|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Preventative Maintenance of Company Delivery Vehicles
If you have company delivery vehicles at your small or medium sized business you should have a preventative maintenance schedule and procedures for employees who are drivers of these vehicles. When discussing preventative maintenance over the years with business owners the first thing which comes to mind is 'Oil change' and usually the business owner who is on the hook for the loans on these vehicles is more than aware of that fact. Yes, you should change the oil. Obviously you should. How about every 3,000 ?5000 miles. After all, that kind of driving is hard on a vehicle, not to mention: Starting and stopping Speed bumps Stop and go traffic Water movement Workers driving truck Driving in dusty conditions Towing trailers Excessive idling While you are waiting to fill up with gas, you should have employees Armor-All the tires, hand out business cards, wipe off rims, clean inside windows and: Check engine oil level, add as required Check windshield washer solvent and add if required Once per month you should do an extensive pre-flight check of your truck. On the first Monday of each month: Check tire pressure and look for unusual wear or damage Inspect battery and clean and tighten terminals as required Check fluid levels of coolant reservoir, power steering and transmission and add as needed Check all lights and all other electrical items for correct operation to prevent fix-it type tickets humiliating your driver and detracting from your company since the logos are on the side of the vehicle for advertising. Develop a quick form with these items listed and be diligent about checking them on a certain day each month, you will be glad you did, it adds money to the wholesale value of the vehicle and could save your small business thousands of dollars in unnecessary repairs, towing and lost business due to down time. "Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Survival of the Fittest: The Road to Human Extinction I was watching a TV program some months ago about a biologist working in Central America who was dedicated to protecting the panther species from extinction. During the program I heard him make a comment that upon reflection I found had embedded in it seeds of wisdom that not even he was aware of. The Ten Keys to Maximizing Employee Performance 1. Let people know what you expect. If people know what's expected of them, that's what they'll do--if they don't know what's expected, they'll do something else. Communicate clear and unambiguous performance expectations and hold people accountable for their achievement. When Politics Prevent Innovation - Or? Still Fighting Battles and Losing Wars The objective is to beat the competition and make money. Everything a business organization does should be focused on that simple objective, with interpretation through various Vision and Mission Statements. However if we take a survey of how our organizations spend our energy, often that objective is lost in a web of internal politics and positioning. Of course competition is normally good ? regardless of whether it is internal or external ? to the point we do not lose focus on company objectives as the ultimate outcome of our competition. IT Expenditure - Why Businesses Spend Huge Amounts on Ineffective IT Investments Another IT White Elephant! Saying ?No? Gracefully to Customers and Colleagues Envision the scenario: You've just been asked at the last minute by Chris, the organizer of your local networking group, to replace the scheduled speaker at next month's meeting. You already have too many commitments on your plate. Imagine your response: Hiring Tip -- Picking The Best Candidates I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask questions about hiring the right person. Their questions usually sound like these: Innovation Management ? Emotion, Habit, and Culture can be Hard to Change! Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. Recruitment - Pick People Who Think Old style management doesn't encourage personal mindcontrol, employees aren't encouraged to think. That wascertainly the case when I started work back in the bad olddays however it's still prevalent in many businesses today. Culture Management and Creativity Many concepts in the fields of managing creativity are very much applicable to culture management in general. The same concepts that foster creativity and innovation also maximise human capital potential, increase productivity, reduce costs and maintain competitive advantage etc. Some of the many commonalities between culture and creativity management follow. How to Get the Best from Outsourcing There's a great little article ('Business Lifeforms') on the back pages of the UK's leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It's a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation. For January, it's about Ken, who's a 'Facilities Manager'.Now Ken has seen it all and truly worked his way up from the bottom to the top. Until, that is, a couple of years ago when new MBA-armed suits took over and decide to slash Ken's department (until now, running very, very smoothly under Ken's watchful eye) and Ken himself. Of course it all goes pear-shaped and the top dog has to come grovelling back to Ken, offer him loads of money and a big car, basically to ensure that the toilets aren't 'backing up' any more!This is in direct contrast to Michael Gerber, in his fascinating book The E-Myth Revisited. There he talks about working 'on' the business and 'in' the business, making it clear that if you do too much of the grindstone not-my-expertise stuff yourself, you lose track of what you are really good at, and what you went into business for.In a past life, I too experienced challenging outsourcing. At one time I had a great little local cleaner who I trusted (he even opened the store up for me - hmmm, that was a long time ago!). He did an excellent job and was on hand for emergencies. Then a new senior director decided to consolidate and outsource, for 'economy and consistency'. It was cheap - but the service was awful. Each time I got a new 'centrally sourced' cleaning company, they came with great intentions for the first 3 months and then dribbled off (with our money!) until it became unsustainable and another 'excellent contractor' came along.The moment of truth for me, was when the director for one of these contractors, came along for the first time in a brand new £60K Merc (and it's a few years ago now). Then I knew where my money would be going. I went through 6 contractors in 5 years, even though my hands were tied by 'Head Office' contracts!To solve this problem? There needs to be strong leadership at the start. Very clear standards required from outside contractors and severe penalties (yes, stop paying them even!) for under achievement. Corporate central contracts agreed there, but implemented and managed locally, leave a lot of space for waste.And yes, in a small business, don't even think of doing the bookkeeping yourself as soon as you can afford not to - do what you do best, value it and get on with creating the business you love, not like struggling Sarah in the book. But, get someone who you trust and who will deliver. Chris Barrow, of Million Dollar Coaching Practice fame, suggests that the very first thing anyone going into a consulting business should do, is get a PA. And that modern day evolution, a VA (virtual assistant) has made this a real, low cost possibility for many.Moral of the story?If you are going to outsource, especially if your business is big enough, where it's not only the fashion, but it can have economic and logistic value, take the following steps:-Find the best on the market, not the cheapest.Set the standards yourself, and don't take theirs.Be very clear on expectations and outcomes if standards aren't met.Keep in very business-like, however much you like/know/are related to them.Have clear timescales for regular review.Have a named and senior contact in the organisation for whom there will be pain if they lose the contract.Keep contract length manageable.If things start going wrong tackle them early, before too much money is wasted.If 'Head Office' agrees the contract, don't chase your own tail over non-delivery - get someone from there down as soon as there is a problem - you have enough to do.Don't get involved in the problems any local operatives might have - refer them back. Character: Is It Necessary In Leadership? (Part Two) In the first part of this two part article, I talked about the importance of character in leadership. After all, the best leadership involves the people bonding with the leader in deep, human, emotional ways. The passive way of looking at character is that the bonding won't happen if the people are confused about or disdain your character. But there is also an active way of looking at character: You can use aspects of your character to actually promote results. Your best character traits can be turned results-multipliers. Here's how. Prioritise Your Day - Keep Focus - Win! Whether you run your own business or manage a team, there are times when things don't go to plan. Like:-Your key people don't show up.A deadline shifts.Your boss turns up unexpectedly.You get really busy beyond expectations....and more.How do you get clear on the priority of the day?Value it - that's how!So, if you run any sort of business, consider what the most important thing would be to your business, if you were down to the barest of bones in personnel numbers, for just one day, what would you do?Here are some thoughts...Be honest with yourself, and very, very realistic - in fact, plan what you can achieve and then less! It is far better to be great at less, than poor at too much.Be honest with your people and get them on board - appeal to their emotional side, "I need your help", usually works.Think damage limitation - what would do the most harm to your business - and resolve that first (hint - think Customer).With customers, be honest and realistic with them - usually, they will be very understanding if you are clear about it being a bad day - they will not forgive inadequate information and poor performance.Plan short-term solutions on the run - by making space for thinking time (see 1 above) to resolve where your problems are today, so you move on tomorrow.Celebrate success with your people. Back to basics and succeeding against all the odds builds teams - utilise the opportunity to let it sink in - together!Learn and make changes - so that there will not be a next time. Your clients and your own staff have only so much generosity when things go wrong - so make sure it doesn't happen again.Fire-fighting happens! So, when you need to have a day doing just the top priorities for your business, let go of everything else. Have the courage to be honest with yourself, park not-necessary-now stuff and enjoy your day truly in the business. Be honest with your people and welcome them on board the firetruck! Finally, yet most importantly, be honest with your customers and clients, forging new, mutually supportive relationships with them too.If you need to do this too often for comfort, you need a rethink - then is the time for some real 'source' problem solving (see the "Solving Problems with Whys" article at www.ezinearticles.com - checkout 'Expert Authors, sort by name, Martin Haworth) What Every HR Manager Should Know About Hiring Productive Employees The characteristics of job applicants have a strong influence on whether or not they get hired. Their characteristics also indicate the level of their productivity. If you are about to hire employees, consider the characteristics listed below in checklist form. The candidates who possess them are probably the ones who will be readily accepted by your staff. This acceptance plays an important role in the team-building process and the productivity of the staff. Must Project Managers Be Technically Savvy? "Must Project Managers be technically savvy?" This topic always seems to cause quite a stir. While some believe that all you need to manage a project is a PMP certification, others are convinced that you can't successfully manage a software development project unless you truly understand the intricacies of the product. Innovation Management ? Reducing Hierarchy Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. Hiring for Success Hiring someone new to work in your business is one of the most critical decisions a business owner makes, although it is not always given the justice it deserves. If a position is vacant, or additional staff are needed, recruitment decisions are often driven by the pressure to get someone in quickly, rather than waiting for the best person to fill the job. Lack of proper and systematic recruitment process can also result in a high cost to the business. Sweet Parting Of Ways Why settle for bad feelings when your employee leaves the firm? Human resource managers can help to sweeten the occasion during the exit interview, and get valuable information to help the company in the new knowledge age. Lack of Operations Manuals Stunting Your Growth? Lack of Operations Manuals stunting your growth? Why Training Fails Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?" Seven Cs to Avoid Procedure Writing Errors You do your best to make sure your organization is operating as effectively as possible. But if your policies and procedures are incomplete, outdated, or inconsistent, then they are not driving the performance improvement they should. When employees try to use incomplete or undefined procedures, waste and costly errors soon follow.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
