It is the beginning of a new year and it is time to set new goals for your business for 2010. Setting goals is an important part of continuously improving your business. It allows the business owner and their employees to be proactive rather than reactive in their dealings. The specific goals for 2010 should align with the long-term strategy of the business. Below are several keys for setting business goals.
1. Goals should be relevant. That is, they should be something that somehow ties into your strategy.
2. Goals need to be actionable and measurable. It is not specific enough, for example, to state a goal of improving customer service. You need to understand how to improve customer service and state your goal in those terms. For example, an acceptable goal for improving customer service is to reduce project turnaround time by 3 days. You will then need to track and measure past and future project turnaround time.
3. Goals should have a timeline assigned to them. If the timeline is a longer period of time, the goal should also have benchmarks. For example, if the goal is to increase sales by $40,000 by December of 2010, then you might set a quarterly benchmark of $10,000 to track your progress toward the goal.
4. Goals should be reasonable. Goals that are completely unattainable serve no purpose toward improving your business operations. They only lead to frustration.
Obviously goals are usually focused on generating greater profits so they are often developed in the areas of customer service, sales, improving operational efficiency, and improving employee competency.
Check back next week when we blog about various items related to goals and operations that are useful for the small business owner to measure and track.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Building a team to make running your small business easier.
Still working too hard running your small business? Have you set up a team to help you manage your company? No matter how skilled you are and how diligent you are, you cannot run a business all by yourself. Even small businesses need a team.
Your management team can be employees or it can by outside consultants. Taking advantage of the skills and knowledge of an expert can improve your bottom line despite the costs to procure these skills. A valued consultant has an outside perspective that can bring clarity to your business operations.
How do you get the most from your professional services dollars? Make sure you do your homework up front and hire someone who has the experience your business needs. Talk through your expectations and spell them out in the contract you agree to with your consultant. Finally, listen to the advice you are being given. Even if you do not like what you hear, you need to consider the possibility that the expert is right! If your business is not running as smoothly as you would like or not achieving the profits you need, an outside perspective and fresh ideas are needed. The quickest route to failure is to keep doing the same things.
What are you looking for from a small business advisor?
Your management team can be employees or it can by outside consultants. Taking advantage of the skills and knowledge of an expert can improve your bottom line despite the costs to procure these skills. A valued consultant has an outside perspective that can bring clarity to your business operations.
How do you get the most from your professional services dollars? Make sure you do your homework up front and hire someone who has the experience your business needs. Talk through your expectations and spell them out in the contract you agree to with your consultant. Finally, listen to the advice you are being given. Even if you do not like what you hear, you need to consider the possibility that the expert is right! If your business is not running as smoothly as you would like or not achieving the profits you need, an outside perspective and fresh ideas are needed. The quickest route to failure is to keep doing the same things.
What are you looking for from a small business advisor?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tips for Effectively Managing Employees
Entrepreneurs often find themselves thrown into the new roles of Employer and Manager, often for the first time in their lives. Bogged down by the other pressing tasks involved in running a business, many entrepreneurs do not give the role of Manager the proper focus that it requires. The reality is that poor management can destroy your business. Today I offer you a mini crash course on what I believe are the most important tips for being a good manager.
When I graduated from college and entered corporate America I asked my brother for some advice and this was his response: “Treat everyone, from the lowest man on the totem pole to the CEO, with respect. You never know who is going to be your boss some day.” I took that advice to heart and found that it served me well in my early days in the plants and then later as I became a manager.
On a practical note, what does it mean to respect your employees? It means understanding that your employees are individuals and taking the time to get to know them on a personal level, letting them know that they are important as human beings. It means that you understand that your employees are people with a variety of learning styles. As a good manager, it is your job to learn how to identify those learning styles and adapt your message to meet those styles. It means that you understand that your employees are thinking people capable of adding great value to your organization if you allow them the freedom to do so. It means the simple things, like showing up and working side by side with them when there is a problem, speaking politely with your employees even if you have an issue to resolve, being willing to pitch in and do the very jobs that you are asking your employees to do when times get tough, and following the same rules that you ask them to follow. If you don’t want your employees to leave early, for example, then don’t leave early yourself. Showing respect to your employees is the fastest route to gaining your employees respect as their leader.
In addition to respecting your employees, clear and complete communication with your employees is a must. By this I mean face to face communication giving your employees a chance to ask for clarification, as well as consistent reiteration with written communication. Communication requires a two-way exchange of information. Murphy’s law states that “if anything can be misunderstood, it will be misunderstood.” Clearly communicating your mission, objectives, and how it affects your employees is an important step in motivating your employees.
Finally, my favorite book on management is a book by Roger E. Allen, Winnie-the-Pooh on Management, given to me by my mother when I was promoted to my first managerial job. Despite all of the management seminars that I have attended and management books that I have read, I still go back to this book for the basics:
“A good leader will always try to make the project that she wants worked on seem to be exciting…That is really part of motivating individuals. Everyone will try to do a better job when they feel that the project is exciting and significant. By being part of something that is important, individuals will feel that they are important—everyone likes to feel that way.”
“Encourage and praise those who are working with (you)…living up to the good opinion that someone we respect has of us is a strong reason to do a good job.”
“(A good leader) treats individuals as individuals…He gives credit to others…An effective leader’s goal is to make his people look good.”
“(Give your employee) an important task to do—many managers delegate only unimportant or minor tasks, which is unfair to those they manage…(Don’t) tell him how to do it… let him decide how to accomplish the task …giving subordinates a chance to learn and develop their own skills and abilities… A manager has to learn that when she delegates, those she delegates to may make mistakes…By making mistakes you learn how to do things right, and you are not afraid to try new things. Delegation…allows managers to multiply their efforts.”
After all, multiplying our efforts is the whole reason for hiring employees to begin with.
Please share your tips on being a good manager in your small business.
When I graduated from college and entered corporate America I asked my brother for some advice and this was his response: “Treat everyone, from the lowest man on the totem pole to the CEO, with respect. You never know who is going to be your boss some day.” I took that advice to heart and found that it served me well in my early days in the plants and then later as I became a manager.
On a practical note, what does it mean to respect your employees? It means understanding that your employees are individuals and taking the time to get to know them on a personal level, letting them know that they are important as human beings. It means that you understand that your employees are people with a variety of learning styles. As a good manager, it is your job to learn how to identify those learning styles and adapt your message to meet those styles. It means that you understand that your employees are thinking people capable of adding great value to your organization if you allow them the freedom to do so. It means the simple things, like showing up and working side by side with them when there is a problem, speaking politely with your employees even if you have an issue to resolve, being willing to pitch in and do the very jobs that you are asking your employees to do when times get tough, and following the same rules that you ask them to follow. If you don’t want your employees to leave early, for example, then don’t leave early yourself. Showing respect to your employees is the fastest route to gaining your employees respect as their leader.
In addition to respecting your employees, clear and complete communication with your employees is a must. By this I mean face to face communication giving your employees a chance to ask for clarification, as well as consistent reiteration with written communication. Communication requires a two-way exchange of information. Murphy’s law states that “if anything can be misunderstood, it will be misunderstood.” Clearly communicating your mission, objectives, and how it affects your employees is an important step in motivating your employees.
Finally, my favorite book on management is a book by Roger E. Allen, Winnie-the-Pooh on Management, given to me by my mother when I was promoted to my first managerial job. Despite all of the management seminars that I have attended and management books that I have read, I still go back to this book for the basics:
“A good leader will always try to make the project that she wants worked on seem to be exciting…That is really part of motivating individuals. Everyone will try to do a better job when they feel that the project is exciting and significant. By being part of something that is important, individuals will feel that they are important—everyone likes to feel that way.”
“Encourage and praise those who are working with (you)…living up to the good opinion that someone we respect has of us is a strong reason to do a good job.”
“(A good leader) treats individuals as individuals…He gives credit to others…An effective leader’s goal is to make his people look good.”
“(Give your employee) an important task to do—many managers delegate only unimportant or minor tasks, which is unfair to those they manage…(Don’t) tell him how to do it… let him decide how to accomplish the task …giving subordinates a chance to learn and develop their own skills and abilities… A manager has to learn that when she delegates, those she delegates to may make mistakes…By making mistakes you learn how to do things right, and you are not afraid to try new things. Delegation…allows managers to multiply their efforts.”
After all, multiplying our efforts is the whole reason for hiring employees to begin with.
Please share your tips on being a good manager in your small business.
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