Scheme to certify management consultants to be launched
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will soon get help to assess the quality of management consultants when they need to engage one to improve their systems and processes.
This will be made possible through a new scheme that will be launched next year to certify management consultants.
Called the Practising Management Consultants Scheme, it will be managed by the Institute of Management Consultants and supported by SPRING Singapore.
No further details have been given at this stage.
Loh Khum Yean, CEO of SPRING Singapore, said: "The certification scheme will help to build up a bigger pool of good management consultants who are constantly upgrading themselves, keeping in touch with the latest best practice, and this in itself means a better resource from which the SMEs can tap."
The new scheme is expected to be launched in the second quarter of next year.
Certification to the scheme is voluntary.
There are presently about 10,000 management consultants in Singapore.
Thought Leader Allan Cox says Make Contact With Your Authentic Self in New Book
Management Coach Allan Cox brings his eighth business book, "YOUR INNER CEO: Unleash The Executive Within" to market in October (Career Press). Cox uses the Style-of-Life theory of famed Vienna psychologist Alfred Adler to help readers excavate and truly learn their hidden goals, strengths and weaknesses. What's unique is that this is the first time Adler's Style-of-Life theory has ever been introduced or applied to a broad business audience. "For better or worse," says Cox, "these hidden goals often govern our lives, and we're not even aware of it."
YOUR INNER CEO is full of stories of winners and how they made it, and losers, and why they didn't. Each of the nine chapters is full of examples, case studies and exercises to help readers dig deep and excavate their personal beliefs in a way that they probably have never done before. Each chapter has a one word title that's self-explanatory -- Goals, Changes, Facades, Boundaries, Boards, Visions, Futures, Models and Mentors. Throughout every chapter there are 5-7 lessons that engage the reader in serious self examination.
The audience for YOUR INNER CEO is everyone from Fortune 500 executives, Managing Partners of law firms, School Board and PTA Presidents, Factory Managers, Entrepreneurs, Clergy, Association Execs and CEOs of a company of one. They all have the same issues and need for advice.
Cox concludes, "Authenticity carries a charisma all its own. People don't expect their bosses to be perfect, but they do want them to be real. The key is making changes by reclaiming the unique and natural strengths that we've neglected for fear of acting on them. Truth is, we all have strengths we bury because we're afraid that if we acted on them, they still might not be good enough." Cox shows that there's a better way.
In both personal career and organizational effectiveness, where the words goals, objectives and outcomes have top priority, it's most important to know that the goals one lives by are right and real.
Online Application facilitates business planning
This Wednesday at the DEMO Fall conference in San Diego, PlanHQ will officially launch its web-based business planning software on stage at 10am PT. PlanHQ is designed specifically to help small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) create, action, track and achieve their business plans.
Instead of relying on static documents or spreadsheets for formal business plans that are abandoned after completion, PlanHQ transforms an SMBs unstructured data into dynamic business tools for involving entire teams in the planning process. In addition to assisting startup entrepreneurs through initial launch, the PlanHQ program keeps your entire business focused on execution by setting actions, prioritizing work against goals and tracking progress based on financial projections.
"The problem with project management applications is they're too operationally-focused and it's easy to get lost in the noise of messages and endless to-do lists," said Tim Norton, CEO of PlanHQ. "PlanHQ solves this by keeping you focused on where you've been, and where you're going as a business, ensuring everyone is always working to plan and achieving your company's goals."
PlanHQ provides simple visual indicators such as graphs and flow charts to track short- and long-term goals, competitive positioning, and overall progress. Several Venture Capital businesses, have started using PlanHQ to track their portfolio companies and work closer with management teams to stay on track.
Team members are reminded of, and held accountable for reaching targets, and board members, investors and advisers are kept informed with regular status reports. A completely up-to-date and comprehensive business plan with market analysis can be downloaded at any time as a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF file.
Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies.