Atricle Dump - Business

Promotional Products - Assisting All Avenues of Your Business
Memorabilia, souvenirs, mementos, monograms- our society treasures them. We are collectors. We emboss, engrave, customize, and personalize. We give so many gifts in our day to day lives for just about any occasion. And, we enjoy receiving gifts. We embroider blankets for weddings, bibs for babies, dog bowls for pets, backpacks for children, and golf bags for adults.Items such as these are also given out regularly by businesses as promotional marketing products. But, do many of these entities know that there is a way to give them out to elicit maximized responses? There does exist a science, so to speak, regarding promotional products.Promotional products can be simple, every day items- useful in nature, or humorous, or aesthetic. Deliberating on a particular product, its target audience, the thematic approach, and the intended outcome are the steps involved in the procedure of the science of promotional success. The basis of the product itself, as well as its price, is irrelevant in the equation. What are most important to concentrate on are the audience and the response that you desire to evoke.Studies have been conducted and have proven that promotional products are equally if not more rewarding than other forms of advertising. Even during difficult financial times in which other mediums of advertising are shrinking, the promotional product method is still a leader in the marketing field and its existence has been affected minimally. This speaks volumes for its functionality. They work to attract potential clients, serve as thank you gestures to existing customers, reward and a

goes on “behind the manager’s back” This is very unhealthy for a team.

Once the coaching manager has got his or her team through the storming phase they have to be aware of a challenge that can come out of the blue. And that is the challenge of a new member. No sooner has a coaching manager got their team through the “storm” then it is joined by a new member who then starts to question the ways of working and potentially starts to destabilise the team. All new members to the team must be made aware of the team goals, roles and rules before they join and they must be made aware of the process that is in place or the giving and receiving of feedback if they have any suggestions as to how they can improve the ways of working for the team. Again, this is an area where I have seen managers lose the progress that they have made with their team. Instead of taking time out to bring a new member up to speed with all the rules, roles and goals, the manager lets the new member join the team without much of a briefing. The result can be chaos. Beware.

You will find at times that there will be people who tend to hold back the storming process or perhaps prolong it. These people have a decision to make. Go with the majority or get out. Business has no place to let the odd individual hold things up. That may seem tough coming from a “coaching” manager but this is reality and in many cases management is a tough role. This is one of these instances.

Splitting a Brand Design Project Between Two Design Firms
I'm often asked if I could just do either the print side or the website side of a brand design project. And while that's certainly possible, I don't recommend it.Splitting a branding project typically results in a lack of consistency between pieces in your marketing kit. All of your brand materials should have similar design elements. When a project is split among different design firms, often those firms don't have a similar style, and you can wind up with print collateral, for example, that looks dramatically different from your website. In this case, when potential customers receive your business card and then go to your website, it might take them a moment to realize that they're in the right place... and that moment can affect the level of trust that you build with them. Since trust is one of the most important factors in the buyer/seller relationship, breaking this trust can have a poor effect on your sales.Projects are typically split up for a few reasons:• Lack of full-service design capabilities. If the firm you choose has strengths primarily in just print design or just web design, then that firm will probably not be the best choice to execute both projects. Many firms do offer both print and web services these days, though, so you might look around for a firm that can fill both needs.• Short timeline. If you're looking to launch your business or product quickly, you might find that one firm can't offer you the turnaround time that you need to get to market fast. If this is the case, and you split the project in half so that the halves can be developed simultaneously, yo

One of the greatest challenges a coaching manager has is in moving his or her team though the various team development stages. If a manager has no, or little experience of teams and team dynamics then taking over a team and then leading that team can be a very stressful experience. Every manager should know what the various growth stages are of a developing team and they should know how best to move the team through these stages with the minimum of fuss and stress. Unfortunately, many managers do not get the necessary training or coaching in this area of team development and as such teams go through a lot of stress and turmoil when perhaps this could be minimised quite considerably.

In the next couple of pages I will take you through a simple team development model, which I find the most useful of all the models I have studied. The names of each of the stages sum up perfectly what you can expect at each stage!

Psychologist, B.W Tuckman in the 1970s, developed this model and Tuckman suggests that there are four team development stages that teams have to go through in order to be productive. The four stages are:

Forming when the team meets and starts to work together for the first time. Storming, when the members within the team start to “jockey” for position and when control struggles take place.

Norming when rules are finalised and accepted and when team rules start being adhered to.

Performing when the team starts to produce through effective and efficient working practices.

Some teams will go through the four stages fairly rapidly and move from forming through to performing in a relatively short space of time. A lot depends on the composition of the team, the capabilities of the individuals, the tasks at hand, and of course the leadership from management. One thing is certain – no team passes over the storming phase.

All teams must be prepared to go through the difficult and stressful times as well as reaping the benefits of the productive phases. The task of the coaching manager is to identify where along the path of team development his or her team is and then move it on to the next phase with the minimum of fuss and resistance.

Let’s look at each of the stages in detail.

Forming:
This is a stressful phase when new teams come together. Everyone is a bit wary of each other, particularly if they do not know anyone and particularly if the manager is new. Even more stressful, if the rumours circulating about the manager are not favourable!

The first meeting is a nervous one and a good coaching manager will recognise this and make attempts to ensure the team is put at ease. As the forming stage is the stage where cliques can develop, the coaching manager should be aware of this and should be aware of the various alliances that will occur at this stage. Not all alliances will be counter-productive to the team’s future success but it pays for the coaching manager to watch and observe the behaviours of potential cliques. The challenge for the coaching manager is basically to give an inert group of people who hardly know each the best start possible as a new team. The coaching manager should attempt to do the following in order to give the team the best possible start. Outline specifically the task the team has to perform.

Be specific about each person’s role in the team’s task.

Outline how the team has come together and give reasons as to why the various team members have been brought together for inclusion within this team.

Be open about the way you operate as a manager – what are your strengths and weaknesses? Outline your expectations of both the team and the individuals within the team. In other words, start to contract with the team.

Encourage each team member to do likewise.

Ensure that the team has a set of rules and guidelines and that the team has an input into how these rules are formed and agreed.

Have a discussion about reward and recognition. How does the team want to celebrate its achievements?

How are the team going to make decisions?

How are the team going to give feedback on each other’s performance?

By having an open discussion right at the start of the team’s task then people get the chance to air views, concerns and queries. The coaching manager will enable this to happen with the result that people feel they have been listened to; they have been able to contribute; they know the rules and regulations by which the team will operate and they now have a greater appreciation of the people they are working with.

Storming:
Storming is a challenging phase and the coaching manager who has led the team through the forming stage well and is starting to feel quite good about progress may have quite a rude awakening. Storming always seems to come as a surprise, no matter how well the coaching manager has prepared and led the team up till now. This is where the leadership qualities of the coaching manager are tested to the full. I have had the privilege of working with some managers who have handled this stage well and also have witnessed (and suffered) at the hands of managers who have had no idea of what to do to move the team forward.

Storming usually arises as a result of goals, roles and rules all becoming confused and unclear. No matter how clear the team was in relation to the goals, roles and rules during the forming stage it is very often the case that the individual team member interpretations of these roles and rules is somewhat different in reality. This results in confusion when different behaviours are evident and conflicts can arise with the potential for factions being created within the team.

It is during this stage that the coaching skills of the coaching manager should come to the fore. Both individuals and the team as a whole should be coached to enable and support them to ensure agreement as regards what specifically the goals, roles and rules are with respect to the team and what that means to each and every individual. Many managers get frustrated at this stage because they believe that they have already done the work at outlining the goals, roles and rules at the early stage of the formation of the team. I have seen managers go from a state of immense pride about the way they have guided their team through the early stages to a state of anger where they look to blame the team and its individual members. What is it they say, “Comes before a fall”?

The coaching manager must go over again the agreements made by the team during the forming stage and ensure that the understanding is uniform across the team. The earlier in the storming stage this is revisited the better and this is where the aware coaching manager comes into his or her own. The unaware manager will tend to panic and blame and will be unable to control the behaviours of the team even though they may take a very authoritarian stance and start to order that people behave. All that achieves is compliance and team members will still have the same misunderstandings about what is going on. This is when a lot of talking goes on “behind the manager’s back” This is very unhealthy for a team.

The Sales Journey: From A Beginner To A Know-It-All and Back Again
Aldous Huxley, I believe, said that the ultimate end of the intelligent person’s journey is a return to simplicity, from which less intelligent folks have never budged.He could have been speaking about success in selling.As a sales manager and consultant I’ve seen it time and again.I’ll train someone who doesn’t know any better than to follow my instructions to the letter. In short order, he succeeds.In fact, he excels, and like a runner in peak condition, he sprints past folks who have been doing what he’s doing a lot longer.Then, he falls into his first slump.His sales decline, he scratches his head in bewilderment. A few days or weeks before, he was on top, and now he’s sinking fast.What’s wrong?I ask a simple question: “Are you on your presentation or off of it?”“Uh,” he thinks for a second, “I’m on it, I guess.”“No, you’re not!” I reply with irksome certitude.“How do you know?” he bristles.“Because this is always what happens when we deviate from a successful presentation.”In simple terms, if you change your message, you’ll change your results. Alter the inputs, and the outputs will be altered, too; that makes sense, right?But succeeding salespeople think they have risen above merely mortal matters of cause and effect. Suddenly, they think they’re “good” or “great,” or even, “gifted.”That’s when the free fall happens. They go from a work ethic to an entitlement ethic, believing fictions such as this one: “I’d prefer to work smart, than to work hard!”This translates into working less and expectin

he leadership from management. One thing is certain – no team passes over the storming phase.

Let’s look at each of the stages in detail.

Be specific about each person’s role in the team’s task.

Outline how the team has come together and give reasons as to why the various team members have been brought together for inclusion within this team.

Encourage each team member to do likewise.

Ensure that the team has a set of rules and guidelines and that the team has an input into how these rules are formed and agreed.

Have a discussion about reward and recognition. How does the team want to celebrate its achievements?

How are the team going to make decisions?

How are the team going to give feedback on each other’s performance?

Unemployment Blues: Talk To Yourself
There is always a debate about whether daily affirmations work - the kind of uplifting statements you repeat to yourself in the mirror each morning.I find a more effective way to improve your mood and self-esteem is to create your own positive scripts for regular re-reading and study. On those days when you're really down on yourself and think that you're a failure, immersing yourself in a book crammed with notes about your qualities and accomplishments can restore your balance, brighten your spirits, and re-energize you for the rigors of the job hunt.Keep a notebook close by and jot down every little success you've ever had. List your personal characteristics, work and non-work successes, little things you've done that made you feel proud. Record what other people have said to you as compliments or in gratitude. Note any awards or trophies you've ever won.Describe your accomplishments, big and small: completing a difficult class, learning how to bowl or play a decent round of golf, teaching your teenager how to drive a stick shift, losing that last 10 pounds. No one reaches adulthood without a long string of successes along the way but we tend to discount them because our emotions are engaged by our failures, the "ones who got away."Keep adding to your book of positives as you think of more and more accomplishments (the list will grow, the more you think about it). On the days when you think your value to the world is zero, take out your book to remind yourself of your own worth. The world is a better place due to all of our collective efforts so give yourself an emotional pat on t

about the way you operate as a manager – what are your strengths and weaknesses? Outline your expectations of both the team and the individuals within the team. In other words, start to contract with the team.

Encourage each team member to do likewise.

Ensure that the team has a set of rules and guidelines and that the team has an input into how these rules are formed and agreed.

Have a discussion about reward and recognition. How does the team want to celebrate its achievements?

How are the team going to make decisions?

How are the team going to give feedback on each other’s performance?

No Logo? Launching A Business Without a Logo Can Sabotage You
Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally “until [they] got a few clients” or “until [they] get started.” Designing their own marketing materials when they launch their business, instead of having them professionally created, will make getting those initial clients more difficult, and may result in a business that will not succeed.Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their business, especially by creating their first business card. Or, they will have an amateur designer, friend or relative create the design. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea. An amateur logo design and business card can make your business more likely to fail because:- Your business won’t look stable. It will appear to be more likely to fold or to fail. Clients won’t have confidence in doing business with you. Would you do business with someone that seems to be on unstable footing – who might not be in business by the end of your project, or after you’ve purchased an item?- You’ll look like a very small business. Large, successful businesses would never consider doing business without professional, originally designed marketing materials. Using materials that are not professionally designed (i.e., Microsoft or Vistaprint templates) makes your business appear even smaller, and can possibly indicate that you cannot perform to or meet the standards required.- You’ll look unpolished and rough. Not having a professional look and feel can make it look as though y

er how clear the team was in relation to the goals, roles and rules during the forming stage it is very often the case that the individual team member interpretations of these roles and rules is somewhat different in reality. This results in confusion when different behaviours are evident and conflicts can arise with the potential for factions being created within the team.

Offshore Outsourcing — a Characteristic Feature of Globalization
Many experts unanimously predict that the global offshore outsourcing industry revenues will double in the next year. Research studies say that large-scale businesses in the USA and Europe outsource from 50 to 80 per cent of all their IT operations.There are many reasons, why American and European companies employ offshore outsourcing: First of all, most IT companies can offer serious cost reduction plans. Offshore outsourcing firms in Philippines, for example, manage to pay out reasonably high wages to highly professional employees in the outsourcing countries and at the same time greatly reduce the costs of businesses located in the USA and Europe. Offshore outsourcing firms hire one of the best IT graduates, as they can pay more than the local companies and offer great workplaces with most technological innovations.Offshore outsourcing countries such as Russia, or China offer a great number of high-skilled and experienced specialists and provide only highly trained, quickly adaptable employees who are qualified in various fields. Besides, some of the countries, such as India first of all, account for around 500,000 new IT and engineering graduates every year, most of whom speak English as their first language. Jobs in the IT industry tend to be really prospective, therefore IT specialist is willing to find such a job and hold it. The offshore outsourcing firms can also help establish a 24-hour working environment by means of combining their efforts with the foreign-based employer if there is a significant time difference.It should b

goes on “behind the manager’s back” This is very unhealthy for a team.

Norming.
Do you remember what it is like when a real storm passes? The winds drop, the sky brightens, the birds sign again. Teamwork is like this also. There is a calm, a focus. Goals are clearly understood. Roles are clarified. The rules and regulations are being adhered to and people are working together positively. Relationships become stronger as people are more aware of each other. Strengths and weaknesses are realised and utilised accordingly. Norming is characterised by acceptance. Whereas in the storming stage, people were apt to rebel very quickly, this is now not the case and if someone has a grievance, complaint or suggestion then the proper processes are used and people tend to be listened to.

The role of the coaching manager in this stage is to ensure that this calm continues and that any behaviours that arise that may threaten the calm are channelled in the right direction. Also the coaching manager has an important role in conveying information particularly in relation to the successes that are starting to occur within the team. The coaching manager should be spending a lot of time with individual team members coaching them and supporting them to develop their capabilities that relate to the individual’s team role and the tasks that they have to perform in relation to the team goals.

Performing.
Not every team makes it to the performing stage. Many get stuck at Norming and although everything appears normal, there is a lack of momentum and motivation towards achieving the all important team goals. It is as though the team is comfortable in this stage and does not want to progress further for fear of returning to a storming stage, a stage that probably was very uncomfortable for most people.

It is at the performing stage where team members really concentrate on the team goals. They are determined to work towards them, as they know what rewards are available to them on completion. They are also aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the team, and they appreciate these, and also works towards developing the weaknesses. This is a period of great personal growth among team members. There is a good deal of sharing of experiences, feelings and ideas together with the development of a fierce loyalty towards team members. There will be arguments, disagreements and disputes but these will be facilitated positively as the team will now live and die by its rules. The coaching manager at this stage will play very much a non-directive role, concentrating on strategy to plan the next way forward. The team will be in many ways, self-directing, perhaps even self-appraising with the manager taking very much a back-seat role. Again the manager’s role will be to facilitate communication and ensure that the successes are communicated and rewarded.

In summary:
Forming. The successful coaching manager will ensure that the team meets and understands the team goals, the roles they have to take on and the rules by which they have to play. The coaching manager will realise that although there may be a great deal of agreement and compliance about what is discussed many people will have different interpretations of what is agreed. One to ones help but inevitably there will start to be undercurrents of disagreement as to what has exactly been agreed. Storming. Once the disagreements and blame start, get the team quickly together to thrash out what the concerns and disagreements are. The coaching manager at this stage is strong, directive but also fair. The team needs direction at this stage and perhaps people need to hear things that perhaps they don’t want to hear. Get things out in the open. Let the team bleed a little and then begin the healing process by facilitating their coming together.

Norming. Lessen the direction and spend time with individuals starting to coach them in relation to their roles within the team and the tasks that they have to perform. At the same time the coaching manager will be challenging team members to take on extra capabilities in order to move the team on to the next stage.

Performing. Take a step back and allow the team to become self-directing. Be there for them and continue your coaching role with both team and individuals. Allow individuals to take on leadership roles and encourage rotation of roles. Communicate success and reward success accordingly.

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Recently, one of the best stained glass supply and teaching centers in Salt Lake City, closed their doors. They were very aggressive and well run. They had been in business for over fifteen years. Why did they fail?

Often there are times in business when corporate managers and executives need a little shake up and that means to shed the dead weight that is not up to the performance standards that are required to run the company efficiently. When this happens it is of the utmost important to get rid of those executives or corporate managers who cannot cut the mustard.

Being given the responsibility, the competence and tools to do a job well and the recognition of your peers, subordinates and superiors when the job is done well are the rewards by which most people are motivated. Rewards which grow the individual or the team and recognition in the form of a public “thank you” that specifically details what the employee is being thanked for is a more powerful motivator than a truck load of turkeys.

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