Coaching is one of the most critical skills to be mastered by supervisors and manager. Why is coaching so important ? because today’s environment has created more pressure to do more with less. The key to reducing pressure is to make the most of your most valuable resource: people.

The objective of this article is to help managers, supervisors, or co-workers coach employees to overcome barriers or hurdles and improve performance. If you have a sincere desire to develop and support your subordinates and the self-discipline to practice specific strategies, this module offers you creative coaching techniques to use in creating an inspiring working culture.

Coaching takes time, and it involves commitment, patience, persistence and a keen desire to actively participate in employees’ development. Throughout the coaching process, it is important to keep in mind that the main objective is to improve performance. Managers or supervisors should not jump to early conclusions when they identify a specific performance problem. As with any problem-solving process, the first and often the most difficult step is to identify clearly what exactly, precisely and concisely the problem is. (more…)

The secret of success is not in doing your own work, but in recognising the right person to do it.

One of the most crucial and challenging tasks for managers and supervisors is to apportion the work among the employees they manage and supervise. A lot of managers and supervisors frequently complain that they have too much to do and too little time in which to do it. Unchecked, this feeling leads to stress and ineffectiveness. In many cases, executives could greatly reduce their stress by practicing a critical management skill - delegation.

Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person to carry out the specific job-related activities. It allows a subordinate to make decisions; that is, it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organisational level to another lower one.

Delegation should not be confused with participation. In participative decision making, there is a sharing of authority; with delegation, subordinates make decisions on their own. Effective delegation pushes authority down vertically through the ranks of an organisation.

Mastering the art of delegation makes you a professional manager; it is an effective means of developing your employees, and a key to the organizational prosperity.

The inability to delegate has led to the downfall of many executives – from the top-notch managers to the first-line supervisors. Successful businesses, regardless of size, encourage not only their managers and supervisors but also others to master the art of delegation. Historically, delegation has been a vertical process, with managers delegating to subordinates in a clearly defined hierarchical structure. Today’s successful businesses are emphasizing both horizontal and vertical delegation. With the growing emphasis on teamwork, the ability to influence and delegate to others over whom you have no direct control is critical to the team’s success. (more…)

These days customers reward those companies that satisfy their needs and reject those that are not responsive to their needs and expectations. This article will take you through the process of setting up a customer service initiative in your company starting with an assessment of your current customer service approach, a determination of what your customers’ requirements are, creation of a customer service vision with customer-friendly policies, methods for dealing effectively with your customers, and advice for educating the rest of your organization to carry through your customer service focus.

• What is Customer Service?

Customer service is meeting the needs and expectations of the customer as defined by the customer.

‘ Meeting the needs and expectations of the customer ’ means you know what your customers want, what they expect, and you provide that to them on a consistent basis. And to know what your customers want, you have to ask them!

‘ As defined by the customer ’ is the key phrase because it says if the customer does not perceive you as offering good customer service, then you are not. The customer is the judge here; no matter how good your internal records claim you are, the customer is the only voice worth listening to. So in order to have an effective customer service initiative, you must know what your customers want, provide it to them on a consistent basis, and ask them how you are doing. (more…)

Much has been said about the hiring of professional bloggers to blog for your website. There are some who are firmly opposed to the idea and some who support it wholeheartedly. Blogging is a passionate activity and good posts invite interactivity from readers. Those who are opposed to hiring professional seem to think that bloggers that are hired are somewhat stifled in the types of content that are considered acceptable, and this take the creative edge from the post. However, hiring someone to write for your blog is helpful in that it frees your time for other business tasks; but there are things to consider before delving headfirst into hiring a blogger for your website.

Blogging is a highly creative medium and you will find blogs on just about every subject imaginable. People just cannot seem to resist the lure of being able to express themselves and the possibility of being heard by the masses. And this is what usually happens with a good blog. Blogging is somewhat akin to composing good music, improvisational and highly creative. It is not something that can be taught in a classroom, because it is intuitive by nature. However, it is always understood that solid writing skills are required.

Without that being said, when you are considering applicants for your blog, one of the things that you will need to focus on is the skill of the prospective writer as a blogger. Just because someone is a good writer does not necessarily mean that this will translate well in the blogging arena. Blogging requires passion, as well as knowledge of the subject. Your prospective blogger will need to be able to write in a way that expresses the voice of the site and also invites active participation from readers. (more…)

Can you imagine being able to work from the comfort of your own home, doing something that you like and even getting paid for doing it. What else could you ask for? Working from home or home based business opportunities extend across a variety of fields, ranging from writing, programming, designing, and consultancy.

Working from home can have various orientations as well; however, the hot favorite is freelancing. A freelancer can be defined as a person who works, and gets paid by the hour, day, or a single consignment. A freelancer is not someone who works on a regular basis for an employer. Freelancing may have its own set of fluctuations as far as getting work or acquiring projects are concerned and it is completely understandable that a steady 9 to 5 job, increases a sense of security as you know exactly how much money you will receive at the end of each month or week., however, freelancing gives you the opportunity to stay flexible, be creative, and at the same time make some profits.

Thanks to the ever increasing growth and use of technology, it has become very simple to start and run a business from home. Technology has been successful in eliminating boundaries, and overcoming limitations caused due to geographic conditions. You can now serve the needs of a person or an organization which maybe located on the other side of the planet.

Please ensure that you have a dedicated workplace, at home; sitting close to the bed, watching television while you are compiling a document, making a list of groceries that you need to buy while working or simply sitting next to your children while they play might not entirely help your cause. (more…)

The internet is full of opportunities, but it’s possible you’re ready to leave the cubicle and restrictions of office life behind but don’t know where to start. If you’re ready to start an online business, give the following some consideration.

Research

The first thing to do when you’re ready to start an online business of any kind is to research the internet from the back office. You are already familiar with how the consumer side works, but do you know what all the webmasters do to make it tick? Visit forums, read articles, find books on the subject. Learn all you can about internet marketing to prepare yourself. If you jump in before you’re ready, you will end up wasting a lot of time and money.

At the same time, don’t expect to learn everything. There are too many business opportunities and money making options online to ever learn about all of them. Start with the basics such as affiliate marketing, blogging, directories and ecommerce to get a feel for the industries. Plan to continue researching and growing throughout your entire online career – it is absolutely essential. (more…)

We all have something to say, but how we say it (or choose not to say it) can make a tremendous difference in the workplace or our personal lives. If you feel your communication skills are not up to par, consider working through the following to make you more effective at sharing your thoughts both at the office and among friends.

Listen

The first step in good communication is to listen to what others are saying. If you are so focused on saying your piece, you’ll miss important points and could even offend those around you. Listen to the points colleagues or friends are making. When they have finished their thought, go ahead with your own. It also helps to build relationships if you can address another’s comments in your own.

For example by saying, “I agree with Mary that we should expand our target demographic…” will be much more effective and demonstrate that you are a team player better than the more self-centered, “I think we need to…” By acknowledging that you are listening, others will pay more attention to what you say in return and respect your style of communication. Besides, being a good listen is just plain polite. (more…)

Training needs analysis process is a series of activities conducted to identify problems or other issues in the workplace, and to determine whether training is an appropriate response.

The needs analysis is usually the first step taken to cause a change. This is mainly because a needs analysis specifically defines the gap between the current and the desired individual and organizational performances.

Who Conducts Needs Analysis & Why?

An in-house trainer or a consultant performs a needs analysis to collect and document information concerning any of the following three issues :

1. Performance problems
2. Anticipated introduction of new system, task or technology
3. A desire by the organization to benefit from a perceived opportunity

In all three situations, the starting point is a desire to effect a change. Given this, you must know how the people who will experience change perceive it. In the absence of a needs analysis, you may find employees resistant to change and reluctant to training. They may be unable to transfer their newly acquired skills to their jobs because of the organizational constraints.

A needs analysis often reveals the need for well-targeted training areas. However, we must keep in mind that training is not always the best way to try to close a particular gap between an organization’s goals and its actual performance. Those conducting the needs analysis must get a clear idea of the problem, look at all possible remedies and report on their findings to management before deciding on the best solution. (more…)