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The High, High Price of Distrust
A paper manufacturer with over 300 employees once announced that it was planning to move to more spacious and attractive premises thirty miles down the road.When staff members heard the news, they were very apprehensive.

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Time Management Tips for Managers
Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the senior managers of a major organisation. Whilst doing a pre-workshop survey to assess the challenges these managers were experiencing it became very apparent to me that many of them were showing the signs of business burn-out.

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Gossip And Rumors And Hearsay, Oh Why?
In the Wizard of Oz, it was "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Many organizations today are singing a slightly different tune: "Gossip and rumors and hearsay, oh why?"It is estimated that gossip and rumors within a company can cut productivity by as much as 50%. Of course this translates to lower profits and can negatively impact the company in the long-term.

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Give Yourself a Boss' Day Gift
Become a better boss and reap the benefitsAnother interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention.

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Project Heroes
Project heroes. We've all heard of them.

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How to Get Your Procedures Project Done
Wouldn't it be nice for business owners and executives to be finished with their policies and procedures project already? They know they need to get it done, but maybe it's taking too long. Or perhaps their people are staring at a blank piece of paper, and they don't know where to begin.

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Smart Staffing Practices: Don't Confuse Activity with Results
Does your hiring process consist of proven practices or just a hodgepodge of activities that get into gear when someone says, "I need more people" or "Sally has left and we need someone to take her place NOW?"Smart hiring is more than running ads, screening, interviewing and checking references. It is a series of specific procedures that can work well or create bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

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Its All In The Systems
Have you ever noticed french fries taste the same at every McDonald's? The same can be said for Subway and its Italian BMT. How do these fast food icons replicate themselves at nearly 40,000 locations when some eateries struggle to get it right in a single restaurant? The answer is simple: it's all in the systems.

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Knowledge Management - Lessons Learned and How To Identify Them
Many organisations use the term "lessons learned" to describe the way in which they avoid repeating mistakes, or ensure that they build on past successes, yet a lesson can only be applied if it has been successfully identified, and captured first. Even in "learning organisations" who profess to be good at knowledge management and knowledge sharing, the process for identifying lessons learned can lacks rigour or depth.

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Project Management, A Forgotten Perspective
Effective project managers know how to get the job done, and get it done right. Success comes not only from wise selection of the team members and utilization of the best project management software tools; effective managers know how to lead, and how to encourage project team members to do their best.

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Creativity and Innovation Management: Generating Better Ideas
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are other useful definitions for both, for example, creativity can be measured according to the number of ideas produced, the diversity of those ideas and the novelty of those ideas.

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The Changing Boss-Secretary Relationship
THE CHANGING BOSS-SECRETARY RELATIONSHIP: Imagine a partnership at work. One member is outlining the agenda for the annual stockholders' meeting, the other is managing the logistics.

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How To Conduct Effective Meetings
Before you call your next meeting, the FIRST step is to decide if it is really essential. To determine that, ask yourself the following:· Is this meeting essential? · Can we do without it? · Can we accomplish the task without a meeting? · Can it wait another week? · Can we get things done with few meetings?Then, if you have decided a meeting is the best way to accomplish your objective, the following tips can help you conduct more effective meetings:1.

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Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions
How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader hire winners? One very successful interviewing technique is behavioral interviewing---selecting the right person for the right job using a job-related rather than a gut feel approach. A job-related approach is asking for a behavioral example of skills and traits that are required for a position.

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Performance Evaluation: How To Create Change
STEPS TOWARDS GIVING A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW: Give specific feedback. Statements such as, "You're doing a good job" and "You'd better shape up" are almost without value unless accompanied by specific feedback on what the employee is to continue doing or to stop doing.

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Temporary Employees and Operational Problems; Your Use of Temps Might Reveal Warning Signs
A recent Washington Post article, described the life of temporary employees working at an automobile plant in Kentucky. Working at a fraction of what permanent employees make at the plant, some employees had been working as temps for extended periods, as long as three or four years, when early indications had been they would be permanent within six to 12 months.

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The Key to Successful Performance Objectives
Have you ever tried to drive somewhere without proper directions? This almost always turns out to be a frustrating experience. Sure, if you stop and ask enough people you may eventually reach your target destination, but think of all the wasted energy, time, and resources needed to accomplish your goal.

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Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Earn a Profit
Most people treat meetings as a free resource that can be used to deal with any issue. As a result, huge amounts of time and money are wasted on trivia.

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Creating Your Own Business Upturn - Powering Business Development
We all see it . .

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Creative and Innovative Culture, Change Management - Three Easy Tests
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation and innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. From this simple definition, it is clear that certain cultural characteristics ought to be prevalent if creativity and innovation are to be maximised.

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