Did You Win The Record November 2012 Powerball Lottery?

Most likely, you were not a winner.  My group of four did not win, either, and we did buy several tickets with numbers I chose.  Despite the careful, diligent and deliberate effort it took, it paid no dividends.

Let me tell you a little bit more about myself.  I am a process-oriented, systemic thinker and problem solver.  It is woven into my very nature and my educational back ground.  I am an Industrial Engineer with an MBA.  (Here… you can learn more about what an Industrial Engineer is trained to do.)  Some people regard us as Efficiency Experts.  

That assumption would not be entirely correct.  To sum it up, it is a systemic approach to making things or processes more productive, cost effective, efficient, smoother, etc.  I always caution, however, that being EFFICIENT is not as important as being EFFECTIVE.
 
So, I took this systemic, process oriented approach and applied it toward choosing numbers for the lottery.  Recently, I had read that you should get a group together to pool money to buy multiple tickets.  I also read that you need to play completely random numbers, because if you use birthdays, for instance, you won’t choose any numbers above 12 for the month and 31 for the days.  This lottery goes up to 59 for the first five numbers and the Powerball® number goes up to 35.  I found the random number generator inside Microsoft® Excel® and set about to choose my numbers.  I completed the task quickly, was assured they were random, and by using this method, any bias from me was removed.  The process was very EFFICIENT.
 
The result was BIG…FAT…ZERO.  By not winning, the process was not very EFFECTIVE.  Of course, we really did not expect to win.  The odds of winning were approximately 1 in 176,000,000 of hitting the jackpot.  Theodds of getting struck by lightning in your lifetime are much more favorable (poorchoice of words) at 1 in 10,000.  Kind of scary, huh?
 
One needs to be EFFECTIVE first, and then be EFFICIENT.  As good results pay far more than perfect efforts to achieve results.  After all, the intent was to win the Powerball® Lottery, not look good doing it.
 
NEX21 Partners approaches everything with the ultimate goal of Effectiveness.

Maintaining a Sense of Accountability

Creating and maintaining a sense of accountability in today’s organization is critical to the success of strategic organizational goals. But for many organizations this is often a difficult task.

Merriam- Webster online dictionary defines Accountability as: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.

In the article “Why is Accountability so Hard?”, Cathy Missildine, SPHR  explores the reason why organizations may struggle with this goal and provides solutions that may resolve potential or existing accountability issues facing organizations and managers today.

Oftentimes managers and employees fail to see the return on investment (ROI) as it relates to the day-to-day functions of the organization. Whether there is the need for performance assessments, coaching or disciplinary action, without accountability to these and other standard operating procedures (SOP) the chance of organizational failure increases.

We all would like to pick and choose goals and responsibilities guaranteed for success, but at what cost to the items or tasks left behind? As leaders we have an obligation to the organization to maintain and reflect Accountability in our communication and interactions with those we come in contact with!

So ask yourself, are you accountable for those things you view as time consuming to your day?

Remote User Support

Many companies now have employees that work from home or are based in different geographic areas from the home office.
This means that the IT Department needs to be able to remotely troubleshoot and repair computers.  

NEX21 has been using a remote support service since 2007.  The remote support service allows us to resolve complex PC issues much more quickly and efficiently for our field based staff.  

Instead of the old way of trying to walk field personnel though troubleshooting steps over the phone, we can join them on a remote support session and view their laptop just as if we were working directly with the machine. This saves time and frustration for both the IT department and field personnel.  We are usually able to resolve issues in a few hours, saving days of shipping time and lost productivity for the field staff. 

To learn more, contact us at  IT@NEX21.com  or  NEX21 Partners.

We are proud members of the Birmingham Business Alliance, Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, and The Better Business Bureau.

My To Do List

 

I have been told that, in order to become a successful blogger, you must have an engaging subject…so, how about this?

I’m done with my “to do” list…..

Last week I read an article written by Kimberly Medlock, creator of the Smarter Productivity Tips Series (www.kimberlymedlock.com).  In that article, I happened on Tip #23, “letting go of your to do items”, where she asks a series of questions with three points in mind:

• Does doing this directly contribute to my main goals/objectives?
• Is this on my list because I am a control-freak or perfectionist?
• Am I doing this just to “out-do” or impress someone else?

This had me thinking, what are the consequences of having too many “to do’s” in your life?
Would anyone actually notice if you deleted items or passed them off to others to complete?  Would your mental health improve if you put them on the back burner? I think at some point we need to decide whether these things should stay or go.  We’re so overwhelmed with busy work, that the art of building meaningful relationships has become lost.  This article makes a good point “have a goal”. Look at your to do list and take something off. The world won’t end!

Content used with permission.

Lynn Tolbert, Director

Human Resources