Here are some great ways to measure your progress:

1. Facts and Figures. No matter what type of goals you’ve set, find a way to quantify progress. If you’re saving money or dieting, this is easy to do. You can keep track in pounds lost or dollars saved. If your goal is something that’s not easily quantifiable, like spending more time with your family, track it as a number of hours. For example, ‘I spent 15 hours this week with my kids.’
2. Stay on Schedule. In order to reach a goal, you need to break it into sub-goals and put them into some kind of timeframe. This is how you stay organized and a great way to chart your progress. A schedule shows you if you’re hitting your targets or not. Sticking to your schedule is important but allow yourself some flexibility. The real point of setting these deadlines is to monitor progress so feel free to change them as you go if you need to.
3. Keep a Journal. When you decide on your goal and you have the specifics worked out, write it down on the first page of a notebook. This notebook will be your goal journal. Imagine that you’re writing a letter to your future self, and set aside a little bit of time each day to write about how it’s going. Your journal entries don’t have to be long or incredibly detailed. Just write about what you did today and how you feel about it.
4. Tick It. Another even easier idea than a journal is to keep a simple tick sheet. When you complete a task, simply tick it off. You can create a tick sheet or find one online that you can download. Using a calendar is another way to do it. Tick sheets are great for marking off your daily tasks and sub-goals. They give you a visual representation of how far you’ve come.
5. Ratings and Rankings. You can keep track of your progress by creating your own rating and ranking system. Make a system that goes from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. If, for example, you want to become more confident, you can monitor your confidence each day and rate it. A rating of 5 might mean you’re ready to take on the world; 1 means that you want to crawl into bed and hide!

Keep in mind that all of the above suggestions take time out of your busy schedule. When you’re working toward an important goal, you may feel that you don’t have much to spare. The little bit of time, however, that you take to measure your progress benefits you considerably. The key is to decide how much time you can devote to measuring goal progress and choose a system that fits it.

What are some ways you measure your success with your goals? I’d love to hear from you.

There isn’t much that can be done about the daily minutia of our lives; those things exist and will always be there. But don’t despair, my friend; there’s hope!

The simple, quick fix to taking control over your own productivity is to use a simple to-do list. Keeping it simple is the key. Many people keep lists that eventually do more harm than good because they turn into clusters of sticky papers just as cluttered as the lists we try to keep in our minds. But what good is a list that looks just as daunting as you already feel?

To keep a to-do list functional, you need to get rid of items when they are done. Don’t simply cross out the task on the list; that just adds clutter and adds to the perception that you have too much to deal with. If you are using paper, then re-write your to-do list every night, leaving out the things that are done, so you have a nice, clean list the next day to work from.

Once you get into the habit of keeping a clean to-do list, you’ll find that that you’re less overwhelmed when it comes to getting your tasks done. The reason is simple: you’ll be able to just look at your list to know what you need to do. Tackle each task, one at a time, and remove it when it’s done. Before you know it, you’ll be in control of your own productivity and can give yourself a well-deserved pat of the back.

People management, also known as human resource management (HRM), encompasses the tasks of recruitment, management, and providing ongoing support and direction for the employees of an organization. These tasks can include the following:  compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

When managing the people within an organization, a manager must focus on both hiring the right people and then getting the most out of these people.  New personnel must provide the organization with the best talent available that meets the needs of the business.   The organization must look ahead to how a new employee can be used to their fullest.  Getting the most out of an employee means a business has consistent policies and practices in place to provide its people with appropriate training and development.  Employees are involved as “partners” in the business.

The most important task a manager will probably face when dealing with his/her team is that of bringing out the best in them.  Unlocking people potential is often seen as the key to any business’s success.  When an employee’s talents are not channeled correctly, their behavior can seriously compromise the success of an organization.   An employee who is not being used to his potential may end up taking on one of the following negative roles:  procrastinator, martyr, gossip, manipulator, backstabber, narcissist, a deer in the headlights, black hole, stonewalled, curmudgeon, bully, and predator.

Instead of dealing with employees that develop defense mechanisms to mask their dissatisfaction with their work situation, encourage positive behavior in the workplace.

1. Start by emphasizing the importance of the principles of achievement in your organizational culture:

• Cooperation
• Respect
• Self-motivation
• trust
• Self-discipline

1. Make sure your staff has the tools and resources that they need to do their jobs effectively.  You can’t blame your employees for your organization’s inefficiency if they aren’t provided with the equipment necessary to perform adequately.
2. Get to know each employee as an individual and make sure that they’re aware of their specific role within the organization.  Clarify their responsibilities and goals.  Also, involve each employee in making decisions which affect their area of expertise.  This will result in the employee feeling that they “have a say” in what goes on in the organization and he or she will feel a sense of ownership.
3. Finally, make sure that employees have an opportunity to have fun with their coworkers at appropriate times.

Your ability to empower your people can serve as a very effective tool within the field of people management.  This technique can be used to involve employees in any improvement program within an organization.  Authority, accountability, and responsibility are delegated to the employees for improving the processes which are under their control without first having to obtain permission from management before making changes.  This can be successful only when employees are recognized, congratulated, and rewarded for their commitment to problem solving.

What are some ways you empower your staff? Are there some things you’d like to change?

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action-oriented
• Realistic, and
• Time-bound

Let’s take a moment to break down exactly what these words mean.

Specific

Being specific helps you focus on exactly how you’re going to reach your goal. Start by creating a statement that explains what you will do, and use the phrase ‘I will’. Now, ask yourself the what, why and how of this goal to refine it. Put as much detail as possible into this information as this will help you generate the sub-goals and steps that you need to take to get there.

Measurable

There must be some way to know when you’ve reached your goal, and thus, the results have to be measurable. If you want to make more money, for example, choose a specific dollar amount that you’d like to be making per year. The great thing about making goals measurable is that you can easily see your progress and this keeps you motivated to work on it.

Action-oriented

Without action, goals are never attained. Break your goals down into smaller goals, and then specific actions you can take to make them happen. Think about things you can do today that will bring you closer to achieving your goal. Also, create alternate plan actions you can take when things don’t go as planned. During the course of working your way toward your goal’s attainment, set aside time to reflect on your actions and assess the results. If you’re not getting the results you want, make the necessary changes.

Realistic

Goals only work when they’re realistic. What this really means is that you can see the big picture of what you need to do. Ask yourself whether or not this goal is something you can do – or even want to do. Take some time to think about your strengths and weaknesses. Which parts are going to be easy and which will be difficult? Develop a plan for the challenges you’re going to face.

Time-bound

Set up a detailed timeframe for when your goal and all of your sub-goals are going to be achieved. Since this is hard to estimate if you’ve never done it before, make the best guess possible and change your timeframe slightly if you need to. We often find that it takes longer than we planned. However, you need to have a definite deadline to add urgency to it.

A great way to plan out your goal is to use mind maps. Mind maps are visual tools used for brainstorming and setting out tasks. Your main goal is at the center, and your sub-goals branch out from it. You can then define timeframes and exactly how you’re going to reach all of your sub-goals. Mind maps put goal planning in a visual format that makes it easy for you to see the big picture.

What are some of your goal-setting tips? I welcome your feedback and comments.

What is a Business Expense?

Business expenses include any money you spend to operate your business and you would not have otherwise had to spend. Some examples of business expenses include:

• Office equipment including furniture, computers, printers, software, cell phones, and anything else you need to operate your business.
• Outsourcers – writers, designers, developers, virtual assistants, and anyone else who you pay to perform some duty in your business.
• Learning resources – memberships, ebooks, private mentorships, coaching, and anything else you use to improve your business.
• Legal and accounting – your lawyer, your accountant, court fees, and insurance costs.
• Office space if you rent, or a portion of your house if you work at home, including a percentage of your rent/mortgage and utility bills.
• Business trips – travel and related expenses if you go to conferences or other events directly related to your business.
• Fees for online services such as PayPal fees, monthly charges for Freshbooks, Aweber, your hosting account, and domain registrar.

Some other things that can be claimed as business expenses might include mileage if you travel to a client’s location, meals if you entertain your customers, gifts for clients, and anything else that can legitimately be connected directly to your business.

Keeping Good Records

Record keeping, especially for a small business, doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet will do the trick if you have few expenses. You can set up your spreadsheet similar to a checking account register, and record each transaction and what it was for. Then file the actual receipt in a folder marked with the year. When it’s time to do your taxes, you’ll be able to easily calculate how much you spent and in what categories.

A better solution, and one that is still simple to maintain, is to use accounting software such as Quickbooks. Most accountants will happily set up your system for you, and from that point, it’s a simple matter of simply recording each expense and selecting which category it belongs to. At the end of the year, just email the file to your accountant and he/she will be able to prepare your taxes using that information.

How you record your expenses is not nearly as important as is simply doing it. Regardless of the system you choose, be sure to use it consistently. You’ll find it much easier to deal with taxes at the end of the year if you spend a few minutes each week recording expenses and income than if you try to do it all at once come January.

Mentoring

The process of mentoring involves the relationship and bonding between master and pupil, a togetherness that’s more commonly referred to as mentor-mentee relationship. A mentor is usually someone who is more knowledgeable and more wise than the mentee in a given area or subject. The mentor’s task is to be the guide for the inexperienced protégé: as the mentee learns from the mentor, he/she is farther thrust into greatness.

The mentor-protégé relationship has long existed in history and can be of great use in the workplace. For instance, when an employee first enters a company or business, he or she is adopted by someone who has been in the company or business for a long while. Because a new employee might experience culture shock, or might not be prepared for the rigors of the current workplace, the mentor serves as a buffer and guide through how the company or business operates, making the transition easier for the new hire (or mentee).

Still in line with workplace relationships, an existing employee might show potential as someone who could one day lead, or who could move on and be great elsewhere. In this case, a person experienced in the company could informally take on this employee and be his or her mentor. In this relationship, the mentor will teach the mentee the necessary skills to advance in the workplace, so that one day, the mentee might perhaps take the mentor’s place, advance elsewhere in the hierarchy, or move on to another company and do even better.

Coaching

Now, that we’ve briefly discussed mentoring, let’s take a minute to address the concept of coaching. Coaching is quite different from mentoring. In coaching, a method is employed in which a leader or overseer directs the movements of a person or a group of persons. The instruction and training given are done with a definite end goal in mind. The methods of directing people’s movements and thought process might include giving motivational talks. There are also ways to train people in order to make them perform better, such as through seminars or workshops.

In mentoring, a mentor teaches a mentee how to live better or how to function better. In coaching, perhaps better seen as a more specific method of mentoring, the coach guides his/her team in order for them to meet an end goal. For business or leadership coaches, this will greater overall effectiveness, increased efficiency and productivity, and, thus, increased profits.

There are many different kinds of mentoring and coaching, as well as different techniques associated with each. Take the time to research what type will work best for your workforce.

Does your organization provide coaching and/or mentoring to its employees? If so, how has your staff benefitted from these programs?

Workforce Planning Goals

Existing workload determines current workforce levels so the first step of workforce planning is to assess this workload, its skills set composition, and location requirements. Answer the following questions to aid you in completing your assessment:

• What kinds of skilled workers do you need to achieve your organizational purpose?
• How many people with each kind of skill are needed to achieve targeted performance levels?
• Where will these people be needed – geographically and departmentally?

Answering the above questions, however, is only the starting point of workforce planning. A complete plan would also identify the strategies needed to get the people required to man your workforce, and most importantly, to keep the people with you.

For the longer-term, you need to estimate:

• The number of workers who will retire or leave and thus, must be replaced
• Additional numbers of differently skilled persons who will have to be added to meet expansion needs
• Likely developments affecting your business and the likely changes in the number and composition of your workforce under the new environments

Keep in mind that workforce planning is a continuous process that needs to be updated as the requirements and forecasts change.

Implementing the Workforce Planning Process

The key requirement for successful workforce planning is to get your managers to understand the significance and key importance of workforce planning. Without their active involvement, you cannot expect to develop realistic plans that are affected by diverse factors. Here are some things to consider for your planning process:

1. Create a workforce planning team consisting of employees from different departments, with required knowledge and interests. Also, define the team’s role and responsibilities.
2. Use modern software tools and planning systems to speed up the processes of data collection, analysis and generating preliminary plans. These can then be human-reviewed for fine-tuning.
3. Start carefully with a smaller scope, review the processes, get feedback and improve the effectiveness of workforce planning exercise.
4. In the case of large enterprises with geographically spread operations, the workforce planning exercise should be decentralized and the unit plans should be consolidated.

Workforce Recruitment and Development Strategies

Workforce planning is not just an exercise with numbers, though numbers are important. You have to look at the labor market and competitive conditions, and develop strategies to attract and retain the kind of workforce you need. When creating your strategy, make sure you:

• Think through the policies and practices you need to attract and retain talented people.
• Build your brand as a good place to work in.
• Create working conditions and a managerial culture that would make your people want to remain with you.
• Spell the aforementioned items out and include them in your workforce plan.

For organizations to survive in the long term, they must be able to attract the right kind of talented persons and to keep them. Workforce planning helps you to assess your people needs, in both skill sets and numbers, and start developing and implementing strategies and policies to attract, develop and keep the kind of workforce you need.

Do you have a current workforce plan in place for your organization? If not, what’s preventing you from making it happen?

1. Invest in self-improvement. There’s always room for improvement. In your case, the best and always appropriate boost should be based on professional development. Though you may already have the necessary degree or knowledge, you should keep on striving to gain more. As always, the world keeps on rotating so that every now and then, there are changes and modifications to the usual and standard practices. If you’ve been working in an industry for quite some time, there surely will be changes in standards and norms that you should be aware of to be able to keep on doing and adopting the best practice. Improve yourself further and productivity would follow.
2. Be organized. Sort your things, de-clutter your drawers, arrange your files, and establish a time management technique that works for you.  These steps are simple and take little time. A lack of organization should not be the reason you aren’t succeeding in your endeavors. Opportunities that require swift and immediate action often appear unexpectedly so you should always be ready to have the necessary and useful data at hand.
3. Strive to give the best in every action. You should condition yourself to set a standard of excellence in your work. In every action and responsibility you do, make sure you do them accurately, effectively and diligently. Your work would be the proof of your competence and reliability. If you get used to doing standard and quality outputs, this type of work will become a habit for you, and in turn, prospective clients or employers will recognize you for that. Quality work results in productivity, and more doors of opportunity will open for you.
4. Be results-oriented. Having clear aims and goals is a MUST! You can be highly competitive and competent but your drive and motivation may suffer without firm, realizable or practical goals in mind. Let such goals be guide you as you strive toward the path to success.
5. And finally, maintain a positive disposition. If you’re optimistic about your job and all opportunities that may arise, your productivity and effectiveness is less likely to be negatively affected. Adopt a good attitude about the work you do, and always put your best foot forward.

Here’s to a more productive new year for us all! Feel free to let me know if you have any other productivity tips you’d like to share with your fellow readers.

Despite our good intent and best laid plains, things don’t always work out how we planned or may not even come to fruition. In an effort to help you keep your eyes on the prize, here are three tips to stay on track with your goals for 2013:

1. Plan and Implement. As you embark upon your journey in this year, keep in mind that moving beyond intent is key to reaching your goals. Many of us intend to do a number of things but never make those things come to fruition. You must move beyond intent and develop a well-crafted plan to make your idea a reality because as the saying goes, “Failing to plan is the same as planning to fail.” Once you’ve cultivated your plan, the next step is actually implementing it since a plan on paper serves no purpose if it’s never executed.
2. Commit. As with most resolutions, the excitement tends to fizzle after about two weeks. New ideas sound great in theory but putting forth sustained efforts to employ them for the long haul is another story. For example, you may have great intentions to revamp your business’s marketing efforts in 2013. In your new year induced euphoric state, you created a new marketing plan to organize your efforts and hit the ground running but by February 1st, you’ve reverted back to your inconsistent marketing you were doing in 2012. If you decide to implement something new, you need to stick to it and see it through. Work these new tasks or changes in your time management system (or hire someone else to take care of it for you). An additional consideration is if others (i.e. potential clients or referrals) see that you’re not consistent with your own business, why should they expect that you’d consistently be able to deliver for them?
3. Track Your Progress and Reassess. As you go through the year and implement or revise ideas and strategies, take note of what is and isn’t working for you and your business. Toward the end of the year, when you’re once again intoxicated with the excitement of planning for a new year, you’ll have some helpful data to assist you in creating 2014’s strategic plan.

I wish you all nothing but great success in your endeavors for 2013. Here’s to planning, implementing, and committing your way to success this year.

What do you plan to change or implement in your business this year? How do you plan to go about doing so? Your feedback is always welcome.