Towards the end of next year there will be a new set of District Court rules introduced which will make some sweeping changes to Court procedure. Amongst the changes is the way that matters will be handled as they progress through various stages of the Court process. For example, almost all cases will initially go to a Judicial Settlement Conference in front of a Judge to enable not only early input from the Judge but also an early testing of the case and exploration of the prospects of settlement.
This is the first step in a more "alternative" focus for our litigation/Court processes and an understanding of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution approaches will be extremely useful. For those regularly involved in the District Court it is a good opportunity to reflect on the differing approaches that will be required in the future. Do you think this will be a good move?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Business - time to sharpen up?
There is an old saying - "When the going gets tough, the tough get going".
In tough times such as we are all experiencing at present, we are finding that businesses are benefiting from analyzing their approaches, philosophy and the way they go about doing things. some would say that going back to the basics is a good thing and that you endeavour to make every post a winning post. We have observed that there appears to be considerable truth in this.
Sticking to the basics and doing everything scrupulously well and making sure that everything is done to the very best of your ability will clearly pay dividends. Differentiate yourself from your competitors and promote your points of difference and hammer home the advantage at every opportunity. Be seen to have gone the extra mile.
Another useful thing to do is to use the "downtime" to ensure that your house is in order. Review what you do, how you do it, why you do it and the processes you use. Can they be improved upon? should they be changed, tweaked or streamlined in some way? Are there any other efficiencies that you can incorporate into what you do? What about your structures? Staffing levels? Can you incorporate a guarantee of some sort into what you do? Do you have a refund policy (if appropriate)? What procedure do you adopt when there are disputes? What about a full financial and legal audit via your key advisors? Consider checking and reviewing your employment contracts, leases, terms of trade, supplier contracts and the like. These will pay surprising dividends in the long run.
Never let an opportunity go by and never let "downtime" be unproductive.
In tough times such as we are all experiencing at present, we are finding that businesses are benefiting from analyzing their approaches, philosophy and the way they go about doing things. some would say that going back to the basics is a good thing and that you endeavour to make every post a winning post. We have observed that there appears to be considerable truth in this.
Sticking to the basics and doing everything scrupulously well and making sure that everything is done to the very best of your ability will clearly pay dividends. Differentiate yourself from your competitors and promote your points of difference and hammer home the advantage at every opportunity. Be seen to have gone the extra mile.
Another useful thing to do is to use the "downtime" to ensure that your house is in order. Review what you do, how you do it, why you do it and the processes you use. Can they be improved upon? should they be changed, tweaked or streamlined in some way? Are there any other efficiencies that you can incorporate into what you do? What about your structures? Staffing levels? Can you incorporate a guarantee of some sort into what you do? Do you have a refund policy (if appropriate)? What procedure do you adopt when there are disputes? What about a full financial and legal audit via your key advisors? Consider checking and reviewing your employment contracts, leases, terms of trade, supplier contracts and the like. These will pay surprising dividends in the long run.
Never let an opportunity go by and never let "downtime" be unproductive.
Employment - issues for small business
The National Government has introduced the controversial 90 day trial provisions for new employees. What does this mean for small businesses? I believe that this will only be good for them and will encourage employers by lessening the risk to them. Whatever the do-gooders suggest, the reality is that the existing laws clearly and definite favour the employee - in my opinion, fat too much. It is time that the pendulum swings back a little (or a lot) the other way.
Surely the reality of the situation is that from a genuine employee's perspective he/she would want to get stuck in and prove themselves so that their position is made permanent and they secure their position. From a genuine employer's perspective, all they want is a worthwhile employee who can deliver the goods rather than some free-loader or opportunist who simply wishes to coast along at the employer's expense. If this new approach lessens the risk from the employer's perspective then I am all for it. As for the suggestion that employers would somehow seek to take advantage by means of engineering a steady turnover of willing employees every three months - what rubbish!! Employers have businesses to run and there is a huge hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) cost to constant staff turnover.
I think that it is about time that employers were given a bit of credit where it has been long overdue. Sure there are bad employers but so are there bad employees. It seems to me that what has to be achieved is some sort of fair balance and I view this change as a step in the right direction.
Surely the reality of the situation is that from a genuine employee's perspective he/she would want to get stuck in and prove themselves so that their position is made permanent and they secure their position. From a genuine employer's perspective, all they want is a worthwhile employee who can deliver the goods rather than some free-loader or opportunist who simply wishes to coast along at the employer's expense. If this new approach lessens the risk from the employer's perspective then I am all for it. As for the suggestion that employers would somehow seek to take advantage by means of engineering a steady turnover of willing employees every three months - what rubbish!! Employers have businesses to run and there is a huge hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) cost to constant staff turnover.
I think that it is about time that employers were given a bit of credit where it has been long overdue. Sure there are bad employers but so are there bad employees. It seems to me that what has to be achieved is some sort of fair balance and I view this change as a step in the right direction.
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