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Articles by Kevin Kraft

opinion

VOC Isn't a Monster

Let me start of by saying that: I'm a quality nut. Yes that's right, I love quality. A few years back I ordered Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates from Amazon. After waiting two weeks, well past the expected delivery date, I thought I'd call them to see where my order went. The phone conversation I had with the support representative knocked me off my feet. The whole conversation was just three sentences:

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Creating A Bottleneck

Today's modern organization is under constant pressure from competitive forces. Eager upstarts or giant powerhouses can unexpectedly take market share. If you don't keep up, you will soon find your business tumbling downwards rapidly.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Leading the Team

Project management is a nice thought; however companies often see it strictly as a management function. Efficient management of projects is not to be taken lightly; the thin line between success and failure goes through every stage of the project.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Project Management

Webster's Dictionary defines "Project Management" as "The process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the production of a system," many organizations however don't take the time to maximize their project management.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Project Development

After numerous brainstorming sessions and meetings you are ready to move your project into the development stage. Before your development team can get started, they need to have all information to complete it on time and to specifications. Just like all other stages of the project, the communication to the development team will have a direct impact on the bottom line and may help to maximizing the return on investment.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

The Paperless Office

Improving business operation can have immense effects on the bottom line by cutting down on operational costs as well as streamlining existing tasks. Cutting down costs does not necessarily mean letting people go. On the contrary, improving how your business operates could actually free up good workers to deploy in other sections. Today I will talk about one way to make things easier around the office in the long run: creating a Paperless Office.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Leadership Isn't Cheap

The purpose of any company is to make money. The responsibilities of a chief executive officer, president, or managing director are broad, but generally speaking, their main function in a company is to strategically move the company ahead so it can reach its goals. Throughout this article it may seem that I focus on company-oriented leadership; don't be mistaken though, leadership skills are something you use on a day-to-day basis. In order to practice and improve your leadership skills, you don't need to be the head of a large corporation. In fact, you don't need to be an executive or manager of any company. You can lead people to success from any position.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Business Communication

Communication is the most important element in today's society. Every time we interact with another person we communicate, most of the time without even thinking about it. Bad communication causes families to break up, wars to start, and business deals to go bad, to name just a few examples. On the flip-side, good communication can move mountains.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Being A Top Employee: 2

In part one we examined issues of personal responsibility, the "can-do" attitude and the danger of shyness. In this conclusion, we'll look at communication, building yourself, goal setting and more.

Kevin Kraft ·
opinion

Being A Top Employee: 1

Did the title get your attention? Let me correct myself by saying this: there is no such thing as an employee; you will always be the boss. This article is for all those who work for somebody else or those who are looking for some ideas on how to motivate themselves and others. Many of the topics discussed in this article come from my personal leadership philosophy, and throughout this article I use the words "employee" and "boss," even though I really dislike these two terms. I am convinced that they are anti-team terms and are often used to hide behind. Those types of terms should be used by the HR or legal department, but not on the floor where things get done. Yes, there are those who make the decisions, but at the end of the day only you can control your own success.

Kevin Kraft ·