Planning Archives - TEVO Small Biz

Strategies on how you can Delegate Work

August 16, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

As the manager delegates responsibility to a worker, a manager is still held accountable for this work and ultimately is responsible for the outcome and performance. Due to a manager’s performance and reputation record essentially being on the line, managers must ensure they’re delegating the proper duty to the proper worker. Job matching includes assessing the certain talents needed and revaluating worker qualifications. The step is extremely similar to workforce preparation, in which managers decide which workers ought to be assigned to different positions inside departments.

Communication strategy includes the basics of delegating work. Thus, managers who concentrate upon efficient delegation additionally concentrate upon communicating their expectations and performance standards. Strategy for delegating responsibility requires communication that’s like the worker’s performance management process, as managers possess an obligation to offer workers with the information and tools needed to perform their job successfully — and communication includes the ideal method of providing necessary data prior to and within the process of delegating responsibilities.

Job matching, alongside preparing workplace efficiency, includes an additional strategic element of delegating duties. A manager possesses two fundamental responsibilities: managing his/her department operations, as well as the management of employees. Delegating duties improves performance in workforce management and department functions alike. The main reason for delegation includes improving departmental efficiency. Assigning workers specific jobs are a skills-building process for workers; but, its goal also is to improve efficiency by suitably assigning duties to workers who have the aptitude and skills to meet performance standards and company expectations.

Amongst the best strategies for delegating duties includes recognizing workers for their role in achieving duties you assigned to them. As workers to whom you delegate activities perform these duties well, recognition will be due to the manager and the employee. Workers deserve recognition for doing their jobs; the manager deserves his/her recognition for identifying workers who have the qualifications and skills needed to complete these jobs.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Planning, time management

How you can Hire Your Initial Employees

August 10, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 2 Comments

What position your business should initially fill will vary for every business, depending upon location, industry and the founders skills. Entrepreneurs have to boil down their staffing strategy to a handful of individuals who could get the business’s service or product to market. High-level execs are not typically employed until the business has witnessed some substantial growth. For instance, you do not require a VP of sales or marketing prior to there being a product. Within a tech organization, an acting CEO and a CTO typically suffice.

It is additionally worth stopping to consider: Do I really need to employ somebody? Most services could be outsourced or performed by freelancers. The work might involve manufacturing, accounting, marketing, public relations and website design— even administrative assistants could be employed now upon a ‘virtual’ basis on the Internet.

Determining which duties to outsource, as well as what to employ a worker for might boil down to whether the duty lies within your company’s primary areas of strength, as well as whether this function is required on a consistent basis. Furthermore, vendors oftentimes possess more experience and knowledge than somebody you could afford to employ.

As it comes to whom you should hire, small businesses oftentimes do better with flexible candidates used to close-knit environments. Within many instances, the best candidate could work with a good amount of autonomy and won’t need hand-holding.

It may be tempting to employ candidates who have big-business credentials, yet they are oftentimes not a good match. Within a big organization, there are regulations, rules and processes to perform everything. Within a small business, there oftentimes are no set duties and everybody might do some of everything.

An entrepreneur’s ideal bet for locating workers typically includes networking. Ask for a referral from friends, colleagues and advisers, like your accountant, lawyer, organization members and board members.

Filed Under: Systems that Work Tagged With: business, Planning

What’s the Importance of Time Management for Nurses?

July 31, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

There are a number of tasks which nurses have to complete within a usual shift, involving checking multiple times on every one of their patients, managing medicine for patients, answering phone calls from patients, updating required documents and completing patient charts.

The security, health and safety of patients depend upon nurses having the ability to manage the multiple duties assigned to them. Nurses may do well to discover the time management tools which work ideally for them as individuals. A few might keep checklists that outline their responsibilities; other ones might keep an electronic log of duties, whereas others might have the ability to track their numerous duties in their mind.

Time management within nursing additionally could be improved if nurses delegate specific duties to others, like certified nursing assistants, who could handle a few of the duties for which nurses will be responsible.

A big reason time management in nursing is important is the usually massive patient caseloads which nurses have to manage. They have to assure they check on every patient multiple times within every shift as they finish their rounds. Apart from being compassionate and friendly, nurses have to answer questions which patients have; assure they’re being medicated, fed, as well as provided correct therapy and treatment as required; and see to it that, as needed, physicians are consulted.

The nurses have to consistently check upon patients while additionally dealing with any emergencies or contingencies which arise, therefore the capability of prioritizing is critical. Nurses oftentimes act as a communication connection between certified medical assistants, additional nurses, physicians and healthcare experts like physical therapists.

Time management within nursing additionally is crucial in order for nurses to feel less stressed. As nurses understand what’s needed to do and possess a strategy for doing it — alongside the needed room within their schedule to handle unexpected crises — they’ll feel more positive concerning their very critical jobs.

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: nurses, Planning, time management

Top 10 Social-Networking Websites and Forums

July 10, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 3 Comments

According to the Warrior Forum (which is a really cool place to get good information about marketing and on line marketing) the following top 10 social media are worth watching. I know the material is based on a US sample but Canadians are not that much different in the social marketing arena. I just thought you would find this

Are you capitalizing on social media for your business?

No surprises here, for now.

Filed Under: Blog, Home Tagged With: goals, Planning, seo, social media, social neworking, success, top sites, visual learning, warrior forum

Time Management Methods

June 14, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

Time management skills and techniques are undoubtedly a vital portion of having the ability to achieve the various activities which have to be accomplished within a day. Whilst most believe that it is a challenging thing to do, it is oftentimes more concerning how an individual controls himself. Here include a few of the time management methods that experts employ to achieve what must be performed with the minimum of fuss concerning where the time flew.

Assess your day and be truthful enough in listing the distractions which you have given in to which took up a ton of time. These include the items which manage to steal time out of the day, time that might’ve been well spent planning that report you needed to present tomorrow or time utilized to gather data for the new project your staff is completing.

After realizing where you traveled off track it will be simple to establish goals which assist you in avoiding giving in to these time wasters. Establish an objective that within the week you will not go for unneeded breaks or become tempted to search websites which does nothing to aid you in doing your job. It’ll assist you in becoming conscious of the behaviors to avoid in order for you not to fall for the temptation of wasting time you’ll never get back.

The following thing to do includes sticking to a time management device which works for you. It could be an outlook calendar or computer calendar which keeps track of all appointments or impending deadlines which you must meet. It also can be a fantastic thing if you continually jot down the things done for every hour you spend. Although it could sound somewhat taxing, it could be a big help in ensuring you stay productive. To stay productive, keep in mind to prioritize.

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: Planning, time management

Retirement Planning

June 7, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 1 Comment

With individuals living longer and requiring more funds to do so, retirement planning includes a critical task even for the ones halfway to the normal retirement age of 65.

Placing just a small amount of cash now inside a savings account which serves as your retirement savings plan could pay off later on. The interest gained on cash in a savings account allows your initial investments to expand to something sustainable. Savings accounts are going to offer a place in which you could accumulate capital making a small interest rate until there’s an adequate amount to invest in a reliable security which is going to yield you more similar to a municipal bond.

An additional strong approach which surely can and steadily will build a nest egg includes investing in long-run bonds. On maturation of your bond, you will receive your initial investment back and all of the interest which collected over the life of your bond. That is a considerable quantity of cash for a twenty- or thirty-year bond-money which could offer a great foundation for retirement. Plus, a government or municipal bond is as secure an investment as you might ever make. Purchase one of those bonds now then appreciate the security of understanding that cash will be available as you select to retire.

But, the ideal approach as it comes to retirement planning includes placing funds inside a 401 (k) plan in the workplace or within an IRA that’s opened with an investment house. The 401 (k) plans where the employer matches the worker’s contributions includes the optimal means of investment preparation for retirement. These plans mean any investment is doubled automatically. Plus, 401 (k) plans will further encourage savings due to early withdrawals being accompanied by penalties.

For the ones for whom a 401 (k) isn’t a retirement planning choice, an IRA includes the next best item. Cash placed within this account will be tax deferred and might be tax-deductible depending upon how much is invested every year.

Filed Under: Blog, Planning Tagged With: Goal Setting, Planning

5 Key Resources for Women Entrepreneurs

May 9, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 1 Comment

Posted on Apr 23, 2012 by Emily Suess
Posted in Business Development, Starting a Small Business

There is no denying that women-owned businesses significantly impact the U.S. economy. In fact, according to the Economics and Statistics Administration of the United States Department of Commerce, just five years ago 7.8 million businesses were women-owned, and those businesses brought in a staggering $1.2 trillion in sales receipts. As if that’s not impressive enough, just consider that women-owned business employed 7.6 million workers in the U.S. at a time when jobs were seriously hard to come by.

Women-owned businesses are a huge part of the U.S. economy, and because of that it’s in every citizen’s interest to see them succeed. To that end, I’ve compiled a list of resources for women business owners covering a range of government, private, and non-profit organizations.

The NAWBO professional group was originally found in 1975 and presents itself as “the unified voice of America’s more than 10 million women-owned business.” It’s a dues-based association that represents women’s interests in all industries. The group maintains more than 7,000 members and supports 70 different chapters across the United States.

The WLE is a social organization for women entrepreneurs. It was founded by businesswomen, and it works to help women “fill in the information gap” and “provide a venue for building connections that will facilitate their success in business and in life.” The organization provides a multitude of resources including conferences, business coaching, interactive programming, teleconference and a leadership development program.

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council started in 1997. It certifies businesses owned, controlled, and operation by women in the U.S. The organization serves as an “advocate of women-owned businesses as suppliers to America’s corporations.” It accomplishes this by acting as a liaison for corporate member that run a Supplier Diversity program and women-owned businesses.

Also founded in 1997, the WomanOwned.com site serves more than 3.5 million women entrepreneurs across the globe. The site, founded by entrepreneur Christina Blenk, offers assistance in online business information and networking to help women get their hands on the resources they need to launch, run, and grow their businesses. The site includes a searchable database of women business owners from all industries in just about every country in the world.

The Office of Women’s Business Ownership was established in 1979 and is part of the federal government’s Small Business Administration (SBA). It oversees Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) throughout the U.S. which provide assistance to women entrepreneurs who are “economically or socially disadvantaged” by offering training and counseling to women business owners. Resources include the Gateway for Women-Owned Businesses Selling to the Government and a comprehensive business directory.

In order to succeed, any business owner must maintain ties with her customers, her community, and supportive organizations that provide invaluable resources from launch to expansion. Hopefully, these resources will give you a starting point for achieving your dreams as a business owner. For more resources for women business owners, read: 47 Online Resources for Women Small Business Owners.

Filed Under: Blog, Home, Leadership Tagged With: accomplishment, badass women, development, entrepreneur, goals, performance management, Planning, self development, solopreneur, success, values, women's entrepreneurial support

Crucial Time Destroyers and the Importance of Time Management

May 8, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 4 Comments

A common group of examples of huge time destroyers will include:

Work overload

Unwanted callers

Unfinished tasks

Socializing

Friends

Desktop management

Responsibility vs. authority

Crisis management

Resource issues

Poor planning

Poor leadership

Poor information

Being disorganized

Action chasing

Inability to say no

It’s difficult to manage your time if you don’t make an attempt to see exactly where your time management capability is low. Preferably, this will point to keeping some type of diary of your tasks.

If a time management diary is sustained, personally or in any industry, then we’ll find that, the list, and many more will apply. Several upon the list are very prevalent and most provide more influence than other ones. The first step is usually to comprehend either that they already exist or if they imply a probable future threat. The minute it’s been carried out, it’s then a matter of placing multiple good practices into position to either eradicate them or lessen their impact.

If you’re familiar with the Pareto principle you’ll see that boosting the leading twenty percent may well offer an eighty percent benefit. In other words, we could usually invest eighty percent of our time upon the more insignificant things in life. If we could boost our productivity while we do these top twenty percent of activities, we should increase our overall time management.

As with the example of the inability to say no, learn to say no if the request takes up too much of your time, making it difficult to finish other more important tasks.

How you perform these time management techniques is going to be based upon the situation. For instance, will it be on a corporate level, family level, team level or personal level? The importance of time management will be as applicable to college students as the person in business.

Filed Under: Blog, Goal Setting, Planning Tagged With: performance management, Planning

The Top 10 Ways to Get What You Want Out of Life!

December 7, 2011 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

I have spent the last 20 years researching and working in a field that helps people live their dreams. By assisting people with creating exciting goals, reducing distractions and aligning beliefs and values, I ultimately help them get to the most important part—achieving their goals.

For my clients the most significant aha! moments often occur when they realize why they have been unable to meet the goals they set out for themselves year after year. The primary reason is that their goals are out of sync with their personal or professional values and beliefs. Understanding this can serve as a catalyst for approaching your personal or professional life planning in a different way—a way that will dramatically increase your success rate.

If your goals often get away from you, then the following 10 steps will be very helpful. This list is based upon challenges my clients have faced and learned from over the years. I know it works, and I am only too happy to share it with you.

The Top 10 Ways to Get What You Want Out of Life!

(a.k.a. 10 Key Considerations for Making Plans and Goals)

Make sure your goals are actually yours. They cannot come from other people’s expectations or desires.
Stay out of the past. The present and the future are very important, and the past has already happened. As they say, “It is a new day.”
Make sure you keep your ideal life clearly in your mind. You need to keep a close comparison of the ideal and your daily life. This is the stuff that keeps you on track.
Understand clearly what makes you happy.
Do you know where you want to go in life? This is your life plan. It is really important to have a life plan that resonates deeply with you.
Make sure you live your life to make your personal or professional plan come to life.
Are your goals in alignment with your values? Are you clear about what your values are? You need to revisit them regularly to make sure you are moving in the direction you really want.
Examine your beliefs. Your thoughts become your beliefs. Your beliefs become your behaviour. Your behaviour becomes your actions. Your actions become your life. How about those beliefs? Do you have any that aren’t working for you now? Are they getting in the way of your success?
Never, never limit your potential. There is very little you can’t do, and even that is debatable. It’s all about alignment.
Keep your negative thoughts, limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviours under control.

After reading this list, what are you going to do differently?

What is your first step, and when are you going to have that completed by?

These action questions should follow any new plans you decide on. You will find the whole process much more invigorating once you have adopted the 10 Key Considerations to Making Plans and Goals.

Please share your success stories about how these simple but effective tools have moved you from frustration to action.

Are You Asking the Right Questions?

October 20, 2011 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

As Joseph S. Edwards said, “Great results begin with great questions.”

Do good managers do the work for their staff, or do they lead them to creatively think through dilemmas so that they develop the right skills to problem solve in the future?

I have written about managerial courage and learning agility as part of a winning formula. The third part of that formula is the ability to ask good questions to get great results.

There are many reasons why people don’t want to ask questions. These include…

The fear of looking foolish
The fear that the manager will think less of him or her
An unwillingness to work through the tough stuff
Laziness (sad, but true)
Being particularly good at getting their manager to do their job

What do you normally do when a staff member or colleague comes to you and says, “I don’t know how to do this. I need your help.”? Below are a number of questions that will help you determine the appropriate response.

What are they really asking?
How do you know what kind of effort or thinking they have used to get to this point?
Do they just want you to do their work?
Are they afraid of failing?
In your corporate culture, is it dangerous for your staff to make mistakes?

Regardless of the reason, it is always a good time to start asking good questions.

If you teach your staff how to ask good questions by modeling expected behaviour, you will find that their problem-solving capabilities soar. Once these skills have been integrated into your culture, the impact is phenomenal.

There are two different ways you can ask questions, with completely different results. One way provokes pessimism, stress, anger and resentment; the other encourages problem solving, learning, optimism and collaboration.

Here are some quick tips for avoiding negative questions and for posing constructive ones.

Never start a question with “Why?” This has a strong judgmental overtone, and staff members will often respond by justifying their actions rather than thinking through the process. One alternative is to ask, “Can you explain your thought process in this situation?”
Keep any form of blame out of your question, i.e., “Whose fault is this?” Instead, try asking, “What are the facts as we know them?” or “What are our next steps, and who should be doing them?” These are action questions that will encourage staff members to look for remedies rather than opt for CYA (Cover Your Behind) behaviour that is merely a giant waste of time.

There will still be times when staff members do things that defy logic and drive you crazy; however, allowing those feelings to surface will not benefit anyone. During such times it is best to give yourself a much-needed break and tell the staff member to come to your office in 20 minutes to discuss the next steps. This will give you a cooling down time and allow you to plan questions for holding the person accountable in a way that is productive.

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When has asking the right question(s) made a big difference for you? Please share your stories below.