Your Business Detective

What Can Save the Companies Who Are Pulling Back on Spending?

Do you need to cut costs and do you feel the effects of other cost-cutting measures and you don’t know where it’s going to end?  You have had 30% layoffs in your company and you lack the ability to think "outside the box"; so, what can you do about it?  Bring together the creative thinkers in your company and ask for their input.  Ask them how you can recover from the loss of intellectual capital, and if that is not the issue, ask them how you can retain and manage the knowledge base they hold.  Ask them what cost saving measures they would recommend. You may be surprised at their answers. 

 

Their imagination may take you in a new direction and generate positive energy for all the employees.  By expanding their capabilities and involvement in the company's success, these employees see benefits beyond doing their day-to-day job. This is just one small step you can take to help the employees who have survived the layoff, and want to help the company get through this downturn. 

 

Make the most of Magnifying Your Performance ^(R)

 

Bonnie Mattick

www.BonnieMattick.com

Become a Green Organization - Take the First Step

Today's focus is giving you ways you can contribute to "thinking Green" in your organization.

You can help your company look at ways to reduce waste, increase efficiency and improve productivity.  One method that is effective is to find ways to eliminate waste and reduce inefficient operations.  This process has roots in "lean" thinking and lean manufacturing - which emphasizes the continuous reduction of waste.  You can begin by documenting the work processes and job flow.  I recommend you use an analysis tool that helps employees understand how they perform their jobs, to get the following information:

• Analyze the work processes with a mind map of the job area 
• List the specific activities and tasks that are performed in order to complete the job. 
• Examine details – materials, supplies, manpower necessary to do the job. 
• Ask the group to brainstorm a list of actions or ideas that can be implemented to reduce wasteful practices.  (paper flow, recycling processes, ink cartridge recycling) or blockages to productivity.

 Being “Green” isn’t just about reducing waste, it’s also about changing the way we look at our jobs and taking action to implement improvements.  The elimination of waste has the whole organization thinking  and acting based on the concept of adding value.

Keep up the Good Work - Magnify Your Performance (R)

Bonnie

www.BonnieMattick.com

Stretch Your Mind

A favororite quote seems appropriate in today's business outlook.  Maybe this will bring you some new ideas:

"A mind stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its original dimension."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

1.  How have you stretched your mind lately?

2.  Once you have experienced something new, how does it change you?

3.  Is that change temporary or permanent?      

 

Keeping a positive perspective,

Bonnie

www.BonnieMattick.com

 

 

Let Lessons Learned Lighten Your Load - Working with SMEs

I recently spoke to a colleague and he was lamenting the lack of project support he experienced.  He blamed the delays of the project on the lack of support from the supervisor of the people assigned as subject matter experts (SMEs).  When discussing his situation, he told me had to escalate the matter to a higher-level manager.  How many times has this happened to you?  What impact does this have on your project? 

In order to avoid having this  happen to you, here are some ways you may consider handling the matter:

1.  Convince the supervisor and the manager that their investment in the project by encouraging the support of the SMEs will pay-off in greater effectiveness and cost savings for the project.

2.  Give them a "What's In It For Me" (WIIFM)  reason for supporting the project.

3.  Have an information-sharing session, so the SMEs from one area work with SMEs from a completely different area, and each of them contribute to the project and learn from each other at the same time.

4.  Ensure the highest level of management has buy in for the project's success.

Take ownership in leading the project while getting everyone "on board".  Placing blame for delays in the project does not lighten your load - it increases the likelihood that you will  have trouble involving those SMEs and their managers in the future.

Magnify Your Performance (R) in all your projects!

Bonnie

“Check Your Emotions at the Door” - The Real-World Survival Show

"Check your emotions at the door" ....Does this statement apply to your company?  If you are incurring layoffs, what is your company doing to deal with the range of emotions the survivors are facing?  I heard a discussion on a TV news show recently and they showed the people remaining in their jobs at a company as victims of the layoff.  These people experience a “let-down,” and “when will it hit me” mentality – some of them are losing interest in their jobs and speaking negatively about their company.  What does it take to turn this mentality around?

In the real world, the people who survive a layoff should take a hard look at their situation and build on it.  They have an opportunity to become a leader and grow within their environment.  If you are a manager of a department and you experience this situation, you may benefit your company by creating opportunities to motivate and guide your employees.   For real-world survival, apply the following steps and support your employees in learning and development:

• Help the employees believe there is value in learning new skills.
• Help them feel confident they can support others as well and share their skills.
• Encourage them to share their knowledge with others and look for opportunities to mentor less-experienced employees.
• Maximize the value of the learning opportunity and incorporate it into the performance management process.

Magnify Your Performance and Get Maximum Benefits,

Bonnie

www.BonnieMattick.com

What is Your Learning Style?

It is important to understand that different people have different learning styles as well as work styles.  Whether you are using technical job skills or functional management skills for delegation and planning a project, a factor that may determine whether the project is a success or failure is having the right learning and work styles, as well as competencies, to perform the job.  Learning tends to be more effective (on the job or in a classroom) if the person is properly motivated.  I was recently asked to look at the work styles in an office environment.  I compare this to the learning styles people use, based on our ability to capture and retain information.  Two types of learning styles are:

 

u    Active Learners, who learn best by participating, sharing with others

·         Involve them in conversation

·         Ask them to share their understanding

·         Develop a sense of responsibility for them

u    Reflective learners, who learn best by reading or listening

·         Set specific goals up front

·         Ask them to individually read and write down their findings

·         Provide key points and ask them to review the details

 

Helping you Magnify Your Top Performers,

Bonnie

 

Carved In Stone – A Step for Moving in the Direction You Desire

"Go in the direction of your dreams", from a quote by Henry David Thoreau. 

How are you living and working to reach your dreams?  Do your goals include personal as well as professional aspirations? 

I recently saw the most beautiful stones engraved with inspirational messages and quotations.  These quotations reflected something about the owner of the stone - he wanted to remind himself of the direction he was headed and what he wanted to achieve.  How motivating it is to see a goal carved in stone – to share with everyone that comes to see you.  See more at www.dakotaclassiquerock.com. When we align our work goals with our personal life, we are synchronizing our aspirations with reality.

Motivational gurus advise us to see ourselves in the direction we want to go, where you want to finish each daily task, so the it becomes a reality.  Let that make the difference for you to reach your goal.

Make a difference today,

Bonnie

www.bonniemattick.com 

"Success usually comes to those who

are too busy to be looking for it."

   Henry David Thoreau

3 Keys to Getting Buy In From a Work Group

While presenting a multi-phased program at a client’s site last month, during the assessment and prior to the analysis, everyone bought in to the project.  We identified changes and improvements in processes that would improve their business results.  During the implementation, it became obvious one individual wasn’t on board.  One employee was unengaged in the process and they were unwilling to provide input to help the others succeed with the changes they needed to make.  They resisted the change in their processes until we gave them some new parameters that let them know there were high expectations, top level management support and follow-through to ensure success for the project.

You can have the best design, the most creative presentation, but the process can be slowed down and disrupted if you don’t have buy-in from the people in the group…… and complete participation by the people at the top!  

           

Use the following 3 steps and you will raise your success rate:

1. Tell the participants of the program you have high expectations for success in terms of value to individuals and to the company.
2. Ensure you have strong management support by linking the project to the priorities of the company -- by defining the outcomes of the project as it relates to the business.
3. Give the participants assurance for follow-through and continued support of the program.  They need to believe that the time and effort they invest will be worth it.

 Helping you Raise Your Knowledge Bar,

Bonnie

www.bonniemattick.com

Business Plan Basics - Are Your Employees Part of the Plan?

While you are dealing with current economic and business concerns, now is the time to create your plan for survival and recovery.  Not all businesses are affected the same way, but we all need to plan for our future.  I recently attended a business planning workshop to help me take my business to the next level – setting specific goals and objectives to help me reach it.   Les Taylor (www.achievement-solutions.com) presented the workshop on the One Page Business Plan.  This is a straight-forward process for examining your business in a systematic way – setting a mission and vision that lead to clearly established strategies, written objectives, and action plans to complete the objectives.

I came away with a lot of great ideas, including the analogy of looking at my clients’ employee strength as part of their business strategy.  If you are faced with workforce restructuring, down-sizing, right-sizing, you may be struggling to determine who to retain and how to continue your business with minimum costs.  One solution is to enhance existing employees’ strengths.

Building an organization’s strength from within is like building a business plan.  Do you struggle with setting objectives for your employees and then establishing action plans to make your objectives become a reality?  Do these objectives fit with the company’s strategy?  Some solutions are to:

• Sit down with your employees and let them tell you what they want to achieve in the coming months;
• Match the employees’ goals with the company’s strategy?
• Create a plan for selecting the top performers who can mentor and coach others to build corporate knowledge base (and internal strength).

Let's make our strategies and objectives meet our goals in 2009!

Bonnie

www.BonnieMattick.com

Magnify Your SMEs to Maximize Success in Your Organization

Are you engaging and energizing your subject matter experts (SMEs)?  The knowledge, skills and abilities of the employees in an organization are developed based on education, prior experience and on-the-job training.  Your SMEs already possess more than 75% of these attributes.  The rest is gained through professional development and training.  The SMEs have the knowledge to succeed – they are the brains and talent with technical skills in your organization.  Involving the SMEs in the process of design, development and implementation of training programs expands their capabilities in the organization.  They then have a greater affect on the business. 

 The SMEs know how to meet the needs of the people who do the job.  Whether the training is to “fix” a problem, or correct a skill deficiency, it must have measureable objectives and support outcomes for the business.   The SMEs have a greater commitment to the process and they gain recognition when there are successful outcomes measured by the bottom-line results.

Magnify Your SMEs Now – and Enjoy the Results!

Bonnie