The Thriving Small Business

tips for small business

The 5 Step Process of Strategic Planning

by

Strategic plans help identify what an organization is striving to achieve and maps out the necessary steps needed to be successful.

It used to be that strategic plans would go out for ten years but organizations today typically look 2-3 years down the road – some industries just plan year by year. Read the Full Article →

7 Management Tools for Quality Control

by

Many organizations use quality tools to help monitor and manage their quality initiatives.

There are several types of tools that can be used.  However, there are seven management tools for quality control that are the most common.

Different tools are used for different problem-solving opportunities, and many of the tools can be used in different ways. Read the Full Article →

13 Examples Of Empowered Employees

by

Empowerment is a buzz term that we hear a lot about in leadership. A culture that embraces employee empowerment, understands the role workers have by taking care of the needs of the customers they serve.

Empowerment is defined as “the giving or delegation of power or authority; authorization; the giving of an ability; enablement or permission.”

Empowerment is based on the belief that employees have the ability – and want to take on more responsibility. 

Empowerment is a way to give employees greater authority and responsibility to take care of the needs of the customer and to provide employees with the means for making influential decisions. Read the Full Article →

Service Recovery – 5 Tips For Successful Service Recovery

by

Great customer service is the cornerstone of any successful business. Knowing who the customers are, what they want and making an effort to exceed customer expectations – is the key to business success.

Unless an organization understands this very basic principle, it will have a difficult time achieving desired results.

What is service recovery?

Read the Full Article →

7 Ways to Demonstrate Ethics and Integrity in Your Business

by

The success of an organization is built off of the trust of customers, employees and the general public.

According to a Gallup poll, “68% of adults worldwide believed corruption was widespread among businesses in their country…… and 60% of adults in the U.S. responded this way in 2017…..”

The best way to gain that trust is to demonstrate ethics and integrity in business practices. Read the Full Article →

Advantages and Disadvantages of 360° Feedback

by

One common tool that is used for managing and assessing  employee performance is a 360° Feedback process.

What is 360° Feedback?

“A 360-degree feedback is a process through which feedback from an employee’s subordinates, colleagues, and supervisor, as well as a self-evaluation by the employee themselves is gathered.” Wikipedia

This tool is used to solicit feedback from all coworker perspectives. Read the Full Article →

Employee Turnover – 6 Tips To Retain Employees

by

Unemployment is at historic levels. At 3.8 percent unemployment, finding and retaining workers is a topic of discussion for every business owner.

According to a Work Institute Report, one in four workers, will leave their jobs this year to go work for another company and that 77 percent of that turnover could have been avoided. Read the Full Article →

What is the Definition and Meaning of Tacit Knowledge?

by

Tacit knowledge is one of the most important and valuable resources organizations have. This unwritten knowledge base is often overlooked and unappreciated.

The definition and meaning of tacit knowledge is:

“all of the collective know-how, techniques, processes and difficult to articulate expertise that is part of an individual’s or organization’s knowledge base.   Read the Full Article →

9 Inhibitors to Business Growth

by

Why is it that some companies are birthed and grow very quickly – seemingly overnight?

While other organizations putter along at the same stagnant pace for years – or die a slow death.

There are several fundamental things that influence growth and when organizations neglect these business basics – it hinders growth. Read the Full Article →

8 Steps To Performing An Internal Audit

by

Internal audits help organizations achieve corporate objectives by keeping a pulse on the consistency of internal business practices.

The goal of an internal audit is to ensure organizational policies and procedures are followed and to alert management of gaps in policy compliance.

The internal audit process can be done with internal resources or can be outsourced to an external third party vendor. Read the Full Article →