Business Communication

Resolution Preparedness Techniques

By Barton Goldsmith

Perhaps the most difficult part of having a deep conversation with someone you work with on a daily basis is getting the process started. Most people open these conversations with little prepa- ration because they can no longer contain their emotions. When this happens, some- times things are said that the speaker may regret afterward. It is wise to think before you speak, especially about issues that may have an emotional charge, so a little internal processing beforehand may be your most valuable tool.

The techniques below are specifically designed to help facilitate the necessary thinking required before you talk with your teammates about something that is both- ering you. You don’t need to use them all; try the ones that are easiest for you and see how they work.

1. Sleep on it, forget about it for awhile, watch some Tv, cook, go fishing—but don’t use any of these as an avoidance technique. This will allow your feel- ings to settle a little and you’ll have a different perspective.

2. Make sure that the issue is real and you’re not just complaining. It’s easy to blame someone else for your hurt feel- ings, so check yourself out before you point a finger.

3. Before you share it, think about who you’re talking to and how they receive your input. If your co-worker is visual, perhaps they would respond more favor- ably to something in writing to get the conversation started.

4. If appropriate, talk with someone else to get a read on your feelings before you talk to the person you’re having the issue with, but don’t allow yourself to be overly influenced by someone else’s opinion.

5. Write down what you want to say. A pro and con list may be the simplest way of deciding what needs to be discussed or even if it’s appropriate to have the conversation at all.

6. Don’t generalize and be prepared with examples. putting your issues into cate- gories may help you with this.

7. If you think a conversation is going to be painful, remember that you usually feel better after it’s over.

8. Make an appointment with the person to talk. This can give you the opportunity to get away from your normal routine and have some quiet time to discuss things in an appropriate fashion. Also, be prepared for him or her to say that right now is the best time to talk.

9. Remember, be kind. It’s hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Venting your anger will only make the gap wider and the issue more clouded. If you are physi- cally or emotionally unbalanced, your ability to behave appropriately will be diminished.

10. Imagine or visualize the conversation going the way you want it to go before you have it and allow yourself to feel good about how you’ll handle the issue.

Processing your feelings before you lay them on your teammate will help you deliver them in the most appropriate manner, and will help your issue resolution discussion go much easier. Once you expe- rience having a positive conversation about a difficult subject, the next ones will not seem as daunting.

Eight Key Budgeting Tips
By Gene Siciliano

Most companies don’t use budgets to help them meet profit goals. Why? Well, most owners and CEOs reason that the effort required to learn how to build and use workable budgets is just too much. They seem to feel that learning how to budget is more frustrating than just hoping the numbers will all work out—if they only sell enough widgets or services or whatever.

The fact is, however, that budgeting is the most effective way to consistently meet profit targets and avoid costly surprises. Budgeting helps you invest your resources to your company’s best advantage—based on careful consideration, rather than the urgency to make some kind of move today.

Owners and CEOs need to begin controlling the bottom line with some of the same tools they use to control the top line, and budgeting is the first step. Consider these eight tips to help you become a better budgeter:

1. Take the time to do it right. A budget is not a sales forecast you put together on the weekend to impress your banker. It must be the result of coordinated input and effort by you and your top management team. That makes budgeting a project that requires some time and thought, just like any other project your company takes on.
2. Practice, practice, practice. Regardless of how tough it may be to estimate the future, your forecasting accuracy will improve, and you’ll be better able to control the results, if you actively use a budget. Practice does make (almost) perfect.
3. Don’t think your company is the exception. Any business can be budgeted. The only question is how much practice it takes to strike a balance between the time invested and your forecasting accuracy. Remember that a startup business has to be forecasted and budgeted in order to get financial backing. This includes companies trying to do something that’s never been done before.
4. Use a Gantt chart. This is an expanded timeline to track deliverable dates for budget completion. It will tell you if you’ve scheduled too much to be completed in too short a time given other business activities that also require your team’s participation.
5. Don’t try to budget to the last penny. Predicting exact results down to the penny is not the objective. Rather, budgeting is more about giving your employees a direction to use for course corrections at a level of detail where it matters. If you try to forecast every last expense, regardless of how small, the details will drive you crazy.
6. Make the tradeoffs when necessary. You have finite resources available to you. If you must spend money for something you didn’t budget, decide what budgeted expenses can be removed to “finance” the new item. Without this discipline, you will almost always overspend—because there are always good reasons to spend money. They don’t always produce more profit, however.
7. Set both profit and cash flow targets. These two measures are very different and require different kinds of measurement and monitoring to prevent unpleasant surprises. Don’t believe me? Keep in mind that every year businesses with great profits fail due to a lack of cash.
8. Ask three questions to analyze the results. With budget comparisons in hand, ask your team these three questions at the end of every month:

• How are we doing compared to the budget? If results differ from the plan, why did this happen?
• What must we do now to have a better result next month? How can we keep the positive differences and avoid more of the negative ones?
• What are we learning that will help make next year’s budget better?