Management Archives

Set Up a Management Team Structure to Optimize Your Business

Do your managers efficiently and consistently manage your business’s daily operations? Or, do operational tasks constantly distract you from leading your business? If you have a successful business and want to keep it hitting on all cylinders, you need effective systems. A well-structured management team can oversee these systems, ensure smooth operations, and optimize your business over the long haul. That frees you up to focus on leadership and business growth. Read more to learn how to set up an effective management team structure.

How to Expand Your Business: 3 Ways to Break New Ground

Would you like to increase your business’s earning potential? Do you feel like you’ve gone as far as you can with the products and services you already have? It might seem as though you’ve tapped out your customer base and have nothing new to offer. Veteran entrepreneur Michael Masterson shares three ways to build on your success and break through to new territory with new products and new customers. Keep reading to learn how to expand your business with Masterson’s methods.

The 3 Essential Elements of a Customer-Focused Strategy

What is a customer-focused strategy in business? How can you use it to generate more business growth and success? Clayton Christensen argues that, in today’s competitive landscape, achieving business success requires more than just offering a good product or service. He claims that a customer-focused strategy is what it takes to win over customers in the long term and truly satisfy their expectations. Read on to learn Christensen’s explanation of a customer-focused strategy in business.

How to Sustain Business Growth: Switch From CEO to Adviser

Once your business has achieved success, how should your role change? Should you grow by merger and acquisition or go public? In Ready, Fire, Aim, Michael Masterson explains that successful, multimillion-dollar businesses progress through four stages of development: launch, expand, optimize, and sustain. For this last stage, he recommends moving to an adviser role and focusing on tactics that promote continued growth. Read on to learn how to sustain business growth with Masterson’s strategies.

Confident Body Language 101: Master the Nonverbal Cues

Want to learn how to have more confident body language? What kind of body language expresses confidence? In the quest for confidence, understanding the secrets of body language can be your greatest ally. Renowned communication experts Allan and Barbara Pease reveal the key to unlocking confident body language in their book, The Definitive Book of Body Language. Read on to learn the basics of expressing confident body language, according to Allan and Barbara Pease.

From Good to Great: Why Consistency in Business Matters

How does consistency in business create more success? What strategies can you use to create consistent business procedures? In Clayton Christensen’s book, Competing Against Luck, he argues that the secret to business success lies in the power of consistency. By establishing repeatable procedures and ensuring consistent results, businesses can guarantee customer satisfaction and loyalty. Read on to learn Christensen’s strategies for establishing consistency in business.

The Phoenix Project: Book Overview and Lessons

Is the book The Phoenix Project worth reading? What can IT departments learn from the business parable? In The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford present a fictional case study of a business that’s failing because it doesn’t align the work of IT services with the company’s goals. The authors then show how an IT department can turn itself around and get back in the game. Keep reading for a The Phoenix Project book overview, as well as the lessons you can learn from the authors.

The Three Ways From The Phoenix Project—Explained

What are The Three Ways from the book The Phoenix Project? How can you make your IT development teams run more smoothly? None of the problems of IT are insurmountable, but authors Kim, Behr, and Spafford argue that addressing them requires completely rethinking how IT work is done. The Three Ways from The Phoenix Project can be summed up as fast workflow, quick feedback, and continual improvement. Continue reading for a detailed overview of The Three Ways.

The First Way: Create a Fast Workflow (The Phoenix Project)

What is the first of the Three Ways from The Phoenix Project? How can you create a faster, more efficient workflow among your IT team? In their book The Phoenix Project, authors Kim, Behr, and Spafford lay out the three ways to improve your IT department. The First Way involves improving the department’s workflow, which isn’t always an easy task. Here’s a look at The First Way and how you can increase the speed of your IT department.

The 2nd Way: Create Feedback Cycles (The Phoenix Project)

What is The Second Way from The Phoenix Project? Why is a quick feedback cycle essential to IT departments? In The Phoenix Project, Kim, Behr, and Spafford demonstrate how work management principles developed on factory production lines can be applied in an IT environment. The three foundational pillars of production can be summed up as 1) fast workflow, 2) quick feedback, and 3) continual improvement. Continue reading for an overview of The Second Way and how to implement it.