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How To Get The Most Out Of Your Employees

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Get the most out of your employees|How To Get The Most Out Of Your EmployeesThe whole purpose of employing personnel is to lower your personal burden and guarantee that jobs are done by those who have the necessary expertise and experience. Nobody can be brilliant at everything, and recognizing this and then recruiting individuals who are strong at certain aspects of your organization is critical if you want to drive things forward and be as successful as possible. So, after you’ve made your choice and hired someone (or many people), how do you know you’re getting the most out of them? Here are some suggestions.

Proper Scheduling

Scheduling your staff in the right way is one of the most useful methods to ensure you are getting the most out of them and operating the company as efficiently as possible. By utilizing scheduling software, you can keep track of who has to work when and who needs time off, ensuring that there are no misunderstandings and that someone is always booked for every day or shift. In this way, every job will be done, and you’ll have overall control of the entire business.

For this to operate well, you will need to know what hours your team can work and who is best positioned in which area, therefore you will need to have a solid policy of asking your staff what they need and working with them as best you can. Once you have this information, you can make a plan that the scheduling software will make it easy to stick to, ensuring everyone is doing what they do best.

Give Rewards

People from all walks of life, ages, and occupations will react positively to incentives and rewards at work. If they are rewarded with something, they will be aware that they have been seen to be doing a good job, and if that work is rewarded, they will be more inclined to continue working hard; they won’t want to disappoint after their efforts have been recognized. Rewarding employees has an additional benefit: others around them who see that hard effort is rewarded will begin to work harder as well, and the whole workforce will be more productive, efficient, and loyal in the end.

Rewards don’t have to be fancy or expensive (unless you want them to be); symbolism is frequently more important than anything else. Possible incentives include:

  • An additional vacation day
  • Gift certificates for a meal or a store they like
  • A position as ’employee of the month’ or a mention in the business newsletter.

The goal is to guarantee that outstanding work is recognized, and the ‘prize,’ although significant, is a secondary issue, so don’t be concerned if your company can’t afford to go all out; it doesn’t have to.

Make The Rules Clear

In this world, there are two categories of people: leaders and followers. Leaders create the rules, and followers, as the term implies, obey them. Because you will have more followers than leaders working for you, and you are the leader yourself, you will be responsible for establishing and enforcing workplace standards.

Rules can be difficult to obey, particularly if they don’t make sense and people resent having to observe them. To get the best out of your staff, any regulations you implement must be totally explicit so that there are no ambiguities, and they must make sense (or you need to explain why they are in place so people are happier to follow them).

Why Influencers Are Vital To Your Brand

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Influencers|Why Influencers Are Vital To Your BrandWe’re living in a world that involves more social media use than ever before and companies are sitting up and taking notice. More and more of us are paying attention to what’s going on on social media, and companies realize that the best way to get through to their audience is with the strength of marketing on social media.

The reason that social media marketing is becoming so popular is with the rise of the influencer. Influencers offer people a trusted opinion – it’s like peer reviews on a much larger scale. There are people who pull influencers onto their podcasts and channels with the help of a podcast booking agency, and there are those who use the strength of social media advertising to reach further than their usual audience. There are so many reasons that you should be incorporating influencers in marketing your brand and we’ve got these for you below:

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  1. Your audience trusts influencers. If you choose the right influencers, you are going to reach your audience in a way that you can’t elsewhere. People trust the voice of the influencer because they are able to reach out in a way that you can’t. The level of trust there is something you might not have built yet, but that’s why you use influencers!
  2. They are opinion leaders. Influencers aren’t just celebrities who won the latest competition. They are opinion leaders and they are able to push your product in a way that you aren’t able to do. Celebrities can reach a bigger and more diverse group of people and if you focus on the way in which the influencers value their audience, you can maximize what your brand stands for.
  3. Social media is growing. Your business can’t be everywhere at all times on its own. You need help and with social media growing so rapidly, you need to be able to grow more and influencers have a reach that you couldn’t possibly keep up with. Social media pages are flying right now and if you’re on them, your reach will grow – it’s how influencers can drive traffic to your page! It’s important to remember that there are so many kinds of social media that you need to think about trying out. A good example is Twitch, the streaming service which allows people to stream videos of themselves. This is something that influencers are making a lot of use of these days, so it might be worth considering doing that yourself. You can change Twitch stream title to reflect your brand and stream things that your audience will love – and the results will often be huge.
  4. Adverts are being blocked. More and more people are moving away from watching traditional television because they prefer to watch uninhibited adverts. We’re paying for streaming services and we’re opting for premium streaming so that we can get away from adverts in general. With social media influencers, people want to listen to their favorites and what they have to say!
  5. Your brand is losing power. You need all the help that you can get as a startup who is looking to market their business. The use of influencer marketing can be a gamechanger for most businesses; you just have to figure out which influencers would be the best option for you and your business. Aligning yourself with the right ones will improve your brand immensely!

Trying out influencer marketing could change your entire business – why not give it a try and find the influencers right for your business today?

4 Top Office Design Trends for 2022

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Office Design Trends|4 Top Office Design Trends for 2022Since the pandemic outbreak in 2022, office trends have shifted significantly as efficiency, comfort, and functionality have become a focal point of office designs. At the same time, many people continue to work from home, although a recent study suggests that 90% of Americans are willing to return to the office. From design aesthetics to focus on safety and an interactive working environment, here are four top office design trends you should consider for 2022.

Merge home comfort to the office

With many people growing accustomed to working from home, you should consider comfort as a top priority in the office.

There are several ways you can make your office more comfortable, including ergonomic seating, warm lighting, outdoor seating, and so on. You may also want to consider your habits, especially after working from home. Did you move from one room to another or stay behind your desk all day? Although installing mattresses in your workspace is not recommended, a remote working study suggests that most people worked from the couch while others did so from their beds. This means adding a plush couch to your office space can benefit your team when they need a break from the traditional desk.

Prioritize sustainability

Living or green walls are now a common feature in today’s modern office. Real gardens and plant displays are mounted in many modern office structures as businesses incorporate green options in the workspaces. Since some rooms lack adequate lighting or windows, introducing some green life into your workspaces can offer a touch of nature and bring some outside into your office. Additionally, you can use the greenery to compliment your natural designing such as LVT and engineered hardwood flooring. Having plants and green life in your workplace can make your space feel more relaxing and homey while offering several health benefits.

Flexible, pod-style designs

Many businesses in recent times have embraced open office concepts. This has made pod-style or flexible office layouts more crucial than ever. It is normal to see employees seeking enclosed areas or private spots. Therefore, it is vital for open office plans to make room for features such as private areas and an office phone booth with enough space and seating for employees to make calls, research, and video conferencing with minimal interruption. These spaces can also be ideal for workers spending only a few days in the office as they work from home.

Safe and protected workspaces

In addition to CDC and OSHA guidelines on workplace safety, businesses and organizations are reconsidering interior and office designs that provide safe and protected spaces. Many are choosing hard surfaces and design components that are easy to clean, disinfect and maintain. The office space also features signs for social distancing, hand sanitizing stations, the number of people allowed to occupy a room at a time. These efforts are directed towards making your working teams feel safer.

If you are preparing to return to the office, you may want to consider redesigning your office space to inspire and promote collaboration and productivity. These four office design trends can help create a unique office space to get the most from your working teams.

How to work hard and smart in business management

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Business Management|How to work hard and smart in business managementIt’s the greatest challenge of our modern age: maintaining a healthy work-life balance and maximizing your productivity to help your business and career thrive. The last two years have significantly changed many perceptions and attitudes around presenteeism and productivity with the pandemic. It’s a complete culture change. The world we knew became even more digitalized, with most people working from home and attending meetings virtually through Zoom.

However, one of the key learnings for 2022 is when it comes to business management and your career, it’s not so much about how much time you put into it, but how you use that specified time. So, how do you work hard and smart?

Time management

Knowing how long tasks take, and finding the time to do them, is a top skill that is worth mastering, particularly if you’re looking to progress your career to higher leadership roles. If you aren’t sure how long specific tasks take, from answering emails to more significant projects, monitor yourself for a week and take notes. Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can time-block effectively. Put each task into your calendar as a block of time and aim to do the job in that allocated slot. This tool will help you concentrate on longer tasks and not get sucked into procrastination or non-urgent admin, therefore making your valuable time more productive. Being able to manage your time effectively will give you more time to relax outside of your working hours and will help to eliminate stress.

Outsource your resources

Don’t have time to do it all? No problem, find someone who can. If you have the means and budget, working with an agency can make a massive difference to your business. For example, video content has become a significant part of marketing, particularly on social media. Companies are competing with millions of other accounts, so top quality, engaging content should be high on your priority list for a successful marketing strategy. Corporate video production companies like MHF Creative are an excellent resource for making your business stand out and pushing your business to the next level. There is no shame in outsourcing tasks to others, especially to experts who will do a better job than you could do.

Get into ‘deep work.’

Deep work is the new superpower for focus and productivity developed by Professor Cal Newport. Deep work is about your ability to focus without distraction, reclaiming your concentration for a specified amount of time. By Newport’s definition, deep work is: “Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”

Think about how you work best, remove all distractions from your environment by muting all notifications on your phone and laptop, and be strict with yourself.

Working hard and smart isn’t just about getting more done; it’s about doing your job to the best of your ability with no sacrifice to your work-life balance or business.

7 Features to Look for When Choosing a Turnkey BDR Appliance

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Turnkey BDR|7 Features to Look for When Choosing a Turnkey BDR ApplianceThe term “turnkey” pertains to a product or service that can immediately be used in its full capacity right out of the box. For products like backup and disaster recovery (BDR) appliances, this turnkey functionality is essential. It means that businesses that use the product can go about backing up large amounts of data from day one, and that they can depend on the solution even if data loss were to happen the next day.

For any business operating in this data-driven age, a turnkey backup and recovery solution is a must-have. But what kind of BDR appliance is worth the investment? If your own company is looking for a turnkey BDR solution, here are the top seven features you will want it to have.

Speedy Backup

The most important feature in your BDR appliance is fast backup and recovery from the get-go, creating multiple backup copies in multiple location. If it takes too long for the appliance to back up your business data, you’ll have an even harder time recovering from a disaster and getting your operations back to normal.

That said, you will want a solution that can back up and recover large amounts of data in a matter of minutes. It should also be able to leverage data compression techniques to ensure the most efficient usage of available resources.

Flexible Data Capture Capabilities

The next feature that you want in your BDR solution is flexibility in terms of how it can capture and store data. It should be able to accommodate data in a variety of formats, as your own business data can come in different forms and are used on multiple programs or platforms.

The flexibility in terms of data capture also determines the breadth of recovery methods your solution can offer. Currently, the most common way of backing up large amounts of data is by using snapshots. The more adaptable your solution is and the more recovery options it can offer in dire circumstances, the better it will be for your business.

Regular Automated Testing

BDR solutions require regular testing to see if the system is properly backing up data the way it’s supposed to. However, this is a burdensome task for staff to perform manually, and it takes away from the “turnkey” quality of the device.

It’s good to invest in an appliance that is able to perform regular automated testing. IT personnel can pre-configure the solution to run tests after a certain condition has been met—like after every successful backup. The results of the auto-testing can quickly reveal whether the backup process is has any issues that need to be resolved in order for the solution to perform as it should.

Simplicity and Ease of Use

You will also want a BDR appliance that truly lives up to its branding as a turnkey device—that is, something that’s easy to set up and maintain. Overly complex products may demand too much time, money, or effort just to configure. Not only will that make them less satisfying to own; they may also become an additional liability when a disastrous event occurs.

It’s important to look for a solution that you can simply “set and forget.” The ideal product will ensure swift and accurate data backup and recovery without too much effort on the part of your staff.

Full Protection Against Data Breaches

Data breaches occur, even on dedicated devices for data backup and recovery. These breaches can happen anytime, even when your business data is being backed up. Therefore, you’ll want a solution that can safeguard data when you are scrambling to recover your business operations.

Buy a product that encrypts of your data while it’s being backed up and after it’s been backed up. Get assurance from the BDR vendor that your data will be encrypted from the source before it’s saved to another network for storage.

Adequate IT Support

Though you may be purchasing a turnkey BDR solution, you’ll still need the help of human personnel from time to time. Your vendor’s IT support staff should be able to help you troubleshoot more advanced problems that may come up with the device.

Make sure to buy a solution from a company that has the best people behind it, and not only the most cutting-edge software. Read reviews not only for the product itself, but for the extent of IT support the vendor offered customers when something went wrong.

Scalability for Your Business’s Future

Lastly, you will want a BDR appliance that can keep up with your company’s growth. The larger and busier your company becomes, the more complex your requirements will be for successful data backup and disaster recovery.

Get a solution that will be able to meet your demands as your business grows. For this, you’ll need to properly size your BDR appliance and not go with the cheaper option that’s not properly sized. This will be much easier for you when you’ve outgrown the appliance that’s not properly sized because you’ll have to either replace your current appliance, or shift to a brand-new solution.

Conclusion

System failures, natural disasters, and data breaches could be financially devastating to your company. There’s no telling when these will actually occur. But regardless of when they happen, a dependable BDR solution like the one offered by Quorum will help you bounce back instantly. In the event of a calamity, you shouldn’t have to think too hard about what to do in order to get your business back to normal—and a turnkey BDR appliance will help you do just that.