The Thriving Small Business

Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Appraisals

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Employees, as well as managers, often question why organizations do employee performance appraisals.

Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of a performance appraisal could argue why they perceive it to be ineffective and a complete waste of time.

Employees often feel unjustly assessed and managers often go through a forced annual process to comply with job expectations. Read the Full Article →

7 Steps Your Small Business Should Take Before Hiring That New Employee

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When a small business is formed, it is often difficult to imagine the time when there is a need to hire employees.

When that day comes, it is important to understand what needs to be done to hire a new employee.

There are several steps that need to be considered before entering into an employment arrangement. Read the Full Article →

Is Your Organization Better at Correcting Errors – or Preventing Them?

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As consumers, when we purchase a product or service, our basic expectation is for it to be safe to use and without defect.

Unfortunately that is not always the case.

Product recalls seem to be a daily event.

Just scroll through the product recall list on the Consumer Product Safety Commission site and you might be surprised at how many products are being recalled for safety concerns.

Read the Full Article →

7 Tips For Managing Remote Workers

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More and more organizations are offering employees the option to telecommute – at least occasionally.

This number has inched up the past several years.

Some organizations offer the option to telecommute it in an attempt to support a healthy work-life balance, while others do so in an effort to control increasing costs. Read the Full Article →

8 Steps to Implementing Successful Organizational Change

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Change is a word that generates uneasiness in most of us.

But most would agree that we can think of a time we had a good change in our lives.

A marriage, the birth of a baby, moving into a new home or a new job are examples of positive changes in our lives.  Read the Full Article →

5 Warning Signs That Your Organization Is At Risk Of A Quality Disaster

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Service and product quality is what separates the successful from struggling businesses.

Consumers have raised the bar as far as what they expect in terms of service and product quality.

The tension organizations wrestle with is managing the cost of delivering high quality products and services with a profitable bottom line. Read the Full Article →

 7 Tips to Make The Employee Survey Process Successful

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Every business owner understands that customers pay the bills.

And, to keep those customers coming back they need to provide a great service experience.

However, many organizations don’t pay as much attention to those people who care for their customers – the employees.

Employees are often on the front-line and interact with customers either in person, on the phone or delivering the product or service. Read the Full Article →

4 Tip for Improving Productivity and Decreasing Employee Errors

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I am a firm believer that employees come to work and want to do a good job.

However, it is the organization’s responsibility to ensure the work environment is one that inspires creative thinking and allows employees to do their job without any barriers or distractions to slow them down.

Apple is getting ready to open its new Spaceship Campus or Apple Park. Read the Full Article →

4 Steps to Developing a Quality Management System

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Successful organizations understand the importance of managing organizational quality.

But before quality can be managed it needs to be defined. What is quality?

Employees should understand how the organization defines quality and the importance of maintaining high quality services and products.

They also need to know how what they do impacts products and services. Read the Full Article →

What Are Critical Success Factors?

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Whether you are managing a restaurant, boutique or insurance agency, it is important to know that you are focusing on those things that help the organization achieve its mission.

Anyone who manages internal processes understands how challenging it can be to balance daily responsibilities with monitoring how well the organization is performing. Read the Full Article →

7 Tips for Your Benchmarking Efforts

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Learning from others is how we all improve.

Organizations use benchmarking to compare themselves to others and learn.

Benchmarking is the process of going outside an organization to look at how high performers are doing things in other industries.  The concept is to identify and learn from best practices.

Organizations use benchmarking as part of their Quality Management System in an effort to gain insight into ways to improve what they do. Read the Full Article →

Cash Handling Policy Example

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Any organization that works with cash should have clearly defined cash handling policies and procedures to help protect that money.

The fact is, cash is simply too tempting for many people – particularly people with a financial need.

And, it is management’s responsibility to ensure an organization safeguards its cash assets. Read the Full Article →