Tags
Posted by experiencebusinesssolutions | Filed under Management Consultancy
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
inNot long after the Boston Marathon bombings occurred on Monday afternoon, several Twitter users noted that these kinds of real-time news events illustrate how incredible the service is as a source of breaking news, but at the same time how terrible it is.
Sure enough, there were plenty of fake news reports to go around on Monday, from reports of suspicious vehicles to the arrest of alleged perpetrators — just as there were during superstorm Sandy and the school shootings in Connecticut. But does that invalidate Twitter as a news source? And should the service try harder to filter out bad information and highlight verified news reports? I think the answer to both of these questions is the same: No.
Erik Wemple of the Washington Post noted that in some cases Twitter can act as a “news ombudsman,” pointing out that there were a number of people…
View original post 685 more words
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
inYet again, when Americans ponder their future, it all comes down to “it’s the economy, stupid.” New Gallup research shows that people in the United States remain preoccupied with their jobs and economic health. Until a strong recovery of gross domestic product may wipe that out, finances will trump all other worries among most Americans, including those worries that are supposed to be pressing.
Few Americans mention guns or immigration as the most important problems facing the nation today, despite the current attention lawmakers in Washington are giving to these issues. The economy still dominates as the top concern, followed by jobs and dissatisfaction with the general way in which Congress and the government work.
The recession has pushed what might be core concerns about society to the point of barely being secondary ones, which means the shadow of the recession remains. Based on a close look…
View original post 263 more words
02 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
in02 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
inI chartered a sailboat for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. It was clear, sunny, and we could see the shores of St. Croix, when the captain invited me to “take the helm.”
Even a former farm boy can steer the boat in calm waters. I felt more important than I was. But…
Leaders matter most during storms.
Turbulent times and threatening circumstances call for skillful leadership. People depend on you. Challenging times make or break you and those around you. Rise up.
Your response impacts their response.
7 Surprising secrets to sailing in rough seas:
View original post 186 more words
02 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
inIf you’ve ever forgotten to take your medication, you’re hardly alone: according to estimates, as many as half of American fail to follow a prescribed regimen. And the consequences aren’t just harmful to the individual patients, but the health system overall. The New England Healthcare Institute reports that patients who don’t take their prescription medication cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical costs each year.
Mango Health, a health startup launched by former executives from mobile gaming company ngmoco, believes that by combining game mechanics with an intuitive, fun design and useful features, they can keep patients on track. Since August, the company has been beta testing the app with a small set of users, but on Tuesday it said it had launched in the app store.
“One of the biggest challenges in this space… is long-time use, loyalty and retention – and…
View original post 336 more words
20 Wednesday Mar 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
in15 Friday Mar 2013
Tags
Experienced Business Professionals, Happy, Interesting Article, Management, Management Consultancy, Motivation, Office Politics, professionals, Resources, solutions, workers
Here is a simple four-step process to ensure that the right decision gets made.
Most people think that office politics is bad for business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Office politics are an integral part of getting things done, regardless of whether you’re the CEO, a salesperson, or an intern working over the summer.
The word “politics” comes from the Greek politikos which means “of, for, or relating to citizens.” Far from being something negative, it is the art and science of influencing people when there are more than two people involved.
This post describes a four-step approach to office politics that doesn’t resort to tricks or deception (aka “dirty politics,” which IS bad for business.)
Playing politics consists of balancing the needs of multiple people so that they can come together to make a decision. In business, there are four general types of needs:
Once you understand your own needs (on various levels) and the needs of other people involved, you’re ready to play some politics.
Office politics consists of making deals where you’ll support the satisfying of the other person’s needs in return for that person’s support for satisfying your needs. In theory this is a simple concept, but in practice there are infinite variations. Kinda like sex.
For example, if you’ve got a colleague who wants to be “head programmer” and you want to be “manager of quality control,” you’d tell the colleague: “I’ll support the idea of you becoming ‘head programmer’ if you’ll support the idea of me becoming ‘manager of quality control.'”
As you can see, the keys to making an alliance work well are 1) figuring out what you want, and 2) figuring what the other person wants, and 3) agreeing to get there together. I’ll refrain from the sex analogy this time.
Great care must be taken in the building of alliances. As a general rule, you want to work with people who can be trusted both to hold up their side of the deal, and also can be trusted to do the right thing by the rest of the firm.
For example, you probably don’t want to make a deal that involves promoting a complete idiot to be “head programmer,” at least, not if you want your firm to succeed. However, if all things considered it really doesn’t matter all that much whether Jack or Jill gets the promotion, it’s okay to make a deal with Jill that puts Jack out of the picture.
And so much the better if you’re certain that Jill is the better choice.
In addition to alliances, politics consist of the less formal trading of favors. It’s a simple concept: you do a favor for somebody else and then, at a later date, you get to “call in” the favor by asking that person to do something for you.
And vice versa, naturally.
Playing office politics therefore requires that you keep close track of 1) whom you owe and about how much, and 2) who owes you and about how much.
Knowing the first keeps you from being blindsided by unexpected requests. Knowing the second allows you to assess how whether or not you’ve got the political power to achieve your goal, if politics is needed to achieve it.
It need hardly be said that trading favors is a great way to strengthen your alliances.
In addition, there’s usually some negotiation involved in assessing the value of favors past versus the value of favors in the future. No biggie, just be aware that everyone has their own “tally book” that might not agree 100% with yours.
All of this effort comes to fruition when it’s decision-making time. Your goal is to make certain (as far as possible) that everybody is supporting the decision you prefer, through the use of your alliances and favor-trading.
For example, suppose your firm has a choice between two software vendors and you’re certain that vendor “A” is the right choice, but you’re aware that some of the misguided dunderheads you work with believe that vendor “B” is a better option.
When the big meeting to decide which vendor to hire takes place, you want as many people possible at the conference room table pre-disposed to agree with you that the company should go with vendor “A.”
It could be argued that such decisions should be made based simply upon the merits of each vendor’s product. Maybe so, but that’s not the way the world works.
Office politics makes certain that the right decision gets made, even when it’s maybe for the wrong reasons. And that’s always better than making the wrong decision for the right reasons. Right?
Geoffrey James writes the Sales Source column on Inc.com, the world’s most visited sales-oriented blog. His newly published book is Business to Business Selling: Power Words and Strategies From the World’s Top Sales Experts. @Sales_Source
15 Friday Mar 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
in15 Friday Mar 2013
Posted Management Consultancy
in
Improving a company needs establishing short- and long-term plans. Often the short-term goals are the actions necessary to get the longer-term goals. Choose suitable places such as promotion and income, and system short- and long-term goals within these groups. An example of a short-term target is to increase your marketing price range each 30 days for the next three weeks. An example of a long-term company objective that the short-term goal helps achieve is to dual company income by the end of the financial season.
If your long-term income objective is to dual income by the end of the current financial season, another example of a assisting short-term goal is to deal an promotion expert for one 30 days to help you assess and take benefit of your client’s purchasing styles. Another short-term goal example is to devote the next 30 days studying your main competitors and…
View original post 388 more words
Thoughts and moments of a hacker, caffeinator, and creator.
Buy a product, help a person in need + see your impact.
Technology news, trends and analysis covering mobile, big data, cloud, science, energy and media
by tom tunguz of redpoint ventures