|
National Preparedness Month: Have a plan to recover
by Rachel Stancliff, Heartland Technology Solutions
 September is National Preparedness Month, driven this year by Agility Recovery, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Ready Campaign, and Citizen Corps. This campaign is an effort to encourage Americans to prepare for emergencies, whether it is at their homes, workplace, or communities.
The percentage of small- to medium-sized businesses that never recover after a disaster is staggeringly high, especially since the steps to putting together a disaster recovery plan are simple.
You never know when disaster might strike. Heartland Technology Solutions knows this very well – only weeks after we finalized our business continuity plan, a deadly tornado struck Joplin, MO, where one of our locations is based. While our location in Joplin was thankfully unscathed, hundreds of other businesses were destroyed. We could have been one of them, and we have seen how businesses can recover if they have a plan.
Take some time this month to begin preparing your business in case of a power outage, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or other disaster. There are a number of helpful resources online that can lead you through the stages of preparing.
Technology Helps Meet the Challenge of Multiple Offices
by Jane Cage, COO, HTS
Do you have more than one location? Are you considering an expansion? Running a business with more than one office presents a set of challenges all its own. Here are some of the ways to use technology to bridge the distance gaps:
1. A VoIP (Voice over IP) Phone System – Our phone system uses the same network cabling as our office computers. That factor alone has saved us money with every expansion as we set up a new location. We can run one set of wires and connect our computer network and our phones. More important, however, is the capability our system gave us for extension dialing and outside line transfer among locations. Before the VOIP system we had separate phone systems at each location. We discovered that it hampered open communications between staff members who needed to speak with each other. There was just a natural resistance to picking up the phone to tie up an outside line to make a long distance call. As soon as we connected the new system, communications between offices blossomed. Employees who were only “an extension” away seemed much more accessible.
2. Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) – OCS is the most important tool we use. OCS is a secure internal instant messaging system. It’s big advantage over external systems you might use such as Live Messenger or AIM is that it use “presence”. What is presence? IT’s a way to let me know whether someone is actively using their computer. Before I transfer a call, I check communicator to see if an employee is in the office and available. OCS synchronizes itself with Microsoft Exchange as well to let me know if someone is in a meeting or out for the day. It’s been a real time saver! We also purchased inexpensive webcams for many employees who use OCS for face-to-face conversations as well. The latest release of OCS gives us the ability to share our screen with another user. There is no better way to solve a problem than to actually see what is going on inside our accounting program on another users screen. OCS also becomes a collaboration tool when we are working on presentations, spreadsheets, etc as we can both see the same screen at the same time.
3. SharePoint – Our internal SharePoint side is the repository for company wide documents and messaging. Our HR site contains the employee handbook as well as any form that employees or managers might need. Our marketing site has current brochures, spec sheets and promotion information. Our engineers run a discussion board on their internal site to share information about problems and issues. The operations group uses an RMA tracking system to keep up with returns and credits for every location. There’s never a worry about where information resides because it’s available to all of us.
4. Last – we use Microsoft Outlook as a way to spread the news throughout our company. Each week, we send out a company wide email filled with news about the personal side of each location. It has become the equivalent of water cooler conversations and company bulletin boards as employees share their kids prom and sports pictures, their new dog photos and whose team won at football. It only takes a little work on my part each week to make the connection among employees.
It’s easy for remote offices to feel isolated. These cost-effective measures have produced an return on investment many times over. We’re happy to speak to you about our experiences with any and all of them.
4 Ways to Make Sure Meetings Are Not a Waste of Time
by Marlene Chism
Meetings can be a big waste of time or the biggest time saver. It all depends on your skills of keeping the meeting on track and engaging your staff. The challenges that keep your meetings from being productive include going on way past the allotted time, getting off track, and meetings that turn into gripe sessions. Here are four basics to running an effective meeting that keeps you completely in charge and engages your employees.
1. Set the expectations
2. Acknowledge the elephant
3. Beat the dead horse
4. Engage them
Set the expectations
One reason meetings get off track is due to negativity. It could be just one drama queen who always has something negative to say, but my bet is that she is speaking for the tribe, and she gets some sort of glory from her peers for having the courage to say what everyone else is thinking. Whether it’s everyone or just one person, the way to eliminate the complaining is to set the expectations before the meeting begins. This starts with a good agenda with a time allotment for each item on the agenda. Be realistic about the time it will take for each part, and this will help you avoid running over time. When you begin your meeting you may want to start out by acknowledging the elephant in the room.
Acknowledge the elephant
If there has just been a dramatic or unfortunate event, don’t ignore it and pretend it will go away. Whether it’s a pay cut, a firing, a policy change or a merger, you must bring it up briefly so that your employees feel heard. It goes something like this: “I know that many of us are very unhappy with the recent changes. It is affecting all of us and some of the complaints are valid, however I am going to ask that you try to work through it. We are not going to be discussing these challenges today. We may have a forum in the future, but today we will be talking only about XYZ on the agenda. If anyone does bring up something not on the agenda, we can put that topic on the flip chart and address it at a later date, but not today. Does everyone understand?” You will get a nod of agreement, and then you can move on to your agenda.
Beat the dead horse
If what has recently happened is still on everyone’s mind, you may elect to hold the first part of your meeting as a “beat the dead horse” session. Here’s what you do: Get a flip chart and markers and then start your meeting by saying, “We are going to play a quick game called ‘beat the dead horse.’ I want you to write down any complaint or upset that you have and put it on the board.” (Or you can have them state it in person and get a scribe to put the complaints on the flip chart.)
Start the clock and give a one minute warning. Read the statements off. Invite your staff to initial any of the complaints for which they have an idea for improvement that could reasonably work within company policy. Ask them to bring their ideas to you on a sheet of paper so you can address the ideas in the next meeting. Now you have empowered them to be problem solvers instead of complainers.
Engage their brain
Make a list of all the ideas that came to you. Acknowledge those who made the effort, even if the ideas are not valid solutions. If you do get a few solid ideas, that’s icing on the cake. If you don’t get any ideas, then you are teaching your staff not to complain if they cannot be part of the solution. Now you can schedule time on the agenda to invite problem-solving, and idea sharing. People buy into what they help to create.
|
About Axxys 
