Firing Someone – Does it have to be painful, for them and you?

Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute

The need to write this article came about through the recent experience of two of my friends.  Both had been fired.  One for supposed poor performance (although she had never been counselled and at the time was in fact on sick leave) and one because the start up facility she was employed by, suddenly closed down.  Both were senior managers.  Both were loyal, hardworking employees but are now very angry and taking legal action against their former employers.  Why are they so angry?  One could say it’s because they have lost their jobs and this would be quite understandable.  However, the main action that has triggered their anger and catapulted them down the legal pathway (in both cases), was that they were informed of their dismissals by emails.  Yes, that’s right by email!  They were never given the courtesy of a face to face discussion.

Many managers, when faced with the challenge of firing someone, forget, or are unaware of the emotions that are experienced by the person being fired.  Nor are they aware of the behaviour that most often results from these emotions.  It has been well documented that the death of a loved one, a marriage or long term relationship breakup and the loss of one’s job, have an equal and similar impact on one’s emotions.  Think for a moment about the loss of one of your dear relatives or friends through death – how did you feel?  That’s exactly the same feeling that people have when they suddenly and unexpectedly lose their jobs.

The psychologists tell us that there are 5 stages that people go through in this “grief cycle” – Shock, Resistance (often manifested as anger), Acceptance (of the current situation), Exploration (of new opportunities), Commitment (to a new future).  Can any of these emotions be managed via email?

I can well recall the first time as a manager I had to fire someone.  It was for poor performance and I was scared.  I did not sleep the night before wondering what I would say and what would be her reaction.  I carried out the interview in the morning with great fear and trepidation.  I was not sure how the interview went, but was relieved when it was over and then took a break for lunch, but was unable to eat.  I did not know about the “5 stages” at the time, I only knew that I had to do the right thing by the organisation and by the employee.  I arrived back from my break to find a box of chocolates on my desk with a very nice note from the employee saying how much she appreciated my courtesy and kindness.  I guess, intuitively I must have got something right.

Now, from years of experience, I know two things about firing someone:

1. Firstly, the person at all times must maintain his or her self esteem.  This is one of the most basic and important needs that all people have (emailing someone, or even worse as I heard since starting this article, texting, sends a clear message that they are not worthy of a face to face discussion)

2. Secondly, it is vitally important to realise that all people will go through the five stages of the grief cycle (quite often at different paces) and as a manager, it is our role and responsibility to help them progress through these stages, particularly the first two that are likely to occur when they are still with us.

How do you do this?  Well, in my usual style when writing an article such as this, I did my web research.  Sad to say there was not much there.  Under “firing someone” there seemed to be a plethora of articles about the legal requirements and many about the steps to take.  For example, one article suggested the following steps:  Give warning, Document, Document, Document! Time it right, Prepare the paperwork, Don't go it alone (ensure you have someone from HR there), Ensure privacy, Be brief, Watch your tone, Seek feedback, Give a good send-off.  Few of these steps would address the 5 stages of grief.  Many could probably be done by email with the same impact and result!  If these steps were followed, I wonder what “feedback” the manager would receive – would there in fact be a “Good send-off”?

I’m not suggesting that we don’t have to address some of these.  For example, you must cover all of the documentary and legal responsibilities pertinent to your country and organisation’s requirements.  But keep in mind that the fired employee is first and foremost a person just like you with feelings and emotions that must be managed.

Here are some suggestions (assuming of course that you have fulfilled all the other requirements) for the next time that you have to fire someone:

• Before taking any action, ask yourself: “How would I feel if my boss came to me today and said – you’re fired!”  Write down a list of words that describe your feelings.

• If you were in the situation of being fired, how would you like your boss to handle it?  What would you like him/her to do and to say?  Jot down some of your thoughts.

• Now write down a list of the words that best describe your feelings about having to fire someone.  Review all the words you have scribbled down so far and pick out the two or three strongest.  Also keep in mind how you would like to be handled in similar circumstances.

• Script the start of the conversation using the two or three words you have discovered.  e.g. “This is really difficult for me.  I feel apprehensive and worried that I won’t get it right.”

• The next part of your opening script will depend on the circumstances.  For example in a “lay off” situation, it might go something like; “I have been advised that I have to terminate the employment of a number of people.  I am really sad to say that your name is on that list”.  Or, for a non performance issue, it could be something like;  “We have discussed my expectations about your performance and unfortunately they are still not being met.  It now really saddens me (or whatever your feelings are) that I will have to terminate your employment”.

• Be careful.  You can only script the opening few lines, but they are important because they set the scene for the entire interview.

• It is most likely that during the remainder of the interview, the employee will travel backward and forwards between “shock” and “resistance”.  Give your reasons for the termination clearly and succinctly, but do not get into a discussion about justifying yours (or your employer’s) reasons.  Doing so will keep the employee fixed in either of the first two stages and will not help them to progress.  Only sincere listening and clear questioning (not reasoning) will help the employee progress to the acceptance stage.

One factor that is often overlooked when firing someone, is that the way it is done can have as much impact (positive or negative) on the people who remain.  They will be watching (and will invariably get a first hand report from their colleague) about how well or otherwise the process was managed.  The people who remain in the organisation, and whom I assume you want to keep, get a good look at both the manager’s and the organisation’s real people management skills when under the stress of firing someone.  They’ll most certainly ask “Could this happen to me?”

Do People Know Exactly What Event Management and Event Marketing Is

The answer is No….As nowadays any Tom, Dick or Harry has an event management company without knowing the A B C of event management. Event Management is principles and practices associated with planning, managing and staging special events. There are a lot of important components like stage and logistic management, marketing, promotion, event evaluation and event reporting which lead to a successful event.

Now event management and event marketing are two sides of the same coin. Event management can’t go without event marketing, so any company or individual doing event management should think about marketing these events first.

Any event management or marketing company or individual has to ensure success for which they are working. The event management company will work closely with the person for whom they are doing event management for as an extension of his team, providing the focus needed to manage each complex element of the event management process, leaving him free to concentrate on his core responsibilities.

We can categorize events as national events, social events and personal events.
Social events:  consists of award functions, fashion shows, musical shows etc.
Personal events: are marriage functions, birthday parties or any personal celebrations.
National events:  like Republic Day and Independence Day, they are considered to be very important events.

Conducting an event is not an overnight job. These events required proper planning and depth. An expert event manager or organizer has to start the work of organizing event few months earlier. Firstly an expert planner will think of sponsors to conduct the shows. To be very clear, national and personal events do not need marketing, but for social events like award functions, fashion shows etc. proper sponsors, advertisement and of course marketing are required.

Initial step to organize any event is to divide it into different parts.
1- In first part there will be a team of skilled marketing people, who could find good sponsors for the show. Advertisement is also a basic need for the success of an event.
2- Secondly, a group of people works on the venue where the show is to be conducted. The venue, day date and time are equally important factors, as such the place where event is to be conducted should be suitable for the public and even the day and time when the event is going to take place.
3- In the third part the important thing is practice of the show. The other expert group of people works upon the costumes, type of sub events like singing, dancing etc. of the participants. They conduct rehearsal again and again for the success of the show.
4- Fourth part is the selling of tickets in the public and of course the planning of proper security services. It is very necessary to be able control the whole crowd.

Lastly, when all these important functions get clicked together, a successful grand event is organized. In short, to make any event successful the most important thing is planning, and the other step is to follow up accordingly to the plans i.e. e hard work and keen efforts.

How To Select A Consultant - The Three Imperatives

Copyright © 2006 The National Learning Institute

As a manager many years ago when faced with my first challenge of selecting an external consultant, I found myself all at sea.  Fortunately for me, I intuitively hit two of the three selection targets.  The project was to produce a communication video, so it was relatively easy to see and compare what each consultant had previously produced.  I had a number of consultants to choose from, but finally chose the one that I felt most comfortable with and whose work impressed me most.  The project was succesful and in the process, I learned a lot.

Since that time, I have had to employ a number of consultants, I have been a consultant myself for almost 20 years, and I have worked with many other consultancies both large and small.  The following suggestions for selecting a consultant are based on my experience as a manager and in the consultancy field.

What are the three targets that one must hit to successfully select a consultant?  (Note; I am using the term “consultant” to refer to either one person or a consultancy firm).  Firstly and most obviously, the consultant must be able to actually do the work.  Secondly, the consultant must be able to fit in with the people in your organisation and particularly those who will be working on this project.  Finally, if the consultant is good, you should always improve your own knowledge as a result of the project.

1. Can the consultant do the work?  Seems obvious, but there are some traps.  For instance, I remember when starting out as a consultant in partnership with another (who was also new to the role), submitting a tender for a fairly large job and being selected in the final few for interview.  Individually, we’d had some experience in the type of work, but not as a partnership, nor had we worked in the prospective client’s industry.  We won the job.  Why?  The client saw in us some creativity and freshness that was not evident in our competitors.  However, this was an unusual client.  Normally, I would not suggest taking on a consultant (like us) who has not had the depth nor breadth of experience in the project.  So, unless one of your criteria is “freshness”, in terms of selecting for experience here are some tips:

• What are your specifications?  Be very clear on the outputs you will require in the project.  These should always be measured in terms of quality, quantity, time and cost.  Use these output criteria to compare consultants.

• Who has recommended this consultant?  Check their references – ask for the contact of the last job they did.  When checking references, use your above “output criteria” as a guide.

• Are you looking for someone to implement solutions to a problem you have identified, or are you looking for someone to help you identify and clarify the problem?  Or both?  Sometimes it can be useful to split the project into these two parts.

• In discussion with the prospective consultants, do they really give you the time to say what you want before jumping to conclsuons?  If they appear to “have all the answers”, chances are they do not listen very well.

• Does their suggested solution appear to be specifically designed for you or is it a “one size fits all”?  Be wary if it is not specifically designed to meet your project criteria.

• Do they explain the things they can’t do as well as those they can?  This is always a good test of integrity, truefulness and reliability.

• Is their initial response to your request up to your quality standards, sufficiently detailed (but not overly so) to make a decision, and within your time expectations?

• Does the consultant have depth of expertise in the subject matter and breadth of expertise in its application?

• Ask the consultant what is unique about him or her?  What makes them stand out from all the other consultants you might choose?

2. Secondly, will the consultant fit in with the people they will be working with?  This is a critical implementation issue, as whilst they might be able to do the work, if they can’t work harmoniously with the people, the results will be less than optimal.  For instance, we once worked on a major government project (total budget in excess of M$43) where the client continually kept us at arm’s length (for example, on a residential workshop, we were not encouraged to eat or mix socially with the client project leaders).  We met the output requirements for the client, but had we been allowed to work more closely with the client, they would have received a lot more value added service.  In this case, the client should have selected another consultant.

The following tips will help ensure you get the right client/consultant match.

• Is the consultant likely to be able to gain the respect and trust of your key stakeholders?

• Could you trust this person (people)?

• What is the process they will use? i.e, How will they work within the organisation?  How will they be seen?  Try to visualise the consultant working with you and the other people as they complete the project.  Will it work?  Is it likely to be a good partnership?

• Who specifically (from the consultancy) will be working on the project and what will be their role?  For example, will the people you are interviewing be carrying out the work?  Be wary of consultancies that have “front people” that win the jobs, then send in less experienced people to do the work.

• Ask the consultant to describe what a “good working relationship” looks like to them.  Is the description the consultant gives you of a “good working relationship” likely to be, and to be seen to be, a partnership?

3. Thirdly, will you be able ot learn from this consultant?  One of the reasons you hire a consultant is that you (or your organisation) does not have the depth nor breadth of experienece to successfully carry out the project.  One of your aims should be to increase your own experience through this project.  For example:

• Why did you decide to employ a consultant?  What were the gaps you could not fill internally?

• What will you be likely to learn from this consultant?

• Will you increase your knowledge of both process management (how the consultant works) as well as content management (their area of expertise)?

• Will the consultant strengthen and support your role in the organisation?

Finally, if all of your criteria have been met and you cannot decide between two apprently equal consultants, consider setting them a small task or part of the project to complete as part of the selection process.  For example, some years ago we were in competition with another large consultancy for a sizeable project with an initial budget in excess of M$1.  The client could not decide between the two of us, so he asked us each to undertake a small project (for which he paid us both), which would ultimately become part of the larger project.  When we each completed the small project, he had an excellent idea of both our capability and the manner in which we worked.  After all, isn’t the final selection criterion is actually trying the consultant out?

Oh, yes.  In case you’re wondering, we won the job!

Business Chart and Reporting

Today’s management teams must rely heavily on business charts and business reports to make decisions and run their business efficiently. Management teams are especially crunched for time and need quick easy ways to analyze large amounts of data and information and make informed decisions. Without the support of their employees these management teams would be unable to perform their responsibilities and drive the business in the right direction. Fortunately management does have the support of their employees and are able to take advantage of informational documents, such as a business chart and a business report.

Because supplemental tools like business charts and business reports are so vital to the success of a company, let’s take a minute to review how management can use these documents as they seek to identify key performance indicators and make decisions that will ultimately drive the success of their business.

A business chart can provide management with a wealth of information. In addition to the valuable information a business chart provides, it also presents information in a manner that is easy to view, analyze and interpret. The value a business chart offers cannot be overstated. To begin with a business chart saves the management team time. Think about the difficulties involved in sifting through page after page of data and trying to make meaningful decisions based on what you gathered from that data. Now think about the ease of viewing that same information on one single page that offers a graphical representation, like a business chart does, and how much easier it is to not only understand what the data is telling you but also to make decisions based off of the information present by the business chart. As you can see, making use of a business chart allows management to cut down on their time spent analyzing and interpreting information and spend more time making decisions that will drive the company to future success.

Likewise, a business report can offer similar value to the management team. As a manager one is asked to make decisions concerning a variety of aspects within the business. Management is expected to know the ins and outs of every portion of the business. Again, the management team’s time is valuable and they can hardly be expected to spend the time getting to know the business at every core level. Time simply does not permit this. Thus management must rely on business reports from its supporting cast to keep them up to date on the various departments and divisions within the business. A valuable business report will provide a concise yet detailed overview of the condition of the divisions. In this way a business report can keep a manager in tune with his subordinates and ensure he has a firm grasp on the direction the company as a whole needs to take.

If anything, the key to helping management make the right decisions is being able to provide them with valuable and accurate information, whether it be in the form of a business chart or a business report, so that they can make informed managerial decisions ensuring the firm is headed in the right direction.

Behavioral Interviewing

Have you ever wondered, while interviewing a candidate, how will you suspend your own personal biases during the interview? Well, if you have, you might want to read on and learn how to do just that.

Behavioral interviewing is a relatively new mode of job interviewing. Employers such as AT&T and Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) have been using behavioral interviewing for 15 years, and because increasing numbers of employers are using behavior-based methods to screen job candidates, understanding how to excel in this interview environment is becoming a crucial job-hunting skill.

What is Behavior Based Interviewing? Behavior-based interviewing focuses on your past experiences, behaviors, attitudes, personal skills and capacities that are job-related. It is based on the belief that past behavior and performance predicts future behavior and performance. You may use work experience, outsides activities, hobbies, volunteer work, school projects, family life as examples of your past behavior. However we suggest to focus on job related performance as much as possible.


Behavioral Interviewing Questions. This is the key to matching behavioral interviewing questions with specific soft sills or competencies. Below is a short list of 22 competencies with their definitions, suggestions for effective interviewing hints and a sample question for each.

1. Conflict Management: Addressing and resolving conflict constructively.

• Listen for proactive identification and resolution of concerns and issues.
• Sample question: “Describe the most difficult conflict you’ve ever had to manage.”

2. Employee Development/Coaching: Facilitating and supporting the professional growth of others.

• Listen for a belief in the potential of others and promoting of learning and development.
• Sample question: “Describe your personal experience with a mentor or coach.”

3. Interpersonal Skills: Effectively communicating, building rapport and relating well to all kinds of people.

• Listen for self-awareness, understanding and an ability to communicate effectively with others regardless of differences.
• Sample question: “Describe the most difficult working relationship you’ve had with an individual.”

4. Teamwork: Working effectively and productively with other.

• Listen for a strong commitment and contributions to team members working towards a specific goal.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of one of the most significant contributions you made as a member of a high performing team.”

5. Self-Management: Demonstrating self-control and an ability to manage time and priorities.

• Listen for composure, assertiveness and emotional stability.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of when you were able to meet the personal and professional demands in your life, yet still maintained a healthy balance.”

6. Empathy: Identifying with and caring about others.

• Listen for genuine caring, compassion and initiative in assisting others without expectations of rewards.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of when you identified with someone else’s difficulties at work.”

7. Planning/Organizing: Utilizing logical, systematic and orderly procedures to meet objectives.

• Listen for logical, organized and systematic approaches.
• Sample question: “ Describe the most complex assignment or project you’ve worked on.”

8. Customer Service: Anticipating, meeting and/or exceeding customer needs, wants and expectations.

• Listen for extraordinary efforts in responding to customer needs and wants to insure satisfaction.
• Sample question: “ Give me an example of when you went out of your way for a customer.”

9. Written Communication: Writing clearly, succinctly and understandably.

Look for clear and understandable knowledge or written communication.
Sample question: “Give me an example of something you wrote for work that was effective in achieving a communication goal.”

10. Presenting: Speaking effectively to small and large groups.

• Listen for awareness, accuracy and composure.
• Sample question: “ Describe a situation when you had to give a presentation to a group of people you have never met.”

11. Persuasion: Convincing others to change the way they think, believe or behave.

• Listen for persistence, determination and a “never-give-up” attitude in efforts to meet goals.
• Sample question: “Describe a situation where you were able to convince others to your way of thinking.”

12. Goal Orientation: Energetically focusing efforts on meeting a goal, mission or objective.

• Listen for the ability to maintain their direction in spite of obstacles in their path.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of the most significant professional goal you have met.”

13. Flexibility: Agility in adapting to change.

• Listen for a positive attitude towards lots of activity, multi-tasking and change, in general.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of when you were forced to change priorities or direction.”

14. Continuous Learning: Taking initiative in learning and implementing new concepts, technologies and/or methods.

• Listen for a positive attitude towards self-improvement, learning and the application of knowledge.
• Sample question: “How do you keep current on what’s going on in your field?”

15. Personal Effectiveness: Demonstrating initiative, self-confidence, resiliency and a willingness to take responsibility for personal actions.

• Listen for a strong sense of self, personal responsibility, courage and resilience.
• Sample question: “What do you think has enabled you to meet your goals?”

16. Problem Solving: Anticipating, analyzing, diagnosing and resolving problems.

• Listen for an analytical and disciplined approach to solving problems.
• Sample question: “Describe a situation when you anticipated a problem.”

17. Negotiation: Facilitating agreements between two or more parties.

• Listen for seasoned expertise in negotiating “win-win” agreements.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of when you were able to facilitate a “win-win” agreement between two or more adversarial parties.”

18. Management: Achieving extraordinary results through effective management of resources, systems and processes.

• Listen for shrewd business sense, understanding of operational issues and an ability to improve the bottom line.
• Sample question: “Describe the largest budget you’ve ever developed and had responsibility for managing.”

19. Leadership: Achieving extraordinary business results through people.

• Listen for an ability to obtain the trust, commitment and motivation of others to achieve goals and objectives.
• Sample question: “If you have held a leadership position in the past, draw the organizational chart above and below your position to illustrate the scope of your leadership responsibilities.”

20. Decision Making: Utilizing effective processes to make decisions.

• Listen for an ability to make timely decisions under difficult circumstances.
• Sample question: “Give me an example of when you had to make a quick decision when the risk of making an error was high.”

21. Futuristic Thinking: Imagining, envisioning, projecting and/or predicting what has not yet been realized.

• Listen for optimism, predictions and a commitment to future possibilities.
• Sample question: “Describe a situation when you were correct in seeing a future trend that others didn’t.”

22. Creativity/Innovation: Adapting traditional or devising new approaches, concepts, methods, models, designs, processes, technologies, and/or systems.

• Listen for “out-of-the-box” thinking and unusual approaches.
• Sample question: “ Describe a work situation when you adapted a concept, design, process or system to meet a need.”

Be sure to probe for as many details and specifics as possible such as names, dates and other verifiable information. Skilled interviewers will also ask candidates for their thoughts or feelings about a situation to gain further insight.

How Can I Prepare for A Behavioral Interview?

• Be familiar with the type of positions for which you’re applying.
• Reflect on your own background. What skills do you have that relate to the job you are applying for?
• Think of examples from your past experience where you demonstrated those skills. How can you give an example about your use of particular skills or knowledge?
• Be prepared to provide examples of when results didn’t turn out as you planned. What did you do then? In hindsight, what would you do differently?
• Identify two or three of your strengths and determine how you will convey these assets during the interview.
• Once you land your desired position, keep a personal achievement diary to help document demonstrated performance.

How Do I Prepare For a Behavioral Interview If I Am The Interviewer or Company Hiring?

• If the job could talk; what would it say? About:
- The behaviors of the person who will always be able to deliver superior performance?
- The attitudes of the people doing the job?
- The attributes or soft skills needed for superior performance?

• Job Benchmarking with a system such as Trimetrix, reveals why, how and what an individual can contribute to a job.

• It identifies a complete hierarchy of competencies or personal skills. It allows you to clarify any position issues. It prioritizes and validates the competencies required.

• This can be done for any:
- Leadership/Management Exempt position
- Professional Exempt position
- Hourly non-exempt position

• Anytime you need an unbiased opinion about whether someone is right or wrong for the job, the computer will analyze the input of up to ten respondents to identify the importance of the 23 soft skills competencies.

• Where can you do this…through the Internet! Have up to ten respondents identify the importance of the 23 soft skills competencies and then see how your candidate matches up.

For more information about the Trimetrix Process or how to benchmark a job,
please feel free to call Well-Run Concepts at 877-566-2900, email us at
Success@Well-Run.com or visit us on the Web at www.Well-Run.com

The premise behind behavioral interviewing is that the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in similar situations. Behavioral interviewing, in fact, is said to be 55 percent predictive of future on-the-job behavior, while traditional interviewing is only ten percent predictive.

Good luck with the process of Behavioral Interviewing and Well-Run Concepts encourages you to use the Behavioral Interviewing questions provided in this article to get you started.

Continuous Improvement of Business Audits

An effective audit process will mean that audit teams will be taking a systematic approach to gathering and interpreting data and information. In order to maximise the value of the outcomes of the audits the management should: Accept that the audit activity needs appropriate resourcing, including training of auditors, education of operational and management staff, and physical and financial funding. If any of these are inadequate, then the quality of outcomes will suffer. Accept that there will be limitations to the data gathered and the outcomes produced, not least because of the influence of the quality and quantity of resources allocated to the audit activity, but also because of the varying standards of judgement and interpretation that may be applied to the outcomes; Focus on trends, take appropriate corrective action on specific issues, but look for trends and patterns that indicate underlying, hidden, problems that need addressing; Ensure that the auditing activity is flexible and adaptable, in order to make it compatible with the culture and structure of the organisation, rather than adopt a rigid, unchanging process which is likely to be inappropriate and producing inaccurate results; Challenge the findings, the audit process will not be infallible, and should be challenged continuously to ensure that it is, itself, performing effectively; Apply the highest possible standards to the interpretation of results and judgement on what action to take, this requires training, experience, expertise, awareness of the internal and external environment, and an awareness of the impact of proposed changes on the motivation and morale levels of staff and managers, and an ability to forecast the impact on the operational and strategic objectives.

However, there are some dangers that must be avoided in order to maximise the effect of the audits. These include: Overload of data and information, the result either or too many audits being scheduled in general and-or the unnecessary auditing of areas of activity that are obviously performing well. This can be avoided by targeting the audits and schedules more thoughtfully; Overload of improvement recommendations, not in itself a danger, but the organisation can find it impossible to resource, in terms of budget, time, or human resources - all the improvements identified. The answer is to prioritise, focusing on those improvements that will bring greatest value to the achieving of the organisation’s objectives; Complacency, where results are apparently positive in most areas, there is a danger that management will become complacent. By adopting the kaizen continuous improvement approach to auditing, this should be avoided; Over-reliance on the auditing process, by leaving the identification and correction of poor performance to the audit process, rather than the audit process at least in part confirming that positive, continuous improvement activity is taking place; Managers ignoring the relevance of audit findings the most damaging response. If managers do not take the audit results and recommendations seriously and refuse to implement, or only half-heartedly implement the required changes, then the value of the audit process is wasted.

Although the auditing should be scheduled to examine all processes and activity on a regular basis, there is a need for additional emphasis to be given to auditing poor performers. These are activities, processes, functions, systems, where problems are visible of suspected, but the causes are not certain and need further investigation. In these cases management should arrange for ad hoc audits, and-or for these areas to be given priority in current or imminent auditing activity. It is not acceptable to rely on a generic auditing approach. Not dealing with visible or suspected poor performers immediately will allow poor performance to cause immediate and possibly long term damage. Inevitably, the longer the problems remain unaddressed, the more difficult it will be to take corrective action.

There is a danger that management will see only the audit results and concentrate on the decision making as to what improvements to make, and how to implement these. However, management must remember that the audit results are drawn from the activities of people. This means employees, operational staff, managers, specialists, suppliers, customers, stakeholders. Feedback, shaped and delivered in an appropriate manner, depending on the target group, must be seen as an essential element of effective auditing and successful implementation of changes. Not informing people of the rationale, the purpose, the results, and the positive contribution made by auditing, will lead to low morale and motivation, dissatisfaction, and possibly conflict.

It is essential that the improvements generated by the audits strengthen the organisation’s capability to compete. In order to ensure this happens, management will need to be aware that: It will often be necessary for improvement action to be prioritised. Where this is the case, then those improvements that will contribute the most value to the organisation’s competitiveness should be given higher priority. This is a responsibility of management, who will need to be appropriately skilled in this task; The business sector and general external environment is changing rapidly, and even relatively recent outcomes and improvement recommendations may no longer be appropriate due to significant external changes. This requires management to be alert to such changes and to have the ability to interpret how their organisation should best respond; After improvement changes have been implemented these will have, by default, altered the nature of activities and processes, and will need monitoring, auditing, to ensure that the effect is positive. It is highly likely that most changes made will need adjustment, especially in the early stages after implementation. This must be an integral, high profile, element of the change process.

Business Performance Audits are critical to the success of the organisation. The specific functional, process, and activity improvements generated by the Performance Audits are important and must be visible supported by the management. However, strategic and operational priorities will be constantly changing. Senior management must also ensure that the audit activity contributes positively and supports the strategic direction that the organisation is taking. It is the responsibility of senior management to continuously monitor the effectiveness of the auditing activity in the light of this requirement, and make appropriate changes if necessary.

To obtain the maximum benefit from Business Performance Audits the management must view them as a critically important element of the business. Appropriate resources must be allocated to the activity itself, to the interpretation of results, and to the implementation of improvements generated. Auditing must be integrated into the continuous improvement approach of the organisation. In addition, the objectives of the auditing process must be to generate improvements that contribute positively to operational and strategic objectives. If this approach is taken by management, then the organisation will benefit greatly from the continuous improvements that an effective auditing process can deliver, enabling it to continue to perform to the best of its ability.

Auditing Business Performance

At one level this is a relatively simple tool, requiring the management to select a key area of business activity and to audit performance in that area, comparing to previous performance levels and, ideally, benchmarking against known best practice and performance levels. The information generated by these audits will then be used to identify unsatisfactory performance and enable measures to be introduced to bring about improvements.

The business areas that should be regularly audited, in any business, whether public, private, or not-for-profit, include: External Environment: well established tools and techniques are available and used to scan the external environment for information on issues, events, and trends that will impact on the strategies and performance capabilities of the organisation. The quality of this information, and the interpretations of it, is critical, as it is the foundation stone of the strategic planning activity that follows. An audit of processes, tools, and techniques, and the quality of output, is essential in ensuring that the strategic planning process is provided with high quality, relevant, valid information.

Competitors: although an element of the external environment analysis activity, this deserves a separate mention. Monitoring and-or benchmarking - variations of auditing - of competitor performance is essential. Competitors are, by default, in the same business, and gaining knowledge of competitor performance levels, in as many key areas as possible, will bring benefits to any organisation in any sector.

Strategic Planning: often an area of activity that is not evaluated, because it is carried out by the senior executive levels of management, but should be. In addition to the information gathering discussed above, the level of expertise in strategic planning of the managers, the rationale and justification for the chosen strategies, the processes used to communicate the strategies throughout the organisation, the level of support and resources provided for implementation, the performance of existing and previous strategies, are all areas that should be audited in order for optimum performance to be continuously achieved.

Leadership: separate from the Strategy audit, the quality of leadership should be audited regularly. A set of competencies for leadership, at all levels in the organisation, should be drawn up, and the leadership performance measured against these. Development activity should also be based on these competencies, and on eliminating or reducing weaknesses identified by the audit.

Culture: the existing culture that blend of beliefs, values, perceptions, behaviour, that makes up the culture of the organisation should be regularly audited and compared to the culture that is desired by, the objective of, the organisation’s leaders. Particularly at times when the organisation is planning or undergoing major change, information gathered from these audits will be invaluable.

Financial: where, although there is usually a framework of management and financial accounting processes, there is a need to rigorously and regularly audit the effectiveness of these, to ensure that the budgeting and accounting activity is as productive as possible.

Suppliers: one of the most critical areas of any organisation’s activity, the start of the supply chain, supplier performance, including the performance of those in the organisation who audit supplier performance, must be audited, rigorously and regularly. Now accepted, in parallel with research & design and strategic planning, as one of the foundation stones of quality assurance, any weakness in supplier performance can damage the organisation, sometimes irreparably. Auditing ensures that optimum performance levels are maintained.

Physical Resources: the quality of and use of physical resources, such as raw materials, operational equipment, technological equipment and systems, furniture, fittings, and buildings, all need regular auditing to ensure that the most appropriate resources are purchased, installed, maintained, and used effectively.

Human Resources: this entails auditing the quality of human resources employed by the organisation, the way in which they are deployed, how well they are trained and developed, as well as what opportunities and channels exist for progression. Every aspect of human resources activity should be audited at all levels, from operational up to and including executive level.

Equality: encompassing diversity, discrimination, and equality of opportunity which are all key areas that if not audited regularly to ensure high levels of performance not only abiding by legislative requirements but also contributing positively to the culture of the organisation will lead to conflict, dissatisfaction, lower morale, lower motivation, and ultimately lower levels of performance.

Internal Customers: often ignored, the level of satisfaction of internal customers the next department, individual, or team, that handles the next stage of production or service creation is critical. Overwhelming evidence shows that dissatisfaction of internal customers, leading to breakdowns in communication and cooperation, is one of the major causes of poor overall performance.

Distribution: of the products and-or services provided by the organisation is an essential element in making the organisation successful. Auditing this process will ensure that logistics best practices are in place, and that distribution activity is contributing positively, in terms of financial costs and corporate identity, to marketing, sales, and customer service efforts.

External Customers: auditing the satisfaction levels of external customers is a critical activity that should be carried out on a frequent basis. Customers here include all those at separate points in the distribution chain, through to buyers and end users. Information drawn from these audits will ensure that the organisation is in tune with and can respond appropriately to the needs of its most important stakeholders its external customers.

Stakeholder Relationships: stakeholders are any individual, team, external organisation, that has a legitimate interest in the performance of the organisation. This could include, depending on the sector and specific organisation: employees, unions, parents, relatives, local or national media, local authorities, emergency services, shareholders, financial institutions, funding bodies, governors, national or international governments, strategic partners, and of course, a variety of external customers. Relationships with each of these, in their own way, are critical, and should be audited regularly to ensure that they are as healthy as possible.

Quality System: deliberately listed as the last area to be regularly audited, this is an audit that should be carried out in addition to all the individual audits listed above. Whether an organisation has an externally certificated quality assurance management system, or an internal only system, there should be quality criteria set for every critical activity, event, stage, and process, from the starting point to the final point of the supply chain from the earliest stages of design and supply activity to the point where the product or service is in the hands of the final, end-user customer. Quality criteria that describe required quality levels, performance levels, and outputs, are essential to the success of any organisation. The quality system, including the internal and external auditing processes, should be audited to make certain that it is performing as intended that is, assuring that the required quality standards are being met, and of course, continuously improving.

Effective auditing will bring a number of benefits to the organisation. The first group of benefits are those where obvious weaknesses or problems are identified, including: identifying where immediate improvements could be made; identifying emerging trends that may signify corrective, defensive, or offensive action is needed. The second group of benefits are more subtle, and include: identifying the actual situation, rather than what is perceived to be the case by management or specialists; increasing the pool of knowledge that individuals and teams can learn from; ensuring that the operational activity is, as intended, supporting the strategic objectives: establishing a culture that expects performance to be regularly audited and evaluated: establishes a culture that is driven by continuous improvement activity.

Unless an organisation continuously audits and evaluates its performance in all key areas, it cannot know for certain where poor performance is occurring, and it cannot take corrective action because it is not aware of the problem, or it does not have sufficient information on which to base appropriate action. Rigorous, regular auditing will provide a flow of valuable information that the organisation’s management can use to decide on operational changes that will improve performance in critical areas. Applied across the whole organisation, this will provide the strategic objectives with a stronger foundation of support, and ultimately more chance of success.

Angel Investors: 7 Online Business Plan Scams and 1 Real Deal

We've all seen the hype: "We'll put your plan in front of thousands of investors!" "We'll write you an award-winning online business plan!" "Only $3,000 for thousands of investors to learn about your company!"

I cringe every time I see one of these ads. Vultures are preying on honest business people who want to fund their businesses. Here are some ways to spot them:

1. "Only qualified investors see your business plan." Yeah, sure. And who "qualifies" them? Have a friend try to sign up as an investor (that part is usually free). How is she "qualified"? Is there a background check? Does she submit a financial statement? Odds are that she will be asked to do nothing more than sign a statement that she has a certain net worth. That's no "qualification" in my book. So who are these "investors"? Who knows. One could be your strongest competitor.

2. "You approve anyone who sees your business plan." Okay. So what are you going to do to qualify the potential investor? Are you going to run a background check? ask for ID? ask for tax returns? or just be so happy that anyone wants to see your business plan that you jump on the idea? (That's how these scams get away with charging thousands of dollars -- too many entrepreneurs are desperate for funding.)

3. "It's only $500 (or $300 or $100) to register." What does it matter if it's free? If it is diverting your time and energy and resources away from finding a viable investor, it's not worth it.

4. "Your idea is great, but we need to put it into our format. This will only cost $800." Don't walk -- run from these guys.

5. "Your idea is so great that we want to invest $2,000 in it." (That's after you spend $5,000 to put it into "their" system.) Do I really need to comment on this?

6. "Talk with a satisfied customer, or 2 or 3." Here's this entrepreneur who just got $2 million in funding, and he has nothing better to do than sell the web scam to you? Trust me, entrepreneurs who just get funded barely have time to eat, let alone talk.

7. "Look at all these written testimonials." This is harder to disprove because the testimonials look so real -- even the companies might be real. But unless the testimonials, and the companies, can be verified independently, I wouldn't trust them. And I'll lay odds that they cannot be verified independently.

There is one huge exception to this: ACE-Net (http://activecapital.org). This is more properly the Access to Capital Electronic Network run by venture capitalists, institutional investors and individual accredited investors. It was developed by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy to encourage the creation of a national marketplace for investors to find and invest in equity offers by small companies.

ACE-Net isn't for all companies. Those seeking under $1 million will probably find the paperwork daunting. Those seeking over $5 million won't qualify. There are special qualifications, and of course lots of forms to fill out -- but nothing like the forms required for a formal initial public offering.

But for those who do qualify, it's an amazing tool in raising financing. Spend some time with the website and the forms, and see if your local SBA office can put you in touch with another company that went through the process.

As with any investor tool, don't rely exclusively on ACE-Net. Use it in conjunction with your personally developed targeted funding search. This, combined with an exceptional business plan, doesn't guarantee success but it places your company head and shoulders above all the rest.

Guide to business and data trends

If one factor is to be named on which today’s business world stands it is undoubtedly the data management system of organization. The significance of data captures and interpretation is such that many make and break of most business organizations and big corporate houses depend on efficient data management. Collecting data known, as capturing data at the first place is indispensable for any business house. All type of trading needs data, to manage both the internal and eternal working of the company. Information about details of products dealt by organization, employees working for the growth of company and the marketing opportunities available each aspect need to be studied carefully and analyzed for business promotion, expansion and even day-to-day normal running of business. Data manipulation and interpretation has been an integral part of enterprises since long only the methods of data entry, storage and retrieval keep on being upgraded to suit growing needs of business world. Older methods of huge paper work for data management requirements of a company have long given way to the computer age and an era of paperless offices is on its way to live for long. Computer handling of data is much more efficient, reliable and fast for all types of data needs in any business. Gathering huge amounts of data at one place and being able to manipulate it easily is one of the greatest advantage of digital data setups. Computerized information’s can be stored on variety of media depending on the requirement, nature and volume of data. Very Large amounts of data that is necessary to be retrieved only when needed can be stored on secondary storage devices for permanent accumulation. Hard disks and CD-ROM’s have been popular in acting as data repositories. Data can be written to CD-ROM’s by way of burning them using CD-writers and information in hard-disk is stored with the help of any computer. Even data sharing and transfer has become a matter of minutes by the invention of computerized data management. Information about anything in business can be easily accessed by anyone whoever has the powers to do so even of he is situated at remote distances. In special business organizations where data transfer and sharing is vital for its success emergence of computers has been a heavenly blessing and has given a huge boost to its economic status. Airline reservations, railway bookings, knowing the performance of business in different branches of the organization all has been made easy by introduction of digital computing systems. These data spreading and keeping of backup copies, apart from serving good to the business has also created threat of data theft and data damages for business. Hackers from all over world and also social technical culprits impose high risk of accessing and misusing vital facts of business. Apart from natural damages like that of fire, flood, lightning or sudden accidents business data needs to be safeguarded from ill- intentions of some malicious human beings. All these necessities have given intense boost to data security software and other safety measures implied by companies. Even the extra costs incurred in beginning for implying protection against anticipated data loss are worth being considered for long term gains of business houses

Business Documenting - The must for all companies

Surprisingly many businesses fail to create such an essential item; the reality is that these types of businesses and entrepreneurs who don't create a documented system usually spend lots of time training and supervising employees. Often they forget that the reason an employee or other person was brought into the business was to help it grow yet spending time on re-training or needing to quality check work constantly is not growing the business and it is a huge waste of time. The standardized procedures do not need to be extravagant, often times the simpler the better. Get a piece of paper or type up each step involved in performing a specific task or process. Employees, contractors, temps and so on should also be involved in this process. Take the completed documents, print them up in binders or other media and hand them out to all the people in the organization. Once the business has been thoroughly documented and the work standards created make sure that they are regularly followed, no exceptions. If there are any problems with a document simply get feedback from the employees, then go back and revise the standards. Once an area or process has been formally documented begin continuous improvement efforts, go out and look for simple commonsense ways to improve each and every process to become more efficient. Greater efficiency ultimately leads to the business becoming more profitable.