In this article, we discuss why is it important to build a strong and successful team, its key characteristics and how to build a team that is successful.

Importance of a successful team

A successful team is essential to take an idea from inception to completion. There is a limitation on how much a single person can get done and it requires a strong team to execute a business plan and achieve success. A dynamic team can be an asset for the organization which can help in accomplishing tasks and achieve business objectives. A strong team can help you assemble complementary skills from its team members that can help you accomplish tasks that you could not do own your own.

What makes a successful team?

Team members of a successful team often share ideas, consider solutions and solve problems together. In strong teams, what makes a successful team is the one where individual members benefit each other by providing added support and opportunities for each other’s development. For building a winning team, should typically have the following characteristics:

Importance on growth

Anyone who wants to succeed should have growth-oriented mindset. The successful team set, implement and track their goals together to improve efficiency and productivity. Teams with growth mindset believe that their talents can be developed and they continuously work towards learning new things.

Committed team

Building a new team at work needs individuals that are typically committed to their roles and generally work in roles based on their strengths and expertise. Because of this, these teams are typically highly motivated and deliver results under tight deadlines.

Eager to learn

What makes a successful team is the members who are open to learning and adjust their roles and responsibilities according to the needs of a project or task. These team members are generally interested in challenging their skills and open to learning new things in order to accomplish new tasks which leads to professional growth of the entire team.

Diversity

Diversity tends to encourage innovation and creativity and successful teams often have members who come from a variety of backgrounds. They bring with them a large spectrum of experiences and opinions.

Responsible team

Successful teams share their responsibilities and take accountability for every task that belongs to their team collectively. They share a common set of values and goals and each team member can be held to the same standard.

Communication

Strong and successful teams often have clear communication among all its team members. All the members of these teams brainstorm solutions, provide status updates and complete tasks together and tend to achieve their goals.

A strong leader

To know how to build a successful team one needs to understand that it typically have leaders who can provide a clear direction and encourage other team members to succeed.

How to build an effective team?

To know how to build a successful team, consider following steps:

Set SMART goals

Your team can set SMART goals by choosing objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. Every team member shares the same team specific metrics. Having a single metric to measure the progress rather than applying multiple definitions of success helps the team members to more accurately understand their progress and helps in achieving the goals.

Clear cut role

Building a successful team needs well-defined roles for each individual member of the team helps in setting the expectations right and typically leads to team performing at their best. It helps them in focusing on accomplishing their individual tasks and following specific workflows instead of wasting their energy in identifying their responsibilities and place in the team.

Experiment regularly

Calculated risk taking allows for ample opportunities for learning and successful teams generally tend to accommodate this strategy especially if these experiments have the potential to generate much better outcomes.

Embrace diversity

When building successful teams, it is important that the team members are as diverse as possible and come from different backgrounds, have diverse opinions and experience levels. By inviting members with diverse views in your team, your team may approach problems in different and innovative ways and arrive at the best solution possible.

Share a common culture

Despite coming from diverse backgrounds and opinions, the most successful teams often share a common company or group culture. Your team might create and agree on these shared behavior unconsciously, as they are likely to reflect preferred working or communication styles. However, your team is likely to be more productive when it has guidelines to follow. As the leader, you may want to set expectations right and make the type of team environment you are willing to establish in your team or company clear to all the team members.

Be accountable to the team

Accountability is one of the key things that each team member should maintain to build a strong and successful team. Holding each team member accountable for their assigned tasks helps in bringing the best out of them and allows them to achieve their full potential by doing their best work. Encouraging group accountability may help your team members in finding a sense of belonging and purpose and help them in focusing on the goals to achieve the desired objectives.

Communicate effectively

Effective communication is one of the key things that differentiates successful teams from average teams. Clear lines of communication is necessary to work together seamlessly and to streamline communication, you may want to clarify each member’s roles and responsibilities in a clear way.

Robust leadership

One important how of build a successful team is to have strong leadership. It is necessary to ensure that the teams reach their goals, work together effectively and perform at their best. As a strong leader, try to cultivate adaptability, welcome feedback and motivate team members to do their best work.

Select a leadership style that best fits the type of team you are managing to discover how to best facilitate communication, mediate discussion and conflicts and ensure continuous progress.

The post How to Build a Successful Team and It’s Importance? appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

AI leaders and researchers play a pivotal role in this era of rapid technological progress. They are at the forefront of pioneering practical applications that redefine how industries operate. These individuals are not only technical experts but also visionaries who shape the future of AI, guiding its ethical use and exploring new frontiers in machine learning, neural networks, and computational intelligence.

Who are the leaders in AI?

In this comprehensive exploration, we will delve into the profiles of the top 10 AI researchers and pioneers to watch in 2024. These famous AI researchers have not only demonstrated exceptional expertise but have also consistently driven innovation in AI, making significant contributions to the field.

Andrew Ng

“Just as electricity transformed almost everything 100 years ago, today I actually have a hard time thinking of an industry that I don’t think AI (Artificial Intelligence) will transform in the next several years.”

Andrew Ng, a luminary leader in the world of AI, continues to make significant strides in 2024. He holds a prestigious position as a professor at Stanford University, his expertise spans across computer science and electrical engineering. Ng’s early advocacy for the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in deep learning laid the foundation for transformative advancements. He has collaborated extensively with Google Brain and co-founded Coursera, an online platform offering AI education to millions. In 2024, his attention to ethical concerns surrounding generative AI in warfare demonstrates his commitment to the responsible development of AI technologies.

Ian Goodfellow

Ian Goodfellow’s pioneering work in Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) continues to shape the AI landscape. His contributions to deep learning and machine learning are profound, pushing the boundaries of AI innovation. In 2024, Goodfellow’s leadership in Apple’s Special Projects Group signifies his dedication to exploring new frontiers in AI creativity and application.

Sam Altman

Sam Altman, as the CEO of OpenAI, plays an important role in advancing AI technologies. Under his guidance, OpenAI has achieved substantial progress in AI research and development, particularly with the development of large language models like GPT-4. making him a driving force behind responsible AI development in 2024.

Yann LeCun

Yann LeCun’s groundbreaking work on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) has been instrumental in the advancement of machine learning and computer vision. As a professor at New York University and Chief AI Scientist at Facebook, LeCun has made substantial contributions to both theoretical research and practical AI applications. His mission is to harness AI’s power to enhance human intelligence, emphasizing its positive impact on society.

Demis Hassabis

Demis Hassabis, a renowned AI visionary, serves as the CEO of DeepMind, a leading AI startup. His work at the intersection of neuroscience and AI has led to groundbreaking achievements, such as DeepMind’s AlphaFold technology, which accurately predicts protein structures, revolutionizing drug discovery and biology. In 2024, Hassabis’s spinoff company, Isomorphic Labs, has secured multi-billion-dollar deals with pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novartis.

Karen Hao

Karen Hao is a prominent figure in the AI community, known for her insightful analysis and reporting on AI technologies and their societal implications. Her work emphasizes the responsible and ethical use of AI, with a strong focus on transparency and accountability in AI systems. In 2024, Hao continues to serve as a thought leader in the ethical application of AI.

Kirk Borne

Kirk Borne is a distinguished data scientist and astrophysicist. His work often intersects with astronomical research, where he employs advanced data analytics to uncover insights from vast space datasets. Borne’s contributions extend beyond research, as he actively educates and mentors the next generation of data scientists, emphasizing the crucial role of data-driven decision-making across various industries. His statement, “Without an opinion, you’re just another Artificial Intelligence with some data,” highlights the significance of human expertise in AI.

Jeremy Howard

Jeremy Howard is an entrepreneur, business strategist, and educator, is best known for his contributions to deep learning and AI. Co-founding Fast.ai, a platform that provides practical and accessible AI and machine learning education, Howard’s efforts focus on democratizing access to AI education. His work aims to make AI education more accessible to individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Fabio Moioli

Fabio Moioli, a seasoned technology consultant within Spencer Stuart’s Technology, Media, Telecommunications & Services Practice, is renowned for his expertise in digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and change management. Moioli brings significant experience from his tenure at Capgemini, specializing in the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. His insights into AI and exponential technologies, along with their ethical considerations, make him a respected speaker at international conferences.

Clément Delangue

Clément Delangue is the CEO and co-founder of Hugging Face, a company that puts efforts to democratize AI through open-source and collaborative initiatives. Delangue’s vision revolves around fostering a community-driven approach and encouraging collaboration among researchers, developers, and enthusiasts. His leadership underscores a commitment to ethical AI practices and the goal of making AI widely available and beneficial.

In 2024, AI continues to redefine the way we live, work, and innovate. The top artificial intelligence leaders and innovators are driving the revolution forward, pushing boundaries, advocating for ethical practices, and contributing to a brighter future through technology.

The post Top 10 AI Leaders and Visionaries Shaping 2024 appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Large companies are always looking to produce better products while reducing costs, customers’ needs evolve and the world economy fluctuates at large. In a sentence, your business will face many threats. But how do you survive? Business agility.

What is business agility?

Business agility is the ability of an organization to quickly adapt and respond to changes in the business environment. It is an essential skill for companies to survive in today’s fast-changing market, especially in times of digital transformation.

Agility allows businesses to be more flexible and responsive to customer needs and expectations, as well as trends and technological advances. It gives them a competitive edge over other companies stuck in their ways and unable to keep up with the pace of change.

What is agile business transformation?

Achieving business agility transformation involves several components.

• It requires a clear vision of where the company is heading and what it wants to achieve. This should include short-term goals as well as longer-term strategies. The company should also clearly understand its customers, market, and competitors.
• Businesses need to establish agile processes, systems, and structures. This includes the adoption of agile project management methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and Lean. It also involves training employees on new technologies and skills to help them be better prepared to handle future challenges.
• Companies need to invest in their culture and embrace continuous learning. They should foster collaboration and innovation among their employees and encourage them to experiment with new ideas. This will help the organization stay competitive and remain resilient to changes in the business landscape.

What is agile business transformation element?

Let’s review the three most fundamental elements of a business agility framework.

Business agility principles

There aren’t any agreed-upon business agility principles. However, it’s important that you create your own business agility principles as they play an important role in your business agility framework. These principles will guide both your team and the business agility value stream, so they’re critical for success.

To get started, you can review the original agile project management principles and lean manufacturing principles to create some for your company.

Business agility value stream

The term business agility value stream refers to the sequence of steps that are required to quickly respond to an emerging opportunity or threat. Here are the main steps of a typical business agility value stream:

Business agility team

Your team members are the ones who execute tasks, so it’s important that you review their skills and capabilities to make sure they’re a good fit for a business agility team.

What is the benefit of business agility?

The modern business landscape is ever-changing, and customer competition is fierce. To stay ahead of the game and remain competitive, businesses need to be agile while being flexible, adaptive, and ready to respond to any changes in technology, customer demands, and employee expectations.

Agile business environment also helps businesses build stronger relationships with their customers by providing them with faster, more effective solutions. Being agile gives businesses the ability to deliver on customer expectations.

Importance of business agility can also be seen as there will be higher employee satisfaction and loyalty. With agile companies, employees are more likely to feel empowered and in control of their work.

Businesses that embrace agility will be better equipped to succeed in today’s fast-paced world. By quickly responding to changes and proactively addressing customer needs, companies can position themselves for long-term success.

How to achieve business agility

Business agility is an essential element of success for any modern business. But what exactly does it mean to be agile? In essence, business agility is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to technological changes, customer demands, and employee expectations.

To achieve business agility, organizations need to focus on the following core components:

Creating a culture of flexibility

Developing a culture of flexibility allows employees to take ownership of their work and make decisions quickly in response to changing demands. This can also be achieved by encouraging collaboration between departments and breaking down silos.

Clear processes

Establishing well-defined procedures helps employees move quickly and efficiently when responding to changes. Additionally, these processes should be regularly reviewed and updated as needed to stay current with the latest trends.

Embracing technology

Technology can help improve operational efficiency and agility. For example, organizations can use cloud-based tools and applications to facilitate collaboration, automate tasks, and provide real-time analytics.

Agility as culture

Embracing agility requires a shift in the corporate culture to ensure that all stakeholders understand the importance of staying agile and responding quickly to change. This means investing in employee training and communicating the importance of agility at every level of the organization.

Implementing an agile workplace

Business agility is essential for a business to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing environment. Implementing an agile workplace involves both the internal and external aspects of the business, from employees and customers to technology and processes. Here are some tips for creating an agile workplace:

Embrace change

Organizations must be prepared to embrace change and quickly adapt to changing customer needs and trends in the market. This means providing employees with the right tools and resources to manage their work and grow with the changing environment.

Focus on Quality

Quality should be at the forefront of any agile strategy. Companies must prioritize high-quality products and services and provide reliable support to customers and employees.

Use Technology

Using technology, businesses can automate many tasks, allowing employees to focus on more important tasks. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation can help streamline processes and make them more efficient.

Cultivate a Learning Culture

Encourage a culture of learning within your organization. Offer employees training opportunities and the chance to attend workshops and conferences to help them stay up-to-date with industry trends.

Improve Processes

To keep up with customer demands, companies must continuously review and improve existing processes and develop new ones when necessary. Companies should also strive to reduce bottlenecks in processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

By following these tips, businesses can create an agile workplace that can quickly adapt to changing trends and customer needs. An agile workplace will help businesses remain competitive in today’s fast-paced world.

The post What Is Business Agility and Its Importance for Transformation? appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Multiple factors go into starting a successful business venture, including a strong concept and initial funding. But, perhaps the most important ingredient is the entrepreneur. These are individuals who must transform their ideas into a fully operational business.

What makes a good entrepreneur?

If you seek a challenge wrought with risk but with tremendous potential reward both financially and morally, read on friend, for you have the characteristics that can make you a successful entrepreneur.

Successful entrepreneurs, from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs, share similar characteristics to each other.

Traits of an entrepreneur

To see how many characteristics of an entrepreneur do you share with the top successful businessmen, lets delve into them

Strong leadership qualities

One of the important traits of an entrepreneur is strong leadership quality. Leaders are born, not made. A leader is someone who values the goal over any unpleasantness the work it takes to get there may bring. But a leader is more than just tenacious. A leader has strong communication skills and the ability to amass a team of people toward a common goal in a way that the entire team is motivated and works effectively to get there as a team. He earns the trust and respect of his team by demonstrating positive work qualities and confidence, then fostering an environment that proliferates these values through the team. A leader who nobody will follow is not a leader of anything at all.

Self-motivated

Business entrepreneurs in history that leaders are typically pretty intense personalities. Nobody makes progress by sitting back and waiting for it to find them. Successful people go out into the world and invoke change through their actions. Often you will learn that successful entrepreneurs are driven by a more complete vision or goal than simply the task at hand and able to think on a more universal level in that regard. They are also often very passionate about their ideas that drive toward these ultimate goals and are notoriously difficult to steer off the course.

Ethics and integrity

Mostly, business sustains because there is a common, understood code of ethics universally that underpins the very fabric upon which commerce is conducted. Successful, sustainable business people maintain the highest standards of integrity. With importance in working with clients or leading a team, effective leaders admit to any error made and offer solutions to correct rather than lie about, blame others for, or dwell on the problem itself.

Ready for failure

One of the qualities of an entrepreneur is risk taking. They have all gotten over one very significant hurdle and are not afraid of failure. They accept that, even if they make the best decision possible, things don’t always go according to plan and may fail anyhow. If you’ve heard the old adage, “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” that’s exactly what it’s saying: do not be afraid to fail, put it out there and give it your best shot.  Again, there’s not one successful entrepreneur out there sitting on his couch asking, “what if?”

Continued innovation

Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs is almost defined by their drive to constantly develop new ideas and improve on existing processes. Successful people welcome change and often depend on it to improve their effectiveness as leaders and ultimately the success of their businesses as many business concepts rely on improving products, services and processes in order to win business.

Ready to learn

Characteristics of an entrepreneur that one should imbibe is there is always a lesson to be learned. They are rarely afraid to ask questions when it means the answers will provide them insight they can then leverage to effect. Successful entrepreneurs are confident, but not egotistical to the point that their bull-headedness is a weakness that continually prohibits them from seeing a bigger picture and ultimately making the best decisions for the business.

Competitive spirit

Entrepreneurs enjoy a challenge and they like to win.  They would have to since starting a business is pretty much one of the biggest challenges a person can take on in their lifetime. In business it’s a constant war with competition to win business and grow market share. It’s also a personal challenge to use all of this to focus inward and grow a business from nothing into a powerhouse that either makes a lot of money or is so effective that it is sold or acquired for a profit as well.

Strong network

It’s always a team work and to know that is an important characteristic to a successful entrepreneur. In almost every case, entrepreneurs never get to success alone. The best understand it takes a network of contacts, business partners, financial partners, peers and resources to succeed. Any good leader is only as good as those who support him.

The post What It Takes to Have Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs? appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

What makes a great leader is a question that has occupied scholars and philosophers through the ages. It’s led to countless behavioral studies in search of the qualities and circumstances that give rise to impactful leadership.

What represents leadership theories?

Leadership theories are concepts that seek to explain successful leadership. To that end, there are analytical leadership theories and leadership approach theories.

Analytical leadership theories are hypotheses of why certain types of people become leaders. These theories focus on the traits, characteristics, and behaviors of successful leaders and the circumstances that have produced them.

Leadership approach theories put forth proposals of which leadership approach will lead to the most success. They advocate for leaders to emphasize different aspects of management, such as team-building or rewards-based motivation, as ways of achieving team success.

Key Leadership Skills of Excellent Leaders

• Understand the way to offer support. Supportive leaders are accessible to their staff, transparent about their choices, team players, and adept communicators of plans and tactics.
• Have empathy and demonstrate it
• Keep the lines of communication open
• Being capable of taking decisions
• Effective planning

Top leadership theories for managers

Let’s delve into the leadership theories for effective managers

Trait theory

The trait theory of leadership purports that great leaders are born, not made. It proposes that there are those who are simply born with the personality traits and attributes that set them apart and predispose them to great leadership skills. Similar to the trait theory, it suggests that these traits are responsible for individuals assuming positions of power.

The theory is the result of studies of great leaders throughout history, mapping both their personality and physical traits. Some of the natural qualities of a successful leader that have been identified are:

• Charisma
• Drive to achieve
• Desire to lead
• Integrity.

Contingency Theory

The contingency theory of leadership states that effective leadership is contingent upon the specific situation at hand. According to this theory, a leader can be effective in one circumstance and ineffective in another. It simply depends on whether their leadership style fits the given situation.

There are factors, it suggests, that determine whether a particular leader or leadership style will be effective in a situation: the task, the project scope, the leader’s personality, the size and composition of the team, resources, and deadlines.

Behavioral Theory

The behavioral leadership theory, as the name suggests, focuses on how leaders behave. More significantly, it postulates that these traits can be learned by observing and copying other leaders. Therefore, effective leadership is a learned behavior. In other words, as opposed to the Trait or Great Man theories, leaders aren’t born, they’re made.

The behavioral leadership theory puts forth that there are multiple “styles of leadership,” founded upon specific behavioral patterns. Some of the styles of leadership include:

Collaborative Theory

Collaborative leadership theory teaches leaders to listen to their employees and involve them in the decision-making process. It encourages an inclusive mindset, proactive communication, and the willingness to share power with team members.

It promotes accountability across the board and emphasizing finding solutions collectively. The leader’s role is primarily to facilitate conversation, gather input, and choose the best plan of action.

Management Theory

These managers place high importance on structure and utilize their authority to enforce rules to inspire staff to perform at their best. In accordance with this philosophy, workers are rewarded for achieving their given objectives. The concept also presupposes that workers must comply with managerial directives. Managers who practice transactional leadership keep an eye on their staff, making sure they are rewarded for reaching milestones and disciplined when they fall short.

Relational Theory

Relational leadership theory is all about the process of bringing people together to accomplish change or achieve a goal that benefits the common good.

In other words, the relational leader focuses primarily on their interactions with the team members. They make time to talk to their employees, listen to their needs, and develop an enjoyable work environment. Studies show that relationship-oriented managers often get better results from their teams. Employees feel confident in their leader and want to follow them. They are also inspired to be good leaders to others.

Leadership theories, like leaders themselves, come in all shapes and sizes. Some zero in on traits and characteristics and some emphasize the need to adapt to circumstances. Leadership, however, is multi-dimensional. There are many aspects to becoming a great leader. If you aspire to lead, it’s important to understand the variety of leadership theories out there to determine what kind of leader you can be.

The post Exploring Leadership Theories for Effective Managers appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Benefits of reading leadership books

Benefit of leadership books is that it provide valuable insights, practical strategies, and real-life examples that can be applied to various business situations.

Criteria for selecting the best leadership books

As there are overwhelming number of leadership books available in the market, it can be challenging for executives to choose the best ones to invest their time and effort in. To ensure correct selection the most valuable and impactful leadership books, executives should consider looking for books written by credible authors who have a proven track record of leadership success or expertise in the field. Also consider the relevance of the book to their specific industry or leadership challenges. Finally look for books that offer a balance between theory and practical application.

Must read leadership books

Listed here are the must read or top books to help in your leadership role.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell

This must read leadership book provides a comprehensive guide to the fundamental principles of effective leadership. Maxwell presents 21 laws that, when understood and applied, can transform individuals into impactful and influential leaders.

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

In this book Simon Sinek explores the concept of leadership based on trust, collaboration, and empathy. Sinek argues that great leaders prioritize the well-being and success of their team members above their own. This book offers valuable insights into the importance of building strong relationships, fostering a sense of belonging, and creating a culture of trust within organizations.

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown

Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead” challenges traditional notions of leadership by emphasizing vulnerability, courage, and empathy. Brown argues that true leadership requires individuals to embrace their imperfections, have difficult conversations, and foster a culture of psychological safety. Through storytelling and research, this book offers executives valuable insights on how to create an inclusive and courageous leadership style.

The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently by Tony Dungy

In this book the author shares his experiences as a successful NFL coach and emphasizes the importance of mentorship in leadership. Dungy believes that great leaders prioritize the development and success of their team members.

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends & Influence People” is a timeless guide to building successful relationships and enhancing interpersonal skills. While not solely focused on leadership, this book offers valuable insights into human behavior and provides executives with practical techniques for motivating and inspiring others. By mastering the principles outlined in this book, executives can become more influential leaders and build strong connections with their teams.

How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers by David M. Rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein’s “How to Lead” offers a collection of interviews with some of the world’s most successful leaders. Through these conversations, Rubenstein uncovers the leadership philosophies, strategies, and lessons learned from individuals such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Oprah Winfrey.

Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse

“Leadership: Theory and Practice” by Peter G. Northouse is a comprehensive textbook that explores various leadership theories and models. This book provides executives with a solid foundation in leadership principles and helps them develop a theoretical understanding of different leadership approaches.

So leadership is a vital component of business success, and executives must continuously develop their leadership skills to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Reading leadership books offers executives a valuable opportunity to gain new insights, expand their knowledge base, and enhance their leadership abilities. By selecting the best leadership books based on credible authors, relevance to their industry, and practicality, executives can unlock their full leadership potential. By investing time in reading these books and applying their lessons, executives can unlock their path to success and inspire their teams to achieve greatness. So, pick up a book, dive into the world of leadership, and unlock your true leadership potential.

The post Leadership Books That Can Benefit Leaders and Should Read appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

What is job costing?

Job costing (project-based accounting) is the process of tracking costs and revenue for an individual project and using that information as a basis for estimating the expenses associated with future projects.

Though job costing can be used to gain insight into the profitability and workflow of any business, project-based industries such as law firms, construction companies, and consulting firms will benefit most from these numbers.

Importance of job costing

Deciding what to charge for a product, project, or service is key to the overall success of your business. Even if your business doesn’t rely on distinct projects for its livelihood, job costing can reveal ways to cut expenses, improve your workflow, and increase profits in your bottom line.

Ways of calculating job costing?

Now that you know a bit about the ins and outs of job costing, let’s turn our attention to the process that makes it possible.

Here are the steps for creating an accurate and effective breakdown for any project that comes your way.

Calculating cost of labor

The first step in the process is to calculate one of the largest expenses your business is likely to face: labor.

To get to the heart of your labor expenses, you’ll need to know the Actual Hourly Labor Cost of each employee who will work on the project.

Other annual labor costs includes insurance, taxes, overtime, benefits, etc.

Calculate cost of material 

Material costs are the total cost of materials used to manufacture a product, provide a service, or complete a project. You can calculate these expenses by examining financial statements from previous years and doing a deep dive into your inventory reports.

Calculating overhead

Overhead costs are recurring expenses that sustain your business but don’t contribute to income.

These costs can be divided into fixed, variable, and semi-variable expenses

How to calculate job costing

With the three key variables labor cost, material cost, and overhead, the formula for this final step is very simple:

Total Job Cost = Labor Cost + Material Cost + Overhead

As you can see, most of the hard work is done before you reach this final step, and a job costing analysis is pretty much finished when you have numbers for all three variables.

Example of a job cost estimate

Now that you’ve got the basic steps involved in job costing, let’s put the variables together in a real-world example to see how it all works.

Let’s say a mechanical keyboard manufacturer wants to win a one-time contract to make 1,000 special keyboards for a particular client and they need to figure out the job cost so they know how much to bid.

Estimation of labor cost 

The manufacturer puts together a team of 10 employees and plans on giving them eight weeks (40 business days) to assemble the units.

Estimation of material cost

The keyboard manufacturer assembles everything in-house, but they need to purchase the individual components from their suppliers.

Overhead cost estimate

To round out their job costing estimate for the new project, the keyboard manufacturer includes the overhead costs it will accrue during the eight-week operation.

Overhead costs for the potential keyboard project totals $20,000.

In future project estimates, the manufacturer can either build that overtime number into the bid or take steps to control overtime throughout the business.

The manufacturer can also analyze what went into the final numbers to figure out how they can refine their workflow to be more productive.

Job costing vs. process costing

Though job costing and process costing may sound similar, they are two distinct (though still related) calculations you can use to run your business better.

As we explained earlier, it is the process of tracking costs and revenue for an individual project and using that information as a basis for estimating the expenses associated with future projects.

Process costing, on the other hand, is the practice of assigning costs to a collection of project outputs over a given time period and using that information to calculate a unit cost.

The post What Is the Significance of Job Costing in Business Management? appeared first on Industry Leaders Magazine.

Strategies for CEO time management

From prioritizing to delegating, these time management tips can help CEOs to regain control of their schedule. So, let’s dive in and go from chaos to control:

Prioritize time effectively

CEOs have a never-ending list of tasks and responsibilities, making it crucial to prioritize their time efficiently. One should set clear goals. Defining both short and long-term goals and separating them into actionable steps can help prioritize effectively.

CEOs must prioritize tasks that align with their organization’s strategic goals, providing a compass for daily decision-making.

By identifying the most important tasks and focusing on them first, CEOs can ensure that they’re making the most significant impact on their organization.

Assign responsibilities

CEOs have a team supporting them, and delegating responsibilities is a must for effective time management. Having a clear understanding of each component simplifies the delegation process and ensures everyone understands the goals. By delegating tasks to capable team members, we can free up our time to focus on more critical obligations. Delegating also allows CEOs to empower their team members and develop their skills, creating a more efficient and productive workforce.

Allotting time

CEOs must allocate time effectively to ensure that they are dedicating enough time to critical tasks. It’s crucial to prioritize time for strategic planning and decision-making.

Time management tips

Listed here are few more time management tips:

Use of technology

There are various time management tools and apps available that can help you stay organized and focused.

Not to take up all requests

As a CEO, you probably receive many requests for your time. It’s essential to learn to say no to tasks that are not a priority.

Taking regular breaks

To avoid burnout CEOs must take breaks throughout the day to recharge.

Always reassess and adjust

Time management is an ongoing process, and it’s important to continually reevaluate and adjust your strategies to find what works best for you.

Nailing time management is key for both your personal success and the success of your company. Juggling tasks, passing the baton of responsibilities, and embracing time management hacks can work wonders in boosting your productivity and steering your company toward success. Keep in mind to always tweak and fine-tune, discovering the sweet spot that suits you best. With the right time management skills, you can smoothly transition from chaos to control, paving the way to conquer your CEO goals.

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What is a CEO? success factors

A CEO, or chief executive officer, holds the highest position at an organization. They may or may not be the owner of the company, but either way they are responsible for making major decisions on behalf of the business, making sure the company is operating the way it should be and managing all leaders who report to them. They also must champion the company culture and build a business that makes employees feel like valued members of the organization.

CEOs may develop company goals, make strategic plans, implement programs and policies and work within a set budget. It’s also common for CEOs to be the facilitator between the board of directors and other executives at the company.

Successful CEO traits

Let’s delve into the successful CEO qualities or characteristics .If you want to be a successful CEO, here are some personality traits and qualities you may want to develop:

Optimism

It’s important for leaders to be optimistic at work. Not only do CEOs act as a guide in the office to the other employees, but they are responsible for achieving certain goals and having a vision that can help the business succeed.

Dealing with agility

Executives operate amid ambiguity with incomplete information and in unfamiliar domains. A leaders decisiveness not only removes the bottleneck that creates frustrations among teams but reduces costs the organization. The focus is not so much about making a great decision but the agility with which a business can move forward.

Engage for impact

The successful CEOs qualities have high self-awareness knowing all the organizational needs. Such leaders are calm under pressure and instill confidence that they will lead the team to success. They leverage the inner team of high potential talent in decision making.

Adapting

CEO’s who adapt to change are likely to succeed more as they deal with situations where playbooks cannot exist. Interestingly, unlike what you find in some organizations, these executives who exceed expectation spend 50% of their time on longterm picking up early signals way before the marker does. They take failure as a learning opportunity embrace setbacks.

Reliably

Leadership development is a process; you will observe that 87% of CEO’s who consistently exceed expectation deliberately develop these behaviors.

Acceptance

Another trait of successful CEOs is acceptance. Not only do accepting CEOs make sure that a workforce is diverse, but they also realize that mistakes and shortcomings are natural. Employees should know that they don’t have to fear making a mistake at work because that’s frequently how they grow in their role, and a CEO should support that.

Loyalty

Loyalty is important because with it, a CEO can inspire loyalty in their employees. Even more important is what a loyal CEO and workforce brings to the business. Loyal employees may also refer high-quality candidates to open positions.

Understanding

When you’re a CEO who’s understanding, you show a certain level of care and compassion to your employees. You’re more likely to consider their feelings about many things in the workplace, from widespread company changes to the organization’s pay scale. An understanding CEO looks at a situation from different perspectives so they have more of a well-rounded view of how someone may interpret certain circumstances. With a good amount of understanding, a CEO can make business decisions that are both good for the company and with their employees’ best interests in mind.

Trustworthy

One important aspect that determine a CEO’s success factor is when they earn the trust of employees. Most importantly, earning the trust of staff makes them more connected to the organization and the work they do.

Inspirational

A inspiring leader invest in company’s employees, acknowledge their strengths, help them work on any weaknesses and create a culture in the workplace where everyone feels like they belong and contributes something worthwhile.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking means you’re able to make decisions for the company based on clear thought and a lot of foresight. With the responsibility of managing the business and making sure it succeeds, CEOs have to look at data and factors like the economy and competing businesses to forecast what the company could have to handle in the future, then plan accordingly.

Reliable

One of the most important traits that a CEO should have is reliability. It’s crucial that your workforce sees you as someone who is leading the business, and that they can rely on to act in the best interest of the employees and the public. Reliable CEOs deliver on their promises, complete their work, communicate effectively.

Passion

Some of the best and successful CEOs qualities are that they are truly passionate about the work they do and the company they lead. A passionate CEO wants to see others succeed, so they may develop training programs to support interests and host inspirational meetings where they reiterate the importance of the company values.

Curiosity

Even in a position of leadership, it’s important to remain curious. Curiosity means you have the desire to continue to learn, which can translate to realizing you don’t have all the answers, asking your employees for guidance based on their strengths and being open to learning from everyone you work with.

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