Related Articles

Internal Control - The Why and How
Many retailers do not have good internal controls in place and place little importance on them. They are concerned with the buying and selling of merchandise and do not place enough emphasis on making certain that the sales get recorded, the money gets in the bank, the invoices are paid only once and the inventory reports are correct.

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Align The Enterprise & Make Beautiful Music Together
Q: Why is a great business like a great marching band?A: The players in both organizations are in alignment.Alignment? Yes, Alignment.

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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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Are You the Culprit?
Are you a business, non-profit or association manager who pretty much ignores your organization's important outside audiences?If that's you, do you realize how difficult you're making it to achieve the important behavior changes you really need and want? I mean changes that lead directly to achieving your department, division or subsidiary's objectives?I'm talking about achieving new levels of membership applications; growing the repeat purchase rate; capital givers looking your way; attracting new prospects; expanding the list of organizations officially specifying your service and products; or suppliers newly motivated to meet your strict quality and delivery requirements.Start operating in your own best interest by taking a closer look at the public relations work underway on behalf of your unit.

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Creativity and Innovation Management - Feasibility
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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Ten Top Ways for Managers to Motivate Their People
So to help start the ball rolling, here are ten top ways to get your people motivated. Ten small steps for you to start with.

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Increase In-House Nursing Homes Collections
The following nursing home collections report outlines 11 guidelines you can follow to increase the amount of in-house long term care collections your facility collects.1] Have A Defined Long Term Care Collection PolicyOne of the major causes of delinquent nursing home receivables is that the facility has not clearly defined to its residents/responsible parties and business office staff when the accounts are to be paid.

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Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure the Right Things.
Measure the right things. It's not enough just to measure-you have to measure the right things.

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Success at Work : People Skills : Dealing with New Ideas
Re-organizing, re-engineering, re-training, down-sizing, outsourcing, changing-changing-changing. Organizations today think they need to be constantly changing or they will perish.

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Managing Meetings
Plan/prepare - lack of purpose causes aimless meetings. Know why you're there - what the meeting is for.

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Innovation Management: The Quality and Quantity of the Idea Pool
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation.

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Workplace Security Plan: Does Your Company Have One?
Consultant's Perspective..

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Keeping Team Meetings Vibrant
Meetings can be the life-blood of an organisation or the death.It all depends how you approach them.

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6 Simple Steps to Dealing with Difficult Managers
The challenge of managing difficult managers can be rather daunting, especially when you inherit them! If they are your own born and bred, then hopefully they would have evolved into great managers!Experience shows that difficult managers are difficult because they are angry and frustrated about something or somebody (even themselves - especially where they are, or have become, a square peg in a round hole of a job), so the steps to take are these:-Always a first is to build great relationships with your people. This involves protected one-to-one time, where they feel valued.

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How to Make the Best of it - Take Your Weather with You
I once worked in a place where there were three lines of words, placed just before employees went from backshop to front of shop. These said:-Smile!Remember - you represent your CompanyDelight your customers.

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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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This Old Business
Not long ago I was asked to come out and take a look at a business that had been around for about 10 years..

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Drafting an Employee Manual Sample Outline
One of the hardest things I had discovered running my company was drafting an Employee Manual. Also added to the stress was the fact that if you made a mistake someone could sue you and you might lose all your hard work and money that you had earned thru blood, sweat and tears as an entrepreneur.

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Can A Business Still Be Profitable When People Skills Are Absent?
In our current world of rapid and amazing technological advances, many entrepreneurs have managed to dramatically limit the need for staff in highly profitable operations of all kinds.It is therefore tempting and believable to imagine that with every passing day, the need for people skills is diminishing.

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Why and How to Work with a Consultant
A good consultant provides specialist abilities and experience, innovative ideas, second opinions (reality checks), unbiased appraisals, and new approaches.A good consultant will leave you with tools, plans, and materials, and will transfer knowledge and resources to help you use them.

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