The Thriving Small Business

InsideOut Management Coaching Seminar Review

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I recently participated in the InsideOut Management Coaching Seminar. I had two goals going into the session. The first was to refresh my knowledge of employee coaching and the second was to assess whether it was material that would benefit my organization.

The class exceeded my expectations on both counts in that it simplified a very complex performance thought process and provided tools to help encourage strong employee performance. Read the Full Article →

Sample of a Great Employee Achievement and Development Book

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I just finished reading Ken Blanchard’s most recent book, “Helping People Win at Work – A Business Philosophy called Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A” that he co-wrote with Garry Ridge, the president and CEO of WD-40 Company.

The book is a simplified illustration of a good performance management system. Read the Full Article →

Employee Manual Template

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As a small business begins to grow and identifies the need to hire employees, they are faced with answering employee related questions.  When there are only a few employees in an office it is not a big deal and being flexible with benefits and work-related expectations is ok.  However, once the employee population increases, it is important to be able to manage the human resource function and document business practices as they relate to worker benefits, behavior and performance expectations.   Read the Full Article →

Online Tools to Help Small Business Growth

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For those small business owners who may need a little help with growing their business, this is exciting news. Google has partnered with the Small Business Administration to create a resource to help educate small business owners on how to use the internet and online marketing to help them grow and succeed! Read the Full Article →

Four Similarities Between Dog Training and Employee Management

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My children blessed us with a darling ten week old Shih Tzu puppy this past Christmas. Maggie is now almost seven months old and we have decided to start her in dog training to help us influence some of her behaviors.  Maggie is finishing up her first week of training and we had our “parent-teacher” conference this week and I was surprised at how the simple concepts they taught us for how to “manage” our pooch is so similar to leading and managing employees.   Read the Full Article →

Leadership In Management

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I was at a conference this week and one of the many great speakers I heard was Ken Blanchard. For anyone who may not know who Ken Blanchard is, he is one of the premier leadership gurus and has decades of experience teaching and writing about leadership and how management tactics can impact employee performance. Read the Full Article →

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

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We have all been attentive and possibly emotionally involved in the health care reform debate.  This has been an issue that has created much controversy and division amongst our nation.  However, now that it has been signed into law, there comes some possible help for small business owners.

Part of the new health care reform legislation is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also referred to as the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit. Read the Full Article →

Example Flowchart as a Quality Management Tool

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Flowcharting is one of the Seven Management Tools for Quality Management. Flowcharting is typically used to map a process flow showing the beginning of a process, decision points and the end of the process.

Steps to creating a flowchart

1.  Identify Steps to the Process
The first step in creating a flow chart is to identify all the steps in a process. Read the Full Article →

2010 Raises

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As companies rebound from the great recession, they are cautiously going into 2010 with the hope of a slow recovery on the horizon. Budgeting has been difficult at best for many organizations and specifically budgeting staff increases has been even trickier.

There has always been a challenging balance between being competitive in the market and controlling costs when it comes to salary increases. Read the Full Article →

Using Text Analytics to Improve the Customer Experience

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With today’s use of internet blogs, social networks and the like, customers have a voice, an audience and they talk.  They share their experience either with online business reviews, on blogs or social forums.  When customers have a good experience, they may share it but if they have a bad experience, they often feel compelled to share their experience in an effort to keep others from having a similar bad experience. Read the Full Article →

Will Toyota Recover?

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Unless you live in a cave, don’t listen to the news, don’t read the paper and don’t get online, you are aware of Toyota’s current “quality” challenge in dealing with millions of recalled vehicles. The question is, how will Toyota recover from this one?

It’s funny, I’ve never had a Toyota. Read the Full Article →