Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Category: Audio Downloads

  • Listen In -> Tech Changes #3: The Upgrade Quandry

    Upgrade decisions are a fact of life in the fast-changing tech world.

    Are you torn between wanting to stay abreast of advances in technology and wanting to keep spending to a minimum? When does an expense shift from being a resented and avoided intrusion caused by others to an investment that is anticipated and incorporated into one’s business strategy?

    This week software developer Jorge Rosas and I tackle the upgrade investment quandry. We discuss decision-making criteria that lead to solutions that fit, not pre-fab solutions that force you to fit into some rigid upgrade formula.

    Listen in.

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  • Listen In -> Tech Changes #2: Gadget Obsession or Early Adoption?

    Innovation is a double-edged sword. New gadgets can enhance effectiveness or undermine focus.

    In this week’s interview with software developer, Jorge Rosas, (a self-confessed innovation addict) we discuss the difference between the type of early adopter—whose play leads toward multiplied productivity—and those whose fascination with new gadgets results merely in distraction and loss of focus.

    The point is not to label ourselves so much as to help those of us fascinated with all things new to recognize when this passion is serving us well and when it is luring us off track.

    Listen in.

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  • No Magical Answers for Tech Change

    Instead of joining an extremist camp: either always buying the latest innovation as soon as it comes out, or always waiting as long as possible before making a change, we need our own decision-making criteria.

    Our needs are different than anyone else’s. Our financial resources are limited. Our teams’ openness to change and learning new things is a factor. Our industry might be one of relative stability or rapid innovation.

    In this week’s podcast with software developer Jorge Rosas, we discuss three “tension spectrums” across which to consider our next decisions:

    1. Risk versus reliability. Can you or your firm handle some of the inherent risks associated with emerging technologies while the kinks are being ironed out? Or do you need a certain level of reliability which would suggest that you wait?
    2. Focus versus distraction. Do new features help you get more done or distract you? For some of us, innovation is key to how we increase our personal and professional productivity. For others of us, new things take our eyes off of our goals, and we lose precious time and energy playing or forcing solutions that don’t really fit.
    3. Arithmetic versus exponential benefit. Unless an innovation provides an exponential increase in value to one’s productivity, internal processes, or company capabilities, you may want to reconsider the money investment, the learning investment, and the investment in team morale that any technology change brings.

    What criteria informs your decisions about adopting new technologies?

  • Listen In -> Technology Change: New Tools or New Obstacles?

    Friend or foe?

    Our new podcast series helps us think about a constant business reality: technology change.

    Do you leap headlong into every innovation or upgrade? Or do you avoid the expense and disruption of learning something new as long as you can?

    There are advantages and disadvantages to both strategies. Instead of adopting a rigid stance, listen in to my conversations with Jorge Rosas, tech guru, software developer and confessed obsessive early adopter of all things new.

    1. Technology Change: New Tools or New Obstacles? (playing now)
    2. Tech Changes #1: Gadget Obsession or Early Adoption?
    3. Tech Changes #2: The Upgrade Investment Quandary
    4. Tech Changes #3: Leaders Lost in Database Hell
    5. Tech Changes #4: Swamped by the Communication Tidal Wave?

    Listen in.

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  • Appreciation Fuels Volunteers

    “Thank you. Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for showing up fully and bringing yourself to our shared mission. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you.”

    Its value seems obvious, but appreciation of one’s volunteers too often gets overlooked in the busyness of our non-profit efforts. Make yourself one promise today. Promise yourself never to let another day go by without finding a way to express thanks to those who work alongside you.

    Remember from our latest podcast with Rodney Walker, that a core source of motivation for volunteers is the opportunity to contribute and make a difference. Expressing gratitude is a way to communicate the specifics of how someone does just that.

    pdf iconFor simple guidelines on the what’s and how’s of a meaningful “Thank You,” download my Say Thank You and Mean It worksheet.

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Building In Volunteer Accountability

    Key with volunteers is the opportunity to contribute and make a difference. Take that away and why not just stay home and catch up on chores?

    A position without accountability is the same as a position that doesn’t matter. If it’s not important enough to have standards and expected outcomes, then it’s not very important.

    By treading lightly and avoiding confrontation over sub-standard work by volunteers, we rob them of one of the key benefits of getting involved—the opportunity to make a difference. Work that matters is work worth insisting on people’s best efforts.

    Try including expected outcomes in your volunteer job descriptions. Lists of tasks or responsibilities leave too much to individual interpretation. Many arguments or misunderstandings about performance can be avoided from the outset with a focus on outcomes.

    Accountability is not a threat to those who care about their work… it is a gift. How do you go about giving the gift of accountability?

    (Find the entire Challenges Facing Non-Profits series here.)

  • When It’s Difficult to Say “Thank You”

    Rodney Walker asserts that volunteers are the non-profit’s most valuable resource in this week’s podcast interview.

    But volunteers don’t always do a good job. They do not always come with the skills we need. Some arrive with too much time on their hands and set up a home away from home in our office. Awkward, to say the least! Bless their hearts for helping on the one hand, while we curse under our breath for the complications, on the other.

    pdf iconYou might consider developing a simple job description for each task or role for which you plan to recruit volunteer help. (Click here for free pdf template download.)

    Such a tool would help you and your team define more clearly what you actually needed help with. More importantly, prospective volunteers would see up front how much time was being asked, the duration of the commitment, the tasks involved and the skills required.

    This job description could serve as a talking tool or discussion guide when interviewing interested recruits. You would be able to highlight how the person’s heart fits with the organization’s mission, without sacrificing the substance or quality of the job that needs to get done.

    How do you keep volunteers both motivated and on track?

    (Catch up on the entire series here.) 

  • Listen In -> Non-Profit Challenges #4: Working With Volunteers

    Is there such a thing as firing a volunteer? For organizations that depend on volunteers, this can be a tricky subject. What about motivation when there are no raises or promotions on offer?

    This week’s interview with Rodney Walker focuses on the challenge working with volunteers presents the non-profit.

    Listen in.

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  • Catch Up on Our Non-Profits Interview Series

    We’re into our third week of interviews with Rodney Walker on the challenges facing Non-Profit organizations. It’s been a great series.

    If you’re just joining us now, you can always click on the player to the right to hear the most recent episode.

    To catch up on past episodes, click here.

  • Listen In -> Non-Profit Challenges #3: Can You Measure Success?

    “Isn’t it enough merely to do good?” goes the line of thinking.

    But what if you could do better? What if funds and resources entrusted to you by donors and volunteers are missing their mark? What if key opportunities are being overlooked, or lurking threats are infecting your system?

    This week’s interview with Rodney Walker focuses on how to evaluate success in a non-profit organization. Without the metric of profit, which, for all its faults, has served the working world well, we can stumble along never really knowing if we should be making different decisions than we are.

    We have no criteria for improving our decisions.

    Listen in.

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