Business Management Skills -Trust Building Tips for Managers

To be successful as a manager it is important to develop a relationship with the team that is based on trust. When employees trust and respect their manager they will give special effort especially when they feel trusted and supported.Employees rarely excel under the punitive thumb of someone they do not trust and who they feel does not trust them. Without trust productivity suffers as team members play politics, spend time covering themselves and being compliant to dictates that they know are counterproductive. Lack of trust affects morale and customer satisfaction as the employees shift energy and focus from working on real life issues that affect customers to resentment and dissatisfaction towards management.Effective CommunicationManagers who communicate openly and frequently build relationship and trust with the team. They should not make team members guess what they’re thinking but should tell them. Employees can feel that no news is bad news. A lack of interaction erodes trust. Face to face interaction is the best method to build trust.To get Trust Managers Need to Give TrustIt is important for a manager to create an environment of trust. This begins by trusting others. It is more effective to assume employees are trustworthy unless they prove otherwise rather than waiting to give trust when they haven’t earned it. As team members come to feel they are trusted by their manager, they will find it easier to trust in return.Be HonestHonesty is a very important factor that affects trust. Managers who demonstrate openness about their actions, intentions and vision, soon find that people respond positively to self disclosure and sincerity. As a manager share good and bad news openly. This can eliminate gossip and diffuse inappropriate politics. Great managers know that they are not perfect and they make mistakes. It is better for a manager to admit mistakes rather than ignore them or cover them up. A cover up (perceived or real) is probably the greatest single enemy to trust.Establish Strong Business EthicsManagers need to set moral values for the work place. Teams with common ethics are healthier, more productive, adaptable, responsive, and resourceful because they are united under one common value set.Keep Your WordDo what you say you will do and make your actions visible. Team members quickly pick up on insincerity and broken promises. Visibly keeping commitments will foster trust. If a manager neglects to make actions visible to the team it can create the impression/perception that they don’t follow through.Keep Interactions Consistent and PredictableBuilding trust is a process. Trust results from consistent and predictable interaction over time. If a manager responds differently from week to week it becomes harder to trust him or her.Set the Tone for the Future from the BeginningThe initial actions of the manager establish norms and expectations. A manager should lead by example.Be Accessible and ResponsiveFind ways to be regularly available to team members. When interacting, be responsive. Unresponsiveness causes unease and distrust. Be action rather than talk oriented. Don’t just think about taking action-do it!Maintain ConfidencesTeam members need to be able to express concerns, identify problems, share sensitive information, and surface relevant issues. It is important early on to get agreement as to how confidential data will be handled.Watch your LanguageIt is important that a manager’s language does not imply “us” or “them”. Terminology should be easy to understand. Leaders should stick with business language and not use strong or vulgar language.Create Social time for the TeamA lot of trust and confidence is built through informal social interaction. Successful managers ensure that social opportunities happen regularly.Building trust with employees is critical for creating an effective team that works well together. Taking time to build trust will reap benefits for managers that last a long time.

Travel Network

When it comes to networking there are plenty of opportunities to do this on a day to day basis, the same goes with travel network. With travelling becoming so big now and with so many places to go, networking with fellow travellers has become big business. Travel network can come in many different forms from helping and recommending holidays, to travelling around the world with people. There are many of us who take time out for a year or so to travel around the world who will connect with plenty of people, from travelling with someone, to meeting people at the airport to mixing in with people while they are away. There are many travel networking groups that will help people find what they are looking for in the travel field, these are a great ways for people to mix with like minded people and get new experiences. We all network all the time, but with travel it seams even more so because of being in so many places and connecting with a huge amount of people, that travel networking becomes so natural to do.There are many true entrepreneurs that have a passion for travelling and these people will have a massive influence on other people through their travel networking. From recommending the best places to take a holiday vacation to the best flights to book and what to experience once they are away. We all have our own experiences that could help others in many ways and travel network is one of the ways where we can do just that.People are travelling more that ever short trips way are becoming very popular than the two summer weeks away which most people are used to. These short breaks away are good to help relax and really connect with each other. Travelling in a huge part of what people love to do, just the shear freedom that people will have when exploring and sharing their passion with everyone.So if you are looking for a place to connect with people who see travel network as part of what they are about then you will enjoy sites that offer this facility, it really is that simple, mix with people who enjoy what travel has to offer and even find a business that can benefit everyone. It won’t be to long before many people are doing this and would love the chance to part of a travel network. Travel has come along leaps and bounds over the last few years now with the internet this has made it even easier than before. We can connect with people all over the world which is such a wonderful thing to be able to do this is only the beginning to what the future holds. It looks very bright for those who have a passion for travel and for those who enjoy travel networking.

Luxury Travel For Less

I was raised an Army brat. Dad was career army all the way. Living and traveling through different parts of the United States and the world was second nature to me growing up.Maybe that’s why I didn’t travel as much for pleasure when I became an adult. It wasn’t that I didn’t like getting out, I just found it hard to make the time to see more of the world. I spent most of my vacation time going back to see family that I had missed in my youth.As a business executive, I did travel for my employer however and thoroughly enjoyed it. As a west coast native, there was nothing to rival the experience of visiting Manhattan on an expense account. Good hotels, good food, excellent service.I was spoiled from the start: It was like traveling as royalty when my large corporate employer was picking up the tab. I didn’t abuse the privilege, in fact they insisted on it. Back in the 1990’s, the economy was hot and my company routinely bought expensive airline tickets and put us up in pricey hotels while we were away on business.When I left the corporate world to start my own business however, those halcyon days became much harder to come by. It’s one thing to be able to write of the trip as a tax expense when you’ve got enough money coming in to cover the expenses, it’s a completely different thing altogether when you’re just getting started and squeaking by as it is.I had to watch every dime because it all had to go back into growing the business and marketing. I traveled a lot less since my company then covered only my local area. When I left it was for pleasure unless I could find a way to not only link it to my work but generate sales and income out of the trip as well.If I was going to travel, I had to find another way.I had to be far more discerning and wiser about money and how to get good service if I was to continue to travel in the manner to which I had become accustomed. So I took time to learn what many others don’t. I worked the system until I got it right and made travel worth my while.Here are a few tips and strategies that I utilized in order to continue to enjoy fine travel at a price that didn’t break the bank.Tip #1 You can pick up a good deal at the last minute. All of the experts on TV and in the travel magazines notwithstanding, you don’t always have to book early to get a good deal on a hotel room, resort destination or airline ticket.Even in the best of times (not including special events or popular annual gatherings like the Super Bowl or Marti Gras) occupancy rates for hotels and load factors for the airlines hover around 80%. That means 20% of the rooms /seats are unoccupied.Those empty rooms and seats go on sale, often at the last minute. Web sites like http://www.lastminute.com offer distressed travel inventory and can help you save a lot of money.(IMPORTANT NOTE: Of late, the airlines have engaged in more overbooking than usual while at the same time cutting down the number of planes they are flying. The load factors รข” the measure of how full their planes are are likely to go higher. Be aware of this when planning or booking flights.)Tip #2 Contrary to popular belief, the best travel deals aren’t found online. While good travel agents may be hard to find, it can be worth the effort. A good agent will have access to special deals you can’t find on the Internet.How? Well, agencies sometimes have affiliate agreements with large travel companies that negotiate lower volume discount rates for them. If you’re into bargain hunting, never limit your search to the web.Believe it or not, some of the best bargains can be found in the newspaper. Often, tour operators will advertise ridiculously low fares and package deals in the Sunday travel section.Tip #3 Book air travel tickets online to avoid fees for making reservations on the phone with an airline representative. Most experts advise that you not buy tickets too far in advance though, the fare structure is too screwed up right now.Current fares reflect all of the price increases and fuel surcharges that the airlines have imposed recently. Things should calm down in a few months so if you don’t have to travel soon, it will probably pay to wait to book your tickets.Tip #4 – High airfares combined with a weak U.S. dollar have boosted the cost of travel to Western Europe, but Americans will still find bargains in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America where the cost of living is less and the dollar still buys more.Check with travel agents who do a big volume of business in certain destinations, especially Asia and Latin America. They often negotiate contracts with the airlines that allow them to discount tickets below what you could find on your own.For more travel tips and information on how you can get deals on luxury travel, go to http://www.luxury-travel-at-wholesale.com.