Blogs

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in June 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

In today’s economic conditions, it’s imperative for small to medium-sized businesses to manage their people, payrolls, and projects at a higher level of efficiency than ever before.

One of the most integral aspects of proper business functioning is good leadership. For an effective working environment, you should develop leadership skills and encourage company leaders to "get behind" their people. It's important to know how leaders should support employees.

If you can accomplish this, accomplishing organizational change and stimulating creativity and engagement in your workforce will be far easier.

How do you implement change in an organization? Even if you don't envision change today, you will at some point need to prepare for changes within your business, from modification of workplace practices and processes to a general expansion of the business.

Only the proper implementation of change, however, will allow you to remain competitive in your marketplace and transform processes to the desired state. Whether it's people, technology, or software that requires changing, it's important that you approach this in an orderly manner.

Let's focus on some effective techniques that can eliminate the hassle associated with making changes in business.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Becoming an HVAC industry leader goes far beyond simply being good at your job. To be a true leader in the business world, you have to prove that your skills, your employees, and your business as a whole are phenomenal and clearly the best choice for the job.

But that alone isn't how to become an HVAC industry leader – so what is?

Are you preparing to launch a new project? If so, there are several things you should be checking off the to-do list, from carefully defining the necessary work to documenting goals, deadlines, and deliverables. Unless you fully understand the importance of project scope and having a risk plan, staying on track with the deadline and successfully completing the project will be tricky.

Before undertaking a project, understanding project objectives and identifying certain aspects is critical.

As a business leader – regardless of your industry, how long you've been in business, or your target audience – change management is always a consideration. Aligning your workforce for a positive change experience is the key to success in trying new business ventures. To ensure a smooth and stable transition, start with a strategic plan that includes best practices for change implementation and long-term success.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in November 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Owning a business means that you need to pay attention to every aspect of that business. You don’t have time to spearhead one major project, as it will pull attention away from the numerous other projects that will need your final approval.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – and probably again and again and again: the only constant in life is change. The problem with change, however, is that it can be negative; we must take care to ensure that we change in the right “direction” – that is, change should propel us forward rather than backward.

Struggling with change is common across the board – personally, socially, professionally, etc. Many organizations also struggle with change. Fewer problems would exist, however, if more companies took steps to reap the significant benefits of implementing change management.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

The Business Development Bank of Canada’s article – "The Five Do’s and Five Don’ts of Successful Businesses” – says “The most successful firms felt their biggest competitive edge came from offering a stimulating work environment and positive company culture.”