Ceptara

When kicking off a cross organizational event such as a Kaizen event, Six Sigma initiative, QI Story, or other improvement program certain challenges are inherent. People can have competing agendas, team members have various degrees of capabilities and skills, and everyone has their own way of doing things. Since none of the members of the team 'work' for the program owner, relying on an organizational hierarchy is out of the question.

As a small business owner, defining and implementing a marketing plan can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to creating and managing a website.  This PowerPoint presentation offers some guidance and ideas to help the small business owner articulate the web channel's goals, and select an appropriate platform and implementation strategy in fulfilling those goals.

A full write up of a session where this deck was used can by found here.

SUMMARY

• Small business owners should understand each of their marketing channels and have specific goals for each channel
• They should articulate their web channel needs before creating a design and selecting a technology platform
• The best sites are first designed in the small business owners mind before a technology platform is selected and implemented
• Small static sites work just as well as complex and dynamic Content Management Systems depending on the goals for the web channel

Increase the chances of your projects succeeding in tough economic times by:

1. Aligning your projects to your management's needs
2. Making sure your team members are the best of the best
3. Not over-estimating your project's budget
4. Breaking your projects into 'bite-size' chunks
5. Working on the most important tasks
6. Hiring a flexible workforce (such as contractors / temp workers) to facilitate easier project expansions and contractions

The presentation is a case study of how a typical manufacturing quality tool (Kaizen) has been applied to work in a software development company (Infospace).

Organizational models facilitate structured behavior and provide most of the structure necessary to deliver results. However, fast, flexible temporary teams are sometimes needed to accomplish cross-organizational objectives. In that case, organizational models break down and unless a new structure is employed, teams have a difficult time delivering quality results in an appropriate timeframe.

The RACI structure promotes efficient collaborations among cross functional teams by clarifying project-specific roles and responsibilities.

On April 15, 2009, we provided a 60 minute [class] on what it means to be Personally Excellent and how to start achieving it. We had a good turn out and I promised the attendees that I would update my blog with a few pointers we talked about in class.

The PowerPoint presentation used at the AmCon show April 15, 2009.

An introductory session for the Personal Excellence [Workshop]. The class was given in two parts, a) described the basics of personal excellence and b) demonstrated how to do it using Microsoft Outlook and Ceptara's Organizer Add-in.

More information about this session can be found by reviewing the Personal Excellence Introduction [Course].

High Performing People create High Performing Teams

• Successful team efforts require individuals to be highly motivated and self managing
• People can develop the necessary skills by focusing on their foundation, work organization, and action execution

The Personal Excellence workshop is targeted at individuals motivated in discovering better ways to achieve life balance and demonstrate excellence in every facet of their life, professional and personal.

View the [Brochure].

[Join] me on April 15, 2009 @ 1:30p for 60 minutes focused on using MS Outlook to help you better focus on your goals and projects, and to more efficiently accomplish work. This is an introductory session that covers the topics we teach in our Personal Excellence [Workshop].