Change management’s importance cannot be emphasized in excess. The main reason behind this is that, presently our world is increasingly becoming global and we all are competing with various economies that are emerging. If anyone wishes to survive in this world that is filled with competition, innovation is the need of the hour as it is becoming very much essential to compete. The innovation needs more changes at different levels of the organization. To achieve the expected change to happen in the organization, everyone in the organization has to be aware of the need of change management and later you have to implement the required change.

In the times of recession, change management is the phrase that has been heard all over the organizations. During the recession, whether an organization is small or big, they will be hit very badly and nobody will have a smooth sail. Some of the organization which is small will fall sick because the larger organizations will not be doing well and the whole of the world economy will be in great depression as a result most of the organization giants and corporate gurus are turning up to the experts of Change Management.

For different people the phrase change management may sound differently. For some people it could be just shifting of the gears in their managements and for some others it may mean that it could be an all new setting up or a procedure in order to set up a new system or else just keeping up the old ones for time being.

The course of Change Management will prove to be useful tool under some of the situations like
If you’re employed individually or else a business executive who will have the kind of helpless feeling to see that the company you’re working for is falling apart due to under performance and during this time is where Change Management has to be considered and it should be discussed along with all the senior staff members in an open forum in order to improve the condition of the company. As a tool, Change Managements has the great ability to turn your company and here most of the people will not have the clue on how this works.

If you own a company or work with a particular company which has taken a great hit due to the on going crisis, here a handful of experienced professional will help you to implement the Change Management I the right course and also will help you tackle the crisis in a professional way.

There are several approaches to take the change management. Each of the approach has its own advantages and disadvantages and also the risk factors that are attached with it. From one to other organization, the policies of change management may vary.

Change management is all about having the right vision, conviction and courage. Change management needs the perfect ability to handle risk levels both at business and personal levels and also the capability to reveal the commitment to change. Some leading organizations have undergone the change management programs and also have established successfully the change required.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Change management refers to the systematic approach adopted to deal with the changes. Learn more about Change Management

Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at empowering employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. In project management, change management refers to a project management process where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved.

Examples of Organizational Change

1. Strategic changes
2. Technological changes
3. Structural changes
4. Changing the attitudes and behaviors of personnel

As a multidisciplinary practice, Organizational Change Management requires for example: creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, but also deep social understanding about leadership’s styles and group dynamics. As a visible track on transformation projects, Organizational Change Management aligns groups’ expectations, communicates, integrates teams and manages people training. It makes use of metrics, such as leader’s commitment, communication effectiveness, and the perceived need for change to design accurate strategies, in order to avoid change failures or solve troubled change projects. An effective change management plan needs to address all above mentioned dimensions of change. This can be achieved in following ways:

1. Putting in place an effective Communication strategy which would bridge any gap in the understanding of change benefits and its implementation strategy.
2. Devise an effective skill upgrading scheme for the organization. Overall these measures can counter resistance from the employees of companies and align them to overall strategic direction of the organization.
3. Personal counseling of staff members (if required) to alleviate any change related fears.

The Pitfalls of Culture Change

Cultural change is a popular past-time among contemporary managers. The promise that many management books make is that changing your organisation’s culture will lead to organisational success. Managers eager to impress their directors will invariably implement a cultural change program with the anticipation that it will increase productivity, profitability or any other noun ending in -ty. This promise is made on the premise that successful organisations all have a ‘good’ culture.

Interestingly enough, most culture change programs fail!

The reason most cultural change programs fail is because culture is an epiphenomenon of human interaction. This means that culture as such does not exist., it is a mental construct. Culture is the effect of something and can not be the cause of anything. The only place where culture changes are always successful is in microbiological laboratories, where nerdy scientists in lab coats poke around in petri dishes  and conical flasks to develop medicine, biological warfare or just because they need a job. Back to human cultures.

Culture is the result of a whole range of phenomenons, such as people’s values and beliefs. Managers more often than not focus on these aspects of culture. They try to change the values and beliefs of their staff by pouting ‘inspiring’ rhetoric and professional development programs. See our post on consultants for a view on this.

Corporations are generally (pun intended) not democratic organisations and rely on a hierarchical structures. Culture is thus driven from the top to the bottom and can therefore only change to the limit of the values and beliefs of the managers in charge. It is because of this that most text books on cultural change fail. In order to change culture, managers need to first change themselves!

Because culture is the effect of phenomenons it can not be the cause of anything – including corporate success. What can, however, be the cause of corporate success are the aspects that underpin a corporate culture.

However, all is not lost. There are aspects of culture that can be changed quite easily. Other phenomena that cause culture are rituals and ceremonies, stories and legends and material objects. This might sound like things that you only find in tribal cultures, but all corporations have them. Rituals and ceremonies are expressed in the way meetings are conducted, birthdays are celebrated and everything in between. Stories and legends relate to the history of the corporation and material objects are the tools we use and the office we work in.

If a manager wants to change a ‘culture’, then these phenomena are the starting point. Change these and the culture will follow. Best example to illustrate this are the often discussed Google offices. By placing people in the right environment they will display the right behavior. Supermarket designers use these principles very successfully. Telling the right stories will create a sense of collective and conducting the corporate rituals in the right way will act as an example of the desired behavior.

The simple message is: don’t try to change a culture, try to change the phenomenons that cause the culture.

Attributed to Hypotheticorp.org

With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to the three purposes of public speaking and where business plan presentations would fall, how to analyze your audience to determine the most appropriate details and organization for your presentation, and finally how to best organize and present your business plan.  Let’s get started!

First, it’s important to know the three purposes of public speaking.  They are to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.  Which purpose would presenting your business plan fall into?  Clearly, presenting a business plan is not for pure enjoyment or entertainment purposes, so we can cross that off the list.  You might be tempted to think that presenting a plan is informative, and therefore, the purpose is to inform.  But that’s actually not correct.  While you absolutely need to inform your audience of the details in your plan, your purpose for presenting those details will likely be to persuade your audience to act.  After all, the reason you created a business plan is to guide the action of your business as you move forward.  When your purpose is to create action, your goal then, by definition is persuasive in nature.

Next, now that you know your goal is to persuade your audience, you’ll need to take at look at who you will be persuading.  With business plans, you may have multiple groups to present to.  You may have to present to your employees, board of directors, stockholders, and other internal audiences.  You may also want to present your plan to external audiences such as lending institutions or other potential investors.  As a result, you will need to create multiple presentations for the same plan.  Why?  Because each audience’s needs are different.

Before putting together your presentation, you’ll need to determine who your audience is and what their goals are.  You’ll need to analyze the demographics, values and attitudes of your audience.  Demographic details such as age, sex, race, religious affiliation, political affiliation, education level, socioeconomic status, income, geographic location, marital status, and occupation, could all play a role to some extent in determining what information you’ll need to provide.  Next, think about what your audience values.  Employees will have different values than potential investors, so be sure to emphasize the points relevant to each group.  Finally, think about your audience’s attitude toward your topic.  Often audiences will be favorable to your topic.  But sometimes you will be dealing with a neutral, apathetic, or even unfavorable crowd.  What you present and how you present it will be determined by your analysis of the audience.  You should not ever use the same “canned” speech for every audience.  While you may be able to present much of the same key information, you’ll need to adjust certain details based on who you are speaking to.

Now that you know your purpose is to persuade and you’ve analyzed your various audiences, you can put your presentation together.  One powerful way to persuade an audience is to use an organization pattern known as motivated sequence.  The motivated sequence pattern allows you to present details in a way that encourage your audience to take action now.  Here’s the pattern:

I.  Attention Step

In this step you would complete an introduction to your topic.  Begin with a brief story, some startling statistics, or several compelling rhetorical questions.  Next relate your topic to your audience using the information you gathered from your audience analysis.  Then you can preview your upcoming points and transition to the second step.

II.  Need Step

This is where you outline a problem.  Why did you create a new plan?  What are some challenges facing your organization?  Provide as many relevant details to your audience as possible.

III.  Satisfaction Step

In this step, you explain your solutions to the problem and challenges you presented in the previous step.  Again, use as many relevant details as possible.

IV.  Visualization Step

In this step, you help your audience see how your solution and the ideas you present in your plan will work.  One technique to achieve this visualization is asking your audience to “picture this…”  Or, you can provide an example of what another successful organization in your industry has done that is similar to your plan and how the results have benefited that organization.  If your audience can see themselves benefiting from your plan, they will be more likely to accept it.

V.  Action Step

In this final step, you ask your audience to take action.  Do you want your employees to begin implementing their part of the plan beginning next week?  Are you asking investors for funds?  Be specific about what action you want your audience to take and when.  Your goal is to make whatever action you are seeking something the audience can do as soon after you present as possible.  If there is a small step they can complete immediately following your presentation you are more likely to get them to commit to longer-term actions.  For example, start a contest for employees that day or draw up a letter of intent for investors to sign on the spot.

By understating the purpose of presenting your plan is to persuade your various audiences to act, by analyzing your audience to determine the relevant details, and finally organizing those details into a motivated sequence pattern, you ensure that your business plan presentation will be successful.   In the end, not only will you have promises and hopes, you’ll have commitment to your plan.

Source: ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A Business Plan will save you a lot of time and money. Careful planning ahead of time will help you wisely budget your resources and significantly minimize the time you spend assessing threats, problems, obstacles and opportunities.

A business plan actually creates the future you want it to be.  It gives you the process to develop the future business you want, whether it is to successfully start, expand, acquire or build. Granted, a business planning process can’t predict everything and markets change very quickly; yet, a business plan puts a solid process model in place to deal with such unpredictability.  Otherwise, you will become even more lost in the unpredictable nature of future market changes without a system in place to deal with and predict these changes.

A business plan is an actual guide to starting, acquiring, expanding, building and managing a business.  It is a step by step process that will guide you through the complexities and intricacies of building a successful company. Business school will teach you something about business planning, an MBA will teach you a little more, but most good business planning experience comes from doing and learning from others who have gone before you.  Find a good business plan mentor!

If you need to raise funds for your business venture or project, a well thought out business plan is the very best tool available to achieve the mix and amount of funds your business requires.  A good business planning process will actually determine and design financial structures which specifically address your funding requirements. Utilize a planning process to develop and design a financial structure customized to your particular company’s requirements.  When times are tough in your business, industry or lending market, a good funding plan will give you a fighting chance of obtaining the badly needed funding.

A business plan is a fantastic communication tool.  It establishes a system so that you can effectively communicate with your executives, managers, employees, shareholders, investors, lenders, customers, potential customers, markets, suppliers, on down the line.  So many companies fail because effective communication was significantly hampered by assets and people doing contrary things.  Effective strategic planning within the business planning process establishes strong communication ties, links and systems so that all the fore mentioned human variables can come together in a directional, well coordinated strategy for success.

Nothing stays the same from one day to the next in this global, fast tracked business world.  Because of this constant change, your business will quickly fall behind and suffer without having a good business plan in place.  A plan puts a system in place to identify and address changes in the market place so you can proactively seize and turn them into opportunities.  Without a forward thinking system in place, changes in your market place can quickly become insurmountable problems and obstacles.  A business plan empowers you to convert these changes into opportunities and increased profitability.

Operating a company without a well developed business plan is just like operating a car blindfolded, driving down an expressway in LA.  You wouldn’t blindfold yourself and drive down a busy expressway would you?  Why would you do that with your business, future and money?

Frank Goley is a business success consultant for ABC Business Consulting and author of The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook- A Guide to Effective Business Planning. Frank is an expert in business plans, marketing plans, strategic plans, funding plans and turnaround plans.

1. The Autocrat

This leadership style is one that is typically less prevalent now than it was in the 70′s and 80′s. This leader thrives on leading from the front making all the decisions and typically dragging the rest of his people along with him.

He is energized by his own ego and is driven internally to make decisions and those which are right and those which are his. There is little potential to influence here and he is single-tracked in his determination for doing things his way.

Often full of self-importance, he has little confidence in his subordinates and distrusts them. He makes most of the decisions and passes them down the line. He makes threats where necessary to ensure that his orders are obeyed.

The autocratic leadership style is sometimes described as strong leadership, desired by their followers. This is where individuals seek ‘leadership’, but often mistake this for being told what to do, which is much more comforting in certain situations and organizations. Sadly, in many organizations, individuals have no other experience than this way of being led.

Whilst it is less favorable a style nowadays, than in the past, it rather seems to have become unstylish to overtly behave this way. To be seen to be an autocrat is not the thing. This may well have driven the Autocrat into hiding. Often ego-driven autocrats will be found lurking just below the surface of the other three key styles, paying homage to current trends, but still calling the shots!

2. Involving Autocrat

In this leadership style, true autocrats have realized that they can’t do it all, so they seek and get help. The ideas may still be theirs, but they try to sell the ideas to others in as convincing a way as possible.

By spending time being approachable, actually talking and, even better, listening to their people, they develop a much more inclusive way than the pure Autocrat. Often very charismatic, they build effective teams, who are pulled along in the wake of their personal character.

And they still get their own way! Lurking Autocrats often hide here! Yet it works, because people get far more engaged. This leadership style needs a lot less energy to drag people along, than have them alongside you, up to a point.

They often see themselves as a sort of benevolent father figure who makes all the important decisions and then persuades his people to go along with them. He may even let minor decisions be made by some subordinates using his own rules. Incentives as well as reprimands may be used to keep people onside and delivering.

3. The Partial Democrat

In this leadership style, their people get a look in, with involvement in major decisions, even strategic planning, being the benchmark.

Partially Democratic leaders really do believe that their people can contribute and they take their issues to them for some input. Believing that there is value in taking in some contributions as useful, is a major breakthrough of leaders to behave this way.

Although they seriously retain their overall leadership position, they are seen to be involving, although not so far as to let others get on with it fully freed.

The partial democrat has believes in the capabilities of most of his people and involves his employees widely. Before making decisions he will seek their views, but he will still have the final say.

4. The Total Democrat

Fully bought into the value that the involvement of others, brings the very best solutions, the Total Democrat enables solutions to come bottom up (as distinct from The Autocrat, who is very ‘top down’). Indeed this style of leader is quite hands-off, letting the wisdom of his people deliver solutions.

Great at delegating, this style of leader can also significantly develop individuals, if they are given ongoing support and focus for the challenging work asked of them. Often this style of leader has the vision to realize what people need and ensure they get it, generating successful and sustainable organizations.

The Total Democrat has complete confidence and trust in his employees. When issues arise and decisions must be made, relevant and varied participants are involved to discuss the situation and a majority view is taken as the final decision.

And finally…recognize this?

The Abrogator

This leadership style is way the wrong extreme. Here, there is no guidance regarding quality, standards, direction or strategy from above, and everyone beneath the leader is frustrated, even though they are allowed to do their own thing. Decisions are just left to happen and responsibility is abrogated.

Total Democrat to the extreme, but without any leadership qualities, all his people feel unable to cope and in the end, underperformance precedes implosion of team and individuals are left floundering.

This is a disastrous style, which is more common than you might think. Often, when this happens, a ‘sub-leader’ takes over and delivers enough to keep things afloat.

About the Author:
(c) 2008 Best Student Loan Guide. Products, services and step-by-step guidance to help you make the best student loan decisions you can. Checkout Martin Haworth’s website for all you need at http://www.Best-Student-Loan-Guide.com

You as the new owner
Besides the finance, there is a lot more at stake when you buy a new business. Your reputation for one, your ability to run the new business and your working capabilities are all at risk in starting a new venture. When you buy the new business, you need to understand that the focus of the business shifts completely upon you. You need to be qualified both technically as well as in terms of experience to run the business effectively. A business can be really stressful as you might have to deal with difficult employees, uncertainty, adversity and lastly, loss. The faster you are able to gauge your expertise, the easier it will become for you to determine whether the new business is right for you.

Background check
This is one of the most important steps in securing a good and strong business. You need to conduct a complete background check of the business that you are about to takeover. Does the business have a positive cash flow? Valuing the business is a part of this background check. A business valuation analyst will be able to help you determine the actual value of the company. The valuation of the analyst is based on experience and professional standards. The analyst does not take the financial details of the company into consideration.

Finding the right business
The Merger and Acquisition firm will help you to find the right business for you. These guys are intermediates or middlemen. They can be categorized into several categories based on the kind of business transactions that they can handle. For example, a broker can handle a business transaction for companies with sales under $5 million. The broker would nevertheless love to handle the transaction for a company with sales exceeding $20 million but neither do they have the competency nor the expertise to do the same. So when you seek the services of a M&A firm, make sure that you choose the right one based on their expertise.

Planning

A proper plan in place will let you complete the entire acquisition deal in no time at all. If you run an aggressive plan, then it should not take more than three months for the complete acquisition to go through. So sketch out the plan and execute it in proper order.

William King is the director of French Wholesalers & Suppliers Directory: http://www.francewholesalers.com , Daily Trader: http://www.dailytrader.com , Dubai & UAE Property & Real Estate Portal: http://www.bayut.com , Pakistan Property & Real Estate Portal: http://www.zameen.com . He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers, entrepreneurs and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

Starting a USA business includes many and different steps and people who want to be successful need to know them all. The first step in any business plan is deciding the nature of the business. Of course, maybe you have made plans for it long before n your mind. However, a detailed description of products and services is the first part of a good business plan. For a fishing shop, for instance, the products would be all the fishing rods and accessories.

Besides a detailed description of products, a detailed description of services must also be made. If we are to talk about the same example, the owners must decide where or not there will be a service department with the fishing shop.

Deciding the estimated risk is the next part in figuring the nature of the business. The risk of the business is based on a through analysis of the industry. To analyze the industry one should take several considerations into thought. For example, how much demand for the business there will be in the area, as well as, how other businesses of the same nature have done in the area.

Size and location of the business are also important ingredients required to figure the nature of the business. The size of the business can be based on the available amount of starting capital, the demand in the location, as well as any other factor that might affect the business. Location is based on the same factors.

Planning the goals and objectives of the business is the second step of a business plan. This step requires thinking about what the short-term and long-term goals will be. In addition to the short-term and long-term goals, the owners must express the expected results in sales volume and profits.

These goals and objectives should be based on the amount of capital invested and the amount of the loan. The business must plan to make a profit, however, the profit does not have to be immediate. It may take a little while for the business to become established in order to make a profit.

The long-term plan of the business might take all this into account. A marketing plan is the next step of a business plan. A marketing plan takes into account customers and their demand for the fishing rods, accessories, and services. A marketing plan should also include prices for the products and services, and a comparison of products and services with competitors in the area.

The prices should be figured based on the supply and demand theory. If there is a large demand and no other competitors in the area your prices can be much higher than if there is little demand for you products or services, or if there are several other competitors in the area.

The business plan is essential in the formation of any business. In addition to the business plan a list financial institutions which to apply for a loan should be assembled, as well as, hiring a lawyer to help in the formation of the business. Proper planning might take a long time but in the end it will make the process of starting a USA business much easier.

About the Author

Take a professional approach to starting your own business. http://www.startingbusinessusa.com

How Venture Capital Works

Investors release funds to those companies that they feel have enough potential to be successful. Venture capital firms are managed by different individuals from various fields and sometimes by the venture capitalists themselves.

Now, we know that venture capitalists release funds to companies that are in need of money to develop and advertise. What do the venture capitalists get in return for this? They get a share of the equity and a part of the ownership. Sometimes they will even settle for seats on the board of directors. It all depends on how much you need and how they give you as well as how much they want in return.

Venture capitalists are not just the ones who give out money. That is not the sole reason though for companies to approach them. It is their line of contacts as well as the reputation that comes with it that are more attractive to companies. While money is important, it is not everything in business. Your contacts; who you know are just as important a factor. If you are associated with the right venture capital firm, which has a very good address book of associates and decent network then your work is done. You have got a great deal right there itself.

The venture capitalists just do not barge into any and every business that asks for their capital. They do their homework too and they do comply with their ground rules.

Broadly, there are three things that they take into consideration.

1. First is the value system of the company who seeks funds from them. This makes them ascertain how strong the morals are and would be able to assess the core strength of the company. If this is satisfactory then the company can weather any storm. So this becomes very relevant.

2. Second is the rate of return of money invested. This is for obvious reasons. No free lunches here. You got to know how much you would get if you are investing something. This will be checked out and if satisfied then there will be confidence in the minds of the venture capitalists to invest.

3. Third, they would look for an exit option. Business is a gamble at the end of the day. You got to know when to jump ship. You got to make the provisions at the start itself. They would look for one and if they know they can sneak out unharmed when the ground slips under the feet, then they will give a confident okay to the project.

There are various jargons that are used in case of venture capital investments. There is sweat equity, which as the name suggests is all about the sweat investment. The lawyers and other professional just work without getting paid and invest with their sweat. They do this only if they have faith in the firm. Later on for their sweat investment would expect to be rewarded with huge contracts and other lucrative services.

If you need funds to just do the groundwork and develop a blueprint of the business and the venture capitalists then it is called pre-used funding. If the funds are given to develop a model product and recruit a management group then it is called self-funding.

In case, the funds are given to aid with the completion of product and the starting of marketing then it is called startup funding.

There are development funding, Mezzanine funding, expansion funding, mergers and acquisitions and a lot more jargons that is associated with venture capital.

Marketing

is one of the most important strategic decisions your company has to make to survive and the plethora of advice on how to market, who you market to and how much effort to put into marketing is overwhelming.

Modern marketing theory dates back to the 70′s when a new data source on consumer demographics opened up: Credit card transactions. Now it was possible to buy data from credit card companies about what consumers in which areas bought what items, along with how old they were, their marital status and their credit ratings.

With this information in hand, marketing switched from a product marketing focus (how do we get our products in the hands of the most consumers) to a consumer marketing focus (what untapped needs and wants in the consumer space are out there and how to we meet them and be first to market in meeting them?).

Consumer-focused marketing and market research pervaded the entire retail tier, even down to super markets with their discount cards, tracking what consumers buy and how frequently, to tighten up their stocking levels on products.

Market research is important to your business and marketing, above and beyond the research is all about converting that research into generating leads for customers who want your services and converting those leads into buyers. Once they’ve bought your services or products, marketing is about maintaining the relationship with your customer, being responsive to their needs, finding out what they want and getting it to them before your competition does.

Most marketing plans can be broken down into three phases.

Phase 1 is defining and narrowing your objectives: Important questions to ask are: Who are our potential customers? What do they want or need that they aren’t getting right now? How do we meet that need in the current market place? Understanding what the strategic landscape is, and knowing who your potential customers are is essential to any marketing plan.

Phase 2 is contingent on phase 1, and the important questions at this phase are: Who are our current customers? What are we doing to make them return to us, rather than look at the competition? Based on what they’ve bought from us before, what new product ideas, packaging or categories can we offer them to increase our perceived values in their eyes? How are we bringing information about our new products to our customer base? What are we doing to ensure brand loyalty? Understanding how your existing customers purchase in aggregate, and spotting trends in their needs is important for remaining nimble in your marketing plan. You don’t want to abandon your current customers while searching for new ones.

Phase 3 is the most nebulous phase of your marketing plan and it requires a firm commitment to phases 1 and 2. As your business grows, you need to constantly look for new trends and product categories you can sell to your existing customer base and use to find new customers to add to them. It requires flexibility and planning and forethought.

Thinking through these three phases will greatly improve your marketing plan and bring success to your business.