Building Added Value Professional Support Functions

As a professional support function, how can you start to build credibility and really demonstrate the value you deliver to your organisation?

Becoming Successful 21st Century Corporations

What makes a corporation successful? Can we learn from their success? Using the writings of Cascio as a reference, the article reviews the features of the management systems that are adopted by the successful corporations. Corporations that are successful in making profit through people, invariably demonstrates seven common dimensions in their management systems.

Collect Your Past Due Receivables - How Accountability and Responsibility Will Bring in the Cash

You know that cash is and always will be king. One of the biggest drains on small business cash flow is often out of control past due accounts receivable. I have seen business owners try to tackle the problem by cutting off any new credit and thus running themselves straight out of business. There is an easier way.

What Constitutes a Learning Organization

The thinking behind organizational learning.

How to Unfold the Power of Creativity@Work

If innovate or die is a fact, then what should we do to unfold the power of creativity in the workplace. If creativity is a powerful to bring the profit out of people, then we should create the right work environment to take full advantage of creativity and innovation. Managers need to pay attention to the 4C's - Commitment, Competency, Collaboration and Coordination.

Influence Management - Your Fast Track to Greater Impact, Part 1

It's no coincidence that powerful people are very influential. One universal characteristic of influential people is that they don't struggle to get others to do things or to listen to their point of view - they just seem to make things happen. Influence is about changing the behavior of others; in other words, getting them to do what you want them to do in the absence of authority. To understand how to develop more influence, you must first become a bit of a student of human behavior, social science, and motivation.

Nurturing Your Staff in the Corporate Environment

Team building and other corporate entertainment events like spy-themed events and treasure hunts can help develop your team and benefit customer loyalty.

How Policies Begin – 5 Apes Story

Does your business suffer from policies that just are with no understanding or questioing as to why or what purpose they might now serve? This is an interesting story about behaviours based on an actual experiment that demonstrates why we soemtimes do things without understanding why.

Matter Management Reporting - A Business Objects Approach

A strong reporting implementation is vital to the overall success of any Matter Management system, in many cases driving the benefits that provide the ROI for the entire project. Experienced specialists can contribute dramatically to the success of the effort. The reporting design should be flexible enough to accommodate its ongoing success, as active users will constantly develop new questions for their reports to answer. Good reporting will improve the user experience and management utility of the system, raising both data quality and participation among the user population.

Influence Management - Your Fast Track to Greater Impact - Part 3

In parts 1 and 2 of this 3-part article series, we examined four points of influence, including the word “Because,” Reciprocity, Contrast, and Pointing out the Negatives, and what you can do as a business leader to use them to your advantage. The points of influence outlined in this conclusion to the series are Consistency and Association.

Small Business Starting - Finding Employees with Skills to Do the Work

Employee turnover is a problem for small businesses especially if they are experiencing budgetary restrictions. For this and other reasons, most small business owners want to match the right employee with the job.

Small Business Owners - How to Skillfully Critique People

Often managers get frustrated with their employees and instead of making constructive criticism, they go into a rage, which makes them look unstable. The small business owner should never go into a rage in front of his customers, because . . .

Confined Space Safety Policy - The 9 Policy Headings

The confined space safety policy is needed in many industrial and manufacturing settings. Being comprehensive and efficient is key. This article outlines one such policy.

Helpful Hiring Hints

Hiring the right candidate for the position is just like any other decision. The better you can define the desired outcome, the easier it will be for you and your team to find the best candidate to help you achieve the desired outcome.

Conflict - Workplace Warning Signs

Is impending crisis looming in your workplace? Here are some warning signs.