Common Venture Administration Techniques
Meeting the deadlines for our projects is a seemingly never ending challenge. Time, one of the triple constraints for any project, can be handled if we set ourselves up for success.
Who will they report to? Who they are officially reporting to will tell you a little about their expected status. What it really tells you is what the politics are around blog here. And the difficulties they will need to be prepared for.
If you’ve really had enough job talk, then simply steer the conversation in another direction. “I’m not working at the moment, but I did go to the football on Saturday. Do you follow football?”. “I’m unemployed, so I’m going to lots of movies. Have you seen the latest Star Trek?”. Or get your new acquaintance to talk about themselves – most people like doing that.
To do this effectively, schedule these routines into your calendar now. Put the day(s) and time(s) you will do them going forward. Then protect them from getting moved around.
Once you’ve decided on what you really need you should have an idea of what a person of that level will want. In salary, working conditions and other conditions. What would you do if you were hiring a regular manager at that level?
Don’t forget that initial training has a limited shelf life. Over time, your staff will become experts in a few features and will forget how to do other things. New staff will join the organization and they will not reach full productivity without some training. “Train the trainer” can help here, but even your own staff trainer will forget some features if they do not personally use them. Consider regular refresher courses, or on-line video training.
Finance – Shanghai plans to be the Asian hub for finance. They’ve recently opened a new Nasdaq-type stock exchange. So much money is getting plowed into its Finance Center. You have to see it! The financial world involves interacting with bankers all over the world – and the default language of all business communications is English, which brings us to…
A good way to lighten the situation is to be creative in the way that you describe your situation. There are the old favourites like ‘between jobs’ and ‘extended break’. But perhaps you can come up with a fresher approach. ‘Mr. Mum’ (where relevant), ‘my own boss’, ‘dealing with a mid-life crisis’ or ‘studying poverty’.
They often involve studying the course material, enrolling in an exam, paying a fee, and then (hopefully) passing the exam. Depending on the courses, the fees may vary. But, in the long term, you should make that money back, both in benefits to your employer and future pay rises. People who have additional qualifications usually are compensated more – both from their current employer, and if they decide to change employers.
