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Having your company run like a well-oiled machine may not be enough. A company is not a machine, but a living entity. For true organizational alignment, a company needs to understand its sense of self, its values, and how it is perceived in the marketplace. Initiatives coming from a company's core values when matched to customer values have a better chance for success.
To have next-generation leaders within growth businesses, mentoring is a proven method of developing staff for succession. The process creates an environment which can lead to higher levels of profitability, employee retention, increased revenue, and job satisfaction.
For entrepreneurial ventures to compete with larger competitors, creative publicity and inventive viral marketing campaigns are among some tactics that can be used. Building a brand requires a compelling story and solid leadership.
Controversy continues over whether or not the performance review process is an effective tool for motivating and improving employee performance. Yet many entrepreneurs make the assumption that the evaluation process will lead to a better-performing organization. Too often, the purpose of employee reviews is unclear -- to both leadership and the employee -- and training in the process is generally not provided.
Attracting, identifying, training and retaining leadership talent is key to a high-performance organization. With globalization, leading is much more complex process than simple project management. Different situations will require different leadership styles, a compelling vision, and the ability to reason in the face of ambiguity.
Bringing new board members into your company can be complicated. Brad Feld provides some best practices for managing this complex process, including: recruiting, analyzing current board composition, and establishing selection criteria.
The on-boarding of staff members can be confusing to newcomers. Yet, this is a time when most employees build important relationships-- friendships, in fact, that can double the chances of those new employees being satisfied at work. In excerpts from his recent book "Vital Friends", author Tom Rath shares suggestions for both formal and informal orientation processes.
In research conducted by the Gallup organization with more than eight million subjects, employees are more likely to stay with the organization, have more engaged customers, and will be more productive if they have ties of friendship to others in the organization--especially their bosses. An exemplary boss is one who gets to know employees on an individual basis, tailoring their management to the individual.
VCs increasingly are leaving the industry to become entrepreneurs, yet despite their experience with funding startups, many of them are realizing just how challenging it can be to launch a successful business. The insights gained in entrepreneurship, in turn, provide them with a perspective on what it means to be on the andquot;other sideandquot; of the funding table.
Podtech's director of corporate media strategy, Jeremiah Owyang, shares his thoughts on the "practical approach" to listening to the marketplace. He provides an outline of a five-step process to integrate corporate marketing strategies into the blogosphere, and methods to develop prospect/customer trust and credibility.
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