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The Easy Guide to Employee Performance Planning

July 15, 2022 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Performance planning is a great way to give a sense of direction to the employees and create a space for them to grow in their career. In this guide, we will discuss what is performance planning and the process.

Some useful templates are also provided. You can edit these online; simply click on the template to open them in the editor, modify and download.

What is Performance Planning?

Employee performance planning is a key area in performance management, which deals with improving and developing employee performance to achieve overall business goals.

Performance planning refers to the process of identifying the goals of an individual or organization and planning the best ways to achieve them. It focuses on underpinning the growth of employees and helping their career development.

During performance planning, the company objectives and the performance goals should be communicated to the employee by his senior. And the necessary training, resources, and support should also be provided.

A performance improvement plan lays out the steps an employee, who is underperforming, needs to take to upgrade his or her performance.

On the other hand, a performance development plan is used with employees who are already performing well to identify new ways they can contribute. With underperforming employees, it can be used to identify areas for improvement, set goals and develop strategies to achieve them.

Here are some great team building activities to help you boost your team’s productivity.

Performance Planning Process

Following are the performance planning steps. Performance planning is the first step in performance management. Once you are done with planning, you will move on to implementing it, tracking and reviewing the results.

Identify the Strengths of Each Individual

Start by learning the capabilities of your employees, which will, in turn, help you adjust their responsibilities and customize performance goals.

A handy tool that can be used here is the SWOT analysis. You can either perform a SWOT analysis of each individual working under you or get your team to do a personal SWOT analysis by their own.

The results will reveal to you not only the strengths of the individual, but also their weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats with regard to their career.

Personal SWOT Analysis Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Set Performance Goals

Considering his or her strength, establish performance goals. Involve the employee during this step; their participation will help them understand the plan and where he/ she is heading.

However, prior to setting the goals, you need to gain an understanding of the overall goals of the organization, and that of the team or department the employee represents. Then make sure that the individual performance goals align well with them.

You also need to make sure that the goals adhere to the SMART criteria; that they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Carry out an annual or semi-annual performance evaluation to understand the progress of the goals. For this, you should come up with a simple rating scale or indicators to assess the performance.

Career Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Define Employee Responsibilities

When you have already established the goals an individual has to achieve within the time period, it becomes easier to define their responsibilities. With a performance review, their responsibilities may change, but they’ll always be assigned a basic set of functions.

Create an organizational chart clearly conveying their place in the organizational or team hierarchy and their roles and responsibilities. This will also let them see how they influence the work of their colleagues as well.

Organizational Chart with Roles and Responsibilities (Click on the template to edit it online)

Describe the Resources Needed

Once the performance goals are clear, identify the resources necessary to accomplish them. These could vary from computers, training material to action plans.

The action plan should lay out the steps the individual should take to accomplish the goals. Check out this resource on Action Plans to learn how to create one.

Action Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Create a Development Plan

This is where you come up with a plan or plans to develop the skills, knowledge and even the attitudes of the employees which are needed to achieve the goals that have been set and carry out the new responsibilities assigned to him/ her.

During this stage, career development plans are built to help the employee understand where they are headed in their career. It will have a positive impact on the employee’s motivation and personal growth.

Software Engineer Career Path (Click on the template to edit it online)

Continue to Coach and Counsel

As the employee carry out his/ her responsibilities and the steps laid out in the action plan to achieve the goals, his/her seniors should take it upon themselves to give the support necessary for him/ her to succeed.

Two tools that can help you during this phase are the GROW coaching model and the skill will matrix.

What’s Your Take on Performance Planning?

How do you go about performance planning in your organization? Any additional steps or tips? Do share them with us in the comment section below.

Design Your Dream Work From Home Space on a Budget

March 7, 2022 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Millions of workers across the United States aren’t going back to the office, and it’s easy to see why. Even with the pandemic winding down, employers are still reaping the benefits: a happier and more motivated workforce, reduced operating expenses, and fewer hours lost to water cooler chat.

So if you’ll be working remotely full- or part-time, it’s time to ditch the couch or dining room table and build your dream workspace at home, using these expert tips from Local Marketing Center.

Choose the Right Location

Start by taking a tour of your home as though you’ve never been there before. Walk through each space and imagine it without furniture. Where can you add a workspace? If your home has a basement, this may be the obvious choice. Basements are usually isolated from the rest of the house, so if the kids come home from school, they won’t disrupt your Zoom meeting.

To DIY or Not to DIY?

If you’re looking to cut costs, a DIY home office renovation might seem like the best bet. But consider your starting point first. A finished basement already has the basic flooring, drywall, and electrical you’ll need for a safe and comfortable office. You may only need to add a fresh coat of paint in a soothing hue. But an unfinished basement is trickier. Case in point: you’ll need to install subfloor insulation before the carpeting to prevent condensation and mold. These larger tasks are often best left to a pro. Otherwise, you could pay more for repairs down the line.

Wellness While You Work

Next, it’s time to add furniture. Choose a high-quality, comfortable desk and ergonomic chair that are suited to your height. Head to your favorite secondhand shop or look online for affordable options. You may want to consider an adjustable sit-stand desk to switch things up throughout the day. In either position, ensure that your monitor is at the proper distance and viewing angle to reduce eyestrain.

Hack Your Productivity

Now that the heavy lifting is done, it’s time to stimulate your creativity and get you in the zone. Add a smart speaker for some relaxing tunes or white noise. (Unlike the office, you won’t need to wear headphones!) Did you know that certain scents, especially pine and cinnamon, have been associated with alertness and focus? Light a scented candle or use a plug-in oil diffuser for a boost.

Add Self-Care to Your Workspace

You spend more of your waking hours at your workstation than almost anywhere else. As you put the finishing touches on your new home office, take another tour of your home and gather items that help facilitate a feeling of peace and joy. It could be a houseplant, a family photo, a lamp to add brightness, or a yoga mat for a comfy place to stretch and reset between tasks. These items will truly help you feel like you’re working from the comfort of home and enhance your work-life balance. Best of all, they don’t cost you a cent!

Everyone longs to escape those stuffy office buildings, but few take the necessary steps to turn that dream into a reality. By following these simple tips, though, you’ll be enjoying your new home office in no time!

Local Marketing Center consists of Paul and his wife, Sarah Edwards, who are award-winning authors of 17 books with over 2,000,000 books in print. Paul also provides local marketing consulting through the Small Business Development Center. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email paul@localmarketing.center.

Written by Courtney Rosenfeld

Entrepreneurs Should Be Utilizing These Leading Business Methods

January 23, 2022 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Running a small business comes with a lot of responsibilities, but it’s important not to overlook the details. The way you treat your employees, solve problems, and handle vendor relations is just as important as the way you take care of your business’s finances, marketing, or customers. Keep in mind that you’re not in this alone; millions of entrepreneurs are taking the initiative to update their business applications and ensure they’re on the right track. Here are a few tips on how to build better business practices for your company.

Update your website

One major aspect of your business that should be given attention to is the website. It’s not enough to make it easy to navigate or to fill it with product and information; you also need to be thoughtful with the execution and ensure that the site is accessible to people of all abilities and well-designed. The good news is, you don’t have to take care of it yourself. You can find a qualified, professional web developer via a job site, where you can read reviews and figure out the fees and delivery time before you hire.

Boost your communication

Communicating with your customers and clients is essential, but it’s just as important to make sure you know how to talk to your employees, vendors, and anyone else your business relies on. Many entrepreneurs tend to multitask, but this can provide distractions that keep you from listening to the people around you. Utilize technology for communication, but don’t rely on it solely. Maintaining in-person meetings or even video calls can help eliminate misunderstandings and mistakes, as can responding to problems or conflicts right away rather than pushing them aside to focus on other things.

It’s crucial to your business’s success that you fully understand your cash flow and have a full understanding of how much money is coming and going out. When you have visibility on your cash flow, you’ll be able to make more accurate estimates about future income. It’s also essential that you understand any liabilities and how much debt you owe. Fortunately, Plaid’s API credit loan tool allows you to retrieve up-to-date information on all your liabilities and loans.

Look for opportunities for growth

Good communication skills are just one area where you can learn and grow as a business owner. It’s important to look for opportunities that will allow you to tackle new challenges or simply become more educated about the field you’re in. It’s also a good idea to take the initiative to update your knowledge of the legalities and regulations surrounding your small business and keep an eye on the latest tech so you’ll always have access to tools and resources that can boost your sales. This might include things like customer relationship management software, which can help build customer loyalty.

Innovate

Growth comes in many forms, and it’s important to keep your employees in mind as you move your business into the future. How will you support them and keep fresh ideas flowing? There are endless possibilities, from providing assistance with childcare in order to reduce their stress to offering a relaxed atmosphere in the office where everyone is free to be creative. Your business doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s, and there is real power in knowing you can provide a supportive environment and work culture for your team.

Figuring out the best practices for your company can take some time, but you can always ask for input from your employees. Work together to find ways to build your brand and grow your ideas in order to secure the future of your business.

Written by Marjorie Jones

The Art of Marketing for Senior Business Owners

December 2, 2021 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

As business owners age, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that what worked for you in the past will work today. If you’re not careful, this assumption can lead to your failure to take advantage of the changing marketing landscape and losing ground to younger businesses with fresher ideas and newer strategies. Local Marketing Center presents some of the most effective marketing techniques that senior business owners like you should start using today to stay competitive in your local marketplace.

Networking

As a senior, you probably have a network you’ve built over time. People are more likely to do business with you if they like and trust you. Spending time building a relationship with your customers will make it easier when they need something from you. If you’re already networking regularly, don’t let those connections wither away.

Asking for Referrals

People love to talk about themselves, and people love to talk about their business. Referrals from current customers are some of the best leads you can get, as these people have already heard your pitch and were impressed enough to pass it on. They’re a little more qualified than a cold lead, and they come with an implicit recommendation from someone they trust.

Designing a Website

Aesthetics are one of many important factors when it comes to your business’s website. Visitors aren’t just interested in seeing what you do — they want to know how you can help them. Because of that, it’s important to consider every element on your site: Each word on a page, each image and design choice, everything from color scheme to structure can impact whether or not someone decides to click through.

Basic Guidelines For Using Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool that can help grow your brand and generate leads. Decide which social media platforms are best suited to your business. Use consistent branding across all platforms. Keep your content focused on your customers’ interests, not just yours. Post at regular intervals throughout each day, but never spam. Use a strong call-to-action to entice users to go to your website or call you directly.

Local SEO Strategies

If you want to be found in local search results, there are some options:

Optimize your website to show up organically
Pay for local advertising in Google Ads
Participate in local online business listings
Use Google My Business

Giving Something Away Free

If you’re looking to bring in new customers, one great way to do so is by offering something away free. People are more likely to try out your product or service if they don’t have to spend any money upfront—and once they try it, they might become long-term customers.

Earning an MBA

In many industries, an MBA can serve as a gold-standard business credential. Getting your master’s degree can help you understand all aspects of running a company, from profit and loss statements to managing a team. Consider an online MBA program if time or location is an issue. An online course gives you the flexibility to balance your existing schedule with learning. Things you can learn are:

Economics
Accounting
Marketing
Strategic Planning

Ever-Changing Marketing Technology

Effective marketing is imperative to running a successful business. As a senior business owner, you’ll need to keep up with ever-changing marketing technology. Visit Local Marketing Center for more business and marketing help. You can get ideas from this link: https://creately.com/blog/marketing/how-to-do-a-competitive-analysis/

Written by Carleen Moore

Top Success Tips for Aspiring Solopreneurs

October 19, 2021 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Becoming a solopreneur and pursuing business on your own can be thrilling. You have to make your own decisions and put everything on the line for the success of your new business. This can be nerve-wracking as you don’t have a partner to support you through different challenges. Between utilities, startup costs, paying bills, and gadgets, it can be shocking to think that you have to find the money to market your services to the world.

It’s important to understand how to market yourself without spending a lot on traditional marketing. These guidelines will help you get started as a solopreneur. Make sure to visit Paul and Sarah’s blog for more marketing insights.

Know Your Passion

First, it’s important to do what you love to be successful as a solopreneur. Running a business solo requires a lot of sacrifices. Forget about achieving a work-life balance, as this will be nonexistent in the initial stages. Follow market trends, so ensure this is something you’re passionate about. Doing something that drives you will give you a better chance to succeed.

Be Confident

Another successful tip for a solopreneur is to be confident. This may sound generic, but confidence is the foundation for success if you’re running the show solo. It’s one of the characteristics of every successful solopreneur. This is the one thing that will keep you going when things don’t turn out as planned.

It’s a prerequisite for starting out as a solopreneur. You don’t expect anyone to invest in a dream you don’t believe in. If you have confidence in the project you’re pursuing, other people will do too.

Hire Freelancers

One of the ways you can make it easy to manage your business as a solopreneur is to collaborate with freelancers. The internet offers opportunities to connect with experts from different parts of the world. You can use job boards to find professionals who can help you in different aspects of your business.

While hiring freelancers from countries like the Dominican Republic, know that you must find the most convenient payment channels. Options like wire transfer are cost-prohibitive, so opt for low-cost services like Remitly.

Build a High-Quality, User-Friendly Website

Websites are a channel you can use to connect with your target audience. Having a high-quality website is a necessity if you want to succeed as a solopreneur. To get started with building a website, you don’t need coding skills. There are drag and drop platforms you can use to build an impressive website for your business. Most of these platforms offer ready-to-publish templates, and you also have a content management system. All you need is to fill in the blanks with content and titles and the website will be up in no time.

Social Media Marketing

Marketing is a core aspect of running a business as a solopreneur. You need to share with the world about your business by using the different marketing channels. As a solopreneur, social media marketing is something that will bring your goods and services to millions of people. Social media gives you no-cost networks you can use to target audiences. It makes it easy to showcase your content via videos, photos, and written posts. For your social media handles, use your brand name to make it easily memorable for people. Using these platforms helps you maintain a presence across all outlets.

Photo by Tyler Franta on Unsplash. (img:)

Automate Via Apps

If there are tasks you want to complete, you can find an app for each. Some of the apps you can use to save time include content scheduling tools. These are programs like Hootsuite that help you to upload content, which is auto-posted to social media at specific dates and times. This means you don’t need to stay online all the time. When you use automation tools, you get the time to focus on other business needs. It’s a good solution as you don’t need to neglect your social networks to make your business a success. In addition, automation tools offer real-time dashboards for audience insights and other statistics.

Conclusion

It’s possible to succeed in running a business as a solopreneur. You need to show confidence in your project and pick a niche that offers you a chance to explore your passion. If you want to make things easier, collaborate with freelancers for different tasks. Also, embrace automation to improve efficiency and save time.

Picking the Life You Want to Live

September 7, 2020 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

COVID-19 has produced changes in our lifestyles and for the first time since the industrial revolution produced a majority of Americans saying they prefer to work at home.

Survey after survey show:

Metova’s April 2020 survey analyzed the responses of over 1,000 consumers. finding that 57% of respondents would prefer to keep on working from home. Almost half (48%) said they are more productive working from home.

An article in the New York Times asked “What if You Don’t Want to Go Back to the Office?

IBM surveyed 25, 000 people to gauge changes in perspective about work and found 54% of adults want to work remotely most of the time after the pandemic.

Other studies have shown that those who work from home full-time report being happier in their job 22% more than their counterparts who spent no time working from home.

Forbes magazine reported on May 20 that three out of five surveyed who had been working at home said they would prefer to continue working from home.

The Gallup Poll which tracks worker attitudes found three in five U.S. workers who have been doing their jobs from home during the coronavirus pandemic would prefer to continue to work remotely as much as possible.

Here are the reasons people prefer to work at home:

One study found 79% of workers say the quality of their work has improved. Many other studies come to similar conclusions.

Cutting back on commuting time. The average American who drives to work spends 54 hours per year stuck in traffic, according to an analysis by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Less pollution. American cities are less polluted because of reduced traffic.
Better health as people are exposed less to communicable diseases and have more time to exercise and stay physically fit, have fewer respiratory problems that come with driving
Global Workplace Analytics estimates that people can save, on average, $2,000 to $6,500 every year by not spending on things like gasoline and daycare.
Tax-wise, people who work at home can come out ahead. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the home office tax deduction for employees (anyone who receives a W-2). However, if produce self-employment income at home, you can still deduct home office expenses.

One of the rewards of working at home is spending more time with your pets. Here’s a link to an in-depth guide for working from home with a dog.

If you are seeking a way to spend more time working at home for an employer or wish to produce extra income, take a look at whether the opportunities of becoming a Digital Document Creator.

TURNING HEMP INTO AN INCOME NOW THAT HEMP FARMING HAS BEEN LEGALIZED BY THE 2018 FARM BILL

January 5, 2019 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Hemp is unique in that every part of the plant can be used and it’s extremely easy to grow in every state. In fact, the growing season is so short that farmers can plant hemp after harvesting their other crops. The plants deep roots help create ideal growing conditions for future crops, while its dense foliage chokes out weeds. These attributes make it a perfect cash crop for farmers throughout the United States and around the world.

In the past, hemp was world’s standard fiber with unmatched tensile strength. After removing the fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, hemp can be used to make any fiber-based or cellulose-based product. The fiber was used to produce over 5,000 different textile products before prohibition. With recent advances in processing, these end uses could be rapidly expanded to applications like replacing many plastics.

Researchers have taken a growing interest in CBD due to its beneficial influence on the human endocannabinoid system, which is responsible for regulating a variety of physiological and cognitive processes. A growing body of research has found that CBD could help relieve pain, reduce inflammation, reduce anxiety, protect the brain, and even regulate blood sugar levels, making it a potentially valuable alternative to conventional pharmaceuticals.

Here are some of the products that can be sold locally or over the web: hemp paper products, hemp textiles, course textiles like carpeting, 3D or 4D printing using molded plastics made from hemp, essential oils, body care products, cosmetics, construction fiberboard, insect repellant, industrial oils, livestock bedding, dog collars woven out of hemp, and green footwear.