How to Prepare for the Next Economic Upturn
The economic environment in which a business operates significantly affects its performance. One central responsibility of a business owner or manager is to manage the business in a way that makes the most of prevailing circumstances. You might need to trim your non-core expenses and replace fixed costs with a higher variable cost component; this could mean hiring temporary as opposed to full-time staff, or leasing equipment on a pay-per-use basis. Cash flow crunches have ruined many a good business;when business is slow look for unmoved inventory and slow selling products to put up for sale at discounted prices. Replenish merchandise in controlled quantities only as needed. It is also important to maintain price stability; be mindful of how consumers are experiencing the downturn and its impact not only in terms of their buying decisions but also their ability to pay their debts if you sell to them on credit. What has caused the current economic slump in South Africa? Besides unemployment, inequality, poverty, crime, and HIV/AIDS that continue to plague the country, sectors like agriculture, mining and manufacturing are in decline while the trade and current account deficit (CAD) has widened. Household indebtedness has reached worrying levels in a low-interest rate environment parallel to mounting inflationary pressures. Overall growth has slowed down, which is a risky proposition for South Africa. Luckily, the sound fiscal position has cushioned the economic slowdown somewhat. Consider how your business can help improve the lives of people struggling to survive. Such families have either limited or no resources, such as money, education, and reliable contacts. If your business is a bakery or grocery store you could incorporate a mobile food truck service to your business and sell goods in low-income areas at discounted prices. As long as you research the feasibility of this kind of venture you can let your creativity soar. You will need to comply with relevant regulations (consult the Department of Health) and obtain the necessary permits. Other worthwhile ideas to help poor communities include sponsoring an amateur sport team (uniform, equipment, coaching); or upgrade a public recreation park (liaise with the local municipality to plant trees and lawn, install children’s playground equipment). These projects will not only contribute to the well being of the community, but will also attract media attention and gain publicity for your business. There exists a common belief that the development of small-scale industry could become a prime mode of economic growth that will impact positively on poverty alleviation. However, two prime obstacles hamper this vision, namely a shortage of entrepreneurial skills and a scarcity of technological know-how and job skills. An economic downturn offers a business the opportunity to train jobseekers that you may want to employ in the future or equip them with essential skills to pursue self-employment or seek formal employment elsewhere. This gesture to train and develop human capital places your business’ social responsibility in a strong position within your community. Structured on-the-job training must however be cost-effective to the business; the process should ideally be outcomes-based, which means the learner is taught relevant theory that is supported by practical demonstration (through mentoring and feedback), followed by practical application of newly learned skills. Once the learnership is completed, the employer can decide whether to sign the learner on for a new learnership, employ the learner or release the learner for future employment by another organization. To be successful every business needs a focused strategy, a philosophy of continuous improvement, decisive and resilient management, loyal personnel and top class customer service, more so in an economic slowdown. Yet it is common during a period of...
Read MoreStrategy to upgrade South Africa’s nursing profession!
A growing imperative – to implement a strategy to upgrade South Africa’s nursing profession! Nursing is one of the most honorable professions, yet adverse conduct of poorly trained nurses is witnessed in South Africa’s hospitals and clinics on a daily basis. The local healthcare sector – both public and private — urgently needs more nurses with advanced nursing skills and leadership education, which in short calls for a long overdue shake-up of the nursing profession. A general consensus is held that the training provided by some nurse’s colleges fail to adequately prepare trainees in theoretical knowledge and expected outcomes (specialist theory and practical experience) necessary to execute relevant duties to a professional standard. In 2012 the National Department of Health convened a nursing summit to address nursing challenges in the country. From that summit, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appointed a ministerial task-team to develop a plan of action to address education and practice issues to rebuild and revitalize South Africa’s flagging nursing fraternity. The Minister launched the National Strategic Plan for Nurse Education, Training and Practice for 2012/13 – 2016/17. It is critical that South Africa’s healthcare system be brought up to standard by the time the National Health Insurance rolls out, to ensure that nurses are fully operational to address the country’s healthcare needs. Lifelong Learning The healthcare sector is regularly criticized for its lack of resources, inconsistent staff-patient ratios, poor management, long queues and waiting times, and overall lack of sanitation control. The plan focuses on fostering a culture of lifelong learning in an effort to attain high standards of professionalism and well-resourced practice environments for nurses and midwives. It also aims to boost strong leadership skills at all levels within the healthcare sector, including advanced clinical skills in mental health nursing, pediatric nursing and post-operatory nursing. Nursing is a lifelong educational commitment. Working nurses will be duty-bound to go back to school to constantly upgrade their credentials to gain greater employability, higher salaries, and explore diverse career options in fields like disaster response, emergency preparedness, and wellness promotion. While many leadership education programs do not require you to be a nurse, they do help refine communications skills; teach the fundamentals of healthcare economics; identify and harness resources; and relate critical thinking to problem solving. SA Nursing Council at helm Regulations affirm that all nursing colleges in the country have until 2015 to upgrade their syllabus and tertiary education methodology to meet the criteria to register as higher education and training institutions with the Council of Higher Education. This means about 300 operational nursing colleges will not only be regulated by the SA Nursing Council, but will also have to be declared higher education institutions in compliance with the provisions of the Higher Education Act (as amended in 2008). The qualifications of teachers and lecturers will be scrutinized. The expectation is that professional nurses on completion of their studies would be competent to run wards and teach junior nurses. Professional nurses must be trained to drive an ambulance, serve as an undertaker, and adapt to work proficiently in poorly equipped facilities, operate a generator, and practice transpersonal human care and caring to facilitate patient recovery. The intention of higher education is also to increase the number of nurses accredited to initiate anti-retroviral treatment without a doctor. Retired Nurses’ Forum In an effort to preserve task-specific expertise within the healthcare sector members of the Retired Nurses’ Forum agree to guide and mentor ward sisters, student nurses and new recruits to correct behavior that is observed as not professional, reinforce a personal approach to professionalism, and inspire excellence. Proficient retired nurses work in labour wards,...
Read MoreWhat Kind of Guy Are You?
He is independent and determined, and does what he wants when he wants! Seeking validation from others about what kind of guy you are is not necessarily about gaining control. Movers and shakers of global conglomerates, innovative inventors and men of note did not achieve their formidable status by being sweet, tolerant and patient. Their formative years, from gawky adolescence to celebrating their birth year at age thirty, were fraught with yearnings to be accepted, admired, adored and acknowledged, not unlike the rest of the male population. Yet these achievers chose to live life with intent, kept their eye on the prize, threw caution to the wind, scoffed at doomsayers and soldiered on despite major intolerable waves of ignorant resistance. Theirs is a proud history of exploring life way beyond the normal parameters of mundane society, embracing the seemingly impossible in the midst of a vicious storm that threatens to destroy the fragile structure of what has already been painstakingly attained. These Rebels of Society acknowledge their success and standing in life as sacrifices worthy of their triumph. They have no regrets, only a wealth of tried and tested experience. Every endeavour has its rewards. Young, vibrant males brave the unknown with eyes wide open, a heart filled with courage and optimism, and an attitude that is single-minded yet beckoning new awareness. The world needs more strong-minded visionaries who stand firm on their convictions; men, who turn their back on staid principles, and defy manipulative threats of imminent failure if they reject conformity. It’s a myth that in order to get ahead you must be a compliant team player and dance a slow tango with corruption and betrayal as your partner, or compelled into achieving fixed milestones within a 10-year plan like graduating cum laude, earning a six-figure income, signing up for membership to the right kinds of social club, starting a family, moving in the right circles, keeping healthy, and building that elusive nest egg to ensure a comfortable old age. Finding your passion is everything. Every young man, even the warrior, stumbles upon challenges that make him feel insecure, stupid and a dismal failure. Don’t believe that every battle is easily won purely based on the audacious image he presents to the world. Despite his rogue exterior, good looks and style he does not earn favour with every woman he desires. A daily diet of rejection, limitation and ridicule nourishes his soul to nurture ever higher expectations of himself and an understanding of how cause and effect rally to make him stronger. Yet, on many occasions his dreams are crushed and need to be recycled, often reduced or reinvented. Disappointment rains daily on his scarred ego, making him more determined than ever to delve in the unfamiliar and the unknown. A scarred ego is a badge of honour. To succeed in life you have to stand up and take some blows, to be a warrior. Yet, even brave warriors fall along the way, chip a tooth or break a limb, but they get up, brush themselves off and emerge victorious. His rogue public image masks a secret life that advances selective inner aspirations. He knows what he wants and searches relentlessly for opportunities to expand his knowledge about things often labeled peculiar and outrageous. He intentionally shuts his mind to the eternal mad chatter of the world and welcomes the inner-connectivity of Spiritual Awareness. While it’s not his intention to be viewed as rebellious, the growth process is often painful. And while not willfully looking for trouble, there’s an aura of danger about him. He is independent and determined; and...
Read MoreCustomer complaints can be turned around!
Ever-changing consumer expectations necessitate that service providers continually reassess their product offerings, marketing tactics, and customer service. Even companies that boast minimal complaints from unhappy clients recognize that they need to regularly update their customer understanding to keep the process streamlined. They also need to identify fundamental changes in market environments and customer preferences if they are to avoid falling into the complacency trap of ‘business as usual’ in the face of dynamic change. However, even if a company makes every effort to market quality products and deliver exceptional customer service it’s not possible to please everyone all the time. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best with her quote,“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” When faced with challenging customer complaints a company’s first reaction is that their public image will be irreparably damaged. Although this might be a real possibility, negative feedback from customers should be viewed as a welcome wake-up call, an opportunity to renew their brand, maximize customer service, revamp their image and market focus, implement an annual employee-value survey and an ongoing staff training program, monitor consistency between departments, identify needed improvement in policies and procedures, keep senior management and stakeholders informed, explore new business opportunities, build customer loyalty and reinstate company ethics. In a bid to protect their reputation and maintain a competitive edge, many companies pinpoint what differentiates their products and services relative to their competitors in terms of price, product packaging, multiple product options, and quality of service options. Common sense tells us that customer service is important to any company’s survival. We are hearing more and more complaints from customers about frontline staff who are surly, ill-informed, and unable to resolve a query or return; complaints are met with resistance and excuses, and worst of all, customers are accused as being technologically inept or ignorant about how the company in question operates. Surely customers, the lifeblood of any organization, should not get the short end of the stick if sales and service people are agitated from an unrelated issue or have poor people skills. With so many buying choices today managing customer expectations in a polite and constructive way can make a huge difference to whether a customer remains loyal to a company or not. Bear in mind that satisfied customers might tell 3 friends about their positive business experience, while disgruntled customers have the power (especially using today’s social media tools) to ‘spread the word’ to at least 3-thousand other people. When a company receives a customer complaint its staff has two options: dismiss the problem as trivial or pull out all the stops to rectify matters. When dealing with a difficult customer make sure you stay calm and polite. Allow the irate customer to vent; just by listening will dramatically improve their mood. Take notes of what the complaint is about; when the customer is done explaining go through your notes to verify the complaint. By discovering the root cause for the complaint the company can then work to fix the problem as deemed appropriate. Aspire to develop exceptional CRM by keeping the lines of communication open between you and your customers. Make it easy for unhappy customers to tell your company what their problems are. Keep records and analyze why complaints occur. (originally published on imagi-nation.co.za) Words by Theresa Lutge-Smith. Contact Theresa (ecottage@gmail.com) for any writing and...
Read MoreDo You Dream of Writing a Book?
Many people dream of writing a book, particularly those who are of an age where they have collected wonderful memories and a good perspective of life. How would you advise such a first-time writer to proceed practically? Set up a workstation in a corner of the quietest space in your home. If domestic time constraints limit free time it might be preferable to write when everyone else is still asleep (an hour or more before the rest of the household starts their day) or when they are away. If you do write when family members are about, make it clear that you do not want to be disturbed while you are at your computer. It might help to play soothing music on a headset to block out noise. An alternative to a home office is to rent a small office or studio. Carry a notebook and pencil with you to jot down notes and ideas. Spend time browsing magazines and newspapers. Browse the Internet to keep abreast of emerging trends. Become an avid reader; expand your general knowledge on diverse topics. Talk to people and ask what they are interested in. Writing a compelling story or non-fiction is hard work and it helps to have a reliable PC or laptop with an ADSL connection at your disposal. The sheer range of information and opportunities on the Internet to help writers is staggering. Once you are clear about what your proposed book is about, create a framework by making up a list of the various areas you will explore; this will help keep you focused when gathering information. Try to maintain a set routine for working on your manuscript, for instance, from 5 – 6 in the morning and from 8 – 9 in the evening. You will achieve a sense of personal accomplishment as the manuscript develops. Are there trends and tips on getting publishers to read your manuscript? Publishers are generally very busy people and receive piles of manuscripts on a daily basis. However, instead of submitting the entire manuscript for review rather forward a concise synopsis/proposal, which is much quicker to read; make sure the content has the power to ignite an editor’s imagination and get them involved in what you are trying to convey. Editors commonly define a book proposal as “an outline and at least two random sample chapters” but what they really want is anything on paper that will give them some sense of how you write and some reason to believe that your subject, when developed, will interest a large group of readers. Since salability is a vital consideration, direct an editor’s attention to several possible markets and suggest ways of reaching them. Talk realistically about similar books in the marketplace and how your book is different. Indicate the breakdown by chapters and sketch your primary sources of information (with whom you will talk, what statistics you will gather). Explain your credentials. Cite publishing credits as evidence of your ability to write, and any experience or training that qualifies you especially well for the chosen subject. Enclose a sample of your text (twenty pages are about the norm) that reflect your book’s content and style. Express any passion you may feel about the project. What about self-publishing: what are its advantages and disadvantages? More and more writers are opting to self-publish their books mainly because they are unable to find a commercial publisher interested in contracting their work. This is often because the topic is aimed at a small niche market; a commercial publisher looks at a large group of readers. Yet, some...
Read MoreAbout Theresa
I’m a published author of four business books and have written a number of self-study tutorials [creative writing; editing and proofreading; business writing; and self-publishing] and an eBook [Workplace Harmony]. I am an experienced writer, editor and publisher. 
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