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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 27 – MANAGING MEETINGS

Do you hold formal or informal meetings? Today, managing meetings is much more informal compared to how it used to be done. Perhaps, if you are involved in a large structured business, a corporation or public company most meetings are still more formal. In such companies, not to mention counsel and government departments, there is a need to record every detail. In that way, not only is control of the business easier and the passing of valuable information between employees, the issuing of tasks and the understanding of where people are in relation to outcomes much more comprehensive and recordable, but by being visible too, managers are kept up to date with progress. Thus, managing meetings has always been an art-form that was not only necessary but sensible.

Nowadays more informal meetings can occur over lunch, in the pub, online, and so on, so their style tends to be informal. None the less, taking notes or recording the meeting so as to record outcomes, is still a must do.

This b.s.t. is to remind listeners that even if your meetings follow a more informal structure they need to be controlled to get the most out of them and to avoid time wasting and forgetfulness. It is human nature to ‘forget’ tasks that we have been asked to do which we do not necessarily want to do or care about. Better by far to have the instruction recorded or objections to the instruction raised at the point of time rather than when the ‘instructed’ is being expected to present the outcome of the requested task one is greeted with, “Oh, I didn’t have time”, or, “I wasn’t able to locate, find, discover, reach . . . . “. Frustrating for all concerned because the expectation of the outcome remains in the atmosphere like an ex wife at the funeral, to haunt everyone.

Better by far to be dealt with at the time, as well as who is presenting what under which item of the Agenda, who has undertaken to carry out certain tasks (recorded in the notes of the meeting), when the next meeting will be held and who will be bringing what to that meeting. All these items should be written up in the notes of the meeting and circulated later to each of those attending. Only then, can managing meetings become less of a time waster and more of a management skill.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 26 – PROCRASTINATION AND DECISION MAKING

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 26 – PROCRASTINATION AND DECISION MAKING

In this session I am taking a rather different stance to the usual Decision Making theory. Usually I talk about making SMART decisions, where they should be specific and clearly stated, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed or time orientated. This time, I talk about how it feels to make a decision, how you can take the stress out of the process, and how you can end procrastination and decision making by creating an enjoyable experience.

No, this time I look at the role of the imagination and how one can use that to create an experience of an outcome before attempting to travel that distance, see how if feels, and if it feels right then one can extend the vision to take the decision further.

Crazy, you think? No, not crazy, just different. A mixture of business training and dreaming, maybe. More a case of using the experience and introducing emotion into the paradigm, pre-empting anxiety and stress and driving it away by trying on an outcome for size and practicing before making any decision. Tune in and listen as I explain, even take you through the process so that you could try it out yourself the next time you need to make decisions and end procrastination.

Of course I am very well versed in traditional decision making techniques, have used them for some 30 years and got very good results for my clients that way. I have also used psychological methods to achieve excellent outcomes too. So if you want to end procrastination and decision making situations, just try it out and let me know what you think.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 25 – DEALING WITH TIME WASTERS & INTERRUPTIONS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 25 – DEALING WITH TIME WASTERS & INTERRUPTIONS

Have you ever been totally motivated and dedicated to getting a good day’s work done and then you have a day when every person in the world seems intent on interrupting you and filling your day with time wasters?

Well I have. And do you know what? I have now got it down to a fine art.

I spend my time last thing in the evening organising my work for the next day. People aware of my general timetable and so they are not surprised if I am not at the end of the phone. People who know me also know that I have certain days when I am not interruptible. That means that family and friends cannot reach me because my answer machine is on at every contact point. Business colleagues know that I will get right back to them asap when they phone my work line and leave a message, or e-mail me. I let it be known that two days per week I am not available as this is my planning and course construction days, and that if they visit my office and my door is closed, I am closed off to any kind of interruption. They can send me a text or an e-mail or leave a phone message and I will contact them when I have finished my planning time or my VI work.

Sounds harsh? Sounds abrupt and unfriendly? I had to be a bit assertive at first, but the explanation and the way I explained it made it all friendly and reasonable. After all, I told them, I would much rather speak to them and spend time with them when we can both relax and enjoy each other’s company, have a drink, or a coffee and a chat.

Work wise, I sometimes get together with work colleagues, people I rely on to get work done for me, supporters and mentors, and give staff and outsourcers rewards for a job well done and for fitting into their boss’s (my) plans.

Of course there are always the odd breakthroughs where someone gets through the net, but because it happens very rarely I don’t get stressed or resentful.

Time wasters and interruptions are now much reduced, I am very much happier and more productive, so are my colleagues. If you adopt these recommendations your own output could be up, production could be much improved, time given over purely for problem solving and answering queries, giving advice and so on, so it is worth following the principals of management training and good business practice and keep time wasters and interruptions to a minimum.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 24 – EFFECTIVE DELEGATION 2

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 24 – EFFECTIVE DELEGATION 2

Today I am following on the discussion on effective delegation and talking about some of the reasons why things can go wrong and outcomes do not turn out as you have planned. I also take a look at the 6 rules of authority and talk about why it is so very important to get this right when you want to ensure effective delegation.

This session glances at some more reasons why people shun away from responsibility and authority to act, fearing the outcome may go against them in the long run. Getting to the point of total agreement as to what is expected on both sides can ensure that the mutual understanding results in an outcome that is good for both parties.

If you want to delegate tasks, therefore saving yourself time and worry, freeing up your daily planning to focus your attention on more important or financially advancing tasks, then having a clear and conscious understanding of the 6 rules of authority will ensure that misunderstandings do not take place and that your very important tasks can be delegated without backlash.

By giving attention today to the rules of delegation and understanding that in the outset it is your responsibility to know how effective delegation works, you will ensure a more positive outcome for yourself and your agent of action and that neither of you have to spend extra time putting things right because you both got it right first time.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 23 – EFFECTIVE DELEGATION

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 23 – EFFECTIVE DELEGATION

Do you stomp around feeling stressed, overpowered with work and not enough time? Have you tried to delegate tasks to other people only to have a disaster of a result and have now given up? What you need is to learn more about the rules of Effective Delegation, and how this can answer all your needs.

When you begin to delegate you must fully understand the situation from the standpoint of the person you are delegating jobs to. They will most likely be afraid that they might get it wrong and earn criticism or worse. They might also fear recriminations, wrath and disaster as an outcome, all by themselves. Fear can sometimes be what causes people to mis-hear what you are saying, and it is fear that blocks understanding sometimes too. So before you start, say something nice to put the other person at ease. Then break down the task in easy steps and get them to write each step down if possible. When you have finished instructing them, check that they have completely understood and that you are both in agreement with what is to take place, to ensure effective delegation.

Step two is about the degree of authority you are giving away to the other person. This means how much permission you have given them to take action before checking back to you. They may be able to take full authority for the decisions that they may need to take to carry out the task. This would apply if they have done the task successfully for you previously. You might want them to do the task but refer back to you with alternative options if they meet up with problems. Alternatively, you might prefer them to take no action but to refer the matter back to you if a decision has to be made so you can make effective decisions. You might take this option if the person has never done this task before or if they are still in training.

Basically, giving away the authority to act is all about the amount of control that you want the individual to have over the outcome. It is based on previous performance and trust. There are 6 stages involved and these will be discussed in part 2, tomorrow.

Step 3 is all about responsibility. In a way, it is tied up with Authority too, so it depends exactly how much responsibility the individual is to have over actions and outcome. If they have total responsibility when they first undertake the task they might be afraid to act. If they have no responsibility at all, they might keep bringing information to your door every time they do a bit of research or move from one stage of the task to another. You might get irritated by this, so be sure how much responsibility you give away at the start, and make sure that both of you fully understand a), the task and the stages or methods to be employed to carry each stage out, and b) the degree of authority and the degree of responsibility you are giving them for the task or tasks or stages of the task. This way, you stand a very good chance of the outcome turning out the way you imagined it would.

Tomorrow we will be looking at what can go wrong, and ways you can avoid that using effective delegation.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 22 – TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 16 – TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES (REPEAT) Because of the poor quality of the video when it was posted last, I have decided to run it again. Here is a better version of this bst.

When was the last time you had time off to just have fun, enjoy being with your partner, your family and friends? What? Not enough time? Too busy attending to your business? Do you realise that life balance is important too, because without some time for relaxation and time out you are likely to get stale, stressed, bad tempered, and risk falling out with those family members and friends that help support you and your life. So time management techniques become more and more important the busier you are and the more your business grows.

Time management techniques don’t have to be boring or dull. In fact, it is quite an exciting challenge to spend a day timing your actions and finding out exactly how the time flies, whilst you are having fun . . . or not!

In this BST I start to look at ways that you can benefit from monitoring your time management using simple techniques to keep track of daily tasks. I look at what is important and what moves you on forward towards achieving the goals that you choose.

Setting goals and achieving them is what will move you forward in your business, and it will help you survive when all around you is failing. It also gives you a far better insight into how long it should take to achieve tasks so that when you are delegating them to others you have realistic knowledge about how long the jobs should take to achieve, instead of getting stressed out because jobs are taking longer than anticipated. This way, you have evidence that will tell you if your staff are taking too long, maybe because they are uncertain as to what exactly you want from them or how to go about doing the job. Assuming that you have clarified this beforehand, you will then be a better judge as to how efficient your staff really are. Using time management techniques can save you time in the long run, and help you move forward quicker.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 20 – WORK LIFE BALANCE TIPS PART 2

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 20 – WORK LIFE BALANCE TIPS PART 2

How much are you worth? Are the extra hours that you pack into your business worth your cost in terms of results, in terms of your bottom line profits? Have you worked that out yet, i.e. how much your time is really worth at the end of the day when you are tired, stressed, against the clock? Your break even point is what you should focus on instead of trying to get more done. So work life balance tips part 2 is all about your efficiency and your cost to your business.

It is so easy to make mistakes when you are stressed and tired, so is it really worth taking the chance and risking having to do the whole thing again the next day when you have even less time to spare? I suggested doing a time and motion study, yeh, right, and if you do this you will get a much better idea about how long things take to do well. Better to not attempt a task than to do it badly.

Today, I am suggesting that you might actually work out how much your time costs your company in terms of your profits. Look at the money management, your financial accounting. Dividing hours worked per week into profits made per week is a very simple task, and we know that nothing is ever quite that simple. How many staff, outsourcers and others have an input into your profits generated each week, and what per cent do they contribute towards that profit? It could be a tricky calculation.

How much salary do you draw each year, each week? Perhaps your hourly rate would make more sense when thinking about the results at the end of each extra hour you have worked.

What are the costs then, in terms of extra output, extra items sold, keeping the store, office or room open, equipment running, lights blazing? Just a few thoughts today to make you ponder on efficiency and costs versus extra output.

Work life balance and work life balance tips are all about the journey and whether it remains enjoyable for all involved. When it just becomes a hassle then maybe other viewpoints may need to be considered. Quality of life, for example, or happiness at work and happiness at home. As time goes by, no amount of extra goodies and rewards can make up for lost time, time spent together in meaningful relaxation or play is worth more than money in the bank.

See the life balance wheel and think about your whole life today. Link below.

Life Balance Wheel

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 19 – WORK LIFE BALANCE TIPS FOR HEALTH

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 19 – WORK LIFE BALANCE TIPS FOR HEALTH

Do you wake up in the morning feeling tired and stressed out, find it hard to face work? Chances are, you are burning out and need to take a break! Can’t spare the time, you say? Oh yes you can. It happened to me and my own doctor said that if I didn’t organise myself a break in my work schedules I was a candidate for a heart attack! Yes, that stopped me in my tracks and within a week I had organised myself a holiday and these work life balance tips will set you right too.

Don’t wait until everything falls apart. You owe it to yourself to take care of yourself. You owe it to you family to still be there for them – you owe it to your customers who rely on you to be fresh and eager to help them day after day.

How can you do that, you ask? Easy, learn to think more about the jobs you are doing and make sure that you are doing them well. Discover how long each task takes you to do, and be realistic about what you can manage to get through in a day. Often we are too engrossed in ‘getting our business up and running fast’, or ‘beating our competitors off the mark’, or ‘making more money to spend so the family won’t complain about you not being around for them’. Nonsense. Your health is more important than that! Your health is more important than anything else, because without it your business is doomed to fail.

Follow today’s bst, and try out a few of the tips mentioned so you can beat the odds, stay fit and healthy, have your family love you instead of resenting you or your business. Get a grip, plan a break and return to your business fresh, happy, relaxed and useful.

Work life balance tips are not just something for the others out there, the fastidious, studious, academic. It is for all businesspeople who want to be successful, so pay attention to it now and enjoy your business and your life.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 18 – CUSTOMER FEEDBACK METHODS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 18 – CUSTOMER FEEDBACK METHODS

Do you chug along busy as a bee and happy as a pig wallowing in the mud? Are you a born worrier, spending endless hours fretting over every little detail? Somewhere in between is a sensible, confident business person who knows that however busy they are, however scared they are, they need to be very aware about their customer needs and to gather as much knowledge about their business using customer feedback methods.

Today, I start with repeating my mantra, feedback, feedback, feedback. You need to have a method of gathering information about your products and services in order to make sure that you are giving customer satisfaction and that you are reaching the maximum number of customers.

There are many different methods you can use, from surveys to asking questions on social media sites, to chatting to customers face to face, and so on. You can invest in a mobile marketing app, offering a gift or discount for questions answered, you could start a customer club where you can eavesdrop on customer chat online via a chat group, blog or free membership site, and from time to time, offering rewards to your customers for loyalty and ideas about how their customer response can be improved, or unmet needs satisfied product wise.

Sometimes just the simplest and cheapest methods work the best. If you have face to face contact with your customers then why not just spend a few moments asking them about your products and services and if, in an idea world, there is something else that you can do to make their experience or your product even better for them. It can be done without raising their expectations by telling them that you are asking all your customers that you meet what their thoughts are so you can evaluate how well you are doing and what future changes you might make.

Your customer feedback methods are only limited by your willingness to recognise how important this element of your business is, and overcome any reluctance to discover for yourself how you are meeting your customers needs. After all, not only do you owe it to your customers to take on this task, but to yourself, for without this information you may be robbing yourself of the chance to attract many more customers.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 17 – HEALTH AND FITNESS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 17 – HEALTH AND FITNESS

Who is the most important person in your business, why you are! So, are you taking care of your greatest asset and looking after your health and fitness? You owe it to yourself to make sure that you are fit and healthy, rested, refreshed and that you adopt healthy habits in terms of work schedules, time off for good behaviour and spending time relaxing with friends and family. If you don’t do this, and look to your own health and fitness as well as the health and fitness of your business, you are likely to burn out, dry up or just be too stressed to cope.

Firstly, think about whether you get enough sleep. When you are asleep your body does all of its healing and mending, the stitching together of strained muscles, the rewiring of brain connections and nerve damage and the general internal needlework that renews you and prepares you for the next day. If you do not get enough sleep then the work is only partly done. I know this to my own costs. When I was young and full of energy I would get so engrossed in my work that I did not notice the time speeding by. I would often work 12-14 hours without breaking for rest, and when I finally dragged myself off to private quarters I was totally shattered with a worn out body and a mind that just would not switch off.

I used to give counselling and therapy to business people, men and women, who suffered from burn out and I would give them very good advice, but not take it myself. Eventually things had to move on to a healthier time plan, and it was a very good lesson, well learned. Managing your time well is imperative if you want to be at your best and get the best out of your colleagues, employees, outsourcers, and yourself.

Time for relaxation and time spent enjoying yourself (even if your business is one of the most enjoyable things that you do) means that you have a complete break from your business and it gives your brain time to work unconsciously on outstanding issues. Solutions may just pop into you mind when you do get back to work because you have had time to refresh and renew bodily, physically and mentally.

Do a spot of research into your own work patterns by timing each job you do every day and write it down. So this for a full week and you will get a better idea about how long jobs take you, what moves your business forward, what are the time wasters and what are the things you do when you fill time to avoid more important tasks. You will learn so much by doing this regularly and then allocating special time for planning your business, attending to interruptions and queries, making phone calls (keep an answer machine on for a few days and monitor calls, phoning back when you decide to make your phone calls). Let it be known the times you are available for phone calls and stick to that. Let others know the times that you are available for queries or feedback and stick to it. You may find that you need to have meetings online between groups of staff or all the people working on a project and this will save time over dealing with people one at a time, and you can use Skype for this, GoToMeeting.com or look up other project management software to use.

The health and fitness of your business is tied to your own health and fitness and using techniques to cope with stress and using techniques to cope with work scheduling and time management is the secret to healthy key personnel and healthy business productivity.

From time to time you can find information on our website to download and here is a link to a related article:

10 Quick Ways To Improve Your Life