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Keeping Your Employees Safe - Part 4
Published on 2011-09-02 17:05:00
Click here for part 1 Click here for part 2 Click here for part 3 Accident Reviews After an accident or near miss, it is vital that responsible parties review the incident to find out what went wrong and how it could have been avoided. The goal of an accident investigation is not to place blame, but to enable corrective action to prevent future injury. Once the investigation is completed, the results should be shared with all employees. It can be particularly [..] > read more
Keeping Your Employees Safe - Part 3
Published on 2011-08-31 17:04:00
Click here for part 1 Click here for part 2 Key elements of human performance improvement Providing safe equipment starts early in the design phase, although most machinery can be retrofitted to correct any original design flaws. For example, if you have a machine that requires the operator to turn a small knob that is located between two posts, it may be very difficult for a worker wearing protective gloves to accomplish the task. ... > read more
Keeping Your Employees Safe - Part 2
Published on 2011-08-29 16:56:00
If you believe instead that workers have just as big a stake in their safety as you do, and that injuries are most often the result of mistakes and accidents, you can see that punishment is not a realistic way to make your company safer. > read more
Keeping Your Employees Safe - Part 1
Published on 2011-08-26 16:53:00
Nearly fifty workers are injured every minute of the work week, and about seventeen workers die on-the-job every day. If for no other reason than that you don't want to be the person who has to call the employee's spouse after an injury, you should be interested in your workers' safety. If that's not enough to make you read this post, consider the costs injuries add to your business. > read more
Respect Your Employees - Part 2
Published on 2011-08-24 16:48:00
If you think you are always respectful, keep in mind that what really matters is whether or not your employees perceive you as respectful, and what they perceive as your motive for being respectful. In a study reported in the Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Daniel J. Koys notes that an employee's commitment to the organization is positively related to the perception that Human Resources Management is motivated by "a) management's desire to show respect ... > read more
Respect Your Employees - Part 1
Published on 2011-08-22 16:44:00
Once you have an employee or two on-board, don't forget that you hired the best. Respect their abilities and skills, and get out of their way. You might think that you show your respect for your employees by signing their paychecks every two weeks, but that is just a bare minimum of what employees expect from their employer. Human Resources expert Susan M. Healthfield lists respect as the first factor on her short list of employee expectations. In an article written for About.com, [..] > read more
Entrepreneur's Handbook: Hire the Best - Part 3
Published on 2011-08-17 16:41:00
Writing job descriptions may seem like a waste of time when you have so many more pressing things to attend to, but writing a good job description in the beginning can save you from much wasted expense in the long run. Remember that hiring the wrong person can cost as much as 15 times the base salary. Isn't it worth it to have a good job description to compare the candidates against if it gives you a better chance of hiring a top performer? > read more
Entrepreneur's Handbook: Hire the Best - Part 2
Published on 2011-08-15 16:37:00
Given that hiring the right person for the right job at the right salary is so important, what should you look for when hiring and promoting people in your organization? According to a recent study in Library Leadership and Management, one of the keys to successful hiring and promoting lies in the writing of the position description. > read more
Entrepreneur's Handbook: Hire the Best - Part 1
Published on 2011-08-12 16:29:00
When you first start out you may be the only employee your company has, but with growth, you might have to hire help. Employees are one of the most costly assets you will have, so you will need to make sure you are getting the biggest possible bang for your buck. In his book Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People[i], Bradford Smart divides labor talent into three levels: A, B, and ... > read more
Small Business Finance: Pay Your Bills On Time - Part 4
Published on 2011-08-10 16:05:00
If you happen to have extra money left at the end of the month, (yes, this does occasionally happen!) pay those bills with the highest interest rate first. Doing so may save you hundreds of dollars because every day you delay payment adds more to your balance. If you make just the minimum payment on your credit card every month, you may take as long as 30 years to pay it in full. So, pay extra whenever you possibly can to reduce that balance. > read more
Developing an Authoritative Management Style - Part 3
Published on 2011-03-07 13:32:00
Continuing our discussion of the authoritative management style with the fourth element: commitment to vision. Commitment to vision means that you ne > read more
Developing an Authoritative Management Style - Part 2
Published on 2011-03-04 13:22:00
Earlier this week, we talked about several different management styles, and decided the authoritative style was the best. We also talked about the first two steps to developing an authoritative style: competence and collaboration. Today we' > read more
Developing an Authoritative Management Style - Part 1
Published on 2011-03-02 13:17:00
Being an authoritative manager means being a leader of leaders, encouraging the leaders below you on the organization chart to think, rather than simply doing what you tell them to do. There are six c > read more
Management Styles
Published on 2011-02-28 12:57:00
Depending on personality, business owners tend to have one of four management styles: > read more
A Quick Note About the Importance of Human Resources
Published on 2011-02-25 12:41:00
As of this writing (February, 2011), the United States is beginning to emerge from the biggest recession since the Great Depression. Many employers have had to freeze sa > read more
Missed Opportunity Costs
Published on 2011-02-23 12:34:00
There’s one hidden expense I want to make sure you think about: missed opportunity costs. These costs don’t appear anywhere on your financial books, but they are important to consider as > read more
Know Where You Stand Financially
Published on 2011-02-21 12:24:00
As the creative genius behind your company, it’s possible you have things you like to do better than math. You may prefer focusing on developing new products or finding new ways to market your exist > read more
Business Finance: Bill Promptly - Part 3
Published on 2011-02-18 12:20:00
Your first collection call should remain cordial. After all, everyone forgets to pay a bill now and again, or runs into a temporary cash flow situation. The first reminder call is simply that:&nbs > read more
Business Finance: Bill Promptly - Part 2
Published on 2011-02-16 12:13:00
If you are managing multiple customers with complex projects, you may need to create a “tickler” file to remind yourself of key upcoming accounting dates. A tickler file is simply a filing system > read more
Business Finance: Bill Promptly - Part 1
Published on 2011-02-14 12:07:00
When you own your own business, particularly if you are starting out part-time while keeping your full-time job, you may find there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. In > read more
Business Finance: Bartering
Published on 2011-01-31 15:47:00
It may be true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but what if I were to tell you that you can get lunch in return for something that has no value to you? That’s almost as good a > read more
Business Finance - Keep Money in Savings - Part 2
Published on 2011-01-28 15:43:00
Liquid vs. non-liquid assets Every bu > read more
Business Finance: Keep Money in Savings - Part 1
Published on 2011-01-26 15:41:00
Keeping money in your savings account will help you weather whatever financial storms your business may throw at you. And believe me, you will find yourself in the middle of a storm someday. Just by v > read more
Business Ethics: Make Mom Proud - Part 3
Published on 2011-01-24 15:37:00
Does my company need an ethics program? > read more
Business Ethics: Make Mom Proud - Part 2
Published on 2011-01-21 15:36:00
National Business Ethics Survey Accor > read more
Business Ethics: Make Mom Proud - Part 1
Published on 2011-01-19 15:34:00
When you were a kid, did you ever do something that ended up in the newspaper? Good or bad, the whole community saw what you did. For some parents, it's their proudest moment when their chil > read more
Honesty is the Best Business Policy - Part 2
Published on 2011-01-17 15:29:00
Remembering and supporting your lies is difficult > read more
Honesty is the Best Business Policy - Part 1
Published on 2011-01-14 15:25:00
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your mother was right. Honesty really is the best policy. > read more
Ask for Complaints - Part 5
Published on 2011-01-12 15:23:00
Steps in the complaint resolution process 1. List > read more
Ask for Complaints - Part 4
Published on 2011-01-10 15:21:00
How to handle a complaint > read more
Ask for Complaints - Part 3
Published on 2011-01-07 15:19:00
Tell me again: why do I want my customers to complain? > read more
Ask for Complaints - Part 2
Published on 2011-01-05 15:18:00
The making of an activist Activists a > read more
Ask for Complaints - Part 1
Published on 2011-01-03 15:15:00
Complaints are only the tip of the iceberg > read more
Ringing in 2011
Published on 2011-01-01 15:09:00
Wishing you and yours a joyous and prosperous new year! > read more