The need for transparency in business

I was reading a blog post earlier about how important it is to have transparency within an organisation and I couldn’t agree with this more. I was only just talking with a friend last night about this very thing. They just received a promotion a few months ago and how now they were being tasked with trying to increase business. One of the big obstacles they seemed to be facing was staff buy in on ways to move forward.

They are involved in a retail business and the staff are happy to just go through the motions till its closing time then it’s out the door for them. As an owner or manager it can be hard not to get frustrated by staff who are delighted that the day was quiet and there were few customers. To some staff this is a great day, same pay and no work, what more could they ask for.

This is where I feel a business needs to become far more transparent. Staff need to understand that there isn’t a bank account that has hundreds and thousands just sitting there waiting to pay wages and bills, their wages actually come from sales and cash in the till.  This ability for staff to know this and understand where the business is comes from having great team communication, and this needs to comes from the top down.

Staff need to feel that they have a kind of ownership in the business, not like shares or anything but just that their voices are heard and that they are part of the business. Granted some staff will never care but that comes down to hiring the right people. The other big area I feel staff are kept in the dark about is the mark up on products and services. Managers seem scared to let staff know what they make on a product, but I think it’s really important that staff know for two reasons.

The first, is some products make a lot less than staff think. Lets take the example of a chocolate bar, let’s say they sell for 1 euro/dollar. The average mark up on a product like this is about 20-25% so lets say the shop makes 25c for each bar sold. A box of 60 bars sells out and the staff see 60 euro/dollars in the till. Easy money they think, but the truth is the shop has only made 15 euro/dollars.  

The other area why this is important to let them know this is to combat theft. If over time staff take a chocolate bar here and there it only takes 15 from a box to mean no profit is made at all from that box. If staff understand this it gives them a better idea of just how much has to sell just to cover their wages and that all cash that is in the till is not actually profit.

The second reason staff need better transparency in a business is they need to know what to push/sell in a nice friendly manor. If you have two similar products and one has a much higher mark up, that is the product you want your staff to sell when the customers asks, “which one do you think I should get”.

This applies in every business, restaurants, coffee shops, chemist’s even offices where you are supplying a service. Some services you offer are easily to roll out; they have less work involved and thus have a much better mark up.

By having transparency in the work place it can really help a business to move forward. If you’re involved in the management side don’t hide your tasks and procedures, allow the staff to be kept up to date with what you are up to.

Live and work anywhere you want.

I came across this website today while going through my RSS feed http://locationindependent.com

The site was created by the original Location Independent Professionals, Lea & Jonathan Woodward.

Lea started out her professional life as a management consultant based in London, whilst Jonathan was a corporate graphic designer.

After Lea’s Mum died of cancer, she quit the rat race and became a personal trainer. A couple of years later, Jonathan was made redundant from his job. Fed up with the instability of the rat race and working for other people, they both decided to make a go of it and set up their own business.

Lea & Jonathan left the UK in early 2007, determined to find a ‘home’; instead they realised that they enjoyed the nomadic lifestyle that being location independent enabled – and are still travelling between some of their favourite countries including Thailand, South Africa and the Caribbean.

I love the idea of what they are doing and with todays technology it sure is getting a lot easier to achieve this type of lifestyle. I experience a small bit of this myself in the fact that we are based in Cork, Ireland and yet I have online meetings all the time with users in the US and UK and it works very well, and I don't need to clock up painful amounts of Air Miles to achive face to face meetings.

The whole idea of having to have a single base for staff to work at is no longer a must have. In a lot of interviews I have listened to and read lately of company's that have made it big it's unreal how many of the teams have built up the business while all working in different cities and country's and most of them from just an office at home as well.

If you’d like to find out how they – and how others do it, have a browse around their site for in-depth articles, inspiring interviews and more.

What triggers you?

I was listening to another great interview from Mixergy while driving home, the interview was with a woman called Sally Hogshead. She was talking was about triggers that people respond to in both personal life and in business. She also spoke about her  latest book, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation. 
It was a really interesting interview and really got me thinking about how I could use these triggers myself in both  business and in my personal life.
The other thing she spoke about was a test she has on her site called the F Score, it is a short test which tells you which triggers you naturally apply , which other you should consider and how to refine them to become more persuasive. 
Below is what came back from my test.
MEET YOUR TRIGGERS

Your primary fascination is LUST. (Nicely done, you.) Even without realizing it, you’re already instinctively applying this trigger when trying to persuade others. Your secondary trigger is POWER, and your dormant trigger (the one you’re least likely to apply in your personality and behavior) is ALARM.

Once you understand your own unique combination of personality strengths, you can start to create more influential ideas and messages.

HOW TO REFINE YOUR NATURAL TALENTS FOR SWAYING OPINION?

1. Explore your primary, secondary, and dormant triggers with the tabs above.
2. Check out the videos over there on the right.

YOUR PRIMARY TRIGGER: LUST

So lust is your primary trigger. That means you draw people closer with a warm and open style of interaction. You’re expressive with ideas, communicate well in person, and probably have a strong creative streak. Even when you mask your emotions, you feel passionately about your opinions.

You’re intuitive with information, often making decisions based on gut instinct rather than cold intellect. While other personality types prefer facts, you’re more attuned to the nuances of attitude, design, and a certain indefinable je ne sais quoi.

Lust is a powerful form of influence because it creates irresistible messages that overcome rational resistance. When you dial up your primary trigger, you have the ability to create messages that are extremely difficult to ignore.

You’re remarkably talented in creating messages that lead to a powerful intellectual, physical, and emotional response. For instance, you like to share experiences with others, and in conversation, you draw people closer with body language and eye contact.

By applying these natural strengths to your work, you can build warmer relationships and more trusting dialogue. And by applying to your ideas, you can create messages make people say, “I want that now!”

YOUR SECONDARY TRIGGER: POWER

While you’re not a power-monger, you are power-comfortable: an authority who likes to be in control.

Blindly following someone else’s orders? No, thanks. You prefer to actively lead situations, rather than sitting back and passively watching from the back row. You’ll follow other people’s rules, if needed, but you prefer to define a new set of rules on your own terms. You exude influence, compelling others to pay attention. Your strong opinions and bold action often spark reactions from others.

Your messages command influence, and your opinion carries weight. When you excel in positions of leadership, others look to you for cues of how to behave. At times, perhaps, you might come across as intimidating or even overbearing. When you expect others to obey your message, you define deadlines and demands of the alarm trigger to make them comply. By steering your use of power productively toward your goals, you’ll become more motivating and inspirational.

You’re a natural leader, and probably comfortable with authority. Next step? Hone your power trigger for greater respect, bigger audiences, and more loyal advocates.

YOUR DORMANT TRIGGER: ALARM

Laid-back and easygoing, you probably make friends easily, and make others comfortable. Your personality is probably relying more on trust or lust as main triggers, rather than the urgency and focus of alarm.

On the downside, without the presence of alarm in your personal brand, it’s quite possible you’re coming across as a bit wishy-washy. A judiciously zest of alarm adds a sense of urgency to your requests. In FASCINATE, you’ll learn how to intelligently apply alarm, motivating others sit up and take notice now.

WiFi dropping on the iPad

It's a few days in now since we all received our iPads here in the office and I have to say we are bloody loving them.
They are a joy to browse web pages with and reading blogs is just fantastic with the almighy iPad.
The only issue I have had, and from reading a few tweets and other posts it seems others have this issue too, it's the fact that the Wifi seems to drop and and your network seems to vanish from time to time.

I have found a quick fix/work around instead of going into your settings and going through the re-connecting steps is just to hit the power button at the top and then unlock the iPad again and then wham your connection is back. I know it's not really a fix but it's a lot faster then messing round in your settings and once you know this it's not too much of a pain.

It's a strange bug but I have to say I wouldn't my iPad back for this, I forgive you Apple for this little mistake. :-)