Million...Billion...Trillion

You have probably seen reports on the news, the internet or perhaps, even in the newspaper.  The US debt is now over $16 Trillion.  That’s T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N….emphasis on TR.  It is a result of the US Budget deficit we have been incurring since 2001.

How large is one trillion, much less sixteen?  It is an amount most of us can’t quite wrap our minds around. So, let’s use an everyday example to visualize how big the number one trillion actually is.

How long do you think a million seconds is? What does your gut tell you…a few hours...a day?

The answer is 12 days.

So, how long do you think a billion seconds is?

It’s about 32 years…more than you guessed, I’ll bet.

And now, how long do you think a trillion seconds is?

Can you believe that it is approximately 31,688 years?  Yes, you read correctly, Y-E-A-R-S.

Shocking, isn't it?

Another way to look at it would be to use the visual of $100 bills in ever increasing amounts.

Look at this image. 

Image courtesy of photobucket

In the last image, one trillion dollars, notice the man is the very tiny figure in the lower left corner and the pallets of money have been stacked two high.

So, now try to imagine that it takes 16 of these images to equal our current deficit.

Scary isn't it?

"A billion trillion here, a billion trillion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.” - Everett Dirksen

Unfortunately, it is the taxpayers who will be asked to pay for this deficit over time.

The Flaws in Annual Performance Assessments

Image courtesy of Google Images

It’s inevitable, the New Year, New Performance Goals to set and the disdain for the process of performance assessments from managers and employees alike…. have you ever wondered why there’s such an aversion to performance assessments or improvement plans?

Here are our thoughts:
Performance assessments/plans are typically conducted once a year and, in that time span, many situations can occur. Addressing behaviors, whether they are good or bad, once per year can cause undue stress on the manager, as well as, the employee.  According to author Leslie Allan in his blog: What’s Wrong With Performance Appraisals? “Managers don’t have time for them, they have a tendency to fray employee-manager relationships and they don’t help the organization reach its strategic objectives”.

Often, the behavior exhibited just prior to an assessment is more closely focused upon and performance from earlier in the year is overlooked. Or, an issue from six months ago is just now being brought to the forefront, leaving the employee wondering why management waited until now to discuss it.

However, this process can give struggling employees an opportunity to address performance concerns while allowing managers to hold employees accountable for performance. While it isn’t clear why performance assessments/plans are viewed in a negative way, the organization must allow for open and consistent feedback.

In an article on CareerBuilder -- Building a Performance Improvement Plan the author stated: “It’s a fact that almost every manager will have an under-performer employee at some point in his/her career. Don’t be frustrated, don’t ignore the problem, don’t let the team suffer, and don’t revert to termination as the first resort. Implement a performance plan to work with the employee and measure the result”.

Your regular and consistent feedback should provide the employee with the tools for success.

Let us, here at NEX21 Partners, help you improve your performance goals and managing skills! Contact us at NEX21 Partners.

Field Service Management, Part One of an IT Series

Photo courtesy of Google Images

NEX21 Partners, LLC has several years experience working through challenges to overcome when working with Field Service personnel.

There are many businesses that have personnel that work out of a vehicle.  Some examples of companies, that use personnel this way, are generator service companies, heating and air conditioning companies and home repair services.

One of the biggest challenges is choosing a computing device that will be portable enough for the Field Service personnel to effectively do their job functions, while also being rugged enough to withstand the constant movement and environmental changes.

You must decide if the costs of a fully ruggedized device will provide a good return on investment for your particular personnel, or if a semi-rugged or non-ruggedized device will provide the needed level of service.  Your company needs to judge whether or not you want to keep backup devices on hand for cases of equipment failure.Your company also needs to be able to remotely troubleshoot system problems on these mobile devices.

We will be adding additional blogs on this and related topics of our IT series. Please stay tuned!

Please feel free to contact us at NEX21 Partners, LLC, and let us help you identify your needs.

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.

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