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Everybody hates performance evaluations. Managers hate doing them because it seems they have to assign their employees a grade. Employees hate receiving them because they are rarely helpful and often seemingly arbitrary. The important thing about assessment and evaluation is that you need to do both. Yes, they are different, and they are different in substantial ways and they serve different purposes. This is not just hair-splitting when it comes to terminology. If you only focus on one or the other you miss an opportunity to develop your people and give them the feedback that they need to be successful.

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Every business has its own special terminology, but many financial terms are the same across all businesses. Here are some basic words and their definitions as they relate to healthcare financial management.

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Few people realise that the person who decides if you are a success or a failure is you. You may say it is your mother or father, wife or friend but it is not. It is always you. Within your own definitions of success or failure you set your own parameters. If you beat this threshold ‘x’ you say you are successful and if you do not you are a failure. In this instance you hold the decision on the level at which ‘x’ is set. It is your choice. If you achieve ten per cent less than ‘x’ and call yourself a failure you could equally change the threshold to 89% of ‘x’ and instantly become a success. All of this is within your control.

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Recently I was asked to define the difference between a Project Leader and a Project Manager. To me the two have always been inseparable; a good Project Manager should also be a good Leader. I know many will argue the case that they have met PM’s that turned out to be poor leaders.

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Most companies take a good approach to developing leaders, but generally miss the point. There’s a lot of emphasis placed on good decision making, effective communication, and team building. And all those are important, but don’t address what matters most. When you get right down to it, the essence of leadership – the thing that best reflects good leadership – is when a leader is able to bring out the best in others. If a leader is able to elicit excellence from the people around him or her, then that person can truly be deemed great leader.

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While there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to being a better manager, there are certain things that you can do to boost your success as a manager. So what are the key secrets to being a more effective manager?

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In the workplace every day, we meet a whole range of different people. It is inevitable, therefore, that some of these people we will like, and some we will not get along with so easily. Of course, some of these people are going to be leaders – is it imperative that a good leader must be one of likeable character, or is it possible for a leader to be equally effective without the luxury of being liked by those they lead?
Good leaders must be many things in varying quantities – for example:

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Many managers tell me they don’t delegate tasks as often as they’d like because they just don’t know where to start. Here’s a 3 step process that can help to identify what you could delegate, who you could delegate to and how much of a task you could delegate.

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The BPO firm, like all other business firms, needs a cracking management team. The reigns of the company should be in the hands of people who have a vision, a plan to achieve that and most importantly, the faith in that vision. Many call center firms went haywire despite a successful start because they did not have a sound management team. Be it inbound call center services or outbound call center services, the management has to lay down the metrics of performance for every department. The process of planning is not something that can be done in a day or overnight. Haste in such matters generally leaves germs of disaster.

Read more on The BPO Management Story…

Managing employees who are not performing in their jobs at the level that you’d expect is not an easy task for even the most seasoned supervisor. No one likes having difficult conversations with staff, or losing valuable business time and resources focusing on micromanaging an under performing worker.

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There are many areas of fuel management. Today I want to provide you with sound and easy methods to improve your government fuel management program now. There are 3 main keys to success in any government fuel management program.

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I remember when I was a kid, one of my great delights when i was playing with my friends was we would take turns riding in and pulling each other around in our wagons. The ones with the slates on the sides. We would scream and yell. Sometimes we would tip the things over, much to our delight and skinned knees. Our totally focused energy was incredible. I can still feel it when I conjure up those memories.

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Operating Principle: The key to personal managerial time and energy conservation is to quickly — sometimes ruthlessly — to decide what’s important and urgent and to stay focused on the not urgent important.

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The cry for better management can be heard in every corner of the corporate arena. So with all this focus on managing people effectively, why do so many companies have such a difficult time actually making it happen?

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Today’s Subject: Are you kidding yourself? Some of you have heard me say recently, either in a seminar or in our private coaching sessions together that we (humans) “have an infinite capacity for self-deception.”

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Channel management is a great way for companies to enjoy exponentially more profitable businesses through channel partners. Establishing strong business relationships with these partners or affiliates who sell the products and services of a parent company are critical elements for better performance and productivity, and ultimately success. A lot of the best practices in this strategy are widely known and practiced, but worst practices are often overlooked. It is advisable to become familiarized with the worst practices in managing channels in order to get a clearer picture of what to avoid.

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Part of bucking the normal business system ingrained in today’s society involves a systems approach on the role of family. For most businesses, work is work and family is family. There’s very little to no crossover in strategic thinking or in the tactical operations of daily operations.

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Many managers and business owners understand the value of hiring a diverse group of employees, but aren’t quite sure of the steps that need to be taken towards reaching their goal of an inclusive and diverse workforce.

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Just so there is absolutely no doubt in any one’s mind, I’m going to start this article by saying: Recognize, recognize, recognize and then recognize MORE!

Recognition is THE single most important behavior, tool, or factor that, differentiates people in their interactions with other people. You’ll notice I didn’t say “Leaders” or “managers”. That’s because every single person on the planet should be practicing recognition every day! Don’t get me wrong – If you are a leader or manager, then you have a direct obligation to understand recognition and to practice it consistently.

Read more on Recognition – Down to Brass Tacks…

Self discipline, support, trust and empowerment: the pillars of a modern management culture and are topics covered on leadership training programmes.

All the pleasant sounding names for reorganisation measures such as “Lean Management”, of “Business Re-engineering” have one thing in common: they are frequently linked with personnel policy decisions. Staff are cut back, hierarchies are flattened, responsibilities are redefined, abilities are evaluated.

Read more on Manage Your Team Through Reorganisation…