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78 Ways to Start Your Next Book or Article
So many people want to write books to generate passive income, gain credibility and recognition, to leave a legacy, and just to be heard. The biggest challenge they find is not coming up with ideas to write about, the biggest challenge is often...
If You Build It, They Will Come? That Totally Depends On You
That is a question that has been asked by every business person who has ever launched a website. If I build it, will they come? Of course they will -- if you've built a website that appeals to dead baseball players.
Q: I recently launched a...
Innovation Management – Being receptive to inspiration
Inspiration or insight is that moment when solutions to problems become apparent – they reach the conscious mind from the subconscious. The mind has been tackling problems that have previously been identified either consciously or unconsciously and...
Innovation Management – Ignoring Content
A useful approach when generating ideas is simply to ignore content. Evaluating content is a hindrance rather than an enhancer. If the people who wrote Red Riding Hood had realised the number of interpretations and analysis it was going to receive,...
Warning: Do Not Start A Business Until You Read This - The Biggest Mistake Business Owners Make And How You Can Avoid It
What is the reason why you want to start your own business, to make some money, to be your own boss?
Sorry to say, but these are not good enough reasons. You got to be more specific.
If you are going into business, you got know how to get...
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SETTING NON-NEGOTIABLE STAFF STANDARDS
When a person seeks employment with your company, he or she is basically saying, “I want to work for your company.” What this really means is “I will give up doing whatever I please, show up for work and behave the way you want me to behave, so long as you pay me in exchange.” Now, that gives you the employer, the opportunity to set some standards of behavior that are non-negotiable. That doesn’t mean you are taking away any creativity from your employees. After all, it is important for staff members to have some flexibility and to project their own personality into their job. With that said; it is also a good idea for the employer to be inflexible with some things. In other words set non-negotiable standards. This is no different from every day life. Society has rules. Imagine, for example, if there were no road signs or laws to guide us on how to behave. Imagine if there were no rules in sport… it would be a shambles, right? The truth is, most of us like to know our boundaries, because that way we know what we can and can’t do. If we break the law we get fined or arrested. If we don’t play fairly in sport we get penalized in some way. We are use to non-negotiable standards. Why should it be any different when running a business? It shouldn’t! To run smoothly, every business needs rules and policy. Although staff members may not always agree with the policy, they can and usually will comply. I will give you a couple of examples of what I mean - When I ran my retail stores I had a staff uniform designed. Staff members were required to wear the uniform – that was non-negotiable. However, it wasn’t quite like being in the military. There were various acceptable combinations, so the staff could adjust the uniform to suit their own personality. Here’s the deal: It was a non-negotiable standard that staff members were required to wear the uniform. Furthermore, it needed to be within the agreed guidelines using any one of the approved combinations. Anything else was unacceptable. Now, that's not unreasonable. Another example was the handling of money. Banknotes were required to be put into the cash registers in the correct compartments and all facing in the same direction. I had worked out that it took the same amount of time, to put the money away in a tidy
order, as it did to shove it in any old way. This kept the cash registers tidy and made counting the money much easier. This was a non-negotiable standard and it worked well. I’ll give you yet another example. As anyone in retailing will know, meeting and greeting customers is critical. If you ask, “can I help you”, the inevitable response is “no thank you, I’m just looking.” So why ask a question that you know will get a predictably negative response. The answer is you shouldn’t! So, one of my non-negotiable standards was that staff members never, never, ever asked, “can I help you.” Instead staff members were given intensive training on exactly how to meet and greet customers. They were given lots of ideas and the flexibility to inject their own personality into what they said. When greeting a customer, staff members were encouraged to begin by talking about anything except making a sale. They could comment on the weather, something happening outside the store, the fashionable coat the customer was wearing… anything except making a sale. The reason for this was simple. The first objective was to always try to relax the customer before attempting to make a sale. So “can I help you” was a definite “NO-NO”. I believe that, in setting non-negotiable standards, it is important to put the policies in writing. Although verbal instruction will be necessary on occasion, it is much easier to hold people accountable for something that is written. Finally, it is really important to ensure that employees know and fully understand the meaning of the non-negotiable standards. They need to be thoroughly trained on what’s required, or how to do the particular task. I’m a strong believer in asking people “do you understand” and in some cases following up with “show me.” This way there can be no misunderstanding as to exactly what’s required. Although setting non-negotiable standards might sound very disciplined, it is really about running a business at maximum efficiency. And, in no way should that stop everyone from having a lot of fun. Besides, most employees will try hard to please... and they have a right to know what’s required of them and their boundaries.
About the Author
Noel Peebles. Market Leaders Limited. http://www.instantsellbusiness.com http://www.instantsellhome.com
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Creativity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of ... Wallas considered creativity to be a legacy of the evolutionary process, ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Creativity For Life |
An exploration of creativity in everyday life, with articles, quotes, reviews and other creative resources to awaken creativity in daily life. |
www.creativityforlife.com |
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AdCritic.com: Commercial Ads |
FROM CREATIVITY: Emerging Directors, Unite In the time it took to write this, three new directors popped up. Here are twenty to get acquainted with. ... |
www.adcritic.com |
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National Curriculum in Action - Creativity - |
Ordering Creativity packs: print and video materials. This website gives practical ideas on how to promote pupils' creative thinking and behaviour. ... |
www.ncaction.org.uk |
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Ten Steps for Boosting Your Creativity |
Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your ... a weekly report on creativity, ideas, innovation and invention ... |
www.jpb.com |
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Category:Creativity Techniques - Mycoted |
This is a general category of Creativity and Innovation Techniques, ... I like to think of these creativity techniques as tools in a toolbox in much the ... |
www.mycoted.com |
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Creativity at Work: The interplay of business, art and science |
A resource for training and development in creativity and innovation in organizations. Has a newsletter, and some articles and essays by 'Corporate ... |
www.creativityatwork.com |
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Crayola Creativity Central |
Crayola Creativity Central offers kids arts and crafts ideas for rainy day fun. We also have coloring books and pages, art and craft projects, games, ... |
www.crayola.com |
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Pages tagged with "creativity" on del.icio.us |
All items tagged creativity ??? view popular ... Perspective for Creative Leaders · save this. by aromay to creativity business management ... 1 hour ago ... |
del.icio.us |
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Creativity Web - Resources for Creativity and Innovation |
Creativity Web Home Page Resources for Creativity and Innovation ... The Creative Process · Multiple Intelligences · Idea Recording · Your Creative Space ... |
members.optusnet.com.au |
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gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": how to ... |
So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. ... Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion ... |
www.gapingvoid.com |
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Creativity Quotes | Creativity Quotations | Creativity Sayings ... |
Quotes on Creativity - part of a larger collection of Wisdom Quotes to challenge and inspire. Find Creativity quotations and links to quotes on other ... |
www.wisdomquotes.com |
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Ideas by Creativity Pool |
A free database with new ideas and possible inventions. Add your own, or bring an existing idea to life. |
www.creativitypool.com |
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CREATIVITY |
Creative problem solving depends on using the right tools, tricks, ... Search for the latest books on Creativity (or anything else) in the Quantum Books ... |
www.quantumbooks.com |
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Creativity Tools, Creative Solutions & Creative Problem Solving ... |
This page explains a wide range of techniques which can help you generate creative solutions to your problems. |
www.mindtools.com |
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The 6 Myths Of Creativity |
A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company. |
www.fastcompany.com |
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CreativeClass.org |
Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" examines creativity and its effects on economic development. |
www.creativeclass.org |
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TIP: Concepts |
The relationship between creativity and intelligence has been always been a central concern of psychology ( Guilford , 1950). Much effort has been devoted ... |
tip.psychology.org |
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American Creativity Association (ACA) |
An incorporated non-profit organization promoting personal and professional creativity. Association membership is represented by four multidisciplinary ... |
www.amcreativityassoc.org |
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CREAX - Portal for creativity and innovation |
A resource for links on creativity and innovation on the web. A selection of 690 links is divided into 67 categories for the visitors convenience. |
www.creax.net |
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