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A Step-by-Step Approach to the Federal Acquisition Marketplace
Doing business with federal government agencies can be very lucrative for the people who lean how to maneuver through the maze of registrations, certifications and regulations. But if you are ready to start, these are the first steps you need to...
An Introduction to Incorporating in Florida
Starting a business? Relocating your corporation’s headquarters?
The state of Florida is ripe with business opportunity. The Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, recently proclaimed that Florida ""is a story of a robust economy, of technology...
Creativity and Innovation Management – goal setting
One of the important debates in the field of creativity and innovation is the topic of goal setting. Is it positive or negative?
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be...
Positioning Professional Service Firms
Scottish inventor John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television in 1926 in Soho, London. Ten years later there were only 100 TV sets in the world. So, how does this relate to service firms? About a century after Claude Hopkins...
The Ten Pillars of Leadership and Business Development
Leadership is any influence relationship that brings about change…this can be a teacher/student relationship, a parent/child relationship, a politician/citizen relationship, a business owner/employee relationship, a community leader/volunteer...
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Have You Put a Straightjacket on Your Business Potential?
When you mention the words structure, organizational system or
process, most business owners flee. The myth that a formal
structure will restrict creativity, kill flexibility, make the
company too impersonal and lead to bureaucracy is exactly the
opposite of what is possible with a well-designed structure.
"Personalities dictate how things are done around here" is not
far from the truth for too many companies that struggle.
The stigma of an organizational structure that has the
paralyzing effect of stability and consistency is far from the
truth. In reality, when you engage a system, you allow yourself
to structure your business around what you want your business to
achieve, enhance your employees' growth and learning, and build
a progressive learning system into the position, thereby
fostering change and improvement.
The results you get from your business are directly related to
the way you have your business organized. Surprisingly, most
leaders pay very little attention to structure, opting to stick
with their original structure, while others allow functions and
systems to evolve haphazardly and by chance. When leaders focus
on improving the structure with an eye toward change,
innovations, and environment, they can begin to eliminate the
bureaucratic tendencies of a company.
Vision and communication are essential during the creation of
your structure. The structure must direct the vision of the
individuals toward tomorrow, and it also must give employees
clarity on where they are, where they should be going to achieve
results, and what help the organization provides to get there.
This should all be built into the communication elements of the
structure, and is fundamental to continued success.
"We Were Successful Before Doing it This Way and will be Again"
All companies begin for specific reasons. At the outset,
activities and purpose are clear; energy and motivation is high.
Employees have a sense of hope for a better future. Everyone
point to the same direction, and you have great success with it
- for a brief time.
After the initial excitement, conditions change internally and
externally. This natural turn of events should rise to the
willing change of objectives. In spite of the logic of change,
modifying goals, and adding new skills, most companies do not
change, and instead defend the status quo.
The stark reality is that we do not know what we don't know. We
don't know that we're standing still as the world changes,
because we only see what's going on inside our business. We
don't realize the impact that structure has on moving the
company forward or backward, and we tend to not want to view our
structures in those terms. We sometimes don't even realize that
employees need structure to allow them to meet their own
personal needs, which is a prerequisite for
organizational
change and possibility. When you choose not to look at these
factors - these unknowns - you lead your business into
complacency.
Without the possibility of an update, your organization becomes
a straightjacket.
With no renewed purpose, work and systems become habitual and
ingrained. Energy usually created by expectations and
achievement drains; motivation is gone and performance suffers.
Employees identify more with work than results. Activity for
activity's sake becomes the norm. The process becomes more
important than the idea of the goal, the objectives, and the
vision. Even the boss gets caught up in activity and becomes
caught in the downward spiral. The organization's structure,
which allows no updating, has become a straightjacket.
Your structure is the vision of your company, and it must be
revised as the world changes. Take the time monthly to review
your structure and compare where you company is in terms of
overall goals, as this will help you decide if the structure is
suitable. When you are unwilling to upgrade your structure, you
welcome the birth of inflexibility within your business.
Your Vision - The Most Crucial Part of Your Structure
Remember that your vision plays the most important part in
determining what structure you need. Let the blended view of
your current reality and what your vision is to determine what
changes need to be made in the structure--how you are organized.
Use the following questions as a guide:
1. What was your original purpose? 2. What is your current
purpose? 3. How have recent changes impacted your vision? 4.
What are the key result areas that must succeed? 5. What
personal changes do you want in the organization? 6. What
obstacles do you anticipate? 7. How can you best arrange the
organization for responsiveness, results, people development and
growth?
Answering the above questions on a regular basis is the best way
to decide both purpose and organization. Having a clear purpose
and being structured to continually update and reach that
purpose enables you to attract and keep strong management and
productive personnel.
As you can see, these few simple questions will achieve great
results in a short amount of time. Once you have the system set
up to modify your structure, it no longer looks so stagnant.
You'll begin to realize your business organization is really
your vehicle for growth and innovation, therefore creating the
continual upward momentum your business needs.
About the author:
Richard L Reardon is the CEO of the Business Coaching Forum. He
has spent over 20 years as a consultant and executive coach who
helps businesses and professionals achieve what they want. Visit
http://www.TheBusinessCoachingForum.com, or email
Richard@RichardReardon.com to begin achieving today!
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| DTI - Welcome to the DTI's Innovation Home Page |
| The DTI is working to stimulate a significant increase in innovation throughout ... It covers Living Innovation, web streaming of a series of high profile ... |
| www.dti.gov.uk |
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| Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An innovation in this light occurs whether or not the act of innovating ... A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| National Innovation Website |
| The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources has developed this website to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of innovation and ... |
| www.innovation.gov.au |
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| Innovation, creativity and brainstorming resources from ... |
| A comprehensive site designed to provide busy entrepreneurs with a focused collection of the best resources on innovation, creativity, and brainstorming. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| Innovation Weblog - Trends, resources, viewpoints from Chuck Frey ... |
| The Innovation Weblog - Valuable trends, resources and viewpoints in innovation, creativity and brainstorming from Chuck Frey at InnovationTools. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
|
| CORDIS: Innovation Portal: Home |
| This Innovation Portal is supported by DG ENTR of the European Commission, ... European Commission adopts new Communication on Innovation: on 13 September ... |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| CORDIS: Promotion of Innovation: Home |
| This programme stands at the cross-roads of the Community's policies on Research, Innovation and SMEs. |
| cordis.europa.eu |
|
| Innovation Network... leveraging innovation, creativity and ... |
| The Innovation Network is an association of companies and employees committed to innovation. The site features some interesting articles as well as some fun ... |
| www.thinksmart.com |
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| Business Innovation : Car Reviews, Online Gaming, and Product Branding |
| If your in need of great Online Gaming material, we carry up to the minute news and reviews for all of your favorite games and gaming systems. |
| www.businessweek.com |
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| Innovation - Life, Inspired | PBS |
| Learn about fascinating innovations, explore interactive features, submit questions to our experts, investigate resources and lesson plans, and more. |
| www.pbs.org |
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| Innovation.org - Welcome |
| Impact of Innovation Saving & Improving Lives Controlling Healthcare Costs Strengthening ... Future of Innovation New Medicines in Development Next Wave of ... |
| www.innovation.org |
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| Innovation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with innovation on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
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| Innovation Relay Centres - The World Largest Network for ... |
| Innovation Relay Centres giving advice on Innovation, Technology Transfer and Exploitation. Major European source for innovative technologies or new ... |
| irc.cordis.lu |
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| The Tech Museum of Innovation | Welcome |
| The Tech Museum of Innovation - Welcome! The Tech Museum inspires and educates the innovators of the future. |
| www.thetech.org |
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| Pages tagged with "innovation" on del.icio.us |
| CoDev 2007 - Co-Development for Business Growth: Open Innovation and Alternatives ... PDMA & IIR's 5th Annual Front End of Innovation ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| innovation |
| Publication highlighting the research activities of NUS. The site provides snippets of selected articles online, and provides a subscription form online. |
| www.innovationmagazine.com |
|
| Canadian Innovation Centre |
| Services includes invention evaluation, technology due diligence, market research, and education programs. |
| www.innovationcentre.ca |
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| London INNOVATION :: Home |
| Maximise your business potential through innovation. Learn the secrets of successful business innovation in London. |
| www.london-innovation.org.uk |
|
| Eric Von Hippel's Homepage |
| Downloadable Books. Democratizing Innovation (2005) ... The Sources of Innovation (1988). Free download of the complete book. Permission granted by Oxford ... |
| web.mit.edu |
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| Intel Innovation in Education |
| www.intel.com/education/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages |
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