ANNOUNCEMENT Virtual Connection is delighted to announce that Caryn Joseph Siegel has joined our company as an affiliate consultant. Caryn has been certified to use our tools and unique approaches to assisting organizations to become optimally productive in a global market place. Please contact Caryn Joseph Siegel or Virtual Connection to discuss your virtual needs. Virtual Connection Organizations, teams and managers are struggling to learn how to work effectively across geographies. Whether you have dispersed project teams, global customers, or a recently merged team, your bottom line is being dramatically impacted because managers and staff do not know how to transfer their face-to-face skills into a virtual work world. Virtual Connection has worked with Fortune 500 companies with our unique e-learning tool, Virtual@Work. This tool teaches managers and teams how to overcome cultural differences, how to conduct effective video and audio conferences, how to launch virtual project teams - especially cross-functional ones. Virtual Connection's clients have saved money by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their staff and managers. Our clients have used Virtual@Work to: • Improve product design and review meetings; • Decrease customer response time; • Resolve team conflicts so quality and productivity improve • Accelerate 'time to performance' for newly created project teams • Resolve supply chain dilemmas • Work more effectively with outsourced resources • Bridge the gap between languages and cultures by agreeing on virtual meeting protocols • Connect with partners and vendors in new and more profitable ways. and many other unique business challenges that negatively impact the bottom line unless creative solutions are found. Virtual Connection can help you develop the creative solution to your business challenges that are exacerbated because of the need to work virtually. Virtual Connection Web Site Click here We look forward to helping you improve your productivity, effectiveness and customer satisfaction	7 Reasons Why Retention Is Important Even During a Recession (based on article in Fast Company, January 2001) 1. There are not enough quality workers to go around. 2. Worker's attitudes and expectations have shifted - permanently! 3. New employment options lure the best and the brightest 4. Finding a new job has never been easier. 5. The cost of losing talent is high, no matter what the economic conditions 6. In this time of downsizing, the risks for losing top talent are especially high 7. In the new economy, talent is the only differential.	SOME GREAT BOOKS: "Love 'Em or Lose 'Em" by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordon Evans - a practical guide for 1st level managers on how to retain your employees "Monkey Business" by William Oncken,III - a fun, great book about the art of delegation "Influence Without Authority" by Allan Cohen and David Bradford - The new way to get things done at work "Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It" by Peggy Klaus
ASK YOUR EMPLOYEES TODAY: "WHAT CAN I DO TO CREATE A MORE MOTIVATING / SATISFYING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOU AT WORK?" If they suggest things that are not within your control, ask the question again and again until they mention something that IS within your control. Beverly Kaye, of Career Systems International, found that by the 3rd time you ask the question, your employee will share something that you CAN provide.
Interesting Facts from the US Department of Labor: * Employees are demanding flexibility. * By the age of 32, people leaving college now will have 9 jobs. * The average cost of the loss of talent is equal to 2.5 times their salary.	GREAT QUOTE OF THE MONTH: "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." - Arthur Ashe	Research on How People Develop from the Center for Creative Leadership: 70% - Learn on-the-job, working on real tasks and projects 20% - Feedback and positive or negative role models 10% - Courses and reading