How to Help Your Staff Adjust to Change

Change is one of the hardest issues that managers deal with in the workplace. Whether it is updating the company's technology, adding in new staff members or simply replacing the furniture, employees typically resist change. While it is inevitable that managers will often have to make changes to keep business running smoothly, there are ways to mitigate the effects it will have on your staff.

Help Them Get Used to the Idea

One of the best ways to introduce something new to the workplace is to allow your staff to gradually adjust to it. Let them know in advance that you will be remodeling the office and that their desks will be replaced. Start by gradually replacing the furniture in common areas, then finally their personal furniture. This principle can work with other changes as well. Let them test out a demo version of a new software while still using their old system. They will be able to accept change better if it is gradual.

Understand That They Will Go Through Stages of Grief

Adjusting to change is often akin to the adjustment to any major loss in life. People will go through denial, hoping that the news of a change is simply a rumor. They will then go through anger, lashing out and becoming enraged at the thought of having a new boss. They may try to bargain or negotiate, hoping that improving their work performance may stave off the change. Finally, they will accept the new change and start to move on in their work lives.

Helping your staff get used to the idea of change means understanding these stages and helping them through them. Expect anger, disbelief and shock. Taking change management courses can help you to better understand these concepts and manage your staff.

Communicate With Them

When you are introducing new policies or staff, it is important to communicate with your existing staff. If you don't tell them what is happening and how it will affect them, they will start to spread rumors. This will lower morale at the company and lead to a loss of productivity. When you communicate with them openly and honestly, they can make the right conclusions and feel more secure about their role in the workplace.

Be Flexible

When you introduce something new to your workplace, understand that everything may not go smoothly. In change management training courses, managers are taught to recognize the signs that the change is not going according to plan. Perhaps one of your staff members was on vacation when you trained the staff on the new software and you now have to train him separately. Maybe the assistant does not work well with her new boss. The IT department may have a hard time integrating your new software with the old operating system.

When you make major changes in the workplace there may be setbacks and delays. If you anticipate these setbacks, you will be in a better position to overcome them.

Keep Spirits High

New change may mean that some well-liked staff members move to different departments or a favorite chair is replaced by new, ergonomic ones. The key during major change is to keep spirits high. Now is the time to pull out all the stops when it comes to enjoying a happy staff. Bring in breakfast a few days a week and give out incentives for excellent work. Openly praise and thank your staff for their cooperation and reassure them that they are still doing a good job. If they feel secure that they are still valuable to the organization, they will be able to keep up with their work in spite of any new changes.

As a manager, there are times when you will have to help your staff adjust to workplace changes. Even small changes can change the dynamic in an office, and handling these with finesse is key. A Diploma of Change Management will help you to get the skills you need to manage these workplace changes. Start on the road to this exciting diploma program today.

How to Attract Top Talent to Your Company

Companies that are looking to hire top talent need to come up with clever ways to add that talent to their teams. While hiring an executive is more complicated than hiring a cashier or another low level employee, there are several sensible steps that companies can take to get the executives that they are after.

Allow Your New Executive to Make Mistakes

There is a good reason why your company is looking for new leadership. Most likely, your company has been in a rut or suffering from customer or regulatory backlash. This means that there is a lot that needs to be changed or scrapped before the company can compete and thrive.

When a new executive comes in, he or she is going to have to take distinct action as soon as he or she starts. Therefore, mistakes are most likely going to be made and will need to be ironed out as time goes on.

If the executive doesn't have the support of those around him or her, that person probably won't want to take the job. When someone is in a bad situation without any support to help fix the problem, that position is going to be seen as toxic and not worth touching.

Allow That Person to Bring in His or Her People

The typical executive has spent years or decades working up to the executive level. Along the way, he or she has developed many connections and business relationships. Allowing your new leader to bring in people that he or she is comfortable with can be a great way to entice that person to come join your company.

When your executive has people that he or she can trust, it makes it a lot easier for that person to lead. It is also in the best interest of the company to bring in as much talent as possible. Those who have a proven track record aren't easy to acquire in today's business world.

Give That Person Ownership of the Company

To get the right person, you may need to cede a large part of the company to that person. While this may be scary to some shareholders, it means that the new executive has an incentive to do well. If compensation is tied to the performance of the company, that executive has to make moves that benefit the company. This presents an opportunity for everyone from the CEO to the person stocking shelves in the store to benefit from the success of the company.

Offer the Opportunity to Cement the Executive's Legacy

Those who are stepping into a new position for the first time want to be able to take credit for something. This helps to cement their legacy and gives that person credibility. If your company is looking to roll out a new product or wants to completely change company culture, allowing the new executive to take charge of that could entice him or her to want to be with your company. In some cases, merely allowing an executive to take credit for something that may have been in place before he or she came on board could do the job.

There is a lot that has to be done to attract a top executive. For companies that are eager to get the search underway, it may be a good idea to partner with an executive recruitment agency. The recruitment agency can help your company find the right people with the right skills to lead your company into the future. It could be the difference between taking the company to the next level and shutting down operations for good.

4 Tips for Managing Your Cash Flow

Learning to effectively manage your cash flow is the first lesson most entrepreneurs learn after they put their business plan in place and open the doors to their business. In the article, “How to Better Manage Your Cash Flow”, written for Entrepreneur.com, you learn that, “the lag time between the time you have to pay your suppliers and employees and the time you collect from your customers is the problem, and the solution is cash flow management.” If you follow some basic, common sense tips, you'll find that you can better manage your cash flow and meet your financial obligations in a timely fashion.


By considering recruitment factoring as a solution to your cash flow problems your business can continue to operate on a normal basis.

Tip #1-Try to measure your cash flow to prepare for the upcoming period. You’ll need to consider a variety of factors that contribute to your company’s income. Think about what you have on hand, your client’s payment history, any upcoming costs that you know you’ll have, and the amount of outlays that are coming up in your budget. This includes rent, payroll, benefits, any equipment that you need to buy, utility and fuel bills, and any loans that you have to make payment on. This is not an easy task and requires careful thought and planning but it must be done to run a successful business.

Tip #2-Try to create a plan to improve your receivables. This can include offering a discount to clients who meet their financial obligations to you quickly, asking for a deposit on orders made, and developing a cash-on-delivery plan for customers who don’t pay in a timely fashion. You’ll want your staff to issue invoices promptly and note on the documentation that payment is expected upon receipt of this bill. Another way to avoid problems with your account receivable clients is to do a credit check on them before merchandise is exchanged.

Tip #3-You need to effectively manage your payables. Don’t allow your expenses to expand faster than your sales; you must watch your expenses so that you don’t mismanage the funds that you have coming into your company. Use a variety of means to work with your vendors so that you can take advantage of discounts, flexible terms, and electronic payments that can be made on the final day that they are due.

Tip #4-You must manage your shortfalls quickly and efficiently. The wise entrepreneur will be aware of the shortfall early and take steps to remedy the situation. Whether you approach a bank, your suppliers, or a recruitment factoring programme for assistance, you will have a plan in place to help meet your financial obligations and preserve your company’s good credit rating and reputation. If you have experienced this shortfall in funds because of poor planning, you should obtain help with managing your cash flow so that you won’t have this experience in the future.

Keeping your business reputation and honouring your financial obligations are two of the most important aspects of running a successful company.

   

Four Ways To Maintain an Organized Business While Growing

Each of the four methods listed below for keeping your business organized as it grows are born out of a need for managers to work smarter, not harder. Keep that in mind as you try to make sure your business grows and doesn't get out of your control.

1. Streamline the Work

Hiring someone to do intranet development for internal procedures is such a critical part of the process of making sure your business is managed well. You can try to do everything manually, but it is actually much better to have a designer create an intranet system that allows your business to flow paperless, or, as paperless as possible. You don't want to get stuck doing everything when the computer system can do a great deal for you.

2. Sync Scheduling

Using that same intranet system to keep everyone's calendar straight is an excellent idea. Imagine how much simpler it is for everyone in the office to log onto their intranet account and check the main calendar for events rather than trying to handle it all themselves. The less fluff people have to do, the more actual work they can accomplish in short periods of time.

3. Delegate Tasks

You must have a receptionist. Period. You absolutely must put a face on your office's operations, and a receptionist is the perfect person for that job. In the best-functioning offices in the world, from small regional companies all the way up to massive corporations, the receptionist an extremely well-paid employee who makes everyone look good with their acute organizational and interpersonal skills. You can answer the phone yourself, but it will never sound as good or go as smoothly as it would if you had a receptionist whose whole job it was to answer the phone. Having the person on the front line of your business keeps everything feeling stable.

4. Do Not Over Staff

Everyone wants to have all the most talented people in the world working in their office. Moreover, no manager wants to saddle their employees with more work than they can handle. However, in your zeal to be a good person, make sure you don't hire too many people. As the adage says, too many cooks spoil the broth. In this same way, too many employees create overlap, increased salary and benefit expenses, and they just clutter up the office.

This may be the hardest trick to master. If you foresee this area becoming a problem, investing in a training process could help save you from this trap. Finding ways to create order within the office will require a management staff that are fully capable of training new employees. They will create an environment that makes sure everyone stays on task and is organized. Finding quality managers will help drastically in making sure the staff has the appropriate amount of work and won't create any overlap.

Follow each step carefully and we hope that your office stays organized as you work very hard to grow your business.