Small Business Owners: Hire People Smarter than You

Small business owners – admit this: At times, your ego won’t let other people to be better, smarter, more talented, and wealthier than you.
Your ego can help you become a tough competitor. However, most of the times, your ego damages your business potential. One of the business issues where your ego will determine the outcome is employee recruitment.

Negotiation or an argument in disguise?

When conflict or confrontations occur in the workplace the solution is often sought through negotiation. Negotiation, it is thought, is a simple way to diffuse such difficulties and is easy to engage in. Unfortunately, because many people do not understand the underlying principles of negotiation, what actually happens is that the conflicting parities end up in ever increasing acrimonious arguments, rather than productive outcomes.

How to develop a succession plan

Succession planning has come a long way from the days when it usually meant simply putting names in boxes on organization charts. Effective succession planning has evolved to a process by which successors are identified for key positions, and career development and associated activities are planned accordingly. Here are the key steps in developing an effective succession plan...

Do you act or react to your business?

If you are a reactive manager you can adjust your tactics when new situations, complications, and issues arise. However, being reactive means taking action only after the event has happened, while being proactive means being responsive before the event. Proactive and reactive are both valid responses, however when a person is in a reactive state they are forever defensive and anticipating.

Organizational policies and procedures - What you need to know

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.” (R. Reagan)

Policies and Procedures are two words frequently heard in the business world and there is often confusion between the two concepts.

Three top tips for hiring smart when supply exceeds demand

Hiring smart is exponentially more difficult when supply greatly exceeds demand, a contemporary reality created from the mass layoffs due to this recession. With so many people job hunting for fewer job openings, now your recruiting efforts are taking much more time than was required in a stable employment environment.

A buyers market for talent

If you have ever wanted to upgrade the talent in your business, now is the time.  There's never been a better talent market and there are some highly skilled employees available that are looking to work in a place where they can make a difference. Under normal circumstances, these kinds of people are fully employed and you have to find and recruit them away from other companies.  Right now they are out there actively looking for their next opportunity.

How small businesses can retain employees in a recession

In the midst of all the outrage surrounding AIG’s infamous bailout bonus packages, a surprising detail has emerged. The so-called “retention” bonuses were paid to 52 people who have packed up and left the company. Though one could perhaps argue that the people who left technically could afford to leave, and anyway they weren’t doing such a good job in the first place, it still raises two powerful questions:

Giving difficult feedback: 5 Steps to telling inconvenient truths

One of the most challenging aspects of a manager’s job, the part that is most messy and unpredictable, is giving corrective feedback. Whether it’s delivering a less than stellar review, laying someone off or coaching a challenging employee, for those of us who are wired to avoid conflict, this can be excruciating. We often walk away from these encounters feeling inadequate and ineffective. Some managers are born mentors, for the rest of us there are steps we can take to shift this from a dreaded management chore to a welcome opportunity to coach our employees toward greater success.

Tough decisions in rough times: how to lay off employees, the right way

It's usually not an easy task to terminate a staff member. There's the obvious emotional discomfort surrounding this decision, and of course delivering the "bad news" is a highly charged moment too. Add to this the possible financial and legal exposure, and it becomes clear that terminating staff is not something you should undertake lightly, which is why a better way is to let a professional handle the transition process.