Business Improvement

Archive for November, 2010

How To Fire An Employee Better Than Donald Trump

In the words of Donald Trump “You’re Fired!” As a small business owner with employees there may come a time when you have to terminate someone’s income stream. It’s that dreaded day that some of us hope will never come. How can you prepare yourself and your company for the changes that will be taking place?

If and when the firing time comes be prepared by following these 9 steps:

1 Check your past feedback.
What are your relations with this employee? If on decent terms don’t fire immediately rather give them time for change under a new way of doing things to your standards.

2 Give them a warning.
Give the employee an ultimatum to change else risk loosing their job. 30 days is a fair time span for change.

3 Focus on specific behavior goals.
What do you want them to change about their performance? Be prepared for your meeting with the worker to discuss the issues and ways to fix them.

4 Fire early in the week and never on a Friday.
Nobody wants a worker going ‘postal’ the following Monday morning. Do it early in the week to give them a chance to find another job quickly.

5 Make it short sweet and to the point.
State your objective give a reason if you wish and be done; which leads us to the next step.

6 Do not let the employee linger.
Send them home immediately. Ask them to return at a later time to clean their desk/cubicle out.

7 Ask for a release and give them an incentive to sign it.
This statement should be crafted by a lawyer typically taking an hour to create. This document will protent you in the event of a legal dispute with the employee.

8 Reassign the terminated employee job duties promptly. One person will not stop you from achieving your objectives. Get someone in the spot quickly to continue the normal flow of business.

9 Do not fight the claim for unemployment benefits.
If you do there will likely be an incourt hearing which means time and money. Your exemployee is likely to be awarded benefits anyway and if you say one thing out of line you’ve just given your exemployee ‘Exhibit A’ in their lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Nobody ever said firing an employee was easy. Be the strong leader you are and take action before during and after the event. Now that you are armed with 9 steps to firing you too can confidently say “You’re Fired!

About the writer:  Internet entrepreneur Christopher Brunner wants to help you become more successful in your small business ventures. Read more marketing articles and design business cards online at GreatFX Business Cards.

How To Divide Your Business Work Time

I believe there are two things that will make a small business successful but there are 3 things that need to be done in business. And as an online business owner I know it’s often easier to do the one thing that doesn’t have to be done and unconsciously avoid the two things that make businesses successful.

The first one is marketing: You should be marketing more. I’m sure you’re saying to my “I already to a lot of marketing.” My answer to you is this: If you want to be in business increase your marketing efforts.

A stunning majority of businesses fail in their first year. Why is this? I believe a major cause is inadequate marketing. Here’s why:

So many entrepreneurs get into business because they want to make money they want to get out of the daily grind or they simply think they have a better way of doing something. Those are great reasons to become an entrepreneur. But they don’t guarantee success. Not by a longshot.

When people ask me what advice I can give an business owner who is starting up a company it’s this: Market 100 of the time. If ever you’re not sure what to do market! As you become successful and grow your business other tasks will slowly eat into your marketing time but it should take up the majority of your time.

The second mustdo task I’ve dubbed “Big Think.” This is what makes owning a business fun: it’s the creative onthefly decision making. Perhaps it’s a customer who makes a request and you need to think of a policy on the spot. Or maybe it’s an employee who doesn’t show up one day for work and you have to fill in for them. Or maybe you’ve had a great idea to extend your product’s lifecycle and you want to look into it. You should spend your time on this. It’s important stuff. In the beginning you shouldn’t spend more than 5 or 10 of your time on this “big think” stuff. As you grow you can do more after all that’s what a CEO does! But build your business first!

The third thing is administrative work. It is not the mustdo activities that the first two are. This is where most small businesses fall down. Since it’s the entrepreneur who has to do this as well as the marketing and the Big Think it’s easy to do this. Why? Big Think doesn’t seem productive. Marketing is hard work. Administrative work is easy to do and it’s something you can clearly see your progress and accomplishment. And it needs to get done. But doing it during prime marketing time is the biggest small business sin you can commit!

Make sure you put time into your schedule for the administrative work as well as for markeitng and planning. Believe me if you let your administrative duties fall behind you’re in a world of hurt. It will takes hours even days to get caught up.

Close your financial books at the end of each month so that you can tell how your business is doing. Are you making a profit? Good. Determine what is helping you to profit and do more of it. Not doing so good? Take a good look at your marketing methods to see where you can improve.

Spend your time wisely when working on your business activities. Put the most time into those things that will help your business succeed. Spend less time on surfing the web and “busy work.” Keep your financial books uptodate so you can get a handle on your profits or losses so that you can improve your business.

About the writer:  Jude Wright is the owner of 40 websites. She finds her iMarketing Organizer invaluable in finding her Internet marketing information fast! iMarketingOrganizer.com

How To Choose A Six Sigma Black Belt Project

Selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma Black Belt project is the most common problem faced by students who enroll themselves in a Six Sigma training course. The project is necessary as it helps students learn the practical aspects of Six Sigma implementation programs. The project is conducted either before the commencement of the training program or during the first week.

Identifying A Problem

Before starting a project students first need to identify a problem similar to real life implementation problems faced by business organizations. The problem that is identified and its possible solutions form the base of the project. For ensuring the successful completion of the project students need to select a problem about which they have a basic level of understanding. Selecting a complex problem based on a case study published in a management journal is not recommended as the project requires students to practically solve a given problem.

The information given in the management journal will only help students in preparing the project report and not in evolving practical solutions to the problem which students will have to do on their own. The main reason why use of case studies are not recommended is that the resources that might have been used in solving the real life problem may not be the same as provided by the organization where students are receiving their training. Training instructors also encourage students to opt for a project that is relevant to their domain or qualifications.

Select Manageable Projects

Every Six Sigma Black Belt project needs to have a defined objective. Many students make the mistake of opting for a project having multiple objectives which is often not achievable within the stipulated timeframe. Even after giving it their best shot most of these students are often unable to make progress in their quality improvement projects. The only option left for these students is to either reduce the scope of their project objectives or opt for a completely new project which will mean more hard work and time. In most cases these students opt for the first alternative in order to allot adequate time to theoretical training as well.

No doubt there are students who have completed even the most complex projects but going by statistics the number of failed attempts is a lot higher than the number of successful attempts. Students who are not sure of their abilities should not try to achieve everything at the first go. Instead they should try to concentrate more on learning the basics involved in Six Sigma programs. There will be plenty of time in their professional career for solving the most complex of Six Sigma implementation problems in an organization.

During the course of the project the primary objective of students should be to develop insights which will help them a lot when they become true professional after the completion of the training program. Concentrating their efforts just on achieving the objectives may not help them as by doing so they are most likely to miss the basics of Six Sigma. The scope of objectives in a Six Sigma Black Belt project does not matter as long as students are able to develop a thorough understanding of their individual projects and are able to assess the impact it will have on the quality of the outcome.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Jeanne Sawyer is an author consultant trainer and coach who helps her clients solve expensive chronic problems such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. These tips are excerpted from her book When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving
Problems Permanently. Find out about it and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: http://www.sawyerpartnership.com/.