Business Consulting: How to Make Meetings More Efficient and Productive

The old adage, “Time is Money”, has always been true. Even in today’s workplace, every single minute definitely counts. Unfortunately, so many professionals waste a lot of time sitting at their desks just waiting for the day to end. As a result, very little is accomplished. Interestingly, however, many workers are say that they biggest time-wasting activity in the workplace is having too many conference calls and meetings.

For managers and business owners, meetings are essential so there is no way they can vanish. However, they need to be given the right purpose and context for them to become engaging and meaningful.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to make sure your meetings with your team members are productive. Below are some tips on how you may achieve this:

Have Clear Goals

Everyone who is invited to attend the meeting has to know and understand its purpose. Include in your invitation what the meeting is about, and what they can expect during the meeting. This way, everyone is going to be on the same page. If possible, you should have an agenda, and make sure you stick with it during the meeting.

Limit the Number of Your Attendees

The fewer your attendees are, the more intimate your meeting will be. According to experts, only the right people should be invited to meetings. Also, the group should be small enough so that 2 pizzas would be enough to feed the attendees. 

30 Minutes Should Be Enough

Of course, there are more important meetings that may require longer hours to complete. But when it comes to regular staff meetings, it is recommended that you stick to 30 minutes or less. According to research, most people’s attention spans just range between 10 and 18 minutes. When you go longer than that, you can expect your audience to leave the conversation…mentally. Furthermore, limiting the duration of your meeting will allow your attendees to get their thoughts organized pretty quick. 

Do Not Allow Any Distractions from Technology

In order for your business meetings to be efficient, make sure that everyone has their cell phones turned off or in silent mode. This way, nobody will have to check their phones for text messages, calls, or emails. This will keep them focused on the meeting. Besides, this is considered the right business etiquette.

Delegate Responsibility for Decisions and Tasks

At the end of every meeting, you should assign action items to particular people. This will make accountability clear, and will also direct people with questions to the appropriate people. As a result, each project will run smoothly and can be completed on a timely manner.

In summary, productive meetings are the result of careful planning and execution. As businessconsulting specialists always say, once the purpose of a meeting is determined, it will become easier to make it productive and meaningful.

6 Benefits of Having a Personal Coach That You Cannot Ignore

We have all heard about personal development, but not all of us understands what it actually means. Well, personal development is about investing in yourself so that you may be able to deal with anything that you may encounter in life. Personal development also allows you to be proactive – you learn how to make things happen instead of waiting for things to happen.

If you’ve been advised to hire a persona coach, but are still hesitant to do so, you should learn more about the benefits of personal development.

Here’s what having a personal development mindset will give you:

SELF AWARENESS

Through personal development, you are able to know your real self – who you are, what your beliefs are, and what your purpose is. You can never be fulfilled if you keep in chasing other people’s dreams. So if you want to be truly happy, you’ve got to design your life according to who you are and what you are passionate about. A personal coach will help you become more self-aware, which is the basic step in personal development.

SENSE OF DIRECTION

Once you’ve achieved self-awareness, you will have a better idea of what you want to achieve in life. It becomes easier to make decisions because your goals are clear. You also learn to distinguish which undertakings are worth your time and effort, and which ones aren’t.

IMPROVED FOCUS

With the help of a personal coach, you gain more clarity. On a daily basis, a lot of tasks will come your way and get your attention. But as you personal development improves, you become better at prioritization. You feel more certain about your objectives, and you can better identify which tasks can give you the best results given the resources you’ve got at the moment.

MOTIVATION

When you are clear about the things you want to achieve in life, it becomes easier for you to see the benefits of making an effort. The challenges and difficulties you are about to face will not stop you from pursuing your goals because your eyes are set on the positive results. With strong personal development, you have more reasons and motivation to take action.

RESILIENCE

There will always be tough times. But with great personal development, you will acquire traits and skills that will allow you to deal with the challenges more effectively. While personal development will not prevent bad things from happening to you, it will certainly equip you with skills so you may overcome them.

BETTER RELATIONSHIPS

The best thing about having a personal coach for personal development is that it helps you improve your relationships with other people, particularly your family and friends. You also acquire the necessary skills that will allow you to enrich those relationships that have the biggest impact on your life.

Do You Need a Business Coach to Be an Effective Leader?

Every boss wants to be the best boss, but this is easier said than done. Managers have the responsibility to achieve all the desired results of the company; they need to attend meetings; and they need to keep their employees happy and productive.

If becoming a boss is part of your career plan, then you’ve got to start developing that something special to move up the corporate ladder. Do some self-assessment and decide if you have any of these signs that you have a potential to be a great boss.

You stand up for your team

If you have the ability to stand up for your people, that is certainly a good trait of a boss. To be an effective leader, you should focus on your employees, and then your customers. Managers have to realize that in order for them to satisfy their customers, they need to satisfy the people who serve their customers – their employees.

You are a keen observer

Effective leaders are always able to anticipate problems and prevent them from happening. You will be able to do this if you are observant. As a leader, you also need to rely on your gut-feel. You need to know how to recognize that there is a problem even when everyone is saying there isn’t. By taking time to look at your employees – how they work, how they deal with one another, etc – you will have a clear idea of how everything is around the workplace.

You are empathetic

You can be a great boss if you can understand and feel someone else’s happiness and pain. According to experts, effective leaders are special individuals because they place so much importance to developing good relationships with people. For them, employees are not just individuals who are paid to do their jobs. Good leaders know that employees are human beings, who have emotions, and who have problems to deal with as well. With this in mind, leaders become more cautious of how they treat people, and this results in the development of a good relationship between them and their employees.

You are open to the idea of being coached

Did you know that even the best and most successful CEOs have their own mentors and advisers? No matter how great and successful a leader is, it is still important that he or she continues to learn. Learning is a process that has no end.

If you want to be a great leader someday, you have to be willing to be coached and mentored. A business coach, perhaps, will be very helpful in your career especially if you are just starting out. With the help of a mentor or coach, you will learn not what to do, but how to do things successfully. 

Team Building Mistakes Business Leaders Should Avoid

Team building is essential in any organization or business. And just like everything else, there are different ways you can go about it. The most important thing you should remember as the business owner is that your team is human. They have emotions and feelings which you have to take into consideration when you plan a team building activity.

Below are the common team building mistakes you should avoid at all costs:

a. Assuming that everyone is equal

Your team consists of different people, who essentially have varying skills, learning abilities, personalities, and even temperaments. Thus, there is no way you should assume that they will all have the same reaction to your company policies.

b. Showing that you prefer someone over another

Being a professional, you’ve got to be very careful not to make your people feel that you prefer a particular employee. When your workers sense that you like someone more than you like the others, they will begin to lose motivation and engagement.

c. Letting cliques thrive

By allowing cliques to blossom in your team, you are also welcoming segregation in the workplace. When this happens, your business won’t gain the benefits collaboration can bring to an organization. What’s worse is that it could cause resentment among your employees towards one another.

d. Being too subjective

A good leader is someone who is able to remain objective when dealing with his or her people, and when making important company decisions. There’s no way you can build a good team if you are obviously subjective.

e. Not having clear goals

Unless you have set clear goals for your team, you are headed for failure. Before you expect your team to perform, you must first make them understand what your expectations are, and what goals they should meet as a team. This way, every team member of yours will have an idea of what they should do and how they should do those things.

f. Micromanaging

You hire people to help you build a successful company. You didn’t hire them so you could have someone you will supervise. To be an effective leader, you should know when to guide your team, and when to let them perform their tasks their way. Trust is important in building a company culture.

g. Not enforcing policies and rules

It isn’t enough that there are rules and regulations in your company. What’s more important is for them to be enforced or implemented. You want a team that’s responsible for their actions. They have to be on the same page as everyone else so that things will not be chaotic.

Building a strong team is challenging, indeed. It would help if you hold team building activities on a regular basis to make sure everyone enjoys working with one another, and that every team member is committed to achieving company goals.

Executive Coaching: Is Your Business Prepared For An Older Workforce?

According to studies, 25 percent of the workforce in most companies around the world will be 55 years old and up. The challenge for businesses is not the fact that many of their employees are getting closer to retirement age. As you may know, a huge percentage of millennial workers are just a call away. The bigger challenge for business leaders is how they will be able to realign their workforce and hiring strategies to meet the demands of a modern business environment.

With the right preparation, you will be able to take advantage of this situation. Here’s what you should do:

1. Have an exit plan for older workers.

You need to know what to do with employees who are nearing retirement but are just not ready to quit. Phased retirement plans are a good solution to this. With this program, your older employees will gradually have reduced work hours. This is beneficial for both the employee and the company, especially if the worker is among the top performers in the organization.

2. Consider flextime scheduling.

As people grow older, they naturally develop more desire to be with their family more. They also tend to enjoy their hobbies, or simply take more time to relax. By providing a flextime schedule, you will prevent absenteeism, and also increase job satisfaction and employee retention.

3. Give equal treatment to everyone.

It is important for you to not think of age when dealing with your employees. Although it is true that having older employees around means taking the risk of paying higher healthcare costs, you shouldn’t use this as a reason to get rid of those who have stayed with you through thick and thin and have helped you reach business success. After all, doing business is not only about making money, but also making good relationships with people.

4. Being young does not always mean being productive.

Yes, there are now so many younger, more enthusiastic, and more talented workers who can easily replace your ageing employees. This doesn’t always mean, however, that they will be more productive than your older employees. Keep in mind that younger workers are more easily distracted, and according to studies, younger people are more likely to jump from one job to another. In short, the availability of younger employees should not in any way become your basis for getting rid of the older and more reliable ones.

5. Find ways to develop your workforce.

The biggest advantage of younger workers is that they are the experts in technology, particularly. If this is the case, then it makes sense to offer your older employees some sort of training on how to utilize modern office equipment, tools, software, and so on. Executive coaching specialists always emphasize the need for employee training and development as part of building a successful business.

How Can Life Coaching Change Your Life for the Better?

What is a Life Coach?

Life coaching is a relationship between a client and an accredited life coach, and is designed to help clients reach their full potential. Many of today’s successful professionals, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and even CEOs have a personal or a life coach to help them take their careers, lives, or businesses to the next level.

Why does having a Life Coach work?

Life coaches have the unique ability to see things from afar, which they use to help clients see the light when they are in difficult situations. In most cases, a life coach acts as an advisor, a motivator, and a skills development specialist.

Here’s why life coaching really works:

Accountability – It is common for a life coach to have at least three calls with their client every month. These regular calls are scheduled, and are very effective in prompting clients to get more things done compare to what they could do without any guidance. Life coaching is good because it makes clients set bigger goals, take bigger actions, and make bigger achievements.

Expertise – A professional life coach has had the training that allows them to give clients expert advice on setting the right goals, making more money, becoming more productive, and keeping the balance between their personal and professional lives. With regular input from your life coach, there is no doubt that you can achieve more in less time.

Who uses the services of a Life Coach?

Many individuals successfully reach their goals with the help of a life coach – business owners, startups, managers, creative people, musicians, actors, business leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, home-based workers, and so on.

What can you learn from a Life Coach?

• Setting goals and achieving them
• Planning – life, career, business
• Overcoming fears and insecurities
• Financial independence and security
• Keeping your work/life balance
• Creating strategies for success and making important decisions
• Forming powerful relationships
• Getting promoted
• Finding the right career or business
• Finding the right relationship or partner
• Making a huge life transition
• Starting a small business
• Expanding a business
• Identifying passions and values
• Getting more organized in life and at work
• Having fun and time with loved ones
• Earning more money

Does a client be dependent on a Life Coach?

NO. You may need a life coach who will help you maximize the opportunities around you, or to accelerate your personal and professional growth. This doesn’t mean, however, that you will let your life coach make decisions for you. There is no way that clients become dependent to their coaches. Take note also that life coaching experts will not resolve any issues in your life. Your coach will just equip you with the necessary skills and motivate you to overcome whatever issues you are facing in life.