where employees were aimless and morale was low. No sooner did Yahoo make its announcement and another ailing company followed suit. Best Buy announced that it also would no longer permit employees to work remotely, reversing one of the most permissive flexible workplace policies in the business world. However, both companies are already viewed as struggling to remain relevant and competitive.

Do such moves help reinvigorate ailing companies or will these steps simply push top talent to leave those companies even faster? How are such actions perceived by employees? And what should businesses take into consideration as they try to strike a balance between a company’s needs and the needs of its employees? Continue reading →

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January 28, 2013

Super Salesmanship

Issue #266

The leadership at every company wishes every employee who interacts with customers was a ‘super salesperson’. Imagine what a company could achieve if all of its employees – that includes anyone dealing with potential customers – did everything possible to convert each potential customer into an actual customer. That is surely every Sales Manager’s dream… or perhaps, they might say, fantasy. Most Sales Directors would likely say “It is easier said than done to make all employees into super salespeople.” After all, there are millions of books, videos, articles, blog posts and consultants touting the best guidance on how to improve sales. If improving sales was easy or if there was a perfect proven formula, there would be no need for so much advice.

Yet, it may be that the best strategies to supersize sales for any company can be found within the company. That is often what managers and leaders find when they step back and observe their own company employees in action. Instead of looking outside to gurus and experts, the best sales ideas often bubble up from within. How might a company begin to identify super sales ideas within their own organization? And how can a company then leverage those ideas to improve sales across the board? Here’s how.
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