As we all know, the internet is full of offensive comments and broad negative statements of all kinds. Right or wrong, this landmark decision will set a precedent for the future.  On the positive side, this decision will make people think twice about posting offensive posts and comments about someone, as they’re no longer protected by the anonymity of the internet. On the downside, let’s hope it does not cause an over reaction and bring about legislation that will make life on the internet difficult.

In order to assure the highest levels of quality work and productivity from employees, we recommend that you introduce a policy to keep all employees well trained through a program of Special High Intensity Training (S.H.I.T.)

You should try and give your employees more S.H.I.T. than any other company. If you feel that your employees do not receive their share of S.H.I.T. on their jobs, we recommend that you advise your employees that they will be placed at the top of the S.H.I.T. list; and your managers who are especially skilled at overseeing this can ensure that those employees get all the S.H.I.T. they can handle.

Employees who don’t take their S.H.I.T. can be placed in Departmental Employee Evaluation Programs (D.E.E.P.S.H.I.T.). Those who then fail to take D.E.E.P.S.H.I.T. seriously can be required to go to Employee Attitude Training (E.A.T.S.H.I.T.). We would recommend that all managers are suitably trained in S.H.I.T. before they are promoted. That way they won’t have to do S.H.I.T. anymore as they will be full of S.H.I.T. already.

You can also create a new position in your company whereby those who are full of S.H.I.T. can train others in the same. Their names can then be added to a Basic Understanding Lecture List (B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T). Then those who are full of B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. will get the S.H.I.T. jobs, and can apply for promotion to a newly created position Director of Intensity Programming (D.I.P.S.H.I.T.).

And don’t forget to assign yourself a new title as Head of Training, Special High Intensity Training (H.O.T.S.H.I.T.)

- Barbara Johnson

Did you know … That from 9 August 2009, sellers of Australian residential properties MUST have 2 residual currency devices (RCDs) installed in the property? These safety devices must be in place by the settlement date. The same law applies to owners of newly leased rental properties. And if you’re lucky enough to have an existing tenant, you have till 9 August 2011 to comply. The only exemption is if you are planning to demolish the property – but you must specify the demolition date and it cannot be more than 6 months from the date of transfer.  There can also be an exemption if an inspector agrees that a switchboard is not suitable for 2 RCDs … but you will still have to fit at least 1 RCD.

There are other “minor” additional requirements … We recommend that you contact your relevant property managers or real estate agents for more information before August 2009.

Today 9 out of 10 people start their buying decisions at a search engine.  Often small businesses don’t appreciate the full value of a web presence, citing the age old “All our business comes from referrals”.  Think about it – how many times have you been asked “What’s your website?”. Rightly or wrongly, a website gives you credibility.  It doesn’t matter what business you’re in.  Today, for most customers, no website means you’re not serious about your business.

Having said that, even if you have a website, you could be missing potential customers if you fail to have it created properly. A website should be optimised to enable search engines to find your information.  The latest ABS information also confirmed that although orders received over the internet was unchanged at 24%, income generated from internet orders rose by 20% to $81 billion. Wouldn’t you like to have some of that? Our consulting business Webbiz Professionals was set up to work with small businesses to get their business online.

This year, the Rudd Government in Australia has decided to lend its support to small businesses to get a piece of the online pie by allocating $10m over 2 years in its Federal Budget for a Small Business Online program. The program is aimed to help equip small businesses get online and engage in e-business. However, as with all government announcements in the Budget, we are still waiting for the details of the program … So watch this space for future announcements!

Which goes to show … Your “private” Facebook posting is not THAT private after all. And do we now have to be careful with our comments on the social networks (especially those of us who has a “Boss” or requires a license to operate) given the blurring of the boundaries between professional/business and personal matters. When is a personal comment on Facebook (or any other social media) not a “personal” comment and becomes a sackable offense??

I’ll go into a restaurant and sit quietly while the waiters and waitresses gossip and never bother to ask if anyone has taken my order.  Sometimes a party that comes in after I did, gets my order, but I don’t complain. I just wait.

And when I go to a store to buy something, I don’t throw my weight around. I try to be thoughtful of the other person. If a snooty salesperson gets upset because I want to look at several things before making up my mind, I’m just as polite as can be. I don’t believe rudeness in return is the answer.

The other day I stopped at a full service gas station and waited for almost 5 minutes before the attendant took care of me. And when he did, he spilled gas and wiped the windshield with an oily rag. But did I complain about the service? Of course not.

I never kick. I never nag. I never criticise. And I would not dream of making a scene, as I’ve seen some people do in public places. I think that’s uncalled for. No, I’m the nice customer. And I’ll tell you who else I am.

I’m the customer who never comes back!

- Author Unknown (but nice)

How many “nice” customers do you get? Businesses continually concentrate on the dollar value of sales and on attracting new clients. But simply by providing the proper level of service to existing clients we can increase the dollar value of each sale and by referral attract new clients without any significant cost at all.

- Barbara Johnson

It would appear that the City of Joondalup mayor, Troy Pickard, met his match in the form of irate pensioner advocate Mike O’Brien.  The following exchange of niceties took place during public question time.

Pickard: Come forward Mr O’Brien, state your name and address and ask your question.

O’Brien: Thank you Mr Mayor, my name is Mike O’Brien, president of the Australian Pensioners and Superannuation League WA and one of two vice-presidents of the Australian Pensions Superannuation Federation. In the current 2000’s climate, when swearing and profane language seem to be accepted as being the norm, last Tuesday 14th of April, it was encouraging to hear you upholding an approach to have socially acceptable language used when the briefing session was being addressed by a member of the public. My question is: If I was to describe elected members and administrative municipal officers, who support the continued use of Section 6.35 of the local Government Act 1995 and continue pillaging pensioners’ pennies are by such actions elevating themselves to the level of sewer rats, would you like me to withdraw the comment?

Pickard: Yes

O’Brien”: Thank you Mr Mayor. The sewer rats will be delighted.

Inside Cover duly awarded this week’s Exceptional Use of Alliteration In a Local Government Setting on Mr O’Brien for his pithy “pillaging pensioners’ pennies” put-down.

We LOVE it.

Ricardo Semlar is the President of Semco, Brazil’s largest marine and food processing machinery manufacturers. He studied at Harvard Business School, speaks fluent English and has been voted Brazil’s Business Leader of the year. America Economia (published by Wall Street Journal) named him Businessman of the Year. Just what did Semlar do to earn him these accolades?

From the time Semlar inherited the family company Semco from his father at the age of 24, he started dismantling the corporate hierarchy as we know it. He threw away all the company rules and procedures.

There are some 300 employees and yet there’s no policy manual. There’s no formal organization chart. The workers et their own hours, their own targets, and yes … even their own salaries and profit shares. By normal business conventions this company should have been out of business years ago. But his unorthodox approach has proved highly successful for him. Semco has grown eleven fold since the late 80’s … a period that coincided with savage recession, staggering inflation and political turmoil in Brazil. Profits have increased five-fold.

In an effort to understand the thinking behind his philosophy, we read his book Maverick, and also went to listen to him speak when he visited Perth in October 1994.

Even if you do not have 300 employees or run huge manufacturing plants, please do not switch off to his message. Even if his style of management is not yours, keep an open mind. He must have done something right to get his company from the brink of bankruptcy to where it is today.

Just what is his philosophy?

Semco treats their employees as adults. There are no time clocks at the gate. All employees make intelligent and adult decisions at home … so why do so many companies still persist in treating them like children? We are expected to “clock in” at 8.30 am and “clock out” at 5 pm. Companies assume that unless employees have “the boss” look over their shoulder they will make mistakes and “take advantage”. There’s no receptionist, no secretary, no “office girl” to do their photocopying and filing. Everyone does their own … including the CEO.

Far more controversial is the policy of “reverse” evaluation. It is the workers who evaluate “the boss”. Before anyone is promoted or hired to a “management” position, he or she must be interviewed, evaluated and approved by all the people who will work for him or her. This evaluation is done every 6 months and if you fail (as some do) you cannot retain that position. Semlar does not even exempt himself from this process. An interesting question … would you subject yourself to an employee evaluation?

Another interesting fact … about 1/3 of Semco’s employees have the option of taking up front pay cut of up to 25%. Payback comes in the form of a bonus. In a good year this can translate to 125% of their normal pay. In addition, 25% of all the company profits are given to the employees to be distributed as they see fit.

Where possible all work is out-sourced. Semco helps their employees to become self-employed by hiring their equipment to the employees at advantageous terms. They then invite them to supply back to Semco. The only proviso is that the now self-employed individuals can buy and sell to third parties … even Semco’s competitors. The cost savings have been tremendous.

There’s another fascinating innovation … Semco pays key team members to THINK. These employees are paid by the company but they have no specific “jobs” to do, no one to answer to from day to day. A total waste of money? Apparently not. The ideas from these key team members have resulted in initiatives that have, for example, changed a 14 step 10 hour manufacturing process into a 3 step 1 hour process. Semlar, above all else, sees himself merely as a catalyst … that is his idea of a true CEO. Not somebody who turns up at the office and spends his time signing letters and attending meetings.

All extremely interesting. But unless you take some of his ideas and adapt and translate it into applications for your own business, it is of not much use.

So what can you do? Ultimately, unless you first have a vision of where your company is going, you cannot share that with your employees. It is easy to talk about visions and grand plans. We would urge you to take time out to really think about your business or if you are not running a business, then your personal goals. Think about the processes, about maximizing the potential in your team members, and above all, about how you might be able to harness some of Semlar’s ideas.

Comment: This book review was originally written by us in December 1994.