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When there’s a new project to start, most of us are eager to jump right in – whether we are super excited about it or simply want to see it through.

Before you assemble the team, start assigning tasks, and expect everyone to swing into action, pause and remember – great professionals ask great questions, and a bunch of them!

In our culture, we typically believe that what’s impressive is to have answers; and that’s how we demonstrate our worth and show we are smart. The truth is, smart entrepreneurs and project managers often enable solutions by asking the right questions, not by supplying the answers.

3 professionals having a meeting around a table
We put together a list of 10 Questions to ask before starting a new project:
1. What are the objectives/goals of this project? What’s the importance of this project?

Don’t be afraid to ask the client and stakeholder(s) to clarify/elaborate on what they are really trying to achieve.

2. Who are the key stakeholders? Who influences, and who has the potential to be an obstacle (a rarely asked question)?

3. What defines success for the project? Knowing what success would look like can help you and your team stay focused and make important decisions throughout the duration of the project.

4. What are the key milestones? What are the timelines and most important dates?

5. What are the biggest obstacles to getting the project done? What are the implications if the project doesn’t succeed? How much risk are you willing to take to accomplish the project?

6. What are the most important decisions that need to be made within the project? What could prevent you from making those decisions?

7. What are the project’s greatest assets, and how can you best leverage them?

8. What are the most important areas within the project that you and your team should always focus on?

9. What challenges have you encountered in the past with projects, and how can you use that experience to your advantage this time?

10. Finally, what is your personal passion about the project? What will this mean to you when you succeed?

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When you choose RODA marketing, you are choosing our passion, experience, and proficiency – watch us deliver value and results to your business.

1. Flexibility
A great employer understands that you have other things to take care of outside of work. By having a flexible start and end time, you can more easily make time for appointments, family obligations and personal matters. While a flexible schedule isn't possible for every type of career, you may want to consider going into a career that gives you more freedom.

2. Work-life balance
People also tend to love a job that’s easy to balance with their personal life. When you have the ability to unplug from work, you get a chance to recharge and unwind. Professionals who are always checking their email or answering phone calls on their personal time tend to experience burnout. When you have the chance to spend time with family and friends and pursue hobbies, you’ll feel ready to face a new workday.

3. Company culture
Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, finding a work environment where you feel comfortable is key. When employers facilitate camaraderie through team-building activities and after-work events, they can help sociable coworkers build better relationships. Likewise, if you're introverted, you may prefer a company that gives you space to independently get your work done. Before choosing a job, consider what work environment will best suit your personality.

4. Great expectations
Employees can only get so much work done in a day, and a good employer or manager understands this. When you have a clear understanding of what you need to accomplish, you can enjoy a less stressful work environment. Having consistent expectations is also important, and good companies will outline what they expect of each employee.

5. Goal-oriented leadership
Leaders who encourage you to succeed may help you love your job. When you have specific goals, you tend to feel more driven and focused on your work. By having an employer who gives you the tools to reach your goals, you can soar to new heights in your career. Few things feel as good as reaching a goal you have been working toward accomplishing.

6. Fair pay
When you are fairly compensated for your work, you will feel valued by your employer. Good employers understand the importance of giving their employees regular raises and, if applicable, bonuses. They know that when an employee takes on more responsibility, they deserve to be compensated.

7. Quality benefits
Along with your base salary, getting good benefits is an important part of loving your career. Having full health care, dental, vision and disability coverage is majorly important. When your employer covers these things, they are significantly decreasing your monthly expenses. Having paid holidays, sick days and personal days is also a crucial part of feeling happy with work. Your employer should understand that you need paid time away every so often.

Creating the solution they wish they had
Alexa von Tobel founded LearnVest, a financial education resource, in response to her own struggles with managing personal finances. She didn't know how to deal with her credit cards, how to think about her rent or what to do with her money in general.

Being their own boss
Like many business owners, Chelsea Cunningham always had dreams of working for herself. After spending several years working for companies in the automotive industry, she noticed an opportunity to provide specialty title services to dealerships. Cunningham founded The Title Girl to fill that gap and make her entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Helping fellow small business owners
Ripl's social media marketing tool makes it easy for small business owners to create engaging, shareable visual content – without spending a huge amount of time or money.

COO Clay McDaniel explained that the company was founded "to put the power of beautiful visual video storytelling in the hands of entrepreneurs."

Advancing a social cause
Jasmine Crowe spent five years volunteering to feed members of the local homeless population in Atlanta. She founded Goodr, a food surplus management company, as a way to empower others to join in that effort.

"I started thinking, 'Why aren't business donating food?' and I thought we could do better," Crowe said.

Revitalizing their own community
Jeff Sommers and his wife Lara Hammel enjoyed visiting Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul, Minnesota, but the handmade ice cream shop was quite far away. The entrepreneurial couple decided to adopt the concept and open up a small-batch ice cream shop just a few blocks away from their house.

The idea behind Izzy's Ice Cream was to bring that same type of specialty product and experience they loved, just a little closer to home.

"We really thought we could do something for our neighborhood [and] ... revive the experience for the community where we were living," said Sommers.

Check out the full video to hear more entrepreneurs explain the inspiration behind their business.

Why Should Customers Choose You Over A Competitor?
Tons of businesses boast about their years in the industry or their top-of-the-line customer service. These are both valuable, but if you’re promoting the same benefits as your competitors, those benefit statements become expectations of your product or service—not differentiators. So why should customers choose you over a competitor? Identifying your competitive advantage is one of the foundational steps you need to take to establish a strong marketing strategy.

Why should customers choose you?
Understanding what sets you apart may seem obvious, but many business owners spend so much time focusing on the day-to-day of their business that they don’t step back to look at the big picture. This is understandable, but failing to look at your differentiators can make your marketing ineffective.

Why? Business owners have a tendency to promote what makes their product or company great—again, understandable—but that is not the best way to appeal to prospects. The most effective marketing connects to your potential customer on an emotional level. It speaks to their needs and challenges; your product should solve a problem for them. Focusing on your competitive advantage (i.e. what differentiates you from competitors) leads you to customer-focused marketing.

What is your competitive advantage?
There are two key elements to consider when defining your competitive advantage:

How your product or service helps your customers.
How your product or service is unique from other offerings available on the market.
Note that both of these elements are essential. If you have a product that customers want, but everyone else in the market offers the same thing, it obviously does not differentiate you. On the other hand, if you have an innovative offering that is unique to your industry, but there is no customer demand for it, then you still don’t have a true competitive advantage.

When you identify your competitive advantage, it helps you promote your product or service in a way that specifically appeals to customers’ needs, and also shows why your offering is superior to your competitors’. This leads to the most effective marketing—and more business for you!

How do you find your competitive advantage?
It’s not always easy to identify what your competitive advantage is. For example, you may want to say what makes your company special is “superior customer service,” but chances are, your competitor also thinks their customer service is fantastic. You’ll need a more compelling differentiator if you really want to stand out above the crowd.

To help you determine your company’s competitive advantage, complete the following exercise:

Start with your target audience: your clients. What do they spend their days doing? What do they care about? What are their pains, their challenges? (Tip: create buyer personas if you haven’t already!)
How does a product or service like yours help alleviate those pains and challenges? In other words, how does a product or service like yours benefit this target customer? List as many ideas as possible. (Hopefully, this is an exercise you’ve already done as part of your market research in developing your product or service.)
Look at your answers from step 2. Do all your competitors also solve the same challenges as you? Do you all solve the problem in the same way, or do you do something different? Perhaps you offer higher quality, a lower price, a superior set of features, or a completely unique offering.
Identify the strongest benefits of your product/service that you have but competitors don’t, or that you do much better than competitors (higher quality, faster, lower cost, etc.). Remember, these have to be things your customers really care about.
Market your competitive advantages.
Let’s look at an industry-specific example. Many insurance agencies in the industry like to use their many years in business and their outstanding customer service as their value proposition. Each agency of them thinks that this differentiates them, but if everyone is saying the same thing, this is not a competitive advantage. Instead, the most successful insurance agencies look for unique ways to differentiate from their competitors, such as offering sophisticated technology solutions to clients that complement their insurance policies.

Once you’ve identified your competitive advantage, use it strategically to create compelling messaging in your inbound marketing efforts. Don’t forget to incorporate your competitive advantage into your client retention marketing strategy too!

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to fundamentally change the way many organizations operate for the foreseeable future. As governments and businesses around the world tell those with symptoms to self-quarantine and everyone else to practice social distancing, remote work is our new reality. How do corporate leaders, managers, and individual workers make this sudden shift? Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, has spent two decades helping companies learn how to manage dispersed teams. In this edited Q&A, drawn from a recent HBR subscriber video call in which listeners were able to ask questions, she offers guidance on how to work productively at home, manage virtual meetings, and lead teams through this time of crisis.

Are organizations prepared for this sudden transition?

The scale and scope of what we’re seeing, with organizations of 5,000 or 10,000 employees asking people to work from home very quickly, is unprecedented. So, no, organizations are not set up for this.

What’s the first thing that leaders and individual managers can do to help their employees get ready?

Get the infrastructure right. Do people have the requisite technology or access to it? Who has a laptop? Will those who do [have laptops] be able to dial in to their organizations easily? Will they have the software they need to be able to do work, have conference calls, and so forth? What about the employees who don’t have laptops or mobile devices? How do you make sure that they have access to the resources they need to do work? Direct managers have to very quickly ensure that every employee has full access so that no one feels left behind.

What should people who aren’t accustomed to remote work do to get psychologically ready for it?

Develop rituals and have a disciplined way of managing the day. Schedule a start and an end time. Have a rhythm. Take a shower, get dressed, even if it’s not what you’d usually wear to work, then get started on the day’s activities. If you’re used to moving physically, make sure you build that into your day. If you’re an extrovert and accustomed to a lot of contact and collaboration with others, make sure that still happens. Ask yourself: How will I protect myself from feeling lonely or isolated and stay healthy, productive, and vibrant? Create that for yourself.

Remember that you might actually enjoy working from home. You can play the music you like. You can think flexibly about your time. It can be fun. As for managers, they need to check in on people. Make sure not only that they’re set up but also that they have a rhythm to their day and contact with others. Ask: “What can I do to make sure that this sudden and quick transition is working for you?”

How should those check-ins happen? As a group? In one-on-ones? Via phone calls? Or video chats?

First, you should have a group conversation about the new state of affairs. Say, “Hey, folks, it’s a different world. We don’t know how long this is going to last. But I want to make sure you all feel that you have what you need.” This should be followed by a team launch to jump-start this new way of working. Figure out: How often should we communicate? Should we use video, phone, or Slack/Jive/Yammer? If you’re not using one of those social media systems, should you? What’s the best way for us to work together? You’ve got to help people understand how to do remote work and give them confidence that it will work.

Read more about
The Realities of Remote Work

Once those things are sorted out, meet with your group at least once a week. In a remote environment, frequency of contact cannot go down. If you’re used to having meetings, continue to do so. In fact, contact should probably go up for the whole team and its members. Newer employees, those working on critical projects, and people who need more contact will require extra one-on-ones. Remember, too, that you can do fun things virtually: happy hour, coffee breaks, lunch together. All these things can help maintain the connections you had at the office. There’s ample research showing that virtual teams can be completely equal to colocated ones in terms of trust and collaboration. It just requires discipline.

How does working from home affect psychological health? What can employers do to make sure that people are staying focused, committed, and happy?

People lose the unplanned watercooler or cappuccino conversations with colleagues in remote work. These are actually big and important parts of the workday that have a direct impact on performance. How do we create those virtually? For some groups and individuals, it will be constant instant messaging. For others, it will be live phone conversations or videoconferences. Some people might want to use WhatsApp, WeChat, or Viber. A manager can encourage those types of contact points for psychological health. People are not going to be able to figure these things out organically. You’ve got to coach them. One more piece of advice: Exercise. It’s critical for mental well-being.

What are the top three things that leaders can do to create a good remote culture?

There are more than 10,000 books in the English language on Amazon on virtuality and how to lead remotely or at a distance. Why is that? Because this is very difficult to do, and managers have to actively work on it. Number one, make sure that team members constantly feel like they know what’s going on. You need to communicate what’s happening at the organizational level because, when they’re at home, they feel like they’ve been extracted from the mothership. They wonder what’s happening at the company, with clients, and with common objectives. The communication around those is extremely important. So you’re emailing more, sharing more.

Further Reading
Coronavirus: Leadership and Recovery: The Insights You Need

During this period, people will also start to get nervous about revenue goals and other deliverables. You must make sure they feel like they’re going to be OK. Another thing is to ensure that no members feel like they have less access to you than others. At home, people’s imaginations begin to go wild. So you have to be available to everyone equally. Finally, when you run your group meetings, aim for inclusion and balance the airtime so that everyone feels seen and heard.

How will these changes affect productivity?

Productivity does not have to go down at all. It can be maintained, even enhanced, because commutes and office distractions are gone. Of course, you might be at home with your partner or kids, and those issues will need to be worked out. Another problem might be your ability to resolve problems quickly when you can’t meet in person, in real time. That might create delays. But other than that, I don’t see productivity going down. There’s robust evidence showing that it shouldn’t change.

If the social distancing policies go on for a while, how do you measure your employees’ productivity and eventually review them on that work?

I’ll say this to every manager out there: You have to trust your employees. This is an era and a time in which we have to heed Ernest Hemingway’s advice: “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” You can’t see what people are doing. But equip them in the right ways, give them the tasks, check on them like you’ve always done, and hope they produce in the ways you want them to. You can’t monitor the process, so your review will have to be outcome-based. But there’s no reason to believe that, in this new environment, people won’t do the work that they’ve been assigned. Remote work has been around for a very long time. And today we have all the technologies we need to not only do work but also collaborate. We have enterprisewide social media tools that allow us to store and capture data, to have one-to-many conversations, to share best practices, and to learn.

Let’s talk about virtual meetings. What are some best practices, beyond the general advice to clarify your purpose, circulate an agenda, prepare people to be called on, and so forth?

First, you have to have some explicit ground rules. Say, “Folks, when we have these meetings, we do it in a nice way, we turn off phones, we don’t check emails or multitask.” I highly recommend videoconferencing if you have the ability to do that. When people are able to see one another, it really makes a difference. And then you trust people to follow the ground rules.

COVID-19 has significantly altered our personal and professional lives. If you own a small business, you’ve definitely felt the strain. Instead of just focusing on providing products or services, you now have to fold in strategies for keeping employees and customers safe. It’s challenging, especially when things are changing daily. Fortunately, there are resources available to help keep your employees and customers safe so your business can still thrive despite COVID-19’s existence.

The CDC has created a helpful guide for workplaces and businesses and a team of Cleveland Clinic experts, including infectious disease, occupational health, nursing, and operations team members, developed a series of free, industry-specific guides, tools and webinars to help employers keep workers and those they serve protected from COVID-19. With the help of these resources and James Merlino, MD, Chief Clinical Transformation Officer, we’ll cover some effective strategies that can help make things less stressful on the job.

Tips for cleaning and disinfecting the workplace
Disinfecting high-touch surfaces and frequently used spaces is instrumental in slowing the spread of COVID-19 as well as other viruses and germs. When it comes to cleaning the workplace, you’ll want to develop a plan that’s easy for everyone to understand and follow. To make sure things go smoothly, utilize visual aids like charts, checklists or posters. You’ll also want to keep the right cleaning supplies on-hand.

The approach to cleaning can be broken down into three parts.

Plan – During this step, determine what needs to be cleaned. Keep in mind that not every area requires the same amount of attention. For example, in spaces left unoccupied for seven or more days, only routine cleaning is needed. High-touch surfaces (sinks, doorknobs, elevator buttons, etc.) should be disinfected regularly. You’ll also need to factor in the resources and equipment needed. Consider the size and availability of your current environmental services or janitorial workforce, the type and availability of cleaning products and the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed for cleaning your business.
Implement – Clean dirty surfaces with soap and water before you disinfect them. Also, make sure the appropriate cleaning or disinfecting products are being used. EPA-approved disinfectants can help safeguard against COVID-19. Read the labels to make sure the products of interest will meet your organizational needs. Once you have what you need, follow the directions on the label and pay attention to all safety information and application instructions. And when cleaning, don’t forget to clean or replace air filters regularly per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Maintain – Stay on top of routine cleaning and disinfection and don’t be afraid to adjust or revise your plan based upon disinfectant and PPE availability. Make sure that frequently touched surfaces are disinfected daily. And maintain safe practices to build in additional layers of protection to keep everyone safe. These practices include frequent hand washing, wearing masks, having employees stay home if they are sick and social distancing.
Tips for retail spaces
If you own a store, your cleaning routine is going to look a little different since you most likely have more foot traffic. Here are some things you can do to keep employees and customers safe.

Clean and disinfect high-touch areas frequently (doorknobs, push bars and door handles, light switches, carts and baskets, touchscreens, keyboards and credit card machines).
Deep clean weekly using EPA-approved disinfectants that meet CDC requirements for use and effectiveness against viruses, bacteria, and airborne and bloodborne pathogens.
Keep sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer in high-traffic spaces (e.g., public and employee entrances, restrooms and common areas).
Provide alcohol-based hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol for cashiers and other employees who cannot leave their workstations to frequently clean their hands.
How to handle physical distancing in your place of business
COVID-19 has changed how we navigate public spaces. Workplaces are no exception. If you’re still trying to adjust, keep these tips in mind

Limit the number of people in your establishment at one time. This may mean changing your policies to allow flexible worksites (e.g., work-from-home) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts).
Increase physical space between employees at the worksite (add extra space between workspaces to ensure 6 feet of distance between workers, encourage employees to avoid elevators and reduce the number of riders, create one-way traffic flow through aisles and hallways, etc.).
Have meetings by phone or video when possible. If you have to meet in person, make sure there is plenty of space between each employee, all employees are wearing masks, and the meeting space is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
Cancel non-essential trips and events.
Stagger break times so employees aren’t in the same area at once.
Physical distancing for retail spaces
Make sure there are markers indicating six feet of space between employees and customers or install barriers if it’s hard to maintain physical distance at all times.
In the check-out area, use every other cash register and/or put markers on the floor to remind customers to leave 6 feet of space between themselves and others.
Keep customers from closely gathering in customer service lanes, cash register lanes, or other tight spaces.
Make sure employees and customers wear masks that cover the face and nose at all times.
Don’t allow people to hang out in areas where there’s excessive air movement (e.g., close to doors and drafts).
Additional ways to keep your retail space safe
While it might seem like common sense, this is worth repeating — tell customers to not to enter your store if they have symptoms of COVID-19. Also, to strongly reinforce physical distancing, use signage throughout the store to prompt and reinforce space guidelines.

To keep your employees on-board, remind them of your commitment to keeping everyone safe by placing signs near the entrance, check-out area, on the sales floor and in break rooms. These signs should also include friendly reminders to wash hands frequently, wear masks, physical distance and use proper cough etiquette.

What should you do if an employee is infected with COVID-19?
With cases on the rise, it’s inevitable — some of your employees are going to be exposed to the coronavirus or even test positive for it. To keep everyone safe, be sure to have the management team and workers monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.

They include:

Fever.
Chills.
Cough.
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
Muscle or body aches.
Congestion or runny nose.
Diarrhea.
Nausea or vomiting.
Headache.
Fatigue.
New loss of taste or smell.
Sore throat.
Remember that the symptoms aren’t always severe. With a majority of cases (around 80%) patients experienced mild symptoms.

How to handle a sick employee at work?
Some people have a tendency to still show up at work when they’re sick. In the event that a team member does come to work with symptoms of COVID-19 or starts to get sick at work, you or your management team will need to act quickly.

Start by separating the employee from other employees and customers. Then, advise them to go home and contact their healthcare provider for next steps (testing, home care protocol, etc.). Once they’ve left, block off all areas that were used by the sick employee until they can be thoroughly cleaned. When it comes to cleaning and disinfecting these areas, refer to the CDC’s guidelines for cleaning when someone is showing symptoms of COVID-19.

What you can do if employees, visitors or customers were exposed to someone with COVID-19
If workers have been exposed, but no one is showing any symptoms, here’s what you or your management team can do.

Follow local health department guidelines for required quarantine practices.
Screen employees for temperature and symptoms when they arrive at work each day.
Perform regular self-monitoring as outlined by your occupational health program.
If not already required, make sure employees who were exposed wear face masks at work for 14 days from the date of the exposure.
Maintain physical distance guidelines of at least 6 feet from others in the workplace.
Disinfect and clean all work areas thoroughly and frequently.
While this has all become the new normal, it’s important for management teams to be flexible, vigilant, empathetic to the needs of employees and capable of communicating workplace changes and new policies clearly and effectively. This can all help ensure that things go smoothly as you work to protect your team, your customers and yourself.