Avoiding Change Management Disasters Management Resources

Avoiding Change Management Disasters Management ResourcesAvoiding Change Management Disasters Management ResourcesIts no wonder that change management and geschftliches miteinander transformation are two of the hottest buzzwords in the business world right now. In our fiercely competitive, ever-evolving climate, companies must be agile enough to change on a dime if they want to survive.Whether youre adapting to a company merger, preparing for an initial public offering, navigating new regulatory compliance mandates or adjusting to new technology, change management has become a critical skill for all executives. (In fact, a McKinsey Global Survey found that business transformations are more likely to succeed when company leaders are active and involved.)If you want to ensure your change management efforts are a resounding success, its important to learn from others mistakes. Here are three common change management fails to avoidFail 1 Refusing to changeA company that remains stagnant is asking for trouble. There are many well-known cases in which strong brands refused to stray from the winning strategies that had propelled them to the top - a decision that eventually led to some rather infamous falls from glory.To remain relevant, companies must embrace change with an eye to the shifting market around them - even if that means working against some of their earlier successes.How can CFOs and other financial executives spur change? These three strategies can helpStay on top of both short- and long-term market trends and adapt accordingly.Build a strong team by hiring forward-thinking employees with diverse perspectives - and encourage dissenting opinions among your staff.Recognize your role as a strategic adviser for the business, which gives you the unique opportunity to drive innovation within your company.Fail 2 Losing steamWhen it comes to change management, creating change is the easy part. The hard part is keeping the momentum going.To prevent organizatio nal transformations from losing steam, you must ensure managers are prepared to demonstrate leadership during periods of change. After all, managers are the catalyst for change because they are the ones actively engaging and motivating staff members.Fail 3 Malfunctioning messagesYet another reason change management often falls flat is because executives neglect to guide their staff through the change.Staff management is key to change management - and managing your staff through change requires flawless communication.As a CFO or high-level financial manager, not only must you clearly communicate change to your direct reports, you need to ensure these messages are trickling down to their teams.For change management efforts to succeed, its critical to broadcast these updates and strategies (and the reasons behind them) loud and clear to the entire organization. Communicate with staff members early and often. Discuss how each employees role will change while highlighting the benefits, as well as the potential new opportunities. Most important, make yourself available for questions and share new information as quickly as possible.This post was originally published in December 2014 and has been updated to reflect more current information. Tags

Clippy, the iconic, underappreciated Office assistant we never knew wed miss

Clippy, the iconic, underappreciated geschftszimmer assistant we never knew wed missClippy, the iconic, underappreciated arbeitszimmer assistant we never knew wed missIts 1997. Youre hooked up to a modem and are typing away on a Microsoft documentwhen an animated paperclip pops onto the screen.It looks like youre writing a letter. Would you like help? was a familiar, annoying refrain from Clippy.Surprisingly, Clippy is hot now, undergoing a cultural renaissance that is a little bit cute and a little bit baffling.Clippy was underappreciatedClippy was the default Microsoft Office Assistant for a decade from his introduction in Windows versions in 1997 until his retirement in 2007.As an interactive bentzer guide, his job was to keep an eye on documents and suggest improvements to users.Sounds simple enough, but thats not exactly how it worked out.Instead, Clippy was roundly criticized as a failure by designers and reviewers, who found him to be more annoying than helpful.In an insightfu l interview with Motherboard, the creator of Clippy, Kevan Atteberry, describes how Stanford social psychologists found Clippy, googly eyes and all, to be the most trustful and engaging and endearing character of them all.Still, despite Clippys charm, he was also invasive, showing up randomly on Office documents while people were trying to focus. The results users turned on Clippy. In 2010, Time listed Clippy as one of the 50 all-time worst inventions for its inability to hold its tongue.Recognizing Clippys polarizing effect, Microsoft created a tongue-in-cheek campaign about what Clippys next move should be in 2001.The triumphant return of ClippyBut even as Clippy failed as an office assistant, he has endured as a cultural artifact. Hehas been parodied as an unhelpful guide inThe Matrix and turned into an Internet meme.Atteberry suggests that since Clippy is so easy to draw - he is after all, just a paper clip with eyebrows and eyes- this makes him easy to copy and meme.One Stanfor d University student even wrote his honors thesis on why users came to scorn Clippy.The problem Clippy was a robot that looked human, but wasnt human enough. By making Clippy act like a person, Luke Swartz argued that users will expect more from the interface than it is capable of, leading to inevitable disappointment, frustration, and dissatisfaction.Swartz drewupon research that found that the anthropomorphic styles are cute the first time, silly the second time, and an annoying distraction the third time.This may have been why user testing did not initially find Clippy to be a distraction if one merely tests an interface once, annoyances may not present themselves.Clippy made this mans careerAtteberry created Clippy as part of a freelance project for Microsoft, so he is not receiving royalties for his creation. Instead, hes currently writing childrens books in Seattle.Atteberry himself has moved from once being embarrassed to put Clippy in his portfolio to now recognizing the cul tural capital Clippy gives him I am not put off by people hating him. The fact that people know who he is is the important thing to me. That hes mucksmuschenstill part of our culture.He saidhe still receives fan art to this day, including bizarre anthropomorphized pregnant versions of Clippy.Atteberry welcomes it all.Clippys never-ending afterlife isan example of howfandoms can overtake a creators intent and reclaim a corporate symbol for their own entertainment.In fact, Clippy may be an example of how a fandom can arise even around corporate logos and other business business symbols - something media theorist Henry Jenkins predicted. Some savvy businesses are even creating symbols that are fan-friendly to get ahead of the trend- so future fan versions of computational assistants may have even longer and more popular afterlives than Clippy, who may be looked upon as a pioneer.

Business Travel Expenses Employers Will Pay

Business Travel Expenses Employers Will PayBusiness Travel Expenses Employers Will PayTravel expenses are expenditures that an employee makes while traveling on company business. Company business can include conferences, exhibitions, business meetings, client and customer meetings, job fairs, training sessions, and sales calls, for example. Expenses can include lodging, personal car mileage reimbursement, flights, ground transportation, tips to bellhops, meals, tips to waiters, room service, and other incidental expenses an employee might experience while on the road. Expenditures that an organization will reimburse are found in the companys business travel policy. Become familiar with your companys policy because expenses, as varied as dry cleaning and gym membership, can be covered for employees on extended trips in addition to the expected travel costs, housing, and meals. Travel Expenditures for Employees on Long-Term Assignments When using long-term housing facilities for tr aveling employees, many employers also supply opportunities for the employees family to visit when the employee is traveling extensively on business. When an employee is assigned to another company location on a temporary basis, employers will sometimes pay for the family of the employee to visit at prescribed time intervals. Employers seek to provide options of value for employees who are away from home and family for extended periods of time. You need to take advantage of any travel privileges that your employer offers to build employee morale and dedication. Client entertainment at conferences, on sales calls, and on-site visits is another reimbursable expense, but know your companys policies so you dont exceed the limits that are placed on entertainment costs. Know also your companys policy on the awarding of airline miles leistungspunkt. It varies. Some companies allow employees to accrue airline travel miles that they then can use for personal family travel. Others accrue a ba nk of travel miles that they use to cover additional employee business travel. Again, knowing your companys policies is crucial. How Do Employers Pay for Employee Travel Expenses? Typically, organizations pay employee travel expenses in these three ways. Company leistungspunkt cards Credit cards are issued to employees who must travel frequently for business. Employees may charge most of the expenses they incur on a business trip to the company credit card. For reimbursement of incidentals such as tips and fast food, employees will need to fill out an expense report when they return from their trip. Charge cards are convenient for employees as they do not have to come up with the cash to pay for business expenses prior to reimbursement. Become knowledgeable about your companys policies, though you may still need to turn in receipts and other supporting documentation even when you charge these expenses to a credit card. Cash Organizations without employee company credit cards req uire employees to fill out an expense reimbursement report for each expenditure while the employee is on the road. They generally require receipts and some level of justification for each expense. Only rarely would an organization ask employees to pay for the big-ticket items such as airfare and seek reimbursement later. A company purchase order or company credit card will pay for large expenses up front. But employees are often required to pay cash out-of-pocket for day-to-day travel expenses that are later reimbursed. Per diem A per diem is a daily allowance of a certain amount of money that an employee is given to cover all expenses. The employee is responsible for making sound travel expense choices within the parameters of the amount of money that he or she is allotted daily. Some companies pay directly for transportation and housing but give traveling employees a per diem for all other expenses including meals and ground transportation. Employees have been known to underspend on expenses to keep the extra cash from the per diem. Companies generally allow this. Know Your Employers Travel Expense Policies Employees who travel for business are advised to stay up-to-date on company travel policies and costs covered for reimbursement. Expenses that fall outside of the policies are generally not reimbursed or covered. Receipts are required by most companies except for those that pay a per diem. Your company also likely has a form that they expect employees to use for turning in travel expenses. To stay on top of reimbursable expenses, employees are often given a deadline by which they need to file an expense report and turn in applicable receipts. The finance department will have guidelines that help it stay current. If you have questions about what constitutes appropriate travel expenses in your organization, check with your manager and Human Resources department. You dont want to spend the money and receive a surprise later.