Actual for You - Business

Are You Killing Your Employees? Read This Before You Answer That Question
Stress kills—it’s so bad in Japan that they even have a word for sudden death from overwork: karoushi. Stress is the underlying cause of much of the heart disease in our country, which is the number one cause of death. Stressed workers suffer from 30% more heart disease than their less-stressed co-worker

s on Managing Creativity and Innovation, a DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator software and 50 slide powerpoint presentatation can all be bought at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the

Brainwriting, A More Perfect Brainstorm
Brainstorming is a very powerful method for generating lots of ideas very quickly about almost any problem or issue that needs an innovative or creative solution. However, brainstorming is also a very fragile process. It is intended to be a very free flowing non-judgmental exchange and list generator that spark

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I recently gave a presentation at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design on a topic entitled "Is creativity management an oxymoron?"

The essential confusion to people resistant to the idea of "creativity management" was the word "management." Replace it with the word "optimization" and the resistance disappears; all we're really trying to do is optimize the quality of the idea pool and optimize the implementation process.

Then you can suggest that most people already implicitly accept the idea of creativity management: if you ask them to solve a problem or engage in a particular endeavour, one of the things they're likely to do is herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct some sort of brainstorming session and implicit in that action is the acceptance that certain methods, processes and procedures enhance creative output.

Then you can begin discussing how to improve the enormous amount of creative output people generate, from problem solving in everyday business life right up to the level or art.

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TIP OF THE DAY: Creativity, Innovation and Hierarchies

Convention has it that hierarchies hinder creativity and innovation. But why?

Also, organizational structure is resultant of many factors (logistics, history etc...) and not easy to change, so what do we do if we have a hierarchical organizational structure and want to increase creative output?

Well, hierarchies tend not to foster creativity because of factors such as multiple layers to decision makers, slow feedback systems and decision makers' lack of intimacy with local problems due to distortion of filtered information.

So one way to counter the above is to enable teams with direct links to decision makers. This simple step speeds up decision making, improves feedback systems and decision makers' familiarity with local issues.

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The MBA research projects on Managing Creativity and Innovation, a DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator software and 50 slide powerpoint presentatation can all be bought at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the

Your Site in a Shopping Centre - Location, Location!
Have you ever wondered just how all the retailers who have a shop at your local shopping centre, sorted out who’d go where? If you imagined that they didn’t really care – think again.The adage in real estate; location, location is just as relevant in the shopping centre placement game.Firstly some u

t most people already implicitly accept the idea of creativity management: if you ask them to solve a problem or engage in a particular endeavour, one of the things they're likely to do is herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct some sort of brainstorming session and implicit in that action is the acceptance that certain methods, processes and procedures enhance creative output.

Then you can begin discussing how to improve the enormous amount of creative output people generate, from problem solving in everyday business life right up to the level or art.

***

TIP OF THE DAY: Creativity, Innovation and Hierarchies

Convention has it that hierarchies hinder creativity and innovation. But why?

***

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the

Internet Mystery Shopping – How Should You Choose a Mystery Shopping Agency?
There are of course, many mystery shopping agencies that will sell you their bells and whistles approach, whereby ‘experienced’ researchers will descend on a business and collect information relating to products and services.If we consider the cost base on this factor alone, it doesn’t take a genius to wor

people generate, from problem solving in everyday business life right up to the level or art.

***

TIP OF THE DAY: Creativity, Innovation and Hierarchies

Convention has it that hierarchies hinder creativity and innovation. But why?

***

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the

How to Handle Criticism in an Interview
Being criticised is something we all do as humans, though there is nothing wrong with this per se, it is how you do it that’s important. In Bob Burg’s amazing book ”Wining Without Intimidation” he says: “kiss ‘em before you kick ‘em” if only all managers use this technique they would get far greater results from

hierarchies tend not to foster creativity because of factors such as multiple layers to decision makers, slow feedback systems and decision makers' lack of intimacy with local problems due to distortion of filtered information.

***

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the

Ganging Print Runs
When you have multiple pieces that are all on the same paper and same ink colors you can sometimes gang or put multiple pieces up on the same press sheet. This saves on makeready, setups, plates and washups and can save $$$ if you are comfortable with some of the limitations that you might have.As an examp

s on Managing Creativity and Innovation, a DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator software and 50 slide powerpoint presentatation can all be bought at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

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For a long time, companies used employee time clocks to keep track of how many hours each employee worked each week. Each employee had their own punch card, which they inserted into the time clock so the time could be stamped on it. Even though technology has caught up with the time clock, it is still one of the best ways available of keeping track of the hours an employee works, and transferring that information across to payroll so that the employee is paid correctly.

What is one of the greatest ways to add value to your business? Nope, it's not giving away free merchandise, offering special discounts, or even creating a preferred customer club. One of the most valuable commodities that you can provide your customers is information.

We've all heard it. Employees Hate Change. Do you believe it? I don't. I think employees are getting a bum rap. I think they are being used as an excuse for poor change, poor results, poor communication, poor planning.

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