How to Conduct a Meeting

Written by Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach


For many of us attending a meeting is right up there with a root canal.

If you’rerepparttar one in charge of meetings, use these EQ competencies to create better ones. A meeting, after all, is a microcosm of your business and philosophy.

INTENTIONALITY

Intentionality means accepting responsibility for your actions and motives. Always ask yourself, Why am I having this meeting? Could this be done better another way?

Meetings exist for different reasons – sharing information, receiving instructions, planning, crisis management, socializing, process.

Definerepparttar 105276 reason forrepparttar 105277 meeting, share this information, and stick with it. This goes to credibility.

Avoidrepparttar 105278 anathema of productivity and morale, “Because we’ve always done it this way.”

Check in with your thoughts, opinions and feelings before you startrepparttar 105279 meeting to make sure you’re centered and will be doing what you intend to do.

PERSONAL POWER

Running a meeting is not a committee affair. Someone needs to be in charge.

The leader setsrepparttar 105280 tone in attitude as well. People will seek opportunity to test limits, upstage, divert, entertain and manipulate instead of staying on-task. The first time you allow this to happen, you set precedence, and lose credibility.

RESPECT

Respect for everyone – their time, opinions, contributions and feelings. If you hold off starting til Paul arrives, you establishrepparttar 105281 precedent thatrepparttar 105282 meeting doesn’t start at 10, it stars when Paul gets there, because, by inference, he’s more important thanrepparttar 105283 others.

ROI In Your Warehouse (Real or Imagined)

Written by Rene' Jones


I learned some time ago that, “People do what you inspect and not what you expect”. I also learned thatrepparttar cost of an item is much more important thanrepparttar 105274 price of an item. And I learned that most companies want a return on their investment.

ROI in your warehouse! Ask yourself this question, do you agree that ROI is an overused acronym. The reason it is used so generously is because it forcesrepparttar 105275 seller to focus onrepparttar 105276 benefitsrepparttar 105277 buyer will receive and how long afterrepparttar 105278 purchase those benefits will be recognized. The reason I say it truly stands for, “Real or Imagined”, is because you have to know whatrepparttar 105279 process is costing you now in order to recognize a return.

Your warehouse does a lot to support your company. It has some sophisticated processes and more realistically some archaic ones.

How are those processes measured? How often are they measured? And who measures them? Withrepparttar 105280 technology that has been sweeping through distribution centers andrepparttar 105281 not so recent slow down in IT spending, what will be your company’s next move?

Supposedly there are wizards out there that can get your warehouse into tip top shape. They can reduce your cost, they can reduce your personnel, they can make your inventory more accurate and more importantlyrepparttar 105282 return on your investment will be substantial. But think for a minute, aren’t thoserepparttar 105283 same wizards that brought us Y2K? IT spending came to a screeching halt right afterrepparttar 105284 world, as we know it, was supposed to come to an end as well. Company’s updated all of their software, hardware and some internal (front office) processes. “But we

forgot aboutrepparttar 105285 warehouse!” Someone still has to: receive, putaway, replenish, pick, pack and ship your product. And they have to now do it: at a reduced cost, faster, more accurately and more likely with less people. So what’srepparttar 105286 return you are receiving on your warehouse investment?

I heard someone say, “People are our most important asset!” You see that statement onrepparttar 105287 walls of company’s in every industry. Well, I am here to tell you that statement is not correct. Especially in your warehouse! Because if you haverepparttar 105288 wrong people, doingrepparttar 105289 wrong things, how is that considered an asset to your company? The correct statement should be, “The RIGHT people are our most important asset(s)!” What happens to those assets in times like we are experiencing now? They are downsized, right-sized, dumb-sized, laid off, and so on. And what

are you left with, some ofrepparttar 105290 wrong people trying to perform tasks they are not capable of performing, with very little training. More then likelyrepparttar 105291 training department has been right-sized as well. Then we sit back and wait for our operating cost to decrease so we can begin seeingrepparttar 105292 ROI. What’s weird is that it doesn’t come. Or at least notrepparttar 105293 return we were expecting. Why is that? Why is it so difficult for us to comprehend ROI when we are discussingrepparttar 105294 warehouse? It is difficult to comprehend ROI inrepparttar 105295 warehouse because; we do not measurerepparttar 105296 processes orrepparttar 105297 people inrepparttar 105298 warehouse. If we did, would your warehouse be as messy and as dirty as it is? Would days go by with receiving not being completed? Would customer service personnel have to continuously go out torepparttar 105299 warehouse to verify thatrepparttar 105300 system inventory isrepparttar 105301 same as what is physically inrepparttar 105302 bin? Last but not least, would you be processingrepparttar 105303 number of returns you are

currently processing? Probably not! All we know is people are constantly telling us thatrepparttar 105304 warehouse is full of assets and not merely costs. Butrepparttar 105305 reality of it is, as one CEO told me, “Why should I throw good money after bad?” Next he said, “We have done everything possible to improve our warehouse operations and we have not realized a return on our investment yet”! As always, my questions after hearing those statements are, “What was it costing you beforerepparttar 105306 purchase” and “What should it be costing you?” We all have an idea of what,repparttar 105307 costs associated withrepparttar 105308 warehouse are, but we do not know what they should be. Even when I ask, “What doesrepparttar 105309 average picker make in your industry”, no one seems to know. When I ask, “How many pickers should it take on average to handlerepparttar 105310 number of orders you are processing”, no one seems to know. When I ask, “What isrepparttar 105311 average number of returns in comparison torepparttar 105312 number of

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