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When Company Morale is Low Leadership is Often Last to Know

5 Signs that the ship maybe sinking

ThinqOutLoud-When Company Morale is Low

Have you ever been in this position?  You are working for a company and the general work vibe has become negative. Or maybe your peers have become indifferent and are starting to go through the motions.  When company morale begins to sink it is usually felt by the staff long before their bosses. It can be months before it is recognized at the leadership levels.

I have been in this situation in the past.  A couple of times it was driven by temporary condition brought on by a tough economy, or a big client loss. Those situations tend to right themselves over a period of time.  The team can rally and bounce back.

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Falling Out of Love with your IT Service Provider?

How to repair the relationship and avoid the "7 year itch"

Falling out of Love With your IT Service Provider

Most of the companies I work with have an existing IT Service Provider. Their role is to help support their network and assist in making IT decisions.  Coming from that background myself I know this relationship can be invaluable to a growing company. Especially in times of trouble.

I have also found that just because the relationship has been long term, it does not mean that it is necessarily a thriving or healthy.  Like a bad marriage sometimes these relationships continue because “it’s just easier” than making a change.

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10 Simple, Low Cost things you can do to recognize staff

It isn't hard to say thanks!

ThinqOutLoud-Guy celebrating

Let’s start with a quick question…

When was the last time you recognized an employee?  More than a month ago? More than 6 months? A year?

If it has been a while since the last time you recognized members of your team you are missing a great opportunity.  Studies have shown that when employees get recognized or even a simple “thank you” from their boss they are more loyal and productive.

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7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Office 365

Features to lower cost and improve security

ThinqOutLoud Office 365
I bet when you think about Office 365 you think about e-mail.  It is the service that Microsoft used in launching the service and is the primary reason people buy Office 365, but the service goes way beyond email.  There are three primary flavors of Office 365 and the comparison of features can be found here, but I want to focus on the features of the Business Premium version which is $150/year per user ($12.50/mo.).  At the end of this article I will show you an ROI that proves it is one of the best deals around.
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5 Ways Leadership can Impact Corporate Culture

Culture cannot be faked, it has to be genuine

ThinqOut Loud-Corporate Culture

Everyone wants to believe that they have a great corporate culture within their business.  The hard truth is that senior management can be walking around wearing blinders totally unaware that the empire can be on the brink of collapse!  Okay, maybe a bit extreme. It doesn’t change the fact that often the last people to know that culture of your company has become toxic is the leadership team.

Many studies link corporate culture to a company’s overall performance. Jobsite surveyed 1000 workers correlating job satisfaction driven by strong peer relationships.  Forbes profiled a Duke study surveying 1,400 CEO’s and CFO’s over a 13 month period. 90% of those surveyed felt corporate culture was important to their firms. However, only 15% felt their firm met their culture goals.

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How to lead your team during challenging times

Earning respect & crushing the "unreasonable"

Earning respect and crushing the unreasonable as a Non-Technical Manager-ThinqOutLoud

I was asked recently about how to manage multiple and different personalities by a potential client.   The client drew similarities between his days in management with a manufacturer of denim clothes with and mine managing a consulting firm.  Initially I had a tough time drawing a parallel, but as he explained more it became almost glaringly obvious.  I was also asked how I managed those personalities when project expectations are at best “unreasonable”.

He stated managing the “unreasonable” periods were the hardest.  For him this could include tight customer deadlines or a shortage in raw product.  That would cause timelines to compress and the team to become stressed. In his field he has to deal with fashion designers, textile manufacturers, retail buyers, and factory workers.  I remarked that is certainly a varied group of skills and personalities to deal with. Especially in a time of crisis.

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6 easy steps to better IT security

Take the keys out of the door for hackers

ThinqOutLoud-6 Steps to Better IT Security

When you leave your house to go shopping I am sure you lock your door on the way out. You may even set your alarm. Once at the mall you lock your car and maybe park under a light if you know it will be dark when you leave. Simple steps to make sure you keep the things you care about stay safe. So the question can be asked, if you keep your personal life safe shouldn’t you follow the same approach for IT Security?

There is an old saying “Security never goes out of style” and no matter what the latest technology trend might be security is always part of the conversation. Your company is responsible for a number of different types of sensitive information. Common items include personally identifiable information about your employees, your organizations financial information, customer data and your organizations intellectual property just to name a few.

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Do you know the difference between a CIO and CTO?

For a long time I didn't

ThinqOutLoud-Difference between CIT and CTO

Early in my career I thought the role CIO (Chief Information Officer) and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) were interchangeable positions. It did not take me long to come to understand that each role is different and the importance of each role is rooted in the user community it serves.

While both roles are C-level, it is not uncommon for a CTO or CIO to shift into one or the other over the course of their career. The primary distinction between the two roles is pretty easy to understand.  The correct title is based on the person’s interaction with the business, the technology, and its clients.

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Do you Need a Software Sherpa?

A voice from the outside can help save time and money

ThinqOutLoud-Do you need Software Sherpa

One of the most difficult tasks for a company is choosing a new software or SaaS application. Especially when that software is mission critical to the business. It becomes that much harder when you have more than one person involved in the selection process.

This endeavor usually includes a bunch of software demos, many spreadsheets tracking the features and benefits, and sales collateral from all the vendors all over your desk. Very quickly the whole process can become a blur with each software package resembling one another. Opinions come from all sources… family, vendors, and even your close competitors will offer their two cents on the subject.  But do their suggestions even fall inline with your need?

IFTTT.com – Easy to use mobile automation

Automation Made Easy

Ifttt.com simple automationI believe strongly in automation, but it wasn’t always this way. About 10 years ago I had an employee (future DevOps guy) who said he wanted to automate himself out of a job.  I thought he was crazy, but he assured me that there will always be something else that can benefit from automation, thus if anything he was insuring job security. I now understand what he meant, and I look for repetitive tasks I do daily that could benefit from simple automation.

The question is, how do I automate those tasks if I am not a tech savvy individual or have a tech staff I can lean on?

I was introduced by my old business partner, Frank Gesino, to this awesome site. IFTTT.com can help you automate many of the day to day tasks in your life.  Is it going to rain tomorrow?  How abut an email delivered to you letting you know?  IFTTT.com allows you to create simple little “recipes” to create simple “if this, then that” routines to make your life a little easier.

IFTTT.com has a collection of easy automation instructions to connect your home, increase productivity, stay up on personalized news, and keeping healthy.  I am presently using a few of these hacks to simplify my social media posts and to keep up on news alerts that are important to me.  I am looking forward to setting up a few of the home automation “recipes” soon.

Mobile Ready

There are 4 mobile apps connected to IFTT.com and they are available at the Apple App store and in Google Play

  1. IF: This app lets you create automation “recipes” and put them into use. IFTTT mobile apps-ThinqOutLoud.com
  2. DO Button: Allows you to create receipts that cause and action to take place (i.e. press the DO button and turn your home thermostat to 70 degrees)
  3. DO Note: This app lets you save notes.  I am a big Evernote user and this allows me to record simple notes and in one click send them to my account.
  4. Do Camera: Want to send a picture to your email? Save a business card to Evernote? This app makes those easy with the click of a button.

These apps combined with pre-built IFTTT’s automation routines keeps it simple for almost any user.

What would you like to automate?  Any automation success stories?  Please let me know in the comments section below!