Fork lift trucks are today present in any state-of-the-art mill, storage warehouse or warehousing installation. The labour economizing abilities of the fork lift are without equivalence. However, such great ability and flexibility comes with a liability, they can be very dangerous if practiced by casual and inexperienced operators. Therefore it’s of the essence, in fact even a statutory demand, that every one of your staff who may utilise one are given advanced forklift safety coaching. A coaching class with forklifts will encompass all areas of forklift functioning including themes such as hazard awareness, accurate load techniques, speed, stableness, accurate placement, everyday safety checks and external risks such as other employees. Even users who think themselves to be seasoned may want to undergo refresher coaching to allow them to be covered by the current safety legislation. Upholding a fail-safe working area is the obligation of every business organization proprietor and manager, without very advanced operational processes this can be unworkable to achieve. We have each learned of catastrophe stories where a badly manipulated fork lift has resulted in a trail of carnage and harm (including fatalities), ensure your business does not get added to this list by seeing to it that all your fork lift users are properly coached. Always determine that your safety training is supplied by authorised tutors who are tracked by domestic criteria (with the right insurance and qualifications) and that all courses of study are similarly licenced by the appropriate domestic organisation.

In today’s economy, reducing costs and optimizing what you have is the most effective method of boost profits. With this in mind, let’s turn to the many benefits of that great secret of successful companies, performance management software. Of course, everyone knows that making the most out of your business requires knowing in what areas your staff work at their best, and knowing how to customize your systems to match that. While this information is important, it’s not too easy to get your hands on it. To take just one facet of this — namely staff appraisal — determining their progress and being able to track it is a huge hassle. The first step is to bring employee performance management systems into play. This allows you to appraise the work of each worker. And if you’re using established approaches, you’ll have to assess all of that information by eye just to set objectives, and keep track of further progress. With performance management software, you simply scrutinize the different analyses and factors to deduce what these goals should be and subsequently chart the member of staff’s advancement. Thus you remove a significant demand on your time and probably also receive more precise information as an added bonus. It’s of course possible just to use the software to record raw data like performance reviews and to make your own assessment.

Not only that, but improving your staff’s efficiency is only one thing you can do using performance appraisal software. Both suppliers and clients can be studied using such software programs, granting access to still more performance appraisal tools. With suppliers in particular you can more easily see their weaknesses such as poor delivery times, high rates of loss, etc.

Clients have their own measurements to be scrutinized, and just as with suppliers and internal questions this information can be used to streamline your business practices and help your bottom line. Then, you can adjust your ordering and move products around to maximize your profits while minimizing spending. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that? With this data you can determine your best target audience. With this demographic in mind advertising is free to become more effective and easier to plan. Performance appraisal software can watch your sources to save money and analyze the market to customize plans and boost your profit margin. It also makes employee performance management straightforward and much more effective when encouraging staff using tangible goals decidedly. All things considered, it’s clear that the real benefits of this system are endless and will depend solely on your own ability to use the information provided.

Nowadays some companies feel that, by giving each employee training in safety in the workplace, they have all the knowledge they need to cope with a disaster. Realistically though, staff should have more than simply a basic education in health and safety legislation. Equipping your workers, providing a good supervisior and encouraging regular drills are all important factors. Your staff must have a capable supervisor to watch over the shop floor, but this individual also needs to perform an even greater function in the company. A supervisor needs to see that health and safety instruction is important and be able to get other employees feeling enthusiastic.

On top of following rules and regulations, the supervisor also should ensure that every employee performs to the highest standard. Of course it isn’t easy to do all this at once. Extensive business knowledge is a requirement for a supervisory job as well as an in depth experience with safety laws, risk assessment, and emergency assistance techniques.

It’s just not enough to send your employees to a health and safety course. To effectively find a risk to their safety they must get to put their newly accquired skills into practise. They also require insights into the steps necessary to remedy the situation and also knowing what to do if disaster strikes. Staff are only properly prepared when everything they have been taught has become routine.

Instruction is useless if you don’t provide safety gear. Without the correct gear or if employees discover that equipment is broken only after an emergency has occurred, even the most advanced instruction won’t help them. You need to plan regular checks to make certain you possess everything you need and that it’s working properly. If you have a fault with your safety apparatus, be sure to get it mended promptly and return it to the appropriate place.

Appropriate health and safety training is essential to the well-being of your workers, but in addition they also must have the proper supplies, regular practise excercises, and an educated supervisor who can get employees charged up about being safe at work. Only then will complying with health and safety legislation will before long be a normal component of life in the workplace and no longer an inconvenience for everyone to think about all the time.

Effective people management skills are crucial in attaining the best in your business success. People management may be acquired and studied. It can be a plus to have a innate affinity for getting along with people, even so there are a few things you can learn to make the process easy.

Relationship Development: Start by remembering the names of the staff. Speak to employees; look individuals in the eye during a conversation. Have a respectful attitude, in addition be attentive to what the other person says, even if you don’t agree or have another point of view. The development of the ability to listen is among the greatest things you can do to develop your people management skills. Encourage any comments from team members.

Please go to this splendid source for retail human resources hints!

Exhibit integrity: Don’t make promises you can not keep. When a promise is not kept, it can damage trust, and no-one will give you their best without trusting you. When you give a commitment or give your word on something, ensure that you can deliver or don’t bother giving your word at all. You will find, when you can’t be counted on, they can’t be relied on to be committed when you truly need them. Feedback is important: Feedback should be a interactive process. Maintaining an open mind regarding other’s ideas is an important skill in managing individuals. Being accessible and open demonstrates that your co-worker’s opinions matter to you, and they should respect yours. Open discussion also furthers new ways of thinking, innovative methods of achieving goals, and improves the company dynamic. If team members have a voice, the project becomes important to each member. Encourage all sorts of communication: Communication is central to dealing with employees skilfully. Be approachable, apply listening skills, welcome feedback , and allow each of your employees a chance to express themselves. Employees should be inspired to communicate with one another as well as with you. The creative process relies heavily on the open exchange of ideas, and through communicating with one another, it becomes simple to discover issues before they present problems, and corrective measures can be applied before matters get out of hand.

Developing these skills can take time, but the payoffs far outweigh the effort involved. By inspiring a good team dynamic and developing good listening techniques, a flourishing business can be achieved.

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Raw brainpower versus experience

The best problem identification, idea generation and idea selection requires a intellectual cross pollination. That means, at least:

a) A large number of people.

b) Large diversity of people.

c) Large novelty of people.

There are of course other classifications, and one of the most interesting is:

a) Those with raw brainpower. A team of hot shot Ivy League MBA’s is great, especially for the raw number crunching and analysis that needs to take place to arrive at good decisions.

b) Those with experience. Can fresh faced Ivy League MBA’s compete with the non-graduate with twenty years experience? Probably not. In those twenty years an incredible amount of tacit knowledge has been built up.

But the answer is not one or the other. The answer is that teams of both will produce better results. The key is collaboration and intellectual cross-pollination, not competition.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

Why is it imperative to have a company E-Mail Policy? It is
simply good business, that’s why! In addition, having a clear
and detailed e-mail policy in place, one that employees sign and
date before they are allowed access through your businesss’
computers, is critical to you being able to enforce or react to
situations that may arise at a later date.

Even assuming you have the best folks working for you, or on your
behalf, does not negate the need for this type of policy to be
established. Hopefully, you will never need to refer to your
policy statement in regard to an employee’s actions or behavior
while on company time. However, if you do find yourself in that
situation down the road, you will be relieved these terms and
conditions are in place for your protection.

With technology now in the workplace and e-mail accessible to
more employees than ever, connectivity makes it easy for all
employees to surf the Web on company time, circulate unnecessary
and/or inappropriate messages and illegally copy content. These
activities can lead to:

=> Claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. This occurs
when e-mail or information is forwarded to an employee who may
not have the same sense of humor as the sender. We all have had
our e-mail boxes filled by well intending friends with the latest
joke or chain letter, some of which could offend the recipient or
are not appropriate in a professional environment.

=> Misaddressed messages that lead to intentional or inadvertent
release of corporate trade secrets. One typo, dot, dash or space
where it shouldn’t be (and folks typo e-mail addresses all the
time) and your company information can very easily end up being
delivered to another e-mail address outside of the company.

=> Network and spam attacks. Those who do not understand the
basics of Online Netiquette, many times put themselves in a
situation of having e-mail bombs or repetitive e-mail being sent
which can cripple your network due to their actions. Employees
who do not market your business within established protocols can
cause your server and ISP to cancel your accounts due to spam
complaints to your hosting and e-mail providers.

=> Copyright infringement issues and the possible legalities that
can ensue. Copyright is one of the most misunderstood issues
online. Many believe that information, graphics, etc. are online
for the taking. Right click and it is yours! To set the record
straight, there is nothing further from the truth. All
information and graphic images are protected by the person who
created them. To take content or images without the
creator’s/author’s written permission is copyright infringement.
It is also copyright infringement to forward or quote another
person’s private e-mail in a public venue such as mailing lists
and discussion groups without their written permission to do so.

Abuse of e-mail may also lead to:

=> Waste of computer resources. Large gratuitous downloads can
negatively impact your bandwidth allowances and incur additional
charges from your provider not to mention lower employee
productivity.

=> Drain on limited storage capabilities. Limits in disk storage
space can easily be maxed out incurring additional charges.

=> Slower response times for legitimate business activities.
Focus is lost on priorities and customer service. Company e-mail
activities should be considered one of the highest priorities
that many times will fall by the wayside in lieu of employees
becoming sidetracked by these other activities.

=> Increased network traffic. Unnecessary network traffic can
cause your entire network to come to a grinding halt if
acceptable computer and online usage is not clearly defined.

=> E-mail forgery. I could send an e-mail today appearing to be
Bill Gates. Only those with an above average technical knowledge
would be able to determine it was a hoax and trace it back to me.

All company e-mails should use your dot com/net/org to identify
all employees. E-mail settings should not be tampered with or
changed for any reason.

=> Create a negative perception of your business image,
legitimacy and level of credibility. One cannot underestimate
the power of perception as it relates to your businesss’ e-mail
activities. Each e-mail should be taken as seriously as though it
were written on company letterhead. How it is written, the words
used, whether proper Netiquette it practiced or lack there of can
have a negative impact on those communicating with your company.

Any e-mail policy should start with the following basics. You
will want to review each carefully and then jot down and add the
specifics unique to your business environment and culture.

1) Specify that the computer and e-mail system belongs to the
business for authorized purposes only. While on company time any
use of the Company’s equipment (computer) is to be used solely
for business activities related to the performance of an
employee’s job responsibilities.

2) Set clear expectations of employee privacy. What will be
private and what won’t - if anything. Trends indicate that the
majority of e-mail policies currently in place state clearly that
while on company time, employees should not expect to have any
privacy in regard to their use of company owned equipment and
resources.

3) Establish monitoring as a “right” of the employer. It should
be expected and acknowledged.

4) Make sure employees understand attention should be taken when
addressing e-mail and when drafting them to avoid including
copyrighted material. Each e-mail an employee sends utilizing an
e-mail address with your dot com/org/net reflects on your
business and makes you inevitably liable if another author’s
information is misused without their permission. Not only are
there legal ramifications, but again, do not underestimate how
your enterprise will be perceived by virtue of the use of a
company e-mail address in communications.

5) Outline specific types of content that should be avoided in
e-mail messages. The more detail the better here!

6) Have employees sign and date the e-mail policy. Put a copy
in their personnel file and give them a copy to have on hand for
reference purposes.

It would also be recommended that each employee be sent to my
OnlineNetiquette.com site or given a copy of my soon to be
released book: “Because Netiquette Matters! Your comprehensive
reference guide on e-mail etiquette and proper technology use.”
This will ensure they are aware of all the issues and practices
they need to integrate when e-mailing on behalf of and using your
company’s resources to communicate online.

For a sample E-mail Policy that you can use and modify, visit my
main consulting site @:
http://www.theistudio.com/example_epolicy.html

About the Author:
Judith Kallos is an authoritative and good-humored Technology Muse who has been playing @ http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade. Check out her popular Technology Cheat Sheets @ http://www.LearnAndThrive.com

What is data? How does it impact a negotiation. How do you gather it? Data is the meat of preparation. Negotiators should take the time to fully prepare. If they do this, often as not they will be better prepared than the other person. As a result, they will likely control the conversation and its outcome.

Data is any information available about a given topic, person, commodity or situation. Having the discipline to gather, assess and use this data makes the difference between negotiating and begging. Preparedness is the key to a successful negotiation.

Data is readily available in the information age. Computers, data bases, the Internet. newspaper archives, public libraries, even company historians all have a wealth of raw data. Knowing where to look and how to search are excellent tools to develop to help you be a better negotiator.

Computers and the Internet are great tools when searching for data that is in the public domain. This type of information may be available at the library, newspaper archives, from a title company, or off the Internet. It is difficult to refute hard data. That is why it is worth the extra effort to gather. It is also important to know what facts can be used against you. When you conduct fact-based research, be alert for related information that may be used against you. The search for data should be broad-based and inclusive. Being properly prepared takes away the element of surprise at the moment of confrontation.

When you are investigating the person or persons you will be confronting seek the counsel of others who know the person, study previous negotiation results with the person or his company, casually discuss the person with his peers. Never miss an opportunity to discuss him with his secretary or assistant. Often a little casual conversation will reveal reams of valuable information about how his day is going, his travel schedule and even pressures around the office. In days of old secretaries were guardians at the door. Today the roles have changed and that former loyalty may be lacking.

With a little sleuthing, there are usually some valuable insights available. As with data-based research, cast a wide net and collect as much information about the other person’s interests, nature, and reputation as possible. You can use this collective pool of data to talk about his hobbies and interests to build a relationship or use it to be on the alert for his known stylistic tactics.

The author is an assistant editor at How-to-Negotiate.com, a site featuring articles about the use of data in negotiations required in the dispute settlement process and how people negotiate everything in their daily lives be it personal issues, parenting matters, social conflicts, or business or work related challenges. The site promotes the fact that conflict is a natural aspect of everyone’s life and we should all work at improving our ability to negotiate the curves life throws our way.

Almost everyday people in organizations have to attend meetings. Has anyone at the organizations looked at those meetings to determine if they are productive? Does anyone in the organization know if the meetings were beneficial enough to be worth the investment? If the answer is NO, then please read on to determine how to verify the worth a meeting has to the organization.

Recognize the Productivity Level.

The value of a meeting to the organization and how productive a meeting is relates directly to how effective it is at accomplishing the meeting’s purpose. If the meeting accomplishes more then 60% of its purpose, then the meeting was beneficial and the cost of the meeting is to be considered a good investment in the success of the organization. Most average meetings accomplish around 40% - 60% of the meeting’s purpose. In this case the cost of having the meeting may be balanceable by its benefits; however this requires verifying that a benefit from the meeting is visible and verifiable. Finally, if the meeting accomplishes less than 40% of its purpose, the cost of the meeting is generally a loss to the organization.

Compute the Cost of Attendance.

How to figure out if the meeting has value related to its purpose and the investment in good meetings on future projects. Below is simple formula to use for calculations when weighing the cost of a meeting and against the potential benefits.

AC = (R x N)

MC = H x AC

To determine the actual cost of a meeting, find the following data: an approximate average hourly rate for each person attending the meeting (R) and a count of the number of people expected to attend the meeting (N). Then multiply those numbers to compute total attendee cost (AC). Then take the number of hours (H) the meetings may be to multiply by the total attendee costs to compute approximate meeting cost (MC).*

Verify the Productivity Level.

Use or create a meeting management evaluation that will help the group decide where meetings fall on the productivity scale. The evaluation should have some sort of numbering system. Then assign a percentage value to the numbers in order to compare each meeting to the productivity levels. For example on a 5 point scale evaluation, each point would be worth 20% on the productivity scale. Keeping track of productivity levels is the only way to verify that improvement is happening. Sometimes, just knowing the meeting will be evaluated at the end is enough to keep people on target to achieving the meeting purpose.

Conduct Research on Meeting Management Methodologies.

There are many great books and some good training programs related to managing meetings available on the market. Do research on the web or ask people that do led meeting well for their recommendations.

Take Improvement Steps.

As noted earlier, the best way to know meetings are improving is to track the productivity before and after improvement steps have been taken. Improvement steps may be as simple as specialized training for the leader and/or group members. Or it could be a mentoring program where a truly good meeting facilitator is used to demonstrate the required skills in group meetings and then coach future meeting leaders in how to do a better job. Either way, an evolution in responsibility and mindset for the entire group will be necessary because a change in how the meetings are conducted will have to follow.

This information should at least be a starting point for determining what meetings currently have worth to the organization. It will also help with determining which ones could use improvement in order to become more productive and beneficial to the organization.

Copyright 2006 Shirley Lee. All Rights Reserved.

Shirley Lee is a consultant/facilitator who helps organizations increase employee, communications, and system capacity to produce results. Shirley designs and facilitates a variety of team building, problem solving, and productivity improvement events. Her programs include managing time, facilitating meetings, project management simplified, workspace or group organization, the problem solving process, and team-building.

http://www.geocities.com/slee_rightfit/