Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Nov 12, 2009 @ 08:18 AM
Many business owners have had to cut staff and expenses to ensure viabilty during these challenging financial times. Many employees are being asked to do more with less or to take on responsibilities previously held by other co-workers in order to meet financial challenges. It is more important than ever that business leaders position themselves to do a better job at helping employees work smarter and finding ways to hold employees accountable for results. Over the past several months, I have been working with a number of executives on creating mechanism and tools for them to play a more active role in monitoring progress while keeping an eye on the bottom line. Companies can't afford to be lax in their tenacity to hold people to deadlines, cost control and process efficiencies. Time management is one of the keys to success, but most leaders need assistance managing the huge volume of work delegated to members of the team.
Executives have a difficult time balancing both the strategic needs of the company and the actions they require of others to meet their overall goals. Facilitating this work can be onerous, but with some simple tools, executives can achieve great success while continuing to monitor the bottom line.
The following are successful tips that might be of use at your company:
- Wikis are a great way to facilitate the collection of ideas by a diverse or broad management team all working on the same product introduction or project. Wikis can also be used to manage a large account as everyone has the opportunity to add their information in ONE place so that key members of the team all have the same information. Wikis have become a great and cost effective project managment tool.
- Project/Process Management tools can be expensive and difficult to use. Simplifying the steps to help project or process leaders monitor action items and deadlines is key to success. A simple tool which highlight the action, the required next step, the due date and owner which can be placed on a simple excel spreadsheet is a quick way to review information and maintain momentum on key process or project issues.
By using Wikis with a customized project management tool you suddenly have a respository for great ideas as well as a mechanism to review action items, deadlines and progress. CC Consulting, LLC has been working with companies to introduce them to new technology and to facilitate teams wanting to gain efficiency.
businesses have suffered losses in staff and as a result more people are doing two or three jobs. I pride myself in helping companies gain efficiency by helping them put in place tools that assist with process efficiency and accountability. We have all been asked to do more with less. I have been successful in helping companies
Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 08:13 AM
It is becoming clear that after we get through the downturn that more and more companies will be looking for expertise in managing people who manage projects. I believe that companies will need to regroup to ensure that deadlines are closely managed and that customers are hearing from company representatives on a regular basis.
If we stop to take the time to look at our to do lists as well as the deadlines imposed for getting things completed, we can easily become overwhelmed. It is really important for company leaders to develop a mechanism to track not only what they need to do, but what expectations they have set for the people who play an active role in completing tasks.
Each of us has our own mechanism for time management. Some processes are more successful than others, but regardless of the process we choose to use, it is clear that without vigilence few tools work effectively.
Tips for successful time management:
- Ensure that your team has a mechanism in place for reviewing due dates and action items. Make a review an integral part of your management meetings.
- Ensure that your team is being held accountable for meeting deadlines especially as they relate to client/customer deliverables.
- Role model the behavior you want repeated from the members of your staff. If you are diligent as the leader and you follow-up with members of the team then they know that these actions are important to you.
- Support and reward those employees that do a good job with integrating time management tools in their day-to-day job functions
- Offer to support additional training and facilitation if employees are struggling with time management.
Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, Nov 03, 2009 @ 09:30 AM
This week's Harvard Business Review played tribute to Peter Drucker, the role model for our current guidelines for leadership greatness. Current Harvard Business School Professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter was asked in an interview for the article, What she thought Drucker would make of the recent economic troubles, "His first comment might be 'I told you so,'" she writes in "What Would Peter Drucker say?" In the article Kanter points out that as early at the 1980's Drucker warned that companies would pay a price for allowing executive pay to get out of control and creating compensation systems that encouraged manager to take excessive risks and focus too much on the short term.
Drucker was a man of vision whose predictions about the auto industry collapse, competition from global markets challenging U.S. dominance would ultimately impact and blur our ability to recover quickly. After all these years, running a successful business continues to rely upon the ability of the organization to have a strong purpose.
Business models have drifted away from this very sage advice. We tend today to want to find someone to "blame" for our challenges. Drucker's work was dedicated toward looking at the entire enterprise--trends, organizational design, norms, processes and routines. He also reminded us that it is the responsibility of CEO's to challenge! The article also talked about the importance of both long and short term goals as they relate to the organization's mission and vision.
During crisis situations we can take our eye off the ball, but that leads to confusion, discord and anxiety. Executives constantly have to ask themselves if they are making the right decisions. As an executive, you need to utilize the talents of the management team around you. If you can't make mid-course corrections you really run the risk of failure.
Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, Nov 03, 2009 @ 08:04 AM
I've been in business as a management consultant for 10 years. Most of my training evolved from working with and for great leaders and great companies. Today, many business leaders are faced with challenges that go beyond what is taught in business school. Each day, business leaders face both financial difficulties as well as internal difficulties. As a management consultant, it can be easy to simply focus attention on helping clients reach their financial goals, but if that is the only focus, then the consultant really isn't doing their job.
As individuals brought in to companies to assist them, management consultants should also be working with executives on improving their social performance. We can run around letting everyone know that the sky is falling, or we can maintain a sense of decorum that helps workers weather the challenges.
The recent economic crisis continues to cause distrust with business leaders and consumer confidence. How then, should business leaders regain public trust? Peter Drucker, in many of his mangement and leadership books said this about management consultants. "They should think of themselves as diagnosticians rather than technicians." The best way to help a client improve its performance is to build on the strengths of its culture. Help organizations face those things that they are not doing well and create action items with strong accountability to turn poor performance around. This doesn't always mean shying awa from telling clients the truth if their culture needs improving. The management consultant neets to be the omnisicent observer that helps guide a company back to its roots, its mission and its vision for the future.
As we continue to come out of the recession, companies will have to change how they are doing business. Consultants need to guide company leaders to gain public trust and social acceptance. Management Consultants must be change agents. Peter Drucker's sage advice is a roadmap to success!