Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

Project Managers Need To "Manage The Boss"

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Most people have one. Yet attending to their demands and idiosyncrasies can be nerve-wracking. Wise people engage good boss management strategies. After all, bosses are not exalted and invincible gods. They are human beings with special roles and authority as well as the requisite levels of human weaknesses, problems and pressures.

Assess Leadership Style

Recognize leadership skills inherent in your own boss. This assists you to better understand your boss. You also benefit by becoming a better manager.

Leader #1: The Press Leader

These leaders pretend to be drill sergeants. Low self-esteem and a strong fear of failure drives them. They are impressed by outward displays of project management and busyness.rather than by results. The leader treats people as expeditors who obey orders. They tolerate no mistakes. Trivial details snare their energies and attention. They oversupervise and manage by punishment.

How to handle The Press Leader: Quickly discover on-the-job limits. Determine whether your boss is simply tough or ruthless. The tough leader precisely delegates authority balanced with appropriate responsibility. The ruthless one disregards human factors. If you choose to resist the press leader, do it privately, not within view of colleagues. This way your leader will not lose face. Support your position with plenty of evidence. Otherwise you lose.

Leader #2: The Laissez-Faire Leader

This leader abandons staff. These leaders provide little or no support in tough times. They stipulate little of what is expected of employees. They provide virtually no project management guidance on how to accomplish tasks. While the Press Leader may hover over an employee’s shoulder, this leader does nothing to train or guide. The Press Leader overmanages. The Laissez-Faire Leader overlooks.

Managing The Laissez-Faire Leader: The individual who is self-motivated and needs little praise will work well under this type of leader. This leader craves facts such as costs, statistics and research findings. Provide these facts and figures for your boss, while at the same time trying to stress some human elements. Encourage your boss to clarify exactly what is to be accomplished.

Leader #3: The Participatory Leader

The Participatory Leader is adept at communication procedures. Under this type of boss, employees are given precise feedback and recognition when deserved. The Participatory Leader strives to involve employees in the assessment process. He or she is inspirational and innovative. The Participatory Leader customizes the type and amount of feedback required for each employee.

Managing The Participatory Leader: The most effective way of dealing with the Participatory Leader is to feed back the same techniques that he or she uses with subordinates. Keep them informed of what does and does not work. Since this type of leader is interested in results, your opinions will be heeded.

Leader #4: The Develop Leader

This leader goes a step beyond the Participatory Leader. The Develop Leader fosters staff self-esteem, autonomy and competence. Techniques for success are isolated and taught to subordinates as the need arises. The Develop Leader empowers staff and nurtures a feeling of reverence, not in the boss, but in employees themselves.

There is often a high staff turnover rate for employees of develop leaders. But it is a good one because it is upward. Because this type of leader creates such a high level of competence amongst the ranks through professional development and project management, there is always someone to take over when someone moves up.

Keep Your Boss Happy

? Learn what your boss expects and values.

? Strive for high quality results.

? Solve as many problems as possible without the help of your boss.

? Keep your boss informed.

? Be your strongest critic.

? Get regular feedback from your boss.

? Differ with your boss only in private.

? Save money and earn revenue.

? Be a good leader yourself.

? Promote only valuable ideas.

? After all. Your boss is not interested in the storms you encountered, but whether you brought in the ship.

How To Avoid Hiring A Bad Property Management Company In The Oc

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

In Southern California, especially Orange County property management is an important aspect of investing in real estate. The profitability of your property is dependent on hiring a qualified helpful and professional property management company.

Hiring the wrong management company can mean losing thousand of dollars, or more. Property owners who hire the right OC property management company however, can enjoy the benefits of a lucrative property investment.

Some of the most common, and often, detrimental mistakes a property owner makes is not doing enough research. The more research you do, the more you can avoid hiring a bad management company.

Property management companies that also sell properties, often nation wide corporations like Century 21, etc. are often a bad idea. They usually are primarily real estate agents, who also do property management because they want to manage when you choose the sell the property. A property management company like this is not a good idea because they make more money selling than managing. You would benefit more from a smaller, specialized company that deals only with property management in your area and nothing else. For example, if your property is in Huntington Beach, you should try to find a local expert Orange County property management company that has a much experience in the local area only.

Make sure you check the references of your management company’s other clients. Don’t be afraid to make a few phone calls, and get a good track record. You shouldn’t sign anything before you have a good idea that the company you’re hiring is the best at property management in Orange County and one that you can trust. On the other hand, as an owner, you shouldn’t be too demanding of references either. A good property management company will not release all of their clients’ information to you, because it is private and confidential information. The management company won’t be making an obscene amount of money managing your property, so they can always tell you to take your business elsewhere if you are being too much of a pain. You will do well with around 3 references to talk to, and get an idea of how they work with their clients.

Some other things to keep in mind: Is the company licensed in the state of California? Is the company insured? Do they have a fidelity bond to protect you in case an employee mishandles your money? Will they provide you with reports? Will they market your property? How do they deal with late charges? How do they handle tenant complaints? And so on. These are some tips for making sure you hire a good property management company that will professionally and efficiently manage your property, helping you turn your home/apartment/condo/commercial property into a steady investment.

Disclaimer: This blog or article is for information purpose only, and should not be treated a professional advise or price protection guarantee. This blog is mainly used for search engine optimization and other commercial purposes and it is advised that readers seek professional consultation in the field of interest for more information.

Managing Registrations And Payments For An Event

Friday, April 10th, 2009

In a company of 25 people; putting on a marketing event and charging an entry fee could give the event administrator a severe headache. Patricia Thomson was in this position only last week. Her “normal” job of Marketing Assistant still had to run while she organized the seminars and she realized she could be handling hundreds of enquiries over the period. This was their first venture into this type of event and the company’s accounts department was not really set up for a mass influx of small payments.

The registration and payment procedure that you use should be as professional as you can make it. This fairly small part of the overall event paints a very vivid picture to your delegates of your capability and will be their first evidence of how the whole event experience is likely to be. If you handle this phase flawlessly, you may be excused small hiccups along the way. Make a mess of things here and your delegates will start marking your report card with red ink.

The registration procedure

Take some time with your administrative staff to draw up a detailed process that should be followed consistently by anyone who takes a booking. Please don’t just hand them a procedure that you have designed because you will end up shouldering the responsibility for any mistakes that are made down the line. If the process is co-owned by everyone involved, they will feel more motivated to change the process to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.

A typical procedure will consider all of the following:

• How will bookings be taken?

• By mail

• By phone

• By Email

• Online

• What type of database will the administrators use?

• Spreadsheet

• Paper based system

• Relational database

• If an online booking system is to be used, will it be in-house or outsourced to an organization like mybookingmanager.com?

• If an outsourced online booking system is used how will you synchronize the data and how frequently will you do this?

• Will payments be accepted using bank transfer, credit card, business and/or personal check?

• How frequently will the event managers and the event caterers require updates on booking statistics and delegate details?

Patricia took one look at the checklist and started researching online booking agents immediately. She reasoned that the workload necessary to do a first class job would probably entail bringing in a temp and training him/her to do the job that the online booking agent could handle easily. The cost of having a temp in their already cramped office and the thought of designing a system, training them to use it and finding work for them to do when the phone wasn’t ringing was already giving her that headache. She also decided that the cach é of being able to offer round-the-clock facilities for credit card booking and also a 24 hour telephone answering service would impress their intended delegates.

This week the bookings are rolling in.

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