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For managers, hiring is one of the most difficult tasks they are faced with. Potential employees can send in impressive resumes, but when hired, they perform below expectations.
Remarkable employees are marked by several characteristics as noted in a recent article http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-8-qualities-of-remarkable-employees.html.
Ignoring job descriptions is at the top of this list. Everyone has worked with someone who has said, "I'm not taking care of that; it's not my job." A great employee sees a need and takes the initiative to complete the task, whether in their job description or not.
Another characteristic is that they publicly praise their peers, but privately complain. Everyone loves to be recognized for a job well done, but just as this praise works positively in the office, criticisms have the same effect but negatively. When respected employees complain to their peers, the issue may be made worse than the reality.
Remarkable employees have the desire to prove others wrong. This is in direct correlation to employee’s drive and self-motivation which can outweigh their previous education and experience.
Finally, they have a tendency to fiddle with processes. Instead following current procedures, they strive to find ways to improve upon them making them more efficient and effective. Remarkable employees display many similar key traits and looking for these characteristics when hiring will provide your company with more extraordinary staff.
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Google’s Chromebook for Business program could entice a lot of organizations to consider ditching Windows for Chrome OS. Learn more and see how it could save big money. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/while-it-pros-scoff-google-chromebooks-will-likely-seduce-businesses/8310?tag=nl.e101
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This week I’m attending the USDLA (United States Distance Learning Association) Annual Convention in Saint Louis. However, I am in Indianapolis! This group like many others is offering many of their sessions online for those who cannot travel to the physical meeting location. Attending utilizing streaming is an interesting concept. Unfortunately I am learning that some streaming services work a lot better than others and there are some drawbacks to trying to receive content in this manner.
The topics of the sessions however are about online learning. The variety of tools available for distance learning is truly mind blowing. From streams to web conferences to collaborative tools to podcasts to online communities, the information is staggering! Some of the interesting things I have learned so far about today’s learners:
• Some professors are dropping the audio components of their distance learning and only utilizing text chat. This is what their learners want.
• Students no longer use phones and computers (the way we “old folks” would think). They use mobile devices.
• Online learning platforms are behind when it comes to mobile access, yet this is what students are really demanding.
• Some colleges who do a lot of online learning have a library, but it has very few books!
I wonder how much universities will continue to evolve before my eldest child hits campus in three years. I suspect education as we think of it today will no longer exist!
It’s interesting to me to learn about online learning via online learning!
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Wednesday, 20 April 2011 09:17
Technology, why does it seem harder the easier it gets?
Written by MarieI am admittedly not the most tech savvy person. This becomes more apparent as my children hit their teen years and have to explain technology to me daily! Cell phones, wireless devices, apps, there are so many new things to make our lives better and easier. The technologies become more advanced but thankfully at the same time they become more intuitive and easier to use.
At TelSpan, our conferencing and communications services are constantly evolving. One of the main changes I have observed over my tenure here is that our services have become much easier to use and more reliable, even as prices decline. This should be a wonderful thing for users of our technology. Conferencing is inexpensive, easy to use, and at TelSpan, incredibly reliable.
At the same time though, it sometimes seems hard to keep up with all of the changes as technology is evolving more quickly than ever before. We continue to introduce upgrades, as well as new products and services to enable our clients to meet easily from any time and any place. Those of us familiar with these great technologies think it should seem easier than ever for clients to conduct complex conferencing events, after all it’s much easier now!
In reality though, the number of choices and constant changes related to technology can easily confuse and overwhelm even those who consider themselves technically savvy. At TelSpan we must constantly remind ourselves of this. As a result of this consideration, we are launching our new Concierge Event Management Service. Those who take advantage of this new service will be able to leave all the difficult, yet “easy” work to their personal Event Concierge. The Concierge will handle the event planning and execution from beginning to end, making sure the technology utilized is the best fit for the desired outcome, and will make sure everything is set up properly, with the result being a flawlessly executed conferencing event.
We are always looking for ways to make seemingly complex technologies easier for our end users. Please let us know your thoughts!
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The last time I wrote, I discussed that it seems many retailers “just don’t care” anymore and how I have become accustomed to poor service assistance. Likewise, I really don’t have high expectations of being “wowed” the way I used to be. I would be very grateful if we could meet somewhere in the middle.
Conventional wisdom holds that to increase client satisfaction and loyalty, a company must always “delight” their clients by exceeding service expectations. Often times though, the majority of clients simply want, and rarely get, a satisfactory solution to their service issue. The keys to proper client satisfaction are to help reduce the amount of energy the client spends resolving an issue, reduce follow-up calls, be considerate of the emotional aspects of a situation, anticipate the needs of a client, and create a plan to resolve an issue, not always with speed, but with accuracy and understanding.
At TelSpan, we have determined that our staff is fully capable of, and delivers, professional results for negative client interactions by following the guidelines listed above. We understand our business and we always learn from our clients’ experiences to help us to move forward in a more positive way. We are currently working on training our staff to provide a complete resolution to an issue by themselves. We find that we have developed a quality culture, that we have properly aligned our systems with our business, and that we can provide our staff with the knowledge and authority to do what they need to do to help a client immediately.
After all, if most reviewers think “good is enough”, as I do when shopping because it’s more than I receive now, then The TelSpan Way will certainly show the others how to succeed with clients.
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At TelSpan we’ve been talking a lot in the past few years about disruptive technologies. What are they? How will they affect our business? How will they change the way our clients connect with their world?
According to Wikipedia, “a disruptive technology is an innovation that disrupts an existing market.”
A quick internet search of “Disruptive Technologies” will produce lists too numerous to mention, with a wide variety of technologies discussed. At TelSpan we have noticed that a few in particular seem to pop up more than others. These include, social networking, video, and mobile technologies among many others.
Several new innovative services are being developed as a result of our research. As video becomes ubiquitous and the preferred method of receiving information, we are developing a new Video Production Service to help our clients produce video inexpensively to get their messages across in a professional manner.
Our new TelSpanMobile app is an easy way for conferencing users to store and save a list of frequently dialed TelSpan audio conferences. Our app allows a client to select their conference form the list, and connect to their conference with a single button.
What other disruptive technologies are affecting your world and your day-to-day life? We’d love to hear from you!
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I have been struggling of late with allowing myself to accept “Good Enough” as being good enough and, watch out, expecting poor performance when making purchases. I believe I have experienced enough poor performance from salespeople that I am truly grateful if I can get out of a store with what I think I want and that I was able to answer my own questions. This is extremely difficult for me to write since my job as TelSpan’s Director of Quality Assurance is to provide excellence to my clients each and every time they use my conferencing service. Why should I accept less than this in my personal life? Well, I am trying to answer that question as I wander around a big-box hardware giant unable to find anyone to help me. Wait! There’s someone. No, they are removing their apron heading to the back of the store! I’ll try the front desk…….
I know there are many variables involved with providing good service, but my company has been very fortunate to find and recruit many fine people that are willing to embrace a philosophy of excellence, learn to work with clients, and provide service that is, hopefully, greater than what the client expected. Now, if all of our clients feel the way I do, expecting poor service, and accepting things that are “good enough”, then this is an easy task for us and might explain our success. But the difference is that our clients tell us all of the time how well we are doing and why they continue to use our service. I can rarely find the opportunity anymore to thank a store manager for how well I was treated by his or her staff.
It seems to me that in today’s economy, most people should be very happy to have a job and that they would do their best to be the best at what they do. Considering how high our unemployment rate is, I would be concerned that I could easily be replaced by someone better than me if I don’t produce good results all of the time. Therefore, wouldn’t you think we should all have an excellent experience every time we purchase something?
I will admit that the client isn’t always right, but that is when the best begin their real work to not only address and rectify the immediate situation, but to ensure that the issue is resolved appropriately, professionally, and with sincerity. That’s what we do at TelSpan and I am very thankful for the results we have obtained
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As the highly anticipated iPad2 hit the open market, many consumers and businesses are trying to make that critical "buy or no buy" decision. Here are a series of great articles from TechRepublic that provides a good overview of the device itself, a listing of must-have apps and a buyers guide of who should and should not purchase the new device. Happy Reading!
The Device: Apple iPad 2 Teardown
The Apps: 10 Must-have iPad2 apps
The Buyer: Who should Buy and Who should Pass
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If you, your family, or the organization you work with hasn’t been adversely affected by weather this season (or even this week!) then we’d like to know where you live!
All kidding aside however, the unpredictable forces of nature have reinforced the need to be prepared in the face of the unexpected.
According to The Hartford Financial Services Group, over 40% of businesses that don’t have a disaster plan go out of business after a major loss, such as a fire, a break-in, or a storm. Every organization should have a disaster plan and TelSpan can help
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• Have audio and web conference codes set up and available on demand for use in an emergency, or for routine communications when employees cannot make it to the office.
• Use UrgentConference codes to instantly dial out to a preset list of up to 50 people. This is great for communicating quickly in a disaster, or to let employees know of a change in plans or work schedules.
• Use the TelSpan playback system to record a message, and then instruct your employees to simply dial an 800 number and enter a code to hear the message. The message can be updated as often as needed. We use this at TelSpan to keep our employees updated during inclement weather.
Click here for more helpful information on disaster planning.
http://www.sba.gov/content/disaster-preparedness
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We’ve all heard the saying “Good night. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” And as we all know, it has unfortunately become necessary to say it more and more in the past year!
The December issue of Meetings & Conventions magazine has two articles devoted to bedbugs and their affect on meeting planners. In a recent survey conducted by the magazine, 87 percent of meeting planners surveyed are extremely or somewhat concerned about bedbugs and their potential affect on upcoming meetings. 42 percent now do a visual inspection for the critters during on site visits, and 29 percent routinely ask properties whether they are prepared to ward off a potential infestation.
If you need to travel, be sure to inquire as to bedbug infestations, or check some of the convenient sites online where travelers can report encounters. If your meeting doesn’t require travel consider conferencing with TelSpan.
Read the full article here:
http://www.meetings-conventions.com/articles/don39t-let-the-bedbugs-bite/b37856.aspx
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