Corporate Culture | Teik Oh

How to create targeted Performance Measures in your business

Mar 06 2015

Have you ever felt that you need to check performance in your business against some yardstick?

It might be that you want to set some Key Performance Indicators for your staff, or you want to see how one branch is performing against another, or perhaps you just want to see how your business as a whole is performing against the bigger picture?

In trying to create Performance Measures for these reasons have you created a set of measures that you haven’t been too happy about? Perhaps you haven’t been sure that in achieving those Performance Measures you actually achieve an outcome!

Performance Measures are essential in your business. They are objective and quantitative, they should reflect your Vision and Mission so that they measure progress against “getting there”, and they create targets for people to work towards. However appropriate Performance Measures are crucial – don’t expect a Vision target of an empowered workforce if your Performance Measures are about ticking off procedures checklists!

This video explains how to create targeted Performance Measures that cascade from your Vision so that everything is measured against the desired outcomes, not just against outputs.

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A Day-to-day HR Issue

Feb 13 2015

Here’s an every day HR issue that whether we are business owners, managers, colleagues of another team-member, or just simply friends with another worker, will come across.

You come into work one morning and you inter-act with another team member on a job-related task. They are usually careful and attentive at work. They may or may not be a “leading light” in the workplace but they are certainly dependable and will complete their tasks while mindful of deadlines and outcomes.

Today however they seem to be “off their game”.

You ask if anything is wrong. They tell you that they had an argument with another team member about a personal issue, and the incident is affecting him/her. In fact he/she feels that it is so serious it is affecting his/her work.

What should you do? The normal efficiency of the team is obviously at risk. Do you see it as a personal matter and leave it alone? Do you advise the person you are with to sort it out with the other? Do you go to see the other person and see what you can do? Do you bring both together and mediate? Do you go up the ladder and tell the team leader there is an issue? Read More

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Managing Hostility in your Team

Feb 06 2015

One of the joys of running your small business is dealing with your staff.

I’m not being sarcastic – I really do mean that dealing with your staff is a joy, because if you have chosen well, they are hard-working, more often loyal than not, and they bring a different dimension to work. They are a relief during the day when you can talk football or the latest instalment of the soap opera, they are also a source of support when a business problem means you need hands to the wheel or just moral support.

If they are none of the above, perhaps you didn’t choose well and need to look again.

Of course there is also the other side. You have a responsibility to your staff, they sometimes don’t work the way you work and it can be irritating, they sometimes disagree.

But these are not the worst engagements with your staff (and I’m talking good staff whom you do want to retain). The worst engagements are when two of them have a dispute.

When the relationship between two of them rises to the point of hostility, how do you manage the situation and keep the team on track? Read More

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Decluttering Your Business

Feb 02 2015

Every now and then, it’s time to declutter!

Whether it’s your home, your office, or your life, over the years you build up “stuff”. When you buy that cute vase or an extra office chair or you accumulate responsibilities, it all builds up. Personally I find it refreshing to just get rid of stuff from time to time.

It clears your mind, there’s less visual and intellectual junk to manoeuvre around, and you can see fresh and new ways to move on and ahead.
Well, decluttering works in your business as well.

Think for a moment, and I’ll bet you will recognise the clutter that has built up around you without your knowing it. Management guru Peter Drucker said “much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work”. This is so true. Management demands better (or is it more?) communication so our email inbox is bulging, we are in touch 24/7 on smart phones and tablets. Management is careful to avoid inefficiency, so everything is check-listed, and has to be signed off step by step adding layers to “efficiency”. Management is all about planning so half our day is filled with meetings. Management is all about achieving goals so we end up with endless objectives and to-do lists to tick off.

Some of this clutter in our business lives is actually a necessity. Read More

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Communication – Part #172

Jan 30 2015

I talk about communication a lot, which is why this is probably part 172!

However joking aside communication is probably one of the most critical skills anyone in business, or working in a customer-facing role must master.

It is communication that allows you to convey your vision to your team and to your customers. It is communication that leads people, communication that melds a team into a productive group of people working as one, rather than a group of individuals working “together”. It is communication that builds trust in you, and it is communication that tells your customer you are on his side.

In “Communication – Part 172″ (and I am being facetious) I’d like to deal with how professionals communicate with their clients. I have already written elsewhere about how you should avoid jargon, but this time let me talk about how communicating your skill needs more than knowledge about your skill, it needs experience about how your skill is used to help.

Let me set the scene.
Read More

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Category - Corporate Culture

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How to create targeted Performance Measures in your business

A Day-to-day HR Issue

Managing Hostility in your Team

Decluttering Your Business

Communication – Part #172