A Business Technology Place

Turning employee survey results inside out

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Making sense of employee survey results. This week I reviewed the 2018 employee survey results with my department. I’ll be honest; deciphering survey results is a challenge for a variety of reasons. Questions are interpreted differently. Similar questions with slight nuances yield measurably different answers. Survey results are influenced highly by what is happening at that moment in time (mergers, hiring freezes, large customer wins, new managers, etc.) I first reviewed the results with the managers in the department. We discussed questions with the highest and lowest favorable scores. When we did this within a small group, we found different interpretations of the survey question. The process was useful because we had a healthy dialogue about the findings. But there was enough diversity of opinion that I wondered how employees would feel about our resulting actions. Traditions. The guidance from human resources and my history with employee surveys fit a

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Scribble Scrabble

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Scribble Scrabble? Two thoughts collided during my self-reflection this week. It started with an article from David Pierce at the Wall Street Journal about handwriting. Pierce explores the effects of the digital world on our penmanship scribble scrabble. He provides a well-framed set of options for getting the written word into electronic format. But Pierce also mentions the positive effects of handwriting on our ability to learn and remember information. When we type on a computer, we are prone to record each word while with writing we will summarize thoughts. Then I remembered an article I wrote a few years ago about taking pen and paper to meetings rather than laptops. This is my preference because it helps me focus on the meeting rather than distractions of multitasking on my computer. Business meetings would be far more productive if no one was distracted by their laptops! What insights can we

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The Free Spirit

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              The Free Spirit He never met a day without a smile People, places, walking – life dance Touching, smelling, tasting – soul fuel Waiting, looking, anticipating – momentary rest   He opened our eyes to living Risk-taker, rule-breaker, trouble-maker – boundary pusher Confidant, sidekick, attendant – trusted companion Worry-free, optimist, loyal – life teacher   He runs free with joy evermore Memories, impressions, stories – Thank you friend New places, different smells, no pain – Run friend run No regrets, satisfied, triumphant – Your spirit is with us   In Memory of Brady (2004-2018)        

All I ever needed to know about information security awareness training

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This week I completed the annual information security awareness training module. This material is now required for every employee of the company as part of the growing compliance controls for information security. Over the past several years, the core content in the training has changed little. So I’m thankful the group making our content updates the modules to give it a fresh look-and-feel each year. It occurred to me, as I listened to the audio of the training content, I could summarize information security awareness with three important principles I learned as a young child: Don’t talk to strangers The most prevalent way criminals steal sensitive information is by taking advantage of our good nature. In fancy-speak, the term is social engineering. The most common examples we experience today are email and phone messages asking us to respond or click. Some attempts I receive are comical, but in recent years

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Alexa, play my podcast

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How hard can it be? This week I wanted to play a podcast through my Amazon Echo Dot. It seemed so simple. I would have Alexa learn a skill for a podcast player and then queue the podcast to play. My preferred podcast player is Google Play Music because that’s where I keep my digital music. But I had forgotten Amazon and Google don’t play together. Silly boys. Here are the options I found: Enable a skill on Alexa that plays podcasts. Some of the more well-known providers are iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Stitcher. Use the Echo Dot as a bluetooth speaker. In this option, the Echo Dot can be paired to another device such as phone or tablet. Then play the podcast on the app installed on the other device. Pick and go For option 1, I didn’t want to register a new account. Since I don’t have accounts on

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