the best management ideas ever

Age gracefully. What on earth does it mean when someone tells you to age gracefully? 

Everything in popular media tells us to freeze aging– stop it in its tracks while you can. But, time moves. Technology transforms everything from customer needs to business models. Everything Ages. 

The thing to remember, however, is that to age gracefully isn't to go quietly into the night. It's not getting stuck in "old ways" and it's not taking on everything new for the sake of it being new.

Owning and/or managing a successful franchise requires you to stay on your toes and be constantly willing to learn, tweak, and re-evaluate processes to refine what works and eliminate what doesn’t. Not only are you managing your staff, but you’re also managing your franchisees. Obviously you want to do your best to help them succeed because their success is ultimately your success. Growing your franchise means implementing strategies that not only serve your customers well but also attract new franchisees for expansion.

Transparency in the workplace is a tricky matter. As Glassdoor CEO Robert Hohman nicely stated, "it comes with tremendous responsibility, but also an enormous opportunity." This responsibility and opportunity lie mostly in the hands of management and human resources. It’s up to them how much information is shared with employees and in what manner. So what are the best ways to be transparent within your business? Are you doing enough? How can you foster an open work environment that drives everyone forward?

The hiring process can be equated to a thorn in your side. That’s not how hiring has to go and if it is, you’re not alone. Many people don’t know where to begin with hiring and find themselves unsure of how to attract the right talent for their needs.

Right now, it’s an applicant's market. The demand for qualified, hard-working candidates is well outweighing the supply. This means if you want to attract and retain the best available talent you can’t afford to wing it.

To that end, let’s talk about the, how in successful hiring.

Thomas Jefferson was known for his philosophy that learning doesn’t stop after graduation. At The University of Virginia, students are known as ‘first years’ rather than freshman, ‘second years’ rather than sophomores, and so on, in honor of this idea— that learning never stops. TJ has made a great point. Learning does not stop, even when we grow up and become adults. But how does this apply to the modern workplace? Do you have policies in place that embrace this idea?