Look to Your Employees for Inspiration to Maximize Enterprise Software

We Throw Away Money and Waste Valuable Time

We tend to use the same programs in our enterprise software over and over again for the same tasks. We spend very little time learning about all of the other features that the software we paid for may have. We rarely dig for the gold hidden within the software we use on our desktops or even our smartphones.

Employees tend to use enterprise software for specific purposes: accounting software for finance, word processors for business and creative writing, and so on. Because each division within a company usually specializes in what they do, no one really uses all the software features available to them.

This is where employees and managers can learn from each other.

Innovation Resides Within Your Employees

Newer, less experienced employees may be learning the nuances of their job, but outside of work, they are tuned in to what their devices can do. Look at the rise of apps like Instagram and TikTok. Unlike the flashy social media upstarts of a decade ago, the biggest apps today drive brand positioning and marketing efforts for companies that know how to use them.

Most small businesses can’t hire a multimillion-dollar advertising firm to maximize their presence on these apps. But their employees can help to get attention on the biggest apps like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Don’t just turn to your newer, younger employees. More experienced employees know their preferred software inside and out. Your accountant, for example, probably knows every shortcut available in Microsoft Excel. They can tell you, in just a few seconds, how to set up an equation to figure out the data points you’re putting together. Your office manager or administrative assistant can whip up a macro in Word that takes care of their most repetitive tasks with a single command.

If your company employs engineers, there’s no doubt that they have in-depth knowledge of the software they use for design work. Likewise for web developers, or for project managers. The marketing and sales staff likely use task-specific software to help the company stay on track.

Find Enterprise Software Features That Save You Time

There are also cool little features in Excel that can spice up your presentations. Do you know about sparklines? They’re available when you right-click in a cell and select “Menu”. Instantly create a cell-sized representation of the data points you’re comparing.

In Microsoft Word, you can insert Excel charts right into a document. You can do this in PowerPoint as well. You can digitally watermark your work. You can add a table of contents, an index, and custom numbering. It’s one of the most versatile word processing programs on the market and has been for three decades.

Maximize Software to Keep Business On An Even Keel

Where the hidden features of these software programs really shine is at inflection points in a company’s progress. If nothing else, 2020 has provided ample evidence of this. As companies transitioned their entire workforce to remote status, the ability to share files easily, and securely, as well as maintain meaningful communication with employees became a challenge.

Different teams within companies had to collaborate in ways they never thought of before. What they learned from each other about different ways to use software for their respective task made everyone more knowledgeable. This collaboration made teams more agile, and increased performance, even though they were away from the focused environment of the office.

Deep Dive Into Software Tools

Set aside 15 minutes to an hour each day to explore the features hidden in the software you already own. Or chat with your employees to learn how they use software. You may be very surprised at what you find.

Whether you are a small company or an organization of hundreds, there’s value in learning the additional features in your existing software.

The post There’s Gold In Them Thar Files! appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

I recently attended a conference where the speaker, Thomas Guskey, challenged us to consider how we might change the culture of classroom testing. Guskey asked, “What happens to these tests? What educational purpose do they serve?” His point was that teachers typically grade tests, give them back, and then move on. Students put their tests away and never look at them again. Some students will even make a show of sauntering to the trash to crumple and toss their test in the bin. If a student feels like she studied hard for a test and still got a bad grade, she can become disillusioned and disheartened with the classroom cycle that consists of teaching and testing, teaching and testing.

Many times, testing simply feels like a win or lose game between students and their teacher. I’ll never forget the day my son and I were discussing testing in one of his least favorite classes (and with his least favorite teacher) and he looked me square in the eyes and said, “Mom, I refuse to play the game.” My son was in honors classes, yet he felt this way! What if his tests were used as a learning tool instead of a ‘gotcha’? Would it be perceived as less of a game if students had a chance to retake the test, or work out where they’d gone wrong?

There is an argument for the exam as the final assessment: if students don’t have the knowledge by the time they’re tested, that’s unfortunate, but it’s time to move on – there’s only so much time to teach the material. “What about a surgeon? Do they ‘test’ their learning on a genuine patient?” Guskey asked. “Or do they get to check their learning on a cadaver to make sure they’ve got it worked out?” You wouldn’t show a surgeon a heart bypass in a textbook and then send him or her straight into the operating room!

Tests give us crucial insight into areas where students are struggling. By moving on immediately after giving an exam, we’re missing a valuable opportunity to teach our students exactly what they need to learn! Rather than a game in which students either win or lose, we can turn testing into a win-win classroom experience by giving students the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. We can change the culture in our classrooms by using tests as a tool to facilitate learning rather than marking the end of the learning process.

I saw a fantastic example of this type of assessment when I was coaching teachers at Odessa High School in Texas. Two teachers were co-teaching a science class. For the first part of the lesson, students took a typical test that the co-teachers quickly graded as they were turned in (while the students were engaged in another task). From the test, they picked up ‘grey areas’ where a significant number of students had struggled and ‘failed’. Then they spent the second part of the class period re-teaching these ‘grey’ elements. Students were then allowed to re-take this part of the test where, of course, they improved. Rather than feeling disillusioned, students felt empowered and motivated to ‘learn from their mistakes’.

As I was considering Guskey’s points, I reflected on my own experiences. When I was in graduate school, the method of learning was an iterative process, where we continually redrafted our work until it was up to standard. There was no formal testing, but the same piece of work would sometimes be returned six or seven times with feedback. I would read the professor’s comments and learn how to improve my work – no disillusionment, just improvements. I learned more than I had in any test-driven educational program, and I actually remembered what I’d learned.

The next time you’re preparing a test, consider how you might make it into a learning tool. You may be surprised to find that you can turn your tests into a positive learning experience for all of your students.

Explore even more tips, tools, and resources for collaboration at TheHowofCo-teaching.com!

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The directions are on the front page and its pretty self explanatory. You should be able to use this tool with any application that can open MS Excel spreadsheets, including OpenOffice.org Calc and Gnumeric.

Just click on the screenshot below to download the grade tracker in .zip format.

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