Tag Archives: storytelling

Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus – USPS

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I’ve been meaning to write the blog, “I Left My Brain in San Francisco” for the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately, without a brain, it’s pretty hard to write a blog!  And I say that I left my brain in San Fran, because it was blown away by what I learned, saw and heard at the ServiceNow #Know14 conference.  What a great event they have grown into.  The line-up of presenters, topics, labs… it’s really a well orchestrated week, filled with learning and fun – two of my favorite things….

One of the BEST presentations was by the folks at the United States Postal Service, titled Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus.

The title certainly caught my attention, and it sounded like it might be a little different from the other presentations, so I attended.  And man, am I glad that I did!

I am so impressed with their Service organization, and how in tune they are with their stakeholders and customers, that I reached out and asked if they would re-present for ITSM Academy’s June webinar… and they said YES 😉

So I am very happy to say;

Please join us for a complimentary webinar: Converting a Budget Deficit Into  an Innovation Surplus on Thursday, June 19th at 11am (Eastern) – Register 

Presenters: John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen A. Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, United States Postal Service.

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BANNER June 2014“It’s no secret that the United States Postal Service operates under a stringent budget deficit, but what may surprise you is that the IT organization has converted that deficit into an innovation surplus. Join USPS, John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, as they discuss how they’ve been able to align IT as an enabler in support of a cross-organizational initiative focused on service, revenue and value transformation. Employing new strategies and approaches in service definitions and delivery, IT is successfully achieving operational efficiencies, cost savings and customer satisfaction. John and Kathleen will discuss how IT is reinvesting the savings delivered by their ITSM initiatives to drive additional innovations and automation across the enterprise.”

Have questions you want included? Post them on Twitter; #askITSM.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

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Would You Look at That!

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Lynda May 2013Many thanks to my new friend – Lynda Frederick, MSPM, PMP – for agreeing to share this blog post with me (and you!).  You can find Linda on LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/in/lyndafrederick

I love this true story about a couple named Dow and Nancy.  Dow was busy working on his PhD and his wife Nancy helped out as his part time assistant and typist.  Dow was doing research in the maritime industry, so the couple spent five months in Europe traveling to different port cities and studying ships, ports, and logistics.

On a rare day off Dow and Nancy decided to explore a maritime museum; they just couldn’t get enough ships!  They came around a corner in the museum and saw a stained glass window that was a picture of… nothing!  It was just blobs.  After a brief glance, Dow said “That’s the ugliest thing I have ever seen!” and he proceeded on.

Dow

 

 

 

 

Nancy hung back and continued to look at the window.  There was something intriguing about it and she wondered what message the artist could be trying to send.  Suddenly, she saw it!  It was as if she was standing above a koi pond looking down at fish.  Instead of the silhouettes of fish that we draw as kids with an oval body and a triangle tail, the fish were beautiful blobs that gracefully overlapped each other.  “Would you look at that!”  Nancy called for Dow to come back to look at the window again.

Once Nancy pointed out the elusive koi, the couple stood for a few minutes taking in the beauty of the fish in the window.  When they returned from their research trip, Dow and Nancy loved to tell the story of the fish window.

Here’s a challenge for you.  What do you look at every day?  What do you overlook every day?  Where have you become complacent?  I challenge you to look for something in a new way.  Look for fish!  Find something you can improve or refine or automate or clean up or simply make better.  The fish are there, you just need to look for them.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Fishing!

Welcome to LisaLand

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People often say to me, “you should write a book”. As a matter of fact, three peers at the itSMF Fusion conference said it to me this week. And of course, my immediate reaction is, “I don’t have time to write a book”… and I don’t. But, one of our keynote speaker’s – Cindy Solomon – talked about courage. And I realized, I can be courageous and start a blog. It’s not a book, but I think my random moments of inspiration are better suited to short blogs anyway – LOL.

The plan is to write about the things I know… process improvement, motivating teams, using humor and storytelling skills to foster relationship, etc.

Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn.

#ILoveMyJob

LisaLand