COMMUNITY WELLNESS - STRESS AT WORK

BLUE CANVAS

Protegra I ssue 6 Apr i l 5, 2017

REPORTER

THE LOCAL FREQUENCY

Business Pages Enter tainment/L ife Pages

PROTEGRA SOFTWARE STUDIOS

BETTER OUTCOMES

PROTEGRA COMMUNITY

ON THE ROAD TO END MS

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

TRANSITION RE-CAP

SAY GOODBYE TO OFFICE VIBE

DO WE NEED TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY- PROTEGRA SOFTWARE STUDIOS

What are we work ing on?

From an overall perspective, we continue to look for opportunities that would allow us to fund the design and build of a future state Better Outcomes...as the team likes to call it an "Even Better Outcomes".

Programs for Lethbridge are complete, all changes to close "gaps" have been identified and approved by the client. We are on target for April.

There are a number of other opportunities in the Better Outcomes sales pipeline.

Customer support is ongoing.

Them at ic Goal

Increase t he num ber of net new em ployees on Blue Canvas by 4500 as well as increase t he net new m ont hly recur r ing revenue by $25,000.00 by August 31, 2017

Explanations

- June is the first month HR revenue is estimated to begin

- We are expecting to see the impact of various initiatives in April

- March Revenue numbers have not been updated

- Goals and targets are under review due to changes in the team

What are We Work ing On?

Project s In-f l ight :

- Johnston Group: Jon D, Jonathan W, Luoie, Steve, Shree and Derek Moore (end date of existing contract December 31, 2017).

- COSII: Chris W, Fraser, Sean D.

- AMS: PNP & JRS - Jeff, Larry, Mike

- MBLL- Waiting to start - Colin F

How are t h ings going?

Utilization for Software Studios is as follows:

- March = 67%

- April = 71%

- May = 63%

Sales PipelineOppor t unit y Pipeline Locat ion

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Best Few

Western Financial Group In the Funnel

COSII AMS Above

Health Labour Information network (LINK) System Replacement Project

Above

AGI - Guardian iOS Development Universe

MITT - Review of Student Information System

Universe

What are we work ing on?

1. Continue development on Offers area in app

2. Investigate option to pre-load member accounts with Local Points

3. Investigate targeting offers at large offices in area of group of member businesses

4. Improve display at member businesses to enhance customer experience.

Increase customers and customer activity, prove revenue streams, get ready to scale to new city by September.

Them at ic Goal

Around t he Of f ice - Rem inders - Please do not use personal emails when signing up for services, subscriptions or tools that are used to

support Protegra or any of Protegra?s service offerings. Contact I.T. to have an email distribution group created for this purpose.  I.T. will record the credentials so that we do not lose access to the service, subscription or tools when people leave the company.

Community;

- We continue to evolve the Protegra Playbook - The Local Frequency team is focused on the business components, finalizing the team's thematic goal,

defining objectives and initiatives and creating their team Kanban. - The Blue Canvas team continues to focus on their thematic goal, defining objectives and initiatives. A

daily stand-up continues. We are now starting to focus on Standard Operating objectives and operational items which will be included on the Kanban board and in the daily stand-ups. We will be holding a retrospective in the next few weeks and making any required changes. Focus is currently on transition items.

What are we work ing on?

OfficeVibe as of March 30

Community Measures

I have had a number of people ask questions about transitioning work after the lay-offs last week, as well as what will be happening with Frank?s departure.  

Here is a recap:

Better Outcomes

- Silvia was in the process of learning Better Outcomes support; this will be handled by the remainder of the team Don, Paul and Mike.

- From a sales perspective Wadood will handle all inquiries and opportunities with assistance from the team.

- There were no marketing activities currently being worked on for Better Outcomes.

Blue Canvas

- Sales will be handled by Wadood and Wendie, all of Bill?s and Barb?s Salesforce SSO?s have been transferred to Wadood. We will be focusing on ?good fit? clients until financing is in place.

- As part of the thematic goal for Blue Canvas we ran a ?test? to verify if a change in how we approach sales would work, using a Lead Generation process.   This short test verified that having a lead generator contacting potential clients with the intent of booking sales meetings does work.   This is something we will explore further when financing is in place.

- Marketing activities will be targeted to markets that we know are

TRANSITION RE-CAP

- Jason Van Gorp - 19th

- No Anniversaries

Birthdays(April 6 - 19)

Anniversaries(April 6 - 19)

potential Blue Canvas customers such as the Canadian Payroll Association members.  So there will be less marketing activity but more focused activity.

- Most of Frank?s tasks will be divided amongst Brenda and the team. We have a transition document that Frank has created and the team has met to identify tasks and who will take on what.

- We will be transitioning the contact point for the Rise relationship from Frank to Don

- Transition is underway and will be complete by the end of this week. Frank will be taking vacation for the remainder of his notice period, his last day in the office will be April 7.

- Development activities will be focused on high priority items.   

The Local Frequency

- Any sales, training or on-boarding activities that would have been assigned to Derek will be picked up by Tyler, Ian and Jade Anne.  

- Marketing activities for The Local Frequency

were being handled by the team and other partners; this will continue.

Software Studios

- Wadood will continue to cover sales.   We will be meeting with the Studios team to discuss business development shortly.   See the item following this article.

- There were no active marketing activities for Studios, so no work to transition. We will determine how to handle when an opportunity is identified.

Butterfly

- For now there will be no activity undertaken with Butterfly. If someone has an interest/passion in this area please discuss with Wadood or Brenda.

I hope this has answered some of the questions you may have had. If you have other questions please feel free to talk to Wadood, myself, PEC or submit them to be discussed at the next company meeting

- Brenda.

TRANSITION RE-CAP CONTINUED

PROTEGRA SOFTWARE STUDIOS:DO WE NEED TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY? You are invited to attend a session over lunch to discuss the following questions: Protegra Software Studios: Do we need to do things differently?

What is exactly Protegra Software Studios business about?

How are we going to identify opportunities? What kinds of opportunities?

There are probably more questions and discussion points, but let?s start with these ones. The following are some thoughts to get you started:

Jobs t o be done:

1. Find opportunities/problems we can solve for clients where software that needs to be built is core to the solution.

2. Find and develop clients with long term relationships

Oppor t unit ies/Problem s:

There are three different types of client based problems (business or technical): Global (applies to many industries/domains), Domain/Industry specific, client specific. They boil down to jobs to be done/pains/gains. Technology advancements usually tend to solve problems for clients that never thought to be solvable before. Introduction of the world wide web, mobile technology, virtualization, ? etc.

The opportunity is to understand the problem (jobs to be done/pains/gains) and then synthesize a solution concept, socialize with the client. If the pain is acute enough and/or the gain is big enough, then the client usually considers that a viable solution, assuming there is enough budget for the solution.

More quest ions: Who identifies opportunities/problems? Who identifies technology advancements and their implications? Who engage with clients and when? How do we communicate and discuss the above? How do we track the above?

It is not that we don?t have ideas how to answer the questions above, but it is better to come to the meeting primed with questions then we can discuss potential solutions.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

I read an interesting blog post last week about stress at work, a quote in the blog caught my attention ?everyone has problems, it?s how we deal with those problems that make us who we are.?

I thought to myself, "hmmm interesting, maybe I should read on? .". What was interesting about this post was they focused on why stress was good and how to make the most of stress? here are the highlights:

Why st ress is good for you

1. Stress is exciting Think about it. A litt le stress at work is a good sign. It means you?re engaged, excited, and passionate about what you?re doing.

When you challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone is when you experience the most personal growth. Making yourself a bit uncomfortable and challenging yourself will make you a bit stressed. That?s okay, that?s part of life. Embrace it.

2. Stress improves memory and focus

Research has shown that stress can improve your working memory and focus, making it an incredibly positive thing for the workplace.

The reason for this is that when you?re stressed, your body tries make you more alert, putting itself in that ?fight or flight? mode.

3. Stress keeps you Healthy

When you?re stressed, your body produces hormones to fight off illness and keeps your body healthy. Stress helps you boost your immune system, which is good for both work and your personal life.

Community Wellness - Stress at Work

St ress And Per form ance

One of the main reasons we need to stop being so scared of stress is that stress is actually good for your performance.

When we?re not stressed enough, we become bored, and that?s never good for our motivation or productivity. When we?re too stressed, we become overwhelmed and can?t handle the workload we have.

What we want to find, is that perfect sweet spot in the middle that leads us to peak performance.

In Dan Pink?s book Drive, he refers to this concept as ?Goldilocks tasks ? challenges that are not too hot and not too cold, not too difficult or too simple.?

It?s easier said than done to find that sweet spot, but that?s what you need to work on to hit ultimate productivity

Tips t o Make St ress Your Fr iend

1. Develop A Growt h Mindset . This is without a doubt the best tip to reduce stress from your life. Many people struggle with this, it is very difficult when someone critiques your work. You need to see it as an opportunity to grow and get better, not as a personal insult.

2. Build Up Conf idence. When someone with a positive attitude or a self-confident attitude experiences stress, they respond better to it than someone who doesn?t have as much confidence. If you build up your confidence, you?ll be able to deal with the pressure of those situations.

3. Have St rong Social Suppor t . Having a few close, strong connections with people that you can turn to during stressful situations is a great way to make handling stress easier.

4. Exercise. Exercise helps us respond to the initial threat of stress better. We?re stronger (mentally and physically), so we are better equipped to handle it.

5. Learn To Relax. You need to learn how to relax and stay calm. Learning to relax, means things like: meditation, yoga, deep breathing exercises.

This is the type of stuff that you need to build as a habit into your daily life. Stress will come into your life whether you like it or not, but if you can build relaxation habits into your life, you?ll handle the effects of stress better.

6. Go For A Walk . Before you reply to that email or make that phone call, get up and go for a walk. It doesn?t have to be for long or very far, but going for a walk to calm you down is a great way to relieve some stress.

As you noticed, these things are easier said than done, but the trick is to start small, and have a really experimental mindset. Test different things to see what works best for you or where you could improve.

Be mindful of what?s going on in your life and be grateful for what you have. You can manage stress so that it doesn?t get the best of you, and live a productive, happy, and healthy life.

Check out t he TED Talk video if you want t o learn m ore!

We will have more Community Wellness articles in upcoming issues.

- Brenda

Im por t ant : Like most things in life, there is a limit to how much this will work. When stress becomes too high, it causes damage, but a ?good? amount of stress can be a positive thing.

Knowing this, the trick is to do things to manage your stress every day, so that it never reaches that high point.

So I?ve signed up for the MS Gimli Bike Tour coming up in August and now what? Where does one start to prepare for this lengthy ride on two wheels?

A bit of background first for those unaware. The MS Biking to the Viking, as it used to be called, is an annual bike tour in support of the MS Society of Manitoba, that had a starting point in Stonewall MB and its path followed numerous highways throughout the Interlake until you arrived at Gimli MB, totaling 85 kilometers one way. With a few changes being made to this year?s event, the new name Gimli MS Bike Tour, there are more options than riding the whole 85 kms, so I decided I would challenge myself and sign up. I?ve volunteered three times over the last 4 years so I?m quite familiar with the event, but riding is a whole other ball of wax.

First thing? .make sure you have a bike. A working bike helps! Check!

Next thing? .I?m not one for riding in the snow, so I?ve signed up for some classes at a nearby indoor cycling studio to build up the legs. I?ve taken one class so far and it was awesome yet so hard. So hard. (What am I thinking???)

Next? .besides continuing to take the spin classes, I need to get my bike in decent shape, so I?m going to look into getting it tuned up by one of our local merchants, ProConnexion. I?ll admit, I?m a litt le frightened to find out how many things will need to be adjusted because well let?s just say, the bike was a gift. A gift from the heart no less, but one without research so? ? * sigh* I love my family! :)

There?s a litt le insight into my journey so far, and the journey will continue until it doesn?t anymore? .stay tuned for some upcoming articles on my progress. Ride safe! And if you?re interested in joining too, here?s a link!

- Jade Anne

ON THE ROAD TO #ENDMS

As many of you know we introduced Office Vibe in October of 2015 as a replacement for our annual ESAT survey.

At the time the Community Advisory Committee thought a "pulse" survey would give us more information in a timely fashion, making it easier to respond in kind.

Introducing Office Vibe did allow another way of gathering feedback and understanding the Protegra Community. But it also has it 's limitations.

As with many survey tools, allowing for anonymous feedback makes it very difficult to understand the underlying issue as you cannot easily get clarification. Office Vibe did introduce a new feature recently that allows you to respond, but since it is through email it is not the best option for clear, concise communication, especially if there is an issue or concern raised. Even though Office Vibe allows you to turn off your anonymity, most of you did not use that feature. Therefore it was still difficult to understand and effect the right change.

Since we are not a large community I saw very litt le change in the scores in the year and 5 months we have been using Office Vibe, again making it nearly impossible to determine areas for improvement. Often the feedback received was contradictory so that made it even more difficult to determine problems or solutions.

I believe that this type of tool would work better in a larger organization, where transparency is less encouraged and where employees do not have opportunities to make their opinions and feelings known or ask questions when they have concerns.

Since we are now a smaller community and also a community where openness and transparency is encouraged, I have decided to "say goodbye" to Office Vibe, and spend more time encouraging conversations.

Please feel free to discuss this with me if you do not agree with turning off Office Vibe or would like more information, the plan is to not renew as of April 8.

- Brenda

OFFICE VIBE - SAY GOODBYE