Communication

AI for small to midsize businesses isn’t going away

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made great inroads into certain sectors of the U.S. economy. However, it hasn’t reached many small to midsize businesses (SMBs) in a major way … yet. In 2021, AI analysis firm Unsupervised published a survey of 520 SMB owners that found 48% of them still found AI too cost prohibitive. Forty …

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Business owners, do you need to step up your internal communications game?

They say we live in an on-demand world. Right now, many business owners are demanding one thing: more workers. Unfortunately, the labor market is somewhat less than forthcoming. In the so-called “Great Resignation” of 2021, droves of people voluntarily left their jobs, and many aren’t rushing back to work. Neither are many of those who …

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Are your supervisors adept at multigenerational management?

Over the past year, the importance of leadership at every level of a business has been emphasized. When a crisis such as a pandemic hits, it creates a sort of stress test for not only business owners and executives but also supervisors of departments and workgroups. Among the most important skill sets of any leader …

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4 tough questions to ask about your sales department

Among the fastest ways for a business to fail is because of mismanagement or malfeasance by ownership. On the other hand, among the slowest ways is an ineffective or dysfunctional sales department. Companies suffering from this malady may maintain just enough sales to stay afloat for a while, but eventually they go under because they …

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The simple truth about annual performance reviews

There are many ways for employers to conduct annual performance reviews. So many, in fact, that owners of small to midsize businesses may find the prospect of implementing a state-of-the-art review process overwhelming. The simple truth is that smaller companies may not need to exert a lot of effort on a complex approach. Sometimes a …

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Family businesses need succession plans, too

Those who run family-owned businesses often underestimate the need for a succession plan. After all, they say, we’re a family business — there will always be a family member here to keep the company going and no one will stand in the way. Not necessarily. In one all-too-common scenario, two of the owner’s children inherit …

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