Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization

Free Micro-eMBA Module #7: Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization

This module is in the organization development program. However, this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise to learn more about marketing the organization and its products/services.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

There is often a great deal of misunderstanding about marketing. People often consider marketing to be the same as advertising. It’s not. Advertising is only one part of marketing. Very simply put, marketing is the wide range of activities involved in making sure that you’re continuing to meet the needs of your customers and getting value in return.

Market analysis includes finding out what groups of customers (or markets) exist, what their needs are, what groups of customers you prefer to serve (target markets), what products or services you might develop to meet their needs, how the customers prefer to use the products and services, what your competitors are doing, what pricing you should use and how you should distribute products and services to customers. Results of this marketing analysis indicates the position, or market “niche”, for the organization to work from — and to be seen as having. Marketing also includes ongoing promotions, which can include advertising, public relations, sales and customer service. Various methods of market research are used to find out information about markets, target markets and their needs, competitors, market trends, customer satisfaction with products and services, etc.

NOTE ABOUT THE LARGE SIZE OF THIS MODULE: This module is one of the largest in the program. The activity of marketing an organization and its products and services is critical to the success of the organization and its products and services — the marketing process is broad and sometimes quite detailed. Learners who have very limited time schedules might proceed through this module primarily by reviewing the learning materials and then thinking about how they would carry out (rather than actually carrying out) the various activities to build structures in their organization.

NOTE ABOUT BOARD COMMITTEES: Consider establishing a Marketing Committee to review and help guide implementation of the information in this learning module. Major activities and goals from this learning module could be incorporated in that Committee’s Committee Work Plan.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

OUTCOMES

Conduct Basic Market Analysis for Each Product
Draft Your Public and Media Relations Plan
Draft Your Sales Plan
Draft Your Advertising and Promotions Plan
Draft Your Marketing and Promotions Plans

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of the topics and learning activities in this module.

See the “Big Picture” About Marketing

First, scan the text on the following three pages to get a quick idea of what is included in each and differences between the three.

Then read
What’s Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales? (all)

Marketing Basics, Analysis and Positioning

Marketing
- particularly the sections:

Advertising and Promotions

Basics and Planning (read introduction)
- Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion (read all)

Public and Media Relations

Public and Media Relations, particularly the sections:
- Managing Media Relations (at least 4 articles)

Sales

Optional — Customer Service

Customer Service (read at least 4 articles in “Basics and Planning”)

Basics of Marketing

1. Define marketing. Advertising. Promotions. Public relations. Publicity. Sales. In your definitions, include how these terms are similar and different. See What’s Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales?

2. What is inbound marketing? Outbound marketing? See Marketing (the introduction “Marketing” — A Commonly Misunderstood Term”.

3. What is market analysis? See Basics of Marketing — introduction.

4. What is market research? See Market Research — introduction.

Basics of Marketing Analysis and Positioning

1. What is a target market? How does one define a target market? See Marketing (the introduction “Marketing” — A Commonly Misunderstood Term”.

2. What is a competitor analysis? See Competitive Intelligence — introduction.

3. What should be considered when setting the price for a product or service? See Marketing Pricing — introduction.

4. What should be considered when naming a product or service? See Naming and Branding — introduction.

5. What is intellectual property? See Intellectual Property — introduction.

6. What is a positioning statement? See Positioning — introduction.

Public and Media Relations

1. What is public relations? See What’s Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales? and Managing Your Public Image.

2. Name at least three practices in maintaining strong public relations. See Managing Your Image (Public Relations).

3. What is media relations? See What’s Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales? and Managing Media Relations.

4. Name at least three practices in maintaining strong media relations. See Managing Media Relations.

Sales

1. What is sales? See What’s Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and Sales? and What is Sales?

2. What are some basic steps in the sales process? See Understanding the Sales Process.

Customer Service

1. What are some basic steps in the maintaining high-quality customer service? See Customer Service.

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members, management and employees, as appropriate.
Various activities below will direct you to complete your Marketing and Promotions Plan by filling in the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan. The Framework is written in HTML Web-based language. You might want to re-create the Framework with your own preferred word-processing software.
As you proceed through the following activities, be sure to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

Writing Your Marketing Plan for Each Product/Service

NOTE: This Plan should be focused on a particular product or service, because each has its own different description, features and benefits, customers, competitors and pricing.

Describe Your Product or Service

1. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write a description of the product/service. The description should be written as if your customers are the readers. In the description, include the specific groups of customers served by the product/service, nature of the method(s) in the product/service, outcomes for customers and any other benefits to them, and where they should go next if they are interested in using the product/service. Be careful to describe the product/service in terms of benefits to customers, not to you. For example, address pricing, convenience, location, quality, service, atmosphere, etc.

List Your Target Market(s) for the Product/Service

2. In the table in Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write a brief description of the major groups of customers who will benefit from your product/service and the major benefits to them. Remember that the overall strategic goals of the organization very much determine whom you want to serve. For example, strategic goals might be to expand the overall number of customers or markets you have now, get new customers, get more revenue from current customers, etc. You may want to develop new services in a current or new market, or expand current services in a current or new market.

Understanding each of your product/service target markets makes it much easier for you to ensure that your product/service remains highly useful to each of them — each target market tends to be unique. Understanding your target markets helps you to focus on where to promote your product/service, including advertising, conducting public relations campaigns and selling your product/service. If you’ve done a good job so far of market research, then identifying the primary targets market should be fairly straightforward. However, it is very useful to determine several additional target markets. These additional markets are often where you should focus promotions and additional sources of assistance and revenue. (If you struggle to identify your target markets, the following links might help you, including How to Identify a Target Market and Prepare a Customer Profile and Marketing Research.)

Write a Profile of Each Target Market

3. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write a description of each of your target markets. The more you know about your customers, the better you might be at serving them. Consider, for example, their major needs, how they prefer to have their needs met, where they are and where they prefer to have their needs met, and demographics information (their age ranges, family arrangement, education levels, income levels, typical occupations, major interested, etc). Also, consider what methods of communication they might prefer because that’s how you are more likely to be successful to communicate to them, for example, when advertising your product/service.

Analysis of Competitors

4. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write results from your analysis of your competitors. Consider the following questions: Who are your competitors for the product/service? What customer needs are you competing to meet? What are the similarities and differences between their product/service and yours? What are the strengths and weaknesses of their product/service? How do their prices compare to yours? How are they doing overall? How do you plan to compete, for example, offer better quality services, lower prices, more support, easier access to services etc? For assistance, see Competitive Analysis.

Analysis of Collaborators

5. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write results from your analysis of potential collaborators. Who are potential collaborators with your organization and specific to the product/service? What customer needs might you collaborate to meet? What resources might they bring and what could you bring? What could you do next to cultivate collaboration with other organizations? For assistance, see Organizational Alliances.

Pricing Analysis

6. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, write results from your pricing analysis. Several major factors influence the pricing for a product/service. Strategic goals greatly influence pricing. For example, if the organization really wants to get into a new market, then it might charge lower than usual prices in order to generate more customers who buy the service. The organization might consider changing pricing if the demand for its products/services is very high or low. Competitor pricing also has a great effect. If competitors are charging much less, then the organization might do well to lower prices. Similarly, if the competitor is charging much more, then the organization might consider increasing its own prices. For assistance, see Market Pricing.

Write Your Sales Plan

7. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, fill in the sales plan. Regarding your sales planning, consider: What target markets will be approached? What should be your sales method for each target market, for example, who will make initial contacts to generate leads, do follow-ups to initial contacts, make presentations and close sales? How much do you expect to accomplish in sales (consider terms of outputs, such as dollars made, customers recruited, or other units of service). For assistance, see Understanding the Sales Process.

Write Your Advertising and Promotions Plan

8. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, fill in the advertising and promotions plan. The plan includes what target markets you want to reach, what features and benefits you want to convey to each of them, what methods and media you will use to convey it to them, who is responsible to implement the methods and how much money is budgeted for this effort. The plan includes plans for a promotional campaign, including an advertising calendar and media plan. The goals of the plans should depend very much on the overall goals and strategies of the organization, and the results of the marketing analysis, including the positioning statement.

When selecting methods, consider what communications methods and media will be most effective in reaching target markets (groups of customers) and when. What are their preferences for media and when do they use them? (The link Basic Methods to Get Customer Feedback might be helpful now.) Consider, for example, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word of mouth, press releases, direct mail, special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. What media is most practical for you to use in terms of access and affordability? (The link Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion might be helpful now.)

For additional assistance, see Advertising and Promotions.

Conduct Your Customer Service Planning

9. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, fill in the customer service plan. When considering how you will ensure strong services to customers, consider: Are customers very satisfied with your services? How do you know? If not, what can you do to improve customer service? How can you do that? What policies and procedures are needed to ensure strong customer service. Include training in your considerations, including to develop skills in interpersonal relations, such as questioning, listening, handling difficult people, handling interpersonal conflicts, negotiating. For assistance, see Customer Service, Basic Methods to Get Feedback from Customers, Questioning, Listening, Handling Interpersonal Conflict, Handling Difficult People and Negotiating.

Conduct Your Production Planning

10. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, fill in section about production planning. Note that the development and implementation of various production methods do not have to be addressed in detail in a marketing plan — these topics are usually included in the operations or management planning for the products and services. However, production should be generally considered during the marketing analysis to ensure the eventual detailed production planning takes into consideration the needs of target markets and having their needs met on time. Consider: What resources do you need to build, reproduce and provide the product/service? How do you know? Will you have sufficient resources into the near future? How do you know?

Conduct Your Distribution Planning

11. In the Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan, fill in section about distribution planning. Matters of distribution of products/services can be critical for organizations, especially if they are providing critically needed products/services to specific groups of customers.

Carefully consider: What distribution channels should you consider, for example, should customers come to your facility, you visit their offices, can you provide products/services over the telephone or Internet, etc? What resources are needed to bring together your products/services and your target markets? What major steps need to occur to accomplish these distribution channels? (The link Distribution may help you.)

Note that detailed planning about developing and maintaining distribution channels is often included in the operations or management plans, rather than in the marketing plan. However, the marketing analysis should focus on selecting the methods of distribution that best meet the needs of target markets and the organization.

Updating Your Operating Budgets

In an earlier module about strategic planning, you drafted a basic operating budget. Now that you have a stronger sense of what is needed to produce and market your products, you should update the basic draft that you produced earlier.

Draft a Budget for Each of Your Major Products/Services

1. Design a budget for each of your products/services. If you completed Module 6: Developing Your Strategic Plan, then you already have started basic budgets for each of your products/services. Update those budgets with results from completing this module on product design and marketing. Consider expenses of advertising and promotions, production, distribution and customer service. Also consider any updates to expected revenues as a result of any changes in your pricing policy and as a result of your sales goals in your sales plan.

ASSESSMENTS

1. Evaluation of Marketing and Public Relations Activities in Businesses

2. Also see consider

REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Reminders About You

1. Are you exchanging feedback with others about what you’re learning in this program? If not, you really should be thinking a lot more seriously about this — adults learn by doing something with new information and then exchanging feedback about it.

2. Are you sticking to your study schedule for this program?

3. Are you practicing your basic skills in management and leadership, including in problem solving and decision making, planning and meeting management?

4. Are you communicating throughout your organization by using your skills in internal communications?

5. Are you managing yourself? How many hours a week are you working? Are you noticing any signs of stress? If so, what are you doing about it?

6. One of the ways you might be able to tell if you’re stressed out and/or losing perspective might be whether you’re tracking details or not. Are you using the action item list referenced above?

7. Are you reflecting on learnings from past modules and how they build on the learning in this module? For example, are you seeing your organization from a systems view, as explained in the module “Starting and Understanding Your Organization?”

Reminders About Your organization

1. Now that you’ve given more thought to the design and marketing of your products and services, go back to your strategic plan and update the plans about products, services, staffing and action plans.

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open action items (identified while proceeding through this program) that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this module.

Share and regularly review this action item list with the appropriate peers, board, management and employees in your organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List. (At that Web address, a box might open, asking you which software application to open the document.)

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national, free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return to the home page of the organization development program.)

For the Category of Marketing:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

January 18, 2022March 24, 2023

Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan

Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan

(including plans for public and media relations, sales, advertising and promoting, and customer service)

Description
The following framework will guide you through completion of a basic marketing and promotions plan. Associated plans include public and media relations plan, sales plan, and advertising and promotions plan.

NOTE: The framework depicts a useful format, but should be duplicated into an editable version, for example, into Microsoft Word.

Guidelines are provided to fill in the section and links to additional resources are provided.

Readers are encouraged to work with a planning team in their organization to fill in this framework. After completing this framework, readers can move information from the framework to a more suitable document to be the final version of the plan document, if desired.

NOTE: You can download a Microsoft Word version of this

Also consider
Related Library Topics

[NAME OF YOUR ORGANIZATION!!]

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS PLAN

[date!!]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MARKETING AND PROMOTION OF ORGANIZATION

Public Relations Plan

Media Plan

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS OF EACH PRODUCT/SERVICE

Description of Product/Service

Target Markets and Customer Profiles

Competitor Analysis

Collaborator/Partner Analysis

Pricing Analysis

Sales Plan

Advertising and Promotions Plan

Production Planning

Distribution Planning

Customer Service Plan

EVALUATION OF PLAN

GOALS, RESPONSIBILITIES, TIMELINES AND BUDGET

======= MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS OF ORGANIZATION
=======

Public Relations Plan
(For additional assistance, see Managing Your Public Image (Public Relations).)

Mission Statement

Portrays the basic purpose of our organization and the groups of customers that it serves. The mission statement should be referenced when designing and implementing the marketing and promotions plan. (For assistance, see Basics in Developing a Mission Statement.)

Positioning Statement

Portrays the unique role of our organization and how it fills that role. The statement depicts how we want others to view our organization. This statement is the essence of how we want the media, and others, to recognize our organization. The statement is the basis for wording used in ads and other methods of promotion. (For assistance, see Positioning.)

Script for Representing Our Organization to External Stakeholders

Portrays key points to make when representing the organization to external groups. The script is referenced by key personnel (board members, chief executive, etc.) to represent the organization to external stakeholders, for example, funders/investors, reporters, etc.

Stakeholders, Messages and Methods (Media Plan and Calendar)
Consider the major stakeholders for your organization, for example, employees, board members, funders/investors, reporters, collaborators, associations, etc. Consider what you’d like each stakeholder to think of your organization. What media do they read and listen to and when? What media is most practical for you to use in terms of access and affordability? The following link might be useful to you in this activity: Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion.

Stakeholder
Group

Message
to
Convey
(consider what’s
important to them)

Method

When to Use
Method

Additional thoughts/comments and any actions we should take:
What do we need to do to make the above happen? What major steps must occur? What must be developed? Who should be contacted? What resources might you need?

Actions in this area should be worded as specific goals and organized into the section “Goals, Responsibilities …” later in this plan. That section includes goals, responsibilities, dates for completion and the budgeted amount to achieve the goals.

Media Relations
(For assistance, see Managing Media Relations.)

Procedure for Managing Media Contacts

The following procedure and/or talking points will be used for all calls from and to reporters, or other contacts with the media, including, for example: newspapers, magazines, television, radio, etc.

Preferred Media and Contacts

The following media and contacts are preferred when promoting our organization. These media (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) and contacts have been used in the past, understand our organization and our marketplace, etc.

What do we need to do to make the above happen? What major steps must occur? What must be developed? Who should be contacted? What resources might you need?

=======MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS OF SERVICES
=======

You should consider addressing the following subsections in this overall section for each of your products and/or services.

Description of Product / Service
The overall goals of the organization very much determine what you want to do with each of your products/services. For example, strategic goals might be to expand the number of customers that you have now, expand the number of products that you have, etc.

Describe your product/service. The description should be written as if your customers are the readers. In the description, include the specific groups of customers served by the product/service, nature of the method(s) in the product/service, outcomes for customers and any other benefits to them, and where they should go next if they are interested in using the product/service. Be careful to describe the product/service in terms of benefits to customers, not to you. For example, address pricing, convenience, location, quality, service, atmosphere, etc.

Any additional thoughts/comments about the product/service description:

Target Markets and Customer Profiles

(For assistance, see How to Identify a Target Market and Prepare a Customer Profile.)

Target markets are the specific groups of people whom you want to benefit with your product/service. The target markets are determined by your strategic goals strategies.

Your Target Markets and Primary Benefits of Your Products/Services to Them

Target Markets	Primary Benefits to Them
Target Market 1 (Optional: Goals ____, Strategies ____ ) \| \| \|

Profiles of Your Target Markets (Customer Profiles)
The more you know about your customers, the better you might be at serving them. At this point, write down a customer profile, or description of each of the groups of customers (or target markets). Consider, for example, their major needs, how they prefer to have their needs met, where they are and where they prefer to have their needs met and demographics information (their age ranges, family arrangement, education levels, income levels, typical occupations, major interested, etc).

Target Market #1: ____
Make copies of this section as needed for your number of target markets

Competitor Analysis
(For assistance, see Competitive Analysis.)

Name of competitor’s organization

Name of their service

Common markets that we serve

Benefits of their product/service

Comparison of their pricing and ours

Strengths of their product/service

Weaknesses product/service

How our product/service compares

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
How do you plan to compete, for example, offer better quality products/services, lower prices, more support, easier access, etc?

Collaborator/Partner Analysis
(For assistance, see Organizational Alliances.)

Name of potential collaborator’s organization

Name of their product/service

Common markets that we serve

Similarities between our product/service

Potential areas of collaboration

Advantages of collaboration

Disadvantages of collaboration

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
What can you do next to initiate consideration of collaboration with other organizations? What needs to happen next? Who needs to be involved? What resources do you need?

Pricing Analysis
(For assistance, see Pricing.)

What’s the current fee for the product/service?

How much is it costing us to provide this product/service?

Are we recovering our costs to produce and provide the product/service?

Is the current price affordable to customers?

Is our pricing competitive?

What should be the pricing structure that we use for this product/service (for example, deferred payments, installment payments, etc.)?

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
What do we need to do to make that happen? What major steps must occur? What must be developed? Who should be contacted? What resources might you need?

Sales Plan
(For assistance, see Sales.)

Target Markets

Sales Methods

to Generate Leads,
Follow-Ups,
Presentations and
Closing Sales

Sales Goals

(number of contracts
and/or dollars in revenue
and/or other units?)

|
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Sales Plan (Cont.)

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
Consider: What do we need to do to make the sales methods and goals happen? What major steps must occur? What must be developed? Who should be contacted? What resources might you need? Should staff attend sales training?

Advertising and Promotions Plan
The plan includes what target markets you want to reach, what features and benefits you want to convey to each of them, what methods and media you will use to convey it to them, who is responsible to implement the methods and how much money is budgeted for this effort. The plan often includes plans for a promotional campaign, including an advertising calendar and media plan. The goals of the plans should depend very much on the overall goals and strategies of the organization, and the results of the marketing analysis, including the positioning statement.

(For additional assistance, see Advertising and Promotion and Planning your Advertising.

Markets, Messages and Methods (Media Plan and Calendar)

What do you want your target markets to think about your service? What media do they read and listen to and when? What media is most practical for you to use in terms of access and affordability? The following link may be helpful to you when completing the following table: Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion.

Target Market
(customer group)

Message
to Convey
(“What’s in it for customer?”)

Method
to Convey It

When to Use
Method

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
What do you need to do to make the above happen? What resources are needed to accomplish the methods? Who is responsible to implement the methods?

Production Planning
Production includes the resources and processes needed to continue to develop the service to meet the demands of the customers. Note that the development and implementation of various production methods do not have to be addressed in detail in a marketing plan — these topics are usually included in the operations or management planning for the product. However, production should be generally considered during the marketing analysis to ensure the eventual detailed production planning takes into consideration the needs of target markets and having their needs met on time.

Will the product/service be produced in time to meet current needs of the target markets?

Will the product/service be produced in time to meet future needs of the target markets (for example, over the next three years)? What’s needed to ensure the future needs are met?

What major resources and activities will be needed in the near future?

Additional thoughts/comments and any resulting actions we should take:
What do we need to do to make the above happen? What major steps must occur? What must be developed? Who should be contacted? What resources might you need?

Distribution Planning
(For assistance, see Distribution Channels.)
Distribution includes the resources and activities required to bring your product/service together with the customer in order to benefit from it. Matters of distribution of the product/service can be critical for organizations, especially if they are providing critically needed products/services to specific groups of customers. (The link Distribution may help you.)

What is the best means to distribute the product/service to customers?
(Consider, for example, should customers come to your facility? You go to them? Are there other means, for example, services over the phone?)

Customer Service Plan
(For assistance, see Customer Service.)

When considering how you will ensure strong services to customers, consider: Are customers very satisfied with your services? How do you know? If not, what can you do to improve customer service? How can you do that? What policies and procedures are needed to ensure strong customer service. Include training in your considerations, including to develop skills in interpersonal relations, such as questioning, listening, handling difficult people, handling interpersonal conflicts, negotiating. (For assistance, see Customer Service, Basic Methods to Get Customer Feedback, Questioning, Listening, Handling Interpersonal Conflict, Handling Difficult People and Negotiating.)

Are customers highly satisfied with the product/service and how do you know?
(This section might include references to other reports, eg., product evaluations, etc.)

What should we be doing to ensure that customers are highly satisfied?
(Consider policies and procedures, staff training, scheduled evaluations, basic forms of market research, etc.)

======= MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PLAN ============
Responsibilities and Frequencies for Monitoring and Evaluation

Plan’s section, goals, etc.	Completion date	Respon- sibility	Written description of results to:
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Key Questions While Monitoring Implementation of the Plan

The following questions should be modified to suit the nature and needs of the organization.

Monitoring and evaluation activities will consider the following questions:

1. Are goals and objectives being achieved or not? If they are, then acknowledge, reward and communicate the progress. If not, then consider the following questions.

2. Will the goals be achieved according to the timelines specified in the plan? If not, then why?

3. Should the deadlines for completion be changed (be careful about making these changes — know why efforts are behind schedule before times are changed)?

4. Do personnel have adequate resources (money, equipment, facilities, training, etc.) to achieve the goals?

5. Are the goals and objectives still realistic?

6. Should priorities be changed to put more focus on achieving the goals?

7. Should the goals be changed (be careful about making these changes — know why efforts are not achieving the goals before changing the goals)?

8. What can be learned from our monitoring and evaluation in order to improve future planning activities and also to improve future monitoring and evaluation efforts?

Additional questions:

Reporting Status of Implementation

Results of monitoring and evaluation will be in writing, and will include:

1. Answers to the “Key Questions While Monitoring Implementation of the Plan”

2. Trends regarding the progress (or lack thereof) toward goals, including which goals and objectives

3. Recommendations about the status

4. Any actions needed by management

Procedure for Changing the Plan

Regarding any changes to the plan, write down answers to the questions:

1. What is causing changes to be made?

2. Why the changes should be made (the “why” is often different than “what is causing” the changes).

3. What specific changes should be made, including to goals, objectives, responsibilities and timelines?

Reminders:
Manage the various versions of the plan (including by putting a new date on each new version of the plan).

Always keep old copies of the plan.

===== GOALS, RESPONSIBILITIES, TIMELINES AND BUDGETS ======

As much as possible, goals should be specified to be “SMARTER”, that is, specific, measurable, acceptable to those people working to achieve the goal, realistic, timely, extending the capabilities of those working to achieve the goals and rewarding to them, as well.

Goal	Respon- sibility	Comple- tion Date	Budget for Goal
====== MARKETING AND PROMOTING ORGANIZATION =========== Public and Media Relations Plan:
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==== MARKETING AND PROMOTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES === Description of Product or Service:
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*Target Market and Benefits:*
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*Competitive Analysis:*
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*Collaborator Analysis:*
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*Pricing Analysis and Policy:*
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*Advertising and* *Promotion Plan:*
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*Production Planning:*
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*Distribution Planning:*
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*Sales Plan:*
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*Customer Service Plan:*
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For the Category of Marketing:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

January 18, 2022February 17, 2023

Basic Skills in Management and Leadership

Woman Sitting On Wooden Table in a Meeting

Free Micro-eMBA Module #4: Building Basic Skills in Management and Leadership

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business and Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff.

This learning module is in the organization development program. However, this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise to learn more about basic management and leadership skills.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

In new businesses, “management” is often considered “whatever needs to be done just to keep things afloat”. However, for your business to grow and remain healthy, you must master certain basic skills in management and leadership — skills that will help you avoid the crisis situations where you have to do “whatever it takes to stay afloat”. The basic skills include problem solving and decision making, planning, meeting management, delegation, communications and managing yourself.

Those basics are also the foundation from which to develop more advanced practices in management and leadership. When organizational personnel struggle, it’s often because they’ve forgotten the basics — not because they aren’t implementing state-of-the-art techniques in management and leadership.

NOTE ABOUT THE LARGE SIZE OF THIS MODULE: This module references numerous basic skills that leaders and managers must master in order to be effective in their organizations and their lives. These skills can be practiced throughout this program and in other areas of learners’ lives. Readers who are interested in gaining broader contexts of management and leadership can review optional readings suggested in the “Materials for Review” section below.

NOTE ABOUT ORDER OF MODULES: Therefore, it is common to start management training programs with an overview of the board of directors (if the program includes focus on corporations, which are governed by boards of directors) — the board of directors is legally charged to govern a corporation. However, in this program, this learning module about basic skills in management and leadership is presented before the learning module about boards of directors. The reason for this order of modules is as follows. Frequently businesses are started by someone with a strong vision for a new product. That person often goes on to become the first chief executive of the new business. Typically, that person also takes a very strong role (often the leading role) in the initial organization and development of the board of directors. Therefore, modules in this program are organized to help the founder (and often the first chief executive) to effectively apply basic skills in management and leadership when organizing the board of directors.

NOTE ABOUT LEARNING SUPERVISION — Supervision is a major aspect of managing and leading. There are certain roles and responsibilities — and experiences — that are highly unique to the role of supervision and highly critical to the success of the organization. Therefore, the topic of staffing and supervision will also be addressed in an upcoming module in this program.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

OUTCOMES

Learners who complete this module will achieve the following outcomes:

Gain Basic Skills in:

Problem Solving and Decision Making
Planning
Delegation
Internal Communications
Meeting Management
Managing Yourself

Optional:

Review Advanced Topics in Management and Leadership
Design Your Management and Leadership Development Plans

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of the topics and learning activities in this module.
NOTE: Several of the following materials for review are sections of a larger document, Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision. An upcoming learning module “Staffing and Supervision of Employees” also references various sections of that document. Therefore, the reader might best benefit from printing that document for ongoing reference during this module and the upcoming module about supervision.

Basic Skills in Management and Leadership

Read Basic Guide to Leadership and Supervision — specifically the sections:

Introduction to Management and Supervision

What is “Management”? What do Managers Do? (don’t have to follow links out)

Core Skills in Management and Supervision

You don’t have to follow links out of the following sections:

Optional Readings — Broad Context of Management

Management (an Introduction) — particularly the sections:

Optional Readings — Broad Context of Leadership

Leadership — particularly the sections:
How to Lead Yourself

Problem Solving and Decision Making

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Problem Solving and Decision Making.

1. What are the seven steps to problem solving and decision making (as presented in your materials for review)? Describe what occurs in each step.

2. How do you typically solve problems? Do you have a standardized way of solving problems, that is, a method that you use? How do you know that your approach is effective?

3. Think of several major problems that you faced over the past three months. Where did you struggle when solving the problem?

4. As your business grows, the types of problems that you’ll face will become more demanding and complex. What can you do to be more careful about how you will solve problems and make decisions?

5. What problems might you foresee in applying the seven steps presented in your materials for review?

Basics of Planning

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Planning.

1. Describe each of the following terms: Goals. Objectives. Strategies. Resources. Budgets.

2. What are the eight steps in the typical, basic planning process (as presented in your materials for review)?

3. Who should be involved in planning a particular effort?

4. What does the acronym “SMARTER” stand for, that is, what does each letter represent?

5. How can you build in accountability to your planning processes?

6. What should be evaluated when evaluating a planning process?

7. Where is the “real treasure” during planning? HINT: Fill in the blank “the real treasure of planning is the planning _ _ _ _ _ _ _ “.

8. What is the frequently missing step in the planning process?

Delegation

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Effective Delegation.

1. What is delegation?

2. What are some benefits of delegation?

3. Why is it sometimes difficult for managers to learn to delegate?

4. What are the nine steps to delegation (as listed in your materials for review)?

5. What might you foresee as your biggest challenge to learning how to delegate? Delegation is a critical skill in the effective management of organizations. What can you do to start overcoming these challenge(s)?

Basics of Internal Communications

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Basics of Internal Communications.

1. What should be included in status reports (according to the materials for review)? How often should status reports be shared and with whom? Your wishes may disagree with those asserted in the materials for review. That’s fine — just be able to specify your own terms for status reports, including what’s in them, what’s in them, how often they are shared with whom.

2. What might you include in regular monthly meetings with all of your employees in attendance? Do you agree that you should have regular meetings with all employees in attendance? If not, then how will you really ensure that employees are aware of activities in the organization? Do they know now? Are you really sure? Seriously consider holding regular meetings. These meetings can go a long way toward building a strong sense of community and ensuring effective communications throughout the organization.

3. How do you ensure that all key employees are aware of important information and activities in the organization? As noted in the materials for review, new managers and supervisors often assume that everyone else knows what they know. This is a mistake. Seriously consider holding regular meetings with key staff. Don’t just rely on good intentions to communicate or “working harder to communicate”. Actually make some changes in policies and procedures to ensure effective communications.

Meeting Management

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Meeting Management.

1. How can you ensure that the right people are included in your meetings?

2. What’s the best way to design an agenda (according to the materials for review)?

3. What kinds of activities should be included in the opening of a meeting?

4. What is the purpose of groundrules for a meeting. How can they be developed?

5. What are some ideas to ensure that meeting time is managed as effectively as possible?

6. How can you evaluate the meeting process? How can you evaluate results of the overall meeting process?

7. What activities are including when closing a meeting?

8. What challenges do you see in implementing the meeting-management recommendations in the materials for review? What do you dislike about meetings? What do you like? What are you hearing from others about the quality of the meetings in your organization? What can you do to make your meetings more effective?

Managing and Leading Yourself

For assistance in answering the following questions, see Managing Yourself.

1. Why is the role of first-time manager and/or supervisor so stressful sometimes?

2. How many hours a week are you working now? Is that a problem? What do those nearest to you think about the number of hours that you’re working? How many hours a week do you think you should work on average? What is the largest number of hours that you should work in a week? The number of hours that you work in a week can be a clear indicator of current or oncoming problems in your stress level and effectiveness as a manager. What measures can you take to ensure that you don’t get so consumed by your job that you lose perspective and ultimately lose your overall effectiveness as a manager? Strongly consider involving someone else in helping to determine the total number of hours that you will work in a week.

3. How do you know if you’re stressed? What are the signs? Does anyone else in your life and/or your work know to look for those signs?

4. How might you recruit a mentor or coach? Think about this question very seriously. Having a mentor or coach can be the single, most effective measure you can take to ensure that you manage yourself and your job in a highly effective manner.

5. What’s the difference between matters that are urgent and those that are important? What should be your approach to handling each of these two types of issues? What advice is given in the materials for review regarding these two types of issues?

Optional Readings — Broad Contexts of Management and Leadership

1. Give brief definitions for the following terms (compare the terms with each other, noting how they are similar and different:). Board of Directors. Executives. Managers. Leaders. Supervisors. See Basics — Definitions (and Misinterpretations) in Management.

2. What does the term “management” mean (include in your answer, the four major functions of management)? See Basics — Definitions (and Misinterpretations) in Management.

3. Briefly describe each of the following four management functions. Planning. Organizing. Leading. Coordinating (or controlling) activities. Of course, these functions are not carried out apart from each other — they’re highly integrated. See Basics — Definitions (and Misinterpretations) in Management.

4. New managers and leaders often struggle to find the one, best way to manage and lead. Over time, they realize the “best way” depends very much on the situation, for example, the life cycle of the organization, the specific nature and needs of the organization — and their own nature and needs, as well. A very basic understanding of theories and styles of management and leadership can help greatly when finding the “best way”. Very briefly, what is the contingency theory of management? Systems theory? Chaos theory? What are some of the major styles of management? What is the importance of knowing the life cycle of an organization when leading and managing an organization? See Contemporary Theories in Management, What is Management? How Do I Manage? and Conventional Traits and Styles.

5. Many management experts believe that we’re coming into a “new paradigm”. What is this new paradigm? See New Paradigm in Management.

6. What is the argument that some people put forth to explain their view that managing and leading are different? What do you think? See Views That Leading is Different Than Managing.

7. By now, you might consider your own definition of “What is leading (in an organizational setting)?” Consider in your answer, setting direction for others and influencing others to follow that direction. See Definitions of Leadership.

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members, management and employees, as appropriate.
As you proceed through the following activities, be sure to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

Developing Your Basics Skills in Management and Leadership

1. Conduct the following activities with each of the following practices: problem solving and decision making, planning, delegating, internal communications and meeting management.
a) Develop a basic procedure that is customized to your chosen approach to carrying out the practice, While developing your procedure, seriously consider the advice and guidelines provided in the materials for review regarding that practice.
b) Test your procedure by applying it to a current major effort in your organization or your life. What problems did you encounter? Does the procedure need to be updated?
c) Share the procedure with a friend and ask for their feedback.
d) Update the procedure as a result of your testing and feedback.
e) Communicate the procedure throughout your organization, as appropriate.
For assistance, see Problem Solving and Decision Making, Planning, Effective Delegation, Basics of Internal Communications and Meeting Management.

Learning to Manage and Lead Yourself

1. Design a personalized stress management plan. In the plan, include description of:
a) The signs that indicator that you’re overly stressed. Include the number of hours that you want to average in work per week.
b) How you will ensure that you notice each of the signs.
c) How you will conclude whether you need to make changes in your work and life styles.
d) Where you will go for help.
e) At least one friend and ask them to check in with you every two weeks to see how you’re doing. You might suggest that they do the same plan and you can reciprocate by helping them, as well.

For additional assistance, see How to Manage Yourself and How to Lead Yourself.

2. Consider getting a mentor or a coach. See Getting a Mentor see Hiring a Coach and Getting Coached.

3. Name at least three sources for networking and/or support for you, for example, a network of friends, association, club, etc. Do you feel comfortable turning to these sources when you need help? If not, contact at least one source that you feel comfortable approaching when you’re, for example, in need of suggestions for resources, feeling burned out, etc.

Optional — Management Development Planning

1. You can learn a great deal about management by using a wide variety of informal methods. The following link is to many suggestions and materials you can use for informal training.
Ideas for Activities to Learn About Management

2. Usually, the most effective way to learn a topic or skill is through use of a formal training plan. The following link is to a detailed procedure and materials you can use to develop your own highly customized management development plan. The procedure includes use of the assessments listed in the following section “Assessments”.
Customizing Your Own Management Development Plan

Optional — Leadership Development Planning

1. You can learn a great deal about leadership by using a wide variety of informal methods. The following link is to many suggestions and materials you can use for informal training.
Ideas for Activities to Learn About Leadership

ASSESSMENTS

Consider any or all of the following assessments as means to evaluate the extent of your management and leadership skills.
1. Various Needs Assessments to Help Identify Leadership Development Goals

2. Needs Assessments for Management Training and Development

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

1. One of the first indicators that an organization or a person is struggling is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed. (Open action items are required actions that have not yet been completed.) Instead, people only see and react to the latest “fires” in their workplaces or their lives. Whether open action items are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open action items (identified while proceeding through this program) that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this module. Share and regularly review this action item list with the appropriate peers, board, management and employees in your organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List. (At that Web address, a box might open, asking you which software application to open the document.)

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national, free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return to the home page of the organization development program.)

For the Category of Management:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

January 18, 2022September 25, 2022

How to Provide the Free Micro-eMBA Program for Businesses

Free Micro eMBA — How to Provide the Program for Businesses

You Can Provide Program with Little in Expertise or Resources!

You have a wonderful opportunity to offer a highly accessible,
“nuts and bolts” program to others in your area! Offering
the program will be much easier than you think. You’ll read below
about a straightforward approach called “peer-training groups”
that you can use to design and carry out the program. This approach
requires little in expertise or resources from you.

First, we’ll review some basic considerations in offering any
management-related development program. Then we’ll review the
peer-training group approach that addresses many of the primary
considerations in offering a program.

Sections of This Document Include the Following

Primary Considerations in Setting Up
Any Development Program
How Peer-Training Groups Make It Easy
to Provide the Program
Suggested Number of Meetings Per Learning
Module
Regarding Verification and Certification
of Learning

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Primary Considerations in Setting Up Any Development Program

There are some fairly standard considerations in setting up
and offering any management and organization development program.
You’ll need to think about the following primary considerations.
(Keep in mind that the peer-training process takes care of many
of these standard considerations for you!) They include:

What do you want to accomplish overall with your Free Micro-eMBA
program? Professional development? Organization development?
Networking? Complement another training program? Other(s)?
How will learners gain the necessary knowledge, skills and
abilities to achieve the outcomes that are preferred from the
program? Will learners listen to lectures? Do readings? Have
discussion? Other(s)?
What group(s) of learners will be in your program? New entrepreneurs?
Experienced chief executives? Board members? Middle managers?
Consultants? Volunteers? Other(s)?
How will learners be organized as they go through the program?
In groups/classes? On their own? As part of another program?
Other(s)?
In the case of an online program, will your learners have
consistent access to computers and the World Wide Web?
How will you evaluate the quality of the process in your
program? How will you identify what outcomes were achieved by
learners? How will you show evidence of that learning?
What expertise might you need to offer and support the program?
Subject-matter experts? Trainers? Evaluators? Advertisers?
How will you advertise your program and recruit learners?
Advertisements? Newsletters? Classifieds in newspapers? Direct
mail? Word of mouth? Other(s)?
What materials and facilities do you need? Training materials?
Classrooms? Parking spaces? Other(s)?
What costs are involved? Trainers? Subject-matter experts?
Facilities? Advertising?
What fee will you charge learners?
Where will you get help if needed?
What is involved in kicking off the program?

How Peer-Training Groups Make It Easy to Provide the Program

Peer-Training Incorporates State-of-the-Art Methods of Adult
Development

Adults learn best when they a) actually apply new information
and materials, and b) exchange ongoing feedback with others around
those experiences. Few traditional classroom conditions support
these ideal conditions for learning. In most cases, an expert
delivers the training and afterwards learners leave the room,
seldom to see each other again. Too often, training materials
sit on shelves collecting dust — learners never really apply
their new learning. This problem doesn’t happen in peer-training
groups!

The process in peer-training does provide ideal conditions
for learning. The peer-training process is based on the action
learning process, which is used across the world for personal,
professional and organizational development. The peer-training
process was developed by Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Sponsors of
the Free Micro-eMBA can use the peer-training process to carry
out the program in a straightforward fashion that makes little
use of high-priced experts and facilities.

Before Peer-Training Begins, Sponsor Markets Program and Recruits
Learners

Before the peer-training process begins, the program sponsor
organizes learners to go through the program. This involves some
basic advertising and promoting about the program. How that marketing
is carried out depends very much on the nature and needs of the
sponsoring organizations and the locale in which the program is
being offered. The sponsor may find the program
flyer useful during the local advertising effort.

How the Peer-Training Process Works

Once the group of learners has been organized, here’s generally
how the peer-training process works. The following sequence repeats
itself for each topic in a program.

1. The sponsor provides training materials in regard to a certain
topic. (In this case, all of the materials are already completely
and available for free in the Free Micro-eMBA.)
2. Learners meet on a regular basis, for example, every two to
four weeks in three-hour meetings. Meetings are about three hours
long.
3. Between meetings, learners read the training materials in regard
to the topic.
4. Each meeting starts with some type of training activity, often
just a one-hour, open discussion about the particular topic that
the learners had just read about previous to coming to the meeting.
5. Immediately after the one-hour discussion period, learners
are organized into groups of 5-7 learners each to do a two-hour
peer-training circle (ideally, in separate rooms).
6. In their groups, learners share any materials that they brought
to share with other learners in their group, for example, policies,
plans, etc., that were developed from applying new information
and materials learned during the program
7. In each group meeting, each learner gets a specific amount
of time (a time slot of, eg, 20 minutes) to get help from other
members of the group. During their time slot, each learner addresses
five specific questions, including:
a) How did I apply the new information and materials gleaned from
the meeting of two to four weeks ago?
b) What did I learn from applying that information and materials?
(It’s highly suggested that the learner write down their
perceptions of their new learning.)
c) How do I plan to apply the new information and materials gleaned
from today’s meeting?
d) How can this group of peers help me apply the new information
and materials before the next meeting in two to fours weeks?
e) Are there any information and materials that I’d like my peers
to bring for me in the next meeting that we’ll have in two to
four weeks?
8. At the end of that meeting, each member evaluates the quality
of that meeting and specifies what could have been done to make
the meeting even better.
9. Between meetings, members apply the new information and materials
that were gleaned from the previous meeting.

Then steps 1-9 are repeated for each topic, or part of a topic
(see Suggested Number of Meetings Per
Learning Module), in the program.

Resources to Guide the Peer-Training Process

Sponsors can choose to implement the peer-training process
on their own, or they can obtain time-tested guidebooks which
give step-by-step instructions for organizing, facilitating and
evaluating peer-training groups. (The sponsor may want to pilot
a group or two of learners just to get the “feel” for
the peer-training process.)

Sponsors of the Free Micro-eMBA (which is geared to for-profit
organizations and individuals) can obtain guidebooks by going
to the Authenticity Consulting, LLC, website that includes information
about Authenticity
Circles. Authenticity Circles materials cost about $15 per
member for the entire program!

Suggested Number of Meetings Per Learning Module

The program’s learning modules vary in the amount of materials
to review and activities to conduct (in order to build systems
in the organization). Therefore, it may be prudent to use more
than one meeting to address certain modules (this is in the case
where the program sponsor has chosen to organize learners together
in meetings, eg, in peer-training groups). Note that learners
may choose to go through the program in an order other than that
specified in the Catalog
of Learning Modules. That’s fine. Still, certain modules may
require more than one meeting of learners.

Note that the following are suggested — ultimately,
it’s up to the program sponsor and learners as to how many meetings
they want to have.

Learning Module	Suggested Number of Learner Meetings (see NOTES below)
Program Orientation	1
Starting and Understanding Your Business Organization	1 about topics for reflection/discussion 1 about activities to build systems/practices
Your Role as Chief Executive	1
Developing Your Basic Management and Leadership Skills	1 about topics for reflection/discussion 1 about activities to build systems/practices
Building and Maintaining Your Board	1
Developing Your Strategic Planning	1 about topics for reflection/discussion 1 about activities to build systems/practices
Designing and Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization	1 about topics for reflection/discussion 1 about activities to build systems/practices
Managing Your Business Finances	1
Staffing Supervising Your Employees	1 about topics for reflection/discussion 1 about activities to build systems/practices
Managing Ethics in the Workplace	1

NOTES:

1. The above table suggests a total of 15 meetings in the program.
The number of meetings in the program ultimately depends on:
a) How many modules the learner (or the program) chooses to complete
b) The amount of time between meetings. The more time between
meetings, the more likely that learners could address a module
in one meeting.

2. The length of time to complete the program depends on:
a) The amount of time between meetings, for example, two to four
weeks.
b) How many modules that learner (or the program) chooses to complete.

Regarding Verification and Certification of Learning

Ultimately, It’s Up to the Program Sponsor/Provider to Determine

It’s up to the sponsoring organization to decide if the program
will include certification of learning, for example, a diploma,
“continuing education units” (CEU’s), certificate, etc.

It’s ultimately up to the local sponsoring organization to
decide how any verification and certification of learning is to
occur. The sponsor is in the best position to collect and evaluate
the necessary information in order to verify extent of learning
and ultimately reward certification.

Learners in circles might consider from among the following
evaluation ideas to decide their approach to evaluating their
learning in the program. NOTE: Before and after every circle meeting,
learners will complete a Session Planner Form which has learners
answering the questions about their learning, as well.

Objective Criteria That Could Be Considered for Evaluation
of Learning

The following criteria apply to programs where learners are
organized into groups, for example, in the peer-training process.

Item/activity	Evaluator*	Passing Grade	Failing Grade
attendance	facilitator	· none or one absence	· absence from two or more meetings without visible effort to make up the missed meetings
documentation of learning	facilitator	· fully completed	· not completed
reflective document with summary of learning from the program	facilitator	· integration and synthesis of learning	· lack of integration and synthesis of learning
portfolio (collection of written results from the program)	facilitator	· complete	· not completed

*The evaluator may be an outside facilitator or all learners,
for example.

Subjective Criteria That Could Be Considered for Evaluation
of Learning

Item/activity	Evaluator**	Passing Grade	Failing Grade
quality of learner’s feedback in meetings	group feedback in final meeting	· sustained high quality and quantity of feedback · build on own and others’ strengths	· minimal feedback
quality of learner’s use of their time slots in meetings	group feedback in final meeting	· well-prepared explanation of current goal · helped the group to help them · overall: took charge of their learning	· obvious lack of preparation for meetings

**The evaluator may be an outside facilitator or all
learners, for example.

Return to the Free
Micro-eMBA home page.

For the Category of Personal Development:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

January 18, 2022March 27, 2023

Managing Your Organization’s Finances

Man Pointing at a Report Paper on a White Board

Free Micro-eMBA Module #8: Managing Your Organization’s Finances

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting,
LLC. Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business
and Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff.

This module is in the organization development program. However,
this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise
to learn more about managing finances.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

New business leaders and managers have to develop at least
basic skills in financial management. Expecting others in the
organization to manage finances is clearly asking for trouble.
Basic skills in financial management start in the critical areas
of cash management and bookkeeping, which should be done according
to certain financial controls to ensure integrity in the bookkeeping
process. New leaders and managers should soon go on to learn how
to generate financial statements (from bookkeeping journals) and
analyze those statements to really understand the financial condition
of the business. Financial analysis shows the “reality”
of the situation of a business — seen as such, financial management
is one of the most important practices in management. This module
will help you understand basic practices in financial management,
and build the basic systems and practices needed in a healthy
business.

In the case of a corporation, the board has final responsibility
for the overall financial health of the organization. Therefore,
it’s critical that new corporations quickly build up the roles
of the board treasurer and board finance committee. The treasurer
and finance committee can be wonderful assets to the chief executive
when managing the finances of the organization — however, the
chief executive should never completely ignore the finances by
leaving them for the treasurer and other board members to manage.
The board’s role in ongoing governance of finances can include
ongoing review of financial reports during board meetings, approving
yearly budgets and financial statements, approving a set of fiscal
policies (guidelines for managing finances), reviewing results
of a yearly audit conducted by an outside auditor, co-signing
checks that are over certain limits and approving contracts, and
ensuring the organization conforms to relevant rules and regulations.

NOTE ABOUT LEARNING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: At first, when learning
financial management, many people might react that the learning
experience seems mostly like filling one’s head with strange concepts
and processes. Typically, the learning process starts with this
experience — it probably isn’t until the learner actually enters
an accounting transaction and analyzes a financial statement that
learning about financial management seems more “real”.
But the learning process almost always starts by reviewing concepts
and processes. Financial management almost always tells the truth
about the situation of a business — so the learning process is
well worth the effort.

NOTE ABOUT BOARD COMMITTEES: Consider establishing a Board
Finance Committee to review and
help guide implementation the information in this learning module.
Major activities and goals from this learning module could be
incorporated in that Committee’s Committee Work Plan.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

OUTCOMES

Learners who complete this module will achieve the following
outcomes:

Learn Basics of Bookkeeping and Finances
Understand Budgeting and Deviation Analysis
Understand Basic Cash Management Practices
Recognize Major Financial Statements
Know Basics of Financial Analysis
Evaluate Your Financial Management Practices

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of
the topics and learning activities in this module.
Note that additional materials for review are associated
next to certain topics and activities listed in this module.

Background Reading

Quickly get a “big picture” view of the aspects of
financial management by scanning the types of topics and their
order at
All
About Financial Management in For-Profits

Basics and Getting Started

Basics
of Financial Management
– – – Role
of Treasurer (read link “Role of Treasurer”)
– – – Charter
and Work Plan for Board Finance Committee
– – – Getting
an Accountant or Bookkeeper if Needed (read “Getting and
Using Accounting Services”)
– – – Buy
Accounting Software to Help You? (scan each of the articles at
the links)
– – – Getting
a Bank and Banker (read “Getting and Using a Banker”)
– – – Basic
Overview of For-Profit Financial Management
– – – – – – Basics
of Financial Management in U.S. Small For-Profit Businesses
– – – – – – Free
Introductory Accounting & Bookkeeping Tutorial
(scan the topics in the tutorial)

Activities in the Yearly Accounting Cycle

Bookkeeping Basics:

Bookkeeping
Basics, including:
– – – Beginners’ Guide to Financial Statements
– – – Bookkeeping and Accounting Tutorial
(more detailed tutorial … be patient)
Financial
Controls
– – – Internal
Controls for a Small Business (scan the controls to get a sense
for them)
– – – Sample
Financial Procedures Manual

Critical Operating Activities in Financial Management:

Managing
a Budget (read all)
– – – The Right Way to Prepare a Budget?
– – – Small
Business Budget Example
Credit
and Collections (read at least 3 articles)
– – – Collection Letter Secrets to Getting Paid
Budget
Deviation Analysis (read all)

Financial Statements and Analysis:

Financial
Statements (read 2 of the articles)
– – – Profit
and Loss (Income) Statement (read all)
– – – Balance
Sheets (read all)
Financial
Analysis
– – – Profit
Analysis (read 2 of the articles)
– – – Break-Even
Analysis (read 2 of the articles)
– – – Ratios
(read 2 of the articles)

Preparation for Financial Management

1. What is the role of the board treasurer? See Role of Treasurer.

2. What are at least 3 goals of a Board Finance Committee?
See Charter and Work Plan for Board Finance Committee.

3. What needs to be considered when selecting an accountant?
See Getting an Accountant or Bookkeeper if Needed.

4. What needs to be considered when buying accounting software?
See Buy Accounting Software to Help You?

5. What needs to be considered when selecting a banker? What
services might a business need from a bank? See Getting a Bank and Banker.

6. What is the board’s role in financial management? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

Basics of Accounting

1. What is the accounting cycle? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

2. What are the elements of an accounting system? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

3. What is a fiscal policies and procedures manual? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

Bookkeeping and Financial Controls

1. What general activities are included in bookkeeping? See
Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

2. What types of information are in a financial fiscal policies
and procedures manual? See Sample Financial Procedures Manual.

3. What is cash-basis vs. accrual-basis accounting? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

4. What bookkeeping journals might you start out with? See
Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

5. What is a Chart of Accounts? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

6. What is the purpose of financial internal controls? What
are some practices in internal controls (HINT: think about signing
checks, opening mail, how to verify that account totals are accurate,
etc.)? NOTE: The concepts in financial controls are essentially
the same between a for-profit and nonprofit organization. See
Internal Controls for a Small Business — scan
the controls to get a sense for them.

Budget, Cash Management, Credit and Collections, and Budget
Deviation Analysis

1. What is a yearly (or operating or annual) budget? How is
a yearly budget prepared? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses,
The Right Way to Prepare a Budget How Do We Prepare a Budget?

2. What are fixed expenses and variable expenses? See The Right Way to Prepare a Budget and
Fixed and Variable Expenses?

3. What is petty cash? How should it be handled? (The concept
is essentially the same in nonprofits and for-profits.) See Internal Controls for Petty Cash and Receipts.

4. What is a cash flow and how should cash be managed? See
Managing Cash Flow.

5. What is a cash flow statement? What is a cash flow projection?
See Managing Cash Flow.

6. What is a budget deviation analysis? What information is
considered during this analysis? See Budget Deviation Analysis.

Financial Statements and Analysis

1. What are two major forms of financial statements used by
for-profit organizations? See Financial Statements.

2. What general information is included a Profit and Loss Statement?
Balance Sheet? See Financial Statements.

3. What can be detected from a profit and loss statement? See
Profit and Loss Statement.

4. What can be detected from a balance sheet? See Balance Sheet.

5. What is the purpose of profit analysis? Break-even analysis?
Ratio analysis? See Profit Analysis, Break-Even Analysis and Ratio Analysis.

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following
activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members,
management and employees, as appropriate.
As you proceed through the following activities, be sure
to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

Building Role of Treasurer and Board Finance Committee

1. In the case of corporations, one of the greatest assets
to a chief executive can be the board treasurer and finance committee.
Do you have a board treasurer and a finance committee? If not,
make it a high priority to recruit a treasurer and organize a
board finance committee. See Charter and Work Plan for Board Finance Committee.

Designing Operating (or Annual or Yearly) Budget

1. Your operating budget depicts the revenue the organization
expects to earn. It also depicts how that revenue will be spent.
Budget development starts from strategic planning. If you completed
Module 6: Developing Your Strategic Plan.
then you already have designed a basic yearly operating budget.
If you completed Module 7: Marketing Your Products, then you’ve
updated your operating budget to include revenue and costs of
your products and services. If you have not completed these two
modules, you should review information and materials in those
modules to draft and update a basic operating budget.

2. Obtain authorization of the operating budget by the board
(in the case of corporations). Board members should receive copies
of the operating budget for their review and authorization in
a board meeting. The minutes of the board meeting should reflect
member’s approval of the budget. Approval indicates that the board
expects the organization to operate over the coming year according
to the expected expenses and revenues depicted in the approved
operating budget. Note that if board members have been involved
in previous strategic and product/program planning, then their
approval of the budgets should be very straightforward at this
point.

Building Basics of Bookkeeping and Financial Controls

1. For your business, do you use a cash-basis vs. accrual-basis
accounting system? How do you know? What system should you be
using? What about for generating financial reports? See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

2. Will you be using a software tool to do your bookkeeping
and accounting? See Buy Accounting Software to Help You?

3. What bookkeeping journals do you use for your business?
If you do not have journals, then start with a simple cash journal.
See Basics of Financial Management in U.S. Small
For-Profit Businesses.

4. Do you have a Chart of Accounts for your business? If you do not have one,
then consider an example provided in the following links. If you have selected
a software tool to help you manage your finances, then that tool might already
have a Chart of Accounts in it. See Chart of Accounts.

5. What financial controls do you have in place? If you have
not yet done so, draft a set of financial controls for your organization.
Think about controls to guide signing checks, handling petty cash,
opening mail, how to verify that account totals are accurate,
etc.) (The concepts in financial controls are essentially the
same between a for-profit and nonprofit organization.) See Sample Financial Procedures Manual.

Credit and Collections

1. Imagine that you did not get paid by a client or customer.
What would you do? Write down your answer and consider it to be
a basic draft of a financial procedure to handle collections.
See Credit and Collections and
Collection Letter Secrets to
Getting Paid.

Budget Deviation Analysis

1. A few months after implementing your operating budget (that
includes expected expenses and revenues), modify the budget report
to include the column headings listed in your reading in the section
Budget Deviation Analysis. Analyze how closely
actual expenses and revenues are matching planned expenses and
revenues. What is the percentage difference for each item or account
or line item in the report? Is that percentage difference a problem?
What caused the difference? What are you going to do about the
differences in the future? Conduct a budget deviation analysis
each month in your business.

Financial Statements — Profit and Loss (Income Statement)

1. Generate an Income Statement for your business. Generating
an income statement requires that you have been entering business
financial transactions either by hand in a journal(s) or in an
accounting software package. Ideally, you have an accounting software
package that will produce a statement for you merely by entering
a command or clicking on the button on your computer screen. If
you generate a statement by hand, see examples in Profit and Loss (Income) Statements to provide
direction. Do you have an operating profit or loss?

Financial Statements — Balance Sheet

1. Generate a balance sheet for your business. Similar to an
income statement, generating a balance sheet requires that you
have been entering business financial transactions either by hand
in a journal(s) or in an accounting software package. Ideally,
you have an accounting software package that will produce a sheet
for you merely by entering a command or clicking on the button
on your computer screen. If you generate a sheet by hand, see
examples in Balance Sheets to provide direction. Do you
have a positive or negative net worth? Calculate your current
ratio. See Ratios. What does your current ratio indicate
about your organization? Calculate your quick ratio. See Ratios. What does your quick ratio tell
your about your organization?

Financial Statements — Cash Flow

1. Generate a cash flow statement for your business. A cash
flow statement can be one of the most important statements for
a new business because it can depict whether you can pay your
near-term bills or not. Generating a balance sheet requires that
you have been entering business financial transactions either
by hand in a journal(s) or in an accounting software package.
Ideally, you have an accounting software package that will produce
a sheet for you merely by entering a command or clicking on the
button on your computer screen. See Managing Cash Flow.

ASSESSMENTS

1. Evaluation
of Financial Practices in Businesses

REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Reminders About You

1. Are you using your skills learned in previous modules? For
example, as you using methodical approaches to problem solving
and decision making? Are you using strong practices of meeting
management? Are you communicating key information to others throughout
your organization?

2. Are you discussing topics and materials with peers, board
members and others, as appropriate? Discussion and ongoing feedback
are some of the best methods to really learn new information and
materials.

3. Are you helping others to hold you accountable to your times
that you committed to reading and study in this program?

4. Are you reflecting on learnings from past modules and how they build on the learning
in this module? For example, are you seeing your organization from a systems view,
as explained in the module “Starting and Understanding Your Organization?”

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

1. One of the first indicators that an organization or a person
is struggling is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed.
(Open action items are required actions that have not yet been
completed.) Instead, people only see and react to the latest “fires”
in their workplaces or their lives. Whether open action items
are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be
forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open
action items (identified while proceeding through this program)
that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible
to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated
comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified
during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this
module. Share and regularly review this action item list with
the appropriate peers, board, management and employees in your
organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List. (At that Web address,
a box might open, asking you which software application to open
the document.)

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national,
free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended
by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return
to the home page of the organization development program.)

For the Category of Financial Management (For-Profit):

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

January 18, 2022September 25, 2022

Conducting Complete Fitness Test of Your Business

Group of colleagues together having a fitness test

Free Micro-eMBA Module #11 (Optional Module): Conducting Complete Fitness Test of Your Business

This module is in the organization development program. However, this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise to assess the health of major aspects of a business.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

This module provides a set of extensive checklists that can be used to assess the health of a business’s practices in the areas of legal, governance (Board), human resource management and supervision, market research, advertising, public relations, customer service and sales, and financial management.

If you have completed the various learning modules in the organization development program, then the various checklists in this module will likely indicate that the practices in your business are very healthy.

OUTCOMES

Evaluate Quality of:

Compliance to Laws and Regulations
Board Operations
Strategic Planning
Supervisory and Human Resource Management Practices
Market Research
Advertising
Public Relations
Customer Service and Sales
Financial Management

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of the topics and learning activities in this module.

For-Profit Organizational Assessment

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members, management and staff, as appropriate.
As you proceed through the following activities, be sure to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

1. After identifying which of the 2 or 3 functions need the most attention (see #1 above) for now, list the activities that were marked as “Needs Work” in each of those functions, eg., list the activities that “Needs Work” in Boards.

2. For each of those lists, refer to that list as a “Work Plan” and assign that Plan to a Board Committee to oversee that the list is addressed, eg, assign the list of “Needs Work” in the Board function to a Board Development Committee or assign the list of “Needs Work” in the finances function to a Finance Committee to ensure the list is addressed.

ASSESSMENTS

There are no assessments in this section of the module, as there are in the other modules in the program, because this module is all about assessments, as provided above.

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

1. One of the first indicators that an organization is struggling is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed. (Open action items are required actions that have not yet been completed.) Instead, organization members only see and react to the latest “fires in the workplace”. Whether open action items are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open action items that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this module. Share and regularly review this action item list with the appropriate board, management and staff members in your organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List.

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national, free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended by many human resource and organization development experts.

REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

1. Are you exchanging feedback with others about what you’re learning in this program?

2. Are you sticking to your study schedule for this program?

3. Are you practicing your basic skills in management and leadership, including in problem solving and decision making, planning and meeting management?

4. Are you communicating throughout your organization by using your skills in internal communications?

5. Are you managing yourself? How many hours a week are you working? Are you noticing any signs of stress? If so, what are you doing about it?

6. One of the ways you might be able to tell if you’re stressed out and/or losing perspective might be whether you’re tracking details or not. Are you using the action item list referenced above?

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national, free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return to the organization development program.)

For the Category of Evaluations (Many Kinds):

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

January 18, 2022September 25, 2022

Managing Ethics in the Workplace: A Practical Guide for Managers

Concentrated coworkers sitting on seminar in modern workspace

Free Micro-eMBA Module #10

Managing Ethics in the Workplace

This module is in the organization development program. However, this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise to learn practical approaches to managing ethics in the workplace.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

The management of ethics in the workplace holds tremendous benefits for everyone, benefits both moral — and even practical. This is particularly true today when it is critical to understand and manage highly diverse values in the workplace, and at a time when too many people still feel that business ethics is a topic for philosophy or is about shaming and blaming people. This module aims to make the topic of business ethics very understandable and accessible.

The field of business ethics has traditionally been the domain of philosophers, academics and social critics. Consequently, much of today’s literature about business ethics is not geared toward the practical needs of leaders and managers — the people primarily responsible for managing ethics in the workplace.

The most frequent forms of business ethics literature today typically include:

a) philosophical, which requires extensive orientation and analysis; ‘
b) anthologies, which require much time, review and integration;
c) case studies, which require numerous cases, and much time and analyses to synthesize; and
d) extended stories about businesses “gone bad”.

This lack of practical information is not the fault of philosophers, academics or social critics. The problem is the outcome of insufficient involvement of leaders and managers in discussions and literature about business ethics. More leaders and managers must become more involved. This module aims to help address this issue.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

OUTCOMES

Learners who complete this module will achieve the following outcomes:

Set Up Systems to Manage Ethics, Including:

What is Business Ethics?
Myths About Business Ethics
10 Benefits of Managing Ethics
Ethics Management System
8 Guidelines for Managing Ethics
6 Key Roles and Responsibilities
Codes of Ethics
Codes of Conduct
Ethics Policies and Procedures
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
Conduct Ethics Training

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of the topics and learning activities in this module.

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility — particularly the sections:

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members, management and employees, as appropriate.

1. Draft a code of ethics for your organization. Remember to include examples of preferred behaviors with each of the values in your code of ethics. Present the code to your board, explain its purpose and how you’d like to use it, e.g., to discuss it with staff members, post it throughout your organization and renew it annually. See Ethics Tools: Codes of Ethics and Ethics Tools: Codes of Conduct.

2. Pose an ethical dilemma (from the reviewed materials) to the staff and walk them through application of one of the three methods to resolve ethical dilemmas (these methods are included in the materials, as well). See Ethics Tools: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas.

3. Refer to your mental list of the mostly likely ethical dilemmas to occur in your organization. Would these potential dilemmas be addressed by current policies and procedures? Note what policies and procedures need to be added (included yearly review of your code of ethics) and propose them to a local personnel expert. Update your policies handbook and explain the additions to all organization members. See Ethics Tools: Policies and Procedures.

ASSESSMENTS

Culture is comprised of the values, norms, folkways and behaviors of an organization. Ethics is about moral values, or values regarding right and wrong. Therefore, cultural assessments can be extremely valuable when assessing the moral values in an organization.

Assessing and Cultivating Ethical Culture

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in the national, free, online discussion group hr.com, which is attended by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return to the home page of the organization development program.

For the Category of Ethics:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

January 18, 2022September 25, 2022

How to Diagram the Framework of Your Business Organization

Serious coworkers working on business project in office

Diagramming the Basic Framework of Your Business Organization

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting,
LLC.
AField Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing
and Evaluation.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

Description

The following framework can be filled in by readers to design
a logic model (or diagram) for their organization and for each
of its programs or products. Guidelines and examples are provided
to help the reader.

Purpose of a Logic Model

A logic model is a top-level depiction the flow of materials
and processes to produce the results desired by the organization.
The model can be very useful to organize planning and analysis
when designing the organization and its products/programs or when
designing evaluations of products/programs. It can also be useful
for describing the organization.

What to Include and What Not to Include

Logic models can be in regard to whatever application in which
the designer chooses to use them. However, when using logic models
to analyze or describe organizations or departments, it’s often
best to use logic models to depict major, recurring items in the
organization or departments — rather than one-time items. For
example, you might not choose to do a logic model for the one-time,
initial activities to build an organization (constructing the
building, registering with state and federal authorities, etc.).
However, you might benefit more from using logic models to analyze
and describe the major, recurring activities that occur in the
organization or department (once they’re built) to continue to
produce the results desired for customers.

Size and Level of Detail

The logic model should be of a size that readers can easily
study the model without extensive reference and cross-comparisons
between pages. Ideally, the logic model is one or at most two
pages long. The level of detail should be sufficient for the reader
to grasp the major items that go into an organization, what occurs
to those inputs, the various outputs that results and the overall
benefits/impacts (or outcomes) that occur and to which groups
of people.

Note the content of program logic models is often more specific
than models for organizations. This level of specificity is often
quite useful for planners.

Definitions of Basic Terms

Logic models typically depict the inputs, processes, outputs
and outcomes associated with an organization and its processes
or products. Don’t be concerned about your grasping the “correct”
definition of each of the following terms. It’s more important
to have some sense of what they mean — and even more important
to be consistent in your use of the terms.

Inputs

These are materials that the organization or department takes
in and then processes to produce the results desired by the organization.
Types of inputs are people, money, equipment, facilities, supplies,
people’s ideas, people’s time, etc. Inputs can also be major forces
that influence the organization or products. For example, the
inputs to a product that is bought by trainer to teach learners,
for example, training materials, teachers, classrooms, funding,
paper and pencils, etc. Various laws and regulations effect how
the product may be applied, for example, safety regulations, Equal
Opportunity Employment guidelines, etc. Inputs are often associated
with a cost to obtain and use the item — budgets are listings
of inputs and the costs to obtain and/or use them.

Processes (or Activities or Strategies or Methods)

Processes are used by the organization or program to manipulate
and arrange items to produce the results desired by the organization.
Processes can range from putting a piece of paper on a desk to
manufacturing a space shuttle. However, logic models are usually
only concerned with the major recurring processes associated with
producing the results desired by the organization. For example,
the major processes used by an organization to produce a product
for trainers might include recruitment of learners, pretesting
of learners, training, post-testing and certification.

Outputs

Outputs are usually the tangible results of the major processes
in the organization. They are usually accounted for by their number,
for example, the number of products made by the organization.
Outputs are frequently misunderstood to indicate success of an
organization or product. However, if the outputs aren’t directly
associated with achieving the benefits desired for customers,
then the outputs are poor indicators of the success of the organization
and its products.

Outcomes

Some organizations may choose to analyze their organizationals
results in terms of outcomes, which are (hopefully positive) impacts
on customers whom the organization wanted to benefit with its
products. Outcomes are usually specified in terms of:
a) learning, including enhancements to knowledge, understanding/perceptions/attitudes,
and behaviors
b) skills (behaviors to accomplish results, or capabilities)
c) conditions (increased profits for customers, etc.)

It’s often to specify outcomes in terms of short-term, intermediate
and long-term.

Basic Example of a Logic Model

The following example is intended to further portray the nature
of inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes.

The logic model is for an organization called the Self-Directed
Learning Center (SDLC).

Logic models for programs are often more detailed.

Inputs

Free articles and other publications on the Web
Collaborators
Free Management Library
Funders
Self-directed learners·
Volunteers
Computers
Web
Supplies

Processes

Provide peer-assistance models in which learners support each other
Provide free, online training program: Basics of Self-Directed Learning
Provide free, online training program: Basic Life Skills
Provide free, online training program: Passing your GED Exam

Outputs

30 groups that used peer models
100 completed training programs
900 learners who finished Basics of Self-Directed Learning
900 learners who finished Basic Life Skills
900 learners who passed their GED to gain high-school diploma

Short-Term Outcomes

high school diploma for graduates
improved attitude toward self and society for graduates
improved family life for family of graduates

Intermediate Outcomes

full-time employment for learners (in job that required high-school education)
increased reliability and improved judgment of learners
enhanced publicity and public relations for SDLC

Long-Term Outcomes

independent living for learner (by using salary to rent apartment)
strong basic life skills for learner
improved love life for learner who’s now in a relationship
increased likelihood and interest for learner to attend college

Logic Model for

Organization (Name)
Or Product (Name)

Inputs

Processes

Outputs

Short-Term Outcomes

Intermediate Outcomes

Long-Term Outcomes

For the Category of Business Development

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

January 18, 2022March 23, 2023

Building and Maintaining an Effective Board of Directors (for corporations)

Free Micro-eMBA Module #5: Building and Maintaining an Effective Board of Directors

This module is in the organization development program. However,
this module can also be used by anyone as a self-study exercise
to learn more about building and maintaining a board of directors.

Sections of This Module Include the Following

Introduction
Outcomes
Materials for Review
Suggested Topics for Reflection and Discussion
Activities to Build Systems and Practices
Assessments
Tracking Open Action Items

INTRODUCTION

If you are an incorporated business, it’s very likely that
you have already at least the beginnings of a board of directors.
Theory and law dictate that the board of directors is responsible
to govern your organization. Typically, new boards of directors
in a new organization work hands-on, almost as partners — or
as a “working board” — with the chief executive. A
wise CEO will see Board members almost as strategic partners,
rather than as a necessary evil that corporations must have.

It’s not uncommon, especially for new organizations, to act
as if they are lucky even to have anyone on their board. Wrong!
You deserve — and should always expect — to have a very participative
board that, no matter how hands-on they are at first, also attend
to major decisions about the organization.

For the organization to grow and remain healthy, board members
must grow in their roles to become more of a “governing board”.
Completion of this module will ensure that your board has the
necessary components, policies and practices in place from which
to develop a healthy governing board.

Note that you, as a learner in this program, can greatly enhance
the development of your board by continuing to involve board members
in discussions about topics and questions posed by this program.

NOTE ABOUT THE ORDER OF MODULES (AND SOME DUPLICATION WITH
PREVIOUS MODULE ON ROLE OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): : The modules
about starting an organization and about the role of chief executives
briefly mention certain activities in regard to building a preliminary
board of directors — there is a little bit of necessary duplication
between these two modules. This module helps the learner to round
out the board of directors and ensure they are fully functioning
for the organization.

NOTE ABOUT BOARD COMMITTEES: Consider establishing a Board
Development Committee (in the case of corporations) to review
and help guide implementation the information in this learning
module. Major activities and goals from this learning module could
be incorporated in that Committee’s Work Plan.

Also consider
Related Library Topics

OUTCOMES

Learners who complete this module will achieve the following
outcomes:

Understand Roles and Responsibilities of a Board
Adopt Board Policies
Build Board Committees
Recruit New Board Members
Ensure Strong Participation of Board Members
Prepare for Board and CEO Evaluations
Build Board Calendar to Schedule All Operations
Organize a Board Manual
Train Board Members
Assess the Health of Your Board Practices

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

The following materials will help you address each of
the topics and learning activities in this module.
NOTE: There are many materials included for review in
this section. However, you do NOT need to review all of them
in detail.
a) You do not need to follow links out of the following documents
b) You do not need to follow links in “Also see” sections
c) You do not need to review any materials marked as “nonprofit”

Board Roles and Responsibilities

1. Name the five duties and ten responsibilities of boards
(as listed on the materials included in your materials for review)?
(Note that various experts might offer a different mix of duties
and responsibilities. The important point here is to get a basic
sense of the overall responsibilities of a board.) See Overview of Roles and Responsibilities of Corporate
Board of Directors.

2. To whom is a board of directors responsible, that is, to
whom do they “report”? See Overview of Roles and Responsibilities of Corporate
Board of Directors.

3. What is the board chair responsible for? vice chair? secretary?
treasurer? See Sample Job Descriptions for Members of Boards
of Directors.

4. Test your knowledge of the roles of board and staff by completing
the table at Board and Staff Responsibilities — Test Your
Knowledge. Be sure to compare your answers to the table at
Board
and Staff Responsibilities.

Board Operations

1. What are the recurring major activities of a board of directors?
See Sample Board Operations Calendar.

2. What are some of the recurring yearly activities that a
Board should do? See Sample Board Operations Calendar.

3. What are at least five ideas to generate and sustain strong
participation of board members? See Ideas to Generate Participation in Committees.

Board Policies

1. What is the purpose of board policies? See Board Policies.

2. What is the purpose of board bylaws? See Corporate Bylaws.

3. What is a board manual? Name as many board manual contents
as you can. See Sample Contents of Board Member’s Manual.

4. What is a board resolution? See Board Resolutions.

Board Staffing (Recruiting, Orienting, Training, Informing)

1. What is the most important consideration when you set out
to recruit new members to your board? See Guidelines for Recruiting New Board Members.

2. How many guidelines can you name for orienting employees?
See Orienting New Members to Boards of Directors.
Informing them on a regular basis? See How Do We Keep Board Members
Informed?

3. How should you train your Board members? See Basic Guidelines and Sample Agenda for Board
Training Session.

4. What should you consider when deciding the compensation
to your Board members? See Compensating Board Members.

5. What’s involved in removing board members? See Removing Members.

Board Committees

1. What is the purpose of a board committee? See Typical Types of Board Committees.

2. What is a standing committee? Ad hoc committee? When should
each type be used? See Typical Types of Board Committees.

3. How many committees can you name and what is the purpose
of each? See Typical Types of Board Committees.

4. What is an advisory group (or committee or board)? See Guidelines
to Form and Advisory Group.

5. What is a work plan for a committee? See Sample of a Board of Directors Committee Work
Plan.

6. Can you name at least 4 of the ideas to generate participation
in committees? See Ideas to Generate Participation in Committees.

Board Meetings

1. What is a board meeting agenda? How are they developed?
See Sample Board of Directors Meeting Agenda.

2. What is the purpose of board meeting minutes? What should
be included in the minutes? See Basic Sample of Board of Directors Meeting Minutes.

Board Evaluations

1. How does the board evaluate itself? What is considered during
the evaluation? How often should the board evaluate itself? See
Board
of Directors Self-Evaluation and Evaluating the Board of Directors.

2. How does the board evaluate the chief executive officer?
See Guidelines for Board of Directors Evaluation
of Chief Executive and Sample
Form for Board’s Evaluation of the Chief Executive.

Special Topic — Board Liabilities

1. Is your board aware of any potential liabilities? Should
your board members consider getting any certain forms of insurance?
See Some Legal Considerations for Board Members
and Insurance Against Liability.

2. What are the ramifications of the Sarbanes Oxley Act for
your company? See Sarbanes Oxley Act.

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the following
activities, and share and discuss results with peers, board members,
management and employees, as appropriate.
Note that the roles of your board and employees will become
more clear as you complete strategic planning and product planning
later on in this program.
As you proceed through the following activities, be sure
to note any incomplete actions in the Action Item Planning List.

Specify Your Board’s Roles and Responsibilities

1. Clarify what your board will be doing and your staff will
be doing. Complete the Board and Staff Responsibilities — Test Your
Knowledge according to the wishes of your board. You can compare
your preferences to those suggested in the table at Board and Staff Responsibilities.

Authorize Up-to-Date Board Policies

1. Adopt an up-to-date and acceptable set of bylaws. Before
the next meeting, the board chair and CEO should write a memo
that highlights important points from the current bylaws. Or,
they might make marks in the margin of the current bylaws as means
to highlight important points. Include these highlights in the
board packet of information that gets sent to each board member
before the next meeting. Set aside 20 minutes in an upcoming board
meeting to collect feedback about the current bylaws. Consider
board resolutions to make any changes to the bylaws. Once changes
have been made, consider a resolution to formally adopt the bylaws.
See Corporate
Bylaws.

2. What board policies will you need? Draft — and carefully
enforce — a policy for board attendance. See Board Attendance Policy (Sample).

3. What other policies are required by Sarbanes Oxley? Role
of Audit Committee? Whistleblower? Document Retention/Destruction?
See Sarbanes Oxley Act.

Organizing Your Board Committees (Includes Recommendations)

1. What board committees should you have? You should have at
least an executive committee that can meet between board meetings,
if necessary. This committee could be comprised of chairs of other
committees and/or officers of the board. To identify other needed
committees, carefully consider the types of major issues that
your organization faces and any strategic goals to be accomplished
over the next year. What is the nature of these goals and issues,
for example, audit, compensation, financial, board development
and personnel? If possible, establish committees for each of the
major types of issues and goals faced by our organization. See
Typical
Types of Board Committees.

Recommendation: Establish the Following Initial Board Committees

2. Strongly consider establishing at least the following board
committees. Each of the following committees can help you accomplish
major sections of this Online For-Profit Organization development
program. Each of the following committees should have its own
work plan. The work plan should include goals to accomplish the
major activities specified in the associated sections of this
online program.

Strongly Suggested Standing Committees to Have:
a) Executive Committee — This committee can be comprised of chairs
from other committees and/or officers of the board. See Executive Committees — To Be or Not To Be.
b) Board Governance Committee — This could be done by the executive
committee for now. This committee also could include nominating,
orienting and training new board members. See Board Governance Committee.
c) Audit Committee — See Setting Up an Audit Committee.
d) Marketing Committee
e) Finance Committee

Other Standing Committees to Consider:
f) Personnel Committee
g) Product Evaluation Committee

Committees to Consider Organizing as Needed:
h) Planning Committee (this can be comprised of the chairs of
other committees)

Note that you will probably have much clearer idea about what
committees to have when you get done with your strategic planning
in an upcoming module. See Description of Typical Committees.

3. Quickly establish work plans for your committees. As soon
as your board has approved the new organization of committees,
be sure that each committee sets about to develop its own work
plan. Using a work plan is one of the best ways for committees
to stay effective and engaged. See Sample of a Board of Directors Committee Work
Plan.

Staff Your Board With Needed Skills

1. Identify what skills are now needed by your board. Again,
consider the nature of major issues and goals currently faced
by your organization. Also reference the Sample Board of Directors Recruitment Grid.
Write down what skills are needed.

2. Develop procedures for recruiting and orienting board members.
Include steps to recruit members, orient members, get completed
applications from board candidates and elect new members. Consider
information in Guidelines for Recruiting New Board Members,
Orienting
New Members to Boards of Directors and Sample Board Application Form. Have the entire
board review the procedures for acceptance and authorization.

3. Use your new procedures to begin recruiting new board members.
(The size of the board is usually specified in the bylaws. You
can recruit enough members to reach this size. If the size needs
to be changed, consider a resolution to modify the bylaws.)

Ensure Strong Participation of Board Members (Board Meetings)

1. Get board packets out to members at least a week before
each meeting. One of the clearest indicators to board members
that the organization is not taking them seriously is if they
don’t get materials in time for adequate review before board meetings.Write
a procedure for your staff to always send out a packet of meeting-preparation
information to board members at least one week before the next
board meeting. In the packet, include at least the following:

a) agenda for the upcoming meeting
b) report from the chief executive about major accomplishments
and current issues and plans over the next two months
c) financial reports, including at least a budget report and cash
flow statement
d) materials that can help board members act on any major decisions
expected from them in the next meeting

2. Expect nothing less than full (or excused) absence from
meetings. What kind of attendance are you getting to current board
meetings? Are you regularly getting at least a quorum of members?
(The quorum is the minimum number of members that must be present
in a meeting for that meeting and its processes to be considered
official. The quorum is usually specified in the bylaws). If you
are not getting strong attendance, then be sure to enforce a Board
Attendance Policy (Sample). If you don’t enforce this policy,
then you have a major problem — the problem is that you
aren’t taking it seriously to expect and pursue a strong board
of directors.

3. The board’s worst enemy — the “numb out” factor.
One of the first signs that a board is in trouble is when members
have opinions that they don’t express during meetings. If you
find yourself sitting in a board meeting and realize you have
“numbed out”, then you’re not doing your duty as a board
member. Do you need to follow any of the guidelines in Ideas to Generate Participation in Committees?

Ensure Your Board and Chief Executive are Really(!) Effective

1. Establish a procedure for regular board self-evaluations.
Don’t just “go through the motions” and not evaluate
whether the board is really effective or not. How does your board
evaluate itself now? Do you have a procedure that has been accepted
and authorized by board members? Is your board evaluating itself
on a regular basis? The board should conduct evaluations on a
yearly basis, or at least every two years. If the board isn’t
evaluating itself on a regular basis, then make this point to
discuss in an upcoming meeting. Consider information in Board of Directors Self-Evaluation and Evaluating the Board of Directors.

2. Establish a procedure for to evaluate the chief executive
on a regular basis — preferably once a year. Don’t just “go
through the motions” and not evaluate whether the chief executive
officer is really effective or not. Does your board evaluate your
chief executive officer? How often? How are the results used?
If you are not evaluating the chief executive on a regular basis,
then why not? Make this a point to discuss in an upcoming meeting.
Consider information in Guidelines for Board of Directors Evaluation
of Chief Executive and Sample
Form for Board’s Evaluation of the Chief Executive.

Clearly Communicate What Your Board Does (Board Operations)

1. Establish a calendar of the recurring major activities to
be conducted by your board each year. The calendar should be accepted
and authorized by the board. Consider information in the Sample Board Operations Calendar.

Ensure Adequate Protection from Liabilities

1. Conclude what insurance you do and don’t need for board
members. Is your board aware of any potential liabilities? Should
your board members consider getting any certain forms of insurance?
Consider information in the
Legal and
Insurance Considerations for Board Members and
Overview of Liability Insurance (including Directors’
and Officers’ Insurance).

Build a Board Manual for Each Board Member

1. Ensure that each board member has a policies manual that
contains at least the following policies and materials. See Sample
Contents of Board Member’s Manual.

a) Description of roles and responsibilities of your board
– see Overview of Roles and Responsibilities of Corporate
Board of Directors

b) Job descriptions for each board member and officer position
– see Sample Job Descriptions for Members of Boards
of Directors

c) Descriptions of your board committees, their overall responsibilities
and work plans – see Typical Types of Board Committees

d) Policies for recruiting new members, orienting them, informing
them and removing them – see Joining, Recruiting, Orienting, Informing, Removing
Board Members

e) Your board meeting attendance policy – see Board Attendance Policy (Sample)

f) Procedure for evaluating your board of directors – see Board
of Directors Self-Evaluation

g) Procedure for evaluating your chief executive officer –
see Guidelines for Evaluating the Chief Executive

h) Sample meeting agendas and board meeting minutes – see Sample
Board of Directors Meeting Agenda and Basic Sample of Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

i) Copies of your articles of incorporation (if applicable)
and bylaws

j) Copy of your strategic plan (if applicable)

k) Board operations calendar

Train Board Members to Be Highly Effective (Board Training
Session)

1. Conduct a board training session to ensure each board member
fully understands their role and has the necessary resources to
carry out their role. Review information in the document Basic Guidelines and Sample Agenda for Board
Training Session. Now draft a training session agenda that
specifies the topics that will be covered in the session, who
will address each topic and how. Schedule and carry out the training
session.

ASSESSMENTS

Consider any or all of the following assessments as means to
evaluate the health of your board of directors.

1. Board of Directors Self-Evaluation

REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

1. Are you exchanging feedback with others about what you’re
learning in this program?

2. Are you sticking to your study schedule for this program?

3. Are you practicing your basic skills in management and leadership,
including in problem solving and decision making, planning and
meeting management?

4. Are you communicating throughout your organization by using
your skills in internal communications?

5. Are you managing yourself? How many hours a week are you
working? Are you noticing any signs of stress? If so, what are
you doing about it?

6. Are you reflecting on learnings from past modules and how
they build on the learning in this module? For example, are you
seeing your organization from a systems view, as explained in
the module “Starting and Understanding Your Organization?”

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

1. One of the first indicators that an organization or a person
is struggling is that open action items are not tracked and reviewed.
(Open action items are required actions that have not yet been
completed.) Instead, people only see and react to the latest “fires”
in their workplaces or their lives. Whether open action items
are critical to address now or not, they should not entirely be
forgotten. Therefore, update and regularly review a list of open
action items (identified while proceeding through this program)
that includes listing each open action item, who is responsible
to complete it, when it should be completed and any associated
comments. When updating the list, consider action items as identified
during discussions, learning activities and assessments in this
module. Share and regularly review this action item list with
the appropriate peers, board, management and employees in your
organization. You can use the following Action Item Planning List. (At that Web address,
a box might open, asking you which software application to open
the document.)

2. If you have questions, consider posing them in national,
free, online discussion groups hr.com, which are attended
by many human resource and organization development experts.

(Learners in the organization development program can return
to the home page of the organization development program.)

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

January 18, 2022September 25, 2022

Board and Staff Responsibilities — Test Your Knowledge

Group of colleagues going through a document

Board and Staff Responsibilities —
Test Your Knowledge

Applies to for-profits unless otherwise noted.

Use the following table to test your
knowledge of the differences between the roles of the board and
staff of an organization. Under the column titled “Responsibility”,
note if the activity is:
Board
Staff
Joint

Then compare your answers to the table
at Board and Staff Responsibilities.

Activity

Respon-
sibility

PLANNING:

Director the process of planning	\|
Provide input to long range goals	\|
Approve long range goals	\|
Formulate annual objectives	\|
Approve annual objectives	\|
Prepare performance reports on achievement of goals and objectives	\|
Monitor achievement of goals and objectives	\|

PROGRAMMING:

Assess stakeholder (customers, community) needs	\|
Oversee evaluation of products, services and programs	\|
Maintain program records; prepare program reports	\|
Prepare preliminary budget	\|
Finalize and approve budget	\|
See that expenditures are within budget during the year	\|
Approve expenditures outside authorized budget	\|
Insure annual audit of organization accounts	\|

PERSONNEL:

Employ Chief Executive	\|
Direct work of the staff	\|
Hire and discharge staff member	\|
Decision to add staff	\|
Settle discord among staff	\|

COMMUNITY RELATIONS:

Interpret organization to community	\|
Write news stories	\|
Provide organization linkage with other organizations	\|

BOARD COMMITTEES:

Appoint committee members	\|
Call Committee Chair to urge him/her into action	\|
Promote attendance at Board/Committee meetings	\|
Recruit new Board members	\|
Plan agenda for Board meetings	\|
Take minutes at Board meetings	\|
Plan and propose committee organization	\|
Prepare exhibits, material and proposals for Board and Committees	\|
Sign legal documents	\|
Follow-up to insure implementation of Board and Committee decisions	\|
Settle clash between Committees	\|

For the Category of Boards of Directors:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

Free Micro-eMBA Module #7: Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization

Sections of This Module Include the Following

INTRODUCTION

OUTCOMES

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

See the “Big Picture” About Marketing

Marketing Basics, Analysis and Positioning

Advertising and Promotions

Public and Media Relations

Sales

Optional — Customer Service

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

Basics of Marketing

Basics of Marketing Analysis and Positioning

Public and Media Relations

Sales

Customer Service

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES

Writing Your Marketing Plan for Each Product/Service

Describe Your Product or Service

List Your Target Market(s) for the Product/Service

Write a Profile of Each Target Market

Analysis of Competitors

Analysis of Collaborators

Pricing Analysis

Write Your Sales Plan

Write Your Advertising and Promotions Plan

Conduct Your Customer Service Planning

Conduct Your Production Planning

Conduct Your Distribution Planning

Updating Your Operating Budgets

Draft a Budget for Each of Your Major Products/Services

ASSESSMENTS

REMINDERS FOR THOSE IN THE ON-LINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Reminders About You

Reminders About Your organization

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

For the Category of Marketing:

Framework for Basic Marketing and Promotions Plan

(including plans for public and media relations, sales, advertising and promoting, and customer service)

Mission Statement

Positioning Statement

Script for Representing Our Organization to External Stakeholders

Procedure for Managing Media Contacts

Preferred Media and Contacts

Markets, Messages and Methods (Media Plan and Calendar)

Key Questions While Monitoring Implementation of the Plan

Reporting Status of Implementation

Procedure for Changing the Plan

For the Category of Marketing:

Free Micro-eMBA Module #4: Building Basic Skills in Management and Leadership

Sections of This Module Include the Following

INTRODUCTION

OUTCOMES

MATERIALS FOR REVIEW

Basic Skills in Management and Leadership

Introduction to Management and Supervision

Core Skills in Management and Supervision

Optional Readings — Broad Context of Management

Optional Readings — Broad Context of Leadership

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Basics of Planning

Delegation

Basics of Internal Communications

Meeting Management

Managing and Leading Yourself

Optional Readings — Broad Contexts of Management and Leadership

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS ANDPRACTICES

Developing Your Basics Skills in Management and Leadership

Learning to Manage and Lead Yourself

Optional — Management Development Planning

Optional — Leadership Development Planning

ASSESSMENTS

TRACKING OPEN ACTION ITEMS

For the Category of Management:

Free Micro eMBA — How to Provide the Program for Businesses

You Can Provide Program with Little in Expertise or Resources!

Sections of This Document Include the Following

Primary Considerations in Setting Up Any Development Program

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

Peer-Training Incorporates State-of-the-Art Methods of Adult
Development

Before Peer-Training Begins, Sponsor Markets Program and Recruits
Learners

Objective Criteria That Could Be Considered for Evaluation
of Learning

Subjective Criteria That Could Be Considered for Evaluation
of Learning

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR REFLECTION
AND DISCUSSION

Budget, Cash Management, Credit and Collections, and Budget
Deviation Analysis

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR REFLECTION
AND DISCUSSION

ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SYSTEMS AND
PRACTICES