Successful Blog

Company Meetings Cutting in on Productivity?

by

Company meetings serve a wide array of purposes. That being said, can too many meetings be a bad thing?

Having worked at several companies now over a 23-year period, I have seen a variety of approaches to this subject.

Some companies have had a normal approach to in-house meetings, some have had too few meetings, while others have gone overboard and seem to be meeting on an almost hourly basis, whether through onsite meetings or teleconferencing.

I’ve always tended to believe that falling somewhere in the middle of the above-mentioned descriptions is best.

On the one hand, it is important for your team to know what one another are doing; without occasional meetings that is hard to achieve. On the other hand, meeting too often always leads me to wonder how any work is getting done. Too many meetings can lead to micromanaging and a feeling among employees that their every move is being scripted and watched.

If you’re not sure how often your company employees should be meeting to talk strategy, keep these things in mind:

  • What are you trying to accomplish with the meetings in the first place? – Are they held to share strategies, ideas, ask questions of where projects are going? If the answer is yes to any of those things, then by all means meet. If the answer is no to one or more of those things, then you need to rethink why you’re getting staff together;
  • Where does real productivity rank in your company? – While meetings can certainly be productive, they also pull employees away from the tasks they were hired to do in the first place. If you’re team is having to get together on a daily basis to meet even for half an hour, think about the loss of actual productivity time that half hour means to you and your business. I once worked for a company that required its writing team to meet on a daily basis. In lots of the meetings, we repeated what we said the previous day as far as updating our status on projects. In the meantime, I and some others sat there and thought about the wasted time going by when we could have been producing another article, conducting interviews, reaching out to new clients on the phone etc.;
  • Are we getting the same message over and over again? – Another risk factor with having too many meetings is that you will turn off some of your brighter employees. Going over the same message over and over again begins to lead to some tuning out both the message and the messenger. Let’s be honest, some company folks like to hear themselves talk. While that may be great for them, those listening are sitting there thinking about all the real work they could be getting done while listening to something they heard just a week ago. Constructive meetings are one thing, sitting there listening to lectures over and over again are another;
  • Are we stifling openness among employees? – If you’re having too many meetings, you may not even know it. In most offices, employees are not going to raise their hands when polled to respond yes if the company is meeting too often. For most employees, such a move in their minds would rock the boat, painting them as an uncaring employee. In reality, a good office culture is one where openness and the ability to speak one’s mind should be promoted. Without the ability to speak one’s mind in a professional and courteous manner, you are fostering a dictatorship at work, where one and only one voice is heard. Be bold and ask your entire team if they feel the company meets too often. If the answer is yes, take the time to think about how less meeting time can translate into more production time.

 

At the end of the day, each company and its management must decide what is in its best interests.

In my 20+ years of employment nationwide, I have yet to see the perfect meeting environment.

In the meantime, I’m going to meet with myself and see if I can come up with some solutions for this issue.

Photo credit: Markdenham.com

 

Dave Thomas, who covers topics such as starting a small business, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

Ideas & Infographics: So You Thought Your Mobile Habits Were Harmless?

by

by Mihaela Lica

cooltext443809602_strategy

Getting Smart about Smart Devices

These days, if you are not heavily heeled with smart devices and wired into the social web, your business is probably suffering. This is no big secret. However, the habits and devices you use may have adverse affects on you that are seldom publicized. Does your neck ache? Ever get blurry vision? Read on.

Have you ever thought about just how your body is positioned while using your iPad or other smart device. Probably not, that is unless your eyeballs get so red from bad positioning your friends think you have a hangover. The infographic below reflects on how smartphone or device use can mimic the improper wearing of eyeglasses.

[Click the image to see the isolated infograph and again to see it full size.]

[Created by Mezzmer Eyeglasses]

The advances in mobile technologies and the ever increasing adaptation of them by us poses not only huge benefits, but sometimes very bad consequences. Smart devices, like any tool designed to accelerate or enhance our abilities, should be used properly.

If you are a habitual smartphone or pad user, maybe you should consider refining your habits? Or, maybe a pain in the neck is your cup of tea?

—-

Author’s Bio:

Mihaela “Mig” Lica founded Pamil Visions in 2005 where she uses her hard won journalistic, SEO and public relations skills toward helping small companies navigate the digital realm with influence and success.

You can find Mig on Twitter as @PamilVisions

Thanks, Mig! Thank you also to Mezzmer.com!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Every moment is January 1.

by

A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

cooltext443809558_authenticity

It’s the end of the first week of January. Did you already start slipping on some of those resolutions? Well quit beating yourself up, you’re not alone. The mystical pull of January 1 gets us every year. We take deep breaths, ponder the future, and muster up the guts to make some decisions about our lives and our businesses. And then….life happens.

Here’s the most important trick: Every morning is January 1. Every moment is January 1. You can make a decision right this very second to take action on one of your primary goals. In fact, stop reading this right now and go do one thing that will get you closer. Send that email, follow up with that customer, finish that report, call your grandmother. We’ll wait.

……….if you’re back, then you did your one action, right? If you didn’t, go away and do it now!

…and…see how easy that was? Now keep the momentum going by allowing yourself to have space in the day (or evening) to proactively plan the next day, week, month, in increments you can handle. If you want to wake up on December 31, 2012, having accomplished something big, then you need to chip away at it all year long. And you need to have periodic check-ins with yourself so that you can course-correct if necessary.

I’ll share my check-in secret sauce. It’s a hot pink Moleskine that goes everywhere with me. In the front are the big goals for the year, and then broken-down goals for each month that will draw me closer and closer throughout the year. There is no one-size-fits-all method, but the key is to avoid drifting.

Now go and take the second step. And write down what the third, fourth, and fifth steps will look like.

Feel free to brag about your audacious action in the comments. We’ll do this together.

_____

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Fitch Ratings: Corporate Bankruptcies to Double in 2012

by

Given that 2011 was a difficult year for many in the business community, a recent report from Fitch Ratings will not exactly bestow confidence on many corporate heads.

Fitch recently reported that it expects the volume and size of corporate bankruptcies will double this year.

According to one bankruptcy attorney, “2011 wasn’t a huge restructuring year. A lot of companies found short-term fixes, but when things don’t get better you need a restructuring to find a long-term fix.”

The recent Fitch prediction notes that while restructuring is not a given to lead to bankruptcy, defaults among all corporate bonds will increase to approximately 3 percent over the next 12 months, an uptick from 1.4 percent last year and 1.3 percent in 2010.

Among the better-known companies to file for bankruptcy in 2011 were:

  • American Airlines – At the time of the filing, AA reported it was some $29.6 billion in debt and had $24.7 in assets;
  • Borders Group – At onetime the nation’s second-largest book retailer, the company filed for bankruptcy back in February, with Barnes & Noble reaping some of the benefits from its rival’s actions;
  • Integra Bank – The Indiana-based banker had operations in three states and reported assets of $2.42 billion;
  • PMI Group – The California-based private mortgage insurer was the nation’s third largest;
  • MF Global – This was the most notable Wall Street firm to go down since Lehman Brothers three years earlier.

Fitch believes going forward that businesses carrying a large amount of high-yield and low-grade CCC bonds will be at the greatest risk.

According to the ratings agency, middle market companies (anywhere from $200 million to $1 billion) are most apt to be candidates for bankruptcy given the fact that it is more difficult for them to track down ways of refinancing.

Lastly, Fitch expects the restaurant, retail and consumer products firms to have the worst showing over the next 12 months.

For those businesses, small or large that are looking to avoid a bankruptcy filing in 2012, keep a few factors in mind:

  • Have an ironclad investor strategy – While the first round of funding may be relatively easy to come by, where will the second, third and so on come from? Be sure you have a Plan B, Plan C etc. so that you are not left with gaping holes in your revenue stream;
  • Obtain a small business loan – Small business loans prove effective over more traditional means of obtaining capital. Along with a quick processing time, you can avoid the requirement of providing any form of collateral given the fact the loan is provided solely on the basis of your credit card sales history;
  • Know your limits – While many of us still have that “borrow today, pay back when we can” attitude, it can get a business owner in a heap of trouble. Make sure you know your financial limits as a business owner so that you can avoid digging yourself too big of a hole to climb out of.

No business owner ever wants to hear the ‘B’ word, but being prepared for it just in case is a sound business move.

Dave Thomas, who covers among other items starting a small business , writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.


 

 

 

Empower Yourself!

by

by LaRae Quy

cooltext443809602_strategy

It’s an Inside Job

Someone needs to tell the political candidates that personal empowerment is not about power over others. Rather, it is understanding that you are in charge of your own life.

People who are personally empowered know that happiness is an inside job. They don’t wait for someone else to make them happy and they can take care of their own needs for affection.

You Are Responsible For Your Own Actions

In other words, there is no finger pointing and blaming others for your lack of performance. You are willing to take responsibility for your actions. OK, so now it’s very obvious that most political candidates have no personal empowerment—they are just power hungry.

I make this distinction between power and personal empowerment because they are two very different things and people often assume that to be empowered is to be powerful.

Wrong.

Empowerment is a process where you do something, reflect on your actions, assess whether you made the right choice—and why—and continue on. This progression is a very important piece of the puzzle because personal empowerment acknowledges complete responsibility for self and the choices that are made. It is strong enough to look at itself and say, “Badly done, Emma. Badly done,” and then move on, taking with it lessons learned from the experience.

Personal empowerment is not for wimps. It takes a strong character to look at oneself with honesty and decide what to keep and what to throw out.

Where To Begin?

Life unfolds in phases. As we look back over time, we can see when we felt empowered and when we did not. Each time period has it’s own characteristics.

We all spent time as students when our lives revolved around classes, teachers, and other students. The academic calendar was central to all of our planning. Life as a student is a unique time.

Similarly, we are always in different phases of life as we mature and circumstances change. Life is a series of interconnecting phases. So when we stop to take that honest look at ourselves, we will be empowered only to the degree to which we understand what phase of life we’re in.

Our life is bigger than a single moment. The things that we cherish, the goals that motivate us, and the issues we wrestle with are connected to the period in which we currently find ourselves.

We feel lack of personal empowerment when we are unable to make choices that are always in our own best interest. Indeed, it is impossible to feel empowered if we cannot identify the issues that hold us back. We feel out of control when we try to live up to the expectations of others. We give power over our life to others when we allow them to define success or achievement.

But when we let others generate ideas and solutions for our issues, we are no longer taking the lead.

We become the ultimate follower when we are no longer the leader of our own life.

Dig Deeper Into the Now

As an FBI counterintelligence agent, the first phase of a recruitment operation was to identify the target. This meant collecting as much information as possible about the target’s past and current situation, as well as aspirations for the future. Every investigation starts with understanding the nature and character of the NOW phase.

Here is a list of typical questions used in FBI recruitment operations to help agents get clarity about the issues and specific needs of the person we’re investigating. These same questions may also help you define the phase of life you are now living in. It is impossible to attain personal empowerment without understanding the nature and character of your current phase of life:

  1. When did this current phase begin? Identify the boundary that separates this phase from previous phases. The boundary may be a transition (a new job, relationship, or a new city), an event (marriage, divorce, death, children), a discovery, or a decision (a different career or going back to school).
  2. Who are the key people in your life during this period? What role does each play? Which relationships are satisfying? Disappointing? Why?
  3. What events characterize this phase? They may be personal or professional events.
  4. What are the major opportunities and responsibilities that characterize this phase? How do you spend your time? What interests you most? Least? What is most creative about your life during this phase? Most demanding?
  5. What characterizes your inner state during this phase? How would you describe your spirituality? Reflections? Feelings? Do you journal?
  6. What is your physical state during this phase? Are you healthy? What are your health challenges?

To attain personal empowerment, it’s important to understand the key issues in your life and decisions you are being asked to make during this phase.

What kinds of thoughts, impressions, experiences, etc. came to you during this exercise? What are some key insights in this phase of your life? How do these empower you?

—-
Author’s Bio:

Larae Quy

LaRae Quy was an FBI agent, both a counterintelligence and undercover agent, for 25 years. She exposed foreign spies and recruited them to work for the U.S. Government. Now she explores the unknown and discovers the hidden truth via her blog Your Best Adventure. You can find her on Twitter as @LaRaeQuy

Thanks, Larae!

—-

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

How to Save on Business Insurance – And Why You Need It Now

by

Business owners face a lot of expenses. One way to lower costs is to shop effectively and look for how to save on business insurance rates since every nearly every commercial enterprise needs insurance.

Get the Right Insurance

Business owners need to be aware that when they drive their car, truck, or van for commercial purposes, they need to purchase commercial auto insurance. This can be for one vehicle or for several vehicles, but premiums can get expensive.

Just like people need auto insurance for the vehicles they drive for personal reasons, they also need to purchase commercial auto insurance for the cars they drive for work. Commercial insurance has a different risk category than personal lines.

Hire Safe Drivers

Safe driving is a key step to keeping costs low. If there is an accident when the owner or an employee is driving for the business, the business insurance policy will cover the vehicle and the protect person driving, but an at-fault accident will increase rates. This is why it is important to hire scrupulous drivers and screen them in advance.

Drivers with clean driving records are the best choice as they present less risk and can save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. It may be difficult to find several drivers who have completely clean records, but business owners can weed out those with checkered records as they can raise
business owners’ premiums.

Also, if a business owner has multiple vehicles, it is best to combine them onto one policy so as to take advantage of multi-vehicle discounts. Many of the top auto insurance companies offer great policy options for business owners.

If you have drivers putting on a lot of miles, it may be wise to put them through a defense driving training course. Some insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who attend safety courses. By having their employees in these courses, business owners may be able to lower their insurance rates. Check with your company to see if this discount is available.

Raise the Deductible

As with personal insurance policies, business insurance policies have a deductible, the amount of money that the business owners will pay if their vehicles are involved in a car collision. When the deductible is higher, the insurance company will lower the insurance premiums. However, Business owners must be sure they have the funds available to pay the deductible if their drivers are involved in a vehicle collision before they choose one that is too high.

Consider Different Payment Options

By choosing the right payment options, business owners will save a lot of money on their insurance premiums. First, they can opt to pay their premiums all in one sum rather than on a monthly basis. This option helps them save on the administration fees the insurance company charges for month-to-month payments.

Business owners will receive up to a 10 percent discount from some insurance companies for paying their premiums up front. If business owners find it more affordable to pay their premiums by the month, they may be able to save on the administration fees if they sign up for electronic payments. This option also prevents them from being susceptible to having to pay late fees because the amount will be debited from their bank accounts on a set date.

What’s stopping you from having the right insurance for your business?

—-
Author’s Bio:
Jason Nelson writes about driving safety tips and how to save from top auto insurance companies at BestCarInsuranceCompanies.net.

Thank you, Jason! Great information!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!