Business Realities

Decisions and Delegation.

Decisions and Delegation. Nobody can know everything. Do you have a problem with decisions and delegation? Do you find it difficult, even impossible, to admit that you don’t know everything? You need to ask yourself why that is? Nobody can know everything. Especially when faced with crucial business decisions where you really do need to know everything. Perhaps you are afraid that your staff will lose some of their respect for you. Honestly, if you have anybody on your team…

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Undervalued?

How do we evaluate our personnel? How can we ensure that our staff are never undervalued? Some organisations use a checklist filled with standard questions, other insist of a hand written report. The most common is a combination of the two with several variations. It really doesn’t matter which method you follow, the end result should be the same. There are various names for the same process; evaluations, assessments or appraisals, and they are all pretty much the same thing.…

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A contract too far.

A contract too far.

Always try not to over-stretch the resources of your business. You may push to the limits but be very careful or you will create an overly stressful work environment. Then, the problems may really start and one of the first casualties could be productivity. In smaller businesses it is not uncommon to exist within the delicate balance of cash flow with very little room for manoeuvre. The temptation, even the obligation, to stretch your resources that little bit further can…

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The impossible.

The impossible.

Never promise anything to a client unless you have full knowledge of the subject matter. Delay, research and getting back to them as soon as possible are more preferable than an impossible promise. Let us explore a little further the consequences to the business that has been bullied into accepting a contract for work that will prove to be, if not impossible, then at the very least extremely difficult. The same or similar results, as we shall see, can occur…

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I can relate to that.

I can relate to that.

When a client has a new business requirement, quite often the may only have a vague idea of what they want. Your job is to guide them and help them achieve the clarity with their business requirements. Let us consider this scenario. Whenever a new or existing client makes a request, for a new product or service or for an extension of an existing one. One of the worst mistakes to make is to assume that the client knows exactly…

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Staring up.

Starting up.

Have you ever noticed that when starting a new business or even expanding the current business into a new field, there is always the temptation to provide products and services extremely cheaply to early clients? It’s quite normal to want to attract as many paying customers as possible isn’t it? So then, these early clients tend to get special treatment and why not indeed? It’s not as if the start-up doesn’t have the spare time does it? So later in…

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