The RazorKnow Organisation

Many companies in this day and age, if big or small, require help to oversee routine actions that usually are not necessarily important jobs. But however firms need facilities to let them function properly. The universal consensus is that, if a firm does not staff the professional employees, there are certain important jobs which require outer contractors being brought in They are usually within the realms of payroll dispersement, hr procedures and health and safety. Read this for more about Convinced? Check outhr..

There are a sizable number of companies struggling to perform these everyday procedures. This can be because they devote their time to meeting client queries. The business may be unable to meet the cost of hiring qualified experts to oversee it. Or, you simply don’t know how to go about it? it could be they simply don’t have the understanding. But, fear not, you can count on Peopletime. They offer payment and HR services to a huge amount of firms and charitable organisations, of various sizes. Then your firm will have an efficiently managed wage and payroll process, in addition to expert Human resources systems. This is along with giving health & safety direction and guidance to guarantee you are operatingin compliance with rules and regulations.

We have a vast array of wage, salary and payment systems, covering all areas. It includes paying wages, national insurance, year end HMRC returns and liaison, benefits, pensions and any tax issues. Allow Peopletime to take care of it. And you can watch over the people you work for. They help by offering practical care and supervision of all Hr-related facilities. These extend to expanding your workforce, tutoring and expansion. This is alongside dealing with employment introductions and manuals, work law and contracts. This covers carrying out risk checks; guaranteeing the safety and health of you, your employees,customers and the general public if need be. You can be certain that the most complete risk and standard examinations are supervised by Peopletime. Looking for the finest goods and amenities specific to your trade, in accordance with any legal needs? Then you can rely on Peopletime.

Success in the modern business world depends on good people management skills. You can succeed in developing these techniques. Having a natural skill for dealing with people is an advantage, but you can do some things to make the procedure easy.

Forging relationships: Begin by remembering the names of the staff. Engage in conversation; make eye contact during a conversation. Do be respectful, and listen to the other person’s point of view, regardless of whether you agree or not. Listening to everything staff have to say is one of the most important human resources management skills in your arsenal. Exhibit an interest in what everyone can contribute to the team. Live up to promises: Don’t make promises you won’t fulfill. If you can’t deliver on what you promise, the delicate bond of trust is broken, and people will not offer you their best efforts if they do not trust you. When you make a commitment or give a promise, you are squandering your time and effort if you don’t act with integrity. You will find, when your people can’t depend on your promises, you can be certain they will act in the same fashion. Feedback is essential: Feedback should be a two-way process. Maintaining an open mind with regard to other’s ideas is very important in managing staff. If you are prepared to demonstrate that you are approachable and receptive, you show that other’s views count, your ideas will be valued in return. Open discussion in addition boosts new ways of thinking, ways of accomplishing goals, and improves the team dynamic. By allowing the employees some input, every member of staff invests in the project’s outcome. Communicating is fundamental: Good communication is the key to managing staff skilfully. Maintaining an open door policy, apply listening skills, remember to welcome staff to express their ideas, and give team members a chance to express themselves. Encourage staff not only to speak with you, but also with each other. The creative process depends to a great extent on the interchange of ideas, if the staff communicate efficiently, it’s easy to root out problems promptly, and corrections can be implemented before matters get out of hand. This can require time, but the rewards far outbalance the work. By promoting a good team dynamic and demonstrating good listening techniques, a successful business can be yours.

I began enhancing my personal energy level three months shy of my 40th birthday and after 2 years of struggling with clinically-diagnosed depression. During this same period, I was challenged, immensely by the debilitating effects of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and being rendered permanently partially disabled as the result of being involved in two car accidents in six days (neither of which was I at fault). I recall an incredible sense of emptiness and a daunting feeling of being completely overwhelmed; especially when trying to figure out which pills went with what ills. Unable to return to the vocation I loved, I received disability payments and simply existed. Most of my time was spent in bed where I eventually became 48 pounds “over-fat.” When dreams and reasons for living are wiped out by the greatest, of the least unexpected, most people priorities typically change. My priorities? Well, they just disappeared. I was defeated physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and knocking on “Financially’s” door. Making the bed was not a priority; it simply went unmade. And when it came down to paying the bills, many went unpaid. One day I was moved enough to actually cultivate the emotion of being “fed up!” During this awakening, I made the decision to reclaim complete responsibility for my life. And I did.

37 months post accidents, I was 51 pounds lighter, and at least 52 times brighter. Following my “awakening” I set goals to become an author, speaker, consultant, educator, and private investigator. I quickly established myself as a successful personal energy consultant. I began to promote and practice life-altering strategies for change. My philosophy is that of a guerilla’s - not a guru’s. And, my approach is innovative, strategic, fun, proven and desired-results focused. I figured, if I overcame all of my physical, spiritual and psychological ailments, discovered how to run faster; jump higher; throw farther; look younger, stay up longer - manifest twice as much energy than I did when I was a “starting” NCAA athlete half my age - anyone else can do the “undoable,” too! Whatever the “undoable,” may be. When clients & friends counter and say, “Maybe it worked for you, Fran, but it won’t necessarily work for me.” I simply say: “Look, I have a central nervous system and so do you; I’m a child of God, and you are too!” They typically smile then sheepishly roll up their sleeves.

Miracles happen when you audaciously remind one of the Divine.

Paramount to enhancing my personal energy level was to identify, outline and write down my physical goals. Returning to playing competitive softball, being the team’s starting “short stop” and winning the league championship were my top three goals. I promised myself I would return to play softball at a competitive level if it killed me. It almost did! Playing softball on several teams simultaneously, is quite challenging - even in the so-called recreational leagues. It left me limping around with a blue, pain-alleviating ointment. I had soreness in muscles I never even knew existed! Nevertheless, by season’s end I had accomplished all of my goals.

As I continued following a disciplined program to attain goals in every area of my life, something just short of magical happened. My personality sparked with a resurgence of charisma, confidence and boldness. My muscles grew stronger, my energy increased and the fat melted off my body. Taking part in an activity not only became easier, but quite enjoyable. Suddenly, I was living life as I had designed.

Great goals make you stretch. They can take you well beyond anything you could possibly imagine! The most important part of setting great goals is not the goals themselves, but the person you become in the stretch!

Fran Briggs is the founder of The Fran Briggs Companies and is “a motivational speaker of the inspirational kind.” She is the author of several articles, manuals and books including her latest, “Seeds for Success.” This prominent voice of motivation speaks to audiences of children and adults of all ages and backgrounds with the aim of inspiring them to their respective levels of greatness. Fran can be contacted at http://www.franbriggs.com

The University of Exeter in the United Kingdom recently published research financed by Barclays Bank, which has implications for everyone who is serving the general population.

This research shows that consumers shop establishments based on one of the two personal profiles.

Approximately 50% of the population is defined as hunters when they go out into the public arena. They know what they want, they are focused on the task in front of them and they do not want anyone or anything to stand in their way. If you make the ’shopping’ experience too complicated for them, they will abort the mission and go somewhere else that addresses their needs more easily. As you would expect, a larger proportion of men than women fall into this category of consumers.

The other half of the population are defined as gatherers; they enjoy the experience of shopping and like to enjoy browsing around and discovering new items. They enjoy a conversation with your team members and look on the ’shopping’ experience as one of the joys of life. Approximately 60% of female consumers fit into this category.

The skill of retailing is to set up an establishment that services the needs of both types of consumer profiles. Often you discover establishments that services one group exceptionally well, but fail for the other half of the population.

Serving Hunters Successfully

Hunters require your store to be laid out so they can navigate it easily. They expect clear directional signage and for the key categories to be signed and those signs to be easily seen as they navigate your store.

They will rarely be enticed by promotional activities, and may not notice them within your store. When it comes to service, they will often ask direct questions and expect direct answers; the last thing they are looking for is relationship conversation with one of your team.

Serving Gatherers Successfully

Gatherers love discovering products within your store. They enjoy browse shopping and often do not read signs as they are enjoying discovering products as they explore your store.

They will enjoy and get involved in your promotional activities.

When it comes to service, they want the full experience. They expect your team members to have a conversation, to know about the products on offer and have high social skills.

If they are ignored by your team members, or believe the team member is only providing basic information, they will often leave your establishment disappointed.

We Are All Different

Hunters and gatherers shopping together can be a nightmare for both parties. How often have you seen a hunter get bored with a gatherer who is enjoying the experience and have tried to abort the experience?

Is there anything you can do as a store owner? This is one area where a coffee or refreshment offer can be a huge advantage. How often have you come across an experience where the hunter has completed their journey to their satisfaction and then relaxed over a cup of coffee, while the gatherer carries on enjoying themselves discovering new items?

“Think and Drink” coffee tokens in some establishments have proved to be highly effective in this situation.

A well “tuned” sales assistant can identify a hunter and gatherer shopping together.

They will offer the hunter a complimentary cup of coffee to allow the hunter to relax, while the gatherer keeps on gathering.

As consumers we also change our habits. From a personal point of view, I will become a gatherer when browsing books on business management or gardening, or buying fruit and vegetables, but become a hunter when buying Christmas presents. A lot of our shopping habits revolve around our initial interests.

Have a Hunter and Gatherer Strategy

Successful businesses know that there are two distinctive consumer profiles; they layout their store to meet the needs of both groups. More importantly, they train their team to identify the two different characteristics in consumers and to provide the appropriate service.

Two important factors can determine your success.

Firstly, your signage strategy. Hunters need a clear, concise signage strategy that allows them to navigate your store without getting stressed or asking one of your team members. The airports of the world do this very successfully; their signs can get you from parking lot to your seat on the plane, often with no human contact.

Secondly, your team’s approach to consumers can make a huge difference to your success.

Hunters will ask specific questions, such as “Where is the …..”? They want a specific answer. If you can answer this quickly and successfully they are impressed with your customer service.

Gatherers on the other hand will often start a conversation by not using “open” questions (where, what, who, how) but will start a conversation with a conversational approach such as “You have a lovely shop, I was looking for …… “. To provide a direct response in this situation would be considered rude and you may lose the customer.

In this situation the customer expects a conversation. They still expect you to have a high degree of product knowledge, but they also expect you to know stories about the products on display and other interesting facts. They also want your team member to be a caring person and show interest in them as a person.

Remember, your team will also be made up of a mixture of gatherers and hunters.

Gatherers will need to be trained in the skills required to identify hunters and to communicate effectively with this group. Hunters will need to be trained in gatherer identification and how to effectively communicate to this group.

This is not an easy task; gatherers often feel uncomfortable communicating with hunters as they feel they are being abrupt, whilst hunters may argue they feel they are wasting their time and the consumer’s time.

What Next?

Take a look at your store; is it designed to service the needs of both groups?

Does your signage provide for the needs of both groups?

Do your team members know how to communicate with both market sectors?

Many stores are designed with gatherers in mind and hunters are often neglected. Hunters are users as well and if they enjoy their experience they can contribute to the growth of your business.

About The Author

John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years experience in 15 countries. He regularly contributes to retail magazines around the world and has authored several successful marketing and retail books including the best seller Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know. Visit www.johnstanley.cc

Resource Levelling is an often hotly debated topic!

To level or not to level?

Perhaps this story will throw up a helpful perspective.

“Review that!” Mac threw down a print of the project plan in front of John. It was a huge plan, that’s for sure. The thick pile of pages bulged with thousands of tasks. John looked at it in panic.

Mac was the veteran project manager on the system conversion project. He had slaved away at the plan for several days, finally coming up with his masterpiece. John, the new boy, recently qualified and at least twenty years younger than Mac, was providing project support.

At first glance, the plan looked incomprehensible. However, being methodical, John worked through some of the stages, comparing blocks of tasks. He soon discovered that many of the tasks apparently repeated themselves in different parts of the plan. This made it easier to read.

He also noticed that these repetitive tasks were all being done by the same people using the same effort. This was in addition to lots of other tasks they were doing. In fact, some of the team members, the more experienced ones, seemed to be doing an awful lot. Perhaps they were super heroes, John mused to himself.

“What’s that?” Mac had half overheard him.

“Nothing, I just wondered whether our resources are balanced,” mumbled John.

“You mean levelled? We don’t do resource levelling here! It’s dangerous.” Mac was emphatic.

“Well, I just thought we should at least check the workloads,” John hesitantly ventured.

“Look, I know what my people can do. Your job is to check for errors. I want that reviewed by this evening, if you don’t mind.”

Although John was new, he was no slouch when it came to intelligence, so he followed his intuition and hit the resource levelling button anyway, just to see what would happen……

…..and wow! The end date leapt forward by several months! John stared at the screen. He tapped in the name of one of the system designers, Debbie. Under the original plan for most weeks she was assigned for eighty hours.

“What on earth is going on?” Debbie squawked over John’s shoulder.

“Nothing,” John said for the second time. “I’m just reviewing the plans and did a resource levelling just to see. It’s probably okay because Mac did the plan. He must think you can do this stuff really well to give so much to you.”

“That’s ridiculous, nobody can work like that for six months. That’s how long this is supposed to take. What’s Pete doing? Virtually nothing, I see! If he shadowed me for a couple of weeks, he could quite easily do some of this design work. So could a few more of these juniors. I’m going to have a few words with Mister Mac!”

“Hey, I didn’t want to cause trouble, but while you’re at it, you can let Mac know that even redistributing the workload like that will still push out the end date by a month if we level the resources again,” said John after a few minutes of tweaking.

“Well, at least the project board will know and not be surprised near the end of the project. Here’s Mac now.”

Mac was quite taken aback by Debbie’s vehemence. “You should have discussed this the team,” she ranted. “How can you pull a plan out of the ether like that and expect us to buy into it?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll get John to pull a planning workshop together and we’ll come up with a plan everyone’s happy with.” Mac, trying to salvage some pride, threw a dark look at John and said, “Are you onto it, John?”

Lesson Learned

Resource Levelling, rather than being a “loose cannon” in the planning toolbox, can highlight bad planning resulting from bad team management. The mantra is “engage, engage, engage”. Workshop the plan with the team and other stakeholders. That way, get a realistic view on availability and skill levels. Also, good ideas for distributing work and bringing less experienced team members up to speed can be thrown into the mix.

Even with a rigorous approach to planning, it still a good idea to level the resources as a check. This is often avoided because it often leads to more work required on the plan to get it right! But better to put in the work early than get a nasty surprise later!

For more project management stories see:

http://www.project-management-insights.com/latest-project-insights.html

The first five components of a business plan provide an overview of the business opportunity and market research to support it. The remaining five components of the plan focus mainly on strategy, primarily the marketing, operational, financial and management strategies that that firm will employ. This article details these elements.

Marketing Plan. The marketing plan details your strategy for penetrating the target markets. Key components include the following:

A description of the company’s desired strategic positioning;
Detailed descriptions of the company’s product and service offerings and potential product extensions;

Descriptions of the company’s desired image and branding strategy;
Descriptions of the company’s promotional strategies
An overview of the company’s pricing strategies
A description of current and potential strategic marketing partnerships/ alliances

Operations/Design and Development Plans. These sections detail the internal strategies for building the venture from concept to reality, and include answers to the following questions:

What functions will be required to run the business?
What milestones must be reached before the venture can be launched?
How will quality be controlled?

Management Team. The Management Team section demonstrates that the company has the required human resources to be successful. The business plan must answer questions including:

Who are the key management personnel and what are their backgrounds? What management additions will be required to make the business a success?
Who are the other investors and/or shareholders, if any?
Who comprises the Board of Directors and/or Board of Advisors?
Who are the professional advisors (e.g., lawyer, accounting firm)?

Financial Plan. The Financial Plan involves the development of the company’s revenue and profitability model. It includes detailed explanations of the key assumptions used in building the model, sensitivity analysis on key revenue and cost variables, and description of comparable valuations for existing companies with similar business models.

In addition, the financial plan assesses the amount of capital the firm needs, the proposed use of these funds, and the expected future earnings. It includes Projected Income Statements, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements, broken out quarterly for the first two years, and annually for years 1-5. Importantly, all of the assumptions and projections in the financial plan must flow from and be supported by the descriptions and explanations offered in the other sections of the plan. The Financial Plan is where the entrepreneur communicates how he/she plans to “monetize” the overall vision for the new venture.

Appendix. The Appendix is used to support the rest of the business plan. Every business plan should have a full set of financial projections in the Appendix, with the summary of these financials in the Executive Summary and the Financial Plan. Other documentation that could appear in the Appendix includes technical drawings, partnership and/or customer letters, expanded competitor reviews and/or customer lists.

Expertly and comprehensively discussing these components in their business plan helps entrepreneurs to better understand their business opportunity and assists them in convincing investors that the opportunity may be right for them too.

Since its inception, Business Plans by Growthink has developed over 250 business plans. Growthink clients have collectively raised over $750 million in financing, launched numerous new product and service lines and gained competitive advantage and market share. Growthink has become the firm of choice for venture capital firms, angel investors, corporations and entrepreneurs in the know. For more information please visit http://www.growthink.com or download our free Business Plan Guide.

The grand purpose of coaching is to help your managers, the people they manage, and your organization make the transition from where you are to where you want to be.

Some points are so obvious it seems silly to even mention them but experience suggests that, just as common sense is not really so common, we can be blindly oblivious of what seems obvious.

1. You can not influence the direction of a body at rest! When you sit in your car at a stop sign, with your foot on the brake, turning the wheel back and forth produces no results. The idea here is to understand the importance of getting started. It doesn’t matter if we start in a totally wrong direction,if we are in motion we can change direction, a little or a lot, slowly or quickly as things begin to happen, but we must first be in motion!

2. You can not become the person you want to be while remaining the person you are!

Leo Tolstoy once said,
“Everyone wants to change the world but no one wants to change himself.”

To effect change we must accept change - even hunger for change.

In order to get the motion started and to help you determine its direction you coach will need to ask the management team a lot of questions, such as:

What’s going on in your business right now that:

Worries you?

Makes you nervous?

Scares you?

Angers you?

Disappoints you?

Embarrasses you?

Pleases you?

Makes you smile?

Makes you proud?

Makes you feel optimistic?

What happened in the past year that should not have happened?

How much did it cost the organization?

Are there long term ramifications?

How could it have been avoided?

Have steps been taken to make sure it can’t happen again?

What didn’t happen in the past year that should have happened?

What was the cost to the organization?

Are there long term ramifications?

What could or should have been done to make it happen?

Is it salvageable - can we make it happen this year?

Have we taken steps to make sure we won’t make this mistake again?

What are the overall greatest concerns and challenges envisioned by the management team - for the organization as a whole and by department?

It’s important for the coach to make sure that he, and each team member, is aware of the perspective, attitude, and concerns of all involved parties.

The question now becomes:

Where do you, as individuals, as a team and as an organization want to be in five years?

And then:

What must happen in the next twelve months to make this a strong possibility?

We need to look at:

Resources in terms of: Equipment, facilities, people and training

Production in terms of: Volume, speed, quality efficiency and costs

Products in terms of: Improvements, to be discontinued, developed, or added

Marketing in terms of: Expansion of existing markets, development of new markets, advertising effectiveness, sales, pricing, and customer service.

People in terms of: motivation, attitude, quality of work life, training, knowledge,numbers and relationships

Management Resources in terms of: leadership skills, coaching skills, resource utilization skills, interpersonal skills, intuition, innovation, etc.

Dependent on the organization, this question and process might be repeated for a ten year outlook.

Even when an organization has been heavily involved in a process of strategic planning and goal setting, the coach must insure that every person with any responsibility towards the achievement of organizational objectives is aware of the objectives and of his or her role and responsibilities and of what personal goals and objectives must be set and realized to insure that he or she, as well as the department, is up to the task.

The essence of good coaching is the ability to ask the right question of the right person at the right time and to do so in a non threatening manner that will produce results - not retreat! The coach’s real world experience and understanding gained as a result of talking and working with hundreds of managers in diverse situations allow him (or her) to intuitively relate to your problems, concerns and situation and to suggest options which have proven to work in the past.

Coaching a team of up to a dozen members is, in most cases best done in ninety minute weekly or bi-weekly sessions. Too long a session leads to brain stagnation and too long an interval leads to lack of focus and ultimately to lack of commitment.

Len McNally C.I.M. President of The Leadership Centre

Len McNally is President and founder (in 1996) of The Leadership Centre, dedicated to leadership development, management team building and change management through executive and corporate coaching - from the top floor to the shop floor. With more than thirty years experience in sales, marketing and business development Len has for many years been an avid student of psychology, behavior and motivation. He still reads three to four books a month and has writen several book reviews for Amazon.com. He can be reached at (519) 759-1127 or email: the.leadership.centre@sympatico.ca. Other articles may be seen at: http://www.tlc-leadership.com