0 Comments
These days project budgets don’t stretch to nice things like bonuses for all team members for when the project completes on time. If the team members don’t work for you then you probably can’t give them a pay rise either. You might not even get enough in the budget left over for a party at the end of the project. Even if you do, you might be hampered by local tax laws that specify how much you can give gifts in lieu of financial amounts, and you could make it harder for people to complete their tax returns by giving any sort of bonus at all.
Common practice on projects is to take people out for a meal or even to a bar for drinks, but if your budget is tight you might have to resort to getting people to pay for themselves, or for you to pay for the first round of drinks, for example. There are other ways to motivate your team without it looking like you are being too stingy. So, if you can’t motivate people to do a good job with financial incentives, what can you do to ensure they perform well (or to reward people who did perform well)? Here are some ideas. Grant time off You might have to check with their line manager, but granting someone time off in lieu of extra hours worked can be a great way to reward project team members who have put in extra hours during a push on a project, or a go live weekend. It’s also worth checking with HR about the policy for this, as you could be setting a precedent, but it is definitely worth considering. Training courses Being ‘allowed’ to go on a training course might not seem like much of a reward. After all, surely this is part of your normal contract of employment with your boss – they should be providing training anyway. But in times like these where extra cash for training is hard to come by, operations managers might not have a training budget. You, on the other hand, could offer developmental activities as part of the project, and then encourage people to try out their new skills. There’s even a process for this in thePMBOK® Guide – Develop Project Team. BY MARK SANBORN We live in an age that seeks quick fixes and easy answers. Sometimes leaders abdicate their thinking to others and accept "prevailing wisdom," which is often an oxymoron.
I grew up, like most, accepting many things at face value. It wasn't until I started giving important issues like leadership a second and third thought that I realized I'd been believing what turned out to be some serious leadership myths. Here are seven leadership lies and why they simply aren't true: 1. "All managers are leaders." Truth: some managers can lead and others don't or cannot. Management is a subset of leadership, not its equivalent. Managers are good at setting up, monitoring and maintaining systems and processes. They hire people. But if they can't bring out better performance in people and take the organization beyond where it is, they aren't leading. Leadership always involves change, improvement and growth. 2. "Some are born leaders." Truth: even someone with a predisposition to lead must learn the skills of leadership. A young person who is 6'6" might have the predisposition to play basketball, but he or she still needs to learn the skills before they can play successfully. Leadership might be more latent in some than others -- and you can't always tell -- so focus on what is developing someone's behaviors, not their biological background. The big picture in project management.
These days, we hear the term SEO a lot. So what is SEO? Well, it stands for Search Engine Optimization. In other words, what can you do to be noticed by the leading search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. and be in the top of their published results. Once a user performs a search, they rarely go beyond the 3rd or 4th page seeking the information they need even if there are a thousand pages that are part of the search result. So, everybody wants to be listed on those 3-4 pages and if possible the first page because that is where the most hits happen. SEO is the process of understanding and gaming the system. Below are a few videos which will hopefully help explain the term and its implications better. A blog combined with twitter & tumblr can be a great marketing resource for a small business. Once you create create compelling content, these services can help you get great visibility. I have heard & read a lot about the power of Wordpress, Blogger, etc. They are all good, no doubt, but from a pure beginners perspective where the goal is just to publish a customized blog in the simplest possible way, I have found that Weebly (www.weebly.com) is one of the best in its simplicity. Once I had my content organized, I was able to put together a website of 6 pages in 2-3 hrs. It is very intuitive, easy to understand and wholly drag & drop. Creating a blog is even simpler, as the template is pretty ready made and you just to start writing. Adding videos & pictures is a breeze as well. If you do need help in any aspects of your business or online marketing, feel free to email me [email protected] or call me at 443-422-3463.
*I have no referral dealings with Weebly.com. I just like the application. www.frugalentrepreneur.com has posts and links to some very economical or free resources that can help entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial PM's alike.
Project Management Tactics For Your Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs: It’s Never Too Early3/11/2013 Below is a very interesting article that I found written Julie Anne Hoey (ww.projectmanage.com)
If you are a relatively new start up or entrepreneur, you don’t need to worry about implementing project management tactics to your processes yet, right? Wrong. The truth is it’s never too early in a small business to start incorporating project management tactics and methodologies into your workflow and structure…even if it’s just you. When launching a start up, you’re probably in the process of learning a new product or service, or learning how to market it, promote it, etc. Therefore, implementing proper PM tactics are just as important as in any organization, regardless of how much time it has been around and established. In fact, proper project management techniques used in a new start up can be just as crucial. Here are some areas where project management techniques have proven most beneficial for start ups:
Link to the article |
Archives
February 2018
Categories
All
|