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Intrinsic in our achievement driven approach is the use of goals to articulate and define what our achievements are to be. We can all think of our own goals, even if we have not taken the trouble to write them down (this is a sin in the world of goal achievement!). And for the most part, setting and striving for goals is a widely used and useful process. It does drive behaviour and encourage people to do things that they may otherwise not. Setting goals can provide clarity and direction, focus efforts and harness the power of groups.
But the inevitable result of goals not being achieved is a sense of failure - we did not do what we committed to, we have personally failed in our efforts. This feeling may persist even when factors outside of our control influenced the outcome of the goal. For many, our internal definitions of success are bound up in our achievement of goals. If I get this job or buy this house or make this team then I am a success. Therefore not reaching a goal makes us 'unsuccessful'. It is this aspect of goals that causes the most damage. All of us at some time will 'fail' to achieve a goal. Is there a different approach to take?
Perhaps the most powerful framework to change is your definition of success. If you currently measure your level of success against benchmarks such as what work you do and/or what you have, try the following exercise. Complete this sentence: 'I know I am successful when.......'. Start by finding three ways to complete the sentence that aren't work related and don't involve having material things. The statements need to be more about who you are. Some examples:
I know I am successful when I wake up looking forward to every day
Changing your personal measures of success is a great way to alleviate the pressure of achieving certain goals. Even if you don't get that promotion or buy that house, you are still a successful person by your own definitions.
Another way to take the pressure off achieving goals is to actually give them up. Instead of focusing on the end goal itself, think about what you can do each day that will take you one step closer to where you want to be. For example, for many months I had a goal of leaving my paid employment to begin coaching full time. I would set a date for myself, extend it, and extend it again. Finally I decided that as long as I was taking positive steps each week towards starting and building my business, that I would know the right time to resign from my job. The pressure of resigning by a certain date was gone, but I was still taking positive action every week.
I don't mean to invalidate the process of using goals. Goal setting is an extremely useful tool for many people in many situations. But if your goal list is too long or you have goals that drain your energy, consider redefining your measure of success or dropping certain goals for a while. Feel the freedom!
My colleagues and I get asked a lot about licensing. Frankly, Microsoft doesn’t have a great reputation for keeping it simple. And to be totally transparent – I, like many of my colleagues, would usually rather stick a fork in my eye that talk about it because it can get complicated. And confusing. And just…ugh. So you can imagine my joy when I was asked to write a newsletter editorial about simplifying licensing. Exactly. Then I had a very enlightening conversation with Terry Choquette, Licensing Marketing Manager at Microsoft and she pointed me to a few resources that got back to the basics and laid it all out very simply. I like simple. And I decided that this simple information was as blog worthy as it was newsletter worthy. While details about software licensing is not everybody’s favourite reading material, stick with me on this. Ways to buy a licenseFirst of all, there are 3 ways to buy a license as illustrated in the slide below: a full packaged product from a retail store, an OEM product on a new computer or a volume agreement from a reseller.
Volume licensing agreementsWhile you could simply walk into the nearest Best Buy or Future Shop and make your purchase, most organizations that need 5 or more licenses can benefit best from volume licensing agreements. Why? Well, there are some pricing advantages, there are more flexible options based on size and type of business, payment structure, ownership of software, etc., there are additional use rights for cross-language and reimaging machines, and there are use rights to new product versions, support, training, tools, etc., with Software Assurance (more about this below). For this post, I’m going to limit my discourse to those organizations who want to license less than 250 devices or users, which I would hazard a guess applies to most of you reading this blog. If you need help with licensing options for 250 devices/users or more, lemme know and I’ll put you in touch with people who can help you or you can check out these online resources. Below is a great 3.5 minute video that lays out the volume licensing options that are part of the Microsoft Open License program for small and medium sized businesses: (Please visit the site to view this video) Basically, there are 3 volume licensing agreement options: Open License, Open Value and Open Value Subscription. Now if you want more detail than the video gives (you did watch it right? C’mon it’s only 3.5 minutes long and it’s pretty entertaining!), you’ll want to take a look at the Open License Program Guide. It has a very useful chart on page 8 which compares what you get with an Open License agreement compared to an Open Value agreement. Software AssuranceSoftware Assurance is something that can be added to your volume license agreement which provides 24x7 support, deployment planning services, training, and the latest software releases. Although once viewed as simply an insurance policy for free software upgrades, Software Assurance has now been recognized by analysts as an essential tool for getting the most out of your licensing purchase. Below is a screen shot from an interactive PDF listing the benefits of Software Assurance with each type of licensing agreement.
For more information about Software Assurance and what it can do for your organization, check out the Software Assurance site. Let me know if this was helpful!
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