I was invited to participate in a spectacular train-the-trainer program run by Jack Canfield (best known for co-creating the multi-billion dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul brand.) This year-long intense training granted me permission to teach the success principles developed by Jack over the last 30+ years. It’s exciting to notice how the lessons I’ve learned from Jack and his employees paralleled the interviews from the other company leaders featured in my book, “Who’s Your Gladys?”

During one of the trainings, Jack introduced a success pie chart that had a huge impact on me. It originated from business builder Jim Bunch. The chart shows that 50% of success comes from your environment, 40% from your mindset, and only 10% from skill. It makes sense when you think about it. Many capable people don’t live up to their potential because of their beliefs systems and unsupportive environments.

If 50% of success comes from creating environments that support your goals, how can you upgrade your workplace environment to attract and retain more long-term customers?

- What can you remove to make room for something better?
- What can you add to the environment to uplift and inspire better business practices?
- As I looked at the weight that environment plays on success, example after example sprang up based on my interviews with successful professionals.

One example came from Sky Lakes Hospital. Its customer satisfaction scores rose from the 41st percentile to the top 10% in the nation after a three year customer service culture change. Custom Learning Systems was hired to give the leaders at Sky Lakes tools to support service excellence. One wonderful tool that Sky Lakes adopted was the “Six Foot Rule.”

Every employee, hospital-wide, is required to look up, make eye-contact, and say something pleasant when they pass within six feet of anyone – a patient, visitor, or even a fellow employee. This rule has changed the environment at Sky Lakes. The expectation was non-negotiable. People were held accountable. What happened?

For some, the workplace got a whole lot friendlier and much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, for some of the Sky Lakes staff, this new rule was intolerable. In fact, some of the employees actually quit their jobs because they didn’t want to follow the new rule. It didn’t match their cynical dispositions. The upside? This new environment organically weeded out those who didn’t fit the new service excellence culture.

This serves as a great illustration of the power of your environment in creating success. Just imagine being an employee of this hospital. Let’s say your name is George. You’re not great with customer service but it’s okay because your particular job doesn’t require customer contact.

According to Jim Bunch’s pie chart, your environment counts for 50% of your success. Put in an environment where there are no expectations that George socialize, he won’t. However the Six Foot Rule changed the expectations and the environment.

The environment George works in now calls forth a new degree of interpersonal warmth and connection. His coworkers are his internal customers and are positively affected whenever George looks up and greets them. This rule improves his coworker relationships and delights the occasional patient that he passes in the halls.

Brian Lee, the President of Custom Learning Systems explained that the moment you take your eye off of customer service, it reverts back to the way it was. It makes sense, especially when you think about it from a personal standpoint.

You don’t just put gas in your car, shower or eat a meal once. You do it on an ongoing basis, monitoring your levels of fuel, cleanliness, or hunger, and taking action to keep things running effectively. You don’t just organize your office once, you need to keep your eye on it, or it won’t take long for it to revert back to chaos. Are you keeping an eye on your workplace environment? Is it supporting all the time, money, and training efforts you’ve invested in service excellence?

I met a disillusioned sales person who was recently hired into a new company. She said, “The Company I came from paid less salary, gave smaller expense accounts, and less substantial health care, but the employees LOVED working there. The environment was charged. The company was run smart and lean and the quality of the product along with a strong team commitment made customers happy. I was proud to work there.

The company I’m at now pays more, we have longer vacation time, bigger expense accounts, and better health care coverage, but . . . the environment is depressing. My manager is uncomfortable with conflict so there are ongoing issues that pollute the workplace, and the products we sell aren’t as impressive as I hoped they would be.” An environment filled with communication breakdowns and unclear expectations will cause confident, talented employees to look elsewhere for a workplace that will support them in achieving and enjoying an environment of excellence.

If 50% of your success with customers comes from the environment, what can you add to it, and remove from it, to draw out the best in yourself, your coworkers, and staff? Here are three quick tips to upgrade your environment. Please feel free to add your tips to this blog entry. Your contribution may make a positive impact on the way readers approach their workplace environments.

1. Observe your workplace. Walk through your company as if you had absolutely no ties to it. As a customer, what would make you want to do business with this company? What might push you away? As an employee, what would make you want to get up in the morning and come to work each day? What might be hindering your enthusiasm?

2. Be accessible – consistently. Create an environment that encourages management to communicate with staff. Make a habit of walking around on a regular basis, specifically to create opportunities for casual conversation. Offer a customer service box that employees can use to leave anonymous messages to management for those issues that are too uncomfortable for them to share openly. One example: A spa employee complained that the room she spends eight hours a day in was not being kept clean enough for her comfort. She didn’t want to be known as a complainer so without this form of communication, the issue would have continued to hinder her workplace satisfaction. By having an anonymous way to complain, management stepped in and addressed the issue with the cleaning staff. Set specific time aside to ask your employees what’s working and what’s not working. Encourage them to share what might be helpful to them so that they can be more helpful to their customers.

3. Set environmental expectations – You get what you measure. Whether you use a secret shopper, an outside customer rating system, or your own internal reviews, make sure your people understand what you expect from them. Make every department accountable for their service excellence scores. Spend time focusing on what they are doing right. Clear expectations combined with a positive focus draws the best out of all concerned.

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Usually implementation fails due to poor management support, very limited company resources, personnel resistance, and poor or unqualified workforce unequipped to carry out the project. But your implementation need not be a flop. All it takes is a little planning and preparing.

When you are to implement a particular project in your business (implement anything for that matter), beyond having the recommendation or proposal from your consultants, it’s good to start with a clear implementation plan. This plan should contain all the necessary details of what you are implementing, what particular concern the proposal is addressing, the scope and limits of the implementation and a clear list of deliverable and output expected from the undertaking.

The implementation requisites like needed resources and budget in carrying out the plan must be clear and specific. Before going any further with the implementation, it should be ascertained if these requisites could be met or provided for by the company. Otherwise, implementation process would be badly hampered. Implementation requisites involve not only tangible items, these include management’s support. It is very important to have the top at our side. Implementation is already challenging as it is. It helps to have the support of the top to set the right disposition over the entire organization with regards to the undertaking.

Goals and objectives must be made clear to all concerned. It is not enough that only a limited few know why we are into implementation of a particular project or recommendation. It’ll be more helpful to the implementation process as a whole if everyone understands what they are working on. At the same time, letting everyone know the goals and objectives encourages a congruence of action from all involved.

At the start, evaluation methods and benchmarks must be clarified. This is crucial since we need to assess if goals set are achieved and implementation is successful. In addition, these will guide people concerned in effectively carrying out their tasks. It is good to set the performance indicators and have the implementation team have a say on these. It is only fair that these people know and agree on the bases used for evaluation of their work and performance.

Another matter to consider is headship. You must ascertain who will implement and who will monitor the process also. The implementors are there to make the plans a reality. But we need also the team-leads who will lead, take action, and help assure us that the whole implementation process is effectively and efficiently being carried out. It must be clear as to who does what, and who’s accountable to whom. Delineating these roles paves way for clearer accountability, harmonious work relationships, and easier monitoring of the implementation process as a whole.

After identifying the people involved and their respective roles, the next step is to come up with a Phasic or Step-by-step Implementation Schedule. To start with, the idea here is we are going to make the implementation process as seamless as possible. And this covers equipping everyone concerned with all the necessary skills, tools, schedules, plans, anything and everything deemed helpful for a seamless and effective implementation project. Along with this, it should also be made clear what the expected output or deliverables are in each phase. Implementation schedules will go a long way in keeping the people involved and the process itself right on track.

Lastly, it is part of implementation to have a formal turnover of what’s implemented to management. An official transfer covers turning over of the manuals, reports and other documents; official output of the process, etc. This is needed so that any questions or clarifications on the part of the accepting party could be adequately answered.

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If you are not careful when you hire employees you can end up with a lot of problems. The number one form of theft in the United States takes place when an employee steals from his or her employer.

There are a lot of people that think a simple face to face interview is all that is necessary. You may not understand that there are a lot of people that do not have a moral problem with stealing.

There is a prominent member of the business education system that believes that anyone is capable of stealing and lying. This is a very controversial view.

Some people believe that their own moral code is too strong and that they could never do anything dishonest. There are a lot of people that ended up being dishonest who originally thought they could never be dishonest.

First, you are going to want to make sure that you run a background check on all of your employees. The employees that are going to be exposed to and handling your money are going to have to have a background check on them.

There are a lot of people that may feel this is unnecessary and too time consuming. You do not want to end up investigating a crime within your business.

You also do not want to be under review by the Internal Revenue Service. If you have an especially clever employee that can steal money for you and hide it in your books your company may get in trouble.

You do not want to look back and wish that you had run a background check. If you ask for a history of crimes and you find a discrepancy between what the applicant states and what the background check reveals you do not want to hire them.

You will also want to make sure that your managerial staff has the proper skills necessary for leading people. Being a people person is inherently a part of this.

Being a people person is something that is easy to pinpoint. If you find an applicant that you can talk to easily, that makes you feel at ease and that leaves an impression in your mind you know that that person is a people person.

You will want to ask people about their histories with their jobs. Call their previous employers and take what they say seriously.

If your applicant has made a lot of people upset in his past or has left jobs on bad terms than the applicant is not someone that you should be interested in hiring. Some people can put on a very friendly face when they are in an interview.
You should also look for people that have had experience dealing with people in situations that are less than ideal. You do not want to work with people that will bend under stress or will begin acting differently when they are uncomfortable.

Being able to handle a wide variety of situations well is a trait that is rare in mass society. It is hard to find employees that you feel are trustworthy, but is important that you work at it.

If you already have an established business and you are looking for a way to train your employees you have many different options. You do not want to perpetuate poor behaviors within your employees.

Changing behaviors is something that is very difficult. You will want to take the time to tackle the issues as soon as you possibly can.

There are a lot of people that feel that they can just fire a few people and replace them with new employees. Although this may work in certain circumstances there are many circumstances when this does not work.

Even after your tainted employees have been removed you may find that their legacy lives within the employees. There are a lot of people that will learn from their superiors and continue to instill the bad habits of a poor leader.

Finding a way to change the attitude of your company is sometimes the only necessary way to improve productivity and decrease the number of dishonest incidents. There are some companies that provide many different ways for you to train your employees.

You can find companies that have specialized in understanding what makes a leader and enabling your employees to become better employees.

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This management training concept is gaining acceptance and has recently began being implemented in more and more organizations. Servant leaders desire is to serve employees in any way possible to motivate them to become better people, more autonomous, more productive, more confident and happier within their work environment. The end result of this motivation is a more productive workforce where employees want to be servant leaders as well.

Leadership management training teaches the servant leader to devote his energy towards meeting and exceeding the needs of employees by encouraging their skills and providing guidance to help them overcome their shortcomings. This helps employees become happier and more productive within their work environment which ultimately makes them more likely to remain loyal to their company.

This management training concept will help leaders create an environment within the workforce that is more productive, less stressful and more devoted. Ultimately servant leadership will create an overall feeling of contentment within a workforce. Employees will feel as if their relationship with their leader is more of a partnership rather than a dictatorship.

Starbucks is one company that has adopted the management training concept of Servant Leadership. Starbucks is a hugely successful corporation and one of the major reasons for this is the fact that have created a friendly and inviting atmosphere for its customers largely by creating an environment in which their employees are happy. Starbucks success and growth has been enviable and much of their success can be credited to their adoption of servant leadership as their corporate philosophy.

Servant Leadership management training teaches leaders to work in a partnership with their employees, which motivates them to work in a partnership with the customers. This creates a work environment where information flows from the decision makers unimpeded and helps create a better customer experience that could not be achieved without that flow.

Here are ten characteristics of Servant Leader management training that are considered essential to the development of servant leaders:

Listening: The servant leader should listen to others in an effort to identity the will of the group.

Empathy: The servant leader should accept and recognize coworkers for their unique spirits.

Healing: Successful servant leaders should recognize the emotional pains of others and help to make whole the individuals they come in contact with.

Awareness: Servant leaders should be self-aware as well as aware of pertinent issues, especially those involving ethics and values.

Persuasion: The servant leader should seek to convince individuals rather than coerce them. The ability to build a consensus is seen as an asset.

Conceptualization: Servant leaders should have the ability to see what may be coming in the future but maintain the balance of looking ahead while keeping up with the day-to-day.

Foresight: Successful servant leaders should know the likely consequence that a decision will have on the future.

Stewardship: Servant leaders should motivate all stakeholders within an institution to maintain their trust for the betterment of society.

Commitment: The servant leader should be committed to the individuals within an organization as well as the organization itself.

Community Building: In order to build a community, servant leaders should lead the way by demonstrating their unlimited liability for a community-related association.

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Pride
To develop pride amongst employees they need to be allowed to stretch a little within their capabilities and finish projects to a standard they are happy with. They need to have enough control over their work to feel a sense of ownership and subsequently a sense of achievement once a project is complete. They must be listened to, with ideas and initiatives taken on board and responded to. This is the healthiest form of business operation and increases feelings of pride as individuals’ input is heeded and openly valued.

Feedback is essential to instill pride in employees. Positive feedback, however slight, is hugely powerful and arguably the most effective way to motivate people. If employees are personally informed that their efforts are appreciated and accomplished, the people in question will feel rewarded for their work and a sense of pride in it’s completion.

Loyalty
Teamwork is the biggest contributing factor to a creating loyalty. If employees are given good overviews of the business direction and progress, project development and goals, they have a better understanding of their contributions to the whole. Involving people from different departments is usually necessary but can easily make things disjointed without good communication. If employees can see their role is valued and important to the business’s achievements, a feeling of unity is enforced. Schemes like profit share and goal-related incentives are also great ways to provide employees with a real reward for their contribution. This, in turn, builds a sense of value and shared interests.

Ambition
Employees have to be able to see a career path in front of them at all times. They need to know what is possible to achieve in their role, what is required for them to achieve it and where these advancements can lead. Job descriptions and clear pay brackets are essential to set this path. For ambition to thrive there has to be achievable goals, support and encouragement. Job roles must have the flexibility for employees to demonstrate initiatives and voice their opinions. When people feel like they have a ladder in front of them and the power to progress, a natural platform for ambition is created.

Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm can be difficult to generate in many jobs and this all boils down to a few factors. It is very important to create variety in a job; if a job is limited, it needs to be expanded to include additional roles and responsibilities. Work must receive balanced feedback to provide positive reinforcement as well as constructive development. A constant supply of tasks to overcome, however small they may be, is essential to reward and encourage employees. If feedback is too critical, deadlines too tight or jobs too difficult, this can counter a person’s enthusiasm. Hitting the right balance between these aspects is the key to encourage rather than discourage enthusiasm.

Enjoyment
Retaining employees is far more cost effective than recruiting and training new employees so keeping your team happy is integral to good business management. Enjoyment is a huge factor in the overall contentment of employees and it is something most bosses are a little too eager to discourage. You should be happy if your employees appear to be having a good time at work. Some banter in the office is very healthy and helps create a relaxed and friendly environment. Productivity might appear to ease at times but this is more than made up for in loyalty and commitment when managed well. Enjoyable company and a good atmosphere at work is great incentive for staying with a company. Occasional fun activities are also great for enforcing these

Respect
Line managers have enormous responsibility. They are often the most important reflection of the company for employees. If a line manager is not respected by their team or colleagues, it is hugely damaging. Placing the right people in these roles is one of the most important factors for a healthy business. Managers, similarly, must reflect this respect toward others. They must uphold the company ethics and provide the best example possible. They must have expertise in the relevant fields but also be open and willing to receive input from others and be able to justify all decisions made. Good spokespeople who are able to create rapore while communicating the needs of the business are a very valuable asset to a company.

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Which is why sticking out your balance sheet is no more comfortable than a visit to your doctor, but it is every bit as important. Even if it is bad news (maybe especially) you need to know. Business information is the hidden pathway you travel toward your goals. Would you like a spotlight?

The key is to use this checklist in a practical cost efficient manner. After all, when you really think about it, most businesses risk and gains relate to 4 things: selling; infrastructure of people, plant, systems and processes; money and capital; and running more efficiently and effectively.

The results of the quiz will be helpful on two levels. One, and most important, it will reveal the fiscal fitness of your company. Two, it will serve as a guide to help you evaluate risks you take relative to potential gain. You have space below the questions and comments for you to write answers to the questions why and why not, so you can refer to them time and time again. So, step on the scales, dear reader and tell yourself truthfully, How fiscally fit is your company, in relation to this question?

1. Does your management team think creatively? Are they out-of-the box thinkers?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

2. God forbid, but if you got hit by a bus tomorrow, do you have a trusted lieutenant who can keep your company on track?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

3. Do your vendors see you as a preferred customer, showing how well they value your relationship and business?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

4. Does your management team feel they receive information about your company and operations in an understandable and timely format to run their departments?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

5. Is your company prepared for the green economy?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

6. Are you aware of at least one improvement or a change in your company that would significantly enhance the performance of your company?
Do you truthfully answer this Yes or No?
Why?
Why Not

7. How can the notes you just made help in your life, job and business? What one issue from your thoughts you noted when truthfully answering this question, will you start improving, TODAY?

See the scoring procedures to the right and tally your score. Unless you got a perfect score, one thing is for sure: you now know there are gaps in your ability to manage your company. Now that you know where you stand, you need to go back and reflect on your no answers to get a better understanding of the areas where you need to improve. These represent the gaps we seek to identify, diagnose, and treat.

Scoring Procedure:
Give yourself 16 points for each yes. A no answer gets a 0 point. The scorecard shows where you stand.
Score Comments
90-100 Excellent. You really sleep well at night
80-89 Above average
70-79 Average
60-69 Poor, need to improve
0-59 Situation CRITICAL, bring in outside help

If you do not think some level of Bernie Madoff misplaced trust exists in your business, you are either kidding yourself, or you are one of the select few employers or employees. Too many people are taking far greater risks than they may be aware of. This quiz alerts leaders to hidden risks that may be lurking inside their projects, even companies.

How can the notes you just made help in your life, job and business? What one issue from your thoughts you noted when truthfully answering this question, will you start improving, TODAY?

Because risks are what really go wrong when you are not looking: stupid things happen like bounced checks, losing your best customers or best people when you are blindsided. You need to create peripheral vision in your business so you are not blindsided.

You need a perspective of life under the microscope and to have lived to tell the tale. Insights give a common sense approach to what people make complex, as companies grow.

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Influencing the outsourcing decision is the fact that ERP systems cast a huge footprint across an organization – consuming as much as 90 percent of the total IT infrastructure. Consequently, a commitment to ERP requires significant human, technical, and financial resources that may be out of reach for smaller companies.

Increasingly, mid-market companies are seeking out specialized outsourcing partners to manage their complex applications such as ERP. The process of finding the ideal outsourcing partner is no longer a cut-and-dried matter of determining how many servers are needed, or how much bandwidth is available. ERP outsourcing partners now must understand your business, all of your applications, and your short- and long-term business goals. Only then can they create the optimum solution comprising hardware, software, strategic planning and services.

This article presents an overview of ERP outsourcing for mid-market companies.

In the early years of the outsourcing industry, vendors of IT infrastructure services were selected primarily on price. Companies of all sizes and stages of maturity chose their IT outsourcing partners based on how much of a given specification – for example, bandwidth, disk storage, or number of users – they would receive for a given price. In general, outsourcing decisions were made by analyzing classic build-versus-buy scenarios, with the lowest-cost solution often the winner.

In hindsight, it’s safe to state that many outsourcing decisions were based on corporate politics rather than on what was best for the company at the time. IT managers and staff grappled with the issue of staff reductions every time the word “outsourcing” was mentioned, and often turned away from outsourcing for just that reason. But when businesses were forced to reduce headcount and the scale of their operations during the tech downturn of 2000-2003, companies who hadn’t turned to outsourcing wished they had.

Corporate data centers began to empty. Elaborate hardware systems sat idle. And corporations were increasingly forced to look outside their walls for ways to continue operations that had become dependent on IT, without spending precious capital to acquire, manage and maintain the equipment, often through the course of a long-term lease.

The ability to scale the breadth and depth of your IT infrastructure can be a corporate life-saver. This need for economical scalability caused many outsourcing companies to position themselves as providers of a utility service. If you need more of any data center commodity, open the outsourcer’s faucet to receive exactly the quantity you need. When your need diminishes, reduce the flow back to its normal state.

However, “utility” really doesn’t connote a deep partnership between companies. Utilities can be switched on and off at will without human intervention. As companies explored the software side of the IT equation for ways to remain competitive, tight partnerships became more important than ever.

In our so-called New Economy, outsourcing has taken its rightful place as a business strategy, rather than a mere cost-reduction scheme. In fact, the leading reasons companies outsource are for business advantages and metrics, not technology. These include:

– Management recognizes the need to outsource the care and feeding of its ERP application, as this function is either too difficult to manage or out of control. If the outsourcer restores calm, management frequently follows their ERP decision with a desire to outsource other applications and IT functions as well.
– The company needs to deploy applications and enhancements quickly in either start-up, transitional, or expansion modes of operation.
– To reduce and control recurring operating costs by eliminating redundancies.
– Extract greater business benefit from the IT infrastructure by standardizing as much as possible on a single ERP backbone.
– Improve the company’s focus on core competencies by reducing or eliminating the distraction of managing their IT infrastructure.
– Free the internal IT resources for other purposes such as developing strategic enhancements and future-state planning orworking on internal strategic projects that requires in-depth knowledge of a company’s processes and procedures.
– The company gains access to world-class capabilities without tying up capital or taking the time to build the function in-house.

With the advent of Application Service Provider models, wherein core applications are managed by a vendor or third party – often from a remote location – the criteria for a strong outsourcing partner expanded to include the skills necessary to manage the key applications required by a modern business. Outsourcing is no longer about either hardware or software. Now, it’s about total solutions for the business, not just IT.

This need in recent years for specialized expertise has caused many companies to turn to their software vendors for help. While software vendors are obviously highly knowledgeable about their products, most lack expertise outside of their core solutions. This creates a need for multi-sourcing, the practice of using multiple outsourcing partners for a variety of specialized needs within a single company such as data center operations; application and database administration; application development and functional support; network support; phone systems; e-mail; and desktop administration.
Multi-sourcing has attracted a lot of attention in the large-enterprise market, where outsourcing needs are greater than what a single service provider can provide. However, for mid-market companies, multi-sourcing brings additional difficulties, including higher costs than originally anticipated; the necessity to contract with and manage more than one provider; and a general lack of accountability among the outsourcers for problems of interoperability and integration that almost inevitably arise.

No doubt, counting on a multi-sourced IT environment to support a complex ERP application can be risky business for mid-market companies. Mid-market companies require an outsourcer that can do it all – one that can customize, integrate and manage the entire IT environment – and do so without multi-sourcing. In other words, the company needs a provider that offers a total solution.

About the author

As a Personnel Manager in the poultry processing industry, I watched managers and supervisors working 60/80 hours a week while employees stood around waiting for someone to tell them what to do. What I call a Parent/Child workplace. That was in the 1980’s; and is still the way most organisations still work 20 years on. What a waste!

FACT. The baby boomers are entering their 50s; globally we are entering a baby bust – a world wide shortage of labour! Add to that the fact that under 30 year old males are in short supply and will probably not stay with your organisation for more than 4 years; under 30 year old woman find the games and politics or most corporates unacceptable and are moving towards starting businesses of their own.

Is this an employee backlash to the constant downsizing of the last 15 years? Possibly.

By communicating up front and setting goals with your team members, you are likely to keep them in the business, rather than have them go seeking career satisfaction elsewhere.

FACT: The hierarchy is dead. We no longer have the time to work in such a cumbersome fashion; we have to get as much decision making to the front end of our organisations as quickly as we can. In other words, our team.

My aim, is to free Managers by a minimum of 30% to work ON the business not IN it; to hand over the bulk of the day to day to employees; to show employees the need think and work like owners not dependants; to turn departments into high performing teams, and to educate in “sustainable” business.

Consider delegation. This can be a lot more simple than you think.

Most owners and managers are reluctant to delegate because they’re terrified people will make mistakes. And people probably will make mistakes initially, until they get the hang of whatever it is you have given them to do. After all, how did you the manager/owner learn?

By making lots of mistakes!

FACT: Our employees are our only competitive advantage; today’s employees are demanding to be included in decisions which affect them. And in a world where there is going to be a huge shortage of skilled people, if we don’t look after our people, someone else will.

Consider the idea of supporting their career development. It is more cost effective to keep great employees within your organisation than to re-train new ones. To do so may require involving them more and supporting their career growth.

Charles Handy talks about the ½ x 2 x 3 equation. Run your business with half the number of people, pay them twice as much and they will produce three times the norm. If you then put these people into empowered teams; you will have energy to burn. Ricardo Semlar (Maverick) put his employees into teams and reaped the benefits as they increased productivity from $10,200 per employee to $92,000 per employee.

Do you want even more growth? Then as we move from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge/Information Age, you may also need to ask three questions:

1. Why are we in business?
2. Will we still be in business in 10 years doing what we are currently doing?

We have to start making some brave, long term business decisions – being in business merely for the $ is no longer acceptable. The interesting thing is that being a “sustainable” business will grow your bottom line faster than you had dreamed possible – because your customers are also becoming street wise – they want to know that what they are buying will not cost the earth.

The Hopi Indians would not make any major decisions without considering the effect on seven generations ahead. Could we at least consider one generation ahead before we make our next business decision?

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If not, why are you still holding onto your dreams about the future without the proper education. Today’s demands on outstanding, accomplished, and knowledgeable employees stretches beyond measure. You are expected to have a working knowledge of your positions, produce results, and provide a substantial amount of effort in accomplishing an organization’s goals.

All of these expectations are aligning with the possibilities available from online MBA programs for working adults. If you have felt like these programs were not for you, think about the opportunities you are missing by lagging along in your career.

The moment of truth lies ahead of you each day that you do not look into online MBA programs to broaden your body of knowledge. For some working adults, it takes a sense of strength and the ability to change in order to accomplish their goals through online MBA programs. You can make the right choices just by thinking or considering these following benefits:

Flexibility in Class Schedules

Are you stretched for time? An online MBA program can broaden your studying time and classes to match your schedules. Many working adults are at their jobs thirty or so hours a week which makes it hard to attend a course on campus.

If you have wanted freedom in studying, an online MBA program offers the flexibility in class scheduling that will give you the space and time you need to reach your academic goals.

You may study any time – in the morning or at night – depending on the amount of work you have due. Not only that, but your choice in the university will determine if you can take as many classes as you like or sticking to a stringent program to receive your MBA in as little as 2 years.

Financial Aid

If you are scared of the costs associated with online MBA programs, apply for financial aid with the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) online. Your counselor will be able to help you find all of the funding you will need for books, tuition, and other fees associated with your program.

If you take some time to research your prospective schools, you may find scholarships or opportunities to get credit towards your MBA from experience. Today’s financial aid can pay for part or all of your school expenses after you fill out your FAFSA.

Take a moment to learn about the funding opportunities from your prospective schools then make it your priority to get your information in as soon as possible.

Great Counselors

During your search for an online MBA program, you can contact counselors regarding your schedule and current standing in the application process. Many universities give you a response within two weeks and then you can finish any additional paperwork online.

Your counselors will be there to guide you through the application process, acceptance, and scheduling of your first semester. Online MBA programs tend to provide the utmost help in managing student success in an online environment.

With the advancement in video conferencing and real-time chat sessions, students are entering the ‘classroom’ from all parts of the world. Not only are your counselors helping you secure a strong future in your profession, they are also guiding you through the process of meeting hundreds of strangers from a global perspective.

Build a Global Perspective

Imagine partnering with someone in Egypt or Tokyo in a math lab. What goes through your mind when those kinds of opportunities arise in online MBA programs? Today’s level of access to these courses allows you to meet new people from all walks of life.

It also strengthens your knowledge of the world as you build friendships with complete strangers thousands of miles from your location. Can you embrace these kinds of opportunities on a traditional campus? Many would disagree, but online MBA programs gives you the chance of a lifetime.

Today’s opportunities in online MBA programs stretch the imagination and moments of success to new lengths. If you have been curious of what lies ahead, contact an online university today to get your career on the right track.

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Internet fax can provide several measures of security that fully comply with HIPAA and can meet all four security requirements associated with its standards. Make sure the provider you choose has taken the steps to help ensure your HIPAA compliance.

The first section of HIPAA, administrative procedures, creates specific requirements that all medical information handling must follow. HIPAA requires that records of all communication between patients and medical staff must be made, saved and remain in a way that it is accessible in the event of legal inquiries where the information becomes relevant. An Internet fax allows access to records of all fax communication, and allows you to digitally catalog information for the purpose of future review. When looking for a provider, ensure that they have policies in place to maintain all customer information and correspondence to stay in compliance with legal regulation and facilitate any possible and necessary legal investigation.

HIPAA also calls for physical safe guards for medical information regardless of format, media, or location. An Internet fax system provider should use industry standard fire systems to prevent loss of information due to fire and smoke damage. They should also have offsite backups to ensure complete duplicity and fidelity of information. To protect medical information from theft and physical damage, your Internet fax system should also provide security to prevent unauthorized access. Using standard industry protocol, providers can meet HIPAA’s requirement for physical safe guards.

In section 164.312(e)(1) of HIPAA transmission, more security regulations are put in place. A quality Internet fax provider will have taken steps to meet the integrity control and encryption requirements set by HIPAA to protect data transmission security. These levels of security should be uniformly applied to all means of accessing the system.

Access to an Internet fax system by phone should be specifically limited by the use of a pin to create an added layer of security. Email delivery of voicemails and faxes sent over the Internet should be protected by password encryption to ensure security that fully complies with HIPAA regulations. Internet access to faxes should be controlled by passwords and encryption and rely on industry standard security protocols as well as security certificates to verify and ensure authenticity.

Being HIPAA compliant requires that a system provides certain technical security services to protect information fidelity and safety. The Internet fax system should have RAID-5 to protect loss of data to the failure of storage media. Battery backup should be present for the servers of an Internet fax and help to meet the standards which require data loss prevention measures to protect against power failure. As per HIPAA, the security of each server should be maintained and ensured to prevent any unauthorized access to data.

Internet fax systems provide doctors and medical facilities with the tools necessary to meet and exceed HIPAA standards, protecting privileged medical information and records. They provide a secure system to store and transmit personal health information. HIPAA regulations do stipulate that it is the responsibility of medical professionals to verify the security of all data and record management systems used, making it important to review all options for safety and security of data. However, some Internet fax providers have also taken steps to ensure the quality of the security of their systems so that they can assist those customers that fall under HIPAA in maintaining compliance.

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