Casual Articles - Business

Help, I've Been Promoted To A Manager's Role
Supervising people is the toughest of all leadership roles.Supervisors in many organisations walk a tightrope between management demands for higher productivity, a safer workplace and improved customer satisfaction and the demands of workers for higher pay, better conditions and a say in how the work is designed and executed.Supervisors have to plan, instruct, coach, counsel, report, negotiate and prioritise, often with little authority.Good supervisors should make good managers without much help. The skills they have stand them in good stead for management. Right?Except for a few financial skills and strategic skills which they will pick up on the job and with some judicious use of the training budget, they are ready made to move to management. Surely?Wrong.The transition from su

Customer Loyalty: Investing In Relationships
Most businesses are like African baboons – these furry fellows race through the cornfields, picking corn and stuffing it under their arm. As fast as they stuff the corn under their arm, it falls out the back, but they keep on picking and stuffing! By the time they get to the edge of the cornfield, they are carrying one corncob and they’ve left a trail of corn on the ground. This is how many entrepreneurs handle customers. They’re so busy getting new ones that they neglect and lose their existing customers out the back door. Attrition spirals out of control and yet they continue to spend more money on finding new customers.We know it’s far more affordable to resell existing customers than to get new ones. We know that it’s better to retain our customers and to encourage referrals through added value service t

"Its never lonely at the top of an IT organization, primarily because the IT Director is never there." - Bryce's Law

INTRODUCTION

In past bulletins, I have discussed how the corporate culture can be greatly influenced by the "Top Dog," meaning the head of the company. There are also subordinate "Top Dogs" who lead departments and their influence is limited only by what is allowed by their superior. This can be considerable if departments or divisions operate autonomously and inevitably results in subcultures that often operate at odds with the overall corporate culture. This phenomenon is particularly apparent in IT Departments who often have a revolving door policy for appointing managers or directors. This "changing of the guard" can be construed as good or bad depending on the current environment. What is important for the employees in the trenches is how to roll with the punches during this transitional state from one manager to another. Let me give you an example.

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Years ago, we were engaged in a consulting contract with a large insurance company located in Toronto. Prior to our contract, the IT department was in disarray. End users weren't happy with their systems, they didn't trust the information produced, projects were late and over budget, and nothing was documented, making maintenance a nightmare. Things were so bad, that the executives were dependent on a certain systems programmer remembering to run the year-end financial reports (usually

Conveyors
Conveyors, which were initially introduced in the late nineteenth century, are basically systems to move materials and men from one place to another. It could either be for a short distance or a longer span. We have become so dependent on this system that the world would be a difficult place to live in if all the conveyors came to a standstill one morning.Let us have a look at the various fields of applications of conveyors. Henry Ford could introduce assembly-line methods of manufacturing only because of conveyors. They are used in mining, heavy and light industries, food and beverage processing, agriculture, construction projects and so on. They form an integral part of even day-to-day life. Can you think of an airport without escalators, speed-walks, and baggage loading and delivery systems?Conveyors can

o subordinate "Top Dogs" who lead departments and their influence is limited only by what is allowed by their superior. This can be considerable if departments or divisions operate autonomously and inevitably results in subcultures that often operate at odds with the overall corporate culture. This phenomenon is particularly apparent in IT Departments who often have a revolving door policy for appointing managers or directors. This "changing of the guard" can be construed as good or bad depending on the current environment. What is important for the employees in the trenches is how to roll with the punches during this transitional state from one manager to another. Let me give you an example.

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To Get Hired or Get Promoted, Attitude Is The Key
When you're looking to get hired or get promoted, what do you think is your most important asset? Your experience? Knowledge? Skill? Talent?While all of those are advantages that will help you achieve your goals, there's one thing that's more important than all of them combined.Your attitude!I attended a board meeting recently. It should've been spelled "bored." Just about everyone's eyes were glazed over or nearly closed with fatigue as one dull presentation after another was foisted upon the board members, staff and audience.Then something changed.Someone who had never spoken at a board meeting before got up, went to the lectern, fired up her PowerPoint presentation, and totally blew everyone away! People perked up in their seats and listened attentively to her every word. When

on is particularly apparent in IT Departments who often have a revolving door policy for appointing managers or directors. This "changing of the guard" can be construed as good or bad depending on the current environment. What is important for the employees in the trenches is how to roll with the punches during this transitional state from one manager to another. Let me give you an example.

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America's Great Advantage Creating Divergent Industries
The American economy is the growth engine of the industrial world and will continue to be so, as long a steady stream of innovative, divergent products is successfully created. The history of capitalism is replete with cycles of unique, needed advances that exponentially expand the economic base and evolve into completely new industry categories. No country comes close to America in dynamism, creativity and energy in pursuing cutting edge new growth opportunities.Why is this so? Many other countries have a much longer historical pedigree with features of freedom and capitalism as significant foundations of their heritage. Old Europe has been trading, exploring and investing for centuries before Jamestown and Plymouth were settled. The Dutch, British, Venice, Swiss and Spanish have wondrous commercial histories. The

during this transitional state from one manager to another. Let me give you an example.

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Starting a Career as a Mold Inspector
Each year, millions of individuals make the decision to change jobs and sometimes even careers. If you are looking to become one those individuals, you may want to think about a career as a mold inspector. Mold inspectors are important because some mold is dangerous to those who regularly come into contact with it. If you are interested in examining a career as a mold inspector, there are a number of things that you should first examine.A large number of jobs require training; however, some training is more extensive than others. To become a mold inspector, it is likely that you will have to undergo a fairly decent amount of mold inspector training. Mold inspector training is recommended by many, but in many areas it is not just recommended. Depending on where you live, you may be required to undergo training

py with their systems, they didn't trust the information produced, projects were late and over budget, and nothing was documented, making maintenance a nightmare. Things were so bad, that the executives were dependent on a certain systems programmer remembering to run the year-end financial reports (usually late). The current IT Director liked to hobnob with the corporate brass instead of his own staff, thereby leaving them in the dark. This helter skelter mode of operation affected harmony in the IT staff who ran around second guessing as to what was to be done. Conditions became so intolerable that the IT Director was finally ousted and replaced by a senior end-user who was also the most vocal critic of the department. Interestingly, he had no prior experience with systems and computing but was bent on cleaning up the mess left by his predecessor. This is when we were asked to come in.

Remarkably, the IT Director didn't find it necessary to fire anyone from the current staff but, instead, instituted a new organizational structure, imposed discipline, and created a quality consciousness. We were contracted to install the "PRIDE" Methodologies for IRM which greatly facilitated his goals.

To overcome his immediate problem of constantly working in a fire fighting mode of operation, his first project was to document the company's information resources, which was no small effort. There was a great temptation by developers to try to correct or improve the existing systems but, based on our suggestion, they res

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Larger companies have learned that collecting art adds something special to its overall corporate image. An art collection may include art on display in waiting, or general areas. Larger collections ...

As college students have completed graduation ceremonies throughout the summer, have enjoyed celebrations, vacations, and time off, and now are needing to get serious about finding a job, it’s important that they know how to dress for success. Now is the time for tying a tie properly.

Accountants are amongst the most talented people either working for or providing services to businesses. They have huge potential yet so often never fully exploit it. Why is that?

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