The Consumer Salon

Many businesses believe that, by supplying staff with basic instruction in safety in the working environment, they now have everything needed to cope with a disaster. The truth is though, staff need much more than simply a basic education in health & safety regulatory affairs. Equipping your workers, selecting good supervision and supporting frequent safety practise sessions are crucial to the safety at work. A team supervisor has an even greater function to carry out than just general supervision. Your choice of supervisor must see their health & safety training as fundamental and have the ability to share their excitement about it. In addition to following any relevant legislation, the supervisor must also ensure that each employee works efficiently. This is no easy job. An accomplished supervisor needs to have an extensive understanding of the industry best practice and manufacturing processes as well as an in-depth understanding of current legislation involving safety, risk assessment and CPR.

Make sure to review our trusted webpage for health and legislation products!

It simply isn’t enough to offer your employees health & safety instruction. To successfully spot a hazard they require to put their newly accquired knowledge to the test. Staff have to know the best method of eliminating hazards as well as understanding what to do when the unexpected happens. Your workers are only protected when everything they have been taught has become routine. Instruction is in fact useless if you don’t have safety equipment. When they are missing equipment they require, or even notice that they’re broken in an emergency situation, all the training there is to offer is not going to help them. It’s a good idea to check often to ensure you have all the necessary equipment and that it is working well. If an item isn’t in perfect order, be certain to get it remedied ASAP and put it back in the right location. Your workforce have to get appropriate health & safety education, however they require good quality gear, regular practises, and a supervisor with contagious enthusiasm. When you implement these steps you will find the various safety regulations before long be established in your business culture and no longer something challenging for employees to remember.

Confidentiality is a major issue to prospective, previous and current employees. Keeping this concept in mind, you can find better solutions for the verification of new hires that is not only completely confidential, but also faster, accurate and easier. The two go hand in hand when you want to keep up productivity. It is also vital for you to know who you are hiring or considering hiring. There was a time when making phone calls to previous employers was the standard in Employment Verification. Today there is a revolutionary way to get this job done thanks to technology. How does this revolutionary process work for you?

This is a simple process that is quick and easy for you to do. This is how it works:Sign up for a secure and confidential online accountFill out verification forms for new hiresEmployment Verification forms are sent via fax and email to previous employersPrevious employers fill out the appropriate forms and submit them to the secure systemYou receive an email alert to inform you that your information is readyLog in to your account and view the confidential records you requestedThat is how easy and fast it is.

As an additional bonus, the system will also conduct the standard background check for the employee at the same time. This keeps all the background processes within the same company, again streamlining operations and promoting efficiency within the department. Additionally, the previous company has the option of adding feedback about the employee in some key areas, such as punctuality and attitude, to name a couple. With all of these benefits, and the potential for drastic reductions in man hours required to compete Employment Verification, this system is sure to be worth the competitive costs that are charged to the hiring companies.

Efficient people management is important in order to achieve the best in your business success. These skills may be developed and learned. Having a natural affinity for communicating with people may be a plus, however you can do numerous things to facilitate the process. Build relationships: Remembering employees by name is a good beginning. Speak to people; make eye contact during a conversation. Have a respectful attitude, in addition pay attention to the other person’s opinion, even if you don’t agree or have a different point of view. Listening to everything others say is one of the best talent management skills in your arsenal. Welcome any contributions from your co-workers. Live up to your word: Do not make promises you will not keep. When a promise is not kept, it can destroy trust, and without trust people will not perform at their best. Everytime you make a statement or give your word on something, do be sure that you can deliver or it would really be more sensible not to give your word at all. You’ll find, if you can’t be counted upon, you can be certain they will behave in the same way.

Encourage feedback: Feedback must be a two way process. People management skills mean being receptive to all feedback. If you can demonstrate that you are accessible and open, you establish that other people’s views matter to you, and they will value your views. Promoting open discourse also promotes creative problem solving, ways of fulfilling goals, and develops the company dynamic. If your employees have a voice, the project becomes important to every member.

Communicating is the key: Dealing with people boils down to the same thing — communication. Be accessible, listen closely to your co-workers, remember to welcome feedback , and allow team members a chance to express their opinions. Staff should be inspired to talk to one another as well as with you. The exchange of thoughts is imperative in the creative process, if the team members communicate efficiently, it is easy to identify any issues quickly, and corrections may be applied before matters get out of hand.

This can require time, even so the rewards are worthwhile. By encouraging a good team dynamic and demonstrating good listening techniques, a thriving business will be yours.

So, this will be continued. The expectations are set!

The one dollar and twenty two cents net earnings ($ 1,22) was (way) below the expectations. And so the stock prices (GOOG: $ 393) fell back 9% today. Both stocks quote below the level of December when the live reporting began; GOOG (-5% from $ 415) and YHOO (-15% from almost $ 41).

These are however absolute returns. The stocks are setup in a race between, but there is no benchmark set for either of them. Lets park that for the next time and we can take the Nasdaq for it (current index: 2301). Also, in order to compare (the competition between) companies you need to analyse the difference in focus. (To be elaborated…)

There are two ways in which a growing company can grow even more and there is only one way in which a non-growing company can grow; the first by buying others and by autonomous growth. Buying other companies is an interesting growth strategy, because the company can leverage on the growth of the stock price.
For companies that nearly grow cannot use that possibility.

But what happens when you buy your own competitors? This is the topic of this live reporting. Most companies have a competitive attitude towards the market, to their environment. But what about the internal market; the market inside the company?

Think about a company that is growing on behalf of buying other companies; the competition. Once these companies are absorbed, they will only support the growth of the main (global) company if these new “satellites” are moved into the same strategic direction. If the companies continue to compete internally the net benefits will be less than the sum of the parts.

If you are ambitious to the challenge that the individual parts of your company cooperate rather than compete (and this holds for both companies that are taken over, as for internal departments), than you should use different management principles.

This could start for example by withdrawing some freedom the new satellites have experienced so far, in order to avoid cannibalism and to prosper future synergies.

Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account.

One of the first consulting jobs that I ever got was in project management. And let me tell you, there is no greater overwhelming responsibilty than being a project manager and it is something I will NEVER do again. So what exactly is project management and what does a project manager do? Well, that depends on what the business is. Some projects are more overwhelming than others. Since I want to keep this article strictly to my own experience I will go over project management of an automated packing company.

This company packed ladies’ shoes. But not through the conventional method that you might think. The actual packing was done by real flesh and blood people but the system used was totally automated and mind boggling to say the least. I’m not going to get into the specifics of how the system worked as this is an article on the actual project management itself but you do need to understand the pieces involved so I will cover them as needed.

Well, the first thing as project manager that I had to do was work with the budget I was given. A project manager is not the ultimate decision maker. That’s the person above him, who is usually an executive vice president. In my case it was a divisional manager. A budget was presented to me and I had to set up the project within the constraints of the budget. To do that I had to determine what the project needed to succeed.

In this particular project this was what was needed. The hardware of the packing system itself had to be built from scratch so engineers had to be brought in to construct the system. These were contracted and paid by the hour, so a time estimate of how long it would take to complete construction was made. Then there was the computer software to run the equipment after it was built, so programmers had to be hired. Also it had to be taken into consideration that the programmers would need to be kept on even after the project was finished in case there were bugs found or enhancements that needed to be made. Then there were the workers themselves, the ones who actually packed the shoes, which also included managers to oversee the workers, so a personnel budget had to be made and stuck to. In this case we were way over budget so personnel had to be cut which cut down production.

Then there was the quality assurance team that had to be put together to make sure that the boxes were packed correctly. Then there was the security team that had to be put together to make sure there was no theft. All of the above ultimately came down on yours truly. I’m not ashamed to say the project was a
failure on several levels. The machines didn’t work as efficiently as expected. The programmers were not very competent and there were a lot of bugs. Production didn’t meet expectations. We couldn’t pay enough to get skilled packers. It was just one thing after another. After one year the project was abandoned. I was out of a job and I never did anything like this again.

Yes, project management. It’s 2 little words with a ton of responsibility.

Michael Russell
Your independent guide to Project Management

What?

Here’s an example that illustrates the power of clarity:

1. Scenario 1 – Someone goes to the grocery store to get something for you without knowing what you want. Since there are 60,000 to 100,000 different items in many large grocery stores, it is going to be a difficult “project” for them to handle.

2. Scenario 2 – You ask the person to get you some milk. The project, in this case, will be much easier, but you can still have problems. They might bring you a pint of chocolate milk when what you need is a gallon of skim milk.

3. Scenario 3 – You ask the person to get you one gallon of a certain brand of skim milk. Suddenly, the project is very easy to handle.

The only difference in scenario one and scenario three is clarification. It made a huge difference in this case, and it will make a huge difference in getting anything done.

So What?

Do not start something or ask others to start on something until you have taken the time to clarify the results or outcome you expect and desire. Learn to balance your actions by establishing a long-term vision and a short-term focus. Focusing too much or too little on either of these extremes can negatively impact your productivity.

Now What?

Think about what you are trying to accomplish. Clarify your intentions as much as possible without overthinking what you want to do. Get started and make necessary adjustments as you go.

Think of the most important thing you want to do in your life right now. Spend a reasonable amount of time clarifying your intentions. This is the first step. By doing this, you have officially started. If something is important to you, when you are going to start doing it is more important than how you are going to get it done. Think about it today and begin taking action today.

There is only one good answer to the question of when you should begin something that is important to you…that answer is, Right Now!

Chris Crouch, president and founder of DME Training and Consulting, is the developer of the GO System. The GO System is a structured training course designed to improve focus, organization and productivity in the workplace and is taught by corporate trainers and professional organizers all over the country. Chris is also author of Getting Organized: Learning How to Focus, Organize and Prioritize and other books that provide practical and easy-to-learn ideas on personal achievement, success and productivity.

Visit http://www.thegosystem.com to learn more about the GO System, to inquire about having Chris speak to your group or organization, to sign up for Chris’ free newsletter providing tips on having a more joyful and productive life, and for additional ideas on improving focus, organization and productive.

To learn about becoming a Certified GO System Trainer, visit http://www.gosystemcertification.com.

Stop hiring new administrative support staff. And learn how to retain your existing administrative staff.

Are you a manager, director or other senior-level personnel who wants to work more effectively with your administrative support professional? Did you know that partnering with your administrative assistants and executive assistants can actually help you to meet your professional goals at work? Would you like to know how to improve morale among your administrative support professionals and retain them as long-term employees? After all, isn’t it a lot more profitable to retain existing staff than to constantly hire, train and get along with new staff? Here are five ways to work more effectively with your current administrative support professionals starting now:

1. Assume that your administrative support professional doesn’t know what’s on your mind until you tell him. That’s the one assumption it’s okay to make in the office environment. Always remember that your administrative support professional is not a mind reader–no matter how in tune with your thoughts she or he may seem to be sometimes. It’s that one time that you “assume” when things will go awry in your work relationship.

2. Discuss your personal and professional goals. In order to be your partner, your administrative support professional needs to know who you want to be when. What do you personally want in your career? And what are you striving for on behalf of the company? These answers will affect your administrative professional’s duties. She wants to help you achieve your plans. Knowing these answers helps her to clarify the prioritization of tasks and situations that arise daily. She’ll focus on projects relevant to your goals first when possible. And she’ll know and pass along pieces of information she happens upon throughout the year that would be useful or of interest to you.

3. Discuss project expectations. When you’re giving an assignment, make sure your administrative professional precisely understands the expected project outcome. This means you will need to clarify the outcome in your head first and then clearly relay that expected outcome to your administrative professional. Clearly voicing the precise (or nearly precise) expected project outcome before it happens means no surprises upon project completion and efficient use of your time and that of your administrative professional. Precise communication prevents misinterpretation by both parties which can cause bad relationships and inappropriate work results. If the results aren’t what you asked for then maybe in actuality you didn’t quite ask for the results you wanted.

4. Have a daily briefing with your administrative support person. Meet daily whether either of you want to do so or not. This meeting forces communication to flow daily between you both, which is a good thing. And comfort levels with each other will rise. It could be a five minute meeting while standing. Or it could be a 10 minute meeting while seated that’s officially posted on the calendar to happen every day that you’re in the office at 9:00 a.m. Do what works best for you both. And make sure you’re uninterrupted during this time.

5. Support opportunities for your administrative professional to achieve certifications. For example, your administrative professional can become a Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) and a Certified Professional Secretary (CPS), both elite designations by administrative professional criteria. Encourage her or him to train and test for these titles as well as have your company pay the registration costs.

(c) 2005 Karen Fritscher-Porter

Karen Fritscher-Porter is the author of the eBooklet: 87 Ways You Can Work More Effectively With Your Administrative Support Professional. Order your copy at http://www.admin-ezine.com/employertips.htm. Fritscher-Porter publishes The Effective Admin newsletter (http://www.admin-ezine.com). The monthly e-zine is distributed to 800+ administrative assistants and executive assistants globally to help them excel on the job and in their careers.