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June 1st, 2008

How To Prepare A Business Plan That Guarantees Big Profits

Posted in School of Management

It is always said “If you Fail to Plan, you Plan to Fail”


Success in business comes as a result of planning. You have to have a detailed, written plan that shows what the ultimate goal is, the reason for the goal, and each milestone that must be passed in order to reach your goal.


A business plan is written definition of, and operational plan for achieving your goal. You need a complete but success tool in order to define your basic product, income objectives and specific operating procedures. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN to attract investors, obtain financing and hold onto the confidence of your creditors, particularly in times of cash flow shortages–in this instance, the amount of money you have on hand compared with the expenses that must be met.


Aside from an overall directional policy for the production, sales effort and profit goals of your product–your basic “travel guide” to business success–the most important purpose your business plan will serve, will be the basis or foundation of any financial proposals you submit. Many entrepreneurs are under the mistaken impression that a business plan is the same as a financial proposal, or that a financial proposal constitutes a business plan. This is just a misunderstanding of the uses of these two separate and different business success aids.


The business plan is a long range “map” to guide your business to the goal you’ve set for it. The plan details the what, why, where, how and when, of your business–the success planning of your company.


Your financial proposal is a request for money based upon your business plan–your business history and objectives.


Understand the differences. They are closely related, but they are not interchangeable.


Writing and putting together a “winning” business plan takes study, research and time, so don’t try to do it all in just one or two days.


The easiest way to start with a loose leaf notebook, plenty of paper, pencils, pencil sharpener, and several erasers. Once you get your mind “in gear” and begin thinking about your business plan, “10,000 thoughts and ideas per minute” will begin racing thru your mind…So, it’s a good idea when you aren’t actually working on your business plan, to carry a pocket notebook and jot down those business ideas as they come to you–ideas for sales promotion, recruiting distributors, and any other thoughts on how to operate and/or build your business.


Later, when you’re actually working on your business plan, you can take out this “idea notebook” evaluate your ideas, rework them, refine them, and integrate them into the overall “big picture” of your business plan.


The best business plans for even the smallest businesses run 25 to 30 pages or more, so you’ll need to “title” each page and arrange the different aspects of your business plan into “chapters.” The format should pretty much run as follows:


Title Page Statement of Purpose Table of Contents Business Description Market Analysis Competition Business Location Management Current Financial Records Explanation of Plans For Growth Projected Profit & Loss/Operating Figures Explanation of Financing for Growth Documentation Summary of Business & Outlook for The Future Listing of Business & personal References


This is a logical organization of the information every business plan should cover. I’ll explain each of these chapters titles in greater detail, but first, let me elaborate upon the reasons for proper organization of your business plan.


Having a set of “questions to answer” about your business forces you to take an objective and critical look at your ideas. Putting it all down on paper allows you to change, erase and refine everything to function in the manner of a smoothly oiled machine. You’ll be able to spot weakness and strengthen them before they develop into major problems. Overall, you’ll be developing an operating manual for your business–a valuable tool which will keep your business on track, and guide you in the profitable management of your business.


Because it’s your idea, and your business, it’s very important that YOU do the planning. This is YOUR business plan, so YOU develop it, and put it all down on paper just the way YOU want it to read. Seek out the advice of other people; talk with, listen to, and observe, other people running similar businesses; enlist the advice of your accountant and attorney–but at the bottom line, don’t ever forget it has to be YOUR BUSINESS PLAN!


Remember too, that statistics show the greatest causes of business failure to be poor management and lack of planning–without a plan by which to operate, no one can manage; and without a direction in which to aim its efforts, no business can attain any real success.


On the very first page, which is the title page, put down the name of your business-ABC ACTION–with your business address underneath. Now, skip a couple of lines, and write it all in capital letters: PRINCIPAL OWNER–followed by your name if you’re the principal owner. On your finished report, you would want to center this information on the page, with the words “principal owner” off-set to the left about five spaces.


Examples: ABC ACTION 1234 SW 5th Ave. Anywhere, USA 00000



PRINCIPAL OWNER: Your Name


That’s all you’ll have on this page except the page number -1-


Following your title page is the page for your statement purpose. This should be a simple statement of your primary business function, such as: We are a service business engaged in the business of selling business success manuals and other information by mail.


The title of the page should be in all capital letters across the top of the page, centered on your final draft–skip a few lines and write the statement of purpose. This should be direct, clear and short–never more than (2) sentences in length.


Then you should skip a few lines, and from the left hand margin of the paper, write out a sub-heading in all capital letters, such as: EXPLANATION OF PURPOSE.


From, and within this sub-heading you can briefly explain your statement of purpose, such as: Our surveys have found most entrepreneurs to be “sadly” lacking in basic information that will enable them to achieve success. This market is estimated at more than a 100 million persons, with at least half of these people actively “searching” for sources that provide the kind of information they want, and need.


With our business, advertising and publishing experience, it is our goal to capture at least half of this market of information seekers, with our publication. MONEY MAKING MAGIC! Our market research indicates we can achieve this goal and realize a profit of $1,000,000 per year within the next 5 years…


The above example is generally the way you should write your “explanation of purpose,” and in subtle definition, why you need an explanation. Point to remember: Keep it short. Very few business purpose explanations justify more than a half page long.


Next comes your table of contents page. Don’t really worry about this until you’ve got the entire plan completed and ready for final typing. It’s a good idea though, to list the subject (chapter titles) as I have, and then check off each one as you complete that part of your plan.


By having a list of the points you want to cover, you’ll also be able to skip around and work on each phase of your business plan as an idea or the interest in organizing that particular phase, stimulates you. In other words, you won’t have to make your thinking or your planning conform to the chronological order of the “chapters” of your business plan–another reason for the loose leaf notebook.


In describing your business, it’s best to begin where your statement purpose leaves off. Describe your product, the production process, who has responsibility for what, and most importantly, what makes your product or service unique–what gives it an edge in your market. You can briefly summarize your business beginnings, present position and potential for future success, as well.


Next, describe the buyers you’re trying to reach–why they need and want or will buy your product–and the results of any tests or surveys you may have conducted. Once you’ve defined your market, go on to explain how you intend to reach that market–how you’ll these prospects to your product or service and induce them to buy. You might want to break this chapter down into sections such as..publicity and promotions, advertising plans, direct sales force, and dealer/distributor programs. Each section would then be an outline of your plans and policies.


Moving into the next chapter on competition, identify who your competitors are–their weakness and strong points–explain how you intend to capitalize on those weaknesses and match or better the strong points. Talk to as many of your “indirect” competitors as possible–those operating in different cities and states.


One of the easiest ways of gathering a lot of useful information about your competitors is by developing a series of survey questions and sending these questionnaires out to each of them. Later on, you might want to compile the answers to these questionnaires into some form of directory or report on this type of business.


It’s also advisable to contact the trade associations and publications serving your proposed type of business. For information on trade associations and specific trade publications, visit your public library, and after explaining what you want ask for the librarian’s help.


The chapter on management should be an elaboration on the people operating the business. Those people that actually run the business, their job, titles, duties, responsibilities and background resume’s. It’s important that you “paint” a strong picture of your top management people because the people coming to work for you or investing in your business, will be “investing in these people” as much as your product ideas. Individual tenacity, mature judgement under fire, and innovative problem-solving have “won over” more people than all the AAA Credit Ratings and astronomical sales figures put together.


People becoming involved with any new venture want to know that the person in charge–the guy running the business knows what he’s doing, will not lose his cool when problems arise, and has what it takes to make money for all of them> After showing the “muscle” of this person, go on to outline the other key positions within your business; who the persons are you’ve selected to handle those jobs and the sources as well as availability of any help you might need.


If you’ve been in business of any kind scale, the next chapter is a picture of your financial status–a review of your operating costs and income from the business to date. Generally, this is a listing of your profit & loss statements for the six months, plus copies of your business income tax records for each of the previous three years the business has been an entity.


The chapter on the explanation of your plans for the future growth of your business is just that–an explanation of how you plan to keep your business growing–a detailed guide of what you’re going to do, and how you’re going to increase your profits. These plans should show your goals for the coming year, two years, and three years. By breaking your objectives down into annual milestones, your plan will be accepted as more realistic and be more understandable as a part of your ultimate success.


Following this explanation, you’ll need to itemize the projected cost and income figures of your three year plan. I’ll take a lot of research, an undoubtedly a good deal of erasing, but it’s very important that you list these figures based upon thorough investigation. You may have to adjust some of your plans downward, but once you’ve got these two chapters on paper, your whole business plan will fall into line and begin to make sense. You’ll have a precise “map” of where you’re headed, how much it’s going to cost, when you can expect to start making money, and how much.


Now that you know where you’re going, how much it’s going to cost and how long it’s going to be before you begin to recoup your investment, you’re ready to talk about how and where you’re going to get the money to finance your journey. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you’ll want to use this chapter to list the possibilities and alternatives. Make a list of friends you can approach, and perhaps induce to put up some money as silent partners. Make a list of those people you might be able to sell as stockholders in your company–in many cases you can sell up to $300,000 worth of stock on a “private issue” basis without filing papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Check with a corporate or tax attorney in your area for more details. Make a list of relatives and friends that might help you with an outright loan to furnish money for the development of your business.


Then search out and make a list of venture capital organizations. Visit the Small Business Administration office in your area–pick up the loan application papers they have–read them, study them, and even fill them out on a preliminary basis–and finally, check the costs, determine which business publications would be best to advertise in, if you were to advertise for a partner or investor, and write an ad you’d want to use if you did decide to advertise for monetary help.


With listing of all the options available to your needs, all that’s left is the arranging of these options in the order you would want to use them when the time come to ask for money. When you’re researching these money sources, you’ll save time by noting the “contact” deal with when you want money, and whenever possible, by developing a working relationship with these people.


If your documentation section, you should have a credit report on yourself. Use the Yellow Pages or check at the credit department in your bank for the nearest credit reporting office. When you get your credit report, look it over and take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate any negative comments. Once these have been taken care of, ask for a revised copy of your report and include a copy of that in your business plan.


If you own any patents or copyrights, include copies of these. Any licenses to use someone else’s patent or copyright should also be included. If you own the distribution, wholesale or exclusive sales rights to a product, include copies of this documentation. You should also include copies of any leases, special agreements or other legal papers that might be pertinent to your business.


In conclusion, write out a brief, overall summary of your business- when the business was started, the purpose of the business, what makes your business different, how you’re going to gain a profitable share of the market, and your expected success during the coming 5 years..


The last page of your business plan is a “courtesy page” listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of personal and business references–persons who have known you closely for the past five years or longer–and companies or firms you’ve had business or credit dealings with during the past five years.


And, that’s it–your complete business plan. Before you send it out for formal typing, read it over once a day for a week or ten days. Take care of any changes or corrections, and then have it reviewed by an attorney and then, an accountant. It would also be a good idea to have it reviewed by a business consultant serving the business community to which your business will be related. After these reviews, and any last-minute changes you want to make, I’ll be ready for formal typing.


Type and print the entire plan on ordinary white bond paper. Make sure you proof-read it against the original. Check for any corrections and typographical errors–then one more time–read it through for clarity and the perfection you want of it.


Now you’re ready to have it printed and published for whatever use you have planned for it–distribution amongst your partners or stockholders as the business plan for putting together a winning financial proposal, or as a business operating manual.


Take it to a quality printer in your area, and have three copies printed. Don’t settle for photo-copying..Have it printed!


Photo-copying leaves a slight film on the paper, and will detract from the overall professionalism of your business plan, when presented to someone you’re trying to impress. So, after going to all this work to put together properly, go all the way and have it duplicated properly.


Next, stop by a stationery store, variety store or even a dime store, and pick up an ordinary, inexpensive bind-in theme cover for each copy of your business plan. Have the holes punched in the pages of your business report to fit these binders and then slip each copy into a binder of its own.


Now, you can relax, take a break and feel good about yourself..You have a complete and detailed business plan with which to operate a successful business of your own. A plan you can use as a basis for any financing proposal you may want to submit..And a precise road-map for the attainment of real success…


You just complete one of the important steps to fulfill of all your dreams of success.

———————————————————
Julia Tang publishes Smart Online Business Tips, a fresh
and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people
like you! To find out the best online business opportunities,
and to discover hundreds more proven and practical internet
marketing secrets, plus FREE internet marketing products
worth over $200, visit: http://www.best-internet-businesses.com
———————————————————-

Note: Feel free to publish it with the resource box and content unchanged

May 31st, 2008

Why People Don’t Listen… and Some Fun Things You Can Do About It

Posted in School of Management

It’s frustrating when your co-workers, audience members, teenager or even your dog (!) won’t listen. While you can’t control how they receive what you say, you can control how you send it. Here are a few tips on why people don’t listen and what you can do to change it.

1. Short Attention Spans

When asked to guess the average adult attention span, most people say around thirty minutes. According to statistics, however, the average adult attention span is actually only seven seconds. That’s right! Every seven seconds you go away somewhere. You think about something else. In fact, you could actually be taking a mental break right now! It is a normal part of how the brain integrates external stimuli like when your computer starts defragging for a moment while you type. It helps to pause from time to time when you speak. This allows people to integrate your information or ask a clarifying question. Also, include examples to anchor your concepts. For example (see–I’m doing it now!), a concept without an example is like tree without roots, a house without a foundation, or Sonny without Cher. It just doesn’t have as much staying power.

2. Too Many Distractions

I was in a meeting the other day and five people coughed, four people side talked, three cell phones rang, two people went to the restroom, and a partridge did email on his PDA. Distractions are a big part of modern life. Your best bet is to acknowledge the distractions in a playful way such as a manager who recently led a meeting I attended. When a cell phone rang, he grabbed for it and said, “Oh, that’s for me….my mother likes to check in on me from time to time”. That prompted everyone to turn off their phones.

3. Lack of Training

Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It’s little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surprises.

4. Language Barriers

It is no secret that the world of business is fast becoming a multicultural world. Although English is the default language of commerce, many people in your audience may speak English as a second language. Last month I was addressing a large insurance company where most attendees turned out to be new immigrants from China. I used the expression “getting jiggy with it”, and I saw people rifling through their dictionaries. This prompted me to say “I’m sorry, that went way over your head”, and a number of people looked up at the ceiling! If your listeners are ESL or have a more basic educational background, you need to simplify your language. Use much more literal descriptions rather than cultural expressions. Use facial and body language to express humor, and fewer words.

5. Unchecked Assumptions

Back in the 70s, Gilda Radner a comedienne who regularly performed on Saturday Night Live was well known for her popular character Emily Litella, a social activist with a hearing problem. Her causes included such important issues as violins on television, soviet jewelry and endangered feces. Believe it or not, those Emily Litella types can be found in your audiences. For example, I once told a story about my mother who was a secretary for the British Civil Service in WWII. She spent most of her time daydreaming that her boss would burst into the room and ask her to spy against the Germans. She could leave the nasty paperwork behind, don a disguise and become the next Mata Hari. Needless to say, one day her boss did burst into the room but instead he fired her for daydreaming all the time. A woman approached me after this story and told me that she used to be a Hari Krishna, too. One way to clear up false assumptions is to state your point in many different ways.

6. No Reason to Listen

Finally, the main reason people don’t listen is because you haven’t answered their favorite question: “What’s in it for me?” Before you start a long-winded monologue, tell your listener why you need their attention and make sure they understand how it will be benefit them. For example, “I’d like to tell you about this free software that will block all the spam before it gets to your Inbox …interested?” That will give you much better results than “When I was a youngster and I sat down in front of my first computer, I asked myself how can I make this machine work for me…” In general, put yourself in your listener’s shoes before you talk and their ears tend to perk up.

And just remember the greatest of all wisdom–no one ever listened himself out of a new friendship.

Carla Rieger
Copyright 2005 Yes Education Systems

Carla Rieger is an expert on the artistry of change. You can reach her at http://www.carlarieger.com or at 1-866-294-2988. Carla uses proven secrets from the world of artistry to help your organization becoming a leader of innovation. She has been a professional speaker, trainer, facilitator and performance storyteller since the mid-80s. She is the director of Yes Education Systems, a creative communications and creative consulting firm since 1991. She has written three critically acclaimed manuals, Managing Change with a sense of humor, Speaking on the Funny Side of the Brain and The Heart of Presenting, in addition to many articles in trade journals and magazines. She has taught thousands to unlock the funny side of their brains, and to mine negativity both within and without for the key innovative solutions. Her work has been featured on radio, TV and many publications. She founded several theatre groups including Mad Cow Productions, Vancouver Playback Theatre and Mythic Cafe. She also wrote, produced and performed a one-woman show, Dancing Between Worlds.

May 31st, 2008

Canned Sales Presentations Just Don’t Work Today

Posted in School of Management

Flip charts and slides shows (”canned presentations”) make the best sales product or service promotions because, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” right? Well it depends!

Stanford University’s Research Institute’s VALS study (values, altitudes and life styles) lists five distinct psychographic categories (personalities) or buying decision-making modes. What the Stanford research means to you as a sales manager is that a given picture may not appeal to one or more of the buying mind-sets (Belongers, Achiever, Emulator, etc.) outlined in the study. Using a flip chart or slides as your primary presentation tool can cost you sales, especially if you just walk through each page or play each slide as an outline of your products or service’s features and benefits.

Flip charts and slide presentations must be generic by nature and rarely focus on a decision-maker’s specific needs except for a few slides or pages. From the Stanford research, using this selling approach means that you have one chance in five of appealing to your decision-maker’s primary buying mode depending on the layout and copy theme of the slides or chart.

Slide shows or flip chart presentations are valuable tools if used to highlight specific selling pointspoints based in the information that your staff members uncover from their in-depth probing (using a consultative selling system) of a prospective customer or client’s needs. The myth of using a “canned sales pitch” and the field-tested and proven selling methods to replace defective techniques are outlined in the “best selling” 101 Sales Myths manual published by The $elling Edge®, Inc. (http://TheSellingEdge.com/myths3.htm) The techniques listed are are based in a proven consultative selling process that eliminates most of the fear and pressure associated with traditional presentation approaches.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden’s latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/
Virden Thornton - EzineArticles Expert Author
May 27th, 2008

Building A Practice On Purpose Series Part #5-2 Develop a Championship Team by Creating a Coaching

Posted in School of Management

Turn low-performance players around.

Remember, your job as a coach is to enhance your players’ performance. To do so, you’ll need to take a very close look at the situation to find the clues you need to turn the problem around-and it’s not always easy. I use a coaching tool I call “be-do-have” to bring tricky problems into focus. To put it into action, just focus on the different elements of a team member’s performance issue by asking yourself the following questions:

Being. What’s the person’s attitude regarding her job? Is she exhibiting a change in attitude or temperament that’s interfering with her job performance? Are situations outside of work contributing to the poor performance?
Doing. Is she doing the job poorly because she simply doesn’t know how to do the work? Have you shown her the correct way to do the work then, observed to be sure she can perform the task? Has the work changed in some way that hasn’t been taken into account?
Having. Is she missing a tool, a skill, or the time to do the job properly?
In some cases, you may uncover something in each of these three domains that need attention, or the problem may be more isolated. The key is to identify the root issues so you can correct the situation effectively.

Learn from losses

Staff members terminate their employment for many reasons, including job dissatisfaction, a change in personal goals, moving away from the area, and making a career advancement. Completing the cycle of an employee’s tenure with you in a powerful way can set the stage for the new replacement as well as empowering the team members who remain. Here are a few questions to consider:

How can you acknowledge the person leaving in a way that she and everyone else on your staff are left empowered? One effective way can be a ‘reversed roast’ where, during an evening celebration you and your fellow staff members acknowledge and appreciate the person for their contribution.
What skills, attitudes, and characteristics did this person have that you want to find in her replacement? What didn’t work well that you could learn from and improve the next time?
Is there anything else you need to say to this person that would make the relationship be whole and complete? Here’s a simple test: Imagine that you ran into this person in six months in the aisle of your local supermarket. Would you try to avoid heran indication that the relationship’s incompleteor would you feel comfortable walking up to her and saying hello?

Appreciate individuals’ talents

Learning to acknowledge and appreciate your team members with sincerity is a powerful coaching tool. One approach is to acknowledge people for what they do. For example, you could say to your receptionist, “I really love how you keep your work area and the reception room so neat and clean. Thanks for taking the time at the end of the day to tidy up in preparation for the next day.” You can acknowledge people for what they have. For example, “I love your beautiful handwriting, Dottie. It certainly makes it much easier and pleasurable to read the notes you leave me.”

Perhaps the most powerful and empowering acknowledgement is to thank people for who they are. “Thank you, Cathy, for your gentle and generous spirit. Your lightheartedness enriches our practice.”

Stay in the game

Once you’ve implemented coaching in your practice, don’t think your job is done. Coaching is an ongoing job and your relationships need periodic tune-ups. So ask yourself:

Are my staff members and I continuing to create an empowering climate of coaching?
Is everyone clear about which shared commitments form the foundation of our coaching relationships?
When was the last time I had a private coaching session with each staff member? (If it’s been more than a month, it’s time to schedule a meeting.)
Are my staff members offering to coach each other? If so, this is a good sign, especially if the offers are being accepted by the other person, and even more so if they are then taking the coaching. These are powerful indicators that you and your team are creating a climate of coaching.
It was through creating a climate of coaching in my practice that allowed us to increase its gross income by over 40% in one year, while I also moved from a state of burnout to really loving what I was doing. Coaching works!

©2005 Brad Swift of Life On Purpose Institute, Inc.
This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

Dr. Brad Swift founded Life On Purpose Institute in 1996 with the vision of creating a World On Purpose by assisting people like yourself to clarify their life purpose & live true to it. Determine how on or off purpose your life is with the fun & insightful Self Test at:
http://lifeonpurpose.com/_forms/self-test.php?source=ezart
Inspire yourself with a fr.ee subscription to Purposeful Pondering Ezine:
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May 18th, 2008

Employee Evaluations: Four Tips to Help Managers with Performance Review Conversations

Posted in School of Management

Managers talk with the people on their teams every day. Whatever the topic, most of these conversations happen with no stress, little anxiety, and minimal tension. But when the conversation is about an employee’s performance, anxieties often abound. Here are four ways to reduce the tension and defensiveness that too often surround performance evaluations.

1. Don’t wait for the meeting to deliver the performance appraisal form.

I worked for large corporations for fifteen years before beginning my consulting career. Every one of those companies GE, United Airlines, PepsiCo took performance appraisal very seriously. And my bosses at those companies also took their responsibilities for performance evaluation seriously as well. But all of my bosses kicked off the appraisal discussion in a way that was guaranteed to get it off to a bad start. How did they begin? They set up the time for the meeting and then waited until I was sitting across the desk to hand me their completed appraisal form.

At the start of the meeting my boss would give me his appraisal form and I would engage all of my speed-reading skills, whipping through the document as fast as I could to see what he had said about my performance. While I was reading the evaluation (and probably missing some key points in my haste to take everything in) my boss would be behind his desk, pretending to work, but in truth trying to gauge how I was reacting to the evaluation he had written.

What a terrible way to begin! Don’t wait until the meeting starts to give the employee your performance appraisal document. It’s far more effective to go up to the employee an hour or so in advance of the meeting, and say something like this: “Mary, you know we’re getting together at two o’clock to go over your performance appraisal. Here it is. Why don’t you take some time between now and then to review it? Read it carefully and jot down any questions that you’d like to ask.”

Giving the person the appraisal to review in advance of the meeting can lessen defensiveness. It allows her time to think about what you’ve written and prevents spur-of-the-moment reactions. You’ll usually find that giving the person a chance to read what you’ve written in advance produces much more effective business discussions.

2. Set a time frame (and give yourself an extra fifteen minutes).

Your discussion of a person’s performance evaluation may be one of the most important interactions you’ll ever have with that individual; make sure you’ve allowed enough time. In most cases, an hour should be sufficient to review the appraisal document itself as well as discuss many of the other subjects that often pop up during performance reviews development activities, career plans, and future goals and projects. Make certain that the very next activity you’ve scheduled after finishing the review isn’t one that must begin at a set time. If you provide yourself with a little flexibility at the end, you can take the time to wrap up the discussion comfortably.

3. Don’t start by discussing the form itself.

Yes, the form is important, but the form simply serves as the formal record of your assessment of how well the individual has done over the past year. Rather than beginning with the first entry on the appraisal form and moving lockstep through the document item-by-item, it’s more effective to start by asking a general question that requires the employee’s thoughtful consideration: “Tim, you’ve had a chance to read the appraisal. Why don’t you start by telling me how you feel the past year has gone?” Then listen as the individual responds and continue the discussion from there.

4. Don’t fixate on getting the employee to agree with your performance appraisal.

One of the most common questions managers ask me during training sessions involves how they can gain an employee’s agreement with what they’ve written in the performance appraisal, particularly when what they’ve written isn’t entirely favorable. “Don’t try!” is my advice to them.

What is a performance appraisal? It is a formal record of the supervisor’s opinion of the quality of the employee’s work. Pay attention to the key phrase, “. . . the supervisor’s opinion . . .”

Of course the employee is going to have a different opinion all of us believe we’re above average. The goal in the performance review discussion is not to gain the employee’s agreement, although it is nice if that happens, the goal is to gain the employee’s understanding. As long as the employee understands how you came up with the evaluation, you’ve done your job. Of course, he may disagree (particularly if you’ve set the bar high and have tough, demanding standards). But don’t waste time trying to convince a person that you’re right and she’s wrong. The important thing is that she understands your expectations and how her performance was assessed.

There’s a lot more to conducting good appraisal discussions, of course. But these four tips should make a tough job just a little bit easier.

Dick Grote is one of America’s best-known consultants on employee performance management. He is the Chairman/CEO of Grote Consulting Corporation and developer of the GroteApproach web-based performance management system at http://www.groteapproach.com

May 7th, 2008

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Posted in School of Management

Being clear about and choosing what I want, followed by a firm decision to achieve that outcome, is where freedom and power is available. Yes, decision does mean ‘killing off’ other options!

A great way to think about goals is that, goal setting is ‘making a choice’.

Handwriting my goal, impresses it on my subconscious. Expressing my goal in the affirmative ensures it is a “moving toward” goal rather than something that I am “moving away from”.

It is then vital to make a deliberate decision to accomplish my goal and also to place strong, heartfelt emotions behind a list of benefits that I receive in producing the result.

For the accomplishment of my goal, there are crucial actions that will need to be taken at specific times. Obstacles (real or imagined) will also want contingencies by answering these questions for myself:

What circumstances or conditions may prevent me from achieving this goal? How will I manage each of those?

Writing down and displaying all of the above will serve as signposts to keep me on track, give me deadlines to increase the efficiency of my actions, provide strategies for overcoming blocks and my listed benefits are my personal reminders of why I am taking the actions, for those times that I procrastinate.

I will increase confidence in my ability to obtain what I want when I record and celebrate my personal victories along the way.

Then it’s time to take a first step and continue taking forward steps.

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.” (Buddhist Proverb)

Thea Westra - EzineArticles Expert Author

©Thea Westra is an international life coach who resides in Perth, Western Australia. She is editor and publisher of a free, monthly newsletter at http://www.forwardsteps.com.au Thea also publishes a few blogs, visit here http://inspiration-daily.blogspot.com/ for directional links to each.