Welcome to the latest installment of the Employee Strategies quarterly newsletter series.
We have had a productive quarter. In addition to some interesting project work for each of us, we are pleased to announce the introduction of our first product (See below for the exciting news)! Our project work update is:
1. After nearly a year, Ashley Bjork completed her project at UnitedHealth Group Community and State.
2. Russ Jowers continues to work on a project with Optum and demonstrate a consulting requirement---adaptability.
3. I started a nearly full time engagement at Optum in August---working to develop dashboards that highlight their performance.
4. Some of the other project highlights included a 4 day retreat for the Thrivent Financial on campus interns in August. The project was a blast and results indicated high satisfaction as well as increased knowledge for the interns.
5. And lastly, we did a bike building event for the Enrollment Division at St. Olaf College. It was a busy summer and the fall has continued that way.
We are excited to announce the development of our first product. Along with our technology partners at Ten7 interactive and our client Headwaters Software, we are rolling out an online Performance Management Tool.
As some of you may recall, I was one of the inventors of the iPad 10 years ago. While the Individual Performance and Development(IPAD) tool for employee evaluations isn’t as widely used or loved as a certain tablet by the same name, it was a formative experience for me to design and build an online performance management tool.
Over the past 6 months, we've been working to develop and test the tool to make sure it works and meets the expectations of our customers. The tool and company will be called Alignamite - as its main purpose is to align organizational goals with Employee performance and career goals. Our hope is that Alignamite will help small to medium-sized organizations provide a vehicle to discuss not only the organization's performance, but also the individual employees’ experience and career. We see this as a nice extension of our core purpose of creating great places to work and are thrilled to be connected more closely with Ivan Stegic and Mike Johnson.
Alignamite will be customizable to your branding and your goals. If you would like a demo, please email me and let me know. We have several existing clients that have expressed interest or purchased a subscription and we'd love to get to 10 by January! www.alignamite.com.
Finally, I always re-read my past quarterly updates and doing so today reminded me that I told you about my 20th High School Reunion planning back in the Winter of 2009. Our reunion had the normal reunion components this past August, but it also included the sponsorship of a Habitat House in NE Minneapolis. In September, we were invited to the House Dedication. It was a heart-warming experience to hear the homeowners say “welcome to our home.” Special thanks to Mike Tierney, Jeff Gerst, Jennifer Pryor Scott and Molly Corrigan Cronin for all their work. All told, we, the Edina Class of '91, donated nearly $45,000 and spent 800 hours helping to build a beautiful home. Who knew those campaign posters I plastered around EHS in the Spring of 1990 would have opened so many doors.
Thanks everyone!
J.