The Cold Turnkey

Why cut costs now?

Efforts are multiplying to cut costs wherever possible in order to achieve or preserve high profits. The resulting benefits for all of a company’s employees should be obvious.

It should be obvious, but sometimes it is not. One of the lessons of the Dot-Com debacle is that many of the companies went belly up due to profligate spending by the executives.

Of course, you would like to achieve high profits by having a record-breaking sales year, but that may not be likely to happen this year given all of the uncertainties of the economy and the political situation. Levels of sales success are certainly unpredictable.

The level of sales, however, is only one ingredient in the recipe for success. You must also be interested in keeping your costs as low as you can, because the real number to watch is your profit, the difference between your income and your spending. Remember that this year can be more successful than last year even with lower sales if you can reduce your spending enough.

To increase profits, you can either increase your income, reduce your spending, or both. As your salespeople are aggressively searching for additional customers as well as seeking opportunities for more sales to existing customers, the rest of the employees can work on the other end: reducing costs. If sales are lackluster or even dismal, your cost-reduction efforts can ensure your survival. On the other hand, if sales are great, you can use them to achieve a banner year.

Get everyone involved

Everyone can participate in cost-cutting efforts. Here are a few examples:

Reduced travel - Many meetings formerly held in person are now managed by video-conference or simply by teleconference. Perhaps even senior managers can reduce their in-person meetings from one a month to one per year.

Increased use of e-mail - Communications that once took place in person or by phone are now routinely done by e-mail. Even faxes are beginning to use network connections rather than more costly telephone lines.

Economy of scale - By combining the purchasing power of multiple sites, you can reduce the cost of routine purchases, such as uniforms, computers, and office furniture by obtaining volume discounts from your suppliers. Negotiating new leases for photocopiers and other equipment might save you thousands of dollars per month.

Increased utilization - If you can increase the percentage of time each employee is doing productive work, you can save a lot of money. Encourage employees to use their down time either for gaining additional training or for seeking ways to improve the efficiency of their processes.

Seek suggestions from employees - Ask your people, “How can we accomplish the same thing for less money?” You will be surprised at the creativity they have. At my company, for example, in response to an employee suggestion, water coolers placed at strategic locations throughout the plant have replaced providing individual bottles of water to employees. This has already resulted in a significant savings per week.

Better use of copiers - Employees can save considerable copying expense by using color copiers only for final drafts and increase the incidence of two-sided copying.

How can we cut costs even more?

Everyone in your workplace can get involved in this process by finding opportunities to…

• Improve your processes so that you can accomplish the same excellent results in less time, with less effort, and for less expense;
  
• Eliminate waste;
  
• Employ teamwork; and
  
• Find ways to add value to what you are doing without adding cost.

Ideas needed

You need each employee and every department to bring forward any suggestion or idea on cutting costs. Create multiple ways of passing along each idea, such as:

• Present it to your department manager;
  
• Share it with any member of your Quality Circle;
  
• Write it down and drop it in a suggestion box at your site; and
  
• Call it in to a suggestion hotline (voice-mail).

Investments must continue

All of this emphasis on cost-cutting creates the danger of cutting too much. The purpose of all of these measures is to ensure your ongoing profitability.

Some things you should not cut. For instance, you must not cut expenditures your need for facility upkeep or upgrades or to keep pace with technological advances. Neither can you afford to cut back the service you offer to your customers. They must continue to receive the best service you can deliver, combined with the speed and accuracy they have come to expect.

In reality, these are all investments rather than costs. You cannot afford to neglect your investments in facilities, technology, and your people. The long-term costs would be too high.

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles on subjects of interest to Bible students. He has been a book editor, newspaper reporter, news editor, and public relations consultant. He has taught Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses Bible college, university, and adult education programs. He has taught seminars and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.org for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Sign up for Steve’s free “DeeperStudy Newsletter.”

Any business out there can benefit from quality management. Whether you are producing thumb tacks or if you are producing IT equipment, there is little doubt that they need to be of the highest levels of quality. Yet, as your business grows, you will find it farther and father difficult to manage quality management. Because it is so very important, though, you need to find a way to make sure it is dead on.

What solutions are out there?

You know that you need quality management but finding the most effective way to get it may seem difficult. The good news is that there are a large number of options that can help you. From organizations that specialize in quality management to software programs that you can use. You can invest in having your staff and managerial levels of employees trained more efficiently to produce the desired results as well. So, there are options out there to help just about any organization get the quality management that they need.

What good will it do?

Do you ever get the feeling that you are investing dollar after dollar into your business whether it is through marketing or improving efficiency and somehow you still need something more? It could be that your product is not the same inside and out. If you deliver to your customer 100% the same product time and time again, they will know that they can rely on you and they’ll keep coming back. It takes time, yes. It takes money as well. But, quality management is a benefit to you many times over.

Investing in quality management in one form or another is an excellent way to get the products and services that you produce to the consumers in a manner in which they will be thrilled about. It will provide you with the help that you need to take your business to the next level as well. Considerations in quality management should be made.

For more information please see www.quality-management-info.co.uk

Everyday a business owner, CEO, or manager somewhere is complaining about the lack of good employees. On the same day, in a break room, employees are complaining about the lack of good jobs. Thinking that they can alleviate the problem with finding good employees, many employers have opted for lengthy applications and endless interviewing. In the process, the employee-to-be becomes frustrated before even starting the first day of work. The employer has spent a bit of money and the orientation process hasn’t begun yet. It becomes a vicious cycle that you or your company may be experiencing. Here are four suggestions from other managers that might help.

Start your employee training in the interview process. A manager was hiring. She needed to fill quite a few positions but she did not want to fill them with just any-bodies. She wanted ones that were going to be long-term employees, motivated to do a great job. She had made a commitment to an employee training program for her department and decided to share the reason for the program as well as the plan for implementation during interviews. In the end, she hired employees who worked hard to be part of the department’s goals.

Think of your training program when hiring an employee, not after. A department had three shifts of employees who needed specialized technical abilities that not every new hire would be competent or familiar but could be trained. By just adding two weeks of additional training specific to their department to the general orientation, it paid off. The department ended up with employees open to training, were more self-confident, and able to perform well independently quicker than those employees who had started before the extended training program was initiated.

Supplement training during the 90 day probation period to accurately assess the employee’s ability to perform to expectations. During a probation, a manager was receiving reports from co-workers of a new employee. Benefit of the doubt was given to the new hire and the probation period ended. When the department’s usually high morale plummeted because for the employee’s poor performance despite counseling. Knowing that the department’s training program had been delivered consistently to all new hires with the same trainer, the manager terminated the employee. It was a messy situation that could have been avoided if the manager had evaluated this properly during the probation.

Training that meets the needs of the department and/employee should continue in some form as long as a person is employed. An employee shared with a manager during their review, two years after hire, that they were thinking of applying for a transfer to another department. They felt that they wanted to expand their knowledge base in another area. The employee had done an exemplary job during the time of employment in their current position. They told the manager that the depth of the department training had led to their level of self-confidence and experience.

Historically, most employee training:

* starts after hiring has occured.

* is generally an overview of the company with an optional
component specific to a new hire’s job description.

* usually lasts from one day to 2 weeks.

Attracting and retaining positively great employees requires an action plan that utilizes employee training from the interview through to attrition or termination. With commitment to a simple but effective plan, the employer/employee relationship can be satisfying for both parties.

For more information on her speaking and writing services or to be added to her mailing list, you can visit her website: http://www.kathyiwanowski.com

A recent conversation started with a typical question, “How’s business?”
The reply was equally typical and prefaced by a sigh, “You know (another sigh), same old / same old.”

Clearly the person responding has “VCD” or “Vision Challenge Disorder.” VCD happens when the vigor goes out of the company vision like air going out of a balloon. Maybe the original vision has been reached and the business is just coasting, maintaining the status quo, marching in place. The overall energy and focus of the organization has shifted from taking initiative and towards the security of sameness and “playing defense.”

With no vision to focus on and no challenges to face, the staff gets frustrated. They flounder because there is no guiding direction to align their performance expectations; the business stagnates - “You know (sigh), same old / same old.” This stultifying attitude can be the beginning of the feared slippery slope ending ultimately in the demise of the business.

When VCD rears its ugly head it is time to reevaluate the company and its core foundational elements. Is the vision exciting, expansive, and energizing? If you look at the two previous sentences and yawn, your company has a VCD problem - “you know (sigh), same old / same old.”

Here is a four-step process to insure you don’t let Vision Challenge Disorder enter your company.

1) See if your Vision for the company is still relevant - if you don’t have a Vision written out, that’s a different, but no less important, problem.

2) Discover if your staff is aware of the Vision and if they believe it is still relevant.

3) Review your Vision, clarify it if it is indistinct, modify it as needed

4) Work on making that Vision your reality - implement, implement, implement!

When the Vision is well articulated and integrated into weekly, monthly and yearly goals, the company will reenergize and look towards the future with enthusiasm, optimism and a renewed sense of purpose. Your clients will feel it, your competitors will fear it so dust off your Vision, polish it and enjoy your future.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler” Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com

To create the time for the specific role of a leader, as much as
possible of the day to day delivery must be handed over.

This level of delegation is very important, not only to create
the space for the leader to develop visions and longer terms
strategic goals, but also in encouragement of key individuals
who will both be challenged by new activities, but will also be
developed for the future benefit of the organisation.

A leader’s role is to focus on those areas of operation where he
or she can deliver the greatest value and this requires huge
shifts in perspective of the role. Leaders differ from
managers in terms of accountability.

Whilst a leader is accountable for the strategic growth of the
organisation and the delivery of results, a manager is more
responsible of delivery of shorter-term results through people.

These are, of course, generalisations and roles vary.

Developing others through delegation is a great way to
grow skills and confidence in your workforce. Through utilising
the viewpoints of others, you create the variety of solutions
which might well escape you, from your own experienced, though
single perspective.

As well as radically improving the quality of your
workforce, the leader who works in this way also does much more
for their own focus. If a job can be done at the lowest possible
cost level, true with some training and on the job coaching,
then that frees you up for the role you’re being paid for too.

Your Q2 time (see ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People‘ - Stephen Covey) multiplies and you can start
to use your own creative skills in the bigger framework.

To grow and develop your business or organisation. Safe
in the knowledge that you have great people around you and they
are realising their own potential too.

An exercise to consider!

1. Make a list of those things you currently do, yet someone
else could do.

2. Decide to give up 20% of your role to others within
your organisation within a defined timescale (1 - 3 months). 50%
within a year. Value your time for what your strengths can
uniquely provide.

3. Check out your own, personal ‘nice-to-do’s’ rather than
‘need-to-do’s’. I.e. is it something you are choosing to do
because you like doing it ahead of it being important
enough?

4. Review how the extra time can be best used to deliver the
more challenging parts of your role - especially
regarding future goals and visions.

5. Spot check that you are also enabling others to
develop and remember that they may well require clarity and
coaching in new activities to start with.

Dumping the stuff you do, rather than achieving your true worth,
is escapism - it is finding things to ‘do’ rather than
thinking, creating, challenging and firing yourself up.

So it’s time to step up.

Throughout my career, I have asked managers what they look for
in hiring new employees. The single most sought after
characteristic is a positive attitude. Knowledge can be learned
but a positive attitude cannot be taught and is recognized as
being critical for success. Yet, if attitude is so important,
why do we do so much to destroy it? (I use we, because as a
manager, I was guilty of having done some of the very things I
have outlined below.) The following are some things I have
learned that will enhance or destroy a positive attitude.

Demeanor. Early on in my career in Sales Management, it became
apparent to me that I could single-handedly affect the attitude
of the entire office just by my demeanor when I was visible to
the staff. If I smiled, they would smile and have a positive
attitude. My smile indicated to them that things were going well
with customers, with sales and in turn with revenues and the
safety of their jobs. If, on the other hand, I scowled at them,
they would hang their heads and generally be down at the mouth.
My negative attitude indicated to them that things weren’t going
well and they began to worry. The attitude of the entire office
could be turned on or off depending upon whether I came to work
with a smile or not. I have also learned that demeanor is more
than just smiling, it is an outward expression of your own
attitude. Whether we realize it or not, we lead by example. If
you are excited about a project, the people around you will be
excited too. It’s contagious. If you have a strong work ethic,
they will try to emulate you. If you are conscientious, they
will be too. Once upon a time in an open and friendly office, I
watched a new supervisor who was very cynical. Sadly, it wasn’t
long until the entire open and friendly office turned cynical as
well and cooperation dropped to a very low level. It was all the
result of the attitude of the supervisor.

Language. I think too many of us have confused our roles as
managers with the function of problem solving. Much of what
managers do is viewed as problem solving. The word “problem” by
itself is a downer let alone what it represents. Seeking out
causes of problems implies blame and raises defenses. No one was
ever uplifted by the words, “We have a problem.” The negative
language is compounded by a process that uses phrases like
“cause analysis,” “estimate consequences,” “evaluate tradeoffs,”
“recognize uncertainty” and “estimate risk tolerance.” Most
managers I have met spend more time and effort finding fault and
criticizing employees than they do finding the things they are
doing right and praising them. Problem based language does not
make any of us feel like celebrating. Just think about how they
affect the people around you. How much better would it be if we
could develop a positive language that changed the organization
from one with problems to one with solutions. Using language
that included words like: opportunity, options, praise, ideal
and others would go a long way to maintaining or enhancing
positive attitudes.

Involvement. In this era of downsized, everybody do more, how
many of you have managed by declaration or edict? When everyone
is wearing multiple hats and performing multiple functions, it
just seems easier to make a decision and delegate the
implementation wherever possible. When we manage by declaration
or edict, we are generally reducing the speed of the
implementation, reducing the likelihood of success and sapping
the positive attitude of the people involved. People’s attitudes
soar when they are involved in the decision-making process and
understand fully the why of doing something. The success and the
speed of success of any implementation are directly related to
the involvement of the implementers in the decision process. Not
only does involving the people in the decision enhance
attitudes, but also they are enhanced again when the decision is
successfully implemented and they were a part of it.

Recognition. All to frequently managers take the good things in
stride as if they deserved success rather than appreciating each
and every step along the way. These are the same people who are
too busy to stop and say thank you for a job well done. Sadly,
their actions send a message to all around them that what ever
they did to help achieve this success was not as important as
the “problem” they are addressing now. Lighten up. If you really
want to foster a positive attitude, “Thank you” is the least you
should do. If you really want to foster a positive attitude and
enhance productivity, then recognize people and their talents
even before you involve them in an assignment. People tend to
rise to your expectations. If you don’t have any expectations of
they are low, the output you get will probably match your
expectation. Recognition at the conclusion of a successful
project is equally important. People love success and they love
recognition for their efforts. They want to savor it and the
more success and recognition they get, the more they want. Why
would any manager in his right mind not want to develop the same
desire in his employees? Celebrate every success and foster the
right attitude for the next success. Most managers hire for
positive attitude in an effort to develop an outstanding
performer and enhance the success of their endeavor. Very few,
however, are willing to devote the time and effort it takes to
really follow through in a positive way to foster positive
attitudes and create the right environment for success. If
results are important and attitude is important, then we need to
take the time to do it right.

Copyright Bob Cannon/The Cannon Advantage, 2003. All rights
reserved.

Byline Bob Cannon helps visionary leaders make decisions that
gain a competitive advantaget. Check out other interesting
articles available in the Taking Aim newsletter available at
www.cannonadvantage.com . Bob can be reached at (216) 408-9495
or mailto: bob@cannonadvantage.com

This article courtesy of http://www.cannonadvantage.com. You may
freely reprint this article on your website or in your
newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and
URL remain intact.

I. Too much emphasis on pay, benefits, and perks:

The Saratoga Institute reports that 88% of employees voluntarily leave their jobs for other reasons, such as misalignment of mutual expectations, person-job mismatch, insufficient coaching and feedback, perception of poor career-advancement prospects, work-life imbalance, and both distrust toward and low confidence in senior leadership. Still, most managers refuse to acknowledge the “push” factors, preferring to see the “pull” factor of more money as the prime motivator.

The truth is, both push and pull factors come into play, but companies make a big mistake by hanging their employee-retention strategies solely on the easier-to-manipulate tangible factors of more pay, better benefits, and flashier perks. It’s not that these factors are unimportant; they’re very important. In fact, most employers of choice typically offer better pay and benefits than their competitors. But what sets them apart are positive, caring cultures where most managers know how to provide the everyday coaching, feedback, and recognition that keep employees engaged.

II. Blindly following other companies’ best practices:

One of the disadvantages of reading Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work in America” list each year is that we become so enamored of great employers that we think their best practices will work equally well for our companies. Sometimes they do, but often they don’t.

The best employers thoughtfully match their cultures, benefits, and management practices to the needs and desires of their workers. FedEx gears its workplace to the short-term work-experience needs of younger part-timers, while American Express focuses on long-term career development with a strong emphasis on gender equity. SAS Institute has created an employment brand that says, “Come to work for us and enjoy a campus-like environment, and have a life outside of work.” This software-development company is famous for its 3% turnover rate in an industry where 20% is the norm.

Most companies can’t-or won’t-invest the up-front dollars to do what SAS has done. The good news is they don’t have to. But by asking their particular workforce what they most want and need, companies can usually provide what it takes to keep employees-and keep them engaged.

The danger of benchmarking against others in your industry is that it may keep you from tailoring an innovative benefit or practice to meet the needs of the 20% of the talent that’s creating 80% of the value in your company or department.

III. Failure to train managers and hold them accountable:

Studies of employee turnover consistently show that the direct supervisor builds or destroys employee commitment. Yet, how many companies select executives for their ability to manage people, train them in effective people-management skills, and then hold them accountable? You could probably count those on the fingers of one hand.

Many employers of choice carefully monitor their managers’ voluntary-turnover rates, new-hire retention rates, and employee-engagement survey scores, and reward those who score highly with bigger bonuses. Managers with low scores get lower bonuses and are called into meeting with their superiors, which may lead to more training, coaching, reassignment, or termination.

In other words, smart companies know that as the competition for talent heats up, they can no longer afford the luxury of another bad manager.

Ira Wolfe (iwolfe@super-solutions.com) is founder of Success Performance Solutions (http://www.super-solutions.com and http://www.best-small-business-solutions.com), a Lancaster consulting firm providing competency based employment and career testing. He has authored several books, Business Values and Motivators, The Perfect Labor Storm: Why Worker Shortages Will Not Go Away and a new e-book, Seven Surefire Steps to Hire High Motivation Employees.