My mother always used to say to me “What goes around comes around”. As a young boy she would say that to me every time I felt used by a friend or taken advantage of by someone. The older I got the more I witnessed how true this was and we truly do reap what we sow, sometimes immediately and sometimes it takes years.In business and personal relations a negative action can create a chain of reactions that center around a negative thread. We enter into personal relationships never expecting things will go wrong. However sometimes they do and the “wrongs” become defined through our personal filters of what the “rights” should be. What usually ensues is arguments over who is right and who is wrong with neither party seeking to understand before they can be understood.

Rarely do such arguments end in a win win solution but when they do it is evidence of both parties ability to set aside differences while agreeing to both respect those differences and focus on the common values of the relationship.

Is This True in Business Relationships?

Business conflicts usually arise out of broken promises and expectations not being met. The fuel that drives conflict is centric to economic gain or loss by either party. However, the essence of conflicts start and end with the dynamics of the relationships.

When we form business relations it follows the model of either a supplier, employee or a customer of the business. Businesses need suppliers and employees in order to serve the end product, service or message to their customers. When things go “wrong” anywhere in the supply chain or the delivery chain, whether it be with the product or service, relationship conflicts arise and much time and money is spent trying to resolve the “wrongs”.

When a wrong carries significance, either economically, emotionally, physically or mentally the magnitude of loss determines the degree of pursuit to be made “right”. In business the larger the perceived wrong the more likely that a legal process will be used as the means for conflict resolution. As soon as any conflict gets to the legal stage the cost of resolution goes up and damage to the “relationships”, or in a larger sense markets, becomes extremely difficult to repair or even salvage.

Then there are business conflicts which never end up in legal disputes but the cost of these conflicts can sometimes be larger than those pursued through the legal system. Historically these kind of conflicts were buried in the hearts and minds of those who have loss something as a result of the “wrongs”. Everyone simply walked away and the offenders hoped the issues would never arise again and that “word of the conflict” would not spread too far. Some businesses, not all, tend to take advantage of both there size and economic muscle, power, in resolving conflicts by leveraging the offending parties inability to fuel the cost of a legal dispute. Many consider these tactics a win and will leverage these dynamics any day of the week.

Will Conflicts Now Trickle Down or Up?

The social web creates transparency to both the wrongs and the rights of suppliers, employees and customers. The transparency of collective conversations are open to discovery by anyone, anywhere about anything and everything. Today’s media is quick to report “news” formed by either major business announcements or collective conversations facilitated through the social web. A wrong or right can trickle down to the masses very quickly.

The term “trickle-down” comes from an analogy with a phenomenon in marketing, the trickle-down effect. Some economist support “trickle-down economics” and “trickle-down theory,” and propose that it works best for a collective society. Conversational rivers flow through the social web and trickle down to the point of influence over people, businesses and markets.

Given these dynamics business owners, shareholders and entire markets may need to rethink how they deal with conflict resolution in the future. Focusing on the value of good relations may mean the past tactics of conflict resolution need to be reconstructed around enhancing good will with people rather than leveraging power against them for the wrong purpose.

The alternative is that the conversational rivers of the people become a negative influence over your business, your markets, your suppliers, your customers and certainly not least, your employees. In the old days conversations and the subsequent objectives trickled down. Today the conversations may trickle up.

What goes around comes around.

What say you?

Featured post by Jay Deragon from LinkToYourWorld.comBusinesses are shaped and built around markets, existing or created. Whether the proposition is a product or service, for a business to survive it has to have a market that wants or needs its product or service.Business follows different methods to build and deliver to the masses. Creating market differential aimed at specific markets is the means for creating market movement. Think of the Apple IPhone as an example of creating and delivering market differential and thus movement.

What and Where are the Markets?

A market is a social structure for exchange of rights, which enables people, firms and products to be evaluated and priced. A market allows buyers and sellers to discover information and carry out a voluntary exchange of goods or services. It is one of the two key institutions for organizing trade. In everyday usage, the word “market” may also refer to the location where goods and services are traded, or in other words, the marketplace of transactions.

Business is a Web of Conversational Transactions

A conversational transaction is an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between separate entities or individuals. These conversations often involve the exchange of items of value, such as information, introductions, knowledge, services and sometimes money. These conversational transactions evolve into relationships based on an affinity defined between two parties then thousands of individuals collectively forming a “swarm” of transactional conversations centric to affinities.

These collective relationships then form into markets being defined by the “collective parties engaging in conversations“. Think about how customers thrilled or disappointed with a new product or service converse with others thus creating a web of conversations that influence others. Think about employees disappointed with employers and the influence the subsequent conversations have when promulgated into the marketplace of people. The marketplace is where the conversation are occurring, the conversational transactions are the influence on the marketplace, any marketplace, your marketplace.

The Social Web is the Marketplace of Conversations

The social web is the new marketplace fueled by conversations and relationships formed at the intersection of people and technology. Web 1.0 was about delivering information. Web 2.0 is about enabling conversations which in turn create transactions. Thus the appropriate label of the “social web”.

Doc Searls book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and on his blog often and regularly he refers to three categories of activity which are fueled and enabled by the power of the web. These are: transactions, conversations and relationships. Doc writes “In too many markets the mix of the three is warped and strained. Too much of the conversation is insincere, preachy, hollow or otherwise bullshit. And the current methods used by businesses pollutes both conversation and relationship.”

“Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed,” Some of Doc’s key points are:

• These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
• As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.
• People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products.
• There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
• What’s happening to markets is also happening among employees. A metaphysical construct called “The Company” is the only thing standing between the two.
• Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.
• In just a few more years, the current homogenized “voice” of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.

The Social Web of Business

Business is about markets, methods and masses. The markets are the relationships, people. The methods are about the conversation and the masses is about the reach of the transactions. To win in the relationship economy a business must have solid market relations, honest, open and frank conversations which in turn fuel the transactions, results.

The Relationship Economy is about people, one to one to millions, transacting in the form of conversations but openly, honestly and at velocities never before experienced. These transactions enable new relationships to be formed with a global reach and formed within what we have come to call the social web.

These conversations are about anything, everything, anybody and everybody. These conversations are nonstop able, fluid, frank and with no hierarchy of control, they are free and without constraint. This represents a movement of markets and unless business understands the methods they will loose the masses and the subsequent transactions.

It is that simple yet hard for business to grasp considering the current state of mind. “It” requires a different mindset, a focus on human factors and understanding the value of “real” conversations.

What say you?

In business, you want to have the best employees working for you. If your team is made up of high quality people who have the skills and traits to succeed, your company will grow faster, quicker, and easier.

It’s those times that you have key employees holding your company back from this growth. I’m sure you’ve seen it countless times in your career. Those employees who aren’t motivated to work, gossip, or just don’t have the right skill set to succeed in your business.

Workitect.com has studied the characteristics and skills of high performing employees and what makes them stand apart from the rest. This type of research can help you understand the type of people you need to higher within your organization to help the business succeed.

What’s important to point out is just because a potiental employee isn’t suited for a certain position, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t suited for a different position within the company. Workitect has done a lot of research on certain job competencies and the qualities and skills those people should have to succeed in the position.

If you’re looking for a new job, this would also be a great way to access your own skills and see which types of jobs you would be best at. I know when I was younger, I bounced from one job to another until I found the one that I was highly successful at. If I would have had this type of information in my early 20’s, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time throughout my career trying to “find” the perfect job.

Businesses that want to succeed should incorporate some sort of competency models into their hiring process. It would save them a lot of time and money on hiring the wrong person for the job. As you go up the corporate ladder, it becomes even more important to hire the right person the first time.

Keynote speakers provide inspiration and motivation to your business. They bring in their expertise to produce solutions to your business needs. Some speakers are funny, some are intelligent, very few are both. They should be able to give the audience members new ideas, practical tips, and inspiring stories that will motivate them take on your business challenges in a new way to drive results for the bottom line. When your company’s in a rut, it’s time to bring in a keynote speaker to provide the juice to your teams morale.

If you’re looking for keynote speakers for your next company meeting, seminar, or conference look no further than Andy Cohen.

Both intelligent and funny, Andy’s speeches leave an impression on everyone who attends. Using magic as a metaphor, he is able to include the audience into the presentation to create a truly interactive, engaging speech.

Tackling the issues that face your company, Andy delivers speeches on communication, leadership, and management. In each of these topics he will include real examples that the audience can relate too and act upon.

You can reach Andy by visiting his website at AndyCohen.com

I’ve been to keynote speakers that have made the audience fall asleep during the presentation and I’ve also been to keynote speakers that were alive with passion and everyone was hanging on each word coming out of his mouth. The boring ones are a waste of time for the employees, and the company. The ones that are great leave everyone wanting to work harder to achieve company goals.

There are many topics you can choose from when deciding on a keynote speaker. Your job in management is to choose the best keynote speaker that will deliver results that will help your business grow.

I had a client come to me the other day and he told me that he’s had his business blog up for the last 6 months, but he wasn’t getting much traffic and there were even fewer repeat visitors. I checked out John’s business blog and I noticed quite a few things that he was doing wrong in marketing and writing for the blog. There were many things that he had to update on the backend of the blog and I’ll get to that in another post, but what really caught my eye was what he was “writing” on the blog.

Business blogs are a form of communication with your readers. Your writing style needs to be welcoming and friendly with the readers and motivate them to come back. What I noticed on his company’s blog was that it was filled with press releases and product updates. Don’t get me wrong, there is a strategy to incorporate these into your corporate blog, but if that’s all you are posting on the blog, it will certainly fail.

Readers don’t just want to hear about what your company is doing, but they do want to know what the people in the company are doing. Share their stories in your blog. Did you just hire a new associate? Did someone get a promotion within your company? Did someone just have a baby? If so, tell your readers about it! Share the story of Joe in accounting buying his first house or the party that the company had for Susan’s 10 year anniversary at the company. These are the types of stories that your readers will appreciate. Remember, there’s always a line where too much is too much, but you get the idea.

The more personal you get on your blog, the more comments readers will leave. If you touch the hearts of your readers with personal stories, they will feel more involved and want to be more involved by leaving feedback and comments.

This is just one way that John was able to turn his company’s blog into a better communication tool with his clients. Not only will the readers be more involved in the blog, but so will the employees. Start adding personal content into your business blog and start to see your community grow.

A weekly roundup of the best blog postings related to business issues:

How To Start a Business Blog, Part 8: Choose Categories at Michael Martine.

Seven Business Blogging Mistakes at Krishna De.

“Green” hotels please customers, boost profits at The Honolulu Advertiser.

Are All Customers Worth the Effort? at Unique World CEO Blog.

What Employees Want from Their Job at Suite101.

Luck and the Entrepreneur at blog.pmarca.com.

Tom Peters on Leadership at The Practice of Leadership.

How to Combine Social Networking and E-commerce at Dennis Plucinik.

Public Speaking: Time of Day Matters at Great Public Speaking.

Need Help Making Management Decisions? at Slacker Management.

A weekly roundup of the best blog postings related to business issues:

Should CEOs Have Term Limits? - Transition of Power at Modern Magellans.

Estimated Tax: Self-Employed at glgcpa.blogspot.com.

Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data at blog.pmarca.com.

Make Your Resume Pop With These Resume Writing Tips at The Frugal Law Student.

Tip: Measure Meetings With Action at Behance.

How Sales Managers Can Increase Participation in Sales Meetings at Landing the Deal.

Planning Your Career - What’s Important? at Alexander Hughes Selection.

Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership at BuildYourOwnBusiness.com.

What is Management Effectiveness? at Suite101.

The most meaningful way to say “Thank you” to your customers at Insightful Business Ideas.

Q: We have an employee that has been going through addiction treatment for the past two months. He is scheduled to come back to work on Monday. How do we put this employee back into his old role and reacquaint himself to the job?

-Susan, Florida

A: After any long absence from work, the employee will have to catch up to any changes the business has made. These changes could include policy, method, or structure. You will need to take a day or two to allow the employee to become familiar with any and all changes that have happened in the workplace. Once they are comfortable, you can allow them to go on with their daily tasks.

A recent Yahoo survey says that employees who feel undervalued and boredom are wasting up to 20% of their time at work. Typically they are surfing the Internet or gossiping with fellow coworkers.

As a manager, the best way to combat this is to delegate more tasks to your employees and add some daily praise in the mix and they will feel more valued. Creating a culture of valued employees will raise the company’s morale and lead to either higher revenue or decrease costs. However you look at it, it will raise the bottom line!

To those employees who are wasting time, watch out, the majority of companies are watching when you surf online. For the most part, they have to do it because of compliance. If they did not monitor web activities, they could be found liable in certain court cases or be found to not have sufficient evidence if an ex-employee filed a complaint. Do not take it personally, consider it a business decision.

To you, if you feel like you’re wasting time at work it is your responsibility to ask for more tasks or go above and beyond on your current tasks. If you can do this, and you still don’t feel valued, it’s time to take your skills somewhere else where they may appreciate you and the work that you do.

Training is an essential part of your human resources to better equip your employees with the tools and skills that they need to perform their job functions. It will also add to your employees work performance and meet company goals. The business landscape changes dramatically over time with the advent of new technologies and business theories put into practice.

Training also makes your employees feel like they are important to your business. There is nothing worse than having employees who do not enjoy being at work because they feel undervalued. Training allows your employees to use their mind to learn new skills and utilize those skills at the workplace.

You can either have a training program directly at your business, or you can set up a training program online.

Having a computer based training program established for your business will allow your employees to complete training whether they are at work, or they are at home. If you have a small or medium sized business then an online training program would be beneficial so your employees can complete the work at home. This way, they won’t have to take off company time and you can run your business as usual.

Resource Bridge provides customized learning programs to fit your business needs and can provide training anywhere from the accounting department to the sales team. They have a methodology that will allow your employees to benefit the most from online training and put it into practice in the work place.

Make sure your employees stay up to date with the latest technologies and methods for effectively completing their job functions with proper training. Your employees, along with your business, will greatly benefit from it.