January 2010 Newsletter

Happy New Year!
January 2010

Users Roundtable -
June 17-18, 2010

Our Users Roundtable will be held
in Las Vegas.  More details to follow.

Connections Online 4.0 New Features Webinar

Wednesday, January 6^th or Wednesday, February 10^th at 1:30 EST

This 30-minute training webinar highlights newly released functionality of Connections Online 4.0 and Q&A.
Click here to register for January or
Click here to register for February.

Connections Online 4.0 Application Training Webinar

Thursday, January 21^st  or
Wednesday, February 24^th at 1:30 EST

This 60-minute training webinar dives deep into an overall “how to use” Connections Online 4.0.
Click here to register for January or
Click here to register for February.

Jim Cardwell’s Educational Webinar

“How to Build a Connected Project Management Culture”
Thursday, January 28^th at 1:30 EST

Our Guest Speaker for this 30-minute discussion will be Ken Senus, SVP of IT at Navigant Credit Union.

Click here to register.

Past Educational Webinar Recordings - Go to http://www.connectionsonline.net/news  Then click on the Events tab for a listing of our past Educational webinars.

Training Library

Click here to link to our Training Library

Jim Cardwell’s December Educational Webinar –
Dialogs-What They Are, and How to Optimize Them

We finished 2009’s Educational Webinar Series this month by talking about Dialogs – what they are and how to optimize them.  Here’s a quick summary of what was discussed.

Dialogs are highly interactive, team-based, open and collaborative.  Information bounces around the room; it does not all go through the leader.  Dialogs drive problem identification, discovery and problem-solving. They build team pride – they show that the organization is progressing and that individuals are making a difference.  Peers have high expectations regarding individual preparation and performance.  Dangling items are captured, and there is follow-through. 

Dialogs bring people and functions together to discuss progress-to-plan.  They provide a forum for reinforced accountability.  They create a team-based conversation around what people need to do to keep those functions moving successfully forward.  Of equal importance, they celebrate successes and problem-solve any shortfalls. They also build organization pride and productivity.  And the ringmaster who drives this pride and productivity is the leader.

Leadership characteristics that drive this productivity include:

·    Creating a sense of Purpose (leaders create an emotional feeling that “we are doing something special here”)

·    Using 80-20 thinking, establishing a few meaningful Goals (narrowing the list to the most important goals that will have the biggest impact)

·    Providing on-going Feedback (clarifying expectations; managing by walking around; creating a relationship of “no surprises”)

·    Providing Support (being there for people – from both a resource and an emotional standpoint)

·    Ensuring timely Recognition and Reward (consistently recognizing and reinforcing achievements in a timely fashion)

·    Building a sense of Team (setting an expectation that it takes everyone in the organization to make it work)

This is where Connections Online shines.  It builds Top-Down Performance Alignment through a clear sense of purpose and aligned goals.  Then it creates a system of ongoing, bottom-up feedback loops, where business strategy is linked to individual behavior through feedback, support, recognition, and a sense of team.  For the remainder of the article please Click here or to hear a recording of the presentation Click here.

Jim Cardwell’s Educational Webinar – “How to Build a Connected Project Management Culture”
Thursday, January 28th at 1:30 EST

This is a best-practice presentation by Ken Senus, the Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Navigant Credit Union.  I am impressed with the work that Ken (and the other members of Navigant’s Internal Connections Consulting Team) has done.  You will walk away with some great ideas that you can apply immediately.

Click here to register for this webinar.

4.0 Tips of the Month

We will be releasing a series of updated and new reports at the end of this month.

• The new Resource Utilization report will be available on the Organization and Department pages.  It has an option to group "By Individual" at the top.
• A new Project List report (that has the list of all projects from all organizations and departments) will be available on the Organization and Department pages.
• The updated Dialog reports are available on all dialog windows.  The button for the new report is at the bottom of the window near the Cancel button.  The old report button is still available for now but will be removed once the new reports can export.
• A new Metric report is available on all metric windows.  The button for the report is at the bottom of the window near the Cancel button.
• All of the other “new” reports will also be updated a bit.

Informational Webinar

If you know someone outside of your company who may be interested in learning more about Connections Online, we have an informational webinar scheduled Friday, January 29th at 1:30 PM EST - Please pass this link on to them to register https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/396213451 .

Client Care Notes

To view previous Connections Online Newsletters, go to http://www.connectionsonline.net/news and then click on the Newsletters tab for a listing of our past newsletters.

Connections Online Migration

If you have not already done so, and are ready to migrate to 4.0, please contact Karla Norwood at 800.395.1410. 

Monthly Calendar of Webinar Events Link:

Go to this link and click on the Events Tab - then choose Calendar of Web Events from the list:

http://www.connectionsonline.net/ShowNews.aspx?id=245 

Connections Online
24481 Detroit Road, Suite 300
Cleveland, OH 44145

(440) 892-1410 or (800) 395-1410

www.connectionsonline.net