The chain of command provides a clear line of responsibility from the executive suite on down. As part of the structure, you need to give employees a procedure to move up the chain if their concerns are not resolved.
Everyone is held accountable to the chain of command, starting with those at the top. If you own the company, you need to define your role in the chain of command and follow the protocols that you set.
Every aspect of your operation needs to be structured and documented so the results are predictable and the knowledge needed to execute is captured, clear, and transferrable. Systems should be created to provide repeatable results; rinse and repeat is the key.
For moderately sized companies in the $2 million to $20 million range, senior management often turn to their CPA for advice about business finances because they don’t have a CFO or financial advisor on staff. What they will get from a CPA is a financial opinion informed by the CPA’s perspective on taxes and tax law, not necessarily the financial opinion that may be best for the situation.
lot of our initial conversations with IT client prospects center on disaster recovery – what is the worst case scenario that could bring your network down? Is it a server crash? Internet failure? Multiple workstations failing at the same time?
There are so many little issues and concerns that can be easily addressed in a well-designed employee handbook. You need to consider the company’s finances and cash flow, employee retention strategies, corporate culture, and compliance issues.
If you take a positive, proactive stance, you can demonstrate to your staff that you have a tough policy regarding employee theft and fraud, and you can outline some clearly defined consequences for those who break the rules.
Small and midsized businesses seem to be more susceptible to fraud and theft, partially because there is a greater degree of trust, but also smaller organizations don’t tend to implement the systems they need to recognize and head off fraud.
You want to avoid any appearance of discrimination, so it’s always a good idea to build a case against a problem employee, point out their specific performance issues, and give them a chance to change.
Ask yourself if you’re focusing your energy and attention on the activities that are most effective in building your business? Get really clear about the kinds of people you want to spend your time with and the kinds of business you want to work on.
With any small business, cash is king, and keeping ready cash available to cover expenses and payroll can be an ongoing challenge.
As with most entrepreneurial operations, doctors tend to want to focus on what they are really good at, which is healing patients. That means that running the office, the actual business operation, has to fall to staff members they can trust.