The Modern Observer Group

Nov152019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Ease Your Employees Into Change

Change can be scary. But the best leaders smooth over the transition by supporting their teams and advocating for them. To foster this kind of environment, try these three things: Create a "safe" space. Individuals should feel comfortable bringing up any conflicts, emotions, and stresses related to the change. In these conversations, give everyone's ideas serious consideration. Be honest, admitting when you've made a mistake or you don't have an answer.Protect your team. Shelter them from interference, stand up for them to get the resources you need, and show courage in sticking up for your people.Manage workload. Overwhelmed employees will have more trouble handling change. Effective leaders are masters of pacing work. Prioritize tasks to minimize confusion and chaos.

Nov132019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

How Can You Increase Employee Loyalty

Featured, Improvement

Your employees are your company's greatest asset. Your customers won't be engaged if your employees aren't engage. Everything your company does flows out from your employees. So what can you do to build loyalty among your employees? Here are some tips: Provide Support: Employees will appreciate opportunities for relevant on-going education to show that you want them to succeed. Recognize achievements and contributions and offer incentives for improving job performance. Provide mentors for departmental questions and comprehensive support that includes coping and problem-solving skills. When possible, offer health benefit and retirement packages. Most of all, be approachable so your employees feel like they are working for a person and not a machine.Manage Your Workplace: While you cannot be present every moment of every day in every department, you can manage…

Nov82019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Structuring Your Business Plan

Featured, Improvement, Process

When starting a business, a plan is a great starting point to make sure you understand all the elements of your business. Once you are in business, it is a great exercise to do every few years. This lets you examine where your business has gone and the changes that have occurred. To keep your business plan simple, here is a structure to follow. Executive Summary If you had two minutes going down an escalator with a potential investor, you should talk her through your executive summary. This should answer questions such as: What is your company’s mission? Why is it important to you? Why do you think your company can make money pursuing that mission? What is your track record of winning? How much money do you need? What…

Oct282019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

The Diversity Trap

Featured, Improvement

There is a lot of talk about hiring for diversity. Having a diverse workforce has great advantages. However, many companies are falling into the diversity trap. Here's what it is and how you can avoid it. The diversity trap happens when companies limit their idea of diversity to race. Hiring managers tend to hire people that they feel an affinity for. This generally means hiring the same type of people. When you diversify hiring by race, but nothing else, you still end up hiring the same type of people. Different jobs require different types of people. This means hiring people with different skill sets, different attitudes and different personalities. This is where analysis software like that offered by The Modern Observer Group comes in. This allows you to enter a…

Oct232019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

When To Stop Deliberating And Make A Decision

Featured, Improvement

Waiting too long to make decisions can slow down companies, frustrate employees, and lead to missed opportunities. But it can be hard to know whether you should just go ahead and choose or gather more data first. In these situations, consider two factors. How important is the decision? When it’s of little consequence, pick something and move on. When it’s truly important, reflecting more or gathering additional information is probably a good idea. How often will that particular decision be made? If it will happen often — maybe it’s about pricing, inventory, or hiring — it may be worth developing a systematic approach. Doing so will take time now, but you’ll save time when the decision comes up again. If you’re still struggling, give yourself a deadline, which can be…

Oct212019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Why You Should Hire A Business Coach

Featured, Improvement

Athletes have coaches. Actors have coaches. Having a coach helps them achieve their peak performance. Every great team has a coach. Think of the best NFL and NBA teams, which all have coaches. A coach is someone who's not afraid to confront you and tell you when you're doing something incorrectly. They have a proven method to success and can help you take your business to the next level Given how important it is for business owners and executives to operate at peak performance, you should have a coach as well. What do business people get from having coach? To brainstorm and bounce ideas There’s a common saying that goes, “nobody is smarter than all of us.” In other words, the collective power of many is far superior to the…

Oct22019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Focus On Value

Featured, Improvement

What customers really want from your organization is help solving their problem. They want to hear what other customers were able to achieve by using your solution. They want to understand the value and benefits your products/services promise to deliver. This can get a little tricky, as value is defined differently by everyone. Only 16% of C-level customers chose a vendor because of their product. Instead, what buyers want is a stellar sales experience where they can learn something new, and marketing content that educates and makes them smarter. Use examples. Talk about what other customers have gotten out of using your product or service. Show how your offering solved their problem or improved their business.Listen to the customer and focus on their needs. The CEO of Black and Decker once explained to his employees that their customers didn't…

Sep302019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Define Your Success

Attitude and Mindset, Featured, Improvement, Process

Everybody says they want to succeed. Whether it is their home life, their job, or their business, people want to be successful. Most of them never feel that are successful for one simple reason. They have not defined what success is. Success means different things to different people. For some it can mean running their own company. For others it means having the time to spend with their family. For still more it can be having the financial freedom not to worry about bills. No two peopled fine success exactly the same way. The first step to being successful is to define what it means to you. Take the time to figure out what success looks like to you. Close your eyes and try to imagine what you would be…

Sep252019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

To Engage Your Employees, Show Them Respect

Featured, Improvement, Leadership

Showing respect enhances a leader’s influence and performance – and a worldwide study found that it’s the leadership behavior with the biggest effect on employee engagement. Yet many leaders struggle to show respect to their employees. To become a more respectful leader, try these tips: Ask for help. Collect feedback from trusted friends and colleagues about when they’ve seen you treat people well or badly. Then look for patterns. When are you at your best? How could you treat people better?Reflect. Keep a journal about when and why you are uncivil. Being more aware of your behavior is an essential part of improving it.Work with a coach. A skilled coach can assist you with uncovering the reasons for your uncivil behavior and taking steps to change it.Be accountable. Identify one behavior change to work…

Sep182019 by Modern Observer GroupNo Comments

Help Your Team Embrace Change

Communication, Featured, Improvement

Companies are constantly changing. And whether the changes are big or small, leaders need to inspire their employees to embrace what’s new. Here are some ways to do that: Talk about how people feel. Change stirs up lots of emotions (fear, frustration, and anxiety, to name a few). Hold regular meetings for people to express what they’re worried about, and encourage them to be honest.Tell stories. Stories can be powerful examples of how people overcame challenges. Think about the challenges your employees are facing, and share stories that relate to them.Ask “What if?” questions. “What if we built our workflows from scratch — what would they look like?” “What if we were all freelancers — how would we solve problems differently?” Use change as a catalyst to rethink the ways things are done.Treat…