Management Articles

When I think of an executive I think of powerful looking man in a sharp suit making large business deals with international big-wigs. I think of bank accounts in the Carribean and 2nd homes in Italy. I think about the dark limousines and the power ties and golfing with the president or a powerful person in Congress. I think of Martini’s and big cigars and lawyers and secret memos. Why do I think all these things about being an executive? Well the movies of course and why n...

Performance Management is coming under critical fire because the complexity of some of the processes is beginning to over-ride the fundamental principles. However, as Hogan Armstrong knows, elements of Performance Management work well for both employees and managers. Hogan is an IT Service Engineer for a large multinational organization. He spends the majority of his working life away from his home office but his Self-Monitoring System lets both him and his manager know how h...

We all know that communication is the most important component in any relationship; and that can be applied to business as well. The more timely the information provided to your clients, colleagues and suppliers; the smoother your event will run and the happier everyone involved in your event will be. Think about it: if you had a vested interest in the success or operation of anything: a company, an event, or an investment and you didn't have the proper information to make...

7 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW with a Fully-Automated System to Improve Your Customer Service: 1. Get contact info right the first time. There’s nothing more frustrating to a registrant than when an event organizer gets their information wrong. Each instance in your process where you manually enter or transfer data poses a risk for making errors. Using an automated system, which has everything built-in (online registration, accounting, badge printing), eliminates all data ...

Stop for a moment…. and imagine how you would feel as an employee under this situation: You have been working for ACME for ten years now. You do the same thing everyday. You’re tied at the desk pounding a decrepit keyboard; half the keys don’t work. When you’re not nursing carpal tunnel syndrome, you’re sipping stale coffee at the greasy counter. Worse, you don’t really know anyone that you work with. Socializing involves a casual hello… with the doorman’s Doberman. One...

Toby Miller is your picture of an all round good guy. He doesn't even consider himself to be much of a star but he does enjoy going to work and he enjoys mixing with his co-workers, making sure that they all smile at least once a day. Of course he does what's necessary to get results but, under normal circumstances, he usually slips under the recognition awards radar that sweeps through the department once a month. Many reward and recognition systems have incorporated a "w...

The company newsletter hit Ruth Kenyon's desk and there was her picture on the front page under the heading "Employee of the Month". A simple paragraph of text explained that she had single-handedly reduced the debtor days from 39 to 32 in a period of 6 weeks. If others didn't understand the significance of her work, it didn't matter, she just felt a huge wave of pride sweep over her. Even the smallest company has a reception area. This is a great place to publicize how go...

Cameron Timpson is CEO of a medium-sized electronic assembly operation. He makes a point of making a weekly recognition award to the best assembler on the factory floor. "Today," he shouts to the gathering crowd "it is Lavinia Argot's turn" and he turns to her to present her prize. Her mouth is smiling but her eyes are not. "My name's Davina Urquhart" she whispers. Cameron smiles and tells her not to worry about it. The ability to connect with people at a personal level is...

Quin Jerome is Sales Director with a clothing company. He is a talented talker and entertains major clients on a regular basis. One summer he was deputizing while the CEO was on vacation and found an entry in his planner that just said "11.00 - 12.00 Wander". The CEO's PA clarified that it meant walking the production floor to talk with the machinists. "But I don't know what to say to them!" said the gifted raconteur. Curiosity is the real key to uncovering performance tha...

The monthly performance recognition awards have come round again but, once more, Fiona White is sure she won't be featuring. Fiona is a consistent administration worker. She is well organized and clears her desk of the day's work without making fuss or having 5-minute panics like some of the others seem to do. She often helps these people out because she has enough control over her own work to be able to reschedule things. However she is not a high profile earner for the comp...