Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Successful Teams Add Value
Successful teams effectively turn strategy and goals into tangible actions and results. They make decisions more rapidly and create support for their decisions in the wider organization. They adapt faster to changing market conditions or to changes in their organization. This obviously leads to better results.
There seems to be consensus about some key conditions that make a team successful:
Clear, engaging and meaningful direction. Challenging goals that are relevant for the organization motivate teams. The clarity needed for successful teamwork implies that there is a clear orientation and empowerment given to the members of the team for what they are supposed to do. In order to achieve such clear, challenging goals, all the available talent has to be engaged.
Empowered team structure. A real team is bounded and stable over time. The team members need to work interdependently to reach their common goal. They are empowered to manage their own teamwork and their internal processes. They develop their own norms of conduct (‘What must always be done and what must never be done’). There is support from the wider organization that the team works in.
The right team composition. The ideal size for a team is six to seven people. Often, teams are too big. The team members need to have integrity with regard to the team. Individual team members need to have the right skills and competencies. Regarding the latter in particular, the competencies connected with emotional intelligence (self-awareness, integrity, empathy, influencing others, etc) are of great importance.
Beside the factors mentioned above, it is important that there is support from the wider organization. This support is twofold. First there is the moral dimension. Without visible support, especially from the leadership team, it will be difficult for a team to perform successfully. The team must be empowered to make its own decisions, within an agreed framework and mandate for the team.
The second aspect of organizational support is material support. This includes the availability of appropriate information systems, a stimulating physical working environment, but also a fair assessment of the performance of individual team members and the team as a whole, coupled with a fair reward based on that assessment. We also want to stress the importance of the availability of training to accelerate the building of teams and to provide guidance for developing teams into high-performing teams. This is an area for capturing the learning from successful teams, identifying what works best in the organization and making this learning effectively available to others in the organization by designing, organizing and executing relevant training programmes.
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Posted in Team Building and Management | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
USB Drive is a versatile and functional storage device. You can use them for many practical purpose: to store your data and applications; transfer documents from work to home; move important work from laptop to desktop; share information and presentations with a clients or colleagues, for quick backup, and many more. Not only of practical use, USB Drive is also slim, portable, stylish and fully customizable. They comes in many different style, colors, materials, size, and even as parts of other items such as a Swiss army knife attachment, calculator, wristband or clip. With its widespread popularity, Custom USB Drive have few different names such as Custom Flash Drive, Custom Jump Drive, Custom Mini USB Drive or Custom USB Flash Pen Drive, depending on the manufacturer’s name.
Business often gives Custom USB Drives as tradeshow giveaways (to improve traffic), memorable Corporate Gifts (to motivate staff), Customer gifts (to thank customer), corporate meeting gifts, sales promotional gifts (to increase awareness), souvenirs, fund raising items, etc. Promotional USB drives is an excellent marketing tool to create strong brand recognition and increase awareness about your products and services. You can outfit your sales force with digital product catalogs and distribute your promotional marketing campaign and sales materials. You can reward your employees for achieving good performance and high productivity with Corporate gifts in form of Custom USB Drives.
If you are looking for stylish Custom USB Drive at the best prices, FlashDealer is your source for customized USB flash drives at unbeatable prices. It starts from as low as US$3.95. They offer a large selection of custom USB flash drives in many colors, shapes, materials, sizes and packaging. Customize your Promotional USB Drive with:
- Custom Printing – Imprint or laser engrave your Company Name, Logo and message.
- Preloading your Data – PreLoad with Data or Presentation. With USB Autorun, you can also automatically load your application into an executable program
- Custom Packaging – as Gift Box or simple Lanyard.
Importantly, All products purchased through FlashDealer have a 100% Lifetime Replacement Guarantee and 100% Dealer Guarantee. They will match any other competitor’s price on the market.
So, promote your organization’s brand image with Custom USB Drives from FlashDealer.
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Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
The Power of Marketing–Effectiveness is More Important than Efficiency
Key factors for marketing effectiveness
1. ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY
Sound research/analysis of how the market is changing, leading to a more proactive approach. Quick feedback mechanisms on success/failure.
2. TIGHT CUSTOMER FOCUS
Knowing who your chosen customers are, where they are and what they want. Targeting of the offering and all marketing activities rather than a ‘catch-all’ approach.
3. BALANCE PORTFOLIO
Sufficient products in each of the following categories:
? steady revenue earners
? growth products and
? products for the future.
? These should all be managed appropriately to provide a sound business platform. The right balance of marketing and financial objectives will achieve this.
4. CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
Customers believe the company is ‘good to do business with’. This is essential for loyalty and as a platform for future acceptability. This has to be a ‘top-down’ commitment with no deviations.
5. COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION AND IMPROVEMENT
Not only in design, quality and performance but in new and better ways of handling the business.
6. RECOGNITION OF NEED FOR ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTATION
Flexible, alert, prepared to change ‘old ways’. Helped by ‘flat’ structures, shared objectives and effective teamwork.
7. UNDERSTANDING YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Commitment to being ‘better than the competition’ in ways to which customers will respond positively. Not being ‘equal’ or just using reactive ‘bench marking’ to mimic others, but ‘setting the agenda’ for others to follow.
8. CLEAR, REALISTIC PRODUCT LINE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Helped by good portfolio thinking. Not trying to maximize profit, share or growth inappropriately or ‘equally’, on all products in all markets. Avoiding ‘macho’ targets which will require ‘market forcing’ and lead to problems in the long-term. Understanding the need for product ‘image’ as well as performance objectives.
9. ’TIGHT-LOOSE’ CONTROL SYSTEMS
Understanding what needs to be tightly controlled or standardized, and what needs adaptation to market, or local input and accountability, to be fully successful.
10. LONG-TERM ORIENTATION
Not looking only for short-term profit, but investing in image and a strong long-term market position as a foundation for future profit.
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Posted in Sales and Marketing | 1 Comment »
