Posted on Jan 27, 2012 in Management
Ultimately, no matter how high-tech your business tools, development and implementation of new initiatives will depend upon effective, productive communication between real live people.
Why do some business meetings result in boredom and lack of focus, whereas others send attendees charging out equipped to wage battle? Why do some supervisors confuse their workers with vague, contradictory suggestions while others support their charges with vision and assistance and help them build their own path to success?
It boils down to good ol’ human interaction – a subject somewhat out of vogue since the advent of the motherboard – but guess what? It ain’t going away. Without good clear human connectivity, a mile-high stack of computers won’t save your company from faltering.
So here is our list of steps you can take to improve your business communication.
- Remember your vision. You are doing things for a reason. What is it? When you remember why you are doing something and can really feel its importance, that is the time to share your vision with others. Encourage them to speak of their vision for the future. Charge each other up with thoughts of where you want to go. Catch a buzz from envisioning the big picture.
- Keep the vision alive. People will get mired down with the day to day. Find times to stoke the dream, even informally.
- When a mutual vision is established and accepted, it is time to talk about how to get there. These talks have two distinct parts: brainstorming and action planning. In brainstorming, you share ideas about what kinds of actions can get you to your goal. But these ideas should be loose and a little wacky. Pick a few uncommon ideas and throw them out to model creative thought. Let your co-workers know that it is time to think freely without criticism. Have fun and laugh. Have a posterboard and write the ideas for all to see, in order to foster associations which could lead to even better ideas.
- When the ideas seem exhausted, it is time to get serious and build a plan. Cross off ideas which are clearly unworkable. Boil the ideas down to 3-5 action items.
- There should be one person assigned with overall responsibility for each action item. That person is accountable for its development. She might solicit others to assist. She might assign tasks. Nonetheless, she is the key person for that work item.
- Follow-up is a fundamental business activity. Without follow-up, all the good work and ideas which are in play will wither and die. Meetings or other follow-up venues must be scheduled regularly to keep all the pots boiling. The top person for each action item must be asked about progress by the person responsible for the overall plan.
- Review and analyze results and make necessary adjustments. Then build on the good and drop the bad.
- Do not stigmatize failure. Remember that failure is necessary for success. If you can really internalize this idea, you will be able to fearlessly and logically parse the good and bad in your plan. If you truly embrace failure as a part of the success process, you will be able to make the review/analysis phase engaging, creative and extremely useful.
- Notice when people do good things and tell them. Some very hard working people toil for a very long time without hearing even one positive sentiment. It’s an idea as old as Andrew Carnegie and Reader’s Digest, but it may be even more important today. Our computers separate us from human contact even as they connect us. Reach out in a human way. Pay a well-earned compliment. Then watch the startled, then untrusting, then relaxed and very gratified looks you get back in return.
- Remember that you are a role model. People watch you. If you act fairly, they will trust you. If you are mean or egotistical, they will dislike and undermine you. If you help them, they will help you. Think of the people you most admire. Think about their effect on you. Can you absorb some of that goodness and pay it forward?
Posted on Jan 12, 2012 in Management
Supply chain management bridges the gap between the point of production and the point of consumption successfully. It aims at managing dynamic and intricate supply and demand network effectively. With using this service, companies can improve their business process by assembling sellers, human resources and their knowledge, technology, transportation and retailing systems; thereby turning procurement of products, their warehousing, transportation and distribution comfortable. While supply chain management involves all these services, logistics management takes care of the transportation of the resources up to their distribution.
Supply chain, in fact, dates back to the days when the ‘barter system’ was first introduced in the history of commerce. Dominance of disorderly services in those times could not make it as popular as it is these days. Management experts, now-a-days, have applied their experiences about logistics system into this segment, improved the infrastructure by applying the latest technologies to streamline the stream of services and expedited the speed of transportation with a variety of new-age vehicles with multiple of facilities including space and storage. Better transportation, better technologies, and better management services of these days have influenced the downstream and upstream of the system. Undeniably, a systematic, integrated and strategically coordinated management has made this possible.
Despite its widespread popularity, supply chain is most often confused with the term management when added to it. Without management, it denotes the ways of correlating with producers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and consumers who are in a way or other interlinked through the flows of products. On the other hand, its management services act to link them by transporting or shipping the supplies to the points of demands, warehousing them, distributing them and conserving of them properly so that they are not damaged or decomposed. Sometimes, products are transferred from one point to another bypassing one or two supply chain points. But, this happens seldom as this gives rise to disorders in the chain-system.
Goal of Introducing Supply Chain Management: It strives consistently to lower costs and responsibilities. Consider a picture of trading where producers are transporting their products to their end-users directly. Now, imagine what advantages those producers may gain and what disadvantages they may have to face. They may gain an enhanced and direct relationship with the end-users at the cost of extra expenses. But, businesses are not built upon the motto of building relationship at the cost of any extra expenses. The lower expenses a business can ensure the higher profits it can make. This management service has helped these business-links reduce expenses by ensuring smooth and speedy procurement, transportation, storage and distribution processes for the products.
Posted on Dec 9, 2011 in Management
Of the many mistakes small business owners make, a big one is participating in trade shows and business expos without a strategy for turning those marketing opportunities into sales. Here are five tips to get you started.
1. Have a goal. What do you want to get out of the event? Most small business owners think sponsoring an event will bring them a ton of business. Not necessarily. Follow up is critical.
2. Make sure the audience is your market. If your company is a business-to-business provider and the event is for consumers, the likelihood of new business is slim. Sponsoring an event that doesn’t include your target market is just a waste of money. Do your homework.
3. Don’t dismiss “expensive” events right away. Just because an entry cost is high doesn’t mean you can’t afford it. You could offer to work on the organizing committee, perform specific duties for the event, or donate a product or prize in return for partial payment.
4. Introduce yourself before the show. If at all possible, get a postal mail or email list (or both) of attendees from the trade show host. A week prior to the show, send a notice introducing yourself to them and inviting them to stop by your booth.
5. Plan for follow-up. Before you sign up for the show, have a plan in place for how you will follow up with those prospects interested in what you have to offer.
