• EFFECTIVE WORKTEAMS ARE CRITICAL TO IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY & PROFITABILITY. The first challenge is to ensure that project goals (short & long-term) are in alignment with company goals and among team members. The tougher challenge is to best ensure harmony and efficiency of the team by process including: (1) Setting clear definition of Goals (to be accomplished), Objectives (the measurement process), Strategies (how to achieve objectives) and Tactics (action steps – who, when, where, etc); (2) Confirming target timelines and commitments to deliverables & the measurement/evaluation/compensation process; (3) Optimizing flexibility by minimizing obstacles & rules; (4) holding team members accountable to their goals & commitments. DCG have decades of experience in helping organizations improve productivity and profitability. Let us help.
  • THE FLOOD OF IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEE STUDENTS from countries with different languages and cultural backgrounds create chaos for a great many school districts. In Des Moines, Iowa, teachers “accommodate students who come to school speaking 100 different languages – to learn English… and taking special steps to ensure they don’t offend immigrant students – like passing things out right-handed because in some cultures the left hand is like a dirty hand.” [LEVINE BRIEFING NEWS – Feb 22, 17]
  • WORKPLACE TEXTING IS FAST BECOMING COMMONPLACE “as the smartphone generation rises through the workforce.” Start-up companies have developed systems for workers to somehow safely communicate and retain files by text, and some 40% of employers will be using text messages to schedule interviews this year, according to CareerBuilder.com. Evolving boundary conventions include: limiting after-hour texts to ‘urgent attention’ matters; keeping the message ‘short’; using traditional abbreviations (versus slang or numerics like ‘cul8r’; no emojis; and being straightforward since “the truncated format of texting raises the chances of misinterpreting your message.” [MONEY MAGAZINE – Mar 17]
  • “THE PRESS SHOULD CALL OUT POLITICIANS WHEN THEY LIE, but lying isn’t the same as talking nonsense.” The Oxford Dictionary defines Lying as a “false statement intended to deceive…knowing that what you’re saying isn’t true,” versus Falsehood defined simply as “an uttered untruth.” False statements often stem from belief (even if erroneous) in what a person saying, intent for “comic or jarring effect,” or just ignorance. But since it is “impossible to know another mind perfectly,” when reporters use headlines that stipulate someone has ‘lied,’ without true awareness that this was for purposes of intentional deceit, it’s fair to assume the Media is intentionally presenting biased and bogus propaganda – itself becoming the ‘liar.’  [THE ECONOMIST – Feb 18, 17]
  •  LATEST PRACTICAL TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE: SMART GLASSES! Lenses that automatically focus have been developed at the University of Utah, “set in frames containing a distance meter on the bridge which measures to nearby objects using infrared light, then sends a signal to adjust the glycerin lens curve within 14 milliseconds based on the wearer’s eyeglass prescription, all calibrated via a smartphone app & Bluetooth.”  By middle age, vision degrades as human eyeballs stiffen. But with these new lenses, an updated prescription can simply be updated to the app, avoiding need for new glasses. Forecasted availability is two to three years away, but will make reading glasses and bifocals obsolete.  [SMITHSONIAN.COM – Feb 9, 17]
  •  “SLEEP IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE THING YOU CAN DO TO RESET YOUR BRAIN AND BODY FOR HEALTH… Short-changing sleep can compromise brain, heart, immune and nearly every major body system.” Lots of research studies (including over a million men & women by American Cancer Society) consistently find only about a third of adults, and half that for teens, get the recommended 7 to 8 hours nightly necessary – primarily due to our “technology-fueled 24/7 workplace, social media or the relentless news cycle.” Researchers believe the brain produces a signal which essentially tells other systems (heart, lungs, digestive, muscles, nervous) that “it’s time to call it quits for the day… allowing a primary evolutionary function: to clean out the brain, quite literally, of accumulating debris… by washing out the toxic detritus that builds up… and can otherwise impede memory formation, ability to coherently compose thoughts or regulate emotions, and lead to faster aging of brain cells contributing to diseases like Alzheimer – now the cause of death for 1 in 3 seniors.”  [TIME – Feb 27, 17]
  •  THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: Since the election, around 30% of American workers say their colleagues are “less productive and spending more time talking about politics than about work, and nearly half have seen a political conversation turn into an argument,” according to a survey by software firm BetterWorks.

       A fascinating response to anti-Semitism: http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-greatest-response-to-jew-hatred-i-have-ever-seen/

      Whether you “like” President Trump or not, take a look at this amazing 3-minute interview with Oprah 25 years ago. Irrespective of today’s politics, it’s a shame he wasn’t taken more seriously then.   https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOKi5YeNtRI