What does juggling balls have to do with business? Well... I was at Pier 39 in San Francisco and came upon a juggler. He was juggling three balls. Then out of nowhere another ball appeared, then between juggling the now four balls, he reached into his shirt and added yet another.
Documents are an essential component of every business. Online document storage is the most efficient and effective way to store needed documents. Yet, there are still some businesses stuck in the 20th Century, maintaining paper files, thinking it is a more secure means of storage.
An employment application can be an important document and can provide you, as a prospective employer, with good information about an applicant. However, you have to be careful that you…
The city of Chicago instituted sexual harassment prevention training. In this podcast, Cindi Elstien, Bill Heffernan, and Lesa Hammond discuss the nuances of harassment prevention, by-stander training, retaliation, hostile work environment and other related topics.
When you have a small business there are so many things to do, so many laws to follow, so many documents to submit and keep. It is impossible to remember everything and do it all right, but there are some things you may be doing now that are costing you money or could cost you a significant amount of money in the near future.
Whether your meetings are in person or virtual, this one tip can change everything and make your meetings run more smoothly. To use this tip, your meetings must have an agenda. Beside each agenda item, add the type of item it is. Every agenda item can fall within one of three types: decision-making, discovery, or informative.
Almost everyone has been sent home. You may or may not be able to continue business remotely. Remote workers during non-pandemic times say they most miss a sense of camaraderie and interaction with coworkers. As a manager, you can help to keep your employees engaged.
It’s not easy to be an effective leader, but effective, strong, and decisive leadership is what is needed when you are entrusted with the health, safety, lives and/or livelihood of others. When Gavin Newsom and Jay Inslee (the Governors of California and Washington state respectively) essentially shut down their states, the timing was excellent. The novel coronavirus had already invaded. Citizens were concerned. We had seen what happened in China and it was time for decisive action. While the decisions to send everyone home from work and shut down stores, entertainment, and religious gatherings seemed dramatic, the leadership shown was effective. As days and weeks followed they have been lauded for their actions. It didn’t stop the virus from afflicting the states’ residents but it apparently slowed the curve and magnitude of incidents.
The coronavirus has taught us that there are both positives and challenges to working remotely or working from home. It can be a bit of a minefield but getting things set-up well and starting out the right way can mitigate many of the challenges. If your employees are already engaged in remote work, you can make some small adjustments to have a big effect. Take a look at these aspects of remote working, especially for small businesses or departments.
There is a time to sacrifice and a time avail yourself of what is rightfully yours. Suffering needlessly is not a good business strategy. Read my personal lesson ...
We asked Jessica Andritsch, owner of The Chameleon: What is the most important thing someone hiring a VA should know?
What is an EAP and how it can benefit your small business
In this post-pandemic work environment, remote work and flexibility are key.
Understanding four of the destructive management styles can help you avoid or quickly address issues that may lead to a disruption in employee performance. The goal of a good manager is always to bring out the best in organization and the people they manage. Sometimes poor managers generally don’t know how to do that or they are following patterns and behaviors of managers from their past. The Bully The Enabler The Rescuer The Abdicator Disrupting poor management styles starts with awareness. Then giving the manager new behaviors and strategies for dealing with specific situations.
Having a handbook for independent contractors will set your organization apart from their other clients. It will also save you time and frustration. In this article, you will learn what to put in a contractor handbook.
When interviewing job candidates there are a lot of questions you can ask; however, the list of things you should not ask applicants is long and growing. And like everything related to employment, it varies by state. It is important to know what you can and what you should not ask. You want to establish rapport, but it is a slippery slope into the realm of illegal or at a minimum inappropriately invasive. And it gets really tricky when the applicant brings up a “forbidden” topic. In this article we will discuss the most common categories of questions and comments to avoid when interviewing job applicants.
When a very good employee resigns it is frustrating, but it is also important to honor the work they did and support their decision.
We posed a question to April Fenall, Founder and CEO of Piikup (and Attaché for Business customer), Relatively new small business owners or entrepreneurs often feel self-conscious and second guess decisions they make. What advice would you give these individuals?
We asked Rani Langer-Croager, the CEO of Uptima to answer our question: “What advice would you give an entrepreneur planning to start a business?”
When hiring a new employee, there are things you must report, things you must keep available for inspection, and things you must simply give the new hire. Many small business…