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Understanding business agility as an entrepreneur

Indiana Lee Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Staying afloat in the face of any crisis can be difficult. But as the most recent economic downturn proved, the state of your business and industry can change at any second. Developing the ability to pivot and stay agile can be your biggest asset as an entrepreneur. When things go wrong, business plans and even crisis plans can only take you so far. Your business may be protected from the initial blow, but on the tough journey back to normal operations and growth, an agile mindset is invaluable. We’ll dive deeper into the benefits of business agility for entrepreneurs, then offer some tips on how to increase your agility over time.

How to score your meetings

Kelly Hall and Bob Harris Association Management

Nonprofit organizations have an abundance of meetings. Do you evaluate if they are effective and necessary? The Longview Chamber of Commerce believes in continuous improvement. Recently, it applied a concept from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to enhance meetings. EOS is applicable to every nonprofit organization looking to make improvements. The system identifies six components in an organization: vision-mission, performance data, processes, people, issues, and traction or strategy.

Infographic: How to set work boundaries to avoid burnout

Pia De Los Reyes Mental Healthcare

With remote work being the new professional normal, it can be especially challenging to stay productive and separate job stress from our personal lives. When stress is high and maintained over a period of time, it can lead to burnout or a type of work-related stress that can have a myriad of negative effects on your health and productivity. Those experiencing burnout can suffer from fatigue and mental exhaustion, and it can also lower work performance and cause job dissatisfaction. Over time, burnout can increase your vulnerability to disease and even potentially cost you lost income because of unpaid sick leave or a missed promotion.

With succession planning, avoid the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ syndrome

Donald F. White Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Do you remember Alice, the little girl who fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland? As Alice wandered about Wonderland, she came upon a Cheshire Cat with a distinctive, mischievous grin. Too many people are on their way to somewhere, with little to no idea what or where somewhere is. They assure themselves that someday they’ll know what and where somewhere is because, well, aren’t they on their way there? Sadly, when it comes to business continuity and succession planning, most business owners are like Alice — on their way to somewhere, yet with little to no idea what or where somewhere is.

How does the shift to remote work affect marketing agencies?

Jaron Soh Marketing

The pandemic and its resultant lockdowns have shown us that workers can be just as productive and effective when working from home. Consequently, companies across the globe will inevitably introduce work-from-home policies in the coming months. Marketing agencies, too, are reaping the benefits of working remotely. Since most marketing activities are now done digitally, they can also be done independently outside of a conventional workspace. In this article, we will analyze the pros and cons of the shift to remote work and how it might benefit or cause detriment to marketing agencies.

Make sure your organization produces easily navigable reports

Robert C. Harris Association Management

The waiter handed me a menu, asking, "Is this your first-time dining with us?" Yes. He said the menu is "easily navigable" with food on one side and an exhaustive wine list sorted by country, color, bubbles, and portions on the back. He returned and asked if I made a choice. To be honest, I found the menu confusing. I didn’t know where to start and didn’t have time to read both sides. Volunteers are provided a host of reports. They have confessed that they receive the reports on their smartphones. Find ways to improve open rates and understanding. Ask your team if they feel everything is easily navigable or if communications can be enhanced.

What’s the BIG Idea? Episode 3: Jasmine Ahmed on organizational transformation

Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

In this episode of “What’s the BIG Idea?” we visit with Jasmine Ahmed, Senior Vice President of Global Finance Transformation for NewsCorp. NewsCorp’s media empire spans the globe with trusted brands such as The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Barron’s, News Australia, and Dow Jones.

What should I do? I think my child struggles with reading.

Howard Margolis and Gary G. Brannigan Education

As students start returning to school, many will face the Herculean task of becoming proficient readers. Some will be first-graders, some fourth-graders, and so on. And many of them, as their parents and guardians suspect, will face enormous struggles. If you're one of these parents or guardians who suspect that your child will struggle with reading, now is the time for action. Action alone, however, will not be enough. It's critical that you know what to request and what to avoid. This article focuses on one aspect of what's critical: Getting a comprehensive reading evaluation.

Avoiding client-agency breakdown: Always ‘feedforward,’ never…

Paul Cowan Business Management, Services & Risk Management

We were a young breakaway agency, packed with talent and hungry for all the opportunities we could get. Our overhead included a ridiculously large budget for salaries that had to be covered every month. We brought in all the clients we could and always asked for their feedback on our work and on our agency — how did we do? What could we have done better? Like many startup businesses, we thought asking for feedback would prove useful and demonstrate that we valued the client relationship above all else. We asked for feedback on almost everything.

How to automate SEO tasks for maximum efficiency

Sunjay Randhawa Marketing

As Google continues to optimize its site to be user-friendly, SEO adapts. Famously coy about giving exact SEO specifications, Google has made one thing clear: its algorithms are always going to be working toward making sure results are relevant and trustworthy. Maybe you’ve just been taken on as a company’s first SEO specialist and are feeling a bit overwhelmed at the sheer number of tasks. Maybe you’ve been trying to keep up with SEO best practices for a long time but find yourself with less and less time to focus on the bigger picture. Automation is growing, and luckily there are a multitude of ways you can automate some of your SEO.

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