Business Incorporation

I am the manager of a small firm. Even though there aren’t so many employees, there are still a lot of problems and things I’ve got to keep track of. There is no day without appointments, meetings, a lot of people to talk to, so I barely have any time for myself, and working late hours has become a habit. The person I couldn’t do without is my secretary.

She was really efficient, never forgetting anything, always knowing everything. I really depended on her. She was the one to tell me who I was suppose to meet, and at what time, when I there was a celebration in my family, even which was the best place in town for a business lunch. She was the one person in my firm I could never replace, but there came a time when she announced me that she would have to move with her husband to another town.

I started looking for someone to replace her. I interviewed a lot of people, but no one seemed as efficient as she was. I ended up by hiring someone, but I wasn’t happy with her at all. Finally, one of my friends got enough of my complaints and recommended me to get a PDA, to help me keep track of everything. I’m not the person to get crazy over the latest gadgets, so I was skeptical at first.

After almost missing my son’s birthday, because I had forgotten about it, I decided to give the Asus mypal A626 pda a try. I’m not used to such devices, so at first it seemed really difficult to learn how to use it. I spent some time entering all the necessary data, and telephone numbers, but now it’s piece of cake. I have to admit I depend on my Asus PDA, and I couldn’t do without it.

 Some might find it expensive, but all I can say is: it’s worth the money. It knows everything, and notifies me every time I have a meeting, or when my kids’ birthdays get near. Whenever I hear one of my friends saying he needs a secretary, I recommend this pda.

Small Business Advice business, gadgets, Home Business, management, managing business, pda, tech gadgets

If not repaired it won’t take long for a building with one broken window to quickly turn in to a building with many broken windows. Addressing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into larger problems.

The same is true when considering the level of employee satisfaction. Dissatisfaction spreads like wildfire and in a surprisingly short period of time you’ve got morale problems of the kind that are notoriously hard to fix.

To ensure that your employees are happy you need to understand what their problems and concerns are and it is important to deal with them early on. Keeping the initiative is vital and it is nearly always better to give a little and often.

This turns out be just a vicious circle. Fixing problems when they are small is also when they are at their cheapest to fix. If management wait to introduce change until they are prompted by employees then they risk having to implement change from a weak position. Employees like strong, confident management and the management will gain the respect of the workforce if they take time to understand the issues.

Compare that with managers who are out of touch. If they are late in addressing problems they are always on the defensive, having to concede to demands they run the risk of losing credibility which in turn can lead to having to agree to less reasonable demands. It is neither big nor clever.

How then can organizations monitor the morale of the employees without a big budget and an abundance of spare time?

An online employee survey. They offer a quick, easy and cost effective solution. Surveys can be written and deployed in seconds, using email, web links and social networks invitations can be sent out immediately and for free and the results are collated and displayed in real time.

A corporate internet is the ideal delivery platform.

By linking through to an online survey website a company can regularly conduct surveys so they become part and parcel of the daily operations.

With an online survey’s ability to produce results in real-time the mood of the employees can rapidly be gauged and concerns highlighted both on a collective and individual level.

Companies can use survey results to expose problem areas and then use follow-up surveys to target exposed concerns. With good information managers are able to identify specific problems and prepare a considered response.

A major advantage of regular surveys is that they allow companies to address relatively small problems in a timely manner and avoid ‘the straw that broke the camels back’ syndrome where what might be seen as a insignificant incident explodes into a torrent of pent up anger.

The majority of employees appreciate being consulted, asking their opinion is not a sign of weak management but an indicator of good decision making.

Once in a blue moon a manager’s problem can be solved with something that is quick, easy and won’t break the bank; that looks like a blue moon.

Small Business Advice employee, employee relations, employee satisfaction, employer, feedback, human resources, management, Online surveys, personnel, satisfaction surveys

One common definition of management is ”getting things done through other people”
For example

Barack Obama talks about improving health care, but he probably won’t spend much time in a hospital in the next few months; he just makes sure that the work gets done.

Many new managers often people confuse delegation with organisation so here is a quick guide:
Organisation:- means organising staff and resources to achieve business objectives. At the lowest level, it could be a supervisor organising coffee breaks so that the office is covered.

Of course organising lunch breaks isn’t a good use of team leader/management time and so the key is to delegate some management functions. In this case, to spend time making sure that staff can arrange their own lunch covers AND make sure cover is constant.

Delegation: - means that a manager can ask a subordinate staff member to do part of the managers’ job without pay or necessarily wider recognition.
So in the Barack Obama example; he will remain responsible (to the American people) but he has delegated the task of improving health care to people lower down in his organisational team.

Delegating successfully is an essential skill for managers to master:

Firstly, you must trust the person you are delegating to do the task. This is not only for you to trust them not to foul up on the job but to tell you if they do.If you ask them to look at some online training, you must be able to trust that they haven’t been messing around on facebook or twitter instead.

And they need to be able to trust you as well.

Secondly, there are likely to be issues of skill level and training. You shouldn’t expect an untrained person to carry out a task beyond their skill levels (you need to take into account safety considerations etc.)Remember also, not to ask them to do something you can’t or wouldn’t be able to do.

Thirdly, there is the art of selecting the right person.
Not everyone is able or willing to do more than what is on their job description. A ‘jobs worth’ mentality can prevent some people from even entertaining the idea!

The good news is that if you are able to delegate successfully and find someone to trust, it will feel like you have grown a spare pair of hands. Things get done without you necessarily asking.
From the individuals point of view, learning new skills and improving is a good way to prepare for a promotion or career move.

So either way learning to delegate (or at least knowing the difference between delegation and organisation) is an essential management skill to learn.

Small Business Advice delegating, delegation, management

There was a time when healthcare risk management was a patient-focused activity. Healthcare risk management was part and parcel of patient care and education. It was considered part of professional healthcare to advise on diet, nutrition, medications, food preparation, exercise, the importance of cleanliness and so on. The purpose was to give the patient the ground rules that, if followed, would reduce health risks. All of that has changed over the past generation. Risk management today is a distinct discipline within business administration. Financial risk management is the term people are most familiar with. On that basis, one can see what a failure risk management can be, and the problems it can cause when it is ignores the basics.

What is referenced by the phrase “healthcare risk management” is the requirement in the litigious United States healthcare environment to identify and minimize the exposure of healthcare institutions and professionals to liability. To this end, certification programs have been developed at the state level and certification is now expected for promotion into the upper levels of healthcare management.

As long as the United States remains the only industrialized nation to not offer some type of universal health care coverage, the need for and the qualifications of US healthcare risk management professionals will be unique. When one studies the subject in the United States, the course topics give the best outline of what the subject entails.

Typically, students are first introduced to the history and evolution of risk management as a discipline within business administration. This positions the student to view the subject matter as a central element in allowing the medical profession to function.

After the student is trained to view risk management as an unavoidable element in the business of healthcare, other subjects covered are medical malpractice and negligence, the management of insurance claims and supply chain liability exposure.

Small Business Advice business continuity, Clinical risk, health, Healthcare risk management, hospital risk, management, medical risk, practice risk, risk, Risk management, risk management certification, risk management jobs, risk management software, risk management training