About Self-Employment

My article 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job has quickly become very popular, so I figured it would be nice to write something about the realities of self-employment as well. Since there are so many myths about self-employment (especially among lifelong employees), a good place to start would be to dispel some of those myths.

I started my first business right after graduating college (I graduated in Dec 1993) and have been continuously self-employed since then. The only time I was ever an employee was during college, when I worked six months as a part-time retail sales associate.

1. Self-employed people have to work really long hours.

Many self-employed people work longer hours than employees. Some enjoy their work so much they want to put in long hours. Some set up their businesses in such a way that their physical presence is necessary for income generation. Either way it’s a choice though because you’re the one who decides how to set things up.

Many self-employed people start businesses where they get paid only while they’re working, such as an attorney who opens a law office and bills his/her clients at a certain hourly rate. When the attorney is at home, s/he generates no income.

But there’s no law of self-employment that says you have to start a business that only generates income while you’re working. If you start a business like this, you’re really just creating a job for yourself. I prefer to think of self-employment in terms of systems building. You build income-generating systems that generate income for you, systems you own and control. It’s like you own the golden goose, and it does the work of laying the golden eggs.

So working long hours is largely a symptom of the type of business you create as well as your personal choice. If you don’t like working long hours, you certainly don’t have to.

2. The only reason to build a business is to sell it.

This is a favorite statement of Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited and various other E-Myth books. While you can certainly build a business to sell or to take public, you can also build a business to keep. In fact, it’s perfectly valid to build a business, run it for a while, and then simply kill it.

As a self-employed person, you’re free to build whatever kind of business you want. You’re the boss. If you want to build a business to sell, go for it. If you just want an income source that doesn’t require you to get a job, that’s fine too. There’s no rule that says you have to build a business that’s a monument to human greatness.

Many people enjoy serial entrepreneurship. They start a business, run it for a certain time, and then either sell it or close up shop. Then they repeat the process.

You can also run multiple businesses at the same time. This might sound too complicated, but once you’ve been running a business for a decade or more, it’s not that hard to repeat the process and spawn another one. Such variety can be fun if you don’t overdo it.

3. Self-employment is much riskier than getting a job.

Security is a result of control, and self-employment gives you far more control over your income than you have with a regular job. When you’re self-employed no one can fire you or lay you off. Which is more secure — owning your income stream or leasing it? Ownership obviously.

If you need to make extra cash quickly, that’s very tough to do as an employee. But as an owner who controls all the business assets, you have the ability to rechannel resources to increase income in a pinch. Having control makes a huge difference.

Employees take the biggest risk of all. You learn how risky it is when you unexpectedly hear the words, “we’re letting you go,” while the owners enjoy the spoils of record profits.

4. Self-employment means putting all your eggs in one basket.

Ask yourself this: How many people would have to turn against you to shut off all your income? For employees the answer is usually one. If your boss fires you, your income gets turned off immediately. Whether or not it’s justified is irrelevant — you suffer a total loss of income regardless of the reasons. Now that’s putting all your eggs in one basket.

With self-employment, however, you can more easily diversify your income streams and thereby reduce your risk. You have the control necessary to make this happen. Generating different types of income from thousands of customers is a lot more secure than receiving only one paycheck.

Together Erin and I receive about 10 different types of income, including direct sales, third party sales through distributors, ad revenue, royalties, affiliate income, consulting fees, etc. Even if our single biggest source of income were turned off immediately, we’d still be fine.

5. Being self-employed is stressful.

What’s stressful is not being able to make ends meet, whether you’re an employee or self-employed. But given the same standard of living and income, I think self-employment is less stressful because you enjoy more control. Not having control over your time and your life is stressful. When you have the freedom to say no, you can more easily control your stress.

Self-employment can be very low-stress if you decide to make it so. You can turn your office into a relaxing place to work. You can set your own hours. If you notice the onset of stress, you can take time off to relax. No one can force you to do anything you don’t want to do.

6. The customer is always right.

If you’re self-employed, feel free to fire customers that cause you grief. Some customers just aren’t worth having.

Erin and I have interacted with thousands of customers over the past 11 years, and nearly all of them have been great. But every once in a while, we’ll turn a customer away and refuse to accept any more business from that person. We rarely find it necessary to do so, but it does happen.

I can handle criticism just fine, but what crosses the line for me is when a customer becomes obnoxiously rude, insulting, or threatening. Some people think that if they behave like jerks, any business will bend over backwards to help them. But my customer service motto is: no civility, no service.

If you’re self-employed, there’s no need to do business with people who think it’s their privilege to treat you like dirt. You won’t enjoy having such customers, and you won’t enjoy the types of referrals they send you. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to refer these people to your competitors.

7. Being self-employed is lonely.

Many employees think they enjoy a rich social life when all they do is hang out with their co-workers. That’s fine for starters, but it can get pretty stale after a while. On the contrary I think it’s easier for self-employed people to recognize the need for social activities outside their work. At the very least, this may be motivated by the desire to network and to learn from other business owners.

There’s no need to be isolated and lonely if you’re self-employed as long as you take the time to pursue other social outlets. Personally I love hanging out with other self-employed people. Such people have a certain energy and proactivity that I rarely see in employees.

A regular job provides some built-in socialization, but if you think about it, you’ll see that it’s very limited. An employee can be fired for excessive socializing on the job. But a self-employed person can socialize freely at any time of day.

Self-employment can be wonderful in the early stages of dating, especially if you’re both self-employed. When Erin and I started dating, I would often pop over to her house in the morning and spend half a day with her. This allowed our relationship to progress more quickly, and after three months we moved in together. Sure I didn’t work as hard during that time, but self-employment gave me the freedom to put my social life ahead of my work.

8. Self-employed people have to do everything themselves.

Self-employed people may be responsible for making sure everything gets done, but it’s usually foolish for them to do everything themselves. That would be way too much work.

Erin owns and manages VegFamily Magazine, but she doesn’t do the work of publishing each issue herself. She has a staff of writers who create the content and a managing editor that oversees the details of each issue. Erin designed and created the system, but other people run it for her.

You don’t even have to design your own system if you can leverage someone else’s. I generate advertising income from this site, but the vast majority of ads are served up by Google Adsense. I don’t sell the ads or deal with the advertisers — Google handles all of that. If I had to sell every ad myself, that would be insane… way too much work for me to handle alone.

9. Self-employment is too complicated.

Self-employment can seem complicated because there’s a lot to learn in the beginning, such as accounting, taxes, payroll, legal issues, insurance, etc. It does take a while to learn the basics, but most of it isn’t particularly difficult. Just get yourself a good book on the subject, and you’ll be off to a great start. I recommend picking up a copy of Small Time Operator.

Don’t let the initial learning curve get you down. You only need to learn this info once… and only for your first business. If you start a second business later, you’ll be up and running much more quickly.

If you set things up right, the ongoing maintenance of a business doesn’t have to be a nightmare.

10. You need lots of money to start a new business.

That depends on the business. You can start an online business for very little cash since domain names and web hosting are dirt cheap. We’re talking less than $100 to cover the whole first year.

I used about $20K of my own money to launch my games business in 1994, but I learned my lesson because the money went way too fast. So when I started this personal development business, I decided to do it as cheaply as possible. I spent only $9 (to register StevePavlina.com), and I required that any other expenses would have to come out of revenue. I didn’t make any money the first 4 months, but after 22 months the business is now earning about $9000/month. I’m pleased with this result, but I’m not that far along in my plans yet, so this is by no means the end.

I’m not suggesting that any idiot can kick-off a decent self-employment income for the price of a movie ticket – you did notice this site is called “Personal Development for Smart People,” didn’t you? The point is simply that you don’t need to pour your life savings into your first business. You do, however, need an intelligent way to provide value to people. The nice thing about an online business is that you can create value (like an article) for a fixed time investment, and technology can deliver that value millions of times over without costing you any extra time or money. You invest a little time in the initial value creation, but you get paid for the ongoing value delivery. Technology does most of the work for a cost that’s virtually zero, but you get paid for its results (significantly more than zero).

In contrast to self-employed people, employees don’t normally get paid for their ongoing value delivery. They get paid a flat rate or a one-time commission while their employer reaps the ongoing rewards indefinitely. Employees are very generous to their employers.

Try it for yourself

Hopefully I’ve helped dispel some common myths of self-employment. Such irrational fears aren’t representative of the reality. Of course the only way to really understand self-employment is to experience it yourself.

I’ve met quite a number of self-employed people in my life, but I’ve never heard any of them say that becoming self-employed was a mistake and that they wished they’d gotten a regular job instead, even if the business didn’t do well financially. Self-employment is a powerful vehicle for personal growth, and often the greatest value comes from the skills and self-knowledge you gain along the way. Like many other self-employed people, I’d sooner give up all my businesses than the lessons I learned from building them.

Earn free credits on facebook

Facebook has been working to significantly monetize itself. On the one hand, they are already on their way to becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to online advertising, but Facebook isn’t content to follow the same path to profit as Google: they are now rolling out a virtual currency which they hope will eventually turn into a multi-billion dollar business.

Facebook has been testing its currency, called Credits, for more than a year, but Farmville and Mafia Wars creators Zynga have just given Credits a major new push: they have made Credits the exclusive payment method for most of their games.

This isn’t a small deal. Thanks to the deal with Zynga, which will push Credits into the mainstream of Facebook social interactions, analysts expect Credits to be almost a billion dollar industry in and of itself by the end of the year. Target stores now sell Credits gift cards.

And it won’t end there. Eventually, the goal for Credits seems to be to expand it past the virtual goods market and beyond Facebook to encompass other forms of online transactions through Facebook Connect… a move that could see Facebook competing with the likes of Amazon, eBay, Google and PayPal.

The Ethics of Reality in the Workplace

Q. How do you recommend people handle ethics in the workplace? I have a strong sense of right and wrong and get pretty upset about how often people lie, or behave badly. How can I best communicate my values at work?

A. Start out by realizing that no one has ever been thanked for shoving their truth into the ears of others. Even if you are right, you will receive nothing but hostility for your efforts.

Consider that Truth with a capital t is a lot like the laws of physics. Gravity is true whether you believe in it or not. Especially as you get older, you may not like gravity but it applies to you nonetheless.

The more our "ethics" line up with the underlying laws of reality, the universe or life, the less we have to nag, argue or lecture others. We can quietly communicate our own experience (e.g., "I find it hurts to jump out a second story window!") and then let others find out that gravity applies to them as well.

If you find yourselves in repeated arguments about right and wrong with others, ask yourself if you really believe your own point of view. If you are certain you are communicating a law of life, it is fine to talk about your own experience. Then sit back and let the physics of life educate your coworkers.

Realize that very few people are wired to learn Truth from other people. Most of us can only learn from repeatedly making the same mistakes. If we are wise, we start to notice that certain behavior generates suffering and other behavior generates effectiveness.

To develop patience, consider some of the mistakes you've made, are making, and will make as you continue to explore what is True. For myself, I've noticed that the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. My interest in being righteous, dogmatic or arrogant fades with every year I have on the planet.

My respect for the learning curve of everyone living on the planet with me keeps expanding as well. Especially when people jump out a second story window on me, I wish others were more conscious of challenging gravity. Then again, I have the ability to do a better job at noticing people hanging out of windows above me when I walk.

If you start to more quietly express your own experience with what you currently believe to be the laws of life (your ethics), you are in a better position to find out that you may be right or you may be wrong.

If you are wrong, the physics of reality will educate you if you pay attention to the results you achieve. You can then revamp your ethics with better information.

If you are right, realize your coworkers can't fail to notice that what you communicate seems to consistently be in line with what happens. Your coworkers may decide you have amazing intuition. The end result is that when you speak, people will listen. They will listen because what you express is True.

The last word(s)

Q. We may be facing another round of layoffs, and I cannot get anyone to tell me how safe my job is. The uncertainty is driving me crazy. What do you recommend?

A. Prepare to be unemployed and you will be able to sleep at night. You cannot control what the company does but you can be ready either way.

5 Helpful Facebook Places for Business Articles

Facebook Places has been out just a little over a week now. Here are 5 articles to help you understand its relevancy to your business.

1. How To Use Facebook Places For Your Business

Want to have your own business show up within Facebook Places? For companies that have a physical location it makes sense to have a Facebook Place in order to track the people who are stopping by your store, office, or venue. As such, Facebook has released a new guide for businesses to learn how to merge Facebook Pages and Facebook Places into a single Page.

2. Facebook Places vs. Foursquare: Who Has The Business Edge?

Facebook's unveiling of Facebook Places is an obvious banshee cry to Foursquare and other location-based check-in services. As with those services, Facebook Places allows users to share their location and discover new hot spots by following the stops of people in their network.

3. Latest Check-in: Intersection of Brand Pages and Facebook Places

At this time Facebook does not recommend merging your Places with your Page if you are a national or global marketer with more than one location, like a McDonald’s or GAP. They recommend managing the Places separately and have stated that a solution that will help these types of brands is planned for the future.

4. Facebook Places Secret Super Power: Local Business Location-Based Ads

Facebook had data in businesses before, but the fact that it'll now be able to geolocate them means Facebook will likely build up plans for location-sensitive advertising, tied to which particular shop you're in (imaging a competitors ad popping up when youre checked in, offering lower prices or a promotional discount).

5. Use Facebook Places to Boost Business and Lift Sales

While it's the local businesses that stand to gain the most from Facebook Places, every business should determine how best to leverage the new tool to their benefit. For instance, you can reward your customers who say nice things about your business. Customers who are willing to post pictures or kind or constructive comments about your enterprise might receive discounts on your products or services,

Communicating the Vision

Building trust is all about communication. And where vision is concerned, you have to communicate four critical things:

1. That the leaders of the company are seriously committed and engaged in achieving the vision.
2. That a plan is in place.
3. That no one is exempt from change; everyone is part of the effort.
4. That the benefits are large, and the risk of failure is shared.

One of the important themes for leaders to think about in communicating vision is that it is based on an act of will. Certain assumptions have to be made about the future. the most important thing a leader can do is to articulate the vision, explain clearly the benefits associated with it, and then contrast them to the consequences of inaction.

To lead at light speed is to galvanize people in a single, focused direction. Nothing can be a priority if everything is. To lead at light speed, you need to define what is truly important. You also need to make clear what the organization will not to do and what is not a priority. A nationwide chain of auto parts stores planned to open an average of one new store a month for two years. The CEO told his managers: “We are not considering any mergers or acquisitions. We need to devote all our energy to supporting the new stores.”

In contrast, mediocre leaders waffle on their vision. They aren’t willing to take the risk. They worry that people will disagree. They make the mistake of thinking that people will resent their taking the lead. In my experience, the opposite is the case. People respond positively to leaders who have the courage to say: “This is where we need to go and this is why.”

Four Advanced Communication Skills

The art of communicating authentically is a learned skill. It takes coaching and practice to do it well. Communicating authentically means being honest, open and thoughtful in what you say – and in how you listen and respond to what you hear. This post describes four skills that will help leaders communicate authentically.

Speak for Your Self

Effective leaders express their views directly. They state their concerns up front. One good way is to personalize your comments, taking responsibility for your positions, opinions and values, rather than offering generalizations or blaming others or outside forces. Say, “I feel disappointed about our progress,” rather than, “This group is the pits.”

The advantage of this approach is that it reduces defenses by not placing general or even specific blame on others. No one can argue that you’re not really concerned or that you’re secretly more optimistic than you admit. “I would like us to begin promptly at nine” is clear; “You’re late again! You hold us up every week” is guaranteed to provoke a defensive reaction.

Another way people hide their real positions is by burying them in questions. “Are you planning to make that statement in public?” is an attack, not a question. “I would rather you would not say that when we make our presentation” is also a negative comment, but at least you are directly acknowledging that this is your view, not an absolute judgment.

Does it seem like nitpicking? It’s not really. The major difference is in the kind of response you seek to evoke from your listeners.

Tailor Your Communication Style

Everyone has a signature style of communicating. These styles can be scientifically broken down into four categories: Directors, Expressers, Thinkers and Harmonizers. Straight Talk® enables you to discover your own style, and the style of others, and gain tips on how to make your communication more balanced and effective.

Once you understand your communication style, you’ll have a deeper appreciation of what it takes to communicate into someone’s “listening space.” Directors, for example, want information in quick, bottom line bullet points. Expressers want a fuller exploration of different options and ideas. Thinkers want to hear the detailed thinking behind a proposal. And Harmonizers want to understand the impact of any proposal on people.

The most effective communicators tailor their style to fit their audience. By tailoring their style, they help people relax and feel more receptive to what they’re saying. This makes them more successful as managers and leaders. As needed, they also make overt reference to differences in style to defuse tension and resolve conflicts between styles. This goes a long way toward building trust.

Be a Powerful Listener

Powerful listening is not a passive activity. A good listener concentrates not just on words, but on understanding the underlying point of view of the other person. Powerful listeners focus on subtle tones, facial expressions and context, and then respond in a way that demonstrates they have heard the speaker’s meaning as well as the words. They listen to understand, not just to figure out how they’re going to make their argument.

One way to be sure you understand exactly what the speaker means, and to communicate your understanding, is by reflecting back to the speaker what you believe he or she is saying. Paraphrasing does not mean just parroting their words. It means restating the speaker’s position in your own words, taking into account the non-verbal signs you see and the tone of voice you hear.

Typical lead-in phrases for paraphrasing are “It sounds like . . .” or “I can see that . . .” Paraphrasing is also invaluable when you disagree with someone and must, nonetheless, offer an encouraging reply. Being able to express the speaker’s position clearly says to the speaker that, even though you disagree with the position, you value him or her enough to listen carefully.

When you paraphrase, you also give the speaker a chance to clarify his or her position. He may say: “Yes, that’s it.” Or he may respond: “You know, let me clarify a bit.” That sets the stage for a deeper conversation – one in which you can play the role of facilitator.

Remember that 60 percent of communication is non-verbal. In other words, if you listen only to what someone says, you’re missing more than half of the conversation.

It’s not enough to listen; you also must show that you are listening. Maintain eye contact, lean forward, nod, vocalize agreement when appropriate by saying, “I see,” “Um hmm”; take notes if that is appropriate. Don’t glance at your watch, focus on outside events, wear your dark glasses, cross your arms and lean back, watch TV, or wave to other people. Instead, teach yourself to focus entirely on the communication at hand.

Be Data Driven

When you’re data-driven in your communication, you do two things:

First, you put your own assumptions on the table. “I assume that we’re going to experience the same downturn in the economy everyone else in our industry is experiencing.”

Second, you probe for missing data. You ask: “Does anyone have any data that would help me clarify my assumptions?”

When you’re data-driven, you also look to get other people’s assumptions and issues on the table. You ask: “Help me understand your thinking. What are you assuming will happen?”

When you’re data-driven, you make sure you bring issues to the table. If there’s a relevant conversation in the hallway, you raise it in front of everyone. If you’re experiencing confusion or discomfort, you let people know (recognizing that if you’re experiencing it, others are likely to be experiencing it, too). If there’s an issue you feel you can’t raise without suffering some grave consequence, you consult the chair or someone else in a position to help you develop a strategy.

When you’re data-driven, you use concrete examples and specifics to help people get on the same page. You don’t get mired in generalities; you introduce specific cases that help people understand whether you’re talking about a 2% increase in spending – or a 20% increase.

Finally, when you’re data-driven, you stay humble. You assume that you don’t see things perfectly. You ask for other people’s points of view. You are aware that human beings can fall prey to the “assumption of competence.” You appreciate that people who assume they are competent are usually the least competent among us.

Communicating Under Fire

In a light speed world, you should expect to deal with a crisis. It may never come; but if you’re prepared, you’ll be much better off.

When a crisis occurs, the feeling is like no other. Events unfold at a speed that is beyond your control. Events are magnified beyond proportion. Confronted with a bewildering array of data, options, and demands, you’re tempted to retreat into a protective shell, taking your cues from what other people do or tell you. In a crisis, it’s important to understand the trust/empathy matrix.

The trust scale is within your control. How openly you respond under pressure will dictate whether you can continue to lead at light speed or crash into the ground. If you communicate openly, proactively, and provide all the facts as soon as you have them, you will build trust and the story will be less likely to spin out of control. On the other hand, if you withhold pertinent facts or leave reporters with further leads to uncover, you will erode trust. Reporters will attack people who mislead them. It is not pretty.

The empathy scale is governed largely by circumstances. Someone or something caused a crisis to occur. If it is clear that you or your company is not responsible, empathy will go up. If you or your company are victims of some natural disaster, empathy will go way up. On the other hand, if you perpetrated a crime or accidentally caused harm, empathy will go down. Sometimes way down.

While the empathy scale is largely beyond your control, there are things you can do to tilt it in your favor. Rule one is this: Broaden your sense of responsibility even if you’re not at fault. Remember to protect other people first – customers, employees and citizens. Not your shareholders or yourself. protect the public and your customers, and the shareholders will follow. Why? Because the long-term reputation and goodwill of your organization are more important than any short-term risk to shareholder value or your own job security.

This may feel counter-intuitive, especially when someone else is clearly culpable. But re-framing and broadening your level of responsibility will gain you empathy and help lead you out of the crisis.

A classic example is the Tylenol scare of 1986. When cyanide-laced containers of Tylenol were found on supermarket shelves, it was clear that a pathological killer was responsible. Johnson & Johnson ’s executives could have focused on the criminal aspects and exhorted police to take responsibility for catching the perpetrator. Indeed, he was caught within a matter of days. But they didn’t. They focused on one of their core values – safety – and acted immediately in ways that built trust.

The company chose to recall every Tylenol product, design strong anti-tampering packaging, and conduct a massive awareness-building campaign. Johnson & Johnson’s executives understood the need to immediately take responsibility for the safety of their consumers. It is estimated to have cost the company $2 billion, but Johnson & Johnson emerged the stronger for it.

In contrast, consider another classic case. In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez went aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Nearly eleven million gallons of oil spilled onto pristine shoreline. In the immediate aftermath, Exxon’s CEO Lawrence Rawl was slow to accept responsibility. Instead he issued a flurry of press releases stating that the company was investigating the accident. The opportunity to contain the spill was squandered. Hundreds of miles of coastline were fouled.

Public furor built and the company’s reputation plunged. Several weeks passed before Rawl grudgingly announced that the company would take responsibility for the cleanup. Eventually, thousands of workers and volunteers were mobilized to mop up the oil, save the wildlife, and minimize the damage to the extent possible. But Exxon’s public image was left in tatters. Rawl’s response was a classic example of how not to communicate to the public when your company messes up.

In the case of the Exxon Valdez tanker spill, there was little question that the captain was drunk and that Exxon, as his employer, was at fault. Exxon’s leaders had little control over the empathy scale. But they did have control over the trust scale, which they messed up. In the Tylenol case, Johnson & Johnson was clearly not at fault. Yet it chose to assume full responsibility. As a consequence, the company was rewarded.

Three Worst Mistakes A First Time Manager Can Do

Although getting the managerial spot is great news, there are some things, serious things, which come with the promotion. Do not be among the many managers who find themselves managing a fast-food chain after graduating with a degree in accounting expecting to hire people and monitor the books, but end up dealing with teenagers handle their first job, calling employees who missed shifts and worse, mopping the floor late at night after rendering a 12-hour shift.

Some people get the managerial position by working their way up the ladder, while some gets the position in fancy paper. There are also some managers who assume the position out of need. But regardless of the reason, every manager has a huge responsibility on their shoulders. If you do not perform your job properly, your team and your company will suffer the consequences.

Here are three worst things that a first time manager can do.

Prioritizing tasks instead of people.

A regular employee is expected to do the task assigned to him within the set deadline and other requirements. Maybe you were once assigned to take care of advertising or to monitor the sales. However, now that you are manager, things are different – you are no longer bound to finish the tasks single-mindedly, but help your team carry out what they are expected to do the best way possible.

It is your responsibility as manager to ensure optimal output from your team. How good your team carries out their tasks will determine how good you are at managing people.

Talking more, listening less.

Any seasoned manager will tell you that the best way to run a team is by listening to them. You can try doing a listening tour during your first couple of days as manager. Go to lunch with a particular set of employees or have coffee with the departments and other key personnel. Find out what matters to whom, who needs what, and how to help who.

The only way you will know what somebody needs is by hearing him talk. Besides, nothing is more annoying than a new manager who talks a lot and never listens.

Delegating tasks without knowing employee capability.

This is perhaps the most common mistake that all first time managers commit almost all the time. This leads to one of two things: one, the task gets done but with poor quality; or two, nothing gets done at all – either way is bad news for you and your team.

That is why you need to evaluate the skills and the capabilities of your employees first. You have to evaluate their weaknesses and strengths first so that you will know what nature of tasks they can handle.

Using an LMS is a great way to do training and at a low cost. Choose one that has robust features and is easy to set up and use

10 Keys For Healthy Communication – Workplace Communication

Ensuring healthy communication in the workplace boosts productivity and employee morale.

Communication is an exchange of information between people. It may be with an entire team or only between two people, but the key is, that it is an exchange–it is bi-directional. Something is transmitted and something is received. Communication includes spoken, written and body language.

Does Your Company employ these Healthy Communication essentials?

1. A Voice — If there is to be honest communication, everyone must have a voice–a right to speak and to be heard. This is important in team meetings and in one-on-one exchanges.

2. Expectations — Setting expectations is a means of telling people what you need and want so that they have the best probable chance of accommodating you.

3. Information Flow — Information flow is critical in any organization. When information is on again–off again or cut off all together, something is broken. Set up flow processes to keep everyone in check and responsible for their part.

4. Information Accuracy — When bad information is passed, it can spread like a virus and be very damaging. Encourage the routine use of checks and balances at all levels of the organization.

5. Ban Exclusivity — If one person is doing the majority of talking in meetings or the environment only caters to a select few, inspiration and motivation will remain stunted. Managers should observe and guide group dynamics for maximum productivity.

6. Body Language — People can speak volumes without uttering a word. Management can set expectations by addressing this in staff meetings. Hostile, apathetic or inappropriate negative vibes make for a toxic environment and drag down morale. Workplace respect is crucial.

7. Get Real — Whether it’s false or misleading information, ugly-spirited gossip or inappropriate jesting, it’s not wise or healthy for any organization. Communication should serve the best interests of the people and mission of the company–adding to the health and success of the whole.

8. Same Page — When workers are not on the same page, they lose the essential element of mutual understanding. Don’t waste time and energy by overlooking this critical point and frustrating your employees or confusing your objectives.

If you have someone on your team who is de-motivated it might be that you are not providing enough flexibility or that you have not explained the procedures in enough detail. Just try talking to them in a different way and you might find their attitude changes for the better

What Are Business Articles?

This is the global business world, because we are now very far from the Stone Age. Now people are not establishing the new businesses but expanding the businesses. The top brands and the companies are famous all around the world. Therefore, the business articles are the demand of the age and these are the articles, which deal with the ideas, and the terminologies related to the business areas. In the simple words business articles are targeting to the Internet users who have the interest in the business news and the companies, and also the educational sector for understanding the terminologies of the business. Therefore, there are many websites on the Internet, which are specifically targeting the business section.

Topics Under Business Articles

Business is a diverse subject and as it has been divided in to two types, the first is the profit-focused business and second is the non-profit business. Therefore, a difference has to be maintained between the articles writing under the two areas. The topics covered under the business articles include the company histories, innovation discussions and the ideas, leadership styles and the critical views, general business articles, discussion on the global business, entrepreneurship histories, maintaining the businesses, operating the businesses, expanding the businesses and many other guidelines related to the business areas.

Importance Of Business Articles

Importance of the business articles is not stuck to the businessmen only because there are many diverse areas in the business articles as mentioned above. These articles are very important for the companies that are operating in the business world. Through such articles the companies can understand the history of the other companies and they can analyze the business environment in favor of such companies. Secondly, the business students can get a lot of information from such articles like they can understand the terminologies in their subjects and at the same time they can know the practices of various companies. Moreover, such articles can be very useful for the companies, which are planning to invest in any business, and they can collect the business information and can analyze the profitability and the other aspects of the business in a specific place. You can get the information on the stock exchanges the gold rate and many other things only on the business articles containing websites. In all of the news websites there is a separate column of the business.

Contents Of Business Articles

The content of the business articles usually include the introduction to the companies, the business, and then the facts about the specific topic and finally the analysis of the writer. Most of the times it has been noticed that unlike the literature topics the business requires the understanding of the actual practices more than the theoretical basis. Therefore, all of the business articles with the quality contents include the real examples and the facts, which increases the compelling power of the arguments. One thing that the writers of the business articles should consider is the continuous in touch with the news because business can be on the top or down in one second. The more the writer will have the involvement with the current issues the better he will be able to come up with the quality writing. Just take the example of any product selling business, if the writer himself is not aware of the services of the company with the products how can he provide the reader the quality reading.

How to Pick a Stockbroker

If you’ve never invested in stocks before and are about to buy some for the first time, you should understand what to look for and what factors to consider when selecting a stockbroker.

First of all, what is a stockbroker? Well, I’m not really sure……just kidding. A stockbroker is an intermediary between you and the stock market, which is an exchange where shares of stock in public companies are openly traded. When you buy or sell a stock, also known as a “security,” you must place the order through a broker, who then transacts your business by placing the order on the market.

Stockbrokers are basically salespeople. They work for brokerage houses. You’ve heard the names Merrill Lynch, Solomon Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs. Those are brokerage houses. Brokers work at those companies. Some brokers are paid a straight salary, some are paid a commission, and some receive a base salary in addition to their commission.

A full-service broker, much like a full-service gas station, advises you on which stocks to buy. Full service brokers are financial advisors, they tell you what to do. However, full-service brokers don’t always provide expert advice. Most of the advice they provide is based on research done by analysts who work for the brokerage house.

A discount broker is someone who gives you zero advice, and just executes your market orders for you, but does nothing else. Therefore, a discount broker usually doesn’t collect commissions. Instead, they usually charge a flat annual fee and are paid a salary. Internet brokers such as Etrade or Ameritrade are discount brokers that work on commission. They allow you to place your market orders online, and the website itself is the broker. Internet brokers usually charge a much smaller commission than anyone else.

A full-service broker offers a wider array of investment vehicles for you to put your money in, such as stocks, bonds, derivatives, annuities, and some also sell life insurance. A discount broker, on the other hand, doesn’t have access to all these investment vehicles. A discount broker makes money by opening up a lot of accounts and having a lot of customers, but a full-service broker makes money by placing a lot of trades within your account, because they receive a commission on each trade.

This is where you need to be careful. Full-service brokers make money every single time you place a trade. So, they have an incentive to persuade you to place a lot of trades, because that’s where they make their money. There are unscrupulous full-service brokers out there who do provide sagacious investment advice, but who are so active with your portfolio that their commissions start to eat away at your earnings. Neophyte investors have unknowingly hired these sorts of brokers, and when they get their annual statement they’re shocked to find that they made a lot less than what they thought, and in some cases actually got a negative return on their investments.

So, be careful when selecting your broker. If you hire a full-service broker, make sure it’s someone who works for or is associated with a reputable brokerage house, and make sure that the broker understands that you are aware of the fact that they make money every time a trade is executed. In this manner, they’re less likely to eat away at your capital unnecessarily, because they’ll know upfront that you’re hip to their game. If you know what stock you want to buy and are a small investor, it’s best to go with a discount broker, because they don’t receive commissions. and therefore won’t persuade you to place superfluous trades.

Where To Go For Help And Advice To Start A Business

When you want to start a home business, it can be easy to feel alone, confused, and scared. The chances are that you don’t know anyone else who’s ever started a business, and you don’t even know who to ask if you get stuck. Here are a few things you ought to be looking at.

The Internet is a great resource for people who are thinking of setting up a home business – as well as all the articles you can find with practical advice, there are also many forums, where you can read about others’ experiences, and ask questions.

Scary as it might seem to be getting advice on anything from the government, most governments go really out of their way to produce all sorts of easy-to-understand material on starting your own business. Encouraging you in business is a great way for them to both strengthen the economy and increase tax revenues.

Depending on your area, you might find that local government agencies are also keen to give you help and advice, and might even have some kind of ‘small business centre’ that you can visit.

Mentors are usually volunteers who think it would be nice to offer local businesses help and advice. They often have years of business experience, and can be really useful – if you find one, hang on to them.

Always willing to help and sadly neglected in our ‘wired’ age, you really should talk to a librarian. Libraries generally contain all sorts of business books and resources that they’ll be able to point you towards, and they’ll be more than happy to do research into obscure areas for you.

Pricey as they might be, lawyers know all about starting businesses – they’ve almost certainly done it thousands of times over. It can be well worth paying for an hour of a lawyer’s time and just asking them every question you can think of.

A less expensive alternative to lawyers, accountants also know their stuff, especially (obviously) on the financial side. If you want your business to be profitable, you should take on board what your accountant tells you – and if you don’t have one, you should get one. By the time they’ve helped you navigate through all the tax mazes, they’ll almost certainly have made their fee back for you anyway.

If you think your business would be an attractive proposal to people who back businesses for a living, then you can try going to a ‘business incubator’ or some other kind of investor with your idea. If they like it, they’ll often have a quick process set up to get your company up and running as soon as possible.

Sources of Alternative Energy

If you want to understand the various forms and sources of alternative energy, read on.

Sometimes called renewable resources, alternative energy does not need fossil fuel or even the splitting of the atom to be produced. It is called renewable because the sources of it are constantly being produced. It does not cause the pollution that oil and gas cause.

This kind of energy is not really new. What is new is that we now categorize these forms of energy as alternative energy.

The forms that alternative energy may take are fuel cells, geothermal energy, wind power, biomass, hydro electric energy, solar energy and water energy such as wave and tidal energy.

Fuel cells as a type of alternative energy is usually associated with electric cars, or hybrid cars. Electro chemical devices produce power through a chemical reaction. The primary benefit of fuel cells technology is that power is produced without the production of harmful pollutants. They are still very expensive to produce, however.

Geothermal energy can be a powerful source of energy. It is ideal for small scale use to heat houses, businesses and small industry. On a larger scale, geothermal plants extract the heat from the earth and use it to create steam to power turbine engines.

Wind turbines produce energy using the same principal as windmills. Blades are moved by the wind, and a shaft attached to the blades rotate a generator that produces energy. This energy is stored in batteries. Wind is, of course required to run this type of alternative energy, so the more wind you have the better it will work. Sites where there is a lot of wind, such as open farmland are good for wind turbines, or other locations that cannot be reached by powerlines.

Biomass is organic material that can be converted to fuel. There are many types, such as animal waste, crops and grains, wood and other byproducts from mills and forests as well as from aquatic plants. One type uses the matter to burn to produce steam power; another type transforms the matter into a gas or liquid.

Solar energy is probably the most well known form of alternate energy. It is the safe and efficient use of the heat from the sun to form energy.

Energy from water. Hydroelectric energy is the energy produced by dams.The movement of the water causes turbines to generate power instantaneously. The initial cost of a dam is very high, but after that the power is free. Tidal energy works on the same concept as dams. The turbines are put directly in the water and the motion of the tides over them powers the turbines. Wave energy uses the motion of the waves in the same way.

Those are your basic types of alternate energy sources.

Tips To Starting A Successful Internet Business

Starting an internet business is not a difficult task but running a successful internet business can be a bit more difficult. There are thousands of people that have their own online business but many of them are not having any luck at all. If you want to be successful while running your internet business there are a couple of tips you can follow.

1. Before you can run a successful internet business, you are going to need the necessary knowledge. In other words, if you are looking to start an internet business, choose an industry that you are familiar with. By doing this you will ensure yourself of knowing where to start and how to handle problems as they arise. Of course, it is possible to run a successful internet business even if you do not have past experience. You will just want to make sure that you do your homework before starting. This way you will have some background information on the industry instead of simply going into the venture blind.

2. Make sure that you are organized from the very start. The most successful internet businesses are ones that have a quality business and marketing plan in place from the start. This will allow you to follow your plan as the days go by so that you do not get lost. It is hard to be successful in anything if you do not know where you are trying to go. A business plan will give you an idea on how you want your company to progress, where as a marketing plan will direct you on how to grow your company. These are two things that are synonymous with every successful internet business.

3. Never be ashamed to ask for help if you are having a rough time. A lot of business owners do not like to ask other people for help because they do not want to hurt their pride. This is something that you should come to grips with before you even get started. It is impossible to know everything about your industry but there are times when you will have to ask questions. Instead of thinking of this as a bad thing, why not look at it as a way of making new business contacts? If you are having a technical problem that you cannot figure out, you should get in touch with an IT company right away. There is nothing wrong with doing this. In fact, if you do not ask questions, you will only be holding your company back.

By following the tips above you will be well on your way to running a successful internet business. Remember, anybody can run a business but to be successful you will have to be determined.

Success File - Fast Track To Promotion & Recognition

Ever wonder why some people get promotions and recognition and some don't? Or, have you considered how you might increase your chances for promotion and recognition as an excellent performer? Of course, there's no simple answer to these questions. People are promoted for a number of reasons, some fair and reasonable, and some not - that's life. Still, if you want to enhance your opportunities in your organization and want to move up the ladder and have increased responsibilities, there's one important strategy I can share with you. It's simple on the surface, but not quite as simple in practice. Here's the strategy:

Start Doing Your Boss's Job

Here's how it works. The person most helpful or harmful in terms of getting a promotion is your immediate supervisor. He or she is the person who can help or hinder. What determines which it will be? Well, certainly your performance is important. But it's all about perceptions. You can create positive and powerful perceptions on the part of your boss by making his or her life easier. It's that simple. If you can:

• reduce your boss's workload
• eliminate hassles the boss is concerned about
• prevent problems the boss is normally responsible for

you become more useful to the boss. That's a good thing and tends to get noticed.

Of course it isn't quite so simple. While you want to be useful to the boss, you don't want to usurp the boss's responsibilities. A great way to dead-end yourself is to take on some of the boss's job when your boss doesn't want that to happen. So, you have to know your particular boss well enough to know what you can do and what your boss doesn't want you to do. We call that knowing the limits to your authority and your action.

Here as some tips to help you out:

• Get to know your boss well enough to understand what drives him or her nuts about the "boss job". A good way of thinking about it is to ask yourself: "What kinds of problems nag at the boss?
• Examine whether you can do anything from your position in the organization to help address the boss's "drive me crazy" problem (often there will be).
• Decide whether you should do something to help or not. If you know the boss well enough, you will probably also know what the limits on your authority and actions might be. Still, it's always good to check it out, and offer the solution to the boss beforehand, and if necessary, request permission to get it done. That makes it less likely the boss will feel you are encroaching on his or her territory.
• Don't do any of this so that it appears you are trying to "score points", or manipulate the boss. Do it because you want to contribute to the best of your ability and with the attitude that if nobody notices, that's fine, provided it makes people's jobs easier. (This is a mindset to prevent your being seen as a selfish, manipulative employee.

There's never any guarantees in life, so I can't provide a guarantee here. But I will say that almost ALL of the people I have seen fast-tracked in organizations exhibit the ability to make their boss look good and make the boss's life easier.

And the great thing about this? Everybody wins. The organization becomes more effective. You do a good job. And your boss's life is just a wee bit easier.

Improving Communication -- Tips For Managers

Many if not most of take effective communication for granted, but the truth is that often times, managers don't pay enough attention to improving communication within the organization, and improving their own communication. There's huge potential payoff for better communication, both for the bottom line, and for the mental sanity of everyone.

Research indicates that managers spend somewhere between 50% - 80% of their total time communicating in one way or the other. This isn't surprising, since communication is so critical to everything that goes on in an organization. Without effective communication there can be little or no performance management, innovation, understanding of clients, coordination of effort, AND, without effective communication it is difficult to manage the expectations of those who are in a position to make decisions about your fate.

It can also be said that many managers do not communicate well, and do not set an organizational climate where communication within the organization is managed effectively. This isn't surprising, since a manager who communicates ineffectively and does not encourage effective organizational communication is unlikely to hear about it. Poor communication is self-sustaining, because it eliminates an important "feedback loop". Staff are loathe to "communicate" their concerns about communication because they do not perceive the manager as receptive. Both staff and management play out a little dance.

In short, you may be fostering poor communication, and never know it. You may see the symptoms, but unless you are looking carefully, you may not identify your own involvement in the problem. What can you do about it?

Your Role In Communication Improvement

Effective organizational communication, regardless of form, requires three things.

First, all players must have the appropriate skills and understanding to communicate well. Communication is not a simple process, and many people simply do not have the required depth of understanding of communication issues.

Second, effective organizational communication requires a climate or culture that supports effective communication. More specifically, this climate involves trust, openness, reinforcement of good communication practices, and shared responsibility for making communication effective.

Third, effective communication requires attention. It doesn't just happen, but develops as a result of an intentional effort on the part of management and staff. Too often, communication, whether it is good or bad, is taken for granted.

We can define your role in improving communication with respect to each of these. First, if you want to improve communication, you will need to ensure that you and staff have the skills and knowledge necessary to communicate effectively. This may mean formal training is in order, or it may mean that you coach staff and provide feedback so that they can improve.

Second, you play a critical role in fostering and nurturing a climate that is characterized by open communication. Without this climate, all the skills in the world will be wasted.

Finally, you must bring communication to the forefront of organization attention. If you make the effort to improve communication, your staff will recognize that it is important. If you ignore it, so will staff.

Some Specific Tips:

1) Actively solicit feedback about your own communication, and communication within the organization. Ask staff questions like:

• When we talk, are you generally clear about what I am saying?
• Do you think we communicate well around here?
• Have you got any ideas about how we could communicate better?

Consider including these questions (or similar ones) in your performance management process, or staff meetings.

2) Assess your own communication knowledge and understanding

(See self-assessment instrument on Page 5-sorry, not available online).

3) Working with your staff, define how you should communicate in the organization. Develop consensus regarding:

• a) How disagreements should be handled.
• b) How horizontal communication should work (staff to staff).
• c) How vertical communication should work (manager to staff, staff to manager).
• d) What information should be available and when.

Once consensus is reached, support the achievement of these goals through positive reinforcement and coaching.

4) Look at the impact of the structure of your organization and how it impacts on communication. Indirect communication (communication that is transferred from person to person) is notorious for causing problems. Look at increasing direct communication where the person with the message to send does it directly with the receiver.

5) Learn about, and use active listening techniques. This will set a tone and contribute to a positive communication climate. If you don't know what active listening is, find out. It's important.

6) Consider undertaking a communications audit. (see sidebar).

Conclusion

We only have space to give you a few tips, and communication is a very complex process. We suggest that you take the communication self-assessment checklist on the following page, to assess your own understanding and application of communication principles.

If you would like to increase awareness and attention to communication, consider copying the self-assessment checklist and distribute it to staff.

Suggest that they complete it for their own use, and follow it up by discussing organizational communication in a staff meeting.

Be aware that exploring communication patterns and effectiveness can bring to the surface a number of resentments and perceptions. If you aren't prepared to deal with these, it is best to look to an outside consultant.

What Is It Good For? Absolutely Something At Work AND At Home

What if we buck the restrictive common way of thinking of delegation as a way for managers to dump (or assign) work to their staff? By expanding the idea just a bit, we might find that delegation is an extremely valuable method for sharing the load of work, helping people learn and develop and work more productively and efficiently as a team, at work and AT HOME. Is that weird or what?

The Essence of Delegation

If we remove the power aspect of traditional thinking about delegation (manager does something TO employee by assigning a task manager would normally do), what we have is the essence of delegation:

Delegation is a process by which we maximize time and efficiency by ensuring that those best able to carry out a task are the people carrying out the task.

This is completely consistent with the traditional method of management delegation. In fact delegation by managers is actually a subset of this broader view of delegation.

A Managerial Example (Or Delegating UP):

Mary is the director of a training department. She has several staff members (the people who deliver training to end users) reporting to her. Overall the department can only continue to exist provided it meets the needs of its internal customers -- other divisions. If the Vice-Presidents of those other divisions don't use Mary's training department, they will be disbanded, so clearly the VP's need to be lobbied, educated and helped to understand how the training department helps THEM.

VP's are notoriously snobbish (well, at this company, anyway) and prefer to meet with those close to their levels in the company. That means that it's not optimal for the trainers to visit the VP's for this task. In fact, the best person to visit with each VP is Mary's boss.

So, while it is technically Mary's job to arrange and attend those important meetings, should she do it? Probably not, or rather not alone. By delegating UPWARDS, provided her boss is amendable, a lot of time and grief can be saved. Our new delegation concept fits perfectly. Mary's boss is the best person to do this job.

Delegation At Home?

If we remove the power issue from our approach to delegation it fits on the home front too. Most people with children are familiar with the idea of "delegating" home tasks to their children -- for example mowing the grass or taking out the trash. That traditional method trades on the idea that Mom (or Dad) possesses power and control, and passes on some of his or her tasks to the kids.

Interestingly enough the assigning of tasks to children is done for many of the same reasons to do so at work: To teach, to develop skills on the part of the "delegated to", to reduce work load of the "power" person so he or she can do things only she can do.

How the tasks to delegate are chosen, and how well the communication amongst the people involved in this delegation process determine if a) cooperation ensues, and b) the process actually does result in greater efficiency.

In any event, one can also delegate (assign tasks) where equal "power" operates, from spouse to spouse. Doesn't it make sense for a spouse with the most skill at a task to do it? Even if it's usually the responsibility of the other? Doesn't it make sense for the spouse with the most free time on any given day to do a task if the other has less available time?

Of course it does.

Delegation As Cooperation

You've probably figured out that delegation, in this context, is really a form of cooperation, and stems from mutually shared desire to accomplish goals as a team. It's really about people working together to ensure that the "best" people in terms of skill or available time, or needing development, do tasks that make sense for them to do. Managers can assign all they want, but without the cooperation of employees, things don't get efficient. Likewise, as most parents know, without the cooperation of their family members, "delegation" doesn't work very well.

Finally Delegation/Cooperation Comes From Doing It Correctly

Now we come to the tricky part. How the tasks to delegate are chosen, and how well the communication amongst the people involved in this delegation process determine if a) cooperation ensues, and b) the process actually does result in greater efficiency.

We've developed material to help you delegate in such a way, either at work or at home, that the many advantages of delegation are achieved. It's not HARD to do, but most people don't think it through, or end up missing a few points, self-sabotaging the delegating of tasks. Here's what is contained in our Delegation For Managers Helpcard For Busylearners:

• What Is Delegation?
• The Power of Delegation - Why Do It? (The Payoffs)
• What Employees Need
• Delegation Step-By-Step
• Establishing Task Parameters and Expectations
• Follow-Through, Follow-Up and Feedback
• Delegation Pitfalls To Avoid

We guarantee that you can learn everything you need to delegate effectively in twenty minutes or less. And you can use the same techniques managers use to maximize the use of time at home and at work.

Exhorting Employee To Work Harder

It's not surprising that managers try to improve productivity and employee effectiveness by exhorting staff to "try harder", or to make more of an effort in their jobs. It's a natural human tendency to assume that the simple act of trying harder will result in better results, but more times than not, the assumption is incorrect.

Learn more about this common managerial mistake, its pitfalls, and what to do about it.

In our often Western dominated organizational thinking, we attribute a lot of employee success (and our own success) to "trying harder", or "working harder". This assumption about the relationship of effort to effectiveness is often incorrect, since there are many more powerful forced that influence results.

Managers often get caught up in the idea that "if only employees would try harder, or work harder, we'd get far better results". Caught in this incorrect assumption, they rely on exhortation of employees to improve productivity. It doesn't usually work, and it can end up backfiring.

Here are a few things to consider:

• Working harder or trying harder is useless if the barrier to performance has nothing to do with those things. That's often the case. Performance is affected far more by things like employee skills, ability, understanding of their jobs, and restrictions placed on employees by the system and organization of work than it is by lack of "effort".
• Even in situations where "lack of effort" is part of the performance landscape, exhortation is more likely to insult employees (since it assumes and communicates to them that they are lazy), than it is to motivate them to greater performance heights.
• Exhortation to "try harder" is often a lazy manager's approach to performance issues, and lays the honus for better performance at the feet of employees. A more intelligent and respected approach is to THINK and diagnose the real problems, and to remedy those barriers.

Pitfalls To Watch For

• Even if the manager succeeds at getting more effort from staff as a result of exhorting them (or threatening them), there is a risk of burnout if it continues over the long haul. Exhortation is simply a terrible long term management strategy.
• Any motivational "lift" resulting from exhortation and attempts to inspire staff are almost always short lived.

Prescriptions For Avoiding Exhorting To Try Harder Mistakes

• At best, exhortation to try harder should be used extremely rarely, and should never be used instead of making the effort to identify the real barriers to performance.
• Exhortation to try harder is most effective (and it's not usually that effective at the best of times), when a) employees are already extremely dedicated and loyal to the manager and the company, and b) when the exhortations tend to the "rally round the flag" inspirational type of message. Exhortation works best in healthy organizations, with already hard-working employees.
• Exhortation used with unhappy, or otherwise motivationally impaired employees doesn't work. It's better to use a performance management based approach that includes a progressive discipline process.
• Rely on diagnosing barriers to performance, and addressing and removing those barriers, rather than attempts to "motivate". That's a key role of managers -- finding true causes, and removing them. This involves taking on the managerial responsibility, and avoiding offloading responsibility for poor performance to employees and their "motivation" or lack thereof.
• If you want more effort and employee engagement and investment, it's better to create that through example, not exhortation. Employees take their cues from management. Lead through example.
• Employees will work harder, and exhibit more commitment when they feel they are part of the decison-making process, feel consulted and valued, and sense that the manager is on their side. No exhortation will work without these.

Summary:

If the goal is to increase productivity, then exhortation is a minor, and possibly harmful tactic. It tends to further alienate those employees that are already alienated, does nothing to address the real causes (root causes) of performance inefficiency, and is the tool of the lazy manager.

Old Words and New Management: Delegation

Many of the words and concepts we use to describe management processes originated in a period of time where values and people were quite different than they are today. The world of work has changed a good deal since the revolution of assembly lines and the early management practices accompanying the factory model of business. Interestingly enough, our words and concepts have not been separated from their historic roots.

Does it matter that we use words/concepts that have "old" meanings? Indeed it does.

In an era of mining and manufacturing where the factory owners owned not only the machinery, but also the employees, management was a thing done "to" employees in the pursuit of profit. Management was a process that came with power over other people. The management words and concepts we use had as their underpinnings, the idea that owners and their delegates (managers) could and should use power over employees. The resulting words, like performance appraisal, and delegation to choose but two, assume "manager does to employee", under the mandate of power.

In a more modern world that doesn't work. The power that used to be available to owners and managers is now much more limited than in the earlier days of "large scale industrialization". Laws, unions, and changes in societal values have changed enough so that the route to organizational success runs not thru "power over" but thru a creation of a cooperating work force. That changes, or at least should change the meanings of our management concepts. If they don't, we have a modern work world that requires cooperation, but within that we have these dangling management methods that require power that managers do not possess.

Delegation - Great Word That Needs Re-Defining

Within the outmoded "manager does to employee" model, delegation has involved the following thinking:

• "I, manager have much to do and not enough time"
• "My time as manager is more valuable than the time of my employees, because I make more money or I'm more valuable" [Yes, I know this is just a little offensive by today's standards, at least to some, but it reflects old school thinking.]
• "Therefore I, manager will have YOU, employee, do the parts of my job that I don't really want to do, because it costs less if you do them."
• "While I will delegate unpleasant tasks to you, the employee, I won't delegate to you the authority and autonomy I have, and that is necessary to do the job properly, AND I'll watch over you very carefully."

This sounds fairly dreadful, and by today`s standards this approach to delegation doesn`t work, or at least ensures that most of the benefits that could be derived from delegation are lost. Perhaps this worked in the "good old days". Maybe it never worked. Often the good old days weren't that good, particularly for people at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Modern Delegation Must Be Different

Modern delegation must be different if it is going to result in benefits. We aren't talking about abstractions like right and wrong, or democracy in the workplace, or even fairness. We're talking about WHAT WORKS in our modern world, where the assumption of power over does not hold.

In a nutshell, for delegation to work, it must be aimed at different purposes, and use different ways to achieve those purposes. No longer can it be something a manager does TO an employee to lighten the managerial load or dump disliked tasks.

It's interesting that when you shift lenses about delegation, all of a sudden you find multiple powerful benefits from using delegation in a cooperative manner. For example, delegation becomes a way to:

• develop employee skills at little or no cost
• mentor/coach employees to increase employee productivity
• create better understanding between "levels/ranks" within an organization, and improve teamwork
• optimize managerial time (thats a goal shared with the "old" view
• prepare and/or test out employees at higher level tasks when promotion is possible
• increase employee engagement

In short, delegation in the modern work world is a key tool to enhance human resources "capital" in ways that benefit the organization as a whole, manager and employee.

...provided its done cooperatively (WITH, not TO the employee).

The Catch - Isn't There Always One?

There's almost always a catch. In this case it's about unconscious legacy thinking [ouch, that's one of those fancy phrases, isn't it].

Back up. It's about managers managing in ways similar to how they were managed when they were rising through the ranks. Almost every manager who moves up brings with him or her, some beliefs that come from the old days, because of this chain of transmitting management culture. Today's manager learned from his/her managers who learned from their managers who learned.... Of course as time goes on the "old stuff" becomes weaker and weaker, but its remnants remain. That's one reason why some elements of management, for example, performance appraisals, are so dreadful, because they are based on thinking that was pretty poor in the first place, fifty years ago, and is now absolutely nonsensical. Yet, the are still done TO employees. Thus they fail.

Likewise with delegation. Even good, modern managers will exhibit some of the old patterns based on the old assumptions. So, some managers who are otherwise excellent will screw up something as basic as delegating.

When we teach management, or otherwise influence future managers we need to place into a larger context all of the traditional management techniques, explaining why management techniques must be implemented differently due to how things have changed.

It's important that we help managers uncover their more hidden assumptions about their management approaches so they can examine whether there are any legacy assumptions -- outmoded and ineffective mental models that will create barriers to success.

Above all we need to both understand and teach others that a word from the past -- say delegation or performance appraisal, cannot mean the same thing that it did, and that we must evolve our definitions and thinking to reflect that the word is not the thing or process.

At Bacal & Associates we've created some tools to help managers "modernize" their understanding of some of these concepts and words that need updating. Our purpose has been to produce quick "fast learning" material to allow readers/managers to learn about topics like delegation, performance management, employee reviews, etc without having to go to a course, or spend many hours reading a book that uses way too many words to cover the same ground.

Delegation For Managers Helpcard is a short two sided 8.5 x 11 inch laminated card that contains everything a manager, supervisor or executive needs to update and use delegation so that everybody wins. It's fast, low cost, time saving method to improve productivity and increase employee engagement.

We also have a complete set of helpcards to help managers and even HR professionals update their understanding of what performance management involves in the new millenium, from setting goals and planning for performance right through to reviews, diagnosing performance issues, and "progressive discipline.

International Marketing

There are three different types of marketing covered in this section: International Marketing, International Web Marketing and International Content Marketing. But these are not the only ways of marketing your international business covered on this blog.

Although social media can be used for other objectives (networking, sales, customer support, research) it’s also a great marketing tool. So, be sure to check out the section on International Social Media too.

#1: International Marketing

This section makes the connection to more traditional international marketing practices. Your success abroad depends on it.

When selling to international clients you’ll need to adjust your marketing before you can really tap into your new international markets. Your international clients respond differently to your marketing messages and you’ll need to find out what you need to say them to make more sales. To develop a specific international market you’ll probably have to review your marketing right from the beginning. And applying cross-cultural marketing techniques can improve your marketing even further. This section aims to raise your awareness of how you need to adapt your marketing to get more international clients from a traditional business perspective.

Overview Of International Marketing

International Marketing Basics

You need to have a good understanding of marketing before you begin marketing to international clients. The stronger your marketing expertise the easier you’ll have to adapt your tactics to international markets. You’ll probably need to spend more time learning about your international clients before rolling out your international marketing program. And you’ll need to constantly monitor how your international marketing connects with your different international audiences. These articles cover some international marketing basics to help you get started.

Improve Your International Marketing

International marketing requires considerable time investment in listening to your international clients and fine tuning your marketing to fit the particularities of these unknown markets. And as you learn more about your international clients you’ll naturally want to improve your marketing. During the process of improving your international marketing it’s important to keep in mind the specific differences in working within international environments. This series of articles will help your improve your international marketing and get more international clients.

Overview Of Cross-Cultural Marketing

Cross-Cultural Marketing

Marketing to people from different countries is not quite the same. You need to have cross-cultural marketing skills to build an international business. In cross-cultural marketing you adjust your marketing to make sure your message comes across as you intend it to. This series on cross-cultural marketing will show you how to get more international clients.

Trust In Cross-Cultural Marketing

Building trust is critical in all business but it can be a struggle in international business. You will find many different aspects of building trust with international clients here on this blog. This series is specifically to help marketers create trust with stronger cross-cultural marketing to get more international sales.

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#2: International Web Marketing

The international web is evolving and unfortunately there are still limitations to what you can do with international web marketing. Not everyone can rely solely on web marketing to develop an international business. But it can help you to get feedback and understand your international markets better. You can also use web marketing to increase international exposure and take up a part of the international marketing for your business. You might even be able to adapt some of the internet marketers business development tactics to create a secondary activity for your business.

It’s important to look at the current realities of your potential market in the countries you want to target. Although there are limitations, you just might be able to reach new markets with relatively little investment through some well planned web marketing. The series here cover the following categories:

• International Web Marketing Primer
• International Web Marketing Tools
• Web Marketing With Different Languages

They aim to help you find the right ways to use common web marketing tools and tactics for your business in an international environment. Read more on international web marketing here.

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#3: International Content Marketing

When you target international audiences online you need to adjust the content you create to connect across cultures. And the content you create for specific international audiences will become a central part of your international web marketing. Here are the different article series on international content marketing to help you get more international sales.

• International Content
• Writing For International Audiences
• International Content Skills
• Types Of Content

Remember, the international clients you connect with online might use your content in different ways and they might have cultural preferences in appreciating different formats. Use these article series as inspiration for you to create a strong international web content marketing plan for your business.

Plans With Adaptability, Flexibility And Agility

If you are a business just starting your international business development you will be drawing up plans and strategies.

But, before you do, let’s look at a couple of personality traits.

Remember, international business means cross-cultural communication. Personal traits can influence the success of your business’ cross-cultural communication.

Two Extremes

First, let’s imagine someone who works well with plans.

And, let’s also imagine someone who considers himself more “creative”…adaptive, flexible, agile… and does not like planning things out.

These two people have different styles in implementing change.

The natural planner will go about implementing change methodically.

The natural creative will go about implementing change in an intuitive way.

In the end, a project’s success depends on many other factors. And both people have a good chance of getting the job done well.

Right..?

Well, in international business, this can really go wrong.

In The Middle

You might want to have a closer look at personality traits.

A business entering a new foreign market needs people who are good at both.

• You need to plan your international development strategy, to make sure you cover everything you need to cover.
• You also need a very high dose of “creativity”, or… adaptability, flexibility and agility.

If you are not familiar with a foreign culture you need to expect change… even if you are familiar with a foreign culture. Surprises still happen.

Some of the small businesses I meet question the risk involved. The risk involved in going international. This is a very natural concern.

So is another question that comes up: how can I anticipate and control the viability of my international project?

The answers to these questions are multifaceted. But…

There is one very clear place to start:

• A good plan… with adaptability, flexibility and agility.

Learn Through Practice

Of course, there are also people who are naturally both planners and “creatives”. It is great if you can have such people on your international business team.

But it is not essential…

Most people learn to acquire the missing skills through practice. It is hard to hide from any cultural differences for a long time.

You simply cannot stay very long at either extreme without this interfering with your international business.

Your international business plan is important. And so is:

• Your adaptability to a different culture, market, habits, expectations, laws.
• Your flexibility to meet these differences.
• Your agility to respond to these differences.

Planning and flexibility can go together. It just takes a little bit more work, and motivation, to integrate the two together.