Customer Service and Marketing

A big part of keeping control of your energy, time and workflow is the concept of effective and efficient delegation. Delegation is an art form, and one that is frequently bungled. Ineffective delegation yields two people doing the same job, re-working tasks or processes being dropped. The overall net effect is waste, inefficiency and loss of quality in the service or product. Necessities for effective delegation There are several common characteristics to effective delegation, no matter the size of the task and whether they are inside or outside your organization: Identify the task … [Read more...] about Managing Yourself Part 3

There are a few basic ways to reach a timely completion for routine business actions. They all take discipline and require you to follow basic prioritization concepts. The good news is that you get to set the rules, you just have to follow your own rules! In addition, you can gain insight by noticing where the system is breaking down and taking simple steps to re-formulate. Here are the three ways to reach completion: The obvious one is to actually complete the action! The second way is to delegate the completion to someone else. The third way is to declare that you are not going … [Read more...] about Completion of Cycles Part 2

Do you use the 3-pile method of sorting incomplete tasks? Many of my new clients do. Here’s how it works: the first pile is made of the tasks and projects that you absolutely have to get to right away. The second pile is made of the things that were in the first pile last month, but you didn’t actually get to. The third pile is made of the things that were in the second pile last month. At the end of each month, you dump the third pile in the garbage, slide everything over one notch and start again. Very efficient, right? In reality, completion of open cycles is an ongoing challenge for … [Read more...] about Completion of Cycles Part 1

Many business information sources revolve around making your organization bulletproof. This concept implies that all destructive forces originate outside the company. After all, it’s a tough world out there, and your competitors and detractors would like nothing more than to attack you and sink your ship, right? Protecting yourself is certainly a sensible thing to do, but that’s only half the story. What about destructive forces that arise from within? The concept of foolproof has many meanings… Individually foolproof The major force that can interfere with growth and productivity is … [Read more...] about Bulletproof or Foolproof?