Many organizations rely on volunteers to help provide services. These may include charities, recreational organizations, hospitals, social groups, civic clubs, and governmental services. These volunteers become a vital part of providing those services, yet in many cases they are taken for granted. Learning to properly use the skills and energy within these volunteers can be a major contributor to the success of these non-profits.… Read the rest
This program, originally announced in the Quill last month is also available to organizations and groups. It is ideally suited for groups of six to eight people from one company or organization. It would provide the organizational leadership, such as department heads, an organized forum during which they could review their 2015 accomplishment and set their goals for 2016. Our program for the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce will include representative from a number of diversified business and is described in the last month’s article.… Read the rest
Most businesses invest in marketing and advertising each month but overlook another vital investment that they are already making–that investment is their employees. Your employees can make or break your company, and recently I ran into a very poignant example of that fact.… Read the rest
Companies and organizations often use part time employees to serve in a limited role. They are not paid as well as full-timers, sometimes do lower level work, and may have a limited career track. They may be moms who have priorities at home, seniors who no longer want a 40 hour work week, or college students looking to earn some money to supplement expenses. They are hired to reduce operating costs, fill leftover hours from full time employees, deal with an economic downturn, or seasonal requirements. Between 2000 and 2010 the number of employees working part time increased by 300 % or 9 million people.… Read the rest
RLS Focused Solutions, in conjunction with the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce, is offering an opportunity to help you achieve a more successful 2016. The workshop will be offered on Friday January 15th. They will be held at the Chamber Conference. Room It will begin at 8:00 AM and conclude no later than 2:00 PM. A working lunch from the Purple Onion will be included.… Read the rest
Few people really understand how important taking action is to success. We all know the old 
saying, Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, when we see an opportunity slip away. I know I have said, I THOUGHT OF THAT YEARS AGO! about some new gadget I came across. I didn’t take action. I let small problems be excuses for not moving forward with the things I truly want.… Read the rest
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins states, “The first thing is to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus.” He, of course, is referring to the bus as being the company or organization. In our practice, we have worked with both for-profit and non-profit organizations. In the for-profit world the people are employees, while in the non-profit world many of those people are volunteers. Strategic from 2013 have shown that 80% of the non-profit workforce are volunteers, total of 62.6 million. Leaders in non-profit organizations should recognize this important work force and learn how to best recruit, motivate and retain them. They need to appreciate why people volunteer, how to get them on-board and how to retain them.… Read the rest
I am often asked the same two questions. Do I need a business plan? What should I include in my business plan? I am going to answer these questions when writing this article. Do I require a business plan? For most businesses the answer to this question would be yes. For the majority of new businesses and ones which require investment by way of a loan or a business partner, a business plan is a must.… Read the rest
Many of us have spent countless hours thinking about and documenting plans for either our business or non-profit organization. There is a sense of satisfaction with the completion of the final draft that is shared by all involved. Far too often that document is filed or left in a desk drawer to be revised in a year’s time. Many have even reported that they gave up on the planning process because it just didn’t work. I often remember the president of a very well-managed company once stating that the team had become expert on writing business plans, but not real good on making them a reality.
In their book Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan discusses this very subject.… Read the rest
If you are a small business owner, your role as a leader may be the least of your priorities. Most of your time is consumed by finding customers, supervising employees, watching your cash flow and delivering you services or products. You don’t want to consider leadership because that is what corporate executives and government leaders need to learn about. Not you. We would argue that you are a leader and understanding your leadership role is an important key to success. What are some of the lesson we can learn about leadership in business?… Read the rest
Be the change you want to see occur in the world around you. We can’t make other people be more considerate, helpful, honest, etc., but if everyone were to work on him or herself and develop these attributes, our world would be a better place. In this article, we will examine five attributes to becoming a coach in everyday life.
I recently read the book, Boys in the Boat. It was a true story of a sculling team from the University of Washington, who through hard work and discipline became national champs and went on to win the 1936 Olympics in Germany. It’s a great story, set against the dramatic background of the Berlin Olympics hosted by Adolf Hitler. It describes how a rowing team developed into the fastest in the world. Of course, the members of the team need to be strong and fit, but there comes a point when all come together in harmony to maximize their performance. It is said that the team is only as fast as its slowest rower, but once they reach that synchronized harmony, they outpace the rest of the competitors.… Read the rest
Maybe it’s a caustic issue within the team. Maybe it’s a need to get their business to the next level. Often it’s a change in the environment or a growth in competition.
Getting good feedback from customers and employees is vital for any business that expects to grow. Without knowledge, business leaders can not make educated decisions. Uneducated decisions lead to a higher rate of failure, which can have detrimental impacts on a business. Without high quality information, a business owner is flying blind.… Read the rest
Learning, growing, and changing is possible with the right attitude and focus. All individuals have the ability to master their individual talents and be the best they can be! There are people who scoff at this philosophy and espouse limiting beliefs. However, that is the fundamental difference between positive thinking and foolish thinking. We all have the innate ability to be the best of who we were meant to be.
There are many important steps to consider when developing a business plan for your 
company, but the first step is to fully understand the main uses of a business-plan. The four main uses of a business-plan are as follows:
Having worked with and been a part of a number of non-profit boards of directors, we have observed a range of involvement, producing a wide range of results. Some boards were highly organized and had very little involvement with the day-to-day activities of the organization. Others were more loosely organized but served functional roles, like fund raising, within the non-profit. To better understand the effect boards have on the success of organizations, we joined with Springboard International to conduct interviews the CEOs and Board Chairs. These leaders represented local, regional and national organizations. The complete results of this work is available in a white paper entitled, A Conversation about Board Engagement on our website: http://plangoals.com/offer/.… Read the rest
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