Leadership is a key element in the development or rebirth of any organization, whether it is a for-profit business or non-profit community organization. It is important to large corporations, such as General Electric; small local businesses, such as a town dry cleaner; city, county and state government; churches, and service organizations such as Rotary.… Read the rest
Every entrepreneur I have ever talked to has had to come face to face with his/her fears. I have had to as well. I want to share with you some of the techniques I have used to face them.
The first step is not to be in denial. You have fears even if you don’t readily acknowledge them. They sometimes take the form of chatter in the back of your head that says you can’t do it.… Read the rest
As any business or organization begins to grow, there comes a point where the leadership begins to realize that they cannot do or control everything themselves. They must begin to delegate tasks and responsibilities to others; but of equal importance, is to empower those individuals. Empowerment in the simplest terms means to treat people not as employees, but as partners.… Read the rest
Most organizations have at least one individual who might be considered troublesome. They may be tolerated because the group feels that they carry their load. They may not be tactful and could often be abrasive, leaving you with a very tricky situation. How you handle these individuals, who some might classify as characters may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the group. Some might consider them loners in that they often fail to greet coworkers and fail to say hello in the morning. They might fail to have eye contact or make unusual statements at inappropriate moments. Others often say “well that’s the way he is.” As a manager you must tread lightly with these personalities; but to maintain communications and productivity there are some suggested actions and things to avoid.… Read the rest
One of the skills necessary for success in any business or nonprofit organization is the ability to chart a course. To properly chart a course, it is important to understand first where you are, than where you want to go, and finally the plan on how to get there. If you have ever been in a new town and wanted to go out to dinner, you might have first looked for a restaurant in a magazine. You then call to find out where they were located. The first question you were asked by the person in the restaurant is where are you now? In fact, you have just taken the first step in charting a course to dinner.… Read the rest
As a business person managing a small or medium size company, you may not be able to relate the subject of leadership to success in your business. If fact, when you see the subject as the topic of this article, you may choose to slip it and move on. So no matter whether you are a one person business or have a staff of dozens, leadership is critical to your continued success. When you think of a leader in a successful business, ask yourself:
By Allen Smith 5/10/2016
As HR professionals wait anxiously for the release of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) final changes to the overtime exemptions, it’s becoming clear that the new rule will cost many employers a lot of money. But the revised standard also will create an opportunity for HR to correct some past mistakes.
Employers will spend $592.7 million to comply with the new rule, the DOL estimated, saying that each of the 7.4 million affected establishments will need one hour to get up to speed on the changes. The department calculated that it will cost $254.5 million for businesses to become familiar with the regulation; $160.1 million to make necessary adjustments; and $178.1 million in managerial costs… Read the rest
The cost to business of employee addiction is tremendous. Many addicts (which includes alcoholics) become extremely skilled at hiding or explaining away events related to their addictions. Encouragement from an employer can be a powerful prompt to the employee to get appropriate treatment and so return to full productivity. (Note: Automatic termination of actively addicted employees is neither humane nor advisable. First, addiction is a disease, not a moral choice. Second, many people who are addicted may be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.) Although some of the following may occur in employees who are not addicted, the more that apply, the more likely it is that the employee suffers from addiction in some form or other.… Read the rest
Peter Drucker tells us that, “Napoleon said there were three things needed to fight a war. The first is money. The second is money. And the third is money. That may be true for war, but it’s not true for non-profit organizations. There you need four things. You need a plan. You need marketing. You need people. Any then you need money.” Let’s start by considering marketing. If your non-profit is funded by an endowment or a wealth donor, this may not be of much interest. For most of us it is an issue which must be addressed in order to sustain our activities.
So many think that they don’t need marketing. In fact, they consider the term unsavory.… Read the rest
Great teamwork is one of the most important keys to your organization’s success. The more harmoniously people work together, the better it is for your overall efforts. Teamwork is the way that things get done these days and if you don’t have a cohesive team, you’re seriously handicapping your company out in the marketplace. Team building is necessary for success because it’s unnatural for people to come together in a new group and immediately begin to get along. Throughout history, building a team has been the function of shared experiences and history. When that experience and history is lacking, it’s difficult for a group to share a common vision and goal, or to function together in a way that promotes the best qualities of each team participant.… Read the rest
In his book, The E-Myth Revisited Michael Gerber describes the roles played by different personalities within a business. The first is the technician, who actually does the work or delivers the service in the business. The second is the manager, who organizes and controls the business on a daily basis. The third is the entrepreneur who best understand the business environment and leads it though changes necessary for continued success. One might conclude that knowledge of actual working in the business or managing the operation of the business does not always lead to success. What leads to success is knowledge of how a business needs to operate within its competitive market place.… Read the rest
Charles Kettering, famous inventor and founder of Delco, once said, “We should be all 
concerned about the future because we will spend the rest of our lives there.” The ability to have a vision of what you personally perceive as success is a key element in your business venture and your personal life. Where are you going and what will in look like when you get there? A meaningful vision not only provides direction, but it helps people find meaning in their work and a reason to excel.… Read the rest
It is a very rare association or non-profit who has not developed and written a Strategic Plan. If they have not, they should. It is also not unusual that, after a relatively short period of time, the work put into creating that plan is forgotten and results expected are not achieved. At the core of the Strategic Plan is the Vision for the organization. Let’s consider ways to move the organization towards that Vision and overcome some of the obstacles along the way.
Running a non-profit and want to understand what successful organizational people have in common? What kind of life, and organization, do you want to run? This is the kind of goal many people have in mind when they begin to forge ahead with their business ideas. The truth is that successful people have 9 characteristics in common. We all have the potential for greatness if we can train ourselves to keep these in mind as we go about our business day.… Read the rest
One of our passions at RLS Focused Solutions is to help businesses be successful and sustainable. Each business must define for itself what success means. It may be just to make a good living or it might be to grow and prosper. Our definition of sustainability is that it will be prosperous, not just at a point in time, but well into the future. We are one of approximately 600 worldwide members of Resource Associates Corporation who has reported the results of work done to determine the difference between successful and unsuccessful business people. Let us consider their findings.
A business plan is a working document through which you set your goals and trace progress towards increased success. There may come the opportunity to present that plan to investors or a financial institution. Listed below are a list of tips to make that presentation more effective.… Read the rest
Ideas for team building activities can include virtually anything that involves getting your people to interact, cooperate, communicate, and hopefully have some fun at the same time. This is a great way to get staff away from the rules and roles of the office and take a break from the projects and pressures everyone has been dealing with, yet still work on developing transferable skills to take back to work. Some of the essentials of team building include:
As a new business owner, your role may encompass all of the important aspects of the company. Sure, you may have had employees, but they were assigned specific tasks and you kept an eye on everything they did. You were the salesman, the supervisor, the customer service contact, the scheduler of the work, and even the bookkeeper. But as your business grows, you feel yourself pulled in many directions. You cannot effectively completely cover all the roles you filled in the past.… Read the rest
Why do some people seem to succeed in all they do, but others flounder along at the rear? Mostly it’s because the successful people have set goals and take steps to successfully achieve them. So how do they always seem to achieve their goals.