Category Archives: Office / Work Place / Legal

By Maureen Werther

As an organizational consultant, Leslie Kendall understands first hand the important role motivation plays in maximizing individual and team performance.

Owner of Kendall & Associates Organizational Development in Queensbury, her firm specializes in offering business solutions and support to accelerate an organization’s growth and achieve success. A big part of achieving that growth and success is in understanding the ins and out of motivational development. What are the different motivators that influence people and what is the best way to implement them within a company’s existing cultural framework?

“Any manager will tell you that retention rates and absenteeism, improved focus on tasks and enhanced productivity and quality are all results of having a highly motivated team working for you,” said Kendall.

Glens Falls Hospital will be taking steps to further protect our patients, visitors, and staff by implementing a visitor management program.    

The program will be rolling out throughout  August and September and will work to improve the safety, security, comfort, and accommodations of people who come to the hospital, officials said.

To support the initiative, the hospital security team will be stationed at all the public entrances in use by patients and visitors.  These security officers will act as greeters, supporting access and giving directions, as well as check-in for visitors.

“This program will improve the security at Glens Falls Hospital,” said Paul Scimeca, chief operating officer.  “We need to ensure that our patients are receiving the highest quality of care in the safest environment and the visitor management program will allow us to further protect and welcome everyone who visits our campus.”

By Maureen Werther

Many businesses are continuing to cope with on-the-job issues such as stagnant wages, lack of advancement opportunities, or general dissatisfaction with the direction of their career.

Recent online articles in Small Business Trends and Forbes cited statistics about new and existing small businesses. According to those websites, 51 percent of existing small businesses are owned by baby boomers. Millennials are starting new businesses at a much younger age than their older entrepreneurial counterparts.

While other generations typically went into business on their own around the age of 35, millennials are starting at around age 27.

However, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, over 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first four years. The leading reasons for those failures are incompetence, lack of managerial experience and an inadequate understanding of the business venture and its value in the marketplace.

Leslie Kendall, MA, MS and owner of Kendall & Associates Organizational Development in Queensbury, calls the current employment environment a “candidate’s market.”

Kendall works with organizations to maximize their performance to achieve mission success, and she provides organizational development consulting and training for businesses, nonprofit groups, schools and government agencies.

By MAureen Werther

Human resource professionals say finding and retaining good employees has been a challenge as the unemployment rate drops and the demand for qualified workers continues to grow.

Michael Cruz, owner and principal of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury, works with CEOs to help build their teams and figure out if they’ve got the right people. He helps clients identify issues and examine the root causes of problems in the workplace.

A key role of Lighthouse Advisors, he said, is to help CEOs “build a framework” for evaluating the people on a client’s team and the roles for which they will be best suited to achieve the company’s mission and objectives.

It’s not just upper management that is Cruz’s focus. He noted an example of a company that was experiencing ongoing problems in its shipping department. The wrong items were being sent to customers and cross-shipping was occurring. The answer was not that the company had the wrong people in the shipping department, he said. They had the wrong process. The people in the shipping department were crucial in both identifying where the process was going wrong and helping find a solution.

“When you have the right people working for you, they will help you solve the problem,” said Cruz. “I encourage my clients to really think through what they are looking for in a new hire. Do they need a critical thinker? Or someone with great technical skills?” he said.

Regarding the issue of hiring across generations, Cruz said he encourages clients to focus on the right skill sets and not on the age of a candidate.

He also said many companies may have people already in their organizations who they simply haven’t developed. Perhaps rather than looking externally, it might be better to mentor and move existing employees along. Cruz noted that companies are often looking for a “fast fix” and the latter option is a “longer term fix.”

He cautioned that when companies are too hasty in their hiring, they often end up bringing on the wrong person.

Sarah Lindsell is a CPA with CMJ LLP Certified Public Accountants, Queensbury. Courtesy CMJ LLP Certified Public Accountants By Sarah Lindsell, CPA As a business owner it is likely you have heard the terminology Tangible Property Regulations, more commonly...

Paul Pontiff, principal of Bartlett, Pontiff, Stewart and Rhodes PC in Glens Falls. Courtesy Bartlett, Pontiff, Stewart and Rhodes PC By Lisa Balschunat "If you are thinking about starting up a new business or planning to purchase an existing...

Michael Cruz is president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury. Courtesy Lighthbouse Advissors LLC By Michael Cruz The first reason is that you simply do not trust each other. In his breakthrough work, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,"...