By Daniel Burrus

Anyone who has been around children and young adults for a while knows they are attracted to video games. And while older adults may think they are being lazy or using their time idly when they’re connected to their Wii or Xbox using a Kinect, in reality they are paving the way for business training and education.

How? It’s part of a future trend first identified in the 1980s that is now being called “gameification.” Today, that growing trend is reaching a tipping point. In fact, many of the greatest technological advances in business have come from the world of children and games.

Paving the way

To see the migration of how a concept goes from children and games to adults and business, just look at the evolution of social media. At first, young people were the predominant ones on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Adults simply didn’t see the value of social media—after all, who really cared what you had for lunch or what outfit someone wore to the dance.

As adults eventually took more and more interest in social media, many companies made formal policies forbidding employees from using Twitter and Facebook at work. But now that the business world has seen the relevancy of social media and how it can be a brand management, marketing, and collaboration tool, they’re embracing it, some even going so far as creating their own internal versions of Twitter and Facebook.

Granted, video games and social media are different technologies, but the concept migration pattern is still the same. And with game controllers like the Wii and Xbox Kinect giving people new ways of interacting with technology, the business world is currently on the threshold of being game-ified.

Thanks to Microsoft releasing  a software development kit for the Kinect that allows programmers to create new applications, university students started taking this gaming concept and writing software that allows users to control business software using only hand motions—no keyboard or mouse. An early example would be if you want to go to the next page, you do a sweep of your hand across the screen without touching anything. You can sweep to the left, sweep to the right, scroll up, scroll down, and many other things.

The core of gameification

The heart of the gameification trend is using interactive gaming as a tool to transform training and education. Based on 25 years of research, there are five core elements that when applied together can dramatically accelerate learning. When you model your company’s training to include these five elements, your employees will learn more in less time and have better results. The five core elements are:

Self-diagnostic. In the world of gaming, as you accomplish new feats and your character gets better, the game gives you greater challenges. When you power down, it remembers where you left off. When you return, you don’t have to start over from ground zero.

In the case of business training, if you learn something, there’s no need for a trainer to re-teach it to you. A better idea is for business training to have a self-diagnostic component. The interactive, competitive, and immersed module can know your skill or knowledge level and progress accordingly. It can know where you left off and give you next steps from that point when you log back in. This is the best way to allow for individual training and learning.

Interactivity. For centuries, education and training have been, for the most part, passive experiences. Someone stands in front of a group and talks and the people being educated or trained sit and listen—taking a few notes here and there. As technology evolved, the trainer or teacher showed a movie or two to keep people involved, but in the end, the people learning just sat and watched.

Regardless of someone’s inherent learning style, learning is much more effective when you’re interacting with the material, not passively sitting there. When you learn by gaming, you’re interacting with the information and concepts. You’re moving things around, you’re manipulating items, and you’re actually doing things. It’s no longer passive training. Now you are much more engaged and immersed.

Immersion. In the recent past to the present, video games use interspatial 3-D, where you go into worlds. So instead of images popping out at you, you go inside to them. This sort of technology gives an immersed effect, which engages people more.

To apply this to business, if you’re training salespeople on a particular manufacturing tool they need to sell, why not have them see the tool in 3-D and actually get to virtually manipulate the tool rather than have them read spec sheets about it? The former will give them more insight to the tool, which will make selling it easier.

Competition. Humans are naturally competitive beings—we want to sell more, be more productive, innovate faster, and be smarter than the next person. When you’re sitting in class learning, there’s little competitive value. You’re all there for the entire timeframe whether you’ve learned the materials in one hour or three. No one advances until the class is over.

When you’re competing, however, as in a game, there’s an adrenaline rush that keeps you engaged and focused on the task at hand. In an effort to “win,” people master concepts faster so they can be first.

Focus. When you’re playing a game, you’re forced to focus. You have to do A in order for B to occur. If you don’t do A, then you won’t get far in the game. Focus is the result of interactivity, competition, immersion, and self-diagnosis. When you can focus, you can learn virtually anything…fast.

Accelerate learning

Using all five core elements is a key to accelerating learning. With more and more to learn, it will be increasingly important to gameify both business and education to create better results faster.

Those companies that adopt early will be the long-term winners. So here’s your homework assignment: Get together with a child and play one of their games. While you’re playing, think Wii or Kinect for business. Think of the five core elements and how you could reinvent learning with tools like these.

Since businesses spend large sums of money on training and education, any tool that can accelerate or enhance learning will save both time and dollars.

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends to help clients better understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books, including “Flash Foresight: How To See the Invisible and Do the Impossible” (www.flashforesight.com) and “Technotrends.” He can reached through www.burrus.com.

By Jolly Backer

Employee performance is an issue that concerns every entrepreneur. While a high employee-turnover rate can be costly to a business, so is having employees who don’t work up to their potential, or who have lackluster job performance. Just about every business across the country can benefit from taking measures to improve employee performance.

By improving employee performance, businesses will have a much easier time meeting the goals they have set, as well as reducing employee turnover and improving employee satisfaction rates.

Here are five ways to improve employee performance:

1. Change the environment. Often, employee performance is in line with the environment of the company. Making sure the workplace environment is positive, goal-oriented, and supportive will help to motivate employees. Start by looking at what needs to be improved in your workplace environment.

2. Improve communication. Whether the boss isn’t listening to employees enough or isn’t providing feedback, there may be room for improvement in communication. Those who communicate well with their employees will automatically motivate them to do more.

3. Provide training. Not having enough training costs companies a lot of money. The money that is invested in proper training and tools to do the job will be well worth the investment. When you invest in employees, they are better able to do their job, and will invest more deeply in meeting the company’s goals.

4. Get healthy. Obesity and health issues cost employers an estimated $73 billion or more per year in increased healthcare costs and lost productivity. Helping employees get, and stay, healthy will also help improve productivity. One way to do that is to ensure there is access to healthy snack and food options in the workplace.

5. Share goals. Employees will have a difficult time helping their employer reach business goals if they don’t know what they are. All businesses should have goals for growth or service, and should share them with their employees, which will likely motivate them to help the company reach its goals.

Taking steps to help improve employee performance will pay off. In an effort to help employees get healthy, many workplaces are replacing old, unhealthy vending machines with new ones offering healthier options. Doing this provides more nutritious food options, which will give workers a healthy energy boost while at work, while also helping them reach fitness goals, which will improve overall work performance.

Jolly Backer is chief executive officer of Fresh Healthy Vending, a company that is revolutionizing vending machines by filling dual-climate-controlled machines with healthy, natural food options, such as 100-percent juices, fresh vegetables, fruits, smoothies, and yogurts. She can be reached through www.freshvending.com.

By Robert Owens

Your business is only as strong as your most valuable assets—your employees. In a competitive landscape, protecting their health and enhancing their productivity by incorporating green cleaning practices can positively affect your bottom line.

From workplaces across the country, stories abound. Employees are falling ill with respiratory problems, chronic headaches and other health issues—creating increased absenteeism and high health insurance, which all adversely affect the bottom line and leaves company executives wondering why so many workers are missing so many days.

What most of them don’t know is that the answer may lie in the actual buildings in which their businesses operate.

Why suffer?

According to the American Institute of Architects, 30% of U.S. workers suffer from health problems caused by volatile organic compounds from carpeting and furniture, inadequate air circulation, poor lighting and mold build-up.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates workers take up to $3 billion worth of sick days annually to recover from the ailments and numerous other health conditions that stem from unhealthy work environments.

A recent Consumer Federation of America study shows that about $100 billion annually in healthcare costs and lost earnings can be attributed to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) and the reduced productivity it causes.

Although this poses a serious health and productivity threat to the American workforce, the good news is that more and more companies are realizing the importance of a healthy work environment.

A manifestation of increased environmental awareness, green cleaning is good for your employees—and for your bottom line.

Green cleaning benefits

Green cleaning uses a combination of products, practices and equipment to clean effectively while protecting the environment and the people who work there. Recent studies suggest that its effects are substantial.

According to the Indoor Environment Department at the Lawrence Berkley National Design Laboratory in California, improved air quality that is achieved through sustainable design, building and cleaning strategies can lower SBS symptoms by 20% to 50%, while cold and influenza are reduced by 9% to 20%, and allergies and asthma drop by 8% to 25%.

Understanding the importance of a healthy workplace and striving to improve the health and productivity of your employees through the use of technology and green-certified cleaning products will help you achieve a better bottom line in more ways than one. A few things to implement include:

•Spray cleaners. Instead of taking the mop-and-bucket approach to cleaning, use spray cleaners with microfiber floor polishers that are either reusable or disposable from the standpoint that they don’t introduce dirty water to the floor.

•HEPA filtered vacuums. Use vacuum cleaners that come equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters that trap small particles that would be left behind by conventional vacuum cleaners or worse, lifted and spread into the air.

•Recycled paper products. You can also use recycled bathroom paper products—tissue paper and paper towels—because they are biodegradable.

Long-term benefits

By maintaining healthier, happier employees and a more sustainable workplace, green cleaning provides long-term health and cost benefits that clearly make the switch from traditional cleaning advantageous. If you have not incorporated these products and techniques into your business, now is the time to start.

Robert Owens, co-founder and president of O,R&L, has more than 22 years of experience in the real estate management and construction industries. Under his leadership, O,R&L Facility Services has become an industry leader in facility management, property management and janitorial services for properties and companies. He can be reached at O,R&L’s Florida headquarters at Bowens@or-l.com or through www.or-l.com.

By Kaley Klemp and Jim Warner

If you work with other people (and who doesn’t?) reflect on the last week and notice howmuch time you wasted in drama: The energy-draining behaviors or exchanges that keep you from what you really want to be doing.

Think about all the infighting, water-cooler talk, meaningless meetings, turf wars, pouting, rants, and other behaviors that blocked positive, productive interactions in your organization.

Now, think about how many creative projects you could have completed, or how much time you could have spent having fun with friends and family if you had that time and energy back.

By following these seven steps, you can shift yourself (and your team) away from drama to more enjoyable and productive tasks!

Step 1: Get out of your own drama

One of the most difficult challenges for aspiring leaders is to “own their stuff”—to acknowledge their own responsibility for relationship shortcomings. So, before you can guide others, you must take inventory of both your interaction strengths (i.e., where you uplift relationships) and the ways you sabotage relationships.

The strength inventory is usually easy. The sabotage inventory is more difficult. It requires the vulnerability and courage to seek others’ candid observations and advice about your behavior. To find out your own drama tendencies, you can use self-reflection, ask your colleagues, or take a drama-assessment (http://www.dramafreeoffice.com/self-assessment-survey/).

You can only help others when you are curious yourself. Take a deep breath, get re-centered and get out of your own way.

Step 2: Diagnose the type of drama in the other person

Once you are committed to authenticity and curiosity yourself, you can determine what kind of drama the other person is displaying. There are four primary drama roles that emerge most frequently in office settings: the complainer, the controller, the cynic and the caretaker.

You’ll need to use different strategies for different personality types—there is no “one size fits all” antidote for drama. Notice the kind of person you’re dealing with. Will they respond more to direct confrontation and setting boundaries (better for controllers and cynics), or to appreciation and encouragement (better for caretakers and complainers)?

Know who you’re dealing with and tailor your approach to maximize your chance for shifting their behavior.

Step 3: Assess the risk of confronting the other person

Before meeting with drama-prone colleagues, you must identify and evaluate the potential downsides of a confrontation. Without objectively assessing these risks, you might be tempted to either accept a dysfunctional relationship you could have salvaged or make a misstep you could have avoided.

So, before launching into a direct conversation with a team member, consider the possible side effects (e.g., nothing happens, it gets worse, they abruptly leave) and whether you’re willing to face them.

Step 4: Develop rapport with the drama-prone person

It’s important to establish rapport with the other person so he or she is best prepared to receive your message. Try opening with a blend of connection, appreciation, ground rules, and expectations.

Your goal is to get the person’s full attention and to set him or her up to be receptive to your ideas. People prefer to collaborate with those they know and like, so this step is powerful in setting the tone for the rest of the conversation.

Step 5: Have a direct conversation

While an entire article could be written about direct conversations, when confronting a person about their drama, stay dispassionate and state “the facts” clearly and concisely. Also present the meaning you derived from the facts (i.e., your perceptions), and any emotions you experience—usually some combination of fear, anger, guilt or embarrassment.

This next part is a little tougher. Share with the person how you contributed to the situation (why it may be your fault, too). Then, end with a specific request. Usually these conversations end with an agreement about what will happen next to make sure the drama ends.

While this may sound simple, each component outlined above is worth practicing and mastering so that the entire conversation flows smoothly. For instance, it’s very easy to mix facts and derived meaning.

People often say, “The facts are, you are being difficult.” When, in fact, the level of cooperation or difficulty of an individual is derived meaning or perception. One person may consider challenging an idea as difficult behavior and another might appreciate it as a commitment to improvement.

Step 6: Get their commitment

The last step of the direct conversation in Step 5 is your specific requests or expectations of the person. A commitment to realize these expectations without excuses, sarcasm, self-pity, or martyrdom is often difficult to obtain from drama-prone people. They’ll dance around the expectation or rephrase them in vague terms.

These deflection or evasion tactics are a self-protection mechanism that helps the dramatic person avoid both change and accountability. Don’t get hooked. Reiterate both your specific expectations and your need for the drama-prone person’s commitment to meet them. If he or she continues to resist or deflect, be prepared to calmly lay out an ultimatum, including specific rewards for meeting objectives and consequences for missing objectives.

Step 7: Validate and anchor their commitment and new behavior

Praise the person for his or her positive behaviors during your meeting, and honor the commitments he or she made. Follow up with a short note or email confirming and affirming the person’s commitments. Ideally, ask them to create a summary of your meeting that includes their specific agreements. People live up to what they write down.

Once you’ve done these seven steps, you have done the hard work. Now you can redirect your energy toward the collaborative, meaningful projects that you enjoy doing, and work in an office free from drama.

Kaley Klemp and Jim Warner are the authors of “The Drama-Free Office: A Guide to Healthy Collaboration with Your Team, Coworkers, and Boss.” You can get a free sample of the book on Facebook, www.facebook.com/KaleyKlemp, follow them on twitter, @KaleyKlemp and read more about them at www.DramaFreeOffice.com.

By John Chappelear

“Motivation and buy-in” are like everything else in life, always cycling up or cycling down; there is no static position. Energy and effort must be applied continually and consistently to create and maintain a high-performing organization with the momentum needed for motivation and buy-in.

The cornerstone to successful motivation and buy-in is trust. The level of trust that exists within your organization will determine how hard and how long you will have to work to get your organization fully motivated and completely committed.

Four simple ideas

By utilizing these four simple ideas every day, you will be more able to generate the results you want.

#1. Trust. To build trust, you should begin with a more honest, open and inclusive communication style and be more trusting of others. Trust is the pipeline through which all good business practices flow, and it instills a sense of confidence without the presence of worry or suspicion.

Without trust, people move at whatever speed they can move at without getting into any trouble, which is not the speed you want for your organization. If people feel their input is unwanted or their mistakes will be met with criticism or possibly dismissal, then mood and morale will be bad, turnover and absenteeism will be high, motivation will be low, and buy-in will be nonexistent. The cycle is heading down.

Trust is maintained by the consistent achievement of personal and organizational goals. With trust, workers move away from a self-protection, begin to take risks, look for new ways to improve workflow, and exceed expectations.

When goals are achieved and exceeded, your trust and confidence in the whole process is strengthened. The cycle is heading up.

#2. Transparency. Transparency is allowing people at all levels to have a clear understanding of your organization’s overall goals and objectives, as well as the importance of their personal and departmental roles in the success of your organization.

When times are tough, making sure you have transparency in your management becomes even more critical to the success of your business. When employees understand the issues that you face on a regular basis, they are more invested (buy-in) in the solutions.

And when organizations encourage frequent two-way communication at all levels, they generate a level of positive energy (motivation) making it easier to find new ideas and/or solutions. Change is much easier to implement with open communication, support and trust. Very quickly employees do more than buy into change, they own it.

As you willingly open up your thinking and decision-making processes, your organization becomes more transparent and “same side of the table thinking” begins. The entire staff knows what is expected of them individually and collectively, and will be much more supportive of any necessary changes to ensure the success of your organization.

With transparency, employees are more motivated and feel an increased sense of self-value and self-worth that is directly related to their efforts. It also becomes much more likely that their wages will increase because profits will increase, and levels of absenteeism and turnover will decrease. And that’s a good start.

#3. Treat everyone the same, but differently. Consciously or unconsciously people connect with some people better than others. And while it’s human nature, making that kind of mistake can ruin morale, interfere with productivity and occasionally create some discrimination issues.

The most effective way to communicate and reward people is to base it on individual need and personality style. The rewards for comparable work must be of the same value, but not necessarily the same. For example: One person may need public acknowledgement of their successes in order to be motivated while another may be embarrassed by that method and instead require some one-on-one time for personal recognition.

A good manager or management team needs to know their people. They need to understand what motivates the individual and respond accordingly. It may seem like a lot of extra work, but the dividends are worth the effort.

#4. Change the people or change the people. Good management is focused on making sure everyone in the organization has the necessary training and support to maximize their ROI. Once it becomes obvious an employee is not living up to his or her potential, however, a good manager will make the necessary change.

Do everything possible to change or improve the people, but if that isn’t possible, then change or replace the people. Change takes time and how long it will take depends on the shape your organization is in when you begin this process.

Remember, the way to achieve motivation and buy-in is through trust and the key to building trust is your willingness to assimilate all four ideas; trust, transparency, treat everyone the same but differently, and change the people or change the people. Make the commitment and don’t give up. You and your organization are worth the work.

John Chappelear is an author, speaker, executive coach, and trainer. John’s programs build positive, powerful, and balanced individuals, and more productive, creative, and profitable organizations. He is internationally recognized as a life balance, leadership and communication expert. He can be reached at john@johnchappelear.com or through www.changingthefocus.com.

By Helen Rake

Have you ever watched the television show, “The Biggest Loser”? At first, most contestantsalmost give up because they fear change and doubt their physical abilities; many have become complacent in their ways and think it’s easier to just accept the situation.

Although their fear almost gets the best of them, Bob and Jillian, the coaches, push them to their physical limits and challenge them to change their complacent and destructive mindset so they don’t backslide after all the hard work. Once they start to see the results of following a comprehensive weight-loss program they realize that they have the strength of mind and body to accomplish almost anything.

By the end of the season, the change in their bodies and their self-confidence is incredible. The finale leaves you feeling inspired and hopeful that real change can be achieved if people just stick with a simple program.

Bringing it to business

For local small business owners, adopting sustainable business practices, going green, is a little like “The Biggest Loser” for them. Daunting at first, but with measured changes in behavior and mindset, it becomes not only easier to be green over time, but the rewards, such as savings, energy efficiencies, and community goodwill, start to compound. The pride in their accomplishments as they begin to see the results encourages them to continue on the quest.

When talking to small business owners about making sustainable practices part of their business plan, one objection crops up almost every time, “It’s just too expensive.” They usually justify this by pointing out that many of the examples used are from large fortune 500 companies with unlimited resources to conduct extensive rebranding, and they don’t think they can take the steps needed to be considered socially responsible by eco-aware consumers.

And with the economic crisis still wreaking havoc on many small companies, that seems to be a logical argument—unless you consider that many green strategies not only result in cost savings, but actually cost nothing to implement in the first place.

Knocking misconceptions

This popular misconception mainly exists because business owners feel they must do it all at once or they won’t be taken seriously for their measured efforts by the eco-elite, and you can’t blame them. There is a lot of rhetoric in the media and among various green organizations criticizing “greenwashers.”

That term is mostly used to mean “fakers,” and really, you are only a “faker” if you aren’t making an honest effort to be more responsible, or you lie about what you are doing or the extent to which you are doing it.

It’s true that if you decide to tackle greening in large chunks, say making your building more energy efficient through various updates or upgrades, the upfront costs can be significant. For example: It can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 to upgrade or replace insulation in a 2,500 square-foot building and sealing the duct work can cost another $1,350.

The payback, however, comes in lowered energy costs, but it could take as many as 14 years to recoup the cost of such a project. To some this may be a small price to pay for the ability to claim a “greener” space, but many small businesses are barely making ends meet right now and spending thousands on such upgrades could be completely out of reach.

What you can do

So what do you do if you want to green your business, but don’t have the money to take on major projects?

In some circles, the following information may not be popular—there are critics that say unless you make a concerted effort to be completely responsible and employ only green practices you are not truly “green”—but I think doing something, even if it is small, is a lot better than doing nothing.

And starting small is OK—at least it’s starting. Like losing weight, it is usually best to undertake greening your business in small bites over time because according to most physicians lasting weight loss is best achieved by measured changes over time.

Simple actions

Start with simple actions that cost nothing, such as:

1. Turn up the thermostat when you leave. By simply turning up the thermostat five degrees before leaving your office at the end of each day, you can save 5% on energy bills each year. At some point, it may be feasible to spend a few dollars on a programmable thermostat, but until then turn it up when you leave.

2. Print on both sides of the paper. This can cut your paper consumption by as much as 50% at no additional cost. Not only does this save paper, it saves ink and creates less wear and tear on your printer resulting in significant savings over time.

3. Scan and email instead of faxing. This is another great way to save paper, ink, and fax machine wear.

4. Recycle. Many communities provide for recycling at little or no cost. This can include paper, plastic, and aluminum. Here in Jacksonville, you can not only recycle, but you can help put under privileged citizens to work by using Shred It First Coast.

5. Get an energy audit. Locally, JEA and FPL both offer energy audits at no cost to you. These can be invaluable when you want to learn how to save even more on energy costs and many of their suggestions involve little or no cost solutions. They may even help fund some of the changes through their small business incentives programs. To find out more about these programs, go to JEA.com to the Conservation Center and search for “small business.”

For pennies on the dollar you can also:

6. Caulk your windows. It may cost a couple hundred dollars on a 2,500 square-foot building, but it can save around $250 a year, an almost immediate payback.

7. Replace light bulbs. The same goes for replacing existing bulbs with compact fluorescents. This can cost $136 dollars, but save you $200 each year.

8. Decorate with plants. Decorate indoor work spaces with inexpensive hardy plants. They improve air quality and create a more inviting décor.

9. Use power strips. Use a power management strip on all of your electronics. This reduces energy emitted from electronics while they are not in use but still on. Some electronics cannot be simply cut off so this may be a good option for them. You can buy one for less than $100.

Improvements as reinvestments

It’s a good idea to look at these improvements as reinvestments into your business. That way you can measure your return on investment (ROI) as a profit/loss sheet item and feel better about the initial outlay. Like the contestants on “The Biggest Loser” that see their efforts translate into falling numbers on the scale, as you see the savings start to add up because of your efforts you will be more likely to continue down the road to sustainability.

Remember, long-term success in weight loss has more to do with your mindset than almost anything else so it is important to think about sustainable business practices as a permanent part of your business plan.

Lose the fear

Is cost really the issue, or is it more the fear of change? The fact is, most of us take our environment for granted. We have become complacent thinking that being eco-friendly is best left to extremists and tree huggers. This type of thinking does more to harm your business than help it grow.

Consumers want to buy products from evolved businesses. They want to feel good not only about the products they buy, but the services they use and the places they get them. Sustainability is now commonplace and expected. If you choose not to at least attempt to adopt more sustainable practices, you are missing the boat and may eventually be overtaken by the wave of businesses that will.

On “The Biggest Loser,” almost every contestant eventually realizes that they have put up roadblocks to their own success because they have let fear of change control them. They have to shed complacency to move forward into a better and more rewarding future.

As a small business owner, you may need to overcome psychological roadblocks that say that greening your business isn’t practical or possible because of the cost. The real cost is in losing a whole segment of new consumers that want to support honest, sustainability efforts locally.

Start small, start smart, but start now so you don’t get left behind.

Helen Rake

Helen Rake is president of the Northeast Florida Green Chamber. She can be reached at 904-493-7500 ext. 9, helen.rake@nefl.greencs.org, or through www.neflgreenchamber.org.

By Bob Douce

As a small business owner, you regularly pour your life and soul into your company working 60, 70, or 80 hours a week. A year or twodown the road, once things start running a little more smoothly, the idea of a few days off starts to creep into your consciousness (or is subliminally being beaten there by your spouse on a daily basis). Can you really separate yourself from the day-to-day operations?

Or maybe you are in a different situation. You really need to attend a conference, or maybe you’re presenting at your industry’s annual convention. This is a great honor, but you will be away from the office for four days. Who will you put in charge to be sure your customer needs are met, your employees have direction and guidance, and the building doesn’t burn down?

The issue

Too many owners are so vested in their company and working with too many hats to make a profit that they often do not have the time to work on their company process. The last thing thought about is who will run the operations when I am not around.

If you are still answering day-to-day operational questions or fielding most of the client calls yourself, you are probably in this situation. Taking a short vacation or attending an extended conference may seem impossible at this point in the life of the business. However, it is doable— and sometimes very necessary.

The solution

Planning ahead is the key to success in many things, including deciding who will take the reins, even if only for a few days. It starts with hiring the right people at the right time for your business.

Your interview process should look at not only the skill sets you need for the present day, but also what you will need six months to a year down the road. If you have already hired all the people you need, re-evaluate their skills and identify who may be the best prospect to cross train some of your responsibilities. Regular performance reviews are a great place to start when looking to identify your future leaders.

Once you have someone picked out, create a development or training plan for that person. Even if he or she came to your company with all the right skills, he or she doesn’t necessarily know your processes and procedures or understand your way of looking at the business—as an owner.

Evaluating and training your top managers for enhanced leadership responsibilities will increase their confidence and accountability. This leadership development will help set in motion your ability to rely upon their skills and management abilities while you are still in the office every day.

It’s also important to help these identified leaders understand the role they play in the company. If they know they may be being groomed for a temporary or permanent upper management role, they are much more likely to be fully engaged in the day-to-day operations.

They will also see the benefit of cross training on a variety of responsibilities. While they will not become masters of all the functional areas they learn, they will have a greater understanding of how each department or process is interconnected. With this knowledge, they will have the big picture view of what it takes to run the business.

The implementation

Everything is on track. You have identified your leader. You have begun work on the leadership develop plan and helped him or her gain more experiences in the company. But how do you actually let go and give it a try?

Start by turning over a project you would normally handle and give him or her full responsibility and authority to handle it. You have already trained him or her to do it, now let him or her go. You are still around and can step in if needed, but remember, you had to stub your toe a few times as you learned to walk, and he or she needs to do the same thing. The biggest difference is he or she has your experiences from which to learn.

Once he or she can handle projects on a regular basis, give him or her the keys to the shop for the day. If it makes you feel more comfortable, stick around, but work on your presentation for the conference or plan the excursions for your vacation.

Don’t get involved unless absolutely necessary. Don’t answer your phone, respond to your emails, or meet with employees. It may just be easier to head home for the day. Remember— your leader-in-training still has you to turn to if he or she feels like they are headed off the cliff.

Each step in the process gets a little easier, but it is important to evaluate his or her performance as you move along. Look at the good and the bad. Assessing the results will help improve his or her performance because you will reinforce the positive and correct the negative.

What was successful and went well? Don’t be afraid to tell him or her they may have handled it better than you. Praise the successes, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Even if it was a partial success, but a failure overall, identify what was right. Accenting the positives will normally result in repeat performances.

Next—what went wrong? If he or she had proper training, it shouldn’t have been a train wreck; however, everyone has been there a time or two. The good news is that you are still here and not sailing in the Caribbean. A wheel may have come off the track, but you prevented a full derailment. Talk about what happened and why and let him or her come up with the way to prevent it from happening again. If he or she is a true leader, he or she will be able to point out their own short comings and learn from their mistakes.

True succession planning

You have put in the effort to identify your future leaders, provided them guidance and training, and even let them take the wheel a few times. What you accomplished is what some large companies still have problems conducting on a regular basis—succession planning.

It’s important to be personally involved in the day-to-day operations of a startup company, but is equally important to train those you trust to do what you do. Not only have you developed a leader to run the operations while you spend a week on vacation or a few days at the conference, but you have freed yourself up to grow your business.

Everything doesn’t have to run through you anymore (read this as you have removed a potential bottleneck in your operations). You are now free to focus on business development and know that your company is in good hands.

Bob Douce is the vice president of sales and co-founder of Talent Development Inc. He can be reached at 904-262-4299, info@tdies.com, or through www.tdiemployeesolutions.com.

By Christy Crump

Everyone feels a need to better manage time. Just as you look at controllingexpenses to improve your budget and bottom line, it’s necessary to control outgo—or the things that waste your time—in order to manage time.

Let’s look at some environmental and personal time wasters, and how they relate to your professional life.

Environmental time wasters

1. Other people. To help control how others waste your time, make an effort to:

• Close your door at certain times of the day for uninterrupted work time—even if you have an “open door” policy.

•Discourage drop-in visitors by turning your desk away from the door. When you face the door, everyone who walks by can be a distraction. Out of sight; out of mind.

•Control your environment by standing up to talk to visitors. Don’t invite them to sit if you don’t want them to stay.

•When meeting with a colleague, go to his or her work area. This puts you in control of your time, and when you are finished, you can leave without seeming rude.

2. Phone calls. One way to aid with this time waster is to limit your phone call time. Try to:

•Screen calls when possible, so you can prepare before returning the call. If you are prepared, you can cut the call time by 50%.

•Review which calls need personal follow up, and delegate others.

•Provide short answers when possible. Give good customer service, but don’t give detailed information and answers if they are not asked for.

•Stand while on the phone. This not only burns calories, but causes you to end your call sooner than if you are seated in a comfortable chair.

3. E-mails. Studies show people’s heart rate increases when there are unread e-mails waiting, but you really should attempt to:

•Shut down e-mail during scheduled, uninterrupted work time. When you “switchtask” from your work to e-mail and back to your work, it can take up to 20 minutes to re-engage.

•Avoid copying multiple people on an e-mail when assigning work. When you send an e-mail to multiple people, one of two things will happen. Either each will assume that one of the others is doing it and no one does it, or all of them do it and waste time duplicating work.

If you must copy numerous people on an e-mail, spell out what you want each to do.

4. Meetings. To assist with this time waster, meetings should be well-planned, organized, and time-sensitive. You should also:

•Develop and follow an agenda with time limits on each agenda item, and assign a timekeeper to enforce time.

•Prioritize items according to importance, and eliminate unnecessary items.

•Avoid “off track” or prolonged discussions. Use the “parking lot” to handle extra or prolonged discussions.

Personal time wasters

Personal time wasters can be just as devastating to your calendar as environmental time wasters. The difference is you have complete control over personal time wasters. Are you exercising that control?

1. Social interaction. People with a high need for social interaction have problems when the need is not met by the job and environment. This becomes a time waster when you leave your work area to look for interaction.

When you do this, your work is not being completed in a timely manner, and you may be inflicting yourself on others who need and want to work uninterrupted.

2. Can’t say “No.” Those with a high need for acceptance tend to have problems saying “no.” This becomes a time waster when you take on too much, and rather than doing a few things well, you do a lot of things poorly. Learn to say “no.” It is better to under promise and over deliver than to over promise and under deliver.

3. Perfectionism. This becomes a time waster when you continuously work to perfect your product to the point you miss a deadline. I would never encourage someone to produce a substandard product, but at some point you have to let it go. If you’ve done the best job you can, it’s as perfect as it can get.

4. Risk avoidance. A person with a high need for risk avoidance looks for backup, clarification, and approval to the point the project and deadline are compromised. A good example of risk avoidance is when you want to invest in a particular stock.

You analyze the stock, watch it for a few weeks, research it, call a broker, and ask a friend their opinion. When you finally make a decision to invest, the stock has shot up so high, you can’t afford it. You avoided risk, but in doing so, you missed your opportunity.

5. Procrastination. Procrastination creeps in and takes over before you realize it. When you put off doing something that must be done to the point it becomes an emergency, you are procrastinating.

Good ways to overcome procrastination are to:

•Make time to get organized, and designate time to stay organized. Organized people tend to procrastinate less.

•Ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?” And do it.

•Break down overwhelming tasks into small tasks. Henry Ford said, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”

•Eat your frog! Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat That Frog,” says to treat the one thing you procrastinate doing the worst as a frog. Commit to eat the frog every morning, so the rest of your day will seem great. Write your procrastination on a sticky note, and place it next to your computer. Every morning, eat that frog before doing anything else. The rest of the day will seem more pleasant. When you beat the procrastination written on the sticky, throw it away and start over with a new procrastination.

Go out and conquer your environmental and personal time wasters!

Christy Crump is president of Crump & Associates, a company that enhances human capital through a unique, proven approach to staff education and training that improves performance and increases efficiency and effectiveness. She can be reached at www.crumpandassociatesfl.com.

By Mark Bajalia

At some point in your career, most of you have probably done this on some level without really thinking about it. But a thoughtful approach to SWOT analysis can help you and your company discover new opportunities, as well as manage and eliminate threats that could potentially impede your progress and success.

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning methodology used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing a company either generally or which may be applicable to a specific project or business venture.

Applied to a business generally, a SWOT analysis enables a company to develop a niche and match its resources and capabilities in the context of the competitive environment in which it operates. Applied to a specific project, a SWOT analysis allows a project manager or team to specify the objective of the project and identify the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

Begin with the end

A SWOT analysis begins with the end, so to speak. In other words, you must first determine what the desired end state or goal is for the company or the specific project. Once that is done, you must objectively analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relevant to the end state or goal.

•Strengths. These are the internal characteristics of the business, project manager, or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry or those competing for the same project. When evaluating your strengths, you need to consider the resources and capabilities your company or team brings to the table and how that gives you a competitive advantage.

Ask questions such as: “What do we do better than anyone else?” “What resources do we have that others competing against us do not?” and “What makes us unique in our industry?” You need to consider your strengths from an internal perspective, but also from the perspective of your customers and competitors. You also need to be realistic and objective.

•Weaknesses. These are the internal characteristics of the business, project manager, or team that place you at a competitive disadvantage. In evaluating your weaknesses, you need to ask questions such as, “What do our competitors do better than us?” “Why would a customer utilize a competitor instead of us?” and “Do we lack technology or resources that our competitors possess?”

In examining your weaknesses, you need to do so from an internal perspective. Identify weak point or limitations in one or more resources or competencies that impedes effective performance. List as many identifiable weaknesses as possible and in doing so, you will be able to turn the weaknesses into strengths.

•Opportunities. These are the external environmental factors that create in roads to achieving success either for the company generally or with respect to the specific project undertaken. In order to determine what opportunities exist, you must analyze trends in your marketplace and anticipate needs.

Opportunities may come from an unfulfilled need, arrival of new technology, implementation of new regulations, or changes in competitive circumstances. You need to contemplate realistic concepts that may stimulate new areas of growth or point you in a new direction which may be a path of less resistance and allow for the completion of the project or achievement of the end result in a more efficient manner.

•Threats. These are the external elements that can cause trouble for the company or which serve as barriers to the end goal. Threats can be dictated by shifts in customer tastes, elimination of a specific need in the marketplace, new regulations that limit or eliminate opportunities, and changes in competitive circumstances. Identify as many realistic threats as possible and be prepared to deal with them.

What matters most

A SWOT analysis is a simple and useful framework for analyzing your organizations strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats it faces. It helps you focus on the things that matter most and take the greatest possible advantage of the opportunities available.

The most important thing to remember when conducting a SWOT analysis is to be realistic, objective, and specific. In doing so, you will discover your strengths and seize your opportunities by examining your weaknesses and identifying your threats.

Mark Bajalia is a partner and a managing member in Brennan, Manna & Diamond’s Jacksonville office. He is an experienced commercial, business, and insurance litigator, having prosecuted and defended numerous cases in state and federal courts and in arbitration. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubble, has been recognized as one of Florida’s Legal Elite by Florida Trend Magazine, and has been selected as a Florida Super Lawyer in the field of business and insurance litigation. He can be contacted at 904-366-1500 or mbajalia@bmdpl.com.

By Robyn A. Friedman

Still using paper and pencil to keep track of your fleet? How about a telephone?

If you’re not using technology to manage your fleet operations, then Paul Norse has a message for you: You could be making more money.

“The technology now for fleets is amazing,” said Norse, vice president of Jacksonville-based Security Center USA, a security solutions provider. “We put money back in your pocket through cost savings and time savings. And we’ve got the return-on-investment calculations to prove it.”

Fleet technology solutions, such as vehicle tracking systems, are no secret to large organizations. But as prices come down, smaller businesses with fleets, such as plumbing and electrical contractors, pest control companies, and courier services, are now adopting this technology, which can help them operate more efficiently, reduce costs, improve safety, save time—and ultimately increase revenues.

“By using technology to track the location of vehicles, companies can monitor the efficiency of a particular route or determine at any given time if one driver is closer to a customer than another—both saving time and money, which is good for the business owner and the customer,” said Cathy Hagan, area director of the Small Business Development Center in Jacksonville.

Hagan said that companies with large fleets or those with a lot of contract drivers probably get more out of their investment in technology than do smaller firms. But companies with small fleets can start with a simple GPS system to help drivers find their destinations faster—and even that measure can help save time and money.

Tracking your fleet

Norse is a distributor of technology manufactured by C3 Location Systems called the “Great Communicator,” although there are similar systems available from distributors across the country.

Here’s how it works: A small “black box” is installed underneath the dashboard and hardwired to the power supply of the vehicle. The box acts as a transponder, providing vehicle status updates and reports via satellite and cellular signals. Anyone who has access to the Internet can log onto a secure website to pinpoint the location of the vehicle, see if the ignition is on or off, the speed of the vehicle, where it’s been—and much more.

The Great Communicator can locate, track, and recover vehicles; monitor vehicle diagnostics and let you know when the oil needs to be changed; and notify an administrator if the vehicle has been in an accident, is speeding, leaves a certain pre-defined geographic boundary, or is stolen. It’s kind of like an OnStar system on steroids.

What can it do for you?

Here’s what fleet technology can do for your business:

•Reduce costs. The ability to track vehicles allows you to create more efficient routes for drivers. It also enables dispatchers to send the closest driver to emergency calls or track when the vehicle is idling. That reduces fuel expenses.

“A lot of workers will sit in a parking lot at Publix and eat lunch while the air conditioning is running and the vehicle is idling,” said Norse. “With an idling alert, you can designate a particular time—if the vehicle is sitting still and running for five or 10 minutes, for example—and you’ll receive an e-mail and text alert.”

Norse said that his own company, which has a fleet of eight vehicles, has saved $600 to $800 a month in fuel costs since installing this technology. Using the system to help monitor vehicle diagnostics and ensure that vehicles get oil changes and other preventive maintenance on a regular basis can also help reduce overall operational costs.

•Save time. Technology can save time not only for a business operating a fleet, but also for its customers. That can help improve the competitive position of a company and increase customer loyalty. Harold Boyett knows this firsthand. Boyett, president of Jacksonville-based Blue Streak Couriers, spent 20 years working for UPS before purchasing the company.

“UPS went through a major technological transformation over that two-decade period, so I had the luxury of seeing firsthand how technology can be leveraged to improve efficiencies and to drive costs out of the equation,” he said.

Boyett uses Xcelerator Dispatch Software in his business, a Windows-based software solution designed for the courier, messenger, logistics, and warehousing industries. Drivers use handheld devices that do barcode scanning, capture customer signatures, and allow dispatchers to track them in real time.

It’s an integrated solution, allowing customers to request package pickup online, and streamlines the entire life cycle of a particular package, from pickup to delivery to paying the driver, invoicing the customer and receiving payment. It also allows customers to track their packages.

Boyett said that the software costs him “a couple of thousand dollars a month,” but saves him many times that in operational efficiencies—such as allowing him to operate with fewer order-entry employees.

•Increase revenues. Norse’s customers purchase his technology on a 36-month term for $50 per month per vehicle after putting $100 down and paying a one-time activation fee of $49. But most recoup that cost by cutting idle time, reducing overtime expenses, and eliminating downtime. That translates into more streamlined operations.

“Unfortunately, employees in the field aren’t heavily supervised, so you get a lot of downtime, playing around and time in between calls that we have been able to eliminate,” he said. “We can usually increase calls by a minimum of one or two per week. The revenue you’re generating from those calls is more money in your pocket.”

Larry Teague & Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, a customer of Norse’s, has shaved time off its routes since installing the technology in its nine Ford vans, said Melanie Darlington, the company’s office manager.

“We work on every side of town, even in St. Augustine, so when we get calls in during the day, we can distribute that work more efficiently,” she said. “That saves us time, money, and gas.” Darlington also verifies drivers’ timesheets using the technology, helping her manage payroll better.

Norse said that lately, his product has been purchased by not only business operations, but by consumers.

“Surprisingly enough, a lot of husbands want to make sure their wives are safe—or make sure their teen is abiding by speed limits,” he said. “But it’s really suited for fleet operators—painting companies, electrical companies, plumbing companies, you name it. If you have a fleet, you need it.”

Robyn A. Friedman is a contributing editor to Advantage. She can be reached at RAFWriter@att.net.