A not-so-great economy makes starting a small business much more difficult, and for this reason many businesses fall short of success. In this up and down economy, you want every advantage you can get when it comes to the success of your business. For many, this means relocating.

Most business could thrive in a different location, but many company owners are too afraid to take the risk. Relocation is a never a sure thing, and moving a family or away from family can be tough. However, there are steps a business owner can take to make sure that they relocate to a city with potential for the company.

5 Steps to Follow before Relocating Your Business

1. Talk with Clients

   Try to decide just how many customers and clients you would lose with the move. If your company offers shipping, your loyal customers may stick around. Also ask them if they would be willing to change their form of communication to email or over the phone. If the answer is no then you will be losing your entire customer base, so the success of the move may take longer than you think.

2. Look at the Competition

   A city may be thriving, but if they have three successful businesses in your same industry already in place, your business will likely not succeed. In other words, a great economy will not help your business if you have serious competition.

3. Evaluate the City

   Check to see if new stores are opening and whether or not major companies are in the area. This will help you determine if an area is in fact growing.

   In addition, talk with someone who has lived in the area for a long time – they are likely to know whether or not their city will remain prosperous. On the flip side, check to see if there are a lot of vacant buildings or businesses closing their doors. Doing a little bit of research on your own can go a long way.

4. Check the Population

   The population of your potential new city will make a difference. You want to move to a city similar to your current city for management reasons. A city larger than your used to could be too difficult to handle, and a city smaller may not improve your sales.

5. Consider Current Location

   If you’ve decided moving is the right move, you have to consider your current lease as well as your current employees. You will also need to consider how many products you have at your current location and whether or not it makes sense to lug them along as you move.

Once you’ve weighed all of your options, many business owners find that it is worthwhile to talk with someone who has gone through the process before.

Relocating can be nerve-racking, but there are many success stories out there. In the end, it could make all the difference for you, your company, and your family. What do you think?

Photo by _nickd

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Procrastination is something that affects people of all ages. Many college students put off studying for an exam or writing a paper for as long as they can, and then they have to pull a ridiculous all-nighter to compensate. Office workers set aside boring paperwork and avoid it until their bosses demand it at the end of the month, making them spend extra hours in the office for no good reason.

This type of behavior is not only unhealthy, but it also negatively affects the quality of your work in most cases.

Procrastination plagues us all, and in today’s world it is especially pronounced. Have you ever sat down at your computer to get some work done, but instead, ended up spending four hours commenting on your friends’ Facebook statuses and watching funny Youtube videos? With so many distractions begging for your attention on the Web, you need to be more adamant than ever these days about avoiding procrastination.

Remedying this behavior is of the utmost importance, not only for the sake of your time and sanity, but also for the sake of your success. Not getting your work done on time and handing in sloppy work to your teacher or your boss after you’ve rushed to get everything done last minute does not speak kindly of your work ethic or your ambitions. Procrastination can even affect your personal life. How many times can you cancel a movie date with your significant other because of work that has piled up without annoying them?

Procrastination is just like any other problem in life — you need to first admit that you have the problem before you can fix it. And once you admit your problem, you must remain steadfast in your intentions to change your ways.

Here’s what you must do if you want to nip your procrastinating ways in the bud, once and for good.

Weigh the Pros and Cons

This is the simplest and easiest way to get rid of your procrastinating habits. Once you sit down and see what you gain and what you lose from this behavior, it should be clear as day that procrastination is not doing anything to make your life easier or better.

The only pro of procrastinating is that you are not doing any work – you are relaxing. However, that does not negate the fact that this work needs to get done. When you are not doing the work, you are not actually freed from the work; you are just avoiding it and putting it off for another time. So, this pro of procrastination is not really much of a benefit, outside the temporary satisfaction of relaxation and not doing work.

What you might not realize is that the less you procrastinate, the more time you will have to relax. The cons of procrastination heavily outweigh the pros. When you are putting off doing work during the time in which you are supposed to be getting work done, that means that you are not only wasting that time, but you are also cutting into your relaxation and enjoyment time, which will now have to be used to get this work done.

Sitting in the cubicle and reading Twitter posts all day might seem more fun than working, but now you are going to have to make up that time. So even though it seems that you have more time to relax when you are procrastinating, the truth is that the more you put off things, the less free time you actually have.

Get Organized

Now that you have realized that nothing good can come of this, it is time to get organized and change your ways. Whether you have regular working hours or you are a student, you have a schedule. Make sure that you are aware of this schedule and map out your obligations. If you are working 9 to 5, get all of your work done in that period.

If you have two hours to study after classes, make sure that you use this period of time to study. Recognize when it is that you should be working and then make sure you are ready to work at those times.

Make a Plan

Once you are aware of what portion of your day should be allotted for getting work done and what part of the day should serve as your free time, now you have to make a plan for the constructive use of your work time. Making lists is a very good thing to do. Map out all of the obligations that you have for the coming week.

Once you have all of these tasks on paper, take a look at them and figure out how much time you will need to do each of them. This plan serves as a reminder and it should be followed as closely as possible. By now, you should be fully aware that sticking to this plan is what you need to do in order to improve the quality of your work and the quality of your life as well.

Reward Yourself

Sticking to the plan is made easier by giving yourself rewards for reaching your goals. For example, you are a blogger and you need to write two blogs today. You know that it takes you two hours to write one blog, so you will need four hours of continuous work to finish what you have to do for the day. If this is the case, set aside five hours.

Finish one blog post, then reward yourself with an hour of off time for surfing the Web and relaxing. In this off time, call a friend and ask them if they want to grab a drink at the bar in three hours. Now you have obligations, a plan and a reward looming in the distance once you have finished. Get the second blog post done in time to meet your friend, and then reward yourself with a night out.

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By realizing the benefits of getting work done on time, making a plan, completing your work on time, and then reaping the rewards of your hard work in the end, you are conditioning yourself to expel procrastination from your life forever. Now get back to work.

How do you deal with procrastination? Share your tips with us.

Photo by SuperFantastic.

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For example, I can tell you that on average I sleep 7 hours and 14 minutes a day and I spend on average 87 minutes a week running errands. You might wonder why I’m doing this. The reason is that I want to be on the fast-track to success. One of the ways to reach my destination faster is by maximizing the time I have at my disposal. In other words, by time saving.

Over the months of tracking my time I wanted to figure out ways to shave minutes of certain low value activities so I could refocus that to more important matters. The list of time saving tips below is the one I’ve done myself to free up time, and I have redirected those minutes and hours to work and personal projects.

21 Time Saving Tips That Work

1. Check your smart phone in line – Waiting in line is a waste of time, so use this time to check your email, respond to text messages or participate on social media.

2. Automate your monthly expenses – Stop paying bills through the mail and switch to paying your expenses online. If you are already doing that, the next step is to automate your payments and set a time once a month to review all your monthly payments.

3. Maximize your commute times – Read a book, listen to audiobooks, call people, email or get other work done.

4. Eat your frog – The first thing you do in the morning is the task you dread the most. Brian Tracy coined this term and he got it from the saying: “If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!” By doing the dreadful task first, the rest of the day is going to be easy in comparison.

5. Stop watching TV – Cut back on watching television and switch over to on-demand media. TV commercials provide little value and revolving your day around the TV’s schedule is an inefficient use of your time. You can still watch most your favorite shows on Hulu or Netflix, but at your own pace and time.

6. Learn keyboard shortcuts – Using the mouse can be slow for certain tasks which oftentimes can be done faster by keyboard shortcuts. Learn a couple keyboard shortcuts of your frequently used programs, like your browser, word processor and spreadsheet software.

7. Stick to 3 tasks – If you only had time for 3 tasks each day to complete to make your day worthwhile, what would they be? Answering this question forces you to prioritize so you spend time on important things and avoid working on things that have little importance.

8. Call people – Sometimes calling is much faster than sending emails. What can be said in less than a minute usually takes you a couple of minutes drafting an email, proof reading and then sending it.

9. Get a virtual assistant – Personal outsourcing is a great to save time because someone else can do the menial tasks you dread (and cheaper). This leaves you with more time for leisure or to do more high value activities. Examples of tasks you can outsource is online research and data entry.

10. Batch your activities – Putting activities that are similar in nature allows you to process them faster and in one batch. For example, if you need to call or text people, do that in one batch instead of spreading it throughout the day.

11. Use a calendar – I’m often surprised when I still meet people who don’t use a calendar. It is also not surprising these people tend to be late most of the time or even completely forget their commitments. Avoid this by using a calendar. Bonus points if your calendar syncs through the cloud.

12. Tame your email – Email can be a big productivity killer. Unsubscribe from newsletters you don’t read, check it only twice a day at fixed times and set each session to a limit of 25 minutes.

13. Stop playing video games – They are great way to relax and wind down, but video games can also suck up a lot of time. Cut it completely or limit it to one hour every week.

14. Try a different route – We are creatures of habit and we like to stick to the path of least resistance. Once we have commuted to work on a particular route, we stick to that route no matter how bad the traffic is. Have you ever considered planning a new (and more efficient) route to work?

15. Touch it once – Whenever you get something in front of you, decide right away what to do with it. Don’t let it sit around for you to decide another time what to do. Either plan, do it, delegate or delete.

16. Use text expansion software – If you are someone who writes the same phrases and messages each day, you will greatly benefit from using text expansion software. It allows you set abbreviations (or keyboard shortcuts) and the software will fill it up with text. This is great for phone numbers, email signatures, and anything else you often type. Get started with DashExpander (Mac) or PhraseExpress (Windows).

17. Protein shake – If you want to keep your morning routine short, have a protein shake and a snack for breakfast.

18. Two laptop power adapters – If you bring your laptop home and to work, it is worthwhile buying a second power adapter. This will prevent you from forgetting to pack it. Thus save you a lot of time (and headaches).

19. Clean your desk at the end of the day – Before you stop working for the day, clean your desk. This makes it easy for you to get started the next time you start working.

20. Use a password manager – Trying to remember passwords and wasting time on recovering them is a thing of the past. Use a password manager such as 1Password (Mac) or Lastpass, and all you need is to memorize one password for all your logins.

21. Improve your typing speed – Considering you spend a lot of time writing emails and documents, it’s worthwhile learning how to type faster. This will add extra minutes to your day.

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Looking forward to your comments. What are the best ways you practise time saving?

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There are few things on the job that are more intimidating than a big project. Research, repetitive tasks, and mountainous loads of paperwork can be huge turnoffs when it’s time to take on that big endeavor.

However, there’s no need to fear. Instead of trying to eat a pizza whole, you divide it into slices, right? It’s a well-documented fact that projects are easier to complete when divided into multiple smaller, more manageable tasks. In the same way, we will take a look at a process that can make the task of handling your project as simple as a pizza dinner.

The General Intervention Model

The General Intervention Model, also known as the GIM, is widely used in the field of social work. This might seem odd and irrelevant to your upcoming proposal or other project, but I’ve fallen in love with its logical order and manageable steps, and I believe you will too.

GIM divides your project into seven basic steps: Engage, Assess, Plan, Do, Evaluate, Terminate, and Follow-up. Let’s take a closer look.

Step 1: Engage

This is the “getting to know you” stage of the project. Here, you do any research necessary to determine the money, resources, and time necessary to complete the task. In this stage you’ll also figure out which people, departments, or companies you need to involve in the project. You’re basically getting all your tools together to complete the task.

The point of engagement is to increase your familiarity with the project and its details as much as possible. Giving it due diligence from the very beginning will greatly reduce surprises, which can slow things down significantly or even endanger the project entirely.

Step 2: Assess

This step is a deeper progression of the Engagement stage. You look at what you have, compare it to what you need, and size it up. If you have any assessment tools or protocols, now is the time to use them. Look at budgets, personnel schedules, and talk to supervisors to get a full scope of what you’re dealing with.

While engagement is the stage where you do research to collect information, assessment is the stage where you analyze that information to understand how the project will be completed within your specific system. This may be done through forms, software, or a bunch of number crunching on some Post-Its. Either way, the goal of this stage is to make the data yours so that you can use it as effectively as possible.

Step 3: Plan

At this point, you take the information collected in the first two stages and use it to determine exactly how you will execute the task. Planning is the most critical step in succeeding, as the product of this stage provides the map that guides you through the rest of the project. Here are the basic steps to developing your plan of attack:

1. Dissect the project into a list of problems that you seek to solve by completing it. Make sure each problem is clearly defined and is something that you can realistically work on. Resolving world hunger is an admirable aim, but it’s an unlikely goal for a freelancer or a small business, so stick to things you can more or less control.
2. Translate the problems into needs. Your project may include solving the problem of a loss of clients, for example. A need that directly relates to this would be to improve customer satisfaction. Translating problems into needs can lead you to some great ideas and solutions because it causes you to keep a positive outlook.
3. Develop goals. To state it simply, a goal is a final outcome. It is not how you are going to get there, but a simple answer to the question, “Where do I want to be?”
4. Develop objectives. Objectives are the bridge between where you are and where you want to be. Determine the exact tasks you need to perform to reach your goals and exactly when you are going to complete them.

Step 4: Do

This is the step where you do what you planned, just as you planned it. Each task may take only a few minutes or as long as a few months, but don’t give up! Stick closely to the plan except where you have to adjust to changes and unforeseen circumstances.

The key to success here is to carry out the objectives you determined in the previous step and accomplish them on time. This gives you the greatest shot at a successful outcome.

Step 5: Evaluate

Did the project meet your expectations? Did you do what you said you would do? Did your partners and clients do their parts? Evaluation is absolutely crucial to long-term success as it helps you improve personally and shows you how you can get better results on future projects.

If you have a specific evaluation form, feel free to use it. Use the tools that work best for you, but be honest with yourself in answering the question, “Was the project a success?” Take time to reflect on why it was or it wasn’t.

Step 6: Terminate

If the mission is accomplished, go ahead and wrap it up. Revel in the satisfaction of a job well done. If not, determine your next steps. What needs to be done to successfully complete the project? What do you need to do? Whose help will you need?

A surprise or unexpected challenge may make it difficult for you to finish the project as you planned. However, modifying your plan based on your new situation allows you to still finish with a positive result.

Step 7: Follow-Up

Look at the outcome of the project. Do the results have a lasting effect? Don’t forget to send a thank-you note and check in with those who helped you out!

Checking up on clients and partners communicates to them that they are more than just tools and resources to you. This small step can also lead them to seek your help and expertise for future projects, which is gold for freelancers and those who work for multiple clients.

Conclusion

The GIM was taught to me to guide me in counseling and case management. We may not all be social workers, but we do all have cases, whether they are at work or in our personal projects. These steps may seem like a lot, but the system is formed in a way that can handle projects of any size.

Give the GIM a shot for your next big project. And I hope it will make your biggest tasks as easy to handle as it has made mine.

How do you manage a large project? Got tips?

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Managers always face the challenge of ensuring that their employees remain productive and happy with their jobs. But how can one tell happy employees from unhappy ones?

4 Signs Employees Need Your Attention

1. An employee usually comes in late or often calls in sick

A happy employee comes to work on time and doesn’t call in sick often. If an employee is satisfied with his job, he doesn’t have any reason for chronic tardiness and absenteeism. But if this pattern suddenly changed in your employee, consider this a warning sign.

Check if your employee has a valid reason like a death in the family or some personal problems. If your staff is regularly giving you flimsy excuses like “I got stuck in traffic” or “I had an errand to do,” he or she might be seeking greener pastures elsewhere. They may be attending job interviews or networking with friends who have job leads.

An unhappy employee may also literally get sick with the mere idea of going to work. Common sicknesses include stress headaches or stomach problems.

2. Your employee takes longer breaks

There’s nothing wrong with occasional lunch-outs and coffee breaks. It’s an effective way for an employee to bond with his office friends and provides a fun respite from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind.

But if your employee is spending more time with his coffee and lunch breaks than working, then it’s time to call their attention and see if there’s anything wrong.

3. Your employee is no longer productive or his level of productivity declines

Unhappy employees are notorious clock-watchers. They come in late and they can’t wait to get out of the office. When a staff’s performance starts to decline, a manager must realize that the employee may be unsatisfied with his work. Set a one-on-one meeting with your staff and see where the dissatisfaction is coming from.

If he’s dissatisfied with work, give him the opportunity to work on other projects that he may be interested in. A manager must be able understand the sentiments of his employee so that he can give the proper motivation.

4. Your employee withdraws from others

Happy employees tend to socialize more with their work colleagues. They have a sunny disposition and work well with others. If an employee’s enthusiasm changes, his immediate superior should be concerned. Withdrawal from others can be a signal that an employee is having emotional and/or social problems.

Unhappy employees also have the tendency to be more annoyed or irritated. When the smallest thing annoys your employee, he may resort to raising his voice or pick a fight.

4 Tips for Having Happy Employees

Organizational climate surveys are regularly conducted by large companies to assess the overall satisfaction of their employees.

As a supervisor or a manager, you can also do things to ensure that your staff’s morale is up. Contrary to misconception, monetary rewards are not the solution to happy employees. Sure, these are always appreciated but the most important thing for an employee is to have a sense of pride in his work.

1. Provide Clear Career Path

Employees want to know if they have a future with the company. An employee must be involved in projects that both challenge and excite him. Training and development should also be provided to allow him to learn new things and expand his knowledge.

2. Recognize the Importance of Work Life Balance

A manager must realize that employees are also fathers, mothers, daughters, friends, etc. No employee wants to stay in the office beyond working hours when he can spend that time socializing with his friends or spending time with his family. A manager must be sensitive to time and allow his staff to focus on other things.

3. Appreciate & Recognize

It is man’s nature to seek appreciation and recognition. When your employee does a great job, commend him for a job well done. When he suggests a brilliant idea, make sure he is credited for it. Rewards are also a great boost for employee morale. It can be an additional bonus or something a little simpler like a pizza party.

4. Listen & Give Constructive Criticism

Employees are most happy when they know that their boss listens to them. It gives them self-importance and encourages them to think of more creative and helpful ideas. And when an employee makes a mistake, his manager must not embarrass or criticize him in public.

Satisfied employees make for a productive and effective company. A sympathetic ear, the right motivation and sincerity can do wonders for an employee’s morale.

How do you create happy employees? Got tips that you can share?

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Photo by Daniël Silveira

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After two hours, you adjourn the meeting, anticipating what the team can and will do on this project. A week later, you ask your staff for updates and no one gives a good enough answer. You ask yourself, “Where are the accomplishments?”

It’s a common dilemma of managers. Many hours are spent on team meetings only to realize that nobody is clear on what they must do and nothing is accomplished.

But there are ways to make sure that a team meeting is productive, effective and efficient.

7 Ways for an Effective Team Meeting

1. Make an Agenda

During a team meeting, begin by stating the agenda. An agenda is an outline of all the points or topics that need to be discussed in the given amount of time. Agenda can be plain solicitation of ideas to resolution of conflicts to presentation of updates to brainstorming.

Managers should keep in mind what the agenda is to ensure efficient use of time. Discussions that don’t fall under the agreed agenda should be parked for another meeting or maybe, just a one-on-one huddle with the employees. At the end of the meeting, the team should be able to address the complete agenda.

2. Be Time Sensitive

Some managers use meetings to grandstand or show off. Remember that time spent on meetings is limited and time is better spent on implementing projects.

Managers must have a sense of time. This means, starting and adjourning the meeting on time. As convenor and facilitator, managers should also make sure that discussions do not veer away. When the staff starts to talk on topics that shouldn’t be covered, the manager must step in and redirect the discussion.

3. Assign Someone to Take Notes

A common mistake committed during meetings is that no one takes note of the discussions and agreements. When this happens, no one remembers what he or she is supposed to do and nothing is accomplished.

A manager must assign someone from the team to take minutes of the meeting and these should be sent to all members to remind them of their tasks and responsibilities.

4. Listen to the Team

A team meeting is a time to hear the thoughts and insights of the individual members. Managers should never hog the limelight and do a monologue. To have effective meetings, managers should encourage their team members to speak up their thoughts.

5. Assign Tasks and Responsibilities

Meetings are nothing if members don’t know their tasks and responsibilities. Before a manager closes a meeting, he must assign all the tasks required for the project and each member should have a role to play. Every member must have a clear understanding of what he or she must do.

A timeline should also be discussed during the meeting so that everyone knows the time they have to work on the projects.

Managers should conduct periodic checks with his staff to see where the project is and how it is progressing. This ensures that the team stays on track and if there are delays, these can be addressed immediately.

6. Solicit Feedback

Feedback is important in any team and managers must regularly get feedback not only with the status of the projects but also in how meetings are conducted.

Many managers make the mistake of assuming that the way they conduct team meetings is effective but it never hurts to ask his staff if they perceive it the same way.

7. Determine Frequency of Meeting

It may be an overkill to have daily meetings for just one project. Managers must make efficient use of their time and make sure that their team spends more time working on projects.

Managers don’t need to organize team meetings to get updates from their team. Sometimes, a one-on-one interaction or email updates can be enough. Reserve meetings to discuss bigger issues.

Team meetings are critical in the implementation of projects but without proper management, it can also be detrimental. Proper use of time, effective facilitation and a clear vision will guarantee that team meetings and project implementation are successful.

How do you effectively manage a team meeting?

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Photo by Linh Ngan

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Deciding When to Conduct Employee Reviews

The first thing required for a successful employee evaluation program is a solid review schedule. You need to know when the evaluations will take place and how you plan on notifying your employees of their upcoming performance reviews. It is important to decide how many times per year you want to do employee reviews. While some companies only hold one single evaluation per year, other companies will conduct more informal (or “mini”) reviews once or twice before that yearly review is conducted. This practice can be beneficial to all involved — it cuts down on the time that the formal review takes. Periodic “mini-reviews” also allow the employees time to improve on weaker areas of work before the dreaded formal evaluation takes place.

Employee “mini-reviews” can also give managers an opportunity to get to know their employees better. This is a way in which to show employees that they are valued and taken seriously. As such, you shouldn’t think of these reviews as simply a place in which to negotiate salaries.

Are You Getting Paid Enough? Do a Salary Comparison

Things like working conditions, future opportunities and any problems that either party has should also be discussed at this time.

Setting Aside Time for Employee Evaluations

You should set aside a specific time when the review will be held in order to get the most out of the evaluation.  This practice gives your employee adequate time to prepare themselves; the evaluation is not sprung on them suddenly and it allows them the time required to adequately prepare for it. You will find that proper preparation cannot happen if you send your employee an email on Monday informing him that this is the week of his or her performance evaluation. Instead, make sure that you have a quiet private place and at least an hour’s worth of time set aside to perform the evaluation.

Performing an Effective Employee Evaluation

The list of questions that are involved in an employee evaluation do not need to be so involved that the review seems impersonal and institutional. Also, you do not need to ask the employee ‘everything under sun.” You cannot expect to be able to cover everything in one hour.

In addition, keep in mind that if you spend too much time on one thing you could easily lead the evaluation in the wrong direction, spending more time to accomplish the entire process than you originally intended and planned for.

Some of the other things that you may want to keep in mind during the evaluation include:

• Your employee needs to have been given a job description beforehand. That way they know what the evaluation is based on.
• Your employee should have a blank copy of the evaluation prior to the review as well. Then they can fill in how they would rate themselves. (You may actually find that they will be harder on themselves than you.)
• There should be certain goals outlined for this evaluation. Things such as improving performance, rewarding good performance and establishing new expectations are common — and important — areas to cover.
• Make sure that you don’t do all of the talking. You’ll want to ask questions and give your employee time to share their feelings and tell you what their needs are.
• Employees should be permitted to write an alternate point of view in their file if there is something that you disagree about. While it may not be binding, it is an important step in moving forward in your relationship.
• Try to put your employee at ease. If they are overly anxious, they will be unable to hear what you are trying to tell them.
• Have any metrics or performance data on hand to back up what your evaluation states. This adds hard evidence to the evaluation process.
• Don’t just focus on those areas that need improvement. Your employee also needs to hear praise, so make sure to spend just as much time telling them what they have done well over the time period.

How to Write the Employee Evaluation

As a manager, you should be taking notes on all of the employees that you are responsible for evaluating on an ongoing basis. Fortunately, there are a lot of different software packages available for this purpose. Even if you only need a template to help you along, these software packages will work well for you.

Remember that your goal is to assess the way in which your employee is performing in relation to their job description and requirements.  You will want to be really strict here in order to motivate your employee to perform even better.

The Manager’s Guide to Increasing Employee Productivity

As mentioned, while you write the employee evaluation your employee should also be writing an honest self-appraisal. This is something that you will want to look over before finalizing your evaluation. It will give you some important information to consider before sharing your review with your employee.

The evaluation itself should also provide you with opportunities in which to coach the employee.  Make sure that all of this is documented in order to ensure everybody’s understanding of what needs to be improved and areas in which the employee is excelling. You will want to document your employees’ reaction to the entire process.

A Final Word

First of all, you must make sure that employee reviews are done in a timely manner. This is important because whenever these reviews are constantly late, it can be very frustrating for the employee. So, if a review is due on a specific date, make sure that you get it done on that date and at the scheduled time. While your employees understand that you are busy, an untimely review simply suggests a lack of respect for them.

It is also important to remember that the evaluation is about your employee, not yourself. Also keep in mind that an honest evaluation only includes job performance-based issues and achievements, though you may have opinions regarding the employee’s home life and personal time. Don’t let the latter influence the former.

Finally, it is important to keep the evaluation relaxed and comfortable; nobody should feel intimidated or abused. Reviews should be beneficial to everyone, which is why they are so important. This is especially true if you concern yourself with building a good working relationship with your employees. The evaluation process is just another tool to improve the company’s employee development program — and a good manager knows how to use this tool effectively.

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1. Take time to personally talk with the employee.

The first thing to do is to take some time to talk to the employee one on one. This should be done in your office towards the end of the day.  It will provide you with an opportunity to discuss the problems at hand without leaving the rest of the day to chance. That way the disgruntled employee can go home and think about the conversation without being caught up in a lot of water cooler gossip. You will also have the opportunity to get your questions answered.

If another employee’s name is brought up, you may need to set up a time when the three of you can get together and talk. Of course, you should let all parties involved know of the date and time ahead of schedule. That way everyone has an opportunity to organize his or her thoughts beforehand. At the end of the meeting, you should see if anything can be done immediately in order to alleviate any tension that exists.

2. Listen objectively to the disgruntled employees complaints.

It is important for you to be an active listener any time you are talking to your employees. You need to be direct with them and take note of anything they may be trying to avoid telling you. Therefore, it is important for your professional working relationships to ensure that you are practicing active listening, the steps of which include:

• Be present. Make sure that you are focusing on what the person is telling you. This will be easier to do whenever the person is right in front of you.
• Make sure that you are paying attention. You cannot be doing anything else when you are supposed to be listening to what someone is telling you. Therefore, stop whatever it is that you are doing and give the person that is talking to you your full attention.
• Pay attention to your body language, especially your eye contact and posture. These two aspects play a huge role in good communication. For instance, by leaning towards the speaker you are showing them that you are interested in what they are saying. Make sure that you also smile and laugh whenever appropriate.
• You should repeat the key pieces of information back to the speaker in your own words. This will ensure that you have heard them without error. Do not interrupt in order to do this. Simply wait until they are finished speaking, and then clarify anything that you feel you may have missed.
• Whenever the conversation is over, make sure that you summarize the information by rephrasing what you have heard. This will ensure that you have everything correct. This practice also shows your employee that you really do value what they just shared with you.

3. Offer help once you fully understand the issue.

After you fully understand your employee’s complaint, it will be up to you to determine whether the grievance is a work-related or not. This is important because you don’t want to get involved with your employees’ personal lives. On the other hand, you do want to deal with job-related performance issues so as to ensure that your office continues running smoothly. In this case, you will want to ask your employee how you can help them. Sit down with them and develop some concrete goals to work towards — and set a date when these goals need to be achieved by.

Whenever you are formulating new goals, make sure to include your employee. You want to make them feel that they are part of the solution, not just the problem. Therefore, the goals should put the disgruntled employee in a position where they can see the pros and cons of all their actions — as well as ways in which they can grow if they really want to do so.

This is also where you find opportunities for professional employee development. If your company fails to provide such employee development programs, make sure that you create them. This will not only make you a successful manager, but also have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line and productivity. It is important to provide a means for which your employees can continually work to improve — and hone — their skills.

4. Be encouraging.

As a manager, you also need to be encouraging. It is up to you to develop a partnership with your employee in which he or she feels both supported and empowered. If you do not make yourself available to help, support and assist your employees, the situations will continue and worsen with time.

In addition, when you do support your employees and it leads to great accomplishments, successes, or improvements on their behalf, make sure you do not miss the opportunity to acknowledge that. All it takes is a small “thank you” to increase their confidence. Make sure you do this. Do not simply point out their failures and mistakes.

5. Loosen up a bit!

Have some fun with your employees. This is important; you want your employees to enjoy coming to work. Their mindset really does affect their performance and the ways in which they interact with customers and clients. If you really want to inspire your employees to perform better, you should try doing one of the following:

• Create events each month that will bring together your customers and your employees in a casual environment.
• Email your employees humorous things that you find online. The sort of things that you feel will put a smile on their faces. Be careful, though, not to send so many that your workforce grinds to a stop in a flood of email messages. And use common sense to avoid sending anything that might be deemed as inappropriate.
• Have “theme days” that will make the office environment much more enjoyable for them.

Conclusion

In the end, dealing with disgruntled employees is always going to be a part of the manager’s job description. If you are able to keep lines of communication open, you will find the problems are few and far between…and employee job satisfaction will increase over time. Try to remain solution-oriented and focus on the disgruntled employee’s positive qualities. Practice patience and become proactive in your employees’ complaints and grievances. Doing these things will make you more aware of what’s happening within your company and allow you to short-circuit many of these complaints — before they become large problems.

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1. Do Your Job

First and foremost do your own job. Managing people isn’t an excuse to let them do the work whilst you look on. Of course, sometimes your job may involve being more strategic but your staff will respect you for doing what needs to be done and being willing to pitch in like everyone else at times. Many of us have had managers who use their role as an excuse to do less or attend more meetings. Get the balance right and earn respect from your staff.

2. Acknowledge The Positive

See the positives in your staff and their work. Don’t be one of those bosses who only sees what’s missing rather than what’s been achieved. It is demoralizing for staff to have someone only see what they have done ‘wrong’. Positivity breeds positivity. Genuine and meaningful praise goes a long way. If this is difficult for you, get in the habit of noting down positive things you notice about how your staff work. Give feedback regularly and let them know that you see the good work they do.

Don’t Be Afraid to Manage

Things don’t always go smoothly in any workplace. You are a manager, so you must be willing to manage. Some people find it hard to set boundaries or give feedback but it is important to get over that hurdle. If you need some help with this don’t be afraid to ask your own boss for help or request training. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. You can make a work situation worse by not being clear with staff if you are hesitant about managing. People appreciate genuine leadership. Practice managing and making the tough decisions. These things get easier with practice but people will appreciate knowing where you stand and any changes they need to make.

3. Be Vulnerable

If you make a mistake, be big about it and apologize. It can be scary and seem like you are making yourself vulnerable, but your staff will appreciate your honesty. No one expects a manager to be super human. Everyone likes someone who takes responsibility for your actions. Being honest will help you create a culture of honesty.

4. Be Real With People

The way we work is changing. You don’t have to be superhuman or untouchable. Be the real human being that you are. Let people at work know about your life and find out about others. If you let people know the “real you” it is much easier than having different personalities for your work and home life.

Communicate

Let your staff know what’s going on behind the scenes, as appropriate. If something will affect a member of staff, make sure they are included in the communication. This doesn’t mean you have to let your staff know everything. Sometimes keeping communications back until the correct time can save panic and needless worrying. Communicate appropriately and consistently but be aware of how communication (or lack of it) can affect your staff.

5. Lead By Example

If you want your staff to behave in a certain way (professional, good team players), then lead by example. It is not fair to expect your staff to do something if you are not doing it yourself.

6. Be Self Aware

Be aware of your moods and how you communicate. You may not realise how much of an impact you have on your team as a manager. You may know you are in a bad mood about the dog chewing your shoes this morning but staff may feel that they have done something wrong if they don’t know this! Be aware of how and what you communicate. Your team will pick up on it.

7. Have Fun

Having fun at work can help make the work easier for everyone, forge positive relationships and strengthen your team. There is usually room for more fun in any work environment, but if the nature of your work makes that difficult, be sure to schedule fun activities when you can. Meeting for lunch or drinks after work can help build relationships and help your team to see you and each other in a new light. If you create a positive work atmosphere it also becomes easier to deal with challenges as they arise.

8. Trust Yourself

At the end of the day, there is no one right way to be a manager. Trust yourself and learn through your mistakes.  Managing others is a great way to develop and enhance your leadership skills and create a positive work experience for yourself and others.

Are you or have you been a manager? What advice would you add to this list?

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This post brings together 15 of the finest iPad business management tools available from iTunes, a mixture of premium products and apps that may be used free of charge.

Pages

Price: $9.99

What it does: Word processing

Pages is one of the trio of iPad apps in Apple’s immensely popular iWork office suite along with Numbers and Keynote, which are available individually but together form a powerful set of business tools. Pages clearly shows the care that has gone into completely redesigning this app for the iPad to create one of the most powerful word processors for a mobile device. Users can write, layout, edit and share documents of all kinds using multi-touch gestures and Apple’s brilliantly designed templates. Finished documents can be viewed full-size on the iPad’s crisp display, delivered in various formats to colleagues, clients and customers, or sent to print.

Numbers

Price: $9.99

What it does: Spreadsheets

Numbers, Apple’s spreadsheet management app, has also seen a complete refit to take advantage of the iPad’s capabilities. The app features more than 250 functions to allow users to quickly and easily produce attractive spreadsheets. The tools available cover all your needs for organising data, calculating information and managing lists using Apple templates. You can also import your own tables and the app’s compatibility means you can use Numbers ’09, Microsoft Excel or CSV files.

Keynote

Price: $9.99

What it does: Presentations

Keynote is the third part of the iWork office suite, a superb app for making and delivering powerful presentations. Users have their audience captivated with slick graphics, animations, slideshows and video clips. The app makes the most of iPad’s potential with beautiful Apple-designed templates, and users can import their own themes. Completed presentations can be viewed on the iPad’s vivid display at meetings, or for larger conferences the device can be linked directly to a projector.

Evernote

Price: Free

What it does: Note Taking

Evernote is a neat app for note taking on the move, allowing you to take text, photo, audio and video notes of any kind, from memos and meeting minutes to visual snapshots and moments of inspiration. You can view all your previous notes at the tap of a finger, and Evernote instantly synchronises with your iPhone, Mac or Windows desktop.

Dropbox

Price: Free

What it does: File Sharing

Dropbox is the simple and easy way of synching and sharing files of any kind to and from your iPad. Essential business documents can be viewed and shared remotely across multiple computers, and the app doubles up as a PDF and document reader.

WebEx for iPad

Price: Free

What it does: Online Meetings

WebEx offers a variety of powerful features for online video conferences allowing multiple webcams to join meetings with smooth data and audio streaming. The app features voice recognition that automatically switches the spotlight to the current speaker, and the high quality video recreates the full meeting experience. With a host account users can schedule meetings and invite participants, meaning you can stay connected with your team and clients wherever you are.

Market Scan

Price: $29.99

What it does: Stock Analysis

It’s one of the more expensive iPad apps available on iTunes, but Market Scan is actually a shrewd investment for users wanting to keep up-to-date with the latest market developments. The fast-loading interface offers a variety of powerful stock analysis tools, quickly identifying the best profit opportunities based on personalised technical criteria. The app features ready-to-run predefined scans that may be customised using thousands of combinations to meet your precise trading requirements. As business apps go, this is one of the very best.

Bloomberg for iPad

Price: Free

What it does: Financial Information

An essential and highly trusted source of financial data and news, Bloomberg presents this app that allows you to follow current market information on your iPad. You can confidently depend on Bloomberg to bring you all the news, stock quotes, market trends, company details, prices, market analysis and much more.

Expense Tablet for iPad

Price: $0.99

What it does: Budgeting

Expense Tablet for iPad is a great choice for all your personal expense tracking and budget management requirements. The simple, easy-to-use interface allows you to keep tabs on all daily outgoings and get a monthly overview of where all your expenses are going. The app doesn’t cover all aspects of financial management, but has some very useful features including category and account tracking; monthly budget reports; graphs representing your recent expenses history; PIN protection and live search updates; everything you needed for easy expense tracking.

e-Task Project for iPad

Price: Free

What it does: Project Management

e-Task Project for iPad is a simple yet highly effective app to manage business projects online and on the go. The app has some excellent features for both solo operations and team projects, in which project managers and co-workers can synchronise their collaborations. Specifically designed to aid business management, e-Task Project helps you track leads; collate client and colleague information; organise projects; track time and tasks and maintain timesheets.

Bento for iPad

Price: $4.99

What it does: Databases

Bento for iPad is Filemaker’s popular personal database app, based on Bento for the iPhone but expanded and improved to make use of the iPad’s bigger screen and wider capabilities. The app comes with 25 ready-to-use templates that can be personalised to suit virtually any type of information, manage contacts, plan and tracking projects. The app allows you to watch videos, view photos, send emails and browse the Internet, and is easy to synchronise with Bento 3 Mac.

Things for iPad

Price: $19.99

What it does: Task Management

Things from Cultured Code is a brilliantly intuitive task management app, which achieves the delicate balance of accessibility and strength of features. Things may be used as a stand-alone tool or in conjunction with related apps for iPhones and Macs, and the iPad version has been specifically designed to make use of the device’s potential. Users can quickly and easily create to-do lists, make notes, set dates and follow projects, with handy daily reminders to keep your schedule organised.

TweetDeck for iPad

Price: Free

What it does: Twitter Interface

For businesses that use Twitter for social networking, TwitterDeck is a great app for keeping in touch with clients, colleagues and following all the latest trends and developments. The interface makes full use of the iPad’s screen size, allowing you to watch everything in multiple columns and multiple accounts. Social networking is becoming ever more important in business management, and TwitterDeck is the perfect way to organise this aspect of your work.

KAYAK HD

Price: Free

What it does: Travel Shopping

KAYAK HD is an essential app for travel shopping, offering fast and reliable searches to discover the perfect flights and accommodation for business trips. The app provides reviews, compares prices and offers information, photos and recommendations of the locality you are visiting, all viewed within an attractive map-style interface.

Omni Invoice

Price: $4.99

What it does: Invoicing

Omni Invoice allows you to create professional invoices and quotes anywhere and email them in seconds from your iPad. Quotes can be drawn up on site or during meetings so you can secure contracts straight away, and it’s simple to produce and send invoices to help the payment process, a basic essential of any type of business operation.

What iPad apps do you use for business management? Share them in the comments.

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