The balancing act of control can be elusive. One of my favorite articles read this year was Lori Deshene’s “50 Things You Can Control Right Now”. It was a rare gem I found on the Tiny Buddha Website. While there is much in the world out of our control, there are many things we can …

How c-stores use back office data varies greatly. Customizing your reports is not a new concept. Most Business Intelligence and even some Back-Office tools come with standard reports, but this usually entails data that you can currently get from your Back-Office system already. There are core areas of activity that impact the totals these systems give you that need …

If you break the word insight down to in-sight, the power it gives you is easier to comprehend.  It is easier to correct problems, or avoid troubles when they are known and seen.  While spreadsheet reporting will give you insight into the most critical issues, it can be the little issues that impact the bottom lines of those …

There are 3 Important Pillars in Teamwork: An Excerpt from The Serenity of Accountability by Tom Bandy “Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability”     ~Patrick Lencioni~ Teamwork Having a culture of accountability implies an organization that works together. Teamwork is the mechanism …

Motivation is not an easy thing to create. However, there 3 free Ways to motivate employees. If your pockets are not endless, you are staffing at minimal levels or your business cannot sustain downtime, it is hard to find things you can do to motivate employees.  More money, time off or company events aren’t possible.  …

As a child, you may have played the game called, Telephone.  It is where people sit in a circle and one whispers a statement into the ear of the person sitting next to them.  It continues until everyone has had a turn to heard to relay the statement until it reaches the last person who …

Taking time to sharpen your tools is necessary. C-stores tools include reports to drive business.  Managers look at them to measure performance, make key decisions and set the path for the company going forward. When the tool that is used to guide this process is a report, it makes sense to spend a little time …

Good data provide good insights. A useful measurement can be a single number that indicates the health of a days work (or any other unit of time). For example, in a c-store the inside sales traffic is key. Those spending money inside is even better. Many operators use the measure of coffee sales to judge …

A song was written, “Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.” Though this song may be a bit Pop, there is a lot of wisdom in this request. Studies show that employees want and need this feedback. The corporate benefit in doing so is multifold. Dr. Jan West, PHD, wrote an article about the biggest …

Simplifying management yields better results. Simple is better. Clarity with goals and current performance is a key to great results. Management is tasked to drive desired results. Management if full of challenges. By have a clear understanding of performance toward goal, the area of focus is easy to find. Finding and solving problems is time-consuming. …

Simplicity is an excellent method of assessing goals, designs and decisions. Every businessman understands how much easier it is for staff when things are straight-forward and clear. Simple is a friend to action and results. Sometimes, however, simple can be confused with easy. Simple is almost never easy. Albert Einstein is credited for defining the …

Green industry executives know full well that using the right tool the right job is key to a successful job. It would be pretty hard to cut most yards if you only had a string trimmer. Every company needs technology to maintain their information and work flow. Most small companies create spreadsheets as a flexible …