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Create Your Dashboard for Success
Driving down the road our eyes frequently scan the vital instruments on the dashboard that monitor speed, fuel level, coolant temperature, and oil pressure. The modern vehicle also has many more devices that constantly monitor various systems for fuel mixture, exhaust gasses, timing adjustment and others.

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Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have SMART Goals
The first step in planning an agenda is to identify the goals for the meeting. Properly done, goals have five S M A R T characteristics.

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1000 Managers Turned Their Plans Into Energy!
I bet you can't tell me how leadership training and strategic planning work together to boost business results and energize performance improvements.A recent survey of 1000 managers conducted by the UK-based Chartered Management Institute, revealed that organizations experienced, "improved business performance when [their leadership] development [programs were] linked to [their] business [strategic planning process].

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Two Critical Success Factors in an ITIL Implementation
Any IT manager who wants to pursue the IT Service Management journey by implementing the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) needs to understand two very important factors well in advance.? The first factor is to have dedicated, trained and committed process owners.

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Your Company Without Training - Any Questions?
Okay, be honest!Are you guilty of sticking in a few boring videos and calling it training?Do you send in your department heads to deliver a few, rushed, canned presentations and call it orientation?Are you then surprised when your new employees don't live up to your expectations, and your employee turnover numbers keep rising?What if you took the time and money that you spend on employee recruitment and put it into employee training? Would it make a difference? Would it be worth the effort?You Bet it Would!!Take, for instance, The Container Store, who has made the top of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the 6th year in a row! In an employee's first year they offer over 241 hours of training, far exceeding the training hours offered by other retail stores. In the next 18 months they are slated to open 5 more stores, creating over 6000 more jobs!More impressively, the retail industry averages 150% employee turnover, but The Container Store averages only 25%!!Learn also, from ACTS Retirement Life Communities, a Continuing Care Retirement Corporation, based in Pennsylvania with additional locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

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Resolving Needs - What Your Employees Wish For!
For your people, they want to do a great job - no, really, despite your experiences, they do. And what might seem to 'the management' the important things, just don't stack in the day-to-day reality of the workplace.

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Communicating When A Crisis Strikes
How would you handle communication if your business or practice got into a crisis situation?I was pleasantly surprised when my Internet service provider responded competently and quickly to a technical crisis. And, we can learn to communicate more effectively by studying its response.

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Your Blueprint For Business Success
Before you start your own business one of the first things you need to do is draw up your business plan. This is your blueprint for success.

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Conflict at 36,000 ft
This was supposed to be one of those sleepy flights that leaves late, crosses two time zones, and arrives at 11:00 p.m.

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Argue Your Way To Business Success
"Jack" (not his real name) is a vice president of a publicly traded company. Recently, Jack's stress and anxiety levels have been high enough to impact both his working and his personal lives.

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The 10 Realities of Change
I've seen several articles that begin with lines like "the only constant today is change." I assert that change that is constant can't really be called change.

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Creating A Vision - Bringing Your Dreams Into Reality
Do you have some goals you want to achieve or dreams you want to fulfill? A useful tool in reaching the outcomes you desire is the creation of a vision, which can be short or long-term. I recommend writing down specifics to add clarity and focus.

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Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have a Complete Agenda
Most agendas for a meeting look like this.* Budget* Payroll* Staff* Sales* VutszxtnSome people would tell me, "That's a perfectly good agenda.

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Nine Steps to Help You Develop Your Potential
Go into any bookstore and you will find a big selection of self-help and personal improvement products.  Most everyone (and I'll bet everyone reading this) wants to improve.

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Sarbanes Oxley 404 Compliance - How Nov. 15, 2004 Deadline Affects You
Fast Relief for Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 ComplianceSection 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to confirm the effectiveness of their IT and financial controls in an "internal control report", which is contained within the annual report (10-K) issued to the public. But what exactly is an internal control report, and why is it important to you?The Section 404 Internal Control ReportFirst, the internal control report must affirm management's responsibility for controls and procedure, and second, it must contain an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal controls and procedures for financial reporting.

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A Corporate Facelift With Sound Bytes
If Baby Boomers can get botox and tummy tucks, then why don't companies receive facelifts to improve their image as well? The telephone is the lifeblood of any business. Use it respectfully.

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The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You
Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running the day-to-day aspects of your business is the true challenge you will face as an entrepreneur. Do you find that the business you started to suit your lifestyle somehow taken over your life and home? If this sounds familiar, then your business is running you.

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Finding Proactive Solutions: A Key to Demonstrating Your Management Fitness
In my book Talking Points: 25 Tips for Clear, Credible Communication, Tip #17 states: "Managers and professionals in positions of responsibility got there by finding solutions to problems. They didn't rely on someone else to come up with the remedy.

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Spotlight on Productivity: How to Overcome E-Mail Overload
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by e-mail? Have you ever spent more of your day wading through your e-mail than managing your work? Are you looking for ways to spend less time creating, managing and answering messages? Discover how to overcome e-mail overload and be more productive by writing more effective e-mail messages and reducing the volume of e-mail.Write Effective E-Mail MessagesStart improving your e-mail effectiveness by creating and formatting easy to follow content, and by using pre-written responses.

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Competion or Cooperation?
It has been said, there is no better way to hone your skills and improve your performance, than competition. Competing with others, or even with your self, fosters continued improvement, striving for even higher goals, and an ongoing sense of achievement.

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