Becoming a manager for the first time can be an unnerving and sometimes stressful experience. In many cases, organisations expect you to immediately jump into the role and begin to perform as if you have been there for years. Also, you may have been promoted “out of the blue” and as such have not taken part in any “succession planning” that would have prepared you for the management role.

If you follow the ten steps outlined then you will put yourself in a much better position to develop into your management role than perhaps may have been the case.

Step 1 - Be yourself

It is important that you do not try to act like your predecessor. You will have your own style of management and it may be that the previous manager had a particular style that you were not comfortable with. You will have an idea of what the best management style is for any given situation but this will only come with time, perhaps through training and coaching. The best thing you can do is to look at yourself and decide what you want out of the management role and what you need to do in order to build your capabilities in that role.

Step 2 - Go easy to start with

Although there is always pressure on a new manager to take up where the last manager left off, don’t go rushing into things. Do not be the “new broom that sweeps clean” all previous procedures away. Ensure that you reassure your team that it will be “business as usual” at least until you get the opportunity to speak to each team member about what their fears and hopes are as regards you being their manager.

Step 3 - Talk to people, listen and gather information

It is vital that you talk to each member of your team. Sit down with them and “contract” with them. How do the two of you want to work together? What are their expectations of you as their manager? What are their hopes, fears and aspirations? What are their motivators and de-motivators? It is important that this is a two way process and you should be asking them the same questions so as there is mutual understanding. Also ask them what they think needs to be done to make the team or department more effective - seek their input right at the start.

Although it is important to talk to the team, it is also vital to talk and contract with those senior managers who will have a “stake” in your actions. They must be comfortable and if you “contract” with them as you would with your own team then you will have greater understanding of them as they will have of you.

Step 4 - Ensure you get coaching and mentoring from your own boss

Once you have established a working relationship with your own manager then ensure that within this “contract” he or she builds in time to coach and mentor you through, particularly the early day. As a new manager you should know exactly what is expected of you in terms of both your business objectives and your development objectives. You should have a development plan that highlights your strengths and development areas in respect to your new role and with the support of your manager you should start to implement that plan immediately. Your manager should have the coaching skills to ensure that you maintain your progress and deliver against your plan.

Step 5 - Know the Boundaries, Policies and Procedures

In many “new manager” situations teams, or individuals within teams, attempt to “change the rules” in relation to what needs to be done and how it is done. There will be company rules and procedures and these need to be adhered to, until at least the time they have been reviewed and any change negotiated and implemented. Don’t let you being the “new boy” be an excuse for teams or individuals to take liberties. Let people know where they stand; what they can do without asking; what they need to ask to do, and what they cannot do.

Step 6 - Be Available and Visible

Make sure you are available and visible. It is very easy to be “available” over the phone or through e-mail but you cannot beat a good “face to face” very so often. It is vital to your team’s development and progress that you make time to sit down with them and have regular face-to-face chats. As a manager you will be their coach and mentor and as such you should make time to coach them through their business objectives and challenges. Don’t hide behind “important meetings” as many managers are apt to do.

Step 7 - Avoid Favourites and ensure Consistency and Fairness

You may be now managing the team you were once part of. You will have had friends in that team and perhaps had some people you did not get on with. You now have to ensure that you do not let your personal preferences get in the way of you effectively managing that team and the individuals within the team. Avoid favouritism at all costs and ensure you treat everyone equally, fairly and consistently. The minute you take sides the team starts to disintegrate.

Step 8 - Keep communication high and as open as possible

It is important that you keep communication levels high, letting your people know what is happening whenever possible. Avoid being secretive where possible as people naturally jump to conclusions, usually the wrong ones! Make sure you praise when you see something good done. Praise is the most powerful form of feedback and unfortunately managers do not use enough of it! Consider starting a newsletter and although you instigate it and perhaps write the first couple of editions, let the team take over and start to delegate the tasks involved to the team.

Also, ensure that you ask for regular feedback from both your team and from your boss. How are getting on in relation to your new role? What do you still need to develop? What’s going well?

Step 9 - Be Pro-active and start to make your own decisions

Many first time managers continue to go to the “boss” to ask for permission to do things. This does not raise their profile with either senior management or with their own team. You are the boss! You can make your own decisions, so you must know what the boundaries are in relation to what you can do and what you can do. In your early contracting with your own manager ensure you know where you stand and then be pro-active about moving your business forward.

Step 10 - Encourage the team to work together

The outputs of a well-disciplined and effective team will always be greater than the individual outputs of the team members and to this end you have to encourage the team to work effectively together. You have also to get them to understand that you are learning the management game and that you will need their support as well. If you can get the unit working cohesively together they will support you through your early management days.

Bonus Step - Take time out to relax and reflect

In the attempts to get the job done, many new managers do not take time out to relax, wind down and then reflect on their progress. They go thrashing about from task to task never stopping to ask for feedback. This can be dangerous to their health and also to the wellbeing of the team as a whole. Make sure you take a break occasionally. Your coach and mentor will ensure that this happens - or will they?

Allan Mackintosh is a professional management coach who after 19 years in the pharmaceutical industry started his own management coaching consultancy, Performance Management Coaching. He is a successful speaker and has recently turned author, having had his first book, “The Successful Coaching Manager” (Troubador 2003)published in August 2003.

Allan can be contacted on 00 44 1292 318152, e-mail allan@pmcscotland.com or visit his website at http://www.pmcscotland.com

Did you know your work environment can actually make you sick?

The affects of airconditioning

Research has shown that airconditioning can cause allergies, respiratory infections, asthma, fatigue and headaches. And that’s just a few things.

If you don’t believe me, have a look at what some of your workmates keep in their desk drawers.

You’ll find many of them keep enough pills and potions on hand to stock a pharmacy! In fact you could probably set up a special area in your organisation just for this.

What about computers?

Then we’ve got the excessive use of computers, where you have to sit down and stare at the screen for extended periods of time. This alone can cause postural problems ie. sore back, neck and wrists and of course eyestrain.

Are you an excessive laptop user?

The laptop is a particular area of concern as many people tend to use it as their main pc.

“John”, a management consultant had recently spent six weeks off work as a direct result of his regular use on the laptop.

He would use it for hours at a time. Being constantly hunched over it to type as well as having a poorly designed chair all contributed to John’s situation. He was also overweight and didn’t do any regular exercise. His back could not cope. John estimated he had lost $50,000 worth of business! If he had been aware of this, he could have spoken with the organisation he was contracted to and looked at other options.

Don’t forget the support staff

The admin/support staff are often the last people in an organisation who are given the right tools and environment to work in.

Often the senior executives or managers are able to invest in any item known to mankind and the poor old admin people who are in the office all day long have to settle for a crappy old chair or sit in an area which is poorly lit and has a lovely view of the wall. How productive would anyone be in this situation?

Does your office look good?

Pay attention to the office decor. Does it look old and drab or modern and alive? Is it clean and uncluttered or does it look like a volcano has erupted? Not only will this affect your performance but also on how others see you and your department. ie. A clean, modern environment portrays an organised and “with it” organisation.

Summary

Provide your team with a positive environment to work in and you will experience less absenteeism, improved moral and increased productivity. Look after your people and they will be more inclined to think twice about leaving your organisation.

About The Author

Lorraine Pirihi is Australia’s Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including “How to Survive and Thrive at Work!”

To subscribe to her free ezine visit www.office-organiser.com.au

This article may be reproduced providing it is published in it’s entirety, including the author’s bio and all links. For further information please contact Lorraine Pirihi; lorraine@office-organiser.com.au

Okay, be honest!

Are you guilty of sticking in a few boring videos and calling it training?

Do you send in your department heads to deliver a few, rushed, canned presentations and call it orientation?

Are you then surprised when your new employees don’t live up to your expectations, and your employee turnover numbers keep rising?

What if you took the time and money that you spend on employee recruitment and put it into employee training? Would it make a difference? Would it be worth the effort?

You Bet it Would!!

Take, for instance, The Container Store, who has made the top of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the 6th year in a row! In an employee’s first year they offer over 241 hours of training, far exceeding the training hours offered by other retail stores. In the next 18 months they are slated to open 5 more stores, creating over 6000 more jobs!

More impressively, the retail industry averages 150% employee turnover, but The Container Store averages only 25%!!

Learn also, from ACTS Retirement Life Communities, a Continuing Care Retirement Corporation, based in Pennsylvania with additional locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Several years ago, retired CEO Rev. George Gunn launched a program to combat high employee turnover.

One components of that program was to launch ACTS Corporate University. The University offers 70 different courses to all employees of their company. “It’s touching to watch some of our direct line employees walk across the stage, accepting their diploma for an 8 week class, so full of emotion for what they’ve accomplished,” says Rev. Gunn.

Not only has the University helped their employees do a better job, there has been a tremendous reduction in employee turnover. Their turnover, which was 38% in the year 2000, was already low for an industry that has a national average ranging from 40-100%. However, after implementing their program, which included the University, employee turnover landed at a low 17.5% in the year 2004. In addition, their employee satisfaction ratings AND their customer satisfaction ratings are extremely high.

Does it cost money to develop a training program that makes a difference? You bet! Is it worth it? No question!

Studies done by the Saratoga Institute estimate the cost of employee turnover to be between 100%-200% of the employee’s salary. Spend the money up front with training and you could cut your recruitment costs - in both time and money - substantially. You’ll also be ensuring that your employees are delivering the best service to your customers.

High Turnover, Bad Service - This is your company without training.

Low Turnover, Star Service - This is your company with training.

Any questions?

Donna Cutting is an employee morale expert and a frequent keynote speaker at conventions and corporate events. She can be reached at donna@donnacutting.com or via her website at http://www.donnacutting.com

© 2005, Donna Cutting

Would you like to reprint this article for your publication? You have our permission, to reprint the article, in it’s entirety, if you include Donna’s byline, web site, and the copyright notice. Please send a copy of the issue Donna’s article appears in to ShowStopping Solutions, PO Box 76461, St. Petersburg, FL 33734. If you would like a photo of Donna to publish with the article, contact Rachel Street at rachel@donnacutting.com.

Negotiating is an art form. It gives you great power. And if you know how to negotiate correctly, if you know how to structure negotiations so that others get what they want, and you get what you want, you will be a lot more successful in life. Not only that, but a great deal of pressure, stress, and friction will be removed from your life.

A skillful negotiator is a person who moves ahead in the business world. He or she has a skill that today is used in everything from getting a raise to delegating an unwanted assignment to reaching a business agreement worth millions.

Negotiation is not a matter of making concessions or butting heads. Good negotiation is based on principle and deciding issues based on their merits. When you bargain over positions, you get locked in and get sidetracked from meeting both parties’ concerns, and that makes getting an agreement much harder.

Here are three critical points you must incorporate into any negotiation to have a successful outcome:

1. Separate the people from the problem, the relationship forms the substance of the negotiation. Try to view the situation for the other person’s perspective and provide opportunities for both of you to express your emotions. Pay attention, listen, and do whatever you can to build a working relationship.

2. Focus on interests, not positions. You know your interests, the ones that have caused you to take your position. Now try to figure out the other person’s. Acknowledge his or her interests; give the person on the other side positive support equal in strength to the vigor with which you emphasize the problem.

3. Invent options for mutual gain. Then broaden your options, looking for room to negotiate. Look for mutual gain by identifying shared interests. These opportunities exist in every negotiation. You need to stress them in order to make the negations smoother and more amicable. Always look for ways to make the other person’s decision easy. So look for possible agreements early in the process.

Frame each issue in the negotiation process as a bridge for objective criteria, as if you assume the other party is doing the same thing. Reason soundly and be open to reason. But yield only to principle, not pressure. When you feel pressure, invite the other side to state their reasoning. Then suggest objective criteria, and refuse to budge except on this basis.

Sometimes you’re not negotiating on a level playing field. The other side may be richer, better connected, have a larger staff, or have more powerful weapons. You can’t change that, but you can protect yourself from making a bad agreement. Before negotiations start, know the worst outcome you’ll accept. Keep that in mind as your bottom line. At the same time, make the most of all your assets. Know what you’ll do if the negotiations fail. Be willing to break off the negotiations if you can’t reach an acceptable agreement.

You’re always going to encounter people who won’t budge from their positions. Don’t push back. In these cases, silence is always your best weapon. It can create the impression of a stalemate, which will cause the other side to break by offering something different.

Never loose sight of the fact that settlements are negotiated because they’re beneficial to both sides. Before you enter the negotiation, do your homework. Amass enough factual information to back up the case you want to make. Think about the person your negotiating with. What are his or her likes? Dislikes? Is he or she flexible? Or Narrow-minded? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What will happen if you get what you want? When, where, and how will the negotiations be scheduled? Before you enter into any negotiation, you should rehearse them first with a friend or a colleague.

Leave nothing to chance. One of the most basic details is the place and time of the negotiating session. A neutral location is always best if you can arrange it. Keep the meeting free of any distractions. Studies have shown that the best time to have a negotiating session is around 11a.m., because this is the time when most people are at their peak efficiency. Early in the week is better too. Never have a negotiating session on a Friday because people are thinking about the weekend.

Start the negotiating session by identifying all the parties involved, the person or persons who are in a position to sit down with you and negotiate. If one is obviously not right, broaden the discussion group to include others. And remember that just because you’ve identified the people who are committed to the negotiation doesn’t guarantee it will always happen. Sometimes the opportunity to negotiate is just not there.

Use props and personal attitudes to dress up your negotiations and build credibility and impact. Start off with an air of formality. It will give you room to maneuver that you loose if you open more casually. Use some sort of prop to help you control the pace of the session. For example, carefully prepared research notes, video, or audio tape will help. Make sure you give the other person something, such as a photocopy of your material, that perhaps captures his or her attention and allows you to lead the conversation.

Leverage is a very important tool to use in negotiating. Leverage is the ability to get multiple benefits from your assets. Truthful self-evaluation is the key to the successful use of leverage. For example, if you have a certain type of character, admit it and use it to your own advantage.

You should always try to use leverage to maximize your efforts. But never use it in unproductive ways with the other person. For example, many people negotiating for a job begin with two strikes against them because their resume’ includes too much that is not applicable to the job. Be selective. Negotiation is communication. Don’t confuse the main issues by heaping on irrelevant factors.

Never abuse the person you’re negotiating with. For example, you’ll get a lot more by using “I really wish I could afford to pay you what this fine old house is worth” than with “This old junk pile is about to fall over, and it will take a lot to get it in shape, so here’s my top offer.”

For every gain you make, give something back in return, even if it is little more than a formality. It’s important for you to have a clear mind as to what you want and what you can afford to give up. Remember, the shortest distance between two positions in any negotiation is never a straight line.

A successful negotiator is an expert at clarifying and conveying a point of view to the other person. So never be afraid of offending someone with simplicity. First, break up your discussion into compact and understandable little bites of information and begin to discuss them with the person you’re negotiating against. Next, let the other person think about the information. But don’t take on faith that all the key points have been communicated. Keep returning to them. A little redundancy won’t hurt. Most people will actually enjoy hearing information again that they have just learned.

There are five key signs you should look for that indicate the negotiations are turning in your favor:

1. Fewer counterarguments.

2. Both sides’ points are close together.

3. The other person talks about final arrangements.

4. The other person extends a personal invitation to you and your spouse.

5. The other person is willing to put the agreement in writing.

Cement the completed negotiations by setting up a meeting to sign the agreement. Never put the formal agreement in the mail. Be a good winner. Never gloat. You’re in the game for the long run. Send the other person a thank-you letter, noting that you look forward to a long working relationship.

Copyright© 2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of America’s largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

Many work environments now are open plan, with only a few senior managers having offices of their own. This style of work can have great benefits for team building - fostering cooperation and collaboration and can be wonderful for developing the social aspects of teams, but on the flipside, it can drive some people crazy and be damaging to productivity. Most open plan offices require large numbers of people to learn to work together in very close proximity, which can present challenges, particularly relating to how we manage the physical environment, the noise and the constant interruptions. Share some of these strategies with your teammates to help you achieve a working environment where everyone is respectful of the needs and space occupied by others.

Keep it down! It’s easy to overlook how far your conversation can travel in a confined space - be mindful of what you can hear of others’ conversations and remember that they can hear yours too. Especially if you are loud or have a unique voice (like me!) be aware of your volume.

Walk the floor. Don’t yell across workstations - walk over to the person’s desk or use your e-mail or phone. Not everyone in the vicinity needs to be disrupted by your conversation.

Careful where you stand. Don’t stop for conversations or hold impromptu meetings at other people’s workstations - be considerate. If you want to have a meeting, choose a space that won’t impact others.

Get a room. If there are two or more people and you don’t have a discrete space to meet, book a meeting room and be sure to tidy it up before you leave.

Anyone for music? If you like listening to music, keep it down to a level where it doesn’t interfere with the concentration or comfort of your colleagues. If everyone agrees, you might choose a particular style of music and play it at a volume that suits everyone. Otherwise, buy yourself some headphones and keep the music to yourself.

Telephone etiquette. Be considerate about how you manage your phones, the constant ringing of desk phones and mobiles with their various show tunes other ‘ditties’ can be distracting and annoying. Turn your ringer-volume down to the lowest level that is appropriate for you, rather than let it blare though the office unnecessarily. Try to answer your phone or have your voicemail pick it up within three rings. Select a mobile phone ring that won’t annoy others. If you will be away from your desk for a prolonged period divert your phone to your mobile or voicemail.

Take a message. Answer your neighbour’s phone if it is appropriate. If you take a message send the details to them in an e-mail immediately to avoid lost phone messages on scraps of paper and post-its.

Hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. I’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth repeating here. Agree among your team on a signal which will indicate to other people that you are unavailable - that you are trying to concentrate on something or are on a deadline and do not wish to be disturbed. It might be an item placed on top of your computer monitor or desk, or even a sign taped to the back of your chair. When the signal is up, everyone agrees to not disturb you, when the signal comes down, people know that it’s business as usual again.

Clear desk policy. Adopt a clear desk policy. It makes the overall environment more pleasant and comfortable, rather than looking like a hurricane has been through, and it’s excellent for both personal productivity and security.

Stash it away. If you need some extra storage space, make use of space under your desk, rather than in walkways, but be careful not to crowd yourself or to create a cockroach haven.

Smile. Include some personal touches on your workstation, but don’t overdo it - you and your workstation are on display to your teammates and others who pass by your area and you want to leave a professional impression. Choose a photo of your family, a picture of a place you dream of going to or something else that inspires you and makes you feel happy.

Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy - and where they focus their attention - Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/

One of the things that frustrated me while in school was that most of the psychology books specialized in complicating things. It’s the same with many self-help books as well. I always wondered why relationships, change and meeting goals couldn’t be made much more simple.

To that end, here are five simple steps to making goals attainable:

1. Write it down

We all carry around in our heads great ideas, intentions and goals. The problem is that is where they often remain - floating around in our heads, taking up space and never being acted upon, much less realized. If you really do want something to happen, write it down. In fact, the simple yet powerful act of writing down your goals automatically increases the chances of meeting them. This is because even the weakest ink is so much more powerful than the strongest memory.

Another advantage to writing down your goals is that you now have them in front of you. Reading your goals on a regular basis can motivate you and keep you on course each day. We all have full days with lots of distractions. Having your goals right in front of you allows you to focus on the activities that push you toward your goals and tune out the distractions.

2. Break it down

This is the first place people often get stuck. You’ve set some attractive goals. Then you look at how much has to be done and how distant the goal seems to be, and you stop there. Break down your goals before you break down.

Many of the things we do on a regular basis are broken down into smaller chunks. A week has seven days, a day has 24 hours, an hour has 60 minutes and so on. Even a pizza is cut into slices and then eaten a bite at a time. Take your goals and break them down into small, manageable pieces that can be handled one at a time, a day at a time, a week at a time, and so on.

3. Take small steps

Here’s the second spot where we tend to get stuck. Now that you have broken down your goals into manageable pieces, begin to take one small step at a time. As you begin to take and complete small steps, both your confidence and motivation will grow. Most people don’t begin. You begin.

4. Take the next step

This is the third spot where people tend to get off course. You get off to a good start and then fail to follow through. Ask yourself “now that I have accomplished this step, what’s the next step I need to take?” Then either take that step right away, or at least get started on it.

This builds your momentum and can carry you through to the completion of your goals.

5. Take one more step

This is sometimes called “going the extra mile,” and it’s the major difference between winners and champions. Winners take all of the steps listed above. Champions take an extra step, run one more block, lift one more weight, read one more page. When you don’t believe you can take one more step and then do, that’s when you become a champion.

So, here is what I’d like to invite you to do: Choose a goal you would like to accomplish, write it down, break it down, begin to take small steps, take the next steps and then take the extra steps.

Then enjoy what you have accomplished.

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

I’ve met and worked with many people in all sectors of the business world and found that the majority of managers and team leaders are spending too much of their time on basic administrative tasks. Tasks for which they have had no training in. In many instances people are stressed out with too many responsibilities due to ongoing restructuring and downsizing in their organisation.

Get Real

When you have people with the knowledge and expertise to handle specific roles and they spend their precious time on basic administration, organisations are wasting huge amounts of money paying people to do tasks which would best be handled by a fully trained administrative assistant.

These tasks can be delegated if there was someone there to delegate to. This would free them up to do what they do best. They may not require full-time support. Perhaps one assistant could assist two managers?

Make sure you don’t have managers who will take it on themselves to help their assistant out as the assistant is overloaded! That doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen this happen many times where the manager feels guilty delegating tasks to his assistant because they know that person is already stretched to the maximum.

“Everyone Knows …”

To be effective in any role we need to be organised. Too often it is taken for granted that “everyone knows” how to organise themselves, their time, their paperwork. That’s a myth! If they did then there wouldn’t be so many stressed out people in the workplace working long hours and being unable to cope with their workloads…and I wouldn’t be in business!

Cut Costs Without Cutting Your Own Throat

If your organisation is or has already cut resources to the bone, whatever you do make sure that those people remaining continually keep improving their skills so that they can perform to the best of their ability.

Be careful the cost cutting strategies don’t burn your people out so they end up leaving.t can cost an organisation thousands of dollars to replace a valuable employee.

The Final Word

Learning how to be better organised will help you and your team be more productive. If you’re more productive you feel better about yourself, you’re less stressed, you get more done and therefore have more time. And in this fast-paced society isn’t that what many people want? More time for themselves, and their families.

Can You Really Improve Your Organisation Skills?

I’m sure most of you have heard of Zig Ziglar International Sales Guru. Well in one of Zig’s weekly newsletters, there were a number of comments about the habits of well-organised people which I couldn’t resist sharing with you.

What are the habits of well-organised people?

Can a person be ‘taught’ skills that will make them organised, or is that a quality you either possess or lack?

We asked those questions of our readers and here are some of their responses:

“I think that natural abililty has to be coupled with good training to fully develop skills such as being organised.”

“Thankfully, organisation skills are learned. The first requirement is DESIRE. The second is WORK! By consistently using such tools as a well thought out set of goals, a planner and a PRIORITISED daily “to do” list, I have made a positive difference in my personal and professional life.”

“A well-organised person reviews their actions each day. They assess where mistakes were made, identifying ways to eliminate those mistakes in the future. They assess areas for improvement. They also plan out their day ahead of time. These habits can be learned by anyone.”

“Improving your organisation skills is teachable and there are hundreds of tools to help you achieve that end. But first I have to “want” to learn that skill. I have to see the need and the resultant advantage to me and my business and then I will be willing to learn a new skill.”

“Orderliness is a character trait. Organisation is an outcome of that trait. Character qualities are learned behaviours that develop throughout our whole lives - not just while we are children.”

“Yes, everybody can be taught organising one’s life. It’s only a question of changing habits, however, everything is connected. You cannot be a complete mess in your personal life and expect to be perfectly organised in your business life.”

So you see it doesn’t matter who or what you are, anybody can learn the basic fundamental skills and experience the daily benefits of being organised.

It’s just a case of recognising that you need to improve in that area and as mentioned in one of the comments, you have to have the desire to change. Of course the next thing you have to do is take action!

Then you too can experience the benefits of being organised such as having more time to do what you want to, improved confidence, having more control over your life, reducing your stress and feeling good!

It’s all up to you.

About The Author
Lorraine Pirihi is Australia’s Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including “How to Survive and Thrive at Work!”

To subscribe to her free ezine visit www.office-organiser.com.au

This article may be reproduced providing it is published in it’s entirety, including the author’s bio and all links. For further information please contact Lorraine Pirihi, lorraine@office-organiser.com.au

Although world business is undergoing historic changes, the prevailing view of what constitutes business leadership is stuck in the past. Generally, business leaders view leadership as an order-giving process. The word “leadership” itself comes from old Norse root meaning “to make go.” Many leaders believe that they must “make” people go by ordering them to do things.

But today’s new business realities are requiring new kinds of leadership, leadership that has very little to do with order giving. Organizations are more competitive when leaders don’t make others go but instead have those others make themselves go when employees are not ordered to do tasks but instead are in the frame of mind and heart that they want to do those tasks. That “want to” is the cutting edge of competitiveness.

Order-leadership in business has its roots in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. “Order” comes from a Latin root meaning to arrange threads in a weaving woof. The captains of the Revolution dealt with the relatively uneducated country people who flocked to their factories by ordering them where, how, and when to work. The most efficient and effective production methods resulted from workers being “ordered” or ranked like threads in the woof of production lines. Refined and empowered by the Victorian commercial culture, with its patriarchal power structure and strong links to Prussian military organization, the culture of the order-giver leader reached its zenith in the United States after World War II.

During the post-war years, many U.S. businesses were like ocean liners plowing through relatively calm seas, their leaders, like liner captains and mates, running things by getting orders from superiors, giving orders to subordinates and making sure that those orders were carried out.

But today, with competition increasing dramatically, with the volume and velocity of information multiplying, with the pyramidal structures of order-giving businesses flattening, leaders need skills not akin to ocean liner piloting but white-water canoeing. Order leadership founders where lines of authority are blurred, information proliferates, markets rapidly changing, and employees are highly skilled and educated.

A new kind of leadership, a new vision of leadership is needed leadership based on the principle that the leader doesn’t make others go by ordering them about but instead has them go by creating an organizational environment in which they prompt themselves to go.

This new leadership is:

1. Motivational.
2. Action-based.
3. Results-driven.

Motivational: Leaders do nothing more important than get results. But leaders can’t get results themselves. They need the people they lead to get results. And the best way for them to get results is not to order them but to motivate them to take action that produces results. However, the English language misconstrues motivation. English describes the act of motivation as something one person does to another person. Leaders can’t motivate anybody to do anything. We communicate the people themselves motivate. They motivate themselves. Only they can motivate themselves. The motivators and the “motivatees” are the same people. We engage in the new leadership when we recognize that we are motivating people to get results only when we set up an environment in which they are actively motivating themselves.

Action-based: A key aspect of the new leadership lies in the first two letters of the word motivation. Those letters “mo” are also found in the words “motion,” “momentum,” “motor,” “mobile,” etc. The words denote action physical action. Motivation isn’t what people think or feel but physically do. To engage in the new leadership, leaders must constantly be challenging others to take physical action that leads to results.

Results-oriented: Motivated people are useless to a business. People taking action are useless to a business. Only those people who get results are useful. The thing is that people who are motivated and taking action are more likely to get results. Leaders must have a passion to achieve results. Not just results but more results, faster results. They must permeate the culture of their organization with a more results faster esprit.

Clearly, many order leaders have a passion for results. But as to the new leadership, how people get results is as important as their getting those results. To get more-results-faster, the order leader demands that people run faster in the organizational gerbil wheel. But there is a limit to how fast and hard people can work before they burn out. The new leader, however, recognizes that to achieve more results faster on a continuous basis that people can’t simply speed up, work harder, and be straight-jacketed by tight controls. They must replenish their spirit and energies. They must slow down to develop and employ powerful processes, and they must challenge others to lead for results. The new leader’s effectiveness is not measured so much by his/her actions but by the effectiveness of the leadership activities he/she challenges others to engage in.

The recent emergence of interlocking global markets has stimulated a new vision of world commerce, a vision of a single global playing field. Leaders must match their business activities to the demands of that vision. But a corresponding new vision of leadership has not emerged.

Stuck with an outmoded vision of order leadership, today’s leaders are not seizing the full array of opportunities before them. When they begin to establish leadership that is not order-driven but is instead motivational, action-based and results-oriented, the world might not beat a path to their door but more importantly, they will beat paths to the doorsteps of the world.

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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

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2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - and has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

Accounting is considered to be one of those complicated yet necessary chores that keep people’s financial affairs relatively clean. For the beginner who is just getting started, the process may not be the first obstacle. Often, it is understanding the special language used by accountants and those that work around them. In other words, one must wade through the jargon in order to understand what’s going on. The first step in gaining understanding of accounting is to break concepts down to one fundamental point: financial statements.

Corporations are extremely fond of financial statements - after all, they are required to have them. Financial statements are, in a broader sense, just timely statements of the financial situation of an organization. They hold companies accountable for how money is earned and spent, down to the very last detail. Financial statements are often audited by external auditors to ensure that the company is handling records properly. This also confirms to third parties that the company is displaying a fair and balanced view of the organization’s position. These are also called “cash flow statements”. Like most financial concepts, financial statements can be broken down into several smaller concepts. They are: balance sheets, cash flow statements, and profit and loss accounts.

Cash flow statements is another term for financial statements, but a little more specific. This statement shows exactly where the money goes - how it was made, where it was made, and most importantly, how was it spent. A business, after all, has many areas where money flows in and out: operating activities, investing activities, financing activities.

To clarify, operating activities are the daily internal business a company relies on to survive. This may include, but is not limited to: collecting money from customers, paying employees and vendors, interest and taxes, or even revenue from interest payouts. Investing activities are generally investments made by the company to fund purchases of equipment. Finally, financing activities are those that affect the flow of money directly, such as the sale of common stock or adjustments in long or short-term loans.

These calculations are then used to find the total increase (or decrease) in cash and investments. Fluctuations in operations, investing, or financing affect cash flow. This is called the “net change” in cash and marketable securities. From here, these calculations are checked against the balance sheet.

Wait, a balance sheet? Isn’t that what we just did, balance?

No. A balance sheet sums up a company’s assets, liabilities, and value at a certain point in time. Investors look to the balance sheet to determine a company’s value based on what the company owns and what they owe to external sources. The amount of money invested by the shareholders affects company value in this way as well. The balance sheet follows a specific formula, where assets equal liabilities plus shareholder’s equity. It is called a balance sheet because the two sides must balance out; after all, a company must pay for assets by either borrowing the money directly, or through shareholders. The balance sheet is clearly a great source of financial information on a company.

The last line of defense, the profit and loss account, shows the activities of a company during a period of time. This differs from the balance sheet in that a profit and loss account serves as a log of a company’s activities over a period of time, while the balance sheet is just the financial position at a specific moment in time. Some value the profit and loss account over the balance sheet, as it marks a longer stretch of time than the balance sheet does.

Once broken down into parts, financial statements are not such a hard topic to handle, even for a beginner. Financial statements expose the practices of a company - while one does not get a specific blueprint of how a company makes or loses money, the end results are clearly displayed for people to see.

Adrian Lawrence is the webmaster of Finance Alley the best place to find finance articles covering topics such as accounting, money and loans and all aspects of finance.