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stress

Apr 26
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Challenges to New Team Members

By Attitude, Blogpost, challenges, Entrepreneurship, excellence, Food for thought, Goals, Human resources, Leadership, management, stress, Success

You have now successfully hired new team members to your organisation. The team is ready to take the journey with you to achieve your business goals. Everyone is onboard and have a clear understanding of your company’s mission and vision. Morale is high and everyone is pumped up. Everything looks perfect and good to go.

But is it really? Even with a tried and tested onboarding process, new staff members can experience problems in the first few weeks of working in your company. As time goes on, it is very unlikely that they will speak up about the challenges and issues that they are facing. This can lead to further problems that might affect their productivity and the business as a whole. As a leader and business owner, you can watch out of for these things and hopefully resolve them as soon as possible.

Adjustment to Relocation

Some of your new hires might have relocated from another city or even from another country to work for your company. They might have brought their families with them. This can cause issues especially if they are unfamiliar with the new location. Despite this being a personal issue, it might negatively affect their work. They might even start to rethink if they made the right decision.

One way of handling this is simply through communication. Your HR can schedule a meeting with the employee and come up with suggestions to resolve the issue or at least lessen the burden of the problem. They can also have them talk to another employee who had gone through the same issue so they can get advice and share their experiences.

Managerial Issues

It can be common for new employees to not be able to form a good relationship with their managers. This can be due to conflicting ideas, or the managerial style not fitting the employee’s style.

Once signs of this problem come up, it is best to have your HR or your onboarding department to get in touch with the employee. It’s important to get to the root of the problem and smooth things out. They could advise the employee and manager to stay in touch regularly so they can get a feel for each other’s way of doing things. It all comes down to understanding and working as a team.

Expectations and Results

Sometimes, new employees tend to take on too much too quickly. This is done to hopefully impress their supervisors or co-workers without knowing that this can lead to unnecessary overload and eventually burning out.

Regularly remind everyone in your organisation to take on reasonable expectations. Trying to achieve impossible expectations can be stressful and is counterproductive in the long run.

Mar 22
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Five Reasons Why Outsourcing Fails

By Blogpost, challenges, Entrepreneurship, Food for thought, Goals, Human resources, Leadership, management, outsourcing, stress, Success

Why Business Owners Fail When Outsourcing Tasks

Your goals are set. You are now ready to grow your business. You have decided to take the outsourcing path to help you reach your business goals. Once you have outsourced those specific tasks, it should be smooth sailing from there, right? But outsourcing is not a miracle solution. Some businesses still fail, despite outsourcing. Here are 5 common reasons why outsourcing fails.

Hi, I’m James Short. As you already know by now, I always encourage entrepreneurs to outsource if they want to have that edge over their competitors. But over the years, I found out that some businesses still do not experience significant growth even after outsourcing. What went wrong and what could have been done? With that said, I’m going to share with you five (5) reasons why business owners fail when it comes to outsourcing those tasks.

They Don’t Have a Clear and Effective Plan

Just like anything in business, we need to have a plan that outlines what your needs and requirements are. This is no different when it comes to outsourcing. Plan out which tasks need to be prioritized. Be specific and detailed in what exactly do you want to accomplish with the given task.

Choosing the Right Outsourcing Partner

Just like with any partnerships, we need to do the due diligence to ensure you’re partnering with the right type of outsourcing partner. Do your research before partnering up with an outsourcing firm or a freelancer. Ask other business owners for feedback on what their business relationship is like with the firm or individual. That way, you can get a good idea if the firm or individual is the right one for your plans and goals.

Too Much Too Soon

Giving your outsourcing team too much too soon and thinking that it’s just going to magically all get done. Outsourcing tasks is a learning process for both you and the outsourcing team. The team needs a bit of time to figure out the most efficient way to do their appointed tasks. Give them that time and you will reap the benefits.

Set and Forget

So many times, I hear business owners just set their outsourcing team on their way but without any follow-up and without any directions, no difference to a team onshore. You’ve got to manage them similarly. Set up regular meetings with the team to check up on progress as well as to get feedback.

Lack of Communication

This is where business owners fall down when it comes to outsourcing. Ensure that you are constantly in touch with your team. There is absolutely no reason not to do this since today’s communication is so much easier and accessible.

So those are the five (5) main reasons why outsourcing fails when it comes to those business owners wanting to outsource.

I’m James Short, looking forward to speaking to you soon.

Mar 15
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Scaling Up Your Business Through Outsourcing

By Blogpost, challenges, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, management, outsourcing, stress, Success

In the course of business, our constant goal is to grow and expand. If the business is doing well, then we can consider scaling up our business. But how do we do it in a way that still leaves us enough time for other things that are important in our lives – like family? This is where outsourcing comes in. And how do you start the process?

Business Evaluation

Entrepreneurs initially take on most of the roles in a company or business, and some businesses even start out with a team of one person.

The demands of running a business are massive. Scaling up means more opportunities, but it also means more work and more responsibilities. If you’re planning on scaling up your business, it means you need to start delegating.

List down all the tasks that you don’t have time to do or do not want to do. You can include tasks that you do not have the skill set to do. Rate those tasks based on how much time you are spending on them and how much it would cost for someone else to do them. These can be data entry jobs, graphic design, social media management or inventory management.

Tasks to Outsource

While it is very tempting to just outsource all the tasks that you do not enjoy doing, some need to remain in house. Take a look at your list and pick out which tasks are valued less but take up a lot of time to accomplish. Pick out which ones you do not have expertise on or those that you do not have the right skill set to perform.

Once you have decided which tasks or roles you want to outsource, come up with a detailed job description on what needs to be done. Specify what type of business you are in, what tools you are using and what needs to be accomplished.

Vague job descriptions may become an issue. You have to specify the duties and responsibilities of each person, and each position. More importantly you need to show how the task fits in the general order of running the business.

Research Before Hiring

It has become easier to find freelancers and independent contractors online. This is a positive point in favor of outsourcing. It allows you to hire workers from almost anywhere in the world. But the industry has a low barrier of entry, there are unqualified contractors who are able slip through the cracks.

You need to hire contractors that have the right skill and the right attitude for the job. Do your research and ask other business owners for recommendations or referrals. Check with reputable agencies or online platforms – these already have a system in place to screen contractors.

Do you want to learn more? Let me take you through the seven (7) steps to outsourcing. Simply comment below “I’M IN,” and I will send you through the details.

Feb 01
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Internal vs. External Pressure

By Blogpost, challenges, Food for thought, stress

Now that all the craziness of the holidays have died down, I’d like to talk about an interesting subject – pressure.

Where is the pressure coming from?

Now, you must have experienced going to shops and people are pushing. The prams, and you’re pushing the trolleys, and it’s just absolutely crazy sometimes. And it’s like – “where’s this pressure all coming from? Where’s all this stress coming from?”

It’s really an interesting opportunity just to take yourselves out of the situation and go – “Wow! Am I buying into this pressure?” And is this pressure or stress – whatever you want to call it – is it an external part?

Is it the people around you? Family? Is it friends – wanted to catch up. Wanted to do this, wanted to do that. You know, the pressure of – got to get presents, I got to do this, I got to do that.

Or is it an internal pressure? Is it the internal pressure of your own internal expectations? Is it the internal pressure of your own beliefs, patterns that you’re playing out?

And particularly within your business environment. What pressure are you putting on yourself or what pressure are you thinking is coming from an external component?

How do I lessen the pressure?

It’s always good to just stop and realize where’s this pressure coming from. Where’s this stress coming from? Is it internal? Is it something you’re putting on yourself?

Or is it external that you’re taking on?

And a good little strategy to actually just go – Wow! It’s just a stop. It’s just a (deep breath). Take that deep breath and go – alright, let’s just have a bit of a time-out here.

What am I feeling? How am I feeling? Where’s this feeling coming from?

Give yourself time to stop and realize what is really happening. You can control the pressure by just taking a couple of deep breaths and giving yourself time to analyse the situation.

Ask yourself some good, key, quality questions. Identify where the pressure is coming from. Then let it go. Do not let yourself get consumed by worries. Just have a laugh. Just have a joke.

So if you feel stressed or pressured today, stop, and think. Where’s this pressure coming from? Is it internally or is it externally? Take a few deep breaths and ask yourself some good, quality questions, and remember, don’t buy into it!

Looking forward to speaking with you soon.

May 14
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Getting Things Done Effectively And Efficiently

By Time Management, Blogpost, habits, management, stress

Your office is busy. Everything is urgent. Nothing can wait. Your team is standing there with a sort of desperate look because they are terrified that they will choose the wrong thing to focus on.

But there’s a way to maintain everyone’s sanity and actually get things done effectively.

“Maintenance is cheaper than repairs.” It applies to your car and can also apply to your business.

Having systems in place is absolutely vital for the smooth daily operations. And these systems will help tremendously when there’s a crisis.

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