Are we having fun (at work) yet?
A version of this article appeared in the Autumn 2021 issue of strategy+business.
Anybody who’s endured a tense Scrabble night with their family or been picked last for the team at school knows that “friendly” competition isn’t always fun and games. What might seem like endless amusement to some can be a source of anxiety to others. Nevertheless, in an effort to boost performance, lighten the mood, or relieve the tedious nature of repetitive work, many managers have introduced game-playing to the workplace, typically in the form of app-based competitions.
This so-called gamification of work has caught on in several fields, including retail, banking, and human resources. It’s been hailed as a way to keep employees more engaged and focused (especially those in younger generations who grew up playing video games). The appeal is obvious. Research shows that job satisfaction is the key to employee happiness and engagement, and engaged workers tend to be dynamic, supportive, and committed at work. Engaged employees also deliver higher-quality customer service and are less likely to quit, which cuts down on organizational turnover costs.
For example, call centers can use an app that translates customer service requests into virtual tickets assigned to employees; individuals or teams then compete according to various performance metrics (such as customer waiting time, average call duration, and number of requests handled) to win prizes. Ideally, employees are motivated to stay on track while improving their customer response rate in real time.
Read the original article here
Too Busy to Learn? Think Again.
March 2022 | Leadership
You know something needs to change, but you “don’t have the time.” Maybe your leadership feels tired — you find yourself doing the same things in the same ways even though you know there are probably better courses of action. Or you’re having a hard time keeping up with changes in your industry. Or the challenges you are facing (about your supply chain, a shrinking workforce, or greater competition) are getting overwhelming.
Recognizing the need for new knowledge is the easy part. But making time to acquire it turns out to be one of the biggest roadblocks to executive development. The good news is that overcoming it might be easier than you think. Wharton’s General Management Program (GMP) is designed to fit into already-overloaded executive schedules.
Rigorous, flexible learning journey
Billy Greineisen, PhD, director of strategy and corporate development at Cox Enterprises, acknowledged that excelling in his current role, and preparing for opportunities in the future, was going to take effort. “I knew it was important, so I did the research,” he says. “There are a number of prestigious ‘mini MBAs’ offered out there. But the GMP stood out to me. It offered Wharton’s expertise and rigor coupled with flexibility. I was just about to become a first-time father when I registered for the program, so I had to think more logistically about the opportunity.
Read the original article here
What It Takes to Transform Your Leadership
May 2022 | Management
Amazon currently sells over 60,000 leadership titles, including The Art of War, believed to be written about 2,000 years ago and considered by many to be the first book in the genre. If you’re seeking to improve your leadership, you don’t need to confine yourself to the page, though — over 10,000 of those Amazon titles have audio versions, and then there are podcasts, YouTube lectures, and seminars.
With so much wisdom available, why do so many managers continue to struggle? McKinsey interviewed hundreds of chief executives about leadership development and distilled their input into four reasons why most efforts fall short. Their insights probably won’t surprise you if you’ve read any of those 60,000-plus books: passively consuming information about what to improve and how to improve it rarely creates positive, lasting change.
What does work? The McKinsey survey’s top observation is that context matters: a one-size-fits-all approach usually fails because it doesn’t take into account the unique, existing strengths and challenges of individuals and their teams and organizations. Personalization is key. That’s why Wharton’s Executive Development Program (EDP) (among other leadership offerings) provides a holistic, deep, real-time exploration for each participant. It begins with a 360-degree leadership assessment completed before the program starts.
Read the original article here
What is Enterprise Content Management (ECM)?
Enterprise content management (ECM) systems are comprehensive platforms that help enterprises employees at various levels curate, organize, store, share, and manage various types of content:
- Web properties (XML, HTML)
- Product information
- Records
- Documents (DOC, OCF, XLS, PDF)
- Images (JPEG, TIFF, PNG)
In an enterprise, configuring access according to different roles, levels, and groups is key. A system administrator sets user or role-based privileges and makes sure that information and data contained within the ECM is up-to-date, secure, and automatically embedded in users’ workflows. An ECM should integrate with an enterprise’s other systems, such as ERP and CRM.
Functions of enterprise content management
Several types of content management fall under the larger umbrella of enterprise content management and pertain to a variety of functions and roles within an organization. Several platform options are available that group together these various functions in one solution.
Case management
Also known as claims management, case management is a branch of enterprise content management that handles various documents and workflows related to internal incidents. This could include a legal conflict, a new hire’s onboarding process, an insurance claim, or a safety incident at a manufacturing site. Case management helps HR professionals, managers, and corporate lawyers keep track of a case and its relevant documents.
Records management
Records management is a database feature of ECM that keeps digital information, such as W-2s and accounting books, secure and makes it easy to find in the event of an audit. ECMs keep information secure with file encryption, zero trust security controls in their cloud architecture, and access control in bulk or at granular levels.
In some industries, enterprises are mandated to keep information confidential according to regulatory standards. Enterprise content management systems help businesses maintain compliance with standards such as SOC 2 Type II or or ISO 27001. It’s useful for those in legal, accounting, and HR roles.
Read the original article from CIO Insight
Innovation resilience during the pandemic--and beyond
In September 2020, six months after COVID-19 had been declared a pandemic, the 13th annual Global Innovation Index (GII) predicted that innovation spending would hold strong in the year ahead. We made this assertion based on years of analysis: through its ranking of the innovation performance of more than 130 economies around the world and analysis of global innovation trends, the GII has, since 2007, provided a benchmark for the state of innovation investment and related activities. For example, GII analyses found that during the 2008–09 global financial crisis, several economies experienced no aggregate R&D declines, and for others, the fall was short-lived.
Today, despite the devastating human toll and economic shock of the pandemic, R&D expenditure, IP filings, and venture capital (VC) deals have continued to grow, building on peak pre-pandemic levels. The 2021 GII report, released in October, reflects how profoundly innovation has shaped and sustained our world. Perhaps the most visible recent example has been the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. Elsewhere, digital innovations have led to solutions that helped the public and private sectors to manage through successive waves of the pandemic—contact-tracing tools and apps and diagnostics, among others.
Read the original article here
CFOs seek insights, efficiency boost from process mining
Dive Brief:
- CFOs are increasingly exploring ways to gain insights and streamline basic finance operations through process mining, which pinpoints inefficiencies and helps upgrade a workflow toward its “ideal model,” Gartner found in a survey.
- Process mining provides unbiased “X-ray vision into your problems” in such activities as the closing process, according to Nisha Bhandare, a senior director and analyst at Gartner. “Finance leaders are exploring it heavily.”
- CFOs during the next two years will probably increase investment in process mining, robotic process automation (RPA) and reporting automation, Gartner said, citing a survey of 400 CFOs about 16 technologies involving process automation and optimization.
Dive Insight:
Process mining, although still in an exploratory stage, can yield gains across many functions and industries, according to technology experts. In finance, it can streamline controls and help identify irregularities such as any purchases made outside an established procurement process.
In sales, process mining can spotlight inefficiencies in sales cycles and achieve an improvement in key performance indicators for such metrics as days to close. In healthcare, it can reduce wait times for patients and help providers care for patients more efficiently.
“Despite ongoing investment in RPA, CFOs are realizing they need a broader toolkit to realize their full automation objectives,” Bhandare said. “CFOs are turning to a suite of complementary efficiency technologies, such as process mining.”
A process mining algorithm analyses event logs to reconstruct a workflow, enabling CFOs to review in detail what happened during execution of a process such as procure-to-pay or closing the books.
Read the original article from CFO DIve
The Great Global Retreat
Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta’s motto was “Think Global, Act Local.” Confused by this message, one of his successors, Doug Daft, changed it to “Think Local, Act Local.” Does either apply now?
In 1965, media philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the term “the global village.” That was 40 years before New York Times columnist Tom Friedman celebrated global interdependency in his 2005 book, The World Is Flat. In fact, in 1996, Friedman even more optimistically proclaimed that no two nations that both had McDonald’s franchises would wage war. Sadly, that wasn’t true in Africa, the Middle East or Central Europe back when he wrote it, and the 110 McDonald’s restaurants in Ukraine and 860 McDonald’s in Russia underscore just how naive the sentiment remains today.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently remarked on the fizzling of the era of globalization in his firm’s annual report. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades,” he wrote.
This sudden shift in sentiment has come as something of a shock to business leaders and CEOs, given that the promotion of business economic interdependence beyond simple mercantile colonization has been a steady drumbeat since economist David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage.
Read the original article from ChiefExecutive.net
Successful Small Business Outsourcing
Making the decision to outsource work can be a difficult one to make for any company. However, if you are a small or new business, this can be even more difficult to decide. In order for outsourcing to be successful, it needs to be cost-effective first of all. To ensure that it is cost-effective, you need to ensure that you outsource the right tasks at the right time.
If you are beginning to consider outsourcing some of your tasks or just want more information to ensure this works for your business, you can use our hints and tips. We have gathered details of ways to make outsourcing work for you.
What can I Outsource?
Deciding which tasks can be outsourced is the first thing you will need to do. If you have no tasks that can be outsourced, then this is the end of the process. However, we are confident you will have tasks that can be outsourced. For office-based roles, you can use companies to outsource:
- Payroll – using a payroll company will save you from having to put through payroll each month. This can save you costs on specialized software, a member of staff who processes payroll, and the cost of training someone in how to complete payroll tasks.
- IT support – outsourcing your IT support will help you to save money on a dedicated IT technician. This again will save wages for an IT technician, save costs of updating training, and also allow you to only pay when you need support.
- Marketing – this is a common task to outsource as you may not need marketing on a regular basis. Using an external marketing company allows you to make use of (and pay for their services) only when you need them.
- Telephone answering – phone answering services are becoming more popular for small businesses that include some work outside of the office. A telephone answering service means you will know there is always someone available to answer the calls for your business without needing a full-time member of office staff.
Do I Need to Outsource?
The quick answer to this is no; there are no companies that need to outsource their tasks. However, outsourcing may be the best option for your company for any number of reasons. Outsourcing tasks and using companies when you need to could save you money overall. Also, it means that if you are setting up a new business, you may not need to lease business premises if you outsource office roles. This would allow you to create a professional business for your clients while saving costs for leases and using a room in your home.
Where Do I Start?
If you think outsourcing could be the best thing for your business, then the first place to start is with research. You should search for companies that are compatible with your needs. These may be companies that are in your local area or the country where your business is based. If there are multiple companies that fit your basic requirements, you should compare the specifics that each company offers. You might be able to find one company that offers multiple services for your business, enabling you to deal with only one outsourcing company.
If you are still unsure of which company to use, you can use online review sites to see what other businesses have rated each company you are considering. We recommend that you create a shortlist of several companies that you would be interested in using for outsourcing tasks for your business. Once you have the shortlist, you are ready to take the next step.
Cost
The main consideration, we have found, when deciding whether or not to outsource tasks is the cost. We advise that you look at the cost in isolation and then also consider whether or not it is cost-effective to outsource.
When you have created your shortlist of companies you are considering using. We recommend getting a quote so you can begin costing each service.
The most effective way we have found to check if outsourcing is cost-effective is to list each of the employees you would need to run your business yourself. For each employee, note the hourly, daily, weekly and annual wage you would intend to pay. Then compare the quoted rate of the outsourcing company.
It is worth checking if you need to pay the outsourcing company a retainer for the times when they are not in use. For example, if you were to use a marketing company, could you commission work on an ad hoc basis, or would you need to pay a monthly or annual fee even when not using their services?
Also, consider whether a full-time member of staff is required at this stage of your business development. If you are a very new company that is not receiving a high volume of customer inquiries as yet, is it worth having a member of office staff answer the phones? Remember that with an employed member of staff. You will be paying them regardless of how many calls or emails they receive that day. There will also be other potential costs for employing someone; healthcare and taxes should also be considered.
Outsourcing certain tasks may be highly cost-effective for you when your business is starting up. Outsourcing certain tasks can help you to grow your business without huge initial financial outlays, such as wages for multiple staff when you are unsure of how your new business will perform. Not having the responsibility of your own staff can make the setup and growth period of your business feel much less pressured.
You do not need to continue to outsource. As your business grows, you may find that hiring full-time staff for your business may work out as more cost-effective or less lonely. Having colleagues who are as invested in the success of your business as you are can make a difference in the day-to-day of your business.
Outsourcing can be a valuable tool for your small business, but thorough research and consideration before beginning this is a must to ensure you do not make a misstep financially.
Job Interview & Hiring: How to carry out a consistent and collaborative selection process with the STAR technique
Mateus Rocha regularly uses the STAR interview technique throughout the hiring process – together with his team. In this article he explains his approach.
Hiring good people is difficult. Hiring great people is brutally difficult. And yet, nothing matters more in winning than having the right people on the field.
Jack Welch in Winning
When it comes to hiring professionals, we need to be aware of the purpose of the person in the organization, what role they will play, what are the expectations regarding the intended position and what problem this hiring helps to solve for the team and company.
For this reason it is extremely important that hiring is shared not only between HR and managers. Hiring needs to be shared with those who will actually be on the front line with the hired professional, sharing challenges and who have a better context about the work that needs to be developed: Hiring needs to be shared with the TEAM.
I believe that after this statement, some questions are making your head a little dizzy, like:
- “But… when in this vital industry were our employees trained to conduct interviews and hire people?”
- “Is our team mature enough to interview a candidate?”
- “But isn’t hiring just the manager’s responsibility?”
- “And if the team hires wrong, what then?”
In fact, these are very relevant and important questions for the hiring process.
Read the original article from Management 3.0
Meet me in the Metaverse
When COVID sent employees to work from home, Accenture, like most companies, faced the challenge of how to onboard new employees when you can’t bring them to the office. The consulting giant’s solution was to bring them to the Nth Floor for orientation.
The Nth Floor is a virtual workspace where colleagues can collaborate with the assistance of a VR headset as if they were all in the same room together. “We shipped the device to new hires and then did training sessions on the Nth Floor,” Yusuf Tayob, group chief executive of operations, said in an interview. “I have my Oculus device sitting across from me on my desk, and I can go to the Nth floor now, and there will be people collaborating on projects.”
Without question, there is interest on the part of business – think Facebook’s name change to Meta – and on the part of supply chain managers. An article on the Metaverse by Roit Kathiala, a retail fast-fashion supply chain leader, was the most widely-reader article on SCMR.com the month it was published.
That’s an anecdotal data point. However, Meet me in the Metaverse, Accenture’s Technology Vision 2022 survey, highlights two key points. One is that 78% of CSCO’s have successfully adapted to pandemic-related disruption, and that “newer technologies – like the metaverse - are at the epicenter of CSCO leadership decisions.”
Second is that 48% of CSCO’s
Read the original article from SCMR