Organizations are faced with important decisions. What needs to be changed? What do we need to change into? How do we decide about the change?
There are many processes involved with change. I have developed some tools that can help organizations explore the answers to these questions. They are available for purchase on eBay. The first is the Business Snapshot and the second is the Business Improvement Survey. (Find them both--including links for eBay searches--on the Services page for DrM-Resources.)
How do we decide about the change? Shared vision is important. If people and organizations do not move through the trust-building steps required to come to a shared vision (slide 11), planned change will be hard (if not impossible) to implement. When more than one person is involved, people need to move through the Organizational Change Curve (slide 9).
While these tools and concepts can help organizations facilitate change, the basic ideas raised initially need to be dealt with and a shared vision formed about the change for planned change to make progress. We can sometimes see change happening around us and react to it--positively, negatively, or neutrally. It is usually more effective to be proactive about change and to develop a plan to make the continuous process improvements needed to make organizations more effective.
Showing posts with label Drm-Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drm-Blog. Show all posts
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
New Font for Blog Book
I have been working on converting this blog to a book. One of my concerns was the type face (font) I was going to use when the book goes to print. My 95-year-old mother has trouble reading small print and I find more and more people gravitating toward large-print books.
I went to the public library yesterday looking for some audiobooks by Rick Riordan. While looking for the audiobooks, I actually picked-up a print version and the librarian (Thanks, Amy) showed me the front page with the publication data that included the font used for the book. The book was easy to read and I liked the font. The font used for The Last Olympian
was Centaur MT, 13 point.
I came home and looked for the font on my computer. Unfortunately I didn't have it and I immediately went to Adobe.com. I have used Adobe Type Manager for years and thought that Adobe would have the font.
While Adobe Type Manager is largely outmoded--built-in to such programs as Windows Vista--the font was available from Adobe. I don't know if anyone remembers the "typeballs" used by the IBM Selectric typewriters. Each ball was for a font and you had to purchase and to change the balls when you wanted to change type face in your typed documents. The fonts for the computer work in a similar way. I had to purchase and download three different fonts--Centaur Std, Centaur Std Italic, and Centaur Std Bold--in order to have the three types of fonts I need for the book. The good news is that they were available and I was able to purchase, download, and install (after using Adobe help menus) the fonts on my computer (in Windows Vista) and in two Adobe programs, PageMaker 7.0 and Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Pro Extended.
You won't see that type face on this blog except in a picture I will include here. It will work for the book and for the onscreen version of the book. I need to contact my print-on-demand printer tomorrow to make sure everything will work when I present the finished book in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format for publishing.
I went to the public library yesterday looking for some audiobooks by Rick Riordan. While looking for the audiobooks, I actually picked-up a print version and the librarian (Thanks, Amy) showed me the front page with the publication data that included the font used for the book. The book was easy to read and I liked the font. The font used for The Last Olympian
was Centaur MT, 13 point.I came home and looked for the font on my computer. Unfortunately I didn't have it and I immediately went to Adobe.com. I have used Adobe Type Manager for years and thought that Adobe would have the font.
While Adobe Type Manager is largely outmoded--built-in to such programs as Windows Vista--the font was available from Adobe. I don't know if anyone remembers the "typeballs" used by the IBM Selectric typewriters. Each ball was for a font and you had to purchase and to change the balls when you wanted to change type face in your typed documents. The fonts for the computer work in a similar way. I had to purchase and download three different fonts--Centaur Std, Centaur Std Italic, and Centaur Std Bold--in order to have the three types of fonts I need for the book. The good news is that they were available and I was able to purchase, download, and install (after using Adobe help menus) the fonts on my computer (in Windows Vista) and in two Adobe programs, PageMaker 7.0 and Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Pro Extended.
You won't see that type face on this blog except in a picture I will include here. It will work for the book and for the onscreen version of the book. I need to contact my print-on-demand printer tomorrow to make sure everything will work when I present the finished book in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format for publishing.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Why Would Anyone Want to Read My Blog? (or My Book?)--Trusted Advisor Blog
As I work on editing this blog for publication I ask myself, "Why would anyone want to read this blog or my book?" What value have I added in the 243 posts that make up this blog to date?
When I first started the blog I wanted the discipline of writing a daily blog to create a book I could publish. I've worked on several books ad went to a Book Expo in Chicago in 2001 with the intention of publishing and marketing a book. To date, the only book I have published (in 1992) was my 502-page dissertation. (Very few people read it, by the way.)
I have several books started and have a goal of writing some fiction targeted for young adults. I've been an avid reader in that literature for the last six years to build-up a better understanding for the authors, the books, and the genre.
What is this blog about? That's a challenge. The blog is about many things. Wikipedia.org has this to say about a blog:
A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog.
This blog reflects what I was thinking about, "top of mind," on the day I wrote each post. I have gone through the blog in the course of preparing it for editing and publishing and have identified categories that have related posts. These are still "across the board."
My primary role is as a "trusted advisor" and many of my posts contain information to be shared from that point of view about the topic included in the post.
This still a challenge for readership. I'm adding posts each day to the blog and to the book until the day I publish it. Blog posts made after the publication of the first book will be saved for a follow-on book. I have a few friends who read the blog often. (They should, many of their ideas and our discussions find their way in to the daily posts.) I also have two subscribers to the blog--and I am one of them.
I've explored with other friends in the publishing and bookselling business to see how I can edit the content in a way that will make it compelling for others to read. I'm still developing those ideas.
Another editing challenge I have is to make the links show-up in the published document. On the website and the blog, the links work. In print, they need to be spelled out. Many of my posts include related links for more information and for examples.
What are your thoughts?
When I first started the blog I wanted the discipline of writing a daily blog to create a book I could publish. I've worked on several books ad went to a Book Expo in Chicago in 2001 with the intention of publishing and marketing a book. To date, the only book I have published (in 1992) was my 502-page dissertation. (Very few people read it, by the way.)
I have several books started and have a goal of writing some fiction targeted for young adults. I've been an avid reader in that literature for the last six years to build-up a better understanding for the authors, the books, and the genre.
What is this blog about? That's a challenge. The blog is about many things. Wikipedia.org has this to say about a blog:
A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog.
This blog reflects what I was thinking about, "top of mind," on the day I wrote each post. I have gone through the blog in the course of preparing it for editing and publishing and have identified categories that have related posts. These are still "across the board."
My primary role is as a "trusted advisor" and many of my posts contain information to be shared from that point of view about the topic included in the post.
This still a challenge for readership. I'm adding posts each day to the blog and to the book until the day I publish it. Blog posts made after the publication of the first book will be saved for a follow-on book. I have a few friends who read the blog often. (They should, many of their ideas and our discussions find their way in to the daily posts.) I also have two subscribers to the blog--and I am one of them.
I've explored with other friends in the publishing and bookselling business to see how I can edit the content in a way that will make it compelling for others to read. I'm still developing those ideas.
Another editing challenge I have is to make the links show-up in the published document. On the website and the blog, the links work. In print, they need to be spelled out. Many of my posts include related links for more information and for examples.
What are your thoughts?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Blogging--Purpose of this Blog
Someone spoke about my blog this morning and I wanted to think again about its purpose. One of my goals is to begin publishing books and the discipline of writing a daily blog was intended to be a "baby step" toward publishing--the blog and beyond.
I mention the purpose of this blog in both my first post and in the header that appears with every post (see below).
(Click on the image to see it completely and bigger. It is the same as the comment appearing at the top of this page.)
The content of my blog posts is eclectic, reflecting my thoughts, observations, or reflections of the moment. Overall the focus is on helping readers navigate the world with a few more insights and resources. I maintain current links in the posts so that people can get back to source information.
It is a business and a personal post in that many of the topics are business related and all are influenced by my personal reflection, experience, and sense of values. This is post number 224 and I expect to turn the posts into a book soon. The question is, should I wait for a year of posts or do it earlier? I also need a way to organize the posts by themes and to make sure that the links remain alive in the electronic version of the book I expect to publish.
I mention the purpose of this blog in both my first post and in the header that appears with every post (see below).
(Click on the image to see it completely and bigger. It is the same as the comment appearing at the top of this page.)
It is a business and a personal post in that many of the topics are business related and all are influenced by my personal reflection, experience, and sense of values. This is post number 224 and I expect to turn the posts into a book soon. The question is, should I wait for a year of posts or do it earlier? I also need a way to organize the posts by themes and to make sure that the links remain alive in the electronic version of the book I expect to publish.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Designing a VirtualU Learning Event
For much of the day I was a virtual participant using VirtualU's 3D software and attending the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit. My purpose in attending was to pull together my ideas for designing a VirtualU learning event. VirtualU is sponsored by VirtualBeginnings and Digitell .
Many of my learning design ideas I have already published in this blog. (See post 1, post 2, and post 3.) In preparing for a Virtual University Learning Event, I want to incorporate the lessons learned from designing and delivering ELACOMM98--a 2.5-day learning event for 200 communications executives that was held in Cannes, France, in May, 1998. That event was designed over 12 weeks with a team of subject matter experts and a few learning designers. Strategy was developed to included learning goals, an integrated, hands-on-learning design, and a series of learning events in teams and in largegroups created around workplace simulations that allowed participant to build and practice relevant skills in a very supportive context including practice and learning coaches. Watch the video for a brief summary.
What I am learning from my virtual attendance at the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit and at three other VirtualU 3D conferences, is the importance of using what I learned from ELACOMM98 and integrating that with understanding of the 3D virtual world and its offerings. I am an active social networker on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. One concept from today will be to work with my contacts andgroups on LinkedIn to ask what people want and to be sure to design that into the event I will be designing. Based on the feedback from the panelists at the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit, I will be creating a community (group) on LinkedIn about the learning event and will be hosting some "Velvet Rope" communities (people who are willing to engage in helping develop some of the events before hand and who will have a closer interaction with key people connected with the event). I have hosted Yahoo Groups for years and expect to do some of the work of developing this new learning event using Skype, Yahoo Groups , and possibly Google Groups , as well as the group and event resources on LinkedIn.
There's another day (tomorrow) to the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit and I expect to be adding more ideas to my plans for the development of the VirtualU Learning Event. If you want to participate, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
Many of my learning design ideas I have already published in this blog. (See post 1, post 2, and post 3.) In preparing for a Virtual University Learning Event, I want to incorporate the lessons learned from designing and delivering ELACOMM98--a 2.5-day learning event for 200 communications executives that was held in Cannes, France, in May, 1998. That event was designed over 12 weeks with a team of subject matter experts and a few learning designers. Strategy was developed to included learning goals, an integrated, hands-on-learning design, and a series of learning events in teams and in large
What I am learning from my virtual attendance at the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit and at three other VirtualU 3D conferences, is the importance of using what I learned from ELACOMM98 and integrating that with understanding of the 3D virtual world and its offerings. I am an active social networker on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. One concept from today will be to work with my contacts and
There's another day (tomorrow) to the Virtual Edge 2010 Summit and I expect to be adding more ideas to my plans for the development of the VirtualU Learning Event. If you want to participate, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Comment Policy for DrM-Blog
Comment Policy for DrM-Blog
Comments are welcome as long as they are
1) they are positive,
2) they relate to the subject of the post they are responding to,
3) they contain no promotional links which have not been endorsed in this Blog.
4) they are authored by someone who can be contacted by e-mail
If a comment is rejected, it is probably because one or more of the above conditions is/are not present in the comment.
Comments are welcome as long as they are
1) they are positive,
2) they relate to the subject of the post they are responding to,
3) they contain no promotional links which have not been endorsed in this Blog.
4) they are authored by someone who can be contacted by e-mail
If a comment is rejected, it is probably because one or more of the above conditions is/are not present in the comment.
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