Category Archives: Management

In business, we all dream about boom times where even a new guy can make it big and quick. But, in real life, success in business depends on how you handle the lean times. Lean times are times when labor is not readily available, or when customers are hard to come by. Do you learn more efficient ways of retaining customers? Do you find ways to give your customer better service or a better deal? Do you find better ways of attracting talent?

In my personal business, I think I learned a lot more when times were tough. In my Notary directory career, I started in a boom time. Everyone made money without even trying. As a result, I didn’t learn the maximally efficient ways to get clients, or what the best pricing strategy was. As I went along, and business was rough, I got more and more intricate and complicated in my pricing strategy by really taking a closer look. I also learned that having a successful directory depends on having great listings. If you have a bad service provider, even if the listing looks good on cyber-paper, it will still be a bad listing. So, I learned to be good at assessing people’s personality, their work, and other factors using analytics and click tracking. The result of all of the things I learned was that I now know how to run a much better directory than I did seven years ago, and I am getting four times the traffic as well! But, the point I’m trying to make is that my best learning took place when business was horrible.

So, when business is bad, don’t cry. Don’t say, “if only the market would pick up.” Learn to create the right strategies for different market conditions and just ride whatever wave you are on!

You might be thinking that teaching is academic and working at a BPO outsourcing house is business. What could the two possibly have in common? More than you think. As a business person, you need to do a lot of learning and teaching. You need to research your market, research and compare methodologies for many aspects of your business. You also need to teach new workers how to do their job. If you are experienced at teaching, you will be more patient, attentive and able to teach newbies how to do their job.

The other benefit of a teaching background is that teaching puts you in contract with under average people. If you are from an educated background, you might have limited experience dealing with or working with under-achievers. However, as a business owner or manager, most of the people you deal with will be under-achievers — and a few low-lives too! You need to know how to bring the best out of very mediocre people. It isn’t easy or fun either. But, most people will slack off unless you know how to manage them well. Being a teacher is the same as being a manager, after all, you are managing twenty-four people’s learning. Being on top of things and on top of a room full of people is similar to running a business. So, if you want to do well in BPO, try to do some teaching, or hire a teacher to assist you. Just try to get them to dress a little better than the average teacher.

Many companies want to cram in as much week as they can during a day. But, there are disadvantages to this too. Being in too much of a hurry and not breaking enough can lead to increased stress and distracted work behavior which is very detrimental to output.

Workers who take a quick lunch break and work almost eight hours straight become very distracted. Many of them surf the web at work, or are just in a state of mental chaos. Many articles about work behavior that I have read stress the importance of taking breaks. After 51 minutes of mentally intensive work you should take a break according to one article I read. For repetitive tasks, the breaking schedule might be less critical, however, repetitive tasks can dull your mind making you less capable when you have a thinking task.

Taking a lunch break is a great time for workers to catch up on Facebook, emails and other social media. If you don’t give them an opportunity to catch up, they will probably doing it on the clock which is bad for your work schedule.

Personally, I feel that the American work ethic is based on being in too much of a hurry, being too demanding, and not replenishing yourself. Additionally, American workers are very disengaged which exacerbates the situation making them even more distracted. A long lunch hour allows people to mingle with others, make new friends, try new restaurants, and refresh their brains while out of the office for an extended period of time. I feel that having a two or three hours lunch break is not a bad idea if you are willing to stay late and if you are not going to miss any critical phone calls or meetings.

However, what if you answer calls during lunch? What if you take your work with you? You are still replenishing since you are out of the office. You could still have that ten minute power discussion with your supplier. Most people would say, “Sorry, I can’t talk now because I’m at lunch.” Then, when you get them at work, “Sorry, she is on another call.” You might have to try six times to reach someone. What a pain. But, by being willing to take meaningful calls, you would afford yourself the opportunity to take long lunches and still be productive and available!

Long lunch breaks are common in France and other European countries. They add a sense of culture and meaning to life which Americans will never have. My personal habit is to have a very quick lunch, but a very lazy dinner. Perhaps, I should have a nice mid-day break. But, I’m always behind the eight-ball with work. Maybe I need to find a way to be ahead on work and then have a more flexible schedule…

I would write more, but it is time for my lengthy dinner break! After I return, I’m going to work until 1am!

As a business person, you need to hire all types of people to do all types of tasks. Many people think that there are “perfect” people to hire for particular tasks and spend a lot of time thinking about who is perfect. The reality is that hiring is more of a moving target! Yes, there are people who are well suited for particular jobs based on their aptitude, and skill set. There are others who are well suited for a job because they are excited about doing that task during that part of their life.

Many people are good travelers in their twenties as people are more excited to see the world at that age while in their forties they might focus more on work. Some people get interested in math at a particular age and then prefer studying languages at another age. The truth about hiring is that people gain and lose interest fairly quickly — especially if they are young.

You can’t really hire someone without a track record. Some business models allow for performance based salaries or commissions which is not a bad idea. But, if you pay a fixed amount per week, and someone loses interest — they will start slacking off soon after. Another pitfall of hiring is that people’s performance usually correlates to their relationship with the person who hired them. If they are communicating regularly with their boss, they will normally work more. If the worker chooses not to communicate as much or at all, that means they are going to slack off — by definition in my experience.

It’s probably easier if you use graph paper, or online graphs and track employee performance. If you see a glitch in their performance, you can analyze it. Sometimes monthly reviews are not enough. You might need to look at a daily or weekly graph. Is their performance down because of the economy, an unexpected health issue, a few trips to the dentist, or because they lost interest? One common mistake bosses make is to omit reviewing their worker’s performance, or not do it as much as necessary.

Most of the people I hired had cycles. Some people are excited when you first hire them and work harder. Then, they lose interest or begin to dislike you. These cycles are more dramatic with women and younger people. I have been working with two older guys who are above sixty, and they seem to have only one cycle which is to churn out regular work with a smile. The main thing is to be in touch with the cycle of your workers. The minute you lose touch, you will be paying for non-performance and losing time and money.

My advice is to either fire people when they lose interest, or come up with a thoughtful incentive plan. If you start people at a low salary and offer quarterly raises for good behavior, there is a huge incentive to perform. If you offer bonuses or commissions for achievement, there is also an incentive. If you offer a salary that never goes up, or only once a year, that is too long for most people to wait. Most people want to see advancement in their career and fast — particularly if they are young. So, offer them what excites them and keep your eye on what excites you — performance and performance graphs.