In one of his bestselling books, Good to Great, Jim Collins wrote, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” Irrespective of the nature of your business, you need human resources that can run it smoothly. Steve Wynn once said, “Human resource is not a thing we do; it is the thing that runs our business.” Today’s workplace environment is not what it used to be a decade ago. Things have changed and new challenges have emerged. In this article, we will look at five biggest challenges human resource department of a company faces today. 1. Hiring the Right People and Retaining Them Finding the right people and hiring them is probably the biggest challenge for human resource management professionals. Even if you have succeeded in hiring the best human resource, your job is not done because you will have to work hard to retain your best talent otherwise, they will switch jobs. Despite so many hiring channels, hiring the best candidate for the job who is the best fit for the organization is not easy. Providing them the environment, growth opportunities they are looking for is also important as most employees quit their jobs when they feel they are stagnant and not growing as a professional. 2. Maintaining Work-Life Balance With the emergence of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, an employee supposed to work round the clock. Gone are the days when employees do not work when they reach home. This disturbs the work life balance of employees and leads to work related stress and employee burnout. That is where task management programs such as TaskQue comes into play. It automates task management, optimize resource utilization and maximize productivity without overburdening your resources. As a result, you can do more in less time and spend some quality time with your friends and family. 3. Globalization Due to advancement in technology, our world has converted into a global village. The same holds true for your business. Now, you are not only competing with the local players but you also have to compete against the market leaders in global market. To stay competitive in today’s business world, businesses will have to lay off jobs to cut down costs. This not only directly affects employees but also overall society as a whole. This is where the role of Human resource department comes in. How effectively the human resource department manage this situation will determine the fate of the company. 4. Workforce Diversity With more and more millennials entering the workforce, the workplace landscape will go through a paradigm shift. Induction of more women in the workforce will also have the same effect. Each employee is different and human resource must treat him or her accordingly. Human resource department will have to ensure that they treat every employee equally without any discrimination and provide them a platform to display their skills. In addition, the reward and appraisal mechanism should be transparent so that the deserving employees get their due rewards. 5. Managing Change With rapidly changing business environment and many events are taking place both inside and outside the business, it is imperative that you must keep pace with it to stay competitive. That is where change management comes into the game. Human resource department will face backlash from employees if they try to implement changes forcefully but they can easily overcome this issue by developing a consensus and getting all the stakeholders involved. Getting approval from all the stakeholders is critical before implementing and changes as it saves you from the hassle of facing criticism later on. Conclusion Managing humans is probably not as easy as some of us might think. Each employee has a different approach, behavior and characteristics that separate him or her from the other. Whether it is globalization, work-life balance, change management or managing workforce diversity, human resource must handle them carefully. Overcoming aforementioned human resources challenges paves the way for efficient business operations and helps you to make your business profitable. If you are facing a unique human resource management challenge that is not mentioned on our list, feel free to share it with us in comments section below.
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“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin
Success cannot be measured easily. But the above quote from Benjamin Franklin is one way to gauge it. There are 4 distinct stages to every cycle of success. It depends on our ability to identify them as they come in different phases of our life to lift us to the point where we achieve everything we have dreamed of. Let me describe these 4 phases in a bit detail for your understanding. 1. The Idea “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world and that is an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo You need to play with creativity and imagination to give your idea the much needed boost. An idea can come from anywhere. A bolt from the blue; a sudden inspiration that can be related to anything. Take the example of J. K. Rowling who wrote the famous Harry Potter series and now Fantastic Beasts series. She told reporters once that the idea of Harry Potter series came in a flash to her while on a train ride. The rest is history. You can be sure of the fact that just once you will come across a brilliant idea. Now it will up to you as how you deal with it. Read on for the following 3 steps that might help you in realizing your dream. 2. The Drive The passion to do a thing even in the most pessimistic of the situations can be termed as the drive. Simply put, this is your planning, motivating and inspiring stage. The drive is what empowers you and makes you go for a cause no matter how many obstacles are in front of you. Without a drive to back your idea and you will lose steam to accomplish it in the very beginning. Many people deal with procrastination too while going through this phase. Once you have found an idea you need to find the motivation to enable you to keep going. The fear of success can be a deterrent too as success which can come too easy for you may look unreal to some or too good to be true. Tiger Woods story is one to believe. He was a child prodigy who believed in his abilities that one day he can become the number one golfer in the world and he did. 3. The Journey This is the execution phase where you’ll spend your journey towards achieving your goal. If your goal is to become a top musician or singer, your journey may start from getting an admission in a music school or going to the audition of the American Idol’s new season. You may want to become a software engineer and create a task management tool for productivity to help people like you in achieving their goals in a professional and organized fashion. After the idea and drive stage, you are on your journey. Hard work, intelligent direction and great strategy will take you closer to your destination. You need to preserve, persist and keep reinventing yourself and your approach to achieve the ultimate success. 4. The Reward The reward of a thing well done is having done it.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson There you go! You got the reward of your hard work and dedication to the cause in the form of success. For instance, now that you are about to become the manager in your company heading the sales department, what are you thinking? What is your next plan of action after you will achieve the success? Picture yourself in the position you always dreamed of and then go for it. The moment will be yours forever. Want any clarification? Or want to share your experience with us? Or just want to say hello, you are welcome. Use the comments section below. The business owners and the management of all the companies try to run their business in the best possible way and try to save it from any situation or circumstances not good for its financial health. They have to act proactively and keep in mind that if anything can go wrong it will. That’s the reason companies spend millions of dollars in making certain they don’t run into trouble. But as stated earlier, things do go wrong and that’s what blog is all about; offering you the insight as what can go wrong and how to deal with it through crisis management.
There are many ways any firm, company or business entity regardless of its size and nature can run into crisis. Even city / state governments or a whole country’s financial system melts down if it is unable to pay off its debt or for many other reasons. This has happened with many countries in the recent past like Greece and Ireland. The scale of the crisis also varies with the resources and capital having a say. Smart managers or top management can benefit greatly by incorporating some project management methodologies according to their needs. In this blog now, I will try to list 5 ways that you can assume in which a crisis can unfold. Don’t take these assumptions as a proven formula for the success but rather will guide in a direction that you will feel comfortable to the point where you will definitely feel you are out of the crisis. 1. Assume the Problem is Worse than it Appears There is a common mistake by most managers or even the top management not identifying or admitting that a problem really exists until it is turned into a mammoth. This can be extremely dangerous for any business as by the time you have realized something is wrong it will be out of hand. Like a raging fire through a forest, the situation can be out of control or prove fatal. So before it goes out of hand, take action as mentioned in the following paragraph. Managers and owners of any business entity need to skip the denial phase and get into a mindset that whatever has happened can ruin your operations or even the whole business in a matter of few days or weeks. Right from the start take the matter very seriously and go for the remedy. Don’t wait for the matter to get messier and nastier and instead focus on ways through which you can turn the tables and go for the kill right at the onset. 2. Assume that Everything you are Trying to Hide will Eventually be Revealed A very serious issue and most of the times the reason behind the eventual downfall of any venture is that the management initially try to hide the problem as a big national secret and doesn’t let anyone know about it. They guard the problem with no leaks whatsoever and within a short span of time the problem is eventually known to all and becomes an embarrassment for the management. Thus the problem should be known to all right from the start. The containment of the information in the start can be termed as a cardinal sin for many reasons. The most important one is to reveal the scope and magnitude of the problem to everyone until it is done by someone else which again is embarrassing to any manager or owner. So don’t ever try to clamp down on the information and reveal everything to the concerned personnel. 3. Assume your Handling of the Problem will be Heavily Criticized There is a common saying that you can’t make everyone happy. This can’t be more applied to this situation that I am about to discuss now. From the workers to the clients and then the media, you should be ready to face criticism from all corners. The reason is simple; no one will understand your viewpoint until you clearly give them the reasons. Even then, there will be one or two people not fully satisfied. You have to leave them and move on with your job. There can be tough opposition of your assessment of the problem and most of the times the managers or upper management have to face the music from inside the company. The employees need to be addressed about the problem but that shouldn’t derail you from the way you are handling the problem. Be positive in your approach and make sure you handle it with grace and complete it in the time duration as decided in the meetings. 4. Assume there will be Changes in Processes and People There will be bad blood between the employees when you are dealing with crisis management as tough and unpopular decisions are taken in this regard. A real problem will not fade away in a matter of few hours or days. You have to dig deep in order to make sure you are in command of the situation and that too with several processes changed overnight and the people also changing sides whom you can count on blindly just a few days ago. The true management of the crisis require solutions that change or overhaul current processes or introduce totally new ones. Can be tough on the lower staff and workers not ready to accept the change or not able to adapt to it in the required time. It can be even career threatening for some but it is a ruthless world and that’s how businesses work these days. Use of a task tool or software with regard to a particular issue can also be handy in certain scenarios. 5. Assume your Organization will Survive for Sure Every crisis in your career will make you smarter and more skilled in dealing with them. This assumption is all about thinking positively and always be optimistic about the impending chaos on the work. Keep this aspect in mind that you will come out stronger from the crisis and will manage it better or won’t let it happen ever again. The entire period during a crisis of any sort make you pray for the period to end soon. The entire episode leaves you exhausted by the time it ends but gives you valuable experience that you can use in the same scenario in future. So always keep faith in your abilities and the crisis will past with somewhat ease otherwise you’ll experience when hell of a time. Conclusion In the end, all I want to say is that you have to keep calm during a turbulent time in your company and stay focused on the ways to address the problem. You will be amazed by the results of your positive attitude in this regard and the next crisis will pass like a breeze. Being an entrepreneur, how many online collaborative tools and productivity apps do you use? How many hours do you spend answering emails, assigning tasks to resources, sharing information and creating to-do lists? Project managers are solely responsible for managing all the tasks, but with the right approach, you can do wonders for your business. Optimal productivity can only be achieved with efficient team collaboration; therefore, small business owners are advised to incorporate a strong communication plan for their teams to get the most out of your project management. Here are some awesome tips that will help project managers to collaborate effectively and more productively. Use a Cohesive Productivity Management Tool Small business owners can use different productivity tools and online task management software to help their teams perform better and more productively. Since project management has now become a shared responsibility, therefore, it does not make sense to hire a dedicated person to manage your tasks. It will cost you money. However, using an organized, automated productivity management tool that has the power to eliminate efforts and distraction of multiple tools is a worthwhile choice. These apps and software allow every team member to manage their responsibilities on their own and monitor the different project progress at the same time. This way small business owners can boost their team communication efficiently. Clearly Define the Purpose of the Project The primary goal and purpose of the project must be clearly defined from the outset of the project. Outlining a project’s purpose and goals can help your team stay motivated and engaged throughout the project life cycle. However, disengaged employees have always productivity issues that is why it is imperative to not only define a clear meaning and aim of the project up front, but also to maintain awareness of the goals throughout the project management. Your project management team must know the genuine reason why this project matters to your company. And whenever they feel overwhelmed or stressed out, they can revise their work’s purpose. Assign Specific Responsibilities While incorporating a highly efficient task management tool can improve your overall team’s productivity, it is still crucial to ensure everyone completely understands their roles and responsibilities they will perform. When their tasks are not clearly defined, it is a huge productivity block. A survey suggests that only 50% of workers truly understand what is actually expected of them, and out of that 50% only 4% are always motivated at work. As we all know that disengaged and demotivated teams are less productive, so it is advised to clear every goal and objectives in the kickoff project meeting. It will be helpful for the entire team to go over roles as a group prior to working on the project. This will eliminate all the unnecessary overlap efforts and superfluous activities. Use a web-based task management tool that define every team member their specific roles while removing any unnecessary functions that might hinder team’s focus. It will keep your project and team moving in the right direction while staying them motivated, effective and productive. Workflows are important It is not only important to clearly define project goals, but it is also imperative to understand each and every step of the project. Workflows are the important component that define the sequence of the steps. Sometimes it can be tedious, therefore automation is very useful to boost productivity. 55% of employees feel engaged about the process of automation replacing tedious workflow tasks. A productivity management tool can work within the existing workflow and help your project management team to execute a sequence of tasks. It helps team to get more thing done efficiently and on time, by assigning deadlines and all tasks are organized in the centralized place. This way your morale and productivity will remain high. It is advised to hold regular meetings to check whether things are going according to schedule. During group discussions or one-on-one meetings, give feedback on how things are going and what steps your team might need to take. Discuss with your team about the tools they are using, do they have a new idea, are things going well? Having a dedicated time to share ideas and exchange the feedback can avoid spontaneous traffic jams and workplace conflicts that can hold up productivity and performance. According to a research, teams that received positive feedback regularly were three times more engaged in their tasks. Bringing it all together Using multiple project management tools that require duplicate efforts can make your team unproductive. Stick with one that can integrate with your existing workflow, apps and CRM. Choose an intelligent task management software that has unique features and allows your team to discuss ideas, ask questions, exchange feedback, define the workflow steps of a project, assign tasks with deadlines, and anything that can make your project management smoother, easier and better. It’s the time of holiday season again. If you are stressing out over your holiday budget and want to get the most of your brand, there is no need to look further. As always, companies and retailers are offering a huge discount on products, gadgets and services on Black Friday. This weekend is of course the most amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend which can make you massive savings whilst smartly investing in your business.
So, if you are willing to enhance the productivity of your team and get a lot more profit from your business, check out these awesome Black Friday discount deals you simply won’t want to miss. 1- TaskQue TaskQue is a web-based project management software that helps small and mid-size organizations to stay more efficient. It helps project managers and entrepreneurs to assign tasks to their resources in the form of queue, which is indeed a distinct feature of this task management tool. On this Black Friday, TaskQue is giving an amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday discount offer for its existing and new customers. Users can upgrade their basic package to premium at half the price and maximize their productivity. By offering 50% off on business packages, TaskQue wants to make you feel ultra-productive this holiday season. So, don't miss this shot, enjoy big savings and make project management simpler, easier and better. for more info click here : https://taskque.com/black-friday-deal 2- Dapulse Dapulse is an intuitive management tool that helps businesses to manage team’s daily tasks and track the performance of your high-level goals. It gives people incredible recognition and accountability for their work while communicating around projects and goals. Dapulse offers 30% off on all yearly packages on this Black Friday. 3- MindMeister MindMeister is the most intuitive collaboration and task management tool that is flexible enough and allows you to automate your workflow while saving time. It has some great plans for its existing users this holiday season. MindMeister Pro plan helps you set up teams, upload your images and files while adding an extra security layer to your account with authentication and much more. Customers can get 20% off on yearly plan this Black Friday by using the discount code blackfri15. 4- RationalPlan RationaPlan is a project planning software that is perfect for businesses, novice and accidental entrepreneurs seeking a server solution with synchronized access. Users can get this project management software for all major operating systems such as Mac, Linux and Windows. On this black Friday, RationalPlan is offering a special 40% discount on all the products, including RationalPlan Single, RationalPlan Multi, RationalPlan Viewer and RationalPlan Server. Small business owners and project managers have a real opportunity to get the most out of these Black Friday discount deals. You can make the holidays less stressful, more productive and enjoyable by adding real value to your business. Believe it or not, it is the most wonderful time of the year for entrepreneurs, now it’s your job to make sure that is the real case. If you get the right deal for your business, you will not simply win on Black Friday, but every day throughout the season. Happy Holidays! What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about a successful entrepreneur? Being a successful entrepreneur, you should have several key qualities like creativity, self-confidence, passion, communication and organizational skills, relationship building, and much more. Since, entrepreneurs are their own boss so what skills entrepreneurs need to learn to do everything on their own. What makes successful entrepreneurs different from others is the power of utilizing the time more efficiently.
In this post, I’m going to highlight the most essential skills and habits that help you become the more effective entrepreneur you want to be. Do Only What Matters Most You need to carefully sort out the whole bunch of tasks that is on your plate right now. Delegate responsibilities to your employees and try to automate as many processes as possible while utilizing online task management systems and organizational tools. Eliminate all unnecessary tasks that don’t add any value to your business. Many business owners are so obsessed in the business and running that wheel over and over, that sometimes it becomes difficult for them to take the time out and review whether what they are doing is adding real value to their business or not. But the question is how can you begin the process? All you need to change the mindset. You have a big goal for yourself and your business. Assess yourself by asking these questions: Are you making any achievement towards your goal right now? Are you hitting the milestone that you have set? If the answer is yes, great! But if the answer is no, then all you need to focus on using your strengths and take advantage by delegating responsibilities to your resources. Moreover, carefully evaluate every single task on your plate and review them if they are really essential, if not, simply eliminate them from your task list. Automate All Your Tasks Great, now you have eliminated all the unnecessary work from your task list and delivered some tasks to someone else. But do you know there are some other things that should get done. Though, it is not necessary to get them done by your own, you need to look for some ways that can easily automate your processes. Therefore, it is advised to go for some task management tools, business apps, online collaborative systems, to-do lists and more that can help you run your business smoothly. Here is an example of TaskQue, an online Task management system that can do wonders for small businesses. It’s awesome features can help you stay everything organized; your tasks, meetings, discussions, delegating tasks, reviewing project’s reports and creating to-do list. Moreover, you can check your important documents, user’s performance report, project’s progress, from anywhere, at any time. Assigning Tasks to Others This is one of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face and find it quite daunting to delegating tasks to somebody else. As an entrepreneur, you need to learn to give up control. You should understand that you can’t do everything on your own and you have to give a certain level of ownership to people. Ask yourself, what is the most important thing that can bring more value to your business? When you have the answer, go ahead and do that immediately. Now all extra tasks that you think you are not accountable for, they need to be allocated to others. Get Work Done in Chunks This is the most important rule that most of the entrepreneurs don’t get benefit from. Trust me, it is an awesome skill of successful entrepreneurs. Break down your activities together, for instance, tasks like checking and responding to your emails or making phone calls. When you are switching between tasks, you get interrupted, it sets you back and makes it pretty much impossible for you to get more things done. Dividing your work in chunks can make the process simpler. Take a 90 minutes’ chunk at a time and 15 minutes of break in between and leave all the distractions behind. 90 minutes are enough to stay focused on one task and your brain doesn’t get tired. There are many time management tools and time tracking tools that can help you chunk out your time perfectly. Always Willing to Take Risks Effective entrepreneurs are always willing to take risks, because they understand that there is no guaranteed success in business. The unexpected is always looming around and if you are restricting the risk, you are simply restricting the chances of success. Therefore, always ready for unexpected things and tackle them carefully. Bringing it all together Following these ingredients of successful entrepreneurship can brighten up the chances of attaining positive outcome. These habits can help you become an efficient entrepreneur while giving you an opportunity to grow, flourish and take your business towards success. |
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April 2017
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