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Fall in Love With Your Career all Over Again

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Choosing a Career Path|Fall in Love With Your Career all Over AgainOne of the things so many people crave these days is a career that they love. There are a lot of factors that you need to keep in mind if you are serious about this, and it is crucial that you do as much as possible to look at how you can make the most of your job. There are so many different factors that can impact our careers and the way we enjoy them, and it is important to keep this in mind moving forward.

Think about the different elements that play a role in helping you adapt to your chosen career path better. Being fulfilled and happy, and getting the most out of your career is so important, and you need to make sure you look at what you can do to make the most of your job. These are some of the factors that can help you to fall in love with your career all over again, starting today.

Rethink What You Want

One of the first places to start is to rethink what you want out of your career. If you can understand this, you will be well-placed to be able to get more out of it. Finding your job as fulfilling as possible is something you need to make sure you get right now, and there are a lot of factors that play a role in this. Make sure you look at reassessing your career path and focusing on what you want to achieve from your job moving forward. By shifting your focus, you are able to be more productive at work and work toward achieving your long-term goals.

Look to Progress

You need to think about where you see yourself in your career path for the next few years. There are a lot of things that play a part in this, and you need to consider what your aspirations are for the future. Progressing in the business is so important, and it is natural to want more out of your life. In a career, you want to see progression and work toward being as successful as possible. This means you need to pursue success and look for opportunities to progress in the company, by way of promotions etc.

Ensure You are Getting the Right Treatment

It is important to make sure you are getting the right treatment in your career. When trying to determine if your career or the company you work for is right for you, it becomes important to look at the way in which they treat you. As a valuable member of staff, you should be valued and treated with respect by the business. You could hire a workers comp lawyer to make sure you are legally protected, and that you are getting the compensation you deserve. Taking steps to make sure you improve your career is so important, and this is one of the most essential parts of the process that you need to think about right now.

Be a Team Player

Being a team player is one of the most important things you can do in your job. The fact of the matter is that you want to make sure you work in a friendly and harmonious environment. This means looking at the best ways of becoming a team player as much as possible. You have to make sure you are focused on improving and enhancing the work-related arena, and being a team player makes you much more likely to be able to enjoy your career more. You want to find somewhere that is pleasant to work, and that plays a massive part in the process of helping you achieve more and work harder. This is why it is important that you do as much as possible to be a team player and work together with your colleagues to really enhance your working relationship.

It is important to have a career that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. While money is important, it is not the be all and end all of the business world, and this is something to keep in mind. When it comes to loving your job, you need to think about what elements of the business you can benefit from, and what it takes to improve your career path. Come up with ideas that are going to help you rediscover the way you approach your business, as well as thinking about how you can go about enjoying the different elements of your business that little bit more.

4 Small Business Tips To Save You Stress

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Tips for Small Business Owners|4 Small Business Tips To Save You StressOperating a small business is no easy feat and certainly not for the faint of heart. There are employees to hire, train, and keep on top of, expenses to cover, meetings to plan, clients to acquire, and so many other day-to-day aspects of the business to stay on top of. With so many different elements of your company to consider on a daily basis, it can be easy to get lost in the stress of it all and be consumed by those worries. How great would it be if you could take some of that stress off your plate and save the headaches? Here are four tips for small business owners that you might not have considered yet, which can save you time, hassle, and hours of unproductivity caused by worrying or planning.

Set up an LLC

If you haven’t done this already, the first thing you should do is keep your business finances separate from your personal self and set it up as its own taxable entity. Even if you’re a self-funded, self-employed business of one employee—yourself—this is still critical. Registering your business as an LLC involves a cost, yes, but it’s not as much as you would expect, and it will protect your business from any legal trouble that might come your way. Also, you won’t have to worry about company finances creeping into your personal finances, which is a huge plus come tax season.

Use accounting software

A good number of small businesses don’t have the capital to hire an accounting department, which is fine but can also lead to trouble if the accounting isn’t taken care of properly. If your business is looking to save money in this area, consider buying accounting software instead of hiring a team or person to take on this task until it’s necessary. There are a wide variety of software programs available at a number of price points; it wouldn’t make sense not to take advantage and utilize them fully.

Have a lawyer on retention

As much as you might not want to think about it, sometimes dealing with other companies and clients can get messy, especially when it comes to payments. If your small business relies on contracts with clients, or clients paying for work that has already been completed, or both, you might feel better knowing you have a lawyer on retention to escalate and sort out any issues. CharlestonLaw.net has top-rated employment lawyers who can help protect your business.

Invest in quality marketing

Many small business owners can think they can get away with cutting corners and saving costs on marketing efforts because “how hard can it possibly be?”. That is until they try to do it themselves and get little to no return. Unless you are educated in the field and stay on top of marketing trends and strategies, marketing is best left to the experts and professionals.

How small businesses can advertise is constantly changing, between Google algorithms and social media playing a huge role, it can be challenging to understand and keep re-educating yourself on successful strategies. Is that something you want to add to your to-do list when there are probably a hundred other tasks you should be worried about already? Invest in a freelancer or small marketing company (depending on the size of your business and your marketing needs) to take this off your mind and get the results you want.

Improving Your Workplace Productivity In Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Workplace Productivity|Improving Your Workplace Productivity In BusinessIt’s key that workplace productivity is at it’s very best, all the time. Any dip in productivity and the business growth and success will suffer as a result. There are, however, a number of changes that you can make across your business to ensure that the organization continues to work at maximum speed. Here’s how to improve your workplace productivity in business.

Invest In Technology

There are a lot of software and systems that now exist thanks to the advancement of technology. It’s hard to believe that this wasn’t something that existed so predominantly as it is now. A lot of businesses are putting a budget towards investing in technology to help improve workplace productivity. As an example, task management software can be very useful for those working in teams to avoid miscommunication and those individual staff members who are taking on the slack of others. There are many other systems that now exist, including mobile device management for better asset management. This helps with monitoring and managing devices that your staff have, which can certainly come in useful when staff members have any IT problems that halt their work.

Hiring Valuable Staff

Whenever you hire someone new for your business, they need to bring something to the organisation that’s of value and can help with improving the productivity levels. One of the reasons why productivity is lacking may be due to the fact that your staff are working more than their fair share. This can make them feel like they’re being taken advantage of, so if you have the budget to do so, hire someone new. However, make sure they tick off the requirements in terms of adding value to the company but also that they’ll work well with your current staff. Particularly if there are different departments within the organisation, you want to ensure that they’ll get on well with colleagues because if there’s a dislike amongst others, that can also impact the level of work that gets done on a daily basis.

Create The Right Environment

Your staff are probably working in the same place every day for however long they decide to stay within the company. Obviously, you want them to stay for as long as possible, but a poor work environment can seriously affect the happiness of the organization. A few ways of creating the right environment include:

  • Open spaces but also a selection of private spaces and offices to appeal to all members of staff. Everyone has a preferred way of working after all.
  • Creating a naturally lit space using natural light and ambient lighting. Natural light has a particularly positive impact on your mood.
  • High-quality appliances and work stations are always appreciated because it means that they can work at full capacity without having to deal with IT problems or furniture that’s uncomfortable to sit on or work at.

The right environment isn’t just within the office space, it could also be by offering flexible working. This is a scheme that businesses across industries are trialling because it offers staff the ability to take time off or to work from home remotely. They don’t have to take off vital annual leave for doctors appointments or household emergencies.

Create Reasonable Goals & Objectives

For a business to continue moving forward and hopefully in an upwards trajectory, creating goals and objectives on a regular basis is a must. However, these goals and objectives need to be reasonable for what staff can achieve with the skills, budget and time scale they have. Working under immense pressure can end up affecting the health of staff, and that can eventually have a negative impact on your business. These objectives should be dished out by managers or heads of departments who have a clear understanding of what’s needed. That way, there’s no confusion about what staff are given in terms of these goals or objectives.

Think about offering incentives or rewards for their hard work. Perhaps commission on projects or sales is something that’s possible for a business to give. Help them achieve goals that are doable and support them in reaching these goals by offering rewards that will enable them to continue their hard work. It will also help with staff retention, as staff want to feel valued after all.

Have A Good HR Department

HR can sometimes be given a bad name by staff who feel like they’re not being heard or feel like there’s a lack of HR in the organisation. HR are seriously important to any business to make sure that staff feel protected and can approach them, should they have any concerns about other staff members or to do with their role or certain elements of their contract. So it’s good to focus on building an excellent HR department who can help hire the right staff and are able to contribute to retaining your staff for as long as possible.

Offering support to your staff is always something that HR can help with, but it’s also good to set up regular meetings between HR and staff as well as staff members and their managers or HODs. The reason for this is to build work relationships on a professional level so that everyone feels like they can approach someone within the organisation, no matter what that conversation is about. These meetings can help offer support and guidance in trying times, and that allows staff to feel appreciated.

Improving your workplace productivity is something that will never be perfect. So invest in technology because having the latest in software upgrades and systems can improve how fast daily tasks can be completed. Always aim to hire valuable staff and consider current staff members and whether they’ll fit in within the organisation. Create the right environment so that staff will enjoy coming to work rather than loathing it. Don’t forget to create reasonable goals and objectives on a regular basis to help keep the business moving and ensure you have an excellent HR department to offer full support to all staff in the business.

How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Productivity|How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?There are a whole lot of things that go into making a business truly success but if there’s one thing that’s perhaps more important than anything else: it’s your employees. The truth is that your employees are the very heart and soul of your business and if you’re not putting the effort into making sure that you’re taking care of them then you’re never going to be able to get the most out of them. Working with employees should always be a matter of give and take but that’s something that far too many business owners tend to forget about. They tend to assume that their employees exist to serve their needs and the needs of the business but forget that it’s also incredibly important that it’s also your job as an employer to serve your employees. That might sound something of a challenge and a lot of work but the truth is that it’s actually a whole lot more simple than you might expect. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do in order to make sure that you’re always getting the very best out of your employees.

Flexibility

For the longest time, we’ve all been working under the impression that a rigid working structure is the only way to ensure that a business is as productive and efficient as possible. And yes, it’s absolutely true that there are plenty of ways in which structure, discipline, and scheduling can make your business run a whole lot more smoothly. However, if you focus on those things exclusively then you’re going to create a stifling environment that leads to serious problems. You need to remember that work isn’t the only thing in your employee’s lives and forcing them to make compromises in every other aspect of their life for the sake of work is just going to leave them feeling frustrated and resentful of you and your business. Be willing to be flexible with things like working hours if employees have to fit their career around their families. The same goes for things like remote working. If an employee can work from home and that works best for them, that can often be the most efficient solution rather than dragging them into the office.

Support

One of the most important things that you need to remember is that your employees are not machines, they’re human beings and human beings have limits. Trying to push your employees to achieve their best work can be a good thing but if you push them too hard it’s going to leave them burnt out and exhausted. You need to make sure that you’re actually putting in the time and effort to look after and support your employees so that you’re not putting them at risk at any time. Sure, a dispassionate view might make you think that this is time and money you could be spending on something else but it’s important to remember that taking the time to look after your employees is far better than having to take time to look or new employees when they all burn out from being overworked.

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Productivity|How Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Employees?Training

One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of business owners make is that they find someone that they think would be a great fit for their business and then completely waste their potential by just leaving them to it and not providing them with the avenues for improvement and development. There really is no better way to foster a total sense of apathy among your workforce than not to provide them with the chase to actually improve and develop new skills. Offering training to your employees is essential if you want to make sure that they are the most qualified and well-equipped workforce in any situation. It doesn’t even need to be training that applies directly to your industry. Even things like free CPR classes can be incredibly valuable. Not just because they teach lifesaving skills but also because it shows your employees that you are willing to make an investment in their continued personal development.

Creating the best possible environment

Of course, it’s not just a matter of putting time and effort into your employees, you also need to think about the environment that they’re going to be working in as well. If your employees are in an office that’s miserable to work in then that’s going to have a pretty marked impact on their satisfaction levels as well as their ability to work. You need to make sure that your office has everything from adequate amounts of space to enough like that everyone can work comfortably. Whether you go for something like an open-plan office or something more traditional will depend on personal preference but make sure that you’re creating an environment where your employees can feel comfortable and can collaborate with each other as easily as possible. You should also make sure that your office is set out in such a way that your employees feel connected to you as their employers. Setting yourself entirely apart from them is just going to cause divisions within your business.

You may find yourself looking at this list and thinking that it’s a lot of work just to get the most out of your employees and wondering if it’s really worth it? However, that’s the wrong attitude to take. Yes, being able to get the most out of your employees can be a challenge and will almost certainly take a pretty significant amount of time and effort. However, if you don’t put that effort in then things could be far worse in the long run. If you just try to treat your employees like a resource to be used rather than real human beings that you collaborate with, they’re going to start to resent you and your business and before you know it they’re going to start walking away. Your employees aren’t machines, if you’re only thinking about what they can do for you, you’re never going to be able to get the most out of them.

3 Lessons All Small Healthcare Clinics Can Learn From Large Hospitals

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Productivity|3 Lessons All Small Healthcare Clinics Can Learn From Large HospitalsWhen running a healthcare clinic, the chances are that you will focus primarily on running the best clinic you can run. You will read advice on marketing your services, improving productivity in your business, and similar guidance, all with a specific focus on the small clinic setting.

Of course, focusing on advice for clinics makes complete sense – but it is also worth thinking a little bigger, and considering the lessons you can learn from larger establishments. After all, if a large, monolithic hospital that provides services to thousands of patients every day is making a particular decision, or using a specific technology, it’s fair to assume they are doing so because it works. By implementing the same ideas into your clinic, you can enjoy the same benefits, and significantly improve the service you can provide to your customers. Here are three ideas that most larger hospitals will use, all of which could be hugely advantageous if incorporated into your smaller clinic setting…

Full focus on navigation

Hospitals are huge buildings, which means they have to focus on ensuring patients can comfortably navigate from one area to the next. While a smaller clinic is, of course, more modest in terms of the size, the same focus on navigation can be hugely beneficial. With good signposting and floor line systems, you can ensure your patients always know where they need to be without having to ask staff for directions; as a result, patients feel more at ease, and staff are free to focus on routine tasks.

Embrace tech advances

Large hospitals have to embrace tech advances across every aspect of their service; from ensuring they have a top-of-the-line appointment scheduling system to installing the best hospital pharmacy inventory management system currently available, hospitals know that they have to be at the cutting edge of innovation in order to provide for their large patient base. It’s therefore helpful if you bring the same willingness to embrace technology to your smaller clinic, continually seeking new solutions for every operational area of your business. It should then naturally follow that the more tech you can introduce, the more streamlined and efficient your clinic will be.

Expansive opening hours

Certain aspects of a hospital are available 24/7; the ER, for example. However, many hospitals now offer standard appointments with specialists outside of the usual daytime-Monday-to-Friday arrangement scheduling. If you are looking to expand your potential patient base, offering the same, wide-reaching approach to appointment times could be hugely beneficial. After all, if you only offer appointments during the day throughout the working week, patients who work the same schedule are less likely to be able to attend appointments.

It’s therefore worth experimenting with evening and Saturday appointments and then assessing the results; if the uptake is good, consider extending your opening hours further in order to better meet the scheduling requirements of your patients.

In conclusion

By incorporating the above, you can enjoy the advantages of a large-scale hospital in your smaller clinic setting – much to the benefit of your staff, your patients, and ultimately, the clinic’s overall success.