Expert Advice
Expert Answers
Re: What kind of relationship should the customer service team have with the rest of the company?
Monday Feb 1, 2010I hear you - and I see what you see. This keeps me committed to finding organizations who know they want better but are looking find out how to achieve it, and to speak to organizations who don't know they could have better until someone lets them know.Re: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Monday Feb 1, 2010One best practice I subscribe to I learned from Intuit: Follow your customers home. When you “speak” with your customers you get one level of feedback. But, if you follow them to their home or to wherever it is that they use your product you get anRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Monday Feb 1, 2010The best practice I admire is measuring the expected ROI (return on investment) on every initiative. Whenever I or any of my colleagues consider a new business initiative, we make certain to carefully measure the expected gains and weigh them againstRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Monday Feb 1, 2010Leadership that's in touch with the regular folks and customers. I see so many situations where executive management live in mahogany row without any real sense of what's going on in reality. Like what's been going on in Washington D.C. for aRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Friday Jan 29, 2010Jeff, This just in! Here's a link to an article I wrote for Vistage with 10 great questions to learn about decision-making abilities. RussRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Friday Jan 29, 2010Jeff, Examples of companies that do a good job of interviewing incoming talent relative to decision-making ability are difficult to identify. General Electric, for one, is very thorough in their process. I worked as an adjunct instructor there for aRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Friday Jan 29, 2010Get clear on what winning looks like! Most individuals and organizations are running fast today. But what race are they running and how will they know if they win? If you are not clear on winning, your energy is highly likely to get diverted intoRe: What is one management "best practice" that you admire at your company, or someone else's?
Thursday Jan 28, 2010One best practice idea, eh? Just one? OK, here it is: Evaulate every new employee's decision-making ability. Sounds easy enough, right? Nope--it's not. Case in point: Let's disect Dustin's clever, while textbook, enticement with a monetaryRe: What kind of relationship should the customer service team have with the rest of the company?
Thursday Jan 28, 2010Jacqueline - It comes from the mindset of the organization's leadership. Here are a few examples of those who do it well (though most of the best ones you never hear about because they have easily incorporated it into their culture and live itRe: How can we protect our gadgets from an IT standpoint while employees are traveling?
Tuesday Jan 19, 2010How much time do you have to discuss this? ;-) Out of sight, out of mind tends to be the mantra with a mobile workforce. The assumption is mobile employees will do the right things to protect their mobile devices. That's probably true... most of
When Credit is Tight, 'Factoring' Can Help
by Gary Honig Monday Feb 8, 2010There are many types of commercial financing available to business owners. The most notable would be a term loan or line of credit from an institutional bank. But due to current economic conditions, banks may be unable to provide financing to certain businesses. Luckily, business owners are turning to an alternative for working capital called “factoring.”
The Pros and Cons of Facebook for Small Business
by Ira Wolfe Monday Feb 8, 2010A fear of Facebook by the business community and especially senior management is simultaneously irrational and prudent.
The Key to Great Employee Performance: Play to Strengths
by Jay Forte Monday Feb 8, 2010New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls great employees “untouchables” — they add significant value to become untouchable from layoffs.
4 Must-Reads About Computer Security
by Kevin Beaver Monday Feb 8, 2010Here are some articles I've written recently which cover storage security, laptop and mobile security and encryption — all of which likely affect your business:
Health Care Reform: Too Little, Too Slow
by Bruce Phillips Monday Feb 8, 2010Where does President Obama's call for a bipartisan meeting to jump-start stalled health care legislation leave small business owners? Still twisting in the wind.
The Business Lesson in Scott Brown's Facebook Strategy
by Ira Wolfe Friday Feb 5, 2010Management can learn a few lessons why they need to move quickly and adeptly at integrating social media into their everyday communication strategy by reviewing current events. Just a few weeks ago, little-known Scott Brown beat heavily-favored Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts race for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, held by Democrats for 47 years. While the recession and Obama politics contributed to Brown’s win, they don’t account fully for his meteoric rise to Washington.
A $5K Tax Credit Doesn't Work Without Health Care Reform
by Bruce Phillips Thursday Feb 4, 2010President Obama wants to give a $5,000 tax credit to every small business that creates a new job. Meanwhile, health care reform or no, medical insurance premiums are rising. What kind of incentive is that for an already-struggling business to expand its payrolls? Therein lies the small business conundrum amid the great jobs creation debate. What good is $5,000 when health care costs are sucking away at any savings?
Who's Hiring Right Now
by Ira Wolfe Thursday Feb 4, 2010A few weeks ago, I predicted that job growth won't come from one company rehiring 10,000 laid-off employees, as has happened in the past. Instead, I said to watch for 10,000 small businesses to hire one employee. Well, I was wrong...sort of.
How to Protect Against Your Biggest Security Threat -- Your Employees
by Kevin Beaver Thursday Feb 4, 2010As a small business manager, have you thought about the importance of security policies that outline what your employees can and cannot do on company computers? After all, there is a real insider threat you cannot ignore. When all else fails, you've got an incident response situation on your hands. Interestingly, all three things are often overlooked — sometimes intentionally.
2 Signs Your IT Manager Needs to Go
by Kevin Beaver Thursday Feb 4, 2010I just read Jay Forte's great post, "Checklist: Are You Settling for Second-Place Employees?," on his Power Performance blog on Bizmore and thought...Great, I'm not the only person seeing this!
