Posts

How to Transfer Business Skills to Manage Your Life

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Business Skills|How to Transfer Business Skills to Manage Your LifeStarting and running a successful business requires a great number of skills, including fantastic organization, great financial planning, and people management. If you are an entrepreneur, chances are you have worked to hone these skills to the peak of your ability. Yet they don’t have to be confined to your business world. These abilities can help you manage your personal life, ensuring you stay on top of your finances, personal investments, and work-life balance. By taking a holistic approach to your life, you’ll find you make better decisions, and that you’re able to approach your business with greater focus and positivity.

Managing Personal Property

When you buy a new house, it is never simply a personal decision. You are also investing in a property, one that you can profit from in the future if and when you decide to sell, and it’s worth using all your business acumen to ensure you make the right decisions. Properties come in all shapes and sizes, with all different circumstances attached, and it’s worth doing your research. For example, if you’re buying an apartment that falls under an owners corporation, this can have many advantages, but it’s worth investigating strata law as the bylaws that govern these bodies can be complicated. A specialized lawyer may be able to advise you and make sure you’re getting the best deal possible in this situation. Whatever the type of property you’re considering, treating it as a business decision as well as a decision of the heart will ensure you are investing in your future.

Overseeing Your Accounts

For some reason, many business owners with an incredible grasp of their company’s accounts and finance can fail to apply this same attention to detail to their own personal financial situation. Don’t let this be you. Keeping a close eye on the state of your accounts is a vital part of living a successful life, one that allows you to plan for the future and accomplish everything you desire. There are also tips and tricks you can pull from business models to help you manage your finances more easily. Just as you may have ‘pots’ of money separated for different departments in your business, why not apply this same structure to your own bank account? Put aside a budget each month for clothes, groceries, and casual spending, and make it more efficient for yourself to keep track of your expenditure.

Scheduling and Prioritization

Do you ever feel like achieving the perfect work-life balance is an impossible task? You’re not alone. Many business owners find it difficult to make time for themselves. One solution to this is simple: schedule personal time and social events into your calendar just as you would a meeting or a work deadline. This may seem frivolous, but in fact, taking time out to destress and spend quality time with family and friends is vitally important in maintaining your physical and mental health. In turn, this will affect your ability to concentrate, and therefore the health of your business.

3 Tools for Streamlining Processes in Manufacturing

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Manufacturing Processes|3 Tools for Streamlining Processes in ManufacturingManufacturing processes are complex and they often consist of multiple steps. So, in order to maximize profits, businesses have to find innovative ways to streamline these processes and reduce the time they take to complete.

If your manufacturing processes are inefficient, then there are a few things you can do to improve them, including getting rid of obsolete steps and improving the communication between your employees. There are also some amazing tools available that will help you to streamline these processes. Some of these tools include:

1.Salesforce

In order for manufacturing companies to be successful, they need to take good care of their customers. This is where the Salesforce tool comes in. Salesforce is a customer relationship management solution that brings customers and companies together. It makes sure that all departments including sales, marketing, commerce and service have a shared view of every customer. Salesforce for different industries is available, meaning that no matter what industry you work in, this is a tool you should consider. Salesforce solutions by Alt-Solut are a brilliant option for businesses wanting to streamline their manufacturing processes.

Here are some of the products they use to help you achieve this:

  • The service cloud – this allows your customers to connect with a specialist or find answers to any questions they may have in a fast and traceable way. Keeping track of your customers’ needs and concerns allows you to support them and run your business more effectively and efficiently.
  • The sales cloud – this helps companies to increase their customer base. It gives them the ability to notice potential deals as well as the ability to close more deals, all while increasing overall productivity.
  • The sales force CPQ – this allows you to provide accurate pricing and it can increase your ability to send quotes more quickly
  • Manufacturing cloud – this can help you to create transparency through each process.

2. Kanban

Kanban is another great tool that manufacturing companies can use to streamline their business processes. It is a Japanese scheduling system for lean manufacturing. This tool allows you to highlight problem areas by measuring the cycle time and lead time of each step. One of the main benefits of this tool is that it can help you to avoid overcapacity.

Unlike many other continuous improvement tools, Kanban is less about revolutionizing and more about evolving. This method looks at each part of the process as a fluid and changeable piece.

3. PDCA Cycle

The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle allows you to test out hypotheses and ideas. The four stages of this cycle include:

  • Plan – set out your goals and work out how you will achieve them
  • Do – try out the first few steps of your plan to see how well they work
  • Check – keep an eye out for areas that can be improved. You can do this by evaluating each step you’ve implemented as you go along. This allows you to spot problems at each stage of the process.
  • Act/adjust – depending on what you find in your evaluation, make any necessary changes in order to meet your goals.

Most manufacturing businesses are eager to streamline the complex processes within their business. Streamlining these processes can not only increase overall productivity, but it can also increase profitability. However, streamlining these processes can often be time-consuming and daunting. This is where streamlining tools come in handy. Why not try using some of the above tools in your business to see what a difference they can make?

5 tips for a healthy work-life balance when working remotely

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Work-Life Balance|5 tips for a healthy work-life balance when working remotelyIt is no understatement to say that the 2020 pandemic has turbocharged the existing well-documented trend towards greater remote working. “Remote work may be the most influential legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says a recent survey. Companies are now expecting a greater proportion of their workforce to remain working remotely, even after the pandemic has passed.

For teams and their leaders, the benefits of remote working can be significant. Cutting out the daily commute, spending more time at home and scheduling work around family commitments should make for a much healthier work-life balance. Remote employees work harder and are happier than office-based staff. Their engagement is higher than ever, thanks to new technology that allows for instant messaging, video conferencing, online collaborations and more.

However, if working from home is now becoming a permanent feature for many workers who were previously based at employer premises, it is ever more important to ensure that sensible boundaries are set to protect the delicate balance between professional and private life. Here are some useful tips on how to achieve this on a daily basis.

1. Create a consistent schedule

Regardless of whether you work at the office or at home, a set schedule will provide the necessary discipline to keep a reliable routine for work and off-work hours. Even if your organisation uses scheduling software, it may be worth investing in your own time management tool to keep track of the number of hours you are working and to organise your day efficiently.

While commuting may no longer be an issue, an effective morning routine to get yourself up and ready for work is highly recommended. It doesn’t matter too much what it is – some people get dressed in business wear to get into work mode, others are happy in lounge wear – as long as it gets you into the proper mindset.

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Working from home can be a lonely business, which is why regular communication within the team is critical for remote teams. In addition to daily stand-ups, weekly meetings and other regular team communications, make sure you don’t neglect informal messaging with your colleagues and line managers leaders. Remote communication tools such as Zoom and Slack have seen a meteoric rise in users in recent months, but there are many other suitable products.

One leadership coach has this valuable advice for team leaders in the current health crisis: “Now more than ever, it’s important for your remote teams to feel their voices are being heard. They’re likely to be feeling isolated, so encourage regular feedback and ideas. It’s important for them to feel you’re concerned for their wellbeing. You’re all in this together, so make sure you keep listening.” (Monkhouse & Company)

3. Ringfence and organise your workspace

A laptop on the sofa or the dining table may be a workable solution for the occasional WFH day. However, if you are working remotely on a more regular, permanent basis, you should create a work-only zone as a way to set up boundaries around your professional and private life. Whether you have a desk in the corner or separate home office, make sure your workspace is tidy and organised at all times.

Be open to the occasional change of scenery if you get stuck. Sometimes, a new environment can help to break the monotony, unblock your creativity and satisfy the need for social interaction. You could take your laptop out onto the patio on a summer’s day, decamp to a local cafe with free WiFi, or use a coworking space.

4. Take scheduled breaks

Punctuate your working day with regular breaks. These don’t have to be long but they should get you off your chair and moving around. Actively counteract the potential problems of a sedentary job with periods of stretching, walking around, even doing some housework. Short breaks here and there throughout the day are also mentally stimulating, making you more productive during the working day and less exhausted at the end of it.

Resist the temptation to snack rather than eat proper meals, or even forget to eat altogether. The occasional donut and caffeine-fuelled day as a short-term fix to meet an urgent deadline may be forgivable, but the consequences of a blood sugar crash will leave you empty and irritable. Better to focus on a nutritionally balanced diet and a proper lunch hour away from the desk.

5. Practise self-care

Remote working can take its toll on your mental health unless you pay attention to replenish your inner resources. While working at the desk all day can be exhausting, there’s nothing like physical exercise to get yourself out of your head and into your body. From a quick yoga routine to taking the dog for a walk, a game of tennis or session at the gym, regular exercise is proven to reduce stress, improve concentration, memory, creativity and sleep.

Finally, there is a lot of truth in the old adage that ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. A healthy work-life balance requires you to pay attention to your off-duty needs such as making time for social interaction with friends, creative pursuits, gardening or just getting out and about!