How to Make Performance Enhancements at the Departmental Level

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The dreaded performance review is something that some employees look forward to and others fear. Many reviews are only conducted on an annual basis which isn’t necessarily a good thing. The managers who conduct the review aren’t always the best person to do so with employees feeling like they’re not in touch with their day-to-day work sufficiently to properly assess them.

There’s many approaches you can take to improve the performance of team members at a departmental level. Let’s look at a few of the ways to make work performance better and more consistent.

Set Realistic Goals & Objectives

It is all too easy for a team leader or department head to set goals based on the objectives that their boss has set for them. Sometimes there is a fundamental disconnect between goals set at a senior management level and what’s possible for people within the team. A leader has to understand the challenges ahead, help the team navigate them well and look to improve processes where a lack of structure and organization is the cause of poor performance.

When considering spending or budgeting within the business at the departmental level, referencing the Over Head Watch website provides insight into ways to manage costs more effectively and the common pitfalls to avoid.

Talk with Individual Team Members

Meet with each team member to discuss areas where they think they can personally improve. Talk with them about the difficulties they are having with getting their tasks completed efficiently and well. Is there a communication difficulty or a lack of critical information flow that continues to create obstacles for them? Can they think of any ways to change procedures to speed things up by cutting out unnecessary actions or replacing inefficient actions with more efficient ones?

Is Training Needed to Improve Performance?

The requirements of a role change, sometimes slowly, and other times at a rapid pace. If employees aren’t given the opportunity to re-train for new tasks, then they may perform them poorly. Offering training – either in-house or at a specialist training facility – provides employees with the tools they need to manage their workload better once they’re more up to speed on what’s needed.

Be open-minded about the training that’s required. You may expect them to be an expert at working an Excel spreadsheet to complete a new weekly task that’s been assigned to them, but perhaps they’ve barely covered the basics with Microsoft Excel and are floundering. Giving them a video training course or an off-site Excel course to get them updated quickly is the best action to take rather than being disappointed; no one can be great at everything. Empower your staff by giving them the knowledge and tools to get the job done better.

Frequency of Performance Reviews

Performance reviews need to be conducted on a regular basis. Ideally regular mini reviews of their performance, setting new targets and objectives and deciding what training might be needed to move the employee forward, are actions that should happen at least quarterly. Business simply moves too fast today to use an annual review structure. It also creates too much distance between a manager’s knowledge about the employee’s performance and the current reality.

Managing departmental performance is something that cannot be done at a distance. While micro-managing is not necessary or helpful, setting clear goals and providing the training necessary to help employees complete each task quickly and efficiently delivers the best results.

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleWhether you’re a small business owner looking for advice on how to boost your business, or a professional working for a large business wondering how to make an impact, understanding the different ways businesses can improve is important. There are a number of tips and tricks to do with marketing, sales and the more technical side to businesses that can aid growth, but in many cases, improving businesses can be much simpler than that. Here, we’re taking a closer look at the top five ways to improve your business.

Invest In Your Business

The best way to improve your business is simply to invest in it. You don’t need to have a huge budget in order to do this, and there are many low-cost ways that you can make a better working environment and a better business as a whole. For example, consider looking into sales or automating your marketing for an effective solution. If you do want to invest a little bit of cash, but don’t quite have it to hand, then consider taking out a loan from a bank or something similar to Wizzcash short term loans. This will give you a little helping hand to help you boost your business when you need it.

Set Goals

A simple way to improve your business is to know what you want to achieve, and work out how to achieve those set goals. This way, you know that your business is consistently striving towards something, meaning you will continue to improve your processes and work environment as you go.

Monitor Trends

Events around the world, no matter how big or small, could have an impact on your business. Staying up to date with your industry and even the current economic, social and political environments around you can help you to improve the way your business runs. Monitoring trends doesn’t have to be difficult either – just open your eyes and ears to your local community and this will be done for you.

Boost Employee Motivation

While getting the sales in and ensuring that all work is complete might be at the top of your list as a business owner in order to ensure that you are getting a profit, the best way to do this is through employee motivation. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of businesses, but generally, those who look after their employees will see their staff turnovers decline and see your business begin to boom. There are a number of ways that you can do this, such as regular staff events, rewarding hard-working employees, recognising achievements and encouraging personal and professional development.

Know Your Limits

One thing that many business owners tend to forget is their limits. As they are fuelled with the idea of success, they can quickly wear themselves out and hit bigger hurdles than they may have imagined along the way. Know your personal limits as a business owner, employ the right staff around you to help hold up their end of the business that they may be experts in, and manage your resources in a much better way, and your business will begin to fly.

Fix These Potential Failings To Save Your Business!

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As a company owner, you of course want your business to succeed and get ahead, but this can be difficult in such a competitive market. There are so many things to consider, and so many details that need to be right- any of the following things could be letting you down (even to the point where they cause your business to fail!) For this reason, make sure you’re not overlooking these essential elements.

Invest in An App

The world’s largest companies might have been first to get on board when it comes to mobile apps, but it’s definitely not something you should disregard for your own medium sized or smaller business. An effective mobile strategy isn’t just about a mobile friendly website, mobile apps do so much more than this. They allow customers to have all your information at the click of a button and can result in better interaction and more sales for you. It can help you gain new customers, and all in all is an excellent tool to increase your company’s profits. An app for your business will help to improve your brand and increase brand awareness. This is important as customers are more likely to choose brands they know simply because they are seen as safer and more reliable. When you have an app that your customers can download to their phone, it means your website is just a click away. This also means you can send things like offers and coupons directly to their smartphone even when they’re not using the app. These days mobile apps from small businesses are still rare, and this is where you can take a leap ahead of your competition. In the next few years every business will have one, and so take the chance to get involved while it’s still early days and it will set you apart. Anything that can make your company stand out in a good way will have a positive effect on it. Since mobiles and tablets have replaced more traditional desktops and laptops in being the most used devices- the future of your business depends on your ability to get your business onto the phones of your potential customers.

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Use Good Business Software

Keeping good accounts is vital when you run a business. You will of course have an accountant to tackle the difficult things. However, you will still need to keep efficient records day to day. Good accounting software can allow you to do this and means either you’re able to do your books yourself, or at least tackle a  lot of the work, so you don’t have to spend as much money paying an accountant for more hours. Old methods of accounting such as paper records or Excel can slow or even jeopardise your business. As well as the risk of mistakes, you also have to pay someone to trawl through and take care the tedious task- more efficient methods are the best way to go. They’re more accurate, will save you time and can be saved to cloud based backup services which protect your day. Another type of software you will need if you sell products is presentation software. Your first thought might be Microsoft Powerpoint, but there are a whole range of other programmes out there, many which will likely suit the needs of your business more. Some are relatively simple, others give you the ability to create more complex presentations so find one that’s right for your business. Employee scheduling software will  show you how to create the perfect work schedule for your team. No more manually swapping things over or spending time working it all out, the right software will do all of that in seconds. Email marketing software is another useful one to consider for your business. It can attract new customers as well as maintains relationships with loyal customers- plus it has a large reach and has been shown to lead to more conversions in the form of leads and sales. Unlike social networks, email will always be around and is an efficient way to deliver a message to all of your customers.

Write A Business Blog

There are numerous benefits of running a business blog. It helps drive traffic to your website, plus it means more pages are being indexed by search engines boosting your PageRank. It establishes authority about your brand and also helps to spread the word about your website through social media shares. Write regular engaging content in order to draw in potential customers in and boost business. Each piece of content you produce is another way your blog can be found in organic search. I t’s a free and a straightforward way to promote your business and something any business owner can get on board with. You don’t even have to write it yourself, employ a writer, or pay a writer online to create posts for you.

Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy

Regardless of what your product is and who you sell it to, you need to be using social media as a marketing tool. This can help you grow your brand awareness no end, and these days it’s not just an added extra. It really is something that needs to be an integral part of your company’s digital marketing approach. It’s free to use, and according to research is twice as effective at leading to sales than other traditional outbound marketing techniques. Plus, a good social following makes you look reliable to customers, and provides them with another point of contact should anything go wrong with the transaction. It provides a unique way to have more interaction with your customer base, and you get to find out what makes them tick- this is all information that could even give you ideas for your marketing strategy.  All of your accounts should be run efficiently, get a social media manager on board your team if you’re not an expert. It’s an excellent investment into your business in today’s digital age.

Use An Ecommerce Platform

If your business sells products, you will need to find a good ecommerce platform. Don’t try listing things just on your website, at the very least you need an online storefront with payment processing capabilities. It looks professional and will make life easier for you too. Different platforms will have different customizations and themes on offer so you have the opportunity to really personalize it to your business. There are plenty of comparisons to read online, so spend some time working out exactly what’s right for your business. For many businesses, this will be the main thing that the customer sees when interacting with the company so be sure to get this right.

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Take On Board Customer Feedback

Any feedback you can gain from customers is useful – good or bad. If and when you do receive complaints or negative feedback, make sure this is carefully looked into and is a way to improve. It’s easy to get defensive over your company but the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ is true- these are the people buying from you and keeping you in business.  Whether it was long shipping times or items arriving in bad condition, incorrect sizes or colours sent out or poor quality items it shows you where you’re going wrong. Whatever it is, focus on what the problem is to come up with a suitable solution. And of course, positive feedback is always good and lets you know what you’re doing is working.

Why Your Business Should Become More Like Orwell’s Big Brother

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Monitoring your business, whether you’re a sole trader, entrepreneur or small business owner is essential. It’s often the difference between turning a profit and failing to break even.

But what does “monitoring your business” mean in practice?

In general, when gurus talk about monitoring, they’re referring to the ability of your firm to optimize its workload and achieve greater productivity simply by analyzing and refining its processes. It means going over your processes with a fine tooth comb and trying to find whether there is anything that you can improve using the data available to you. Here’s how to make your business more like Orwell’s Big Brother.

Analyze How You Spend Your Time

The biggest problem most businesses face isn’t their toxic workplace “culture” or their lack of skilled staff: it’s how they’re spending their time. Most managers just assume that their employees are working for the entire 7 – 9 hours they’re in the office every day. But when you actually look at how they are spending their time, you’re lucky if you even get 6 hours out of them.

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The reasons for this are twofold. The first is that employees spend a lot of time doing unproductive things in the office, like walking from their desks to the water dispenser or yawning during in meetings. Most of this can’t be helped, so it’s not an obvious target for monitoring.

The second reason is that employees are wasting a lot of time performing tasks that could be done more quickly and efficiently by either another team member, software or a different department. Sometimes, the issue is training – for instance, employees not knowing how to save time filling out cells on spreadsheets. These are the types of activities for which it is worth collecting data because it can result in a substantial uplift in productivity.

Monitor Your Accounts

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Getting paid is another major headache for businesses. Clients often pay late or not at all. Monitoring and managing accounts receivable, therefore, is essential. The problem for most small businesses, however, is that they are still relying on old-fashioned methods which make it difficult to keep track of clients. With monitoring, however, you’re immediately able to view client payment histories and get alerts if a customer is late with a payment. By monitoring your accounts, you’re able to identify patterns in high-risk customers and alter your premiums accordingly.

Monitor Staff Performance

With more and more work being completed online, it’s getting easier for companies to monitor staff performance. Monitoring workers is key to ensuring that you get maximum performance out of them every day, not just when they know you’re watching.

But it’s not all about Orwellian monitoring of their daily activities: it’s also about finding strategies to boost their productivity and waiting to see whether they have any effect in the real world. Something as simple as having a policy of saying “please” and “thank you” to workers could have a measurable effect. Find ways to keep your team feeling valued and help new recruits slot into the organization. Track the effects of guidance and training and find out whether it has any positive effect on your bottom line.

Cut Your Expenses Without Cutting Quality

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So hey, here’s a shocking newsflash for you: starting and running a business is expensive. And if your expenses aren’t being eclipsed by your profits, then your business isn’t going to last very long at all. This is why you need to ensure you’re not making mistakes when it comes to those expenses. Here are some of the smart ways that new business owners can start cutting expenses – without cutting quality.

First up: keep track of your business expenses!

You’re definitely going to have a hard time cutting your business expenses if you can barely remember how much you’re actually spending! Gathering the required data is the first step to improving many areas of business, and finances are definitely no exception.

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The mistake that a lot of new business owners make is that they underestimate the importance of all this. That, or they assume they can keep track of expenses – or do all the bookkeeping – by themselves. But when your business starts taking off a little and starts buying assets and making deals, then those costs are going to get a lot more difficult to track, and very quickly.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to do all of this without an accountant. Work with them to track your expenses in as detailed a way as possible. Only then will you know what areas are costing the most money and where you can start making some cuts.

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Telecommuting is the way

There are loads of benefits to having your employees physically there in the office with you, no doubt. But when you that’s a requirement to run your business with the model you’ve chosen to use, then you have to introduce so many expenses.

The costs of running a business are often so high because you have to account for all those employees! The biggest expense in this area, of course, is the total cost of labour in the form of employee salaries. But there are loads of other costs to consider. For one, you need to ensure that you have an office big enough to house the employees. You also need to consider utilities – electricity and water usage.

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There are also problems of time. How many times have you seen employees – or even yourself! – show up late due to commuting problems? And time is money, after all. The key could be to have workers telecommute, i.e. work from home. This is easier than ever with cloud computing and portable technology. Telecommuting has also been found in many studies to increase productivity – which means that you’re getting more bang for your buck when it comes to paying those salaries!

Proper inventory and supply management

Your business is going to have to buy a lot of things. If you’re an office, then you’ll have to buy loads of stationery, furniture, food, all that sort of stuff. If you’re in construction, then you’ll need to acquire equipment and permits. Regardless of your specific field, there are always going to be things you need to bring into the business.

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All of these things need to be sourced, investigated, and purchased (sometimes via auction!) at the best possible price. You need to ensure that you get the most quality from the inventory and supplies that you’re procuring. Tracking orders, shipments, and invoices is also required. If all of this is done wrong, it can get very expensive – and without the quality to support how much you ended up purchasing.

Mistakes in this area will cost your business a lot. Even the smaller mistakes eventually build up over time and reveal themselves to cost a lot in total over the course of a year or so. When business owners are having a hard time finding out precisely where they’re losing money, the fault is often found in bad supply management. This is why you should put a focus on find a supply (or procurement) manager that is highly experienced. Companies like Portfolio procurement can help you find who you’re looking for.

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Hiring the right people

If an employee isn’t very productive or simply isn’t very good at their job, then you’re losing money. A lot of business owners don’t see it this way, even though they’re not happy with the situation. They don’t think of employees in terms of an investment, or an asset.

To some extent, maybe we can be thankful for that. It’s nice to be seen as, y’know, a human being instead of an asset or an investment! Still, this is the world of business and finance, and sometimes you need to abstract the human element to gauge just how well something is working. And if an employee simply isn’t doing their job all that well, then you’re not really getting what you paid for, right?

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One of the ways this can be tackled is by improving training when new employees begin. But a lot of business owners prefer non-formal methods of training; being guided by a fellow employee, for example. And if you do currently have employees that aren’t pulling their weight, then you need to have a word with them about their performance. The better the feedback you give, the more the employee will take on board. Hopefully, this will result in much stronger performance in future!

But perhaps the best way to ensure that costs are saved to the greatest extent is to hire the right people in the first place. You may wonder how such a thing is possible – can’t you only really tell how well someone will work once they’re on the job? The problem here is that business owners aren’t always as discerning as they should be. Especially if they’ve set themselves a date by which they need to have an employee.

Unless things are extremely urgent, you should be willing to take your time. Don’t fill that vacancy until you’ve found the best damn employee you possibly can. This can sometimes cost more when it comes to actual search methods, and you may feel that the empty position is, in itself, a loss of potential earnings. But in the long run, the expenses connected to that employee will seem better spent – and will really be worth it. This is one of the most underrated methods of reducing business expenses – by hiring the right people to boost your profits!