If Montana’s injury rate matched the national average, it would save businesses $145 million annually. Improving worker safety isn’t about changing employees; usually it is about system failures that can be corrected. In this, it is similar to lean manufacturing’s view that 94% of all quality problems are caused by … Read More
The Montana Safety Culture Act requires companies with more than five employees to have a Safety Committee. Considerately, it spells out exactly what is meant by a Safety Committee and even gives a list of what should be discussed in meetings. They do try to make it easy! The purpose … Read More
When you are looking for a job, your resume and cover letter are your chance to tell your story, to set yourself apart as a real human being, not just another faceless applicant. The goal is to let the hiring person see if you will be a good fit for … Read More
Montana passed a Montana Safety Culture Act in 1993 that places requirements on companies to take care of their employees and keep them safe. Luckily, for the smallest companies, it is pretty much what a conscientious employer would mostly be doing anyway (well, except for the documentation), if only to … Read More
In its standards for quality management systems, ISO-9001 has a lot of sections relating to how the production floor works and how quality is maintained. One section that is sometimes overlooked, 6.2.2, addresses personnel qualifications, competence, and training. In particular, it discusses: – how a company determines the required competencies for … Read More
Planning for your business is both intimidating and important, even if you aren’t looking for financing. It allows you to think through your business, where it is now, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there – which makes you a lot more likely to get … Read More
For years, the standard advice for correcting people has been to start with something positive, proceed with the negative feedback, and end with something else positive. This has always felt wrong to me: you are tainting the positives with a negative. Finally, someone with some research to support it has … Read More
Why does a company need job descriptions? There are two main reasons, plus one applicable to companies certified in ISO-9001 and similar QMS programs. The most urgent reason is legal, as a protection against discrimination claims; the day-to-day reason is that it makes hiring and managing employees easier; the QMS … Read More
The hard part of leading, the part so many business people avoid whenever possible, is dealing with employee emotions and, in particular, conflict. Unfortunately, it is hard to lead well when you ignore something that has such a huge affect on how people act. To get better at leading, Leadership … Read More
If and when an employee comes to you and tells you that they have a disability and need an accommodation, the first thing you need to do is enter into an “interactive process” with the employee. Really, this mostly means talking to the employee about the issues and treating them … Read More