My “Lost” MAN FRIDAY

For those who have read the gigantic works of some classical authors, including Daniel Defoe, to them Man Friday could be character of his famous work “Robinson Crusoe” – whom he trusted with all his heart and announced loyal to him –, but its not the same, actually. (To me specifically), his (Daniel Defoe's) name itself is a classic symbol for those Practical people who are present today in the cut-throat competition based society. “De” which is a prefix used for “Reversal and Elimination or NO and “Foe” which means Rival and Enemy. I am sure my readers can easily read between the lines here. Anyways, last week I was busy with some deadlines and professional responsibilities. So after spending a quality time with my family I planned a short meeting with some old friends.

After that meeting, I concluded that, every one, from different cultural back-grounds, societal life-styles and professional fields was talking about the short-comings of some other person, either in the offices, families, friends’ circle and day to day acquaintances etc in one way or the other. For instances; people back bite at offices, to over shadow the performance of colleagues or with what ever reason they might have in the back-ground. In families also, we come across some unusual characters, who are neither happy from some one nor they want to accept any gratification from the same on any kind gesture shown to them. They are simply exploiters – in a spoiling way.

Most of us are so much into it that we ourselves don’t know what we are talking about. Like;

1. He is not a good listener.
2. He must have been cooking up something else in his mind, which is why he didn’t argue to my suggestions.
3. "He is not serious with that particular person."
4. "He is making fun of that specific person in the bright attire."
5. "He is never clear about his ideas."
6. "She does not know when to serve me the food, she does not know any thing about my timings."
7. She seems to be confused when she is around me.
8. "She can not take the directions"
   and such countless points. 

We end up making a decision that some one is not worthy to us, on the above mentioned grounds. Hello! Wake Up! Smell the Coffee!! Who in the world have given us any rights to conclude about the character of other people? Have I ever tried the following things?

1. Have I asked about the message, I just encoded? Was my audience able to understand it?
2. Why am I having any cautious thoughts about the other person, who has no arguments in response to my thoughts?  Does it mean that I am having any?!
3. On what grounds have I concluded the non-seriousness of the other person I am discussing about?
4. Its not any one else, but I my own self am pointing out some one in the brightest dress.
5. If some one is not clear about his or her thoughts, have I ever made him understand the severity of that particular matter? Have I ever provided any counseling to him?
6. Have I ever told her about the schedules and timings of the things I prefer to have?
7. Following directions, is secondary! Do we give proper directions, which are easy to understand? Do we self actualize ourselves? 

Any individual raises such issues only when he or she wants to degrade any one or give a misconception of his / her personality to others. And then we say that people are not trust-worthy, not loyal and reliable. In short we say that WE DON'T COME ACROSS MAN FRIDAYS anymore in modern world. So have we ourselves proved to be some ones’ MAN FRIDAY? By discussing all such mentioned details, can we even expect for some one trust-worthy to us?

As what I personally think, that, when we will find a MAN FRIDAY in our selves for the others, only then we can get to meet one MAN FRIDAY in our life. So, start finding your MAN FRIDAY, he is very much present in every one! The point is ARE WE STILL ACQUAINTED WITH HIM? Or WE HAVE LOST HIS TOUCH SOME WHERE?

Telecommuting Is Good for Employees and Employers

There was a time, when there were barriers present in official environments, and dos and don’ts were applicable to all the staff members in any office. Things have changed and developed over the years. Traditions have altered due to technological advancements. New things have been adopted and implemented in the new world. Similarly the approaches have also been changed and now employers are more understanding as long as they are getting the work-done from their employees. After the advent and awareness of proper usage of telecommunication, official atmosphere have change for the betterment. Employees are also aware of the plus points of telecommuting. There are plenty of examples, where employees have personally accepted that working from one’s own home is far beneficial and easier than any other work.

As per an inter-action with Rose Stanley, who works in Worldatwork, which is a welfare organization for human resource experts, she concludes that “Telecommuting facilitates the workers to have room for different things, for instance, taking care of children, managing house hold chores and other matters etc”. It is no doubt a fact that any employee will lose his or her productivity, if routine activities will be followed. The balance in life is really essential element for the productivity of the work-force. Telecommuting is for sure the great practice if one wants to save his own time for his personal life. There are no wasting of times, in either driving to the work place or driving from the work place to home, in rush hours and bumper to bumper traffic. One has the time to resolve problems on the spot without any hindrances.

For some individuals, dressing up for the right occasion is also very painful and hectic, but when telecommuting, one has no bindings to wear particular dress code. But he or she can operate official duties from home in any dress desired.

It also has certain other benefits like reduction of the stress and on the same time, ability to improve time management, so as to deliver the given task on right time, with the ease and flexibility of own choice. Working from home is also beneficial because it gives ample time to an individual to spend time with family and resolve all the matters properly, more over it also increases and strengthens family bonds and ties.

People also at times, have a problem of switching from one locality to the other, from one town to another or country to the other, which is impossible for one employee working in any office, but the one who can telecommute, has no such problems. He is free to go anywhere and do whatever he wishes.

If telecommuting essential for employees, on the contrary, it is also beneficial for the employers. There are plenty of benefits ranging from flexibility of the employment to reduction of cost and from preservation of employees to safeguarding of locations. These benefits are also recognised by the Government of both the levels the State and the Federal.

With the help of telecommuting, companies and organizations can hire staff from all over the world. The range is splendid; one can get the best at desirable cost, without being worried about the availability of right candidate’s presence in any particular building or office. By telecommuting the right candidate can be extracted from all over the world, without any geographic hindrances. On the contrary the cost and other over head expenses are also saved by operating from one single locality where there is no need to expand the office for new employees, cabins and other expenditures. It also saves gas prices and vehicle s’ maintenance. After all pollution is also a big concern and global warming can be reduced by using fewer vehicles.

Any company can have a diversified work force, which is helpful for the better productivity of the company. No matter where the best man for the job is, he is in your team already. 

Financial benchmarking for small business

What Does Actually Financial Benchmarking Mean?

When you are in any industry and you want to compare the potential of your company, in terms of the increased profits, competencies, growths and deductions in cost per units with the other companies in the same industry, this whole process and technique is known as benchmarking. Many companies follow benchmarking, because by this they get to know, which area to emphasize on. Small businesses can come up with more feasible business plans if they practice benchmarking in the very initial stages. For instance Canada has some great small business benchmarking data, let’s say about 30 performance benchmarks are available on the data-base.

Why Benchmarking Is Beneficial?

We always think about the reason, to adopt any thing. Similarly, when it comes to benchmarking there is a definite and strong reason behind it. Companies need to develop certain schemes and plans for the continuous improvement and efficiency. Small business must know before entering in any industry that, which are the best practices present in the industry. Some like to investment in the production, because of the mass market. But it could also be possible that, rather then having a huge production, one should emphasize more on the marketing and advertising, so that awareness of the brand is created amongst the customers and consumers. This can be extracted by involving one’s self into following the benchmarking reviews. These are the most important measures which can be used to assess one’s business and future entrepreneur.

Common Financial Benchmarking Tools

There are certain financial benchmarking tools to assess the standing and feasibility of any particular business. For instance financial ratios play a significant role in such purpose. One should be aware of the particular areas in the business, which are performing exceptionally well and some being mediocre whereas the others being the worst ones. These stages can be known through financial tools commonly known as the financial ratios. Some of the most popular and accepted financial ratios are Quick Asset Ratios, Debt Ratios, Profitability Ratios and Liquidity ratios. These ratios and others too, should be checked over a certain tenure or period. Mostly companies take the ratios for over 4 years and at times 5 years, so that they may find a gradual and systematic trend. These trends help in knowing the consistency, improvement and decrease in companies’ performances, depending upon the results of the financial ratios.

Appropriate Use of Financial Benchmarking

Every business conducts different kinds of surveys, to know the personal likings and tendencies towards their products. These activities are done to make one’s brand strong and impact full in the perceptions of the customers. Similarly companies should also practice financial benchmarking so as to understand the trend of the market and know in advance the next move of the competitors. There are always plans to which any company stick to, as if you don’t have any plan, you are planning to fail. But by doing certain exercises one can easily be pro-active rather then re-active. Formation of contingency planning is very essential for a business entity, but when to adopt that planning is the essential question, which can only be answered by using the earlier stated financial tools and techniques. In today’s’ fast pace world, where even small businesses are on cut-throat war with one an other, it is very essential and significant to find a way before hand rather to re-act to any strategy implemented by the other businesses. Small business can benefit their selves by practicing on benchmarking and knowing the norms and conditions of the market. This is the way they can stay in the business for a longer period of time and enjoy ample profits to satisfy their needs.

When to Set Sales Performance Reviews

What Do We Mean By Sales Performance?

Sales is the life blood of any business, no matter smallest in the industry to the biggest giant. With out sales there exists neither any present nor any future of the company. Sales give birth to a phenomenon of Sales Performance. Sales performance can easily establish the capacity of any person associated with the field of sales, to finalise the contract with the company and meet the already given goals from the company. Sales performance is a double edged knife; it can trigger the career of the sales employee and on the same time can make him lose the job.

Important Factors For Sales Performance

Sales performance is based on countless factors and elements. Most of these make a combination of two or three factors in a set. Some of the characteristics are internal, whereas the others are external, these factors could namely be satisfaction towards the job, motivational level, ability and skills, age range, gender, time consumption and customer’s response.  In most of the organizations the role of management and managerial supervisor also play a strong factor, towards the performance of the sales personnel.

Sales Performance is Beneficial for Sales Personnel

Almost every individual works for the monetary reasons. Especially in the field of sales it’s all about gaining more and more monetary appraisal. Companies provide a good remunerations for the sales employees who out do their selves. The rewards can be in the form of many different packages; in some cases sales employees are given a fat amount, title of the employee of the month and year, increased salaries and bonuses etc.

Methods of Reviewing Sales Performance

There are particular tools and techniques for reviewing the sales performances, its’ better to be pro-active rather then to be on the re-active side of the game. One method is Informal Reviews, in which a simple dialogue usually takes place with the employees inquiring about the previous years’ experience in terms of sales with respect to the company’s standing.  The second method is known as the Journaling, in this method, a journal is maintained in which all the activities, responses and tactics are jotted down, so as to know about the employees and later they can be matched with other sales employees, to see if the things are different or similar. By this better approaches can be adopted. This really helps in developing one’s own skill set and before hand knowing the performance track. The third in the line is Peer Review, as the title itself suggests that in these techniques, peers and co-workers in sales review and judge the performance of the other sales personnel, it can at times be very beneficial and at times it’s very biased. The fourth method is the Detailed Review, it includes numeric values mostly, and apart from that what are the past sales performance trends and what were the hurdles faced, along with the preference of sales over phones or e-mails.

Important Steps for Increased Sales Performance

To extract the best performance from the employees in sales is always desired from the management. Sales Management should adopt certain steps including setting up the metrics (like, making calls to the clients, visiting them, planning a meeting time and outcome of the visit). Future can always be predicted from the past. Similarly keeping a track of earlier practices with respect to the particular metric it makes it easier to develop a game plan. By this, sales personnel are bifurcated in to different levels of top performers, middle level and below average performers. Companies and management should keep the real and achievable targets to expect a positive feed back and response from the sales employees. On the contrary, by keeping a low target also helps in achieving desirable goals set for the sales. 

Empowering Employees

Empowerment and Employees Defined

When power of choice and freedom is given to any one so that he may utilise it as per his own will, this phenomenon is known as empowerment. The working class individuals who are hired by the companies or individuals are also known as employees to those companies of employers. Similarly when the freedom of expression and selection of job is bestowed upon the employees and they are in direct contact with the customers to solve the issues and queries, this phenomenon is known as empowering employees. Giving a sense of power, ownership and responsibility to employees is the empowering of employees. When employees are given freedom of thought and actions, they most of the time, carry it really well, better then the expectations of the managements. This is because the sense of ownership is now involved in their each and every action, which wants to prove them best amongst others.  There are numerous elements of employee empowerment, which are already discussed on multiple forums, but still there is so much to talk and discuss on it.

Important Factors Involved in Empowering Employees

There are always certain significant factors involved in empowering employees. Some of which are designed by the management to get the best outcome from the employees. These factors include certain rights granted to the front table employees, demonstrating them faith with trust and also by supporting and liking the responses received from the employees. On the contrary, by sharing the visions of the company with the employees and providing them proper training regarding the particular things there are great chances of increased efficiency and effectiveness. Employees always work enthusiastically, when they are being empowered.

Reasons For Employee Empowerment

Empowerment of employees is very necessary as, any organization have employees from different back grounds and ethnicities in today’s world. Every employee has his or her own way to deal in certain situations. This acts collectively for the positive image of the company, to have problem solving employees to benefit the customers. New skills are developed and employees are free to experiment their own way of communication and handling any problems. The participation of employees is an essential element for the organization. Motivational level of the employees is always triggered once they get the empowerment, ownership of decision making and such other characteristics are an outcome of it.

As per some reasonable research employees enjoy to work in an environment where they are free to move, think and experience decisions. This is a normal phenomenon that creativity is increased and new ideas are formed in response to different usual and routine things.

Rules For Employee Empowerment

 
There are certain rules to every thing; similarly, employee empowerment also has certain rules. These are 3 A’s rules Appreciate him, Approve the thought and be Attentive to your employee. Calling your employee with his name is very essential, as this gives a sense of belongingness towards him.  Sharing and discussing the situations with them is what, which can bring out new and advanced ideas, which might be help full for that particular situation. It will not cause management any harm to thank and show gratification towards an employee, but it will boost the morale of the employee on the other hand and he will feel great and naturally inclined towards the assigned tasks. These are the simple rules through which employees can think out of box and can bring a better approach in the way they work and deal clients and customers. Employee empowerment gives a better picture to new world’s business organization and management control to be far better then the earlier ones.