Throughout the ages there have been project managers who, through their flare for organizing work, drive, and leadership, have led some of the world’s most remarkable achievements. This article looks at one such extraordinary person, the leader of the Manhattan project. The Manhattan project is my personal favorite in terms of demonstrating project management skill because it contains all the elements required for a remarkable effort. It delivered a product that changed the world, it met a challenging deadline, and it was done under some very trying circumstances.

The Manhattan project was successfully led by General Leslie Richard Groves. General Groves had previously managed the project which built the Pentagon, a significant achievement on its own. The project had actually been started in 1941 under the name “S-1” and was being managed by a civilian project manager, Arthur Compton. The S-1 project was charged with delivering fissile materials, with the ultimate goal being a nuclear weapon. The project had already engaged most of the famous scientists who would produce the bomb for General Groves, but it was decided to change the scope and deliverable of the project to a nuclear weapon. With this change came a demand for a military project manager who was experienced in large industrial projects: General Groves

General Groves succeeded in resolving several issues in just two days which had stymied the project for months up to that point. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General immediately thereafter. In fairness to Compton, Groves had military backing and authority that Compton didn’t. Exercising the authority that his position provided is not what makes his accomplishments remarkable. It is the way in which he exercised his authority, and even exceeded it.

To give you some idea of the project’s introduction to Groves, let’s look at his first 10 days on the job. He assumed the role on September 17, 1942. On September 18 th he purchased 1250 tons of high grade Belgian Congo uranium ore and had it stored on Staten Island. On September 19 th he purchased 52,000 acres in the Nevada desert, the future home of Oak Ridge, the future site of the Manhattan Project. On September 23 rd he was promoted to Brigadier General, and on September 26 th he received the highest procurement level in America. Now you can imagine the impact this whirlwind of activity must have had on a team used to seeing Compton tied in red tape and rendered pretty much ineffective.

Groves was considered by his friends to be pushy and over-bearing. He was generally hated by the scientists who formed the core of his project team, but Groves wasn’t interested in winning popularity contests. He wasn’t given the project to become popular with the scientists; he was given it to push the scientists to deliver to the utmost of their abilities and then some. He was given the project to succeed.

Although the project team actually peaked at 175,000 members, the core group was the scientists and mathematicians whose intellectual efforts were responsible for producing the plan which harnessed the power of nuclear fission for the bomb. The scientists and mathematicians were the best and brightest in the world and included such luminaries as: Robert Oppenheimer, Philip H. Abelson, Hans Bethe, Niels Bohr, Sir James Chadwick, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Otto Frisch, George Kistiakowsky, Ernest Lawrence, Philip Morrison, Seth Neddermeyer, John von Neumann, Rudolf Peierls, I. I. Rabi, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Stanislaw Ulam, Harold Urey, and Victor Weisskopf. Five of these folks had won Nobel prizes in their field and 3 more would go on to win Nobels after the project. The advantage of having this talent on the team is obvious; the drawbacks may be less obvious. These men were all used to being leaders in their own countries and spheres of influence. Now they were suddenly being treated as just another member of a team and there was resentment at the change

Richard Oppenheimer had some success leading teams of scientists during the S-1 project so General Groves made him the team lead of the scientists and mathematicians on the Manhattan Project. Groves worked on developing a good working relation with Oppenheimer so that he could hand off responsibility for the scientific work to him and concentrate on overall project goals and objectives. He did this by taking responsibility for the fissile materials program away from the Manhattan team and handing it off to the Dupont and Kellog corporations. By this time the pressure to deliver the project as soon as possible was about as intense as it was possible to get. The Germans were working on a nuclear weapons program as well and it was obvious that the first team to succeed in producing a usable nuclear weapon would have a tremendous advantage in the war. Groves responded to this pressure by crashing the schedule. He ordered construction on the fissile materials plants to begin before the drawings had been completed! How could he possibly begin construction before the construction team knew what they were building? Groves went with what was known about the plants at the time: their foot prints and the site preparation work. This approach to building plants was relatively unknown at this time and you can bet that Groves needed all his pushiness to overcome resistance to proceeding this way.

On October 15, 1942 (remember that Groves has been on the job for less than a month at this point) he makes Oppenheimer responsible for sub-project Y, building a central laboratory for weapon physics research and design. The site for this project was Los Alamos, New Mexico, the site where the first nuclear weapon would eventually be built.

Without getting into the details of how nuclear weapons are produced (I have no idea), the project required the team to produce three key deliverables: the fissile materials required for bomb making, a working bomb using those materials, and a weapons delivery system. By December of 1942, the team working on fissile materials had produced the combination that they deemed suitable for bomb making. At a certain point, the mixture of uranium oxide, uranium metal, and graphite will produce materials capable of achieving a “critical mass”. Critical Mass is the smallest amount of fissile material necessary to achieve a chain reaction.

Plutonium is an essential ingredient in the process of nuclear bomb making and in January of 1943 Groves acquired the Hanford Engineer Works, 780 acres on the Columbia River, Washington, for the project. He immediately organized the construction of plutonium production at the Hanford site, and a uranium enrichment plant at the Oak Ridge site. He organized the construction of a graphite reactor at the Los Alamos location to provide experimental quantities of plutonium at the same time and by November of that year they had their first success with a small quantity of plutonium. It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the project by any means. The first attempt at large scale uranium enrichment at Oak Ridges failed completely in the fall of 1943. Groves responded immediately by changing his project plan to completely rebuild the facility. That same fall, work was begun on project Alberta, the sub-project that was to produce the weapons delivery system. This sub-project included weapons delivery tests, modification of existing aircraft to transport the bomb, and training of the flight crews to fly the modified aircraft.

The plutonium production and uranium enrichment sub-project experienced numerous false starts and restarts after the first failure in Oak Ridges. Along about this time the numerous challenges the project faced, in addition to the numerous failures must have made the project appear almost impossible to Groves. I’m sure that at this point, he didn’t know for sure whether it was possible to succeed or not; after all, Groves wasn’t a scientist himself. He did know two things: the Germans had not succeeded in producing nuclear weapons and he had the best team and best resources his country was capable of giving him. His pragmatic approach to the changes the project faced kept the work moving forward. He must have had his moments of doubt. We’ve all been there – we’re right in the middle of the most difficult, complex work of the project and nothing is going right. The team is missing deadline after deadline. Failures are eroding morale, no-one believes in the project or the project manager anymore. Poor morale leads to bickering and bickering leads to more missed deadlines and further erosion of morale. The thing that makes Groves remarkable in my mind is not his ability to keep pressing forward in the face of all this adversity, but his ability to keep the team moving forward, and not only moving forward, but working long exhausting hours under the most adverse conditions and under the most extreme pressure.

One of the keys to making a nuclear weapon is the ability to cause the fissile material to implode. This was another area experiencing repeated failures. Groves addressed this problem with corrective action: he brought 2 additional scientists from England on board the project – Geoffrey Taylor and James Tuck. The corrective action was effective; Taylor and Tuck produced the desired affect. Taylor pointed out that the fissile materials had to have a minimum degree of stability to be used (materials produced previously had been much too unstable) and Tucker introduced the concept of wave shaping which was to make the production of the bomb feasible.

Groves restructured the fissile materials production facilities to produce stable fissile materials with the new requirements introduced by Taylor. Oppenheimer and his team were re-focused on the technology of wave shaping and implosion to construct a bomb. Thinking up to this point was that it would be possible to deliver the nuclear weapons using some form of gun. This sounds very strange to us now, but keep in mind that no-one had much experience with nuclear reaction at this time, much less nuclear weapons production. The delivery of a nuclear weapon using a gun must have seemed a reasonable project objective at the outset. Like so many project objectives, changing technology made a project change necessary. It’s not that Groves recognized the need for change, or that he implemented a change to the project that I find so admirable, it’s the way in which he turned a potential disaster into a success!

General Groves had additional challenges to overcome which were not technology related. The military establishment was deeply suspicious of the team of scientists and mathematicians Groves had assembled and wanted to take a cautious approach to information sharing with the team. The added layer of difficulty in acquiring and sharing the information that was needed for the team to succeed, frustrated the team and eventually the complaint was escalated to General Groves. Groves wasted no time in delivering a solution to the problem. His solution? Ignore the security policies imposed on the project by the army brass. This wasn’t a wholesale divestiture of all the security rules, just those that hindered information sharing amongst the team. The result was a disgruntled segment of army brass, an unfettered flow of information among the team, and the eventual success of the project.

By the end of 1944, the project had turned the corner. On October 27th Oppenheimer approved the first test of a nuclear bomb. Approval was later given by Groves who had ultimate approval authority on the project. Also accomplished by the end of 1944:

• The uranium enrichment facilities succeed in increasing their production rate. Production was not yet at the level needed to make a bomb, but they had mastered to technology needed to reach that rate.
• The wave shaping technology was successful in proving the feasibility of an implosion bomb.
• Problems with plutonium production were resolved and large scale production of plutonium began.

Work to date had finally succeeded in delivering the pilots that proved fissile materials could be produced in sufficient quantities to build a bomb, now work would begin on producing the bomb. General Groves imposed an August 1 st deadline for readiness to deliver the first nuclear weapon (the decision to actually deliver the weapon would be made by about the only man that Groves was answerable to at this point: President Harry S. Truman). In the intervening 7 months of 1945 the project needed to:

• Increase the rate of production of enriched uranium from 90 grams/day to 204 grams/day, a level necessary to produce a workable bomb.
• Pilot the construction of an implosion bomb to prove its feasibility. The gun delivery method was still the backup plan, but by this time all hopes were fixed on the implosion approach.
• Complete work on a nuclear reactor and bring the plant on line.
• Complete work on a thermal diffusion plant and begin producing enriched uranium in sufficient quantities.
• Build a nuclear bomb and explode it, without causing injury or property damage, to prove the feasibility of delivery of the bomb.
• Choose the target, plan the flight, choose the bomber and crew and prepare them for the flight.

On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb (named Gadget) was tested in the New Mexican dessert near Los Alamos. The test was a success, and that was just as well for Groves as he had already dispatched Little Boy, the bomber, and the bomber flight crew to an island near enough to Japan to deliver the bomb and return. Do you see a recurring theme here? General Groves has yet again crashed the schedule to meet a tight deadline.

The rest, as they say, is history. Harry Truman gave his approval to drop Little Boy on Hiroshima on August the 6, 1945 and Fat Man on Nagasaki on August 9. The resulting carnage hastened the end of the war in the Pacific; war in Europe had already ended in May of 1945 with Hitler’s defeat. The purpose of this article is not to argue the moral issues involved, merely to use General Gate’s accomplishments to illustrate the leadership qualities I believe distinguish truly remarkable project managers from the rest of us mortals.

Ignoring for the moment the moral implications of the atomic bomb, something that General Groves did, Groves took on a huge project with a team that reached 175,000 members at its peak, overcame numerous technical challenges, to deliver the planned scope of the project on time. Budget was certainly not a priority for this project, although there was one presumably so I haven’t discussed it here. I say that the project delivered to its planned scope because it delivered a nuclear weapon, despite the fact that the original plan called for a nuclear weapon that could be fired by a gun.

The project management skills that General Groves possessed in spades that facilitated his success were the following:

1. Leadership General Groves set the stage for the pace at which the project would move within a week of his arrival. He also knew how to delegate authority so that project details were the responsibility of a team member who had the demonstrated leadership experience and technical expertise to deliver results (Oppenheimer). He showed his leadership capabilities in countless ways during this project, but those are some of the ways which stand out.

2. The ability to respond to change Most of us view project change from a passive perspective but Groves was an instigator of change. When he recognized the need for expertise in the creation of large industrial plants he changed the project parameters to outsource that work to Dupont and Kellog. He also recognized the need to change the project requirements to deliver the nuclear weapon by air rather than by gun. Again, his ability to respond to changes in the project environment was demonstrated in countless ways. The ones I’ve mentioned here are just those that stand out.

3. His willingness to take risks General Groves could have played it safe and accepted the restrictions placed on the project by the military’s security rules. He didn’t, he recognized that adherence to all the rules would jeopardize the project and risked his career by flouting some of them. This is just one example of his running rough shod over those who opposed him. These enemies were partially successful in visiting retribution on him. Responsibility for the country’s nuclear program was wrested from him and passed to civilian authority. General Groves retired from the military to accept a post as Vice President at the Rand Corporation.

4. Use of authority General Groves recognized the level or responsibility he assumed when he took the project over from Compton and exercised a degree of authority over the project that was commensurate with it. If he had any doubts about that, he was relieved of them when he was promoted shortly after assuming responsibility for the project. Groves not only understood and used the level of authority he had been given, he actually exceeded it as he demonstrated with his flouting of the security rules.

5. Setting stretch objectives for the team General Groves was leading a team (actually any number of teams) that were challenged with producing a deliverable that no-one had ever produced before. Not only did they have to produce a nuclear weapon, they had to invent and implement most of the technology required to produce the weapon. As if these weren’t challenges enough, they had to do all this in less than 3 years. Had Groves set objectives for the team that they were confident of achieving, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been safe (and up to 100,000 American lives would have been lost invading mainland Japan). Groves ignored the conservative advice and set stretch objectives. Not all the objectives were met, Groves set the project completion date for early 1945 initially, but the failures were used as learning opportunities and new stretch objectives were set.

6. Implementation of corrective actions Each time that General Groves and his teams experienced failure he kept a cool head and learned from the experience. When the team failed to develop a means of converting fissile material into a bomb, he acquired two new team members from Britain whose expertise succeeded in overcoming that challenge. When the first plant failed to produce materials in sufficient quantities to produce a bomb, he learned from the experience and restructured the plant. All these corrective actions were successful in saving the project.

Very, very few of us will ever have an opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities in the way that Leslie Groves did. What we can do is be very grateful to him for demonstrating the importance of the project management role for the entire world and to emulate some of his strengths. If we’re just moderately successful in imitating the Leslie Groves model we’ll be better project managers. We should start by hanging a picture of him on our office wall to remind us of his contributions. I think I’ll do that now, if only I could find a picture of him where he’s smiling…….

Job interview preparation can be the difference between success and failure at sales job interviews. These job interview tips come to you from an experienced manager of interviews and assessment days. They will help you to prepare the evidence of your experience and skills to match the job you are applying for. Follow these tips and you will match your answers to predicted interview questions and avoid common mistakes that many job candidates make.

Candidates are going to a meeting that may dramatically increase their income and give them a greater lifestyle. They could gain the benefits of job satisfaction, and actually be happy at work. And yet I see so many candidates that obviously haven’t prepared. It starts to impact on their chances of success in the first few minutes and shows that they haven’t invested in effective job interview preparation.

What I don’t want to see in an interview is a candidate struggling to answer basic questions that they should have expected and prepared for. They will not know the exact wording of every interview questions they will be asked. But they can predict 90% of the topics of the interview questions. They can also prepare how they will present their interview answers and their evidence that they match the role on offer. A basic job interview tip that every applicant should use is to gather all the information they can about the job, the company, and the industry and market place. This information can come from the job description, the vacancy advert, the Internet, people that already work there, and don’t be afraid of contacting their publicity department.

Once you have all the information you can write a list of all the question topics that may be asked in the job interviews. Pay special attention to all the information you have about the job role. They are looking for someone that can present evidence of their skills and experience to fill this role. So write your list of interview questions that could be asked to discover if candidates have what the role requires. Once you have your list you can match your skills and experience to the predicted questions. Start with the areas of the role that you are strongest in. These will be the easiest to answer. Then work through to the weakest areas. Remember you will still have to answer questions on areas where you have no, or little, evidence to offer. You still need to present your answers confidently and communicate well. Don’t just say you haven’t done that, or you have no experience in this area. Put a positive spin on your answer and tell them how you could quickly pick up any training you are given, and then use a similar experience of learning as an example of your capability to learn new skills.

When you have covered all the job skills and experience requirements start looking at the attitudes and personality traits the interviewer could be looking for. For example: A sales job interview with a company that build its business on customer service will be looking for a different type of person than a business that makes one off sales and is sales target driven. Look for the indicators in the job description of where the company sits on the scale between customer service and sales is all that matters. You can get an idea of the company focus from their adverts. Are they price driven with continuous sales and reductions, or do they focus on quality and service.

Now picture what type of person an employer with a high focus on sales will be looking for compared to a company that advertises quality and service. With a clear picture of these differences in your mind, assess the company you are going for an interview with and what they will be looking for in you. Then look at your experiences, both personal and work related, and choose the ones that you want to present that will match the image you have of the ideal candidate. These should be experiences and examples of how you meet the personality type, and have the attitudes the employer is looking for.

Remember this important job interview tip: You cannot be all things to an employer. You cannot use a shotgun approach and project an image that portrays you as both a caring, customer service focused account manager, and a hard-nosed, sales means everything, high achiever, all at the same time. Only by investing in the right job interview preparation and giving yourself the information to be successful can you score highly in a sales job interview.

Question: Why aren’t my affiliates promoting my affiliate program? And, how do I get more to sign up?

Dear Affiliate Manager:

I can tell you in a heartbeat whether or not your affiliate program is attracting loyal, motivated affiliates. It’s easy. Just put yourself in your affiliate’s shoes. If you’re not creating loyalty in your affiliates, they’re going to look for a better program to promote, and you’ll be left in the dust.

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s go through some key components of making your affiliate program attractive to affiliates, so they don’t start shopping around.

1. Reputations are on the Line.

Of course, number one is quality. Do you have quality products and customer service? An affiliate’s reputation is on the line every time we consider promoting a product or service. If your products are junk or you’re making our referrals upset in any way – we’ll drop you faster than something *really* hot.

2. Lay the Money on the Table.

It’s not just about the percentage commission. That won’t motivate and make loyal affiliates, but, it is a start. Are you talking 5%? Then, unless you offer millions of products at great prices and have a solid reputation, you’re not going to be getting a whole lot of affiliates.

3. Who’s getting credit?

Show your affiliates that you value them by setting long cookies and they’ll keep sending you traffic. How long are your cookies? The longer the better.

4. Closing the Deal.

If your affiliates are sending you traffic, I hope you have a newsletter (or ecourse) on that sales page for two reasons. 1. It means you’re smart and know how internet marketing works, and 2. It means that the affiliates get more than one chance to close the deal, because you’re going to be following up with the lead and closing the sale for us. This shows us that you take your business seriously – a very important indicator.

5. Like Frosting on the Cake.

Assuming all things are equal, if your program is two-tier or residual, you’ll have affiliates lined up to promote you.

6. Are you even trying?

There is nothing more frustrating than joining an affiliate program that you’re really excited about, logging in and seeing … nothing but a couple of links. No content, no ebooks, no videos. Zip. This is especially disappointing if you know the author or owner is sending out a weekly newsletter. Share your articles with your affiliates, allow them to be rebranded, and I guarantee you’ll get loyalty.

7. That’s just Rude.

Almost more insulting than not providing any content is providing ‘leaky’ articles. Yes, I have seen affiliate programs that so “generously” provide articles for their affiliates. But, the articles had plugs for their other programs in the body of the article. Now, I’m not naming names, but I do feel that’s pretty cheap to be stealing from your own affiliates.

Those are just a few ways to tell if your affiliate program stinks.

I hope you read and reread this advice. Treat your affiliates like partners and they’ll plaster your link all over the web. You’ll have affiliates lined up to promote every new product you offer, and they’ll sing your praises every chance they get.

A large part of being a telecom manager is migrating services from one carrier to another. A wireline migration can have many moving parts, but pales in comparison to changing wireless carriers. A wireless carrier migration requires specific coordination of device selection, service turn-up, possibly loading custom apps onto each device, delivering the device to the end-user, training the end-user on the new device and cutting over (porting) the wireless number from the former carrier to the current carrier. Each of these steps must be played out for each end-user. No wonder enterprise customers are reluctant to switch!

Fortunately, there are solutions to these migration issues. The solutions range in complexity, effort and cost, so choosing the best solution for the organization requires careful consideration. The speed at which the migration needs to take place can significantly increase the complexity and the effort (and, therefore, the cost) if an attempt of undertaking the effort with internal resources is made. If you chose to outsource the project, the complexity and effort constraints are largely lifted, but the cost must be factored in (read on how to get your outsourcing costs waived).

Using internal resources to migrate a base of wireless users requires considerable effort and planning. We have seen companies hire contractors just to support the roll out – resulting in cost that actually exceeded the outsourcing option. The device acquisition, staging and distribution tends to be the most straightforward portions of the effort. Most of the issues appear to occur in the device and phone number transition and training of users on the new platform. The post-delivery issues are difficult to plan for because they are almost always unanticipated – anticipated issues can be addressed and minimized pro-actively; it is the unanticipated or surprise issues that result in incremental effort.

In many (dare we say, most) cases, it is less expensive to retain a wireless telecom management firm to support large carrier migrations. These firms encounter few surprises since they roll out phones and wireless applications daily. When situations do arise, they typically have the personnel and expertise to understand the issue, take corrective action, and minimize its impact.

The cost of migration support typically runs from $20 to $50 per device depending upon the level of effort supplied by the wireless telecom management firm. Most of these firms can provide some flexibility on their costs, including a 100% waiver, if there is a commission opportunity from the wireless carrier. In other words, if the wireless carrier is willing to pay the wireless telecom management firm a sales commission for consummating the sale, the end-user may receive the migration services at a significant discount.

In order to determine whether you may be able to get free wireless migration support for your company, you must contact the wireless telecom management firm early in the carrier consideration process. The earlier the wireless management firm is engaged, the great your chances for a smooth and successful transition.

What responsibilities does an FMCG account manager hold?

As in any other company, the account manager always holds a critical position when it comes to customer communications. Most of the time, they are the ones responsible in taking care of the clients. In the case of fast-moving consumer goods, the challenge is quite more difficult since client turnover might be fast-paced.

One can easily notice that these companies are bigger and appear more stable. However, such an appearance also has corresponding hard work. The work involved in these companies is intense. As such, the Account Manager basically needs to be flexible and dynamic at all times. Another thing to expect is that he or she must be able to hold on and keep his team organized.

Account managers always need to be creative in damage control. Otherwise, they won’t be able to maintain rapport with the customers. Another thing is that he or she must also maintain good teamwork with his staff. Otherwise, it would be difficult to deliver what the customers would expect.

How does one get this position from FMCG companies?

Experience will score a lot in the selection process of FMCG companies. There are a lot of crunch times involved in this job position. As such, what FMCG companies needs is someone that can handle that pressure with precision and grace. Obviously, this is not something that a newbie can do. For the account manager post, a minimum of at least two to five year experience is necessary. It would be helpful if one has more experience.

Basic requirements are a bachelor’s degree in Marketing or Communication or Business Administration. Applicants who do not have such degrees could also qualify as long as he holds corresponding years of experience. He or she must also be very competent in communications. Needless to say, the applicant must also be strong-hearted and flexible, too.

What’s in store for the FMCG Account Manager?

The work included in account management is always detail-oriented. There are a lot of efforts involved. As such, one can expect that such positions would be laden with a lot of benefits. The average salary for this position is set at US$54,400.

Aside from the salary, there are also other perks such as competitive benefits and profit sharing. Stable companies operating internationally also provide their account managers with endless lists of bonuses. This long list is very much fit for someone who really works hard.

Account managing is not an easy task but it is also paired with rewarding experiences and tangible benefits. It is just up to the applicant to decide if he or she is willing to partake in such a joyride.

You might say that a Golf Course Manager is somebody that looks after a golf course by not physically working him/herself. They would have a budget at the beginning of every year and then try and come under that budget by constantly looking for ways to be more efficient. Days would be spent setting up working schedules, inspecting the golf course, speaking with salesmen or other outside agencies and attending various meetings.

With a Head Greenkeeper you might say that he/she is like the foreman of the other greenkeepers. They will have to get their hands dirty and they will be counted as one of the “working” staff on the golf course.They will also do a lot of the things a Golf Course Manager would do but perhaps to not the same degree.

This is why I ask the question because I think it can be a grey area. Essentially they are one and the same position yet some people will have different titles depending on where they are based.

I think the term Head Greenkeeper is a throwback to the old days when golf courses were run by members and greenkeepers were expected to do and not think. Times have changed and so has the maintenance of a golf course, were now a person in the head position has to wear many hats in order to comply with the industry and the environment. In an age were everything is branded and re-branded it’s now time to get rid of the “Head Greenkeeper” tag and give a more suited heading to a job that has become more professional than many years ago. 

R quotient. Just made that up. It’s tough continuing to come up with new material when the problems and challenges facing management today are consistently the same.

So what is your R(Reality) – Quotient?

Your R Quotient is the relationship between what is really going on in your organization or department and what you think or believe is going on. Let me explain.

If your organization culture is not safe and empowering my bet is that you are not totally in touch with the problems, opportunities, challenges, issues etc that face your employees every day. If however, you feel your employees are being totally honest with you about the realities of daily life in their department or the organization as a whole then congratulations might be in order. Notice I said might!

Over the years I have had numerous executives and managers proudly tell me that their employees were completely honest with the realities of the organization and yet when asked, these same employees wanted any bottom-up feedback or employee surveys to be anonymous. DA.

How can you know if the culture in your organization is safe and honest and the information you are receiving from employees and departments is really the truth?

I have interviewed thousands of employees of my client organizations during the past thirty years and I can tell you that there are more executives dealing in fantasy-land than there are in reality-land (just made that up too. I’m in a creative mood today.)

Here are a few things to consider when assessing the culture of your organization to determine its honesty and safety (And I’m not talking about physical safety.)

1. Can you handle bad news? What is your typical reaction to bad news from an employee? Defensive? Angry? Receptive? Open? Enthusiastic? Concerned? Etc.

2. Do you think your direct reports are getting honest bottom-up information from their employees? All of them? Or are certain ones getting integrity and others, due to their management style still operating in the dark ages?

3. Have you ever done a third party (consulting firm, survey firm, training company) culture audit? If yes, do you feel employees were honest? If not why not? If you haven’t ever conducted one why not? Don’t need one? Insecure? Don’t want to know? Etc.

4. Is communication at meetings edited or open and honest? Are your staff meetings typically top-down or bottom-up in their sharing?

5. Are ALL of your direct reports honest with you? If not which ones and why not?

6. Are the goals of your organization clear to everyone? Certain groups? Certain departments? Certain employees? Why?

7. Is your strategy clear to everyone who needs to know it? How do you know? Why not ask your direct reports a simple question – What is our corporate strategy? If you get “how’ stuff’ it isn’t clear to them. If you get what stuff and it is consistent, pat yourself on the back.

8. Are new employees indoctrinated into the culture and organizational history and philosophy or just their position responsibilities?

9. Is your turnover excessive? Are you losing good employees? Managers?

10. If you had to guess what percentage of employees, including managers, have their resume on the street?

These should keep you busy for a while. If you want more just call me.

So, what do you think your R Quotient is o a 1-10 scale – – – 10 perfect – 1 better think about retiring.

Ok, you have something you want to sell online. You want to this to be efficient, economical, and lucrative. A product launch may suit your goals very well.

What exactly will your Product Launch Manager do for you?

Short answer: it varies. Some PLMs are very hands on while others outsource many of the tasks. At the very least, the PLM comes up with the strategy and oversees its implementation.

However, the best PLMs are in the middle somewhere. They have the required strategic skills but also get their hands dirty. Copywriters make good launch managers because the strategy finds its full expression in the email and sales letter copy.

PLMs who are capable of content creation and design work also bring a lot to the table because again, they are acutely aware of the strategy and know how to produce a full expression of it in the content and design.

If your Product Launch Manager can perform any or all of these tasks, including the production of landing and squeeze pages, your launch will be a lot smoother due to the fact that you and your PLM won’t have to spend extra time and money communicating the vision to a number of different providers.

This can be an especially acute problem during a launch when sales copy and content creation needs to be produced in a matter of hours. Often prospects will have questions and you’ll need to produce a video or report overnight so you can keep their interest. If you rely on outsourcing, then you’re going need these people on standby during your launch. This gets expensive…unless you PLM can do it on the spot.

However, if I had to narrow it down, I think the biggest assets that your PLM should have are:

1. Copywriting and Marketing

2. Strategy and Project Management

3. Joint venture strategy / recruitment

But let’s get down to a bit of nitty gritty. Here’s a product launch checklist of sorts:

a) Depending on where you are at, the PLM is going to do some type of market / keyword research and competitive analysis.

b) In consultation with you, the PLM will set a number of launch goals. This may include: conversion rate, list growth, JV relationships, social proof, and the creation of additional products.

c) If you don’t have a list, your PLM will implement his / her strategy to build your list. In practical terms, this means the creation of some sort of freebie on the other side of a squeeze page. The PLM can create the squeeze page, setup the list host, write the copy, and create the content (or assist you). Then you’ll need traffic driven to that squeeze page and you’ll want to install every means available to do so. This can include any and all (recommended) of the following: blogging, SEO, social networking, paid advertising and accessing other lists.

d) The PLM will set up a timeline for the entire launch process with goals attached.

e) The PLM will advise and assist in the creation of pre-launch content. The types of pre-launch content are literally endless but it will certainly include an email sequence, videos, telesminars, and a landing page with a sales letter. Other sorts of content: case studies, reports, tutorials, lite software, spreadsheets, and surveys. There is always a launch blog where all the pre-launch content ends up.

f) The PLM will implement his / her strategy to recruit JV partners and affiliates for your launch. This is a particularity valuable skill and requires a complete understanding of how to approach JV partners and affiliates.

Note: JVs will nearly always say they are interested in promoting your products but often they won’t follow through. A good product launch manager has a number of strategies that will solidify your JV relationships to ensure their support.

CloudPortal Services Manager executes cloud infrastructures into lucrative cloud businesses with a complex platform to administer and different operations support services, cloud offerings and customers. This is a simple to use internet portal that helps service providers uphold the delivery of offerings to their clients and cloud services. It offers out – of the – box for Desktop as a service. In this article, we are going to talk in detail about the CloudPortal Services Manager.

It is the efficient tool for any internet related business. It really helps you craft a successful and profitable start – up based on the cloud computing system. In case you want to take control over your company accounts registered on the site for monitoring user signups. Therefore, we can easily say that this manager is important for internet start-ups. However, it has one of the most imperative drawbacks. They offer similar services to the users of cloud computing.

Everyone is aware of the fact that CloudPortal Services Manager can help you in generating some fine results on the go. It acts as a great cloud computing service which can take your business to a new level. Some of the advantages of these computing services are:

· All the functions of this service are regulated properly and you don’t have to worry about anything in this regard.

· All the vital functions online are properly maintained here and so you can be rest assured that CloudPortal services manager offers you some fine services.

· They even help in controlling web development and so you are able to generate some quick profits for your company.

So, these are some of the finest things which you should know about CloudPortal services manager. You can be rest assured that you are going to enjoy the advantages of this service once you select it. As a business owner, you need to do a number of things in the right way. Some of them are given below:

· You should first plan out on your requirements. You need to make sure that you are able to meet your requirements.

· It is of utmost importance to devise some proper strategies for choosing CloudPortal Services Manager.

· You should also consider going for some professional and expert cloud computing services which are quite affordable.

With a little bit of help and guidance you can easily generate some fine results for your business. CloudPortal Services Manager tool is meant for all types of enterprises and it helps you in many ways. In case you wish to know more about this topic then you can consider talking to a monetary expert. He is the one who could really help you in taking your earnings to a new level. For any other information or help you can surf the internet.

I can assure you one thing that you will be able to generate some fine results for your business once you opt for these amazing services on the go.

Improving Productivity

Using HRMS which has features such as absence and leave management Software will have the biggest positive impact on the productivity of the HR and the employees. Digitized processes help in streamlining the work and avoids double work often done by people. HR managers do not have to worry about endless paperwork and the employees save time by knowing their exact tasks and the time allotted for the same. Some solutions such as PurelyTracking also have ADP, QuickBooks Payroll integration which saves even more time and paper documentation!

Easy Access to Information

Workforce management is a key element of any good HRMS. Some software solutions will have the ability to access different information about clients, projects, employees on the go! Cloud-based access makes it easier than ever to fetch information which otherwise may have taken a long time to search and review. Access can be granted or restricted depending on the people involved in the project.

Employee Central

In any business, getting the communication streamlined between an employee and the HR manager is an important process. It is said that a company should have 1 HR executive for every 100 employees.Thus, if there is no system in place, things can get chaotic for the employee as well as the HR manager who has to face questions about leave approvals, projects status and what not! Hence, making optimal use of Leave Management Software can help both the parties. Employee central is useful for getting all the information related to leave, assigned work, project status under one roof!

Data Storage and Analysis

For large businesses, managing employee and client data can become a major hurdle. For storing documents with information such employee’s emergency contact, HR managers used paper and files. But, today we have applications which can store this and much more information on a cloud-platform which can be accessed anywhere.Advantage of storing data digitally is that it can be analyzed by the management using different factors according to the requirement. A project manager can make use of the time spent by a resource likewise the HR can make use of absence and leave management software to see patterns and improve the employee experience.

Eliminating Human Error

Apart from productivity, another thing a business owner wants is to eliminate human errors often caused by many factors. With an effective HRMS one can eliminate human error and build a process where everything is just a few clicks away! A lot disputes between an employee and the management can be cut down if things are on record and can be accessed on the go from anywhere in the world. With such an important employee management solution tool it is possible to have a great work environment and a cordial relationship between the employees and HR managers!

Conclusion: The above mentioned pointers are just some of the main advantages of using an effective HR management tool which offers a complete employee management solution to the HR managers.