Archive for November, 2011

November 1st, 2011

New Research on Innovativeness

In a national study recently conducted by FtcWindsor staff as part of their development programmes in achieving their Masters degrees, some new and interesting ideas on innovativeness were highlights which may be of interest to you.

 

  • Innovative firms are risk takers, creative, receptive and proactive.

    • Risk taking: Innovative firms take risks on new ideas, people, new products, new services, new technologies etc. This means that firms invest time, effort and money into new ideas knowing they might not gain from the investment. However, some of the firms managed their risk by gathering information before investing too heavily i.e. their risk taking CALCULATED.

    • Creativeness: Innovative firms produce creative ideas, products, services and technologies. Specifically, creative ideas where considered idea that broke with the norm. Alternatively, it is the use of current ideas, products and technologies in a new and dynamic way. No matter what type of idea it is – it creates new value for customers.

    • Receptivity: Innovative firms are receptive to new ideas and they seek out new knowledge and information. The knowledge gained is then applied to either reduce risk or create new ideas. Of key importance – firms need to be receptive to risky information and ideas as well as safe information and ideas. This means that firms need to listen and absorb information that 1) contradicts their current views or 2) means that their might be more time, effort or monetary investment required for which their might not be a return.

    • Proactiveness: Innovative firms take action on new ideas. They also see trends before other firms and take action on the trends before their competitors. TAKE ACTION – means these firms start to implement the idea or explore the idea before any of their competitors.

Next NewsBites there will be more on innovativeness- if you have any questions feel free to contact us on info@ftcwinsdor.com

CategoryManagement | CommentNo Comments »

November 1st, 2011

What needs to be considered by SME’s establishing a Blog for the first time?

Each business can benefit from starting a blog if their customers are interested in the content. So, the first thing you need to consider is ‘What would my customers want to know about my business?’. For example, if you are a landscaping company your customers might want to know about what in season or even to see some your work.

Secondly, you need to promote your blog – you can write a blog and no one will visit it if your site unless you promote it. So, you need to 1) use free internet promotional techniques e.g. facebook, linkedIn, twitter and 2) put a link to either facebook, your blog, or twitter on you adverts and at the end of press releases.

Thirdly, you need to allocate time to 1) writing the blog, 2) creative time – to come up with the ideas for the blog, 3) editing the blog and 4) posting and promoting the blog.

Ultimately, if you meet the first criterion – i.e. Will my customers be interested in what I have to say or what I do – you should start a blog.

CategoryMarketing | CommentNo Comments »

November 1st, 2011

A focus for improved performance and engagement

Businesses are experiencing a variety of challenges in these economic times with shrinking markets, increased competition and competitiveness. For many however these are further compounded by issues such as employee absence, under performance and engagement.

Studies undertaken in the European Union suggest that more than 1 in 4 workers are affected by stress and that between 50% and 60% of lost working days are related to this. This year the biggest workplace health and safety survey in Europe showed that 79% of European managers are concerned by workplace stress, but less than a third of organisations have set up procedures to deal with it. The survey further suggested that for many managers workplace stress is a difficult topic for them to address due to sensitivities and a lack of awareness.

While different sectors, and specific roles by their nature, are impacted more severely than others resulting in many employees experiencing significant stress emotional exhaustion and burnout. This can lead to experienced staff leaving their jobs which can impact greatly on their organisations.

Absent Management Surveys in the UK this year have revealed for the first time stress is the most common cause of long term absence for manual and non – manual employees. Employee’s surveyed identified organisational changes and restructuring as the number one cause of absence as a result of stress at work and together with job insecurity, increased workloads, management style role changes, relationships at work and non-work factors as further contributors.

Clearly there are very few organisations that have not experienced some sort of organisational change, and in many instances job losses, in the recent past. For many employees job security continues to be on their radar as long as the economic climate remains uncertain and where the jobs market remains low. It’s not surprising therefore that stress is having such an impact in the workplace.

To quantify further the impact of absenteeism IBEC (Irish Business and Employers Confederation) published a report recently indicating that 11 million days were lost to business in 2010 at a cost of € 1.5 billion with an average of 5.98 days absence per employee recorded.

While taking into consideration the impact of work place stress in terms of absenteeism what is more difficult to quantify, and equally challenging for businesses, is the impact of reduced employee performance and engagement while remaining in the workplace.

The issue of workplace stress will continue to remain a challenge for business leaders and managers until a greater understanding of the topic is made and actions undertaken to address the issue to ensure continued employee well being, engagement and significantly improving performance and business success.

CategoryHRM | CommentNo Comments »