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ISO 9001 Registration - 8 Steps for Success
You've made the plans, built the quality system and conducted the audit. So how do you register your company as ISO 9001 conformant? And how can you be sure you're getting the most value for your investment? Here's how the process works.

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You Get the Behavior You Reward
On consulting assignments, here are some of the questions I frequently ask the employees I interview:1. How does your boss measure you?2.

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IT Expenditure - Why Businesses Spend Huge Amounts on Ineffective IT Investments
Another IT White Elephant!It seems that almost every day we read in the newspapers about another hideously over budget IT project that doesn't achieve its expected benefits. The ones we read about are usually major multi-million pound projects in the public sector, however this is only the tip of the iceberg.

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Allowing Employees Responsibility
Merely assigning a task with detailed instructions is not effective delegation. An employee cannot grow without the freedom to make decisions on how the job should be done.

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Managing Creativity - An Oxymoron! Not
Interrogated on a beach in Barbados by friends insistent that there was little validity to my speciality, I have felt compelled to answer the most common objections in the field of Managing Creativity and Innovation.a) Managing Creativity and Innovation is an oxymoron!When ideas are required, leaders tend to herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct (usually an ineffective) brainstorming session.

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Transparency: A Key To Your Effectiveness
Last month I talked about the Skilled Facilitator principle of being curious. This month I want to talk about the complementary principle transparency.

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Is this A Good Time To Sell Your Body Shop Business?
Have you ever asked yourself the question? "Is this a good time to sell my business?" That is a question every business owner asks himself, everytime he has a bad day. I once received e-mail from the editor of the Auto Body News, asking me that key question.

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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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Learn to Assert Yourself
Pinpoint your own blocks to assertiveness: fear of disapproval, need to please others, fear of being too masculine or feminine, or the dread of making mistakes.Visualize yourself dealing effectively with a problem situation by considering alternative responses.

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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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The 70% Solution: Practical Testing and Version Control
"What do you mean you need to push back the launch date?" Says the CEO. Says the CFO.

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5 Awesome Actions of Highly Creative Leaders!
How many times have you wondered why you are unable to "think-out-of-the-box" more often?We are all products of our environment and our backgrounds usually prevent us from viewing situations with the unique eyes of our personal experience.However, the leaders who think "out-of-the-proverbial-box" do so by incorporating what I like to see as a, Strategically Wise Synergistic Process of Creation.

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Resolve Differences
Resolving conflict doesn't come easily to too many people. Most of us want harmonious relationships and smooth interpersonal interactions.

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Creativity and Innovation Management :- Thought Leadership
Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with good ideas - when they are dependable thought leaders. It follows then that leaders would be more effective if they knew how to manage creativity and innovation.

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Motivating Employees - Ten Ways to Start You Off
Yet there is a place for those external 'raft-build's', 'away days' and 'paintballing'! Just get them in context; there is work to do up front to leverage those experiences and get the best value from them. Just build great relationships in your business or organisation, one-to-one - then have the fun day out and grow even more!"Motivation is like food for the brain.

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Creativity Management - Quality from Quantity
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 in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

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Turnover is Not a Problem
"Ha!" you say. "For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven't worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company.

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Effective Meetings - Quick Survey
Here's an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings.1) Who leads your meetings? a) No one, b) Everyone, c) A facilitator2) What happens to the ideas in your meetings? a) If we had to think of ideas, it would be work, b) We make fun of them, c) A scribe writes them on a chart pad3) Are results obtained in your meetings? a) We eat all the donuts, b) And we drink all of the coffee, c) Yes!4) Do your meetings have an agenda? a) Is that some kind of cabinet?, b) I saw one once in an article, c) Yes!5) Who attends your meetings? a) We have bleachers to hold the spectators, b) The entire staff plus any homeless people in the neighborhood, c) Only those who can contribute6) How long are your meetings? a) I'll let you know when this one ends, b) All day, c) An hour or less7) During a meeting do you: a) Break a foam cup into bits, b) Prepare for the next meeting, c) Focus on the topic8) How soon after the meeting do you issue minutes? a) If you think I want to publicize how much time we wasted, you're nuts, b) Within a few months or so, c) As soon as possible, if not faster9) While someone is speaking, do you: a) Wonder about the strength of plastic foams, b) Plan a way to change the subject, c) Listen empathetically10) What structured activities do you use in your meetings? a) We sit on chairs, b) Everyone leaves at the same time, c) Process tools designed to gather information, make decisions, and manage participation.

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Appraisal Interviews: What To Say & How To Say It
STEPS TOWARDS A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:Don't say: "You just don't seem to care about doing a good job." "You seem to be more interested in scoring points against Charlie than in working with him.

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A Leadership Screw Driver: The 90 Day Improvement Plan
I was talking with first-line supervisors in a utility company about how to deal with poor performing employees."You've gotta put the screws to him!" suggested one supervisor to his colleague who was having trouble managing one particular poor performer.

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