Can You Sleep While The Wind Blows? (13 Jun 2006) Let me repeat a story I heard many years ago that has stuck with me throughout my life. The lessons from this fable are many and have been applied to a variety of areas of my life. It recently popped into my mind again as I was thinking about the needs businesses have today for business continuity planning and disaster recovery contingencies.
Finding the Right Way to Motivate Your Employees (13 Jun 2006) Zig Ziglar says that there are three main ways to motivate people in general and employees specifically. They are fear, incentives and growth. Let's take a look at each one.
Making Your Workers Your Partners (13 Jun 2006) There is an inherent conflict between owners and managers of companies. The former want, for instance, to minimize costs - the latter to draw huge salaries as long as they are in power (who knows wha...
Training and ROI (Return On Investment) (13 Jun 2006) Statistics consistently reinforce that the biggest challenge in today's contact center environment is agent training. Turnover continues to be high; new hire costs are on the rise--$6500 per agent! At the same time, losing customers because of bad call experiences negatively impacts your bottom line. What can you do? How do you justify the training expenditure?
Effective Meetings Begin With a Real Agenda (13 Jun 2006) A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map. And a meeting with a bad agenda can be even worse. Here's how to prepare an agenda that works.
The Power of Ask (13 Jun 2006) For Call Center managers, it is not a pipe dream to improve employee moral while increasing productivity. It may even come easy to some to find fresh, new ways to reduce performance problems. Sound like an advertisement for something unattainable? Perhaps try to engage, involve, and connect employees to their work by the power of ASK.
What are Your Best Practices? (13 Jun 2006) Who are your high performers? Do you know what practices are making them successful? Can other team members benefit from their skills?
Are they engaged in discussions about the success of the business?
Partnering for Performance (13 Jun 2006) "The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, 'Go!' - a leader says, 'Let's go!'" - E. M. Kelly
Business Fails When We Do Not Talk (13 Jun 2006) Businesses fail when managers do not talk to
employees or employees do not talk to customers.
Everyone mistakenly believes telepathy is working.
The 10 Realities of Change (13 Jun 2006) I've seen several articles that begin with lines like "the only constant today is change." I assert that change that is constant can't really be called change. It's simply a new reality. It's time th...
Influencing Change - A Guide for Sellers, Coaches, and Supervisors (13 Jun 2006) Until now, our communication rules have assumed that when we kindly or persuasively offer others good information that could solve problems and achieve successful results, or coach them toward making a much-needed change, or even just pitch a product they sorely need, we can expect a positive reception. Obviously, if our communication partner (called Partner in this article) has a problem and we've got the true solution - and we do! We do! - they should take our advice. But they don't.
The Boss Didn’t Understand Why His Staff Wasn’t Reading His Mind (13 Jun 2006) Many people believe that everyone sees the world exactly the same way as they do. This is never true and was the source of much turmoil in Dr. Jacob's office. When the Job Isn't Getting Done "They...
A Tricky Supervision Challenge (13 Jun 2006) Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible adults will assure excellent results. The truth is that while this usually is effective, some people need much firmer limits than...
The Four Key Steps In Hiring And Keeping Top People (13 Jun 2006) An article of 647 words with a focus on: job descriptions, an interview game plan, fast-track training and how to grow and groom SuperStars.
How To Manage A Difficult Employee (13 Jun 2006) An article of 789 words with a focus on: how to address a difficult employee, handling continuing problems and how/when to terminate this employee.
How To Hire Superstars (13 Jun 2006) An article of 817 words with a focus on: how to strengthen the interview process, steps for recruiting within your company and how to use powerful assessment tools.
Factoring Financing: How to Grow Your Business Without Debt or Loans (13 Jun 2006) Article describes how small business to business companies can leverage their slow paying receivables to finance business growth. It describes financing options for businesses that cannot qualify for a loan or line of credit.
Five Ways to Increase Profitability By Doing The Right Thing (13 Jun 2006) Ethics is actually more profitable! Author and consultant Shel Horowitz, founder of the Business Ethics Pledge, shows how taking the ethical high road--and forming partnerships with your competitors--increases revenues and lowers costs.
