Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

From Paper Archives to Mobile Capture

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) put forth an ideal scenario.

Your invoices are scanned at the door, the document type is automatically recognized and routed, the data is captured, it is verified against transactional content in the system, and the invoice is passed for payment in a hands-free or light-touch way.

Ah, but one can dream!

While most organizations use scanning at some point in this process, for the most part, paper still rules. Data may be extracted here and there, but in the majority of cases, it’s the paper (or at best, a flat, scanned image) that is routed through workflow. Even in the largest organizations, the level of full data capture is only 16 percent. These companies are most likely using paper-free data capture for basic financial operations, including the accounts payable and expense reimbursement processes.

The evolution of capture

AIIM mentions that centralized systems have become speedier and more capable in recent years, and prior bandwidth issues associated with connecting to distributed and remote scanners are more or less moot. Today’s discussion mostly centers on how we can efficiently and safely capture data from mobile phones, tablets, and home devices.

AIIM reports that about 25 percent of organizations have employees capturing data at home and while traveling – a process called mobile capture. Mobile capture includes content creation on the device and the use of electronic forms to directly capture data. Pen-stroking of signatures is also an important application, and can include the biometrics of how the signature is drawn rather than simply the bitmap of the result. Other ways data can be collected and stored by mobile devices include speech recognition and recording, photo capture and annotation, barcode scanning, GPS stamping, and RFID capture.

The obvious benefits of mobile capture are that the process kicks off immediately, and if the customer is doing the capture himself, errors can be spotted right away. On average, AIIM survey respondents reported an improvement in response time of 4.0X – reducing 1 day down to 2 hours, or 4 days to 1 day. As far as productivity increases go, the average across all respondents is 29.7 percent improvement. Finally, mobile capture applications allow usage of the same electronic forms across a wide variety of devices.

For more on the different ways to save and store information, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Celebrating 50 Years of Project Management

Last year in the International Journal of Project Management, Julien Pollack and Daniel Adler reported on 50 years of PM research trends to distill where the industry has come from, and where it’s going. Their report acknowledges passing fads as well as those that have withstood the test of time.

When Pollack and Adler set out to examine the evolution of project management, they knew that a standard literature review wouldn’t do. They wanted to check out everything, so they sourced 94,472 unique records of PM research (published between 1962 and 2012) from the Scopus and ISI Web of Science databases.

The keywords and abstracts that authors used to describe their work were analyzed in terms of word frequency, rate of change and the co-occurrence of keywords and abstract terms. Comparisons were made between the frequencies of key terms and rapid changes in the ways that terms were used in the literature to identify emergent trends.

Long-Term, Overall Transformation from Siloed to Holistic

First and foremost, the research indicated a change in emphasis in project management research from a technical engineering orientation to one which encompasses a broader organizational perspective.

Also, recent bursts of keywords related to environmental issues, strategic planning, project managers, knowledge management, business and innovation suggest a movement from technical and industry-specific issues to an emphasis on the interpersonal aspects of project management and the role of the field in the broader organizational context.

Education and Financial Investment Dominate the Early 00s

Use of keywords related to education enjoyed a period of popularity from 1999 to 2005. This may be attributed to the growth of project management professional associations, the increasing significance of certifications as a route to employment, and the widespread increase in university education focused on developing the capabilities of project managers. Also in the first few years of this century, keywords related to cost, contracts and investment were popular from 2001 to 2006.

Interestingly, keywords related to cost and contract management were more strongly associated with the construction industry than the IT industry, while issues associated with education were more strongly associated with IT than construction.

For more where this came from, check out the full post at the Intuit Fast Track blog.

Is Open Allocation in Your Future?

Github.

Gore & Associates.

Treehouse.

Valve.

What do these companies have in common? Well, besides the fact that they are forward-thinking, pioneering firms, they all practice a leadership style called open allocation. In open allocation, employees select how to spend their time and the projects on which they’ll work. There is no such thing as hierarchy. In an open allocation culture, employees are accountable to the business and to their peers. As long as they can show that they’re contributing value, they can switch assignments whenever they want – there are no managers or rules about headcount to hold them back.

Self-Directed, Self-Managed

In an open allocation scenario, teams essentially manage themselves and are only temporary. The concept reminds me of Gartner’s swarming idea, in which a project group forms based on expertise and interest and then disbands when its goal is accomplished. Rather than an executive calling for a new team, the informal leader is the employee who came up with the idea for the project – tenure or “rank” aside. A new strategic initiative will only get off the ground if the “leader” can convince others to invest their time, talent, and resources.

No Blame, More Gain

The benefits of open allocation are many. Decisions are smarter and better informed because the people making them are closer to the work, and employees can provide input free of strict, inflexible communication channels. Team members are automatically more motivated because they wouldn’t have chosen to work on a project if they didn’t believe in it and weren’t excited about it upfront. And if they are unhappy, they have to recognize that it’s because of their own choices rather than a managerial mandate. Instead of leaving the company, they just move on to another project.

For the rest of the post, head over to SilkRoad's blog.

Bridge the Soft Skills Gap in Your Young Professionals

Why don’t young professionals today hold themselves to a higher standard when it comes to their attitude, work habits, and people skills? In his new book, Bridging the Soft Skills Gap, my friend and colleague Bruce Tulgan explores these five reasons:

Pretend Adulthood

Most entry-level professionals are coming to you straight from school. If they have the most in-demand technical skills, then they are probably coming from college or university; maybe graduate school. That means they’ve probably become quite accustomed to a very luxurious form of pretend adulthood. Of course, there is substantial coursework. Still, they have very little supervision and a great deal of latitude in all manner of their personal habits and conduct. They are accustomed to staying out late hanging with their friends and skipping morning meetings.

Helicopter Parents

Even after they arrive in the workplace, new college grads are still only a phone call or text away from their parents.  Even worse, maybe they are on their own now, for the first time, after being reared by parents who did all the work for them of closely scheduling, managing, and supporting their every move. With their parents doing so much of the work, many young professionals never mastered the basics of taking care of themselves.

High Expectations

The customization of everything has entrenched in young professionals a fundamental expectation that individual accommodation is the norm.  And surely too many people told them each and all, way too often, “You are a special case.” Their basic assumption is that they should be able to just “be themselves” and “express” their true identity at work, even if that might include stuff like failing to follow through on a day when they are “just not feeling it.”

Unpracticed Interpersonal Skills

Communication practices are habits, and most young professionals are in the habit of remote informal staccato and relatively low-stakes interpersonal communication because of their constant use of hand-held devices and social media and instant messaging. They stare at their devices too much, send too many texts, and are becoming increasingly less articulate because they have so little practice having real conversations.

Professionalism Vs Individualism

Much of what older, more experienced people might see as matters of professionalism—attitude, self-presentation, schedule, and interpersonal communication—new college grads are likely to consider highly personal matters of individual style or preference and really none of their employer’s business.

Want to learn how to cope with these young professional characteristics more effectively? Check out Bruce’s book for practical answers and advice for better preparing your young professionals for success.

How to Manage Conflict in SMBs

When a small business grows and adds new employees to the team, inevitably there can be some friction. For entrepreneurs who may have worked on their own for a while, staff conflicts are new and not necessarily welcome developments.

The incidence and implications of workplace conflict have troubled leaders for a while. Back at the end of the last decade, Myers-Briggs publisher CPP Inc. commissioned a major study that found U.S. employees spent around three hours per week dealing with conflict. Twenty-five percent of employees reported that conflicts led to sickness or absenteeism, 9 percent said it led to task or "project failure," and 18 percent claimed they had witnessed people leaving their jobs because of conflict.

OPEN Forum reached out to three small-business owners to learn how they effectively manage staff disputes in their companies. Here’s what Hesam Meshkat, CEO of device resale company Guzu.com in New York City; Sarah Schupp, CEO of college resource company UniversityParent in Denver; and Jason Shah, CEO of meeting organization firm Do.com in San Francisco had to say.

What’s the most challenging staff dispute you’ve ever encountered? How did you cope with it?

We finally have a team that communicates openly and has mutual respect for what everyone brings to the table. We got there by defining our core values and vision for the company. Slowly, team members left if they didn’t match what we’d identified as central and non-negotiable behavior.

 

Sarah Schupp: Sales and production often have tension, but in my organization it hit a breaking point because it was “us vs. them,” and [it] felt very toxic. Sales thought production wasn’t doing enough, and production felt the same way about sales. It was frustrating and took me years to figure out. We finally have a team that communicates openly and has mutual respect for what everyone brings to the table. We got there by defining our core values and vision for the company. Slowly, team members left if they didn’t match what we’d identified as central and non-negotiable behavior. We also resolved conflicts by being more open about everyone’s roles and responsibilities. We uncovered that much of the tension was around a lack of understanding about the different ways that everyone was contributing.

Hesam Meshkat: Our worst staff dispute occurred when we were restructuring our business model. Two employees felt their jobs were at risk and got into an argument born out of defensiveness. We resolved the conflict by assuring them that their roles were secure.

Jason Shah: I once managed a team on which there was frequent conflict between an introvert and a more aggressive employee. I worked with the latter team member to understand the implications of one's actions. After a level-headed conversation with all the parties involved, we were able to get on the same page and have more respectful team conversations.

What are your best practices for preempting employee altercations?

Meshkat: We cultivate a positive work atmosphere that revolves around transparency. We always tell our employees to discuss serious concerns with management so we can attend to them early and they don’t get out of hand.

Shah: The best way to preempt employee altercations is to simply have an inclusive culture. When people share values and a sense of purpose, altercations are few and far between.

Schupp: The best way is to hire based on values, and then continue to make values central to the culture. When an employee isn’t getting along with the rest of the team, it’s usually because their values are not aligned with the team’s values. But when everyone believes that we’re all operating under the same intentions, disputes are rare.

For the rest of the interview, please have a look at the AMEX Open Forum.

Business Owners: How To Navigate a Price Increase

Small-business owners are often ecstatic that customers want to buy their products and services, and once an offering is successful and has been improved upon, it could be time to consider a price increase. However, this is a decision that does not come easily.

To get to the bottom of when and why you should raise your prices and how to roll out price increases without upsetting your loyal customers, I tapped three owners for advice: Keith Alperin, CEO of Helium Foot Software in Chicago; Megan Armstrong, founder of Dogma Training & Pet Services in Calgary; and Tomaso Veneroso, CEO of metal part manufacturing firm Am Cast in Bohemia, New York.

How do you know when it's time to increase your prices?

Keith Alperin: I have an item on my calendar to review our rates every fall. For an increase on the first of the year, my planning starts the fall before. This gives me a chance to evaluate the market and our position relative to similar firms in our field and our city.

 

No one likes to have the conversation about raising rates, but if you’re excited about what the rate increase can do for your business, then hopefully you can get your clients excited about what your business will be able to do for them.

 

Megan Armstrong: We are primarily a service business, so we know it is time to raise prices when the demand of the service is greater than our ability to supply it. We also do a review twice a year and take a look at wage and overhead increases. If there have been increases, we plan how to build those into our prices.

Tomaso Veneroso: I increase the price only when I can propose something that is worth more. For example, if I can produce a new alloy state-of-the-art technology that can last twice the life of a competitor’s product, I know that it is time to increase the price because I am improving on the customer’s bottom line.

What factors are involved in pricing? 

Veneroso: Pricing is a function of materials, quality and performance. If I invent something such as our latest eco-friendly machine for quarry and mining, which is capable of producing usable product from waste, how can I establish the right price? This technology is technically priceless, so I use a fair judgment to cover my costs and make a little profit. However, the price has to be fair. I certainly cannot expect a customer to pay the same price for a Ford that they would for a Ferrari.

Armstrong: We monitor the industry and ensure that we are staying at the top of the higher price level for that service. For our product lines, we typically just keep the increases in line with supplier increases.

Alperin: Pricing is a little bit art and a little bit science. The main driver is definitely what the market will bear. I also sprinkle in what my costs are and how my team is doing. I’ve personally been in the tech business for almost 20 years, but my team has a mixture of experience ranging from two years to well over 30. As the less experienced folks gain more skills, the team becomes more efficient and the value of our services increases.

How do you roll out a pricing increase without customer fallout?

Armstrong: For day-to-day services for which an increase will have a large impact on our clients, we ensure we give at least 30 days notice. We post about the upcoming changes in the store and online, and we speak to clients individually to ensure that there are no surprises. We do not apologize for the increase but instead outline our reasons for the increase and thank customers for their continued support. We also take this time to remind them about what sets us apart from our competition. We align the increase with a change in policy that benefits them. For example, with our last increase, we extended the package expiration date from three to six months.

Alperin: I have the increase conversation with clients well in advance of the effective date. I always try to couch the discussion in terms of how the rate increase affects the overall health of the company and how the health of the company affects the quality of the work we do for them and the likelihood that we’ll be available to work on their projects.

Veneroso: Customers trust us because of our reputation, our technology and our impeccable customer service. They know that we aim to produce products that will enhance their businesses and that it’s not about being greedy.

For the rest of the interview, please see the full post at the AMEX Open Forum.

 

The 13 Mantras of Trust

Just when we thought things were getting better…

According to the 2015 annual Edelman Trust Barometer Study, the business world is experiencing an evaporation of trust across all kinds of institutions, reaching the lows of the Great Recession in 2009. Trust in business specifically is below 50 percent in two-thirds of countries, including the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. Trust deficits are so significant that they’re hindering organizational innovation and progress.

The worst thing is, we don’t trust our own people any more than we trust outsiders. And when leaders don’t trust their employees and employees don’t trust their leaders, all sorts of bad things happen. In a study last year, for example, The Forum Group found that organizations with low trust experienced less productivity, less engagement, and greater turnover.

How can we increase trust? One of my favorite reads in the last five years is Stephen M.R. Covey’s The Speed of Trust. In the book, Covey defines the following 13 behaviors as a great place to start:

Talk Straight

Communicate clearly so that you cannot be misunderstood. Preface your discussions by declaring your intent, so you leave no doubt about what you are thinking. Don’t manipulate people, distort facts or leave false impressions.

Demonstrate Respect

Freely demonstrate fairness, kindness, and civility to all, regardless of what they can do for you.

Create Transparency

Be real and genuine and tell the truth in a way that people can verify.  You can establish trust quickly by being open and authentic, erring on the side of disclosure, and having an open agenda.

Right Wrongs

Make restitution instead of just apologizing. Don’t deny or justify wrongs because of ego and pride, and don’t attempt to cover up mistakes.

Show Loyalty

Give credit to others and speak about people as though they are present. Don’t disclose others’ private information.

Deliver Results

Define your results up front. By establishing a track record, making the right things happen, being on time and on budget, and not making excuses, you quickly restore lost trust on the competence side.

Get Better

Continuously improve. Others will develop confidence in your ability to succeed in a rapidly changing environment. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but learn from them. Develop formal and informal feedback systems and respond to them.

Confront Reality

Tackle the tough issues head-on. This facilitates open interaction and fast achievement, and also allows you to engage the creativity, capability and synergy of others in solving problems.

Clarify Expectations

Outline specifics upfront. Always discuss and reveal expectations, and never assume they are clear or shared. Renegotiate if necessary, but don’t violate expectations once they have been validated.

Practice Accountability

Hold yourself and others accountable. Don’t avoid or shirk responsibility, and be clear on how you’ll communicate progress.

Listen First

Genuinely understand another person’s thoughts and feelings before trying to diagnose or advise.

Keep Commitments

It is the quickest way to build trust in any relationship. Make keeping all promises the symbol of your honor.

Extend Trust

Be a trusting leader to those who have earned it.  Don’t extend false trust by giving people responsibility without the authority or resources to complete a task. 

What do you do to build trust among your teams?

What Does the Future of Education Look Like?

This isn’t his mother’s first grade class.

My son is seven years-old attends a public school in Oak Park, IL just outside Chicago. He reads ahead of most of his classmates, so he accesses a specialized online curriculum instead of the standard printed book. He uses a mobile device to compete in math games with kids all over the world. Much of his homework involves picking a subject he’s interested in, investigating it on his own, and then reporting back in a classroom discussion.

Although my son’s college education will likely be unrecognizable, we can speculate about changes that will take place over the next 10-15 years. The two main trends rapidly picking up steam are online learning and vocational training.

Online Learning

In recent years, we’ve witnessed the rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are online classes aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. MOOCs consist of a variety of materials from video lectures and assigned readings to quizzes and interactive user forums for instructors, students, and teaching assistants. The current technology, however, requires some tweaks.

“MOOCs are not working that well because people only take one class at a time and then don’t finish it because it isn’t compelling,” says Erica Orange, Executive Vice President of New York-based business consultancy The Future Hunters and member of DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board.  “The next generation of MOOCs will be sensorily immersive, leveraging virtual reality to put students in the world they’re studying. Instead of having to memorize facts about the Civil War, for example, a student in a future MOOC will be on the battlefield.”

New modes of online learning will cater more effectively to Generation Z – or those students born roughly 1997-2012. “The oldest Gen Z-ers have been forced into an industrial model of school and we are seeing all these attention problems,” says Ms. Orange. “Their brains are wired differently and actually function better with input from a variety of sources.”

For the rest of the article, please visit the original piece at Time.com.