Tips for the Festive Season

We are coming into the festive season, and with that, comes the responsibility for the health and safety of ourselves and our staff.

We need to be mindful of the effects of alcohol during the festive season and if being consumed at work-related functions, the impact this could have on the individual, the manager and the organisation.

Here are some tips to help you during this period.

1. Enjoy yourself, but remember to conduct yourself professionally. Someone will remember what you do or say on Monday.
2. Even though you may have an opportunity to “blow off steam” remember it is still a company function and you will need to face everyone again.
3. Dress appropriately - ensure you know the dress code and make an impression by dressing with style and good taste.
4. Ensure you behave appropriately. Harassment is still an issue at company functions.
5. Make sure you know how you are getting home. Getting stuck in a city is never fun.

Finally, ensure you have a good time, remain positive and festive and take care of your teammates.

Is effective communication happening in your business?

Successful businesses recognise the importance of effective communication. Communication is the number one driver of change, so how do you measure up? Are you able to implement change in your workplace through effective communication?

Below are some tips on how to improve the communication levels in your workplace.

1. Address the channels you use when communicating

Information should flow freely across the workplace: top down, bottom up and sideways and you should encourage it from employees, clients, customers, vendors, stakeholders – anyone that has access to your team.

Make sure you know information is flowing through the organisation. Assess regularly and avoid the common pitfall of people or departments becoming protective of information and forgetting the bigger business picture.

Remove any roadblocks that are preventing communication from happening effectively in your workplace.

2. Remove barriers to communication

Here are some of the more common ones:

• Lack of formal communication. Don’t’ let information get out via the water-cooler chat. This creates a breeding ground for gossip, mis-information, mistrust and is ultimately bad for your business. If you have an important message to deliver, ensure you use formal channels.

• Email. Has email has become the main channel of communication in your workplace? Your tone of voice and body language are important in communication. So take the time to meet, or at least phone someone, where necessary.

• Workplace Culture. Is your workplace inhibiting the flow of information? Are your employees involved in teamwork and decision making? When key changes are made, do you invite input from the team? Remember - actions speak louder than words. Make sure you are approachable and available to your team.

• Time Management. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day work and “forget” to communicate. Make time for your team – block your calendar and make sure you spend time informally and formally to communicate and provide feedback.

3. Listening

Probably the most important communication tip. You can’t communicate well unless you are listening effectively, so make sure you are taking time to stop talking, hear, and fully understand what others are saying during every conversation.

Need help with your organisation - then contact MacPac HR who help you build better business.

Facebook and work

Andrew Bland of BlandsLaw (and also our Chairman) maintains an interesting and very readable employment law blog, and I noticed this post yesterday about employers and managers being friends on Facebook and the impact the knowledge of personal information via Facebook and other social networking sites has on the manager/employee relationship.

Given that social networking plays an increasing part in our business lives (heck, I've just joined RBF as well as myself up to Twitter...it all takes time out of the day) it makes very interesting reading and cause for consideration.

Unemployment up? What's your story?

Hmm... grim news today that in NSW unemployment is up compared to the rest of our lovely land. Reasons could be that more emigrants are choosing NSW as their new home and are having trouble getting work. The effects of the drought could be taking a tax on country employers. I haven't read the stats (don't have the time at the moment) so can't make a true comment. I can imagine that the next quarter's stats will show a higher unemployment rate as school leavers seek work for a gap year or teens who choose not to go to year 12 or get an apprenticeship look for a job.

What's your experience in your company? Are you employing more people as the GFC(TM) wears off?

And as an aside, if you ARE advertising for jobs, are you using social media as well as conventional methods? I'm noticing lots of jobs in Sydney advertised on Twitter. This is probably the basis of a post on its own realistically.

HR people, are you seeing more or less jobs going through your books? And is there one particular area of Sydney that is really attracting jobseekers?

North Ryde/Macquarie Park in particular in our region is growing exponentially. I'd love to hear from companies in that region about their experiences in filling positions. I have a hunch there are tons of jobs there being filled at a rate of knots.

What a great workshop this morning!

What a great breakfast workshop we had this morning with Kathie Melocco! Kathie is an expert in using social media as a marketing tool, and explained how and why it worked to around 25 members and guests this morning.

RBF has had its own Facebook page and a blog for some time now, and are now tweeting on Twitter. But there's a lot more to this than knowing the basic operating ideas with Twitter and the other social media sites; Kathie gave a fantastic overview on how to measure your social media marketing.

Social media sites are providing canny companies with amazing stats in viral marketing... marketing that markets itself as people talk about you or send links to your YouTube videos, your blogs, your website.

We can't divulge all here - but do contact Kathie if you'd like to know more about this hot topic and get yourself some training in social media marketing.