Professional development

I’ve spoken before about ensuring that you engage in training your staff internally well and often. However one of the things that many small and medium-sized businesses fail to do is adequately provide opportunities for their senior staff and managers to engage in professional development. Such courses are often viewed as merely a distraction to the running of the business.

The reality is quite different. Staff who feel engaged tend to stay longer and by ensuring that they have external training you continue their personal development and in doing so increase both their loyalty and propensity to stay with the company.

So what are some courses that you could possible consider for your staff, broadly that is as each of your professional development bodies will be locally based. Here are the three broad categories of training that I’ve seen my clients engage their staff in. I’ve also included some suggestions and reasons why you might attend such courses.

1. Industry based courses. These are often a good idea for your staff that you feel have a strong understanding of your organisation’s processes but would probably benefit from understanding the industry to further their career development.
2. Function based courses. If you have an internal legal council perhaps a new legal course. Alternatively maybe you need to send your human resources department staff on new legislation and regulation training. Perhaps you need to send your internal IT personnel on a training course with your biggest IT / COmputer supplier.
3. Process training. Your organisation will have its own processes. BUt these are not always the best practices in your industry. It’s something that you need to be aware of and as such make sure that you are sending your staff out to new process courses. Updating your communications, human resources, meeting and sales processes can be vital to long-term growth prospects. These ideas will have to come from outside your organisation ultimately.

Make sure that you’re always developing your staff. It adds to their motivation and ultimately will reward your company in their increased ability and level of enthusiasm.

Til later.

The Lad.

Office kit out and furniture

There is something to be said for not purchasing your office furniture. It is an age-old problem as a small company. Your keen to give the impression to your new customers / clients that you are established, you have presence and a large office, even if it’s a smaller space. So naturally you want some expensive / trendy looking furniture. Something only these types of companies would have. That’s a great start. Looking professional is important, but here are 4 reasons why you shouldn’t go out and buy this furniture, but rather rent it:

1. Moving. If you move your furniture may not suit your new premises. You will have great furniture for your old premises but will just have to spend again when you arrive at the next one. There is also no guarantee that the incoming tenant on your old place will want your furniture.
2. Outlay. For a small business this type of kit out can be extremely expensive. As an upfront cost when you have a rental alternative it is more prudent to keep your cashflow tight. At least initially.
3. Get your landlord to pay for it. Sometimes for signing a longer lease, especially if you love the place and aren’t going to grow that large (at least initially)  then the landlord will purchase the furniture for you. You won’t be able to take it with you but you will have what you want.
4. Going bust. I am never one to think negative, but the reality is that not all business ventures succeed. Furniture doesn’t hold its value well. One mans treasure is another mans trash in this instance. Worse you may have borrowed or paid on credit to buy it.

So what’s my advice? Definitely hire, at least when you are starting your business. To help you on this path here are 5 questions that the BRW highlighted recently (Jan 21 – 27 Edition) to ask office equipment hire companies to make sure that you get yourself a good deal:

• Are delivery installation and collection costs included?;
• Is on-site technical support available in and out of normal business hours? (if you are kitting out with CPU’s as well);
• Can equipment (or furniture) be upgraded during the rental period?
• What flexible payment plans are offered?
• Can the vendor provide custom-designed hire furniture? (This can mean you have your ’special touch’ not just generics, but still don’t have to buy)

Hope this helps you down the path of setting up your office.

Til later.

The Lad.

Ensuring openess

The best business owners will always ensure that they are open to new things and new people. One of the things that always amazes me is that business owners become stuck in a rut with their business and don’t find the time to go to networking events or even talk to new people, regardless of their worth to their business. This shows an extreme lack of foresight on the business owner’s part.

Ensuring your openess as a business owner has many advantages:

1. Provides new business. Meeting new people by being open will always bring new business. Maybe not immediately but I guarantee you it will in the long run.
2. Realisation of problems. Sometimes if a business owner shuts themselves in their office they can be immune to realising that their business actually has a problem. If you maintain an open door policy you are more likely to spot problems with your business than being shut off to new information.
3. New solutions. Sometimes your products and services can go further than you think. However if you are not aware of what your sales and development teams are doing, not only can they sometimes work against each other, you may also miss the chance to capitalise on something that they come up with beacuse you dismiss it too easily.
4. Fostering culture. If you as the top manager are open with your employees in your communication, and open to listening to them you are in a position to foster a strong company culture. What this can do is assist in your company attracting the best staff and retaining them as well. Being the HR envy of your competitors is somethign to relish, so it would be wise to try to engage in this type of behaviour.

Hopefully these tips will encourage you to foster an open atmosphere in your business and ensure that you remain open every day to new ideas.

Til later.

The Lad.

Compromising staff

One of my biggest bug bears is offering your suppliers or clients jobs. It is something that creates problems time and time again. In the interests of furthering your relationship with an individual vital to your business, it can involve bringing them on board if you think that they are worth it. However the hiring of such a person is fraught with problems.

Here are the problems that can often be associated with doing this:’

1. Conflict of interest. If the person you hire has such in-depth knowledge of the other company you may have a conflict of interest that while it is easily overcome in the interest of profits, can impact the ethical nature of your company. Something for you to decide.
2. Anti-competitive. You may be break your country’s laws. You need to check whether this may be seen to be colluding.
3. Breaking contracts. You could be breaking either Service Level Agreements with your suppliers or you could be breaking the contractual agreement between that person and their company.
4. Damaging your companies’ relationships. Often when you pinch a great employee you damage the relationship with the company you are dealing with.

So what are some of the solutions to either curb or manage the situation, if you are determined to take the person onboard.

• Always check contracts. Check both yours and the person’s legal obligations before doing anything, and before even offering anything.
• Confirm with the other company. Sometimes if you really want an employee for their capabilites the best thing is to tell the other company. They may ask for say 6 months gardening leave so that the employee can cool from their current job and not take any urgent / related knowledge straight to your company.
• Salary / package agreed. NEVER tempt and employee away without agreeing terms first. If they don’t get what they want they won’t leave but if you get them away from their company and then screw them the result can be worse if they bad mouth you to the other company and then leave yours as well.
• Don’t hire around contract time. Hiring around contract negotiations is fraught with danger. Don’t do it. Leave it alone and wait at least 3 months after. That’s my rule of thumb.

Hopefully these tips can help you navigate the dangerous path that is hiring staff of another related company whether a supplier or customer.

Til later.

The Lad.

Equipment maintenance

It’s something of a bug bear I always have with my clients regarding their equipment. It’s imperative that you have a strong-willed, well-organised and devoted equipment manager. With the right equipment manager at the helm:

• Your equipment will last longer, preventing unnecessary replacement costs;
• Your equipment will perform better, ensuring that you give 100% to your clients and end up with the right result for your work;
• You will pay less down the track for accumulated maintenance; and
• In the event that you choose to sell some of your equipment you will maximise your re-sell value.

So what are some of the things that you can do / make sure that your equipment manager is doing / has done to keep your equipment in good working order?

1. Train your people. Make sure that all your people are trained in maintaining, or at least being aware of all the facets of your equipment and their potential problems. This way you will get your bad news earlier than later if there are problems.
2. Software / registers. Make sure that you have the registers and programs / software for your staff to keep track of all your equipment maintenance. If you aren’t logging your maintenance then there is no history for your employees to look at / refer to if there are recurring problems.
3. Regular rather than when it’s broken. Preventative maintenance will always cost less than restorative maintenance. Make sure that equipment, especially vehicles, are serviced regularly. You might think that there is no need / you are getting fleeced but you will save money down the track as a result.
4. New items may be necessary. Make sure that you buy new equipment / modifications if they are necessary because often these will improve the performance of your equipment or even improve the maintenance required for your equipment overall.

Hopefully these tips will help you make sure that your equipment is in tip-top shape and performing for your business.

Til later.

The Lad.

Making your IT default

There is something to be said for basing your IT systems around the defaults that are on offer by a number of hardware and software providers. Recently I was talking to a client who has been having consistent IT problems leading to extensive replacements and a consistently large maintenance bill each month. When I looked a bit closer at the systems they had in place and discussed them with their provider I realised that the systems they had were overly complicated and archaic in structure. And as a result they were essentially incurring unnecessary expenses to maintain it.

If you are looking at your IT systems this year and thinking about an upgrade or a complete replacement here are some reasons why you should not deviate from (or at least not very far) the norm:

1. Maintenance. Unless you’re an IT guru, then you are probably like the rest of us which means that you have a good understanding of IT but if things get a bit hair you are going to come unstuck. You need to think about the cost of maintenance of a complicated IT system if you cannot repair it internally or at least over the phone.
2. Cost of upgrade. Upgrading a customised system is often more expensive and sometimes the simplest of upgrades for a default can throw a spanner in the works of your system. Often as well you cannot avoid upgrading as your old system may be left behind, unsupported, so you always have to think a hardware and software generation ahead.
3. Ease of use. If your workers are wasting time dealing with your IT system then they are spending their time performing ineffective tasks. Lowering your productivity due to IT system complexity is easily solved… clean it up!
4. Communicating over the internet. It’s very interesting to note that whenever I’ve looked into a company’s IT systems I’ve found that those but often the systems that are set to default settings very often find it easier to use their programs and software over the internet. The internet just seems to be one of those beasts that prefers not to be disturbed with customised settings, whether it’s modems, IP’s, online databases, hosting etc. Keeping your system to a default can make your online interactions that much easier and more effective.

These are just a few of my thoughts. Obviously every business and its operational systems are unique, but that doesn’t mean necessarily that your IT systems have to be as well. Just something to think about in the new year if an upgrade or replacement is on the horizon, or even if you want to strip out some costs from your business.

Til later.

The Lad.

Consolidation of products and services

Welcome to 2010 ladies and gents. It’s fitting that the first blog of the year. Consolidation of the products or services in your business is something that you should think about in the new year. With the right analysis of your business you will both save money and drive costs down. You don’t always have to cut divisions however as hard as it may often be the only way to reduce your costs.

In analysing your business you need to consider the following:

1. What is your lowest profit margin business?
2. Where is the majority of your business’ overhead spent?
3. What are your various products and services sales growth rates?
4. In your industry what are the potential growth areas?

From these you should be able to determine your business’ problem areas for closer analysis. After further detailed analysis determining that a product, service or a division must be consolidated, you will need to address the problem,. Here are some plans of action you can take to extricate these areas of your business:

• Sale of business. If the product or service represents an entire portion of your company you may consider selling it including the necessary administration and assets. If this your plan you may need to engage external consultants to assist you with the process.
• Closure. Often a division needs to be shut much like ripping off a band-aid, quickly and cleanly. In closing a division quickly it may be the case that you need to make some redundancies and remove some assets
• Managing out. You may need to manage certain areas out of your business rather than close them immediately the reason being

Til later.

The Lad.

Communicating bad news

No one likes to hear bad news. Least of all second-hand. One of the most important cultural changes you may have to instill in your organisation is that of communicating bad news effectively and upfront. I have spoken previously about the importance of strong communication within your organisation but not specifically on the topic of bad news.

There are three main reasons why communicating bad news straight away, without judgment and with clarity is imperative:

1. Remedial actions. If these are required they can be taken sooner and ’stem the bleeding’ if necessary.
2. Less personal. Things are always less personal and less blame is attached if they are raised sooner.
3. Strengthening your culture. A culture where mistakes / errors simply need to be acknowledged and corrected rather than punished will be a more creative and inventive company.

So what are some of the things you need to keep in mind when communicating bad news you ask? Where here are a list of pointers. Another great reference is Bill Gate’s book Business @ the Speed of Thought if you want further discussion on the topic as this was always one of his bug bears.

Thoughts on communicating the news:

• Don’t do it by email. Usually in person is far more effective and will get a result / response faster if you require one. People who are confronted by an email that has bad news can easily avoid the topic by deleting it.
• If it’s a mistake avoid having too many people there. Make sure that you don’t embarrass people there, have all the people there at the discussion you need, and remind everyone always that there’s no blame or punishment attached you just need a solution discussion.
• Solutions not finger-pointing. It’s something I just mentioned, when delivering bad news, discuss only the problem, its causes, effects and solutions. Do not get into apportioning blame. That’s a disaster zone.
• Don’t assume. Do not under any circumstances assume people always know everything about what is going on in your business. At the end of the day your business will usually be extremely busy and people may only be across a portion of what they really need to know to have a clear view on the matter.
• Document it. You or your other managers may not be in the business always and forever. If the company has gone through a problem and solved it, document it. Make your life easier in case the same thing happens again. Many people had seen a Recession prior to this one, few had any documents / plans relating the last one and how to deal with it. They had to start all over again!

Hopefully these few pointers can assist you with delivering bad news in your organisation and strengthen your business internally as a result.

Thanks for reading in 2009, look forward to a great one in 2010.

Til later.

The Lad.

Mini refresher to business plans

With 2010 fast approaching it seems fitting that you sit back and take a brief look at your business. For those retailers and urgent service providers now might not be the time you may actually have to wait for the fireworks to sit down and take a breather, and for some until February after the post-Christmas sales. But whatever you do, don’t miss out on the chance to write down some targets that your firm must meet.

If you will allow me, I will not address budgeting, I’ve spoken about this before and you will have your own budgets for both revenue and cost that you’ve developed. Stick with your more detailed analysis, in these idea / goal sessions target less quantifiable goals that will impact your cost and revenue.

Here’s some tips on how to sit down and get it done:

• Sit down in a room with the key planners – usually your top 3 – 4 people
• Pull out the list from last year (if you have one) and tick off the ones you got done
• Look at the ones you didn’t. For those of you without a list from last year, write down together all the things you didn’t get done that you wished had happened in 2009. Big goals, like winning a new contract with a large client, or opening a new store or manufacturing facility.
• Write down the reasons why you didn’t get it over the line – maybe you just lost the tender to a competitor, but write down why, was it cost to your client, communication what was it that mean you didn’t achieve your business goals
• Now write down any of these goals that are still open. Also write down 5 other big goals for 2010
• This is your list to flesh out.

But first what is a big goal? Well it’s up to you but I like to think of these as things that cannot be achieved by one person. If one person can get something done, it doesn’t require budgeting, planning, training, communication or execution. You might use these, but it won’t necessarily require them. If you need more than one person you will need these.

Once you’ve written them down, write the following underneath each of them:

1. Who is involved from leadership? Which of the 5 of you is the one in charge? Are you all comfortable with that?
2. What amount of money is allocated and is it enough as far as all are concerned? I said no numbers but raise this now not later as people who wait on a project knowing that it doesn’t have enough money behind and is doomed to fail are really management cowards. Stand up and be heard.
3. When is it supposed to be achieved? You need a benchmark if you’re hitting November/December and it isn’t done but was supposed to be by September, you might have a problem.
4. Are you aiming too high? You may have to tone it down, perhaps it would be better to go with the first step towards this big goal as it may be a big goal itself!
5. Team up. Write down the optimal team of people from within your organisation to execute this goal and agree with the leader for this team that they will have some time out each week or month to achieve this goal next year.

Finally, have a toast to the next year. It’s important to be optimistic, 2009 is likely to have been a hard year so you need to give the managers the good news that you are heading into 2010 and it’s looking from all accounts like a bright year head.

Personally the big hairy goals I’m exploring at the moment include The Business Lad website so you guys can have access to more articles, plans, RSS and Podcast feeds and the like. It’s a scary endeavour but like I said above, small and medium-sized business owners are like thrill seekers and we play for keeps regularly!

All the best with your planning, hopefully these tips will help you out with some easy no-nonsense planning for 2010.

Til later.

The Lad.

Content Trust

Many people have been obsessed with Web2.0 and having a presence both in terms of Social Networking whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blogging, Vlogging, Podcasting you name it people are jumping on the bandwagon of interactive web-based media, which we are coming to love as Web 2.0. And I love it to!

The problem that some people are facing / will face going forward is that their content does not breed an inherent trust. We’ve always known the dodgy website when we’ve seen one. Something with poor graphics, something that hasn’t been updated for a while or has shonky testimonial footage. While these are obvious you need to be careful that you content doesn’t get lugged in with these sad attempts.

If you carefully craft your online presence, provide a solid information foundation as well as useful industry links and assistance then your company will be well on the way to building what I like to call “Content Trust”. Without making it too much of a fad phrase, here are some simple things that you can do to build Content Trust, which I like to think goes hand in hand with building your company image:

1. Don’t try to just sell. If you are just trying to sell products or services you need to be upfront, don’t just try to put up some crappy content to cover over your sales. If you really want sufficient content to impress your viewers you have to create / maintain it.
2. Variety of media. It’s important that you give your followers some variety. With an interactive and adapting Web 2.0 presence that may include text, audio, video, downloadable forms etc you can create a myriad of online interactions. This variety can break up the content you have and make it interesting and relevant to every visitor depending upon what they respond to.
   Small plug – It is something that The Business Lad is working on as well (Podcast and Resources Vault – in the New Year).
3. Content reference. If your piece is simply your opinion then don’t attempt to state it as fact. People are still interested in content that is your opinion but if you are using statistics avoid making them up please! Use references, they don’t have to be the perfect authority but usually credibility of your numbers if you choose to use them is important in building content trust.
4. Associations and groups. The best thing you can do for your content trust in your particular area of industry is to have an industry presence whether it’s an industry association or other like minded online presences in your space. If you converse through Web 2.0 within your industry and gain acceptance here this is going to be vital to building your content trust.

Hopefully these 4 tips will help you to build some content trust. If you are an expert in your field you will know to focus on these, if you are beginning in the space, at least in an online format then hopefully these pointers will be of use.

Til later.

The Lad.