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Topic: Business Failure Keep overheads low – This is one of the most important rules to follow for most small businesses. Unless you are a Silicon Valley start-up, with masses of funding, money will be tight at first. Most entrepreneurs put their life on the line here -investing in themselves, by using credit cards, or their homes as surety. Remember the statistics we looked at about business failure? Many of them fail because of lack of funding. Keep your overheads tight and protect your cash flow. Staff or contractors It is likely that at some point you may need assistance in the business. There are many pros and cons to employing staff. This will very much depend on the type of business that you have. A rapidly increasing trend is to take people on as subcontractors rather than staff. This merits a section of its own, so I will revisit it later in this module. Suffice to say for now, I would avoid taking on staff in the very early stages, until you ...

Topic: CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS LESSON 6. Insurance The insurance you will require depends on the type of business you have, and the legal requirements in your region. Most businesses should have general liability insurance to cover against legal issues relating to accident, injuries and claims of negligence. If you have employees, you may need employer’s liability insurance. If your Business is selling products, you may need product liability insurance; if you are selling services, you may need professional liability insurance. If the business owns property, you may need commercial property insurance. If you work from home, you may need additional home-based business insurance if your normal home insurance policies do not cover business use. 7. Recruiting Staff This is a big step, so be sure you really need to employ someone and that the business can support the expense of payroll, and additional responsibilities of ensuring you meet minimum wage level re...

Topic: Ten (10) priority  things that concerns us when to start a business. 1 . Getting Customers and achieving sales. This is undoubtedly the single biggest issue facing any business. It has been said that businesses face two problems;- A) Sales B) Everything else. While this seems trite, it is definitely true. If the business has robust sales, then everything else can be fixed. If it doesn’t have adequate sales, then the business is in serious trouble, in fact there really isn’t a business. So the first concern has to be attracting new customers, and retaining existing customers. Developing a “route to market”, a marketing and advertising campaign, and, probably, building a website. The route to market that you choose will depend on your business and your target market. Consider online techniques including search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, social media marketing. Also consider offline techniques such as newspaper and magazine ad...

Topic: Successful entrepreneurs tend to have certain behaviours;- Personal They accept responsibility for their actions. They do not rely on others to take decisions for them, or to make their ideas work. If they have a Vision, they, and only they, can implement it. They have a can-do approach, to business and to life. They often create a culture around them of likeminded people They don’t prevaricate, they face facts, (having checked their accuracy) accept them, and deal with them. They accept failure with the same attitude-they just dust themselves off and move on. And learn lessons from it. They have passion and belief in what they are doing. They don’t procrastinate, they have an idea, a vision, and they grasp the opportunity They are always alert to new opportunities They see problems as opportunities They set themselves deadlines, sometimes audacious ones! And they are not perfectionists. They launch on the deadline with what ...

                            Topic: Motivating Others Today we review some leadership and motivational theories including Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Adair’s Action Centred Leadership. Motivation is an important part of an executive’s job and understanding what motivates people is the first step. From this article, we shall considers some leadership theories and models, leadership philosophies and leadership styles. It also covers motivation, discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Adair’s Action Centred Leadership. As a manager and leader one important aspect of your work is to motivate your team. Some people are motivated to work because they love their job and feel they are doing something useful, others do it simply because they need the money it brings them. In some cases motivating staff is easier than others. For example if you have interesting work to offer and can develop yo...

Topic:  Continuation from previous lesson John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership model is represented by Adair’s ‘three circles’ diagram, which illustrates Adair’s three core management responsibilities: achieving the task managing the team or group managing individuals Responsibilities of a manager for achieving the task are: define the task -identify aims and objectives for the group, purpose, and direction identify and obtain resources, people, processes, systems and tools create the plan to achieve the task – deliverables, measures, timescales, strategy and tactics clarify responsibilities, objectives, accountabilities and targets set priorities ,standards, quality, time and reporting parameters control and maintain activities against parameters monitor and maintain overall performance against plan report on progress towards the group’s aim review, re-assess, adjust plan, methods and targets as necessary evaluate success Responsibilities of a ...

Topic: Team Leadership There are very many theories and models of leadership, leadership philosophies and leadership styles. When we look at Team Leadership, Management and Motivation you will learn about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Adair’s Action Centred Leadership. We also consider how important money is in the management of motivation. Team Leadership. There are very many theories and models of leadership, leadership philosophies and leadership styles. Let’s consider Action Centred Leadership. Action Centred Leadership – John Adair – A model for team leadership and management John Adair (born 1934) developed his Action Centred Leadership (ACL) model while lecturing at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and as assistant director and head of leadership department at The Industrial Society, during the 1960 and 1970s The ACL model is Adair’s best known work, in which there are three elements, which are;- Achieving the Task Developing the Team Developin...

Topic: Target your sources Think about the kind of information you want and where you might find that information. If you want facts and figures about local spending, your local council website might have that. If you need marketing statistics, the major market researchers would be a good place to start. If you want scientific information, think about scientific journals Keywords Your early reading and research will help you think about key words that you can search for further articles of interest. Your keywords should be as specific as possible. Also, search synonyms for the keywords you select Primary, secondary and tertiary sources A primary source is someone directly involved in the subject. For example, a scientist who has made a discovery, or developed a theory. It is research that is collected first hand, and should result in learning something new, so could include analysis of your company’s performance. A Secondary source is someone not direc...

Topic: Cloud Technology Part 1 The rise in prominence of Cloud Computing is an important development which every company needs to take account of, and every manager needs to be aware of its implications. The Cloud itself is enabling business in many ways, but more important is the huge range of opportunities it puts within the reach of even the smallest companies. Many companies lack the skills and leadership to fully exploit this technology. So do you know enough about it? Let’s take a look at what’s going on, so that you will have an informed opinion at least. Most large or medium sized companies will have a Digital Transformation Policy in place, or should at least be considering one, and this will become more important as time moves on. We all need to understand the issues, and be able to talk knowledgeably about them. Advances in emerging innovations are enabled and driven by the ubiquitous nature of this internet technology. It has literally transformed...

Topic: The Negotiation Now we consider the actual negotiation meeting. The opening phase allows you to condition their expectations and gives you a chance to understand their position, even though it may be some distance from their true position. Keep in mind that generally, the more you ask for the more you will get. You can manage the other party’s expectations, but you must be credible. The negotiation will proceed against the declared opening position, so it is important to pitch it correctly. Now we move to opening, testing, moving and agreeing phases. These should flow into one another, but you should be aware of what stage in the process you are at, and alter your behaviour accordingly. When two parties meet for negotiation, they normally begin with the usual pleasantries, and then move on to the business in hand, with a position statement by each. This opening phase is important because it allows you to condition their expectations and gives you ti...

Topic: Persuading and influencing skills We discussed Persuading others – influencing skills in previous lessons. The ability to influence and persuade others is an absolutely critical element of leadership. Think of any prominent politician – Clinton. Obama, Thatcher, Churchill, the key politicians in your country – whatever their politics or yours, you cannot deny their charisma, their ability to put forward an argument and take people with them Think about charismatic leaders of industry such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerfield. Larry Page, Sergey Brin . Their success emanates from being able to influence people, and persuade them to implement their Vision. This is a skill that is very highly prized by business and commerce. Recruiters are looking for people who can lead and influence their teams. Companies who recognise the talent should nurture it, keep those people close to them and harness the power for their targets and their commercial...

Topic: Tackling conflict We discussed Tackling Conflict In The Workplace in previous lessons. A leader or manager will have to deal with difficult colleagues, managers and staff members at different points in their career. If conflict is not resolved and is allowed to fester, matters will deteriorate, performances will be affected. Dealing with a difficult colleague Try to ignore them if at all possible. If not then try to work around them. If that isn’t possible, you may need to tackle the issue yourself, maybe with some assistance from like-minded colleagues. If all else fails you must take the issue to management and let them deal with it in the interest of making the atmosphere better for the team. They will want to ensure performance is optimised, and peace reigns. Dealing with a difficult manager Consider this question – Why are they being difficult with you? Why are you two not getting on? Maybe it is you that is the problem? Is there an issue with yo...

Topic: Employee Engagement Part 2 What makes an employee feel engaged? It is very difficult to generalise, but factors that are likely to make staff feel engaged are a sense of “family”, of belonging to a team or company, of social fulfilment. This is often strengthened by policies that demonstrate the company takes care of their employees, such as good restaurant or canteen facilities, clean and comfortable physical environment, sick time off, medical costs covered, generous holiday time, concern for family if they suffer ill health. It isn’t just financial rewards, status or power that makes employees fell engaged, but a sense of motivation through shared Values and Vision, common mission and goals, loyalty and trust. Salary is an important factor for many people especially in North America and Europe, and there is a correlation between people’s satisfaction with their salary and their engagement. Companies that have high levels of employee engagement m...

Retailing today The world of retailing is a mystery to many people, and it is a complex world. It basically involves buying merchandise, usually from manufacturers, and reselling it to end consumers to generate a profit. Demand is created through marketing, advertising and promotional activity. Profit is generated by buying at one price, selling at another that will cover overheads and leave an amount for the retailer’s profit. In the last century retailing was almost entirely carried out in stores, whether small high street retailers, chain or department stores, or out of town shopping Malls. Retailers offer benefits to consumers in that they are able to purchase small quantities of a wide range of products at commercially viable and affordable prices, usually at a store near them. Online retailing has made store location less of a consideration. But has the drawback that customers can’t handle the product, or try it on for size. They can easily compare the fea...

Topic: Employee Engagement Part 1 What is the business case for employee engagement? If people enjoy their work , and are happy in the work environment, they interface better with customers, perform better, stay with the company, take less time off sick, make suggestions for improvements, and are more productive and profitable. They are more motivated, and committed to their employer. They are focused on achieving company goals and developing the company as successful for the future.They are engaged employees. Conversely disengaged employees tend to take more time off sick, have a higher turnover rate, impact productivity and profitability. They can drag others down and negatively impact customer service, sales, quality, and staff retention. Engaged people care. They care about the company, its image, its profitability, that its customers are happy, that the business is successful. They will go the extra mile without being asked to, whether their manager s...

Management Styles Management and Leadership are often confused or discussed as if they are the same thing. They are similar and do overlap, but there is a difference. The distinction is that leaders have the Vision, define the strategy, are guiding and directing. The manager’s role is to implement the vision, make it happen, complete the task they are given by the leader. They are not expected to come up with changes of overall strategy or direction of the company unless they are in a leadership position too. So although leaders define the direction, they will also need management skills to guide their team effectively to implement the Vision. Management styles There are many ways of analysing and distinguishing styles of management. Everyone’s style is unique, because it is affected by their personality as well as the approach they adopt. For a more detailed discussion on styles, follow the link http://www.managementskillscourses.com/ management-styles/ Let’s...

Staff Recruitment The people are the business, so you want to find and retain staff who are a great fit for the vacancy. How can you make yours an aspirational workplace for top employees? We look at top tips to recruit the right candidate, retain and develop staff to build a strong loyal team which can drive your business success. Learn how rewards and incentives play a major part in staff retention, and that there is scope here for companies to differentiate themselves as exceptional employers by offering a flexible range of benefits. Recruitment Staff recruitment and development are vital to the success of a company. The staff are the company. If you don’t recruit the right people, lead and motivate them well, develop and retain them, then the company will not reach its full potential. Recruitment is the first step. This is time consuming and expensive, and if mistakes are made and the wrong people recruited, damage can be done!! Unhappy staff never perform...