by Elizabeth Hines | Sep 4, 2013 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Talent
Let’s face it, meetings can suck. A poorly planned and executed meeting is a waste of time and money, and it can be demoralizing. Meetings shouldn’t be like this. Here are nine tips on how to plan and how to run an effective meeting.
1. Purpose
Every meeting should have a purpose. Meetings are often set up to happen on a reoccurring basis. The reality is that many times these meetings take place solely because they are in our calendars. If there is no reason to hold the weekly meeting this Wednesday, cancel it.
2. Focus
Have a clearly defined singular focus. Having a clearly defined singular focus keeps the meeting on track. If a meeting has more than one focus it is likely that one issue will be covered in far greater detail than the other, that the meeting will get off track, and/or none of the issues will be adequately addressed.
3. Prepare
Do your homework. Prior to every meeting make sure you have read anything you should have read and that you have completed any tasks that you should have completed. Additionally, know the lay of the land. For example, if the meeting is about the company budget and your employees are anxious over budget cuts – know this and be prepared to address your employees’ anxieties.
4. Invite
Invite those who should attend and do not invite people who should not be there. For example, if the focus of the meeting is sales, make sure you invite the sales team. Another example, if the focus of the meeting is the performance of your HR team, don’t invite your research and development team.
5. Leverage technology
Technology abounds and it should be utilized. Getting everyone in the same room is no longer necessary. Take advantage of technology such as Speek, Skype, and GoToMeeting.
6. Communicate
An effective meeting is not a place for you to download or transfer information. If you present information a manner that speaks to attendees you will motivate your employees and create buy-in. (The Heart of Change by Jon Kotter and Dan Cohen is a great resource on effective communication.)
7. Time management
Create an agenda and stick to it. Start the meeting on time and end the meeting on time. A meeting that is scheduled for 10:00-11:00 should not run from 10:15 to 11:15. Furthermore, if a meeting is scheduled for 1 hour, the meeting should last one hour or less (no need to try and fill the last 15 minutes if the agenda has been covered).
8. Facilitate
A meeting needs a leader. If it is your meeting – lead. Leading does not mean speaking at people for an hour; instead it means facilitating the agenda. For example, if an important but off-topic issue is raised during the meeting – don’t allow the meeting to go off on a tangent. Instead, acknowledge the importance of the issue and establish a time to address the particular issue. Handled correctly, your employees will not view this as blowing off their input, but rather they will value the fact that you will allot the necessary time to the issue.
Facilitating the meeting also means not allowing one person to monopolize the meeting. Give everyone the opportunity to provide input, and speak up if the agenda is being hijacked.
9. Action
At the end of the meeting review the action items. Make sure the right people are put in charge of each item, that they know what they need to do, and that they know when the task needs to be completed.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 28, 2013 | Blog
Last week I wrote a post for EBN about how to increase profits by looking at financial metrics on a granular level rather than in aggregate. Understanding your financial metrics at a granular level is important in that it allows for a true understanding of what is happening, and what is not. It enables you to drill down and appreciate, for example, similarities, differences, and outliers. Being informed at a granular level enables better decision-making when it comes to determining how to increase profits. The post was met with a couple questions. Specifically, how often does one need to look at these metrics and how does one evaluate and react to numbers?
The frequency with which to look metrics depends upon the area of business. For example, inventory flows and manufacturing output should be looked at on a daily basis. Your sales pipeline, on the other hand, should be looked at on a weekly basis, and your financials should be looked at monthly.
Once a schedule has been established, the question is what to do with the data – how should the data be evaluated and when is it time to act? The reality is that there is no hard and fast answer to this question. When to act is dependent upon the type of business, its typical cycle, and the company itself. It is therefore important to develop a database that captures your metrics. This database should be updated with the same frequency that the data is collected (see above for suggested frequency). A historical database will enable you to quickly identify a data point that is deviating, positive or negative, from the historical. When this happens, it is time to act.
by Fronetics | Aug 21, 2013 | Blog
This post is written by our Marketing Analyst Intern, James Kane. James is a senior at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics.
Truck drivers are in short supply. This has had, and will continue to have an impact the logistics and supply chain industry. Here’s how to leverage this challenging time.
The 24th Annual State of Logistics Report reported that there is currently a truck driver shortage of 30,000. With the new HOS regulations, this number will increase. The Report predicts the shortage to increase to 115,000 by 2016. The driver shortage has resulted in an increase in truckload prices and a decrease in the percentage of on time deliveries. 3PL providers are taxed – they are working around the clock to meet the needs of their clients. The question is – can you and your 3PL provider ride out the storm together? Or is it time to move on?
First, it is important for your company to acknowledge the driver shortage and its impact. Next, open the lines of communication with you 3PL provider. Let them know you want to determine how you can best work together. Once you have opened the lines of communication – keep them open. Make sure that you establish a transparent 24/7 tracing system – a system through which both you and your 3PL provider know what is going on and where everything is.
Communication and transparency will enable your 3PL provider to better serve your company. Additionally, it enables both you and the 3PL provider to identify issues and address – quickly.
If you and your 3PL are able to work together through the implementation of the HOS regulations and driver shortages – great. If you find that issues are continually cropping up and/or are not being addressed quickly enough, it may be time to find a new 3PL provider.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 13, 2013 | Blog
Done right, an internship program can be a positive experience for the student and for your company.
An internship, done right, will serve to prepare the student for their first job. It will teach them about responsibility, accountability, and about the industry. Done right, an internship program should bring value to your company as well. Done right, the program will foster new talent, bring in new ideas, and serve as a channel for bringing well-prepared talent to you team.
Here’s how to do it right:
Sit down with the intern on the first day and establish a game plan. Ask the student what they hope to gain from the experience. Ask them what their career aspirations are. As the conversation continues and you lay out the tasks and responsibilities for which the intern will be responsible, point to how these tasks and responsibilities will serve to help them on their stated career path.
I mentioned, giving the intern tasks and responsibilities. These should be real tasks and responsibilities. The internship is an opportunity for the student to gain skills, and to learn how a company works, and how to navigate the workplace. Asking the intern to make coffee, copy papers, or pick up your dry cleaning will not benefit the student or the company (if you choose to hire them after the internship) in the long run.
To this end, it is important that you hold the intern accountable. They should show up on time, meet deadlines, and they should dress in an appropriate manner for your office. If this is not happening, a conversation is necessary. Overlooking these issues is at cross purposes with a valuable internship.
Also essential – providing the intern with the tools they need to succeed and acting as a mentor throughout the internship program. Answer questions. Set up regular check-ins. Introduce the intern to others in the office.
One more thing to consider when doing an internship right – the laws which govern internships.
In June a federal district judge in Manhattan ruled that Fox Searchlight Studios had broken New York and federal minimum wage laws by failing to pay two interns who had worked on the set of the film “Black Swan.” Given that there are more than one million unpaid internships in the US each year, this ruling has opened doors for additional lawsuits and has companies taking a close look at their internship programs to determine if they are in fact legal. For clarification, companies are turning to the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor lists six criteria which an internship must meet in order for the internship to be an unpaid internship. In a 2010 New York Times article, Nancy J. Leppink, then acting director of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, is quoted: “If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law.”
Interestingly, Intern Bridge’s 2012 Internship Salary Survey found that 51.3% of students surveyed had internships that were unpaid and that the number of paid internships declined by 3.6% from the previous year.
Another interesting piece of information – a 2013 survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that paid interns were more likely to get at least one job offer and obtain a higher starting salary than students who had had an unpaid internship or no internship. Specifically, 63.1% of paid interns reported that they had received at least one job offer compared with 37% of students who had participated in an unpaid internship and 35.2% of students who hadn’t participated in an internship. With respect to salary, students who had participated in a paid internship reported a median starting salary of $51,930 as compared to $35,721 for unpaid interns and $37,087 for students who did not participate in an internship.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 7, 2013 | Blog
In NBC’s comedy Outsourced,Todd Dempsy (Ben Rappaport) moves to India to manage the company’s newly outsourced call center. When he meets the team he will be managing he discovers that they have little to no understanding of the product-line and how to engage with customers in a culturally appropriate manner. The show is a great illustration of the need to give serious thought to: 1) Should I outsource?; and 2) To/with whom?
While outsourcing is fast becoming the successful business battle cry, it is not the panacea. You need to determine your company’s core competencies and how you can deliver the best value to your customers. Are there services at which your company does not excel, or non-critical services which could be carried out more efficiently/effectively if the service were outsourced? If so, you may want to think about outsourcing.
Look before you leap
However, before making the decision to outsource, consider the hidden and long-term costs which can potentially be expensive. Additionally, it is important to weigh the risks of losing customers or market share.
Acquisition?
If, through evaluation and analysis of your core competencies and value proposition, you believe you have the capability but not the technology, you may want to consider acquisition. Explore the competencies of small and/or niche companies in the technology, logistics, and supply chain industries. There are many such companies that have unique capabilities in terms of technology, talent, and/or customer depth or growth. Would acquisition make more sense than outsourcing? How would this impact your company? Your customers?
If you do decide to outsource, think carefully about what company you want to partner with. I’ve previously written about what to consider when choosing a partner.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jul 31, 2013 | Blog
Earlier this month I wrote a post for EBN about how to manage your company and clients when the classic 80/20 rule applies. That is, when a small number clients generate 80 percent (or more) of your revenue. In the post, I made the recommendation to manage clients who are not a good fit with your model out of your portfolio. Several people responded to the post asking how to go about doing this. Here’s how.
Once you have determined that a client is not a good fit with your model, manage them out. Managing a client out of your portfolio is tough, tricky, and essential for you and for your client. If your client isn’t the right fit with your model, then you will not be able to provide your client with the best service. This is the crux of the issue. You, as a company, need to do the best job possible for your client. If the client doesn’t fit your model, you are not doing a good service by keeping the client in your portfolio.
Saying good-bye
Begin by doing a thorough audit of your relationship with the client. Identify why the client doesn’t fit your company’s model. That is, pin-point the disconnect between your client’s needs and what your company offers. As you do this exercise, look at the relationship with your client over time. Have you grown apart as your businesses have changes/grown? Has the relationship never been a good fit? It is important to drill down and truly assess the relationship. Document everything.
Next, set up a meeting or a call with the client – breaking up over text or email is unacceptable. Begin the conversation with honesty and tell the client that you believe they could receive better service and better value if they worked with a company that better fit their model. If possible, provide the client with names of companies that would be a better fit.
Talk with the client about putting together a transition plan. Let the client know that the relationship isn’t over immediately and that the lines of communication will always be open. Alleviate fears that the transition will be difficult.
It is vital that when you talk with the client, you talk about your client’s needs and focus on these. For example, look at the difference between these two approaches:
#1: You tell your client: “Your business is a niche company not only in terms of product offering but also in terms of location. I have really enjoyed working with you and watching your company grow. Because I value you as a client, I believe you would be better served by a company that is well-positioned in the Atlanta metro area and really knows the model car industry. We just aren’t that company, and I feel we are holding you back.”
#2: You tell your client: “Your business isn’t right for my company. We don’t have the time or people to devote to your needs. Our model and yours doesn’t match, we need to recognize this and move on.”
Approach #1 shows your client you understand their needs and that you value the relationship.
Breaking up is hard to do, but if you do it right you will likely receive a call down the road from the client thanking you for breaking up with them.
