“Effective leaders encourage employees to solve problems on their own coupled with cross-functional department collaboration. They also provide mentorship and/or coaching programs that enhance and educate employees on how to improve their leadership styles.”
E.O.W (End of the Week) Notable Tip: Managing Employees when mistakes are made
Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a great week. Today, I want to end this week with the topic of employee management specifically when they make mistakes. In my career, I have seen “Screaming Managers”, those that yell like banshees at their employees when something goes wrong or a mistake is made. Its worse when this is done in front of everyone as the employee’s confidence is being eaten alive coupled with the horrific embarrassment.
Then we have the passive aggressive managers, who say everything is okay but have plans to kick you out the door even if this is your first mistake. An effective and strong manager does not scream nor is passive aggressive. So, “What is the best way to manage an employee when they make a mistake?”
“Effective leaders quickly respond to an employee that has made a mistake. They use firm yet positive language to express how the mistake makes them feel and how it affects the company. They make sure the employee understands what they did wrong and give them a brief moment to digest it. Most importantly, they make it clear to the employee that confidence has not been lost and they are certain the employee will be able to not only correct it but also ensure that it is not repeated. In short, effective leaders don’t erode employee confidence they mold them to be champions.”
When to Automate a Process
Many Managers and leaders ask this question, “When do I know its time to automate a Process?” The simplest answer is that automation of a process is critical when the well-being of your employees is being impaired, too much time is spent on manual input and putting out fires; and less time is dedicated to strategic planning and achieving strategic goals.
Leaders must constantly measure process performance as this includes, process cycle time, lead times, and process costs coupled with benchmark comparisons to truly understand how they fare with their competitors. For example, say you wanted to automate your Accounts Payable function. You would first create a process map to identify inefficiencies in the process, test and implement new controls, track and analyze Key Measures of Performance (cost per invoice, process cost, process cycle time, days to resolve a problem, et cetera) and compare data to your competitors. If you realize that the cost per invoice and process cycle time is significantly higher than your competitors it is wise to consider automation software.
However, before integrating software to automate the process you must compare the total costs and see if new and tested controls or alternative low cost methods can reduce costs and cycle time without the integration.
A process in dire need of automation can be detected by increase in poor quality, delivery and productivity. A process can not run smoothly if any of these process efficiency characteristics (quality, delivery and productivity) is not meeting business and customer requirements.
Lean Wednesday Tip: Maxing out Asset Depreciation Deductions
“If you max out asset depreciation deductions and have written it off 100%, it is best to donate it to reduce income taxes.”
E.O.W (End of the Week) Notable Tip: Aligning product success metrics with customer priorities and strategic goals
Happy Friday!
I hope you had a great week. This week’s Notable Tip is focused on the development of valuable and critical product KPI metrics. If you are not measuring and monitoring the most important metrics of your product’s performance progress then you are missing valuable insights that can help you optimize your product. Below I end this post with a short message on how to ensure product success with well-developed measures of performance.
As always, “Success is continuous improvement.”
“Properly designed measures of performance are aligned with strategic goals of a company as well as with its customers’ priorities. They should be to the point, clearly written, focused and measure what is of value to the customer (product/service attributes).”
4 Step Process for Motivating Employees
Motivating employees effectively takes thorough understanding of what truly motivates them and yourself as the leader of the company. Effective leaders communicate performance expectations and goals clearly. It is more than just a reward for getting a big client or exceeding/meeting a goal. It is about clear expectations, communication, regular feedback and performance measures.
The First step in your employee motivation process journey should be to set realistic goals and standards, develop checkpoints to measure progress, create measures of performance to measure progress and encourage innovation.
The Second step, emphasizes the importance of communicating effectively by imploring that goals and objectives are communicated clearly, resistance to change is handled diplomatically, employee concerns are heard and solutions are developed quickly, you as a leader inspire cooperation and commitment, and the brainstorming of new ideas is encouraged.
The Third step, delves into the regularity of employee feedback. It is critical that a feedback system is established along with timely feedback, constructive criticism and the proper managing of conflict.
The Fourth and last step is about the development and reporting of performance metrics. This involves setting priorities, approving solutions, encouraging continuous improvement by providing educational and training opportunities, managing differences, and providing timely recognition and rewards.
In short, stay abreast of the needs, concerns, and accomplishments of your employees on a daily basis. Your employees are not just seat fillers nor numbers; make an effort to get to know them on a personal level. Take the time to verbally appreciate them everyday and showcase your own motivation.
Lean Wednesday Tip: Tax considerations for C Corporation Dividend Payouts
“Avoid double taxation of a C Corporation’s dividend payout by structuring payments to shareholders as consulting fees. Shareholders must actually offer advice for the payments to be considered valid tax deductible transactions.”
E.O.W (End of the Week) Notable Tip: Retaining Millennial Talent
Happy Friday!
I hope you had a great week!
Recently, I’ve been reading numerous articles and speaking with clients on the millennial job hopping issues many companies are having. “How can I keep a talented millennial employee from moving on?”, a particular client asked me. I responded immediately with this answer: “Ask them want they want and listen to them!”.
“To keep your millennial talent from moving on to greener pastures you must first ask and listen to what they want. You must have an abundance of educational and training benefits and opportunities. If you offer student loan assistance, you are already a winner. Most importantly, role responsibilities, expectations, and advancement/promotion processes should be made clear to your millennial employees. In short, to increase millennial workplace satisfaction you must take the time to listen to them!”
Planning a Data Analysis
At Notable Bookkeeping we believe a successful data analysis is attributed to how well it was planned. It will weed out the factors that do not have a relative effect on the response variable and identify the best value points for the factors that do have a relative effect on the response variable.
When conducting a data analysis you must first do the following:
- Establish the purpose by defining the problem.
- Identify the components of the data analysis.
- Design the data analysis plan.
- Conduct the data analysis.
- Analyze the data.
- Have someone audit your analysis and have it approved.
- Generate the report.
- Act on the results.
A well designed data analysis plan should provided unbiased results, utilize enough historical data and random sampling, have strong data quality assurance processes, and ensure past events are sufficiently similar to the current event or problem you are trying to predict or solve.
It is best to use all possible combinations of all selected value points of the factors to be investigated. This can determine the main effects of the factors manipulated on response variables and effects of factor interactions on response variables.
Lean Wednesday Tip: Performance Measures
“When you have insufficient information about a product, process or service, you are unable to control it. Ergo, when a process cannot be controlled, the organization is at the mercy of chance. KPIs must be aligned with the strategic goals of a company as well as with its customers priorities.”
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