Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

Virtual meeting technology of the future

One of my jobs looking ahead to 2011 includes making sure we’re using the latest and greatest technology to keep our employees connected.  We are spread over 4 (soon to be 5) states and three time zones and invest a lot of resources to make sure that our physical distance doesn’t hinder the aggressive transfer of information.

Currently, we use Cisco’s WebEx to meet “face-to-face.”  It is such a part of our company, we’ve internally branded it as “Think Tank, MedMan’s Brainstorming Place.”   Many companies use this software for sales presentations, trainings, or web demos.  We use it as one of our office meeting rooms for all-employee meetings, monthly reviews, educational trainings, and other one-on-one or group meetings.

There are a lot of things we really like about Think Tank, including the integration with Outlook, ability to share our desktop or remote control each other’s PC, and ease of scheduling meetings.  I occasionally research other online meeting and video conferencing products (like Polycom) to make sure WebEx is the best fit for our needs, and for now Think Tank seems to be the most affordable, practical solution.

One of the downsides to Think Tank is that it is geared toward one-person-in-front-of-their-computer to another-person-in-front-of-their-computer.   With so much work done by teams these days, we’d really like to have the ability for a group of us in Idaho to all be in one room and meeting with a group of people in Alaska (or Oregon, or Washington…) that are also all in one room.

The other day I saw a commercial for Umi, a new Cisco product that is geared toward consumers.  It offers crisp, clear, large video via an HDTV and integrated audio, and is not quite as expensive as enterprise video conferencing systems.  It also integrates with Google Chat for people on the other end who might not have the hardware.

Photo of Umi from Cisco.com

Imagine the possibilities for a small, virtual business!

It is easy to see how this could be a solution to our needs at MedMan, but at this point I’m just dreaming.  Still, I’d like to know what other virtual companies out there are using.  How do you stay connected to remote employees?  What are the limitations of the technology you are using today?  What kinds of advances do you hope are coming down the pipeline, and how would it improve your business model?

Written by on November 23rd, 2010
Posted in Culture, Opinion

No Comments

Looking Ahead

Last week, MedMan’s Board of Directors descended upon Boise, ID for about 48-hours of intensive discussion and planning. After a combined meeting with the corporate team where we reviewed the status of the 2010 Operating Plan, the Board convened with our primary focus being to:

  1. define the vivid description of where our company will be in 2015,
  2. determine the annual BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) and
  3. set the annual objectives for 2011.

While we have decided to ‘get back to the basics’ there is nothing simple about our Plan. Redefining and recommitting to our core competencies is going to take a sobering level of focus and determination. I have a hunch that committing to a “To-Don’t” list will prove to be an enormous challenge because the culture of our company has always been about finding a way to say Yes. This not-so-basic “Back to the Basics” philosophy is sure to make 2011 an exciting year at MedMan.

Written by on November 15th, 2010
Posted in Culture, What's New

No Comments

MedMan University Reflections

Written by on November 9th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Multimedia, Opinion, Training

No Comments

Aggressive Transfer of Information in action

In this video testimonial, Vicky Brown, Administrator at Samaritan Physicians in Moses Lake, WA talks about the many resources available to employees.

Written by on October 25th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Multimedia

No Comments

MedMan U – The power of relationships

On our long drive home from the biannual retreat, I had time to reflect on the experience. The scheduled educational opportunities were great but that wasn’t the most meaningful thing that I was taking away from the three days. It reminded me of when I was in school getting my MBA from the University of Washington. The course content was great but the more valuable learning opportunity came for the in class discussion with all of the other executives. And this opportunity was no different; you can’t help but to be impressed as you look around the table at the number of years of medical management experience and the participation and engagement from the group. That was the most valuable and meaningful take away for me and I feel fortunate to have all of them as a resource.

Written by on October 19th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Training

No Comments

MedMan and Mindjet

MedMan Streamlines Operating Process for Medical Practices Nationwide and Increases Client Satisfaction with Mindjet

 

MindManager version 9 brings together information for remote employees and clients to foster closer communication and improved client relationships

 

San Francisco – October 14, 2010 – Mindjet®, the leading provider of software and web-based applications for visually organizing and managing information and ideas, today announced the successful implementation of MindManager™ version 9 with MedMan, a leading medical management services company based in Boise, Idaho. MedMan was looking for a solution to help get closer alignment on internal operations and access to customer information for its 25 remote working employees so they could drive more strategic business plans for their dispersed medical practice client base. MedMan deployed MindManager to help employees create and organize all vital business documents, such as client rosters, HR documents and new hire information, in MindManager so information is easy to access, update and share. Using MindManager, MedMan is able to better serve its clients by providing in-depth and interactive strategy plans that foster idea generation and increase productivity.

MedMan provides administrative and business assistance and consultation for clinics, physician-owned and private medical practices. With numerous clients across multiple states and a workforce that is spread across the country, the business was difficult to keep on track. MedMan needed an easy-to-use and understand platform for tracking key pieces of information related to its clients and business.

“The methodology behind MedMan’s business is helping our clients prioritize needs and establish operational efficiencies to more effectively manage their medical practices,” said Jim Trounson, President of MedMan. “The beauty of MindManager is that we can easily create an actionable business plan with goals, owners and deadlines and work in real-time with the client to show progress and quickly revise the plan when needed. This allows us to the make decisions quicker and faster, making business better for our clients and MedMan.”

MedMan has also taken advantage of the new features in MindManager version 9 including the enhanced integration with Microsoft Outlook, the resource availability feature and the Gantt Project View to understand when clients have available assets and how MedMan can effectively use those to better a client’s business.

“Resource and project management is something that is essential to the survival of any business, whether providing services to clients or providing healthcare to patients,” said Scott Raskin, CEO of Mindjet. “MedMan’s use of MindManager demonstrates the power of visualizing pieces of information that are critical to everyday business function and we are excited to help MedMan provide a unique and necessary service to medical professionals.”

By using MindManager’s extensive visual environment and its innate ability to organize and manage all forms of data and information, MedMan has created elaborate maps that contain all pieces of relevant information for any client, ranging from current business plans, to action items to client rosters. With MindManager, MedMan has been able to strengthen its relationship with existing clients, acquire new ones and provide all clients the service needed to keep business thriving.

MindManager’s visual information maps start with a central theme, and then add branches with ideas, notes, images, tasks, hyperlinks and attachments. Users can easily import from all types of information sources. MindManager maps are used to capture and organize information, and quickly transform thoughts and ideas into fine-tuned visual representations, documents, compelling presentations and winning strategies. MindManager provides a better way to brainstorm, organize facts, plan projects, and communicate results. Users have access to tight integration with Microsoft Outlook and Office to keep the constant stream of information for a project organized in one easy-to-access location, and a visualization and dashboard tool for SharePoint environments with MindManager Explorer for SharePoint. Collaboration tools, real-time map co-editing and web based document storage with Mindjet Catalyst is also available.

For more information visit: www.Mindjet.com

About MedMan

Founded by Jim Trounson in 1977, MedMan’s business model was based on Jim’s experience with outsourcing management companies that were improving the efficiency of hospitals by centralizing and computerizing many of their management functions. MedMan’s goal is to positively affect healthcare delivery to one million patients per year by 2015, based on a proven ability to provide an elite team of professional practice administrators to physician-driven medical clinics.

About Mindjet

Mindjet provides productivity software that helps business professionals visually organize and act upon ideas, information, and resources to drive productivity, team effectiveness, and business innovation. Mindjet products include industry-leading software and online services centered on information mapping, as well as applications that incorporate Mindjet’s innovative visualization technology to improve the usability of leading business applications, including Microsoft® SharePoint® and Salesforce.com.  More than 1.5 million people around the world use Mindjet software to clarify thinking, efficiently analyze information, increase team productivity, and make better-informed decisions.

Used by business professionals in 44 of BusinessWeek’s® 50 “World’s Most Innovative Companies,” Mindjet solutions dramatically boost productivity and team effectiveness. Surveys across several industries show that Mindjet can increase productivity by up to 25 percent by making meetings, common communications, and project management tasks more efficient and effective. Mindjet products are available for free trial or purchase at www.mindjet.com/products/overview, through salesforce.com AppExchange, and through an extensive partner network at www.mindjet.com/community/partners/overview. Mindjet is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

 

Contact Information
Aaron Grabein

Text 100 for Mindjet

415.593.8432

aaron.grabein@text100.com

# # #

Written by on October 14th, 2010
Posted in Culture, News, What's New

No Comments

MedMan University – My Freshman Year

WOW!  I had no idea what to expect when I headed toward McCall on Tuesday after a long day’s work.  My biggest concern was the need to bring a sleeping bag, and I hadn’t asked if there was indoor plumbing!  (I was so pleased to find there was!).    I arrived around midnight, found that breakfast was at 7:30, met my roommate Jennifer from Alaska, and fell onto the plastic mattress for a great night’s sleep!

In our first session in the morning, Jason put us in groups based on the results of our DiSC personality tests.  I was so excited to be in a group with all the social “I” people!  It was comforting to know there is a whole group of people, who overcommit, like to work in groups, avoid aggressive behaviors, and love to be appreciated.   On a practical note, I can’t wait to get back to the office and arrange to send the DiSC survey to the two new doctors we have signed, which should help me know how to communicate with them.  I also plan to have my manager’s take the survey and use it as a training tool with them.

It was eye opening to see that the MedMan team has many in each category.  This is good for me to know, so that I didn’t assume that great managers need to fit in one or two of the categories.   I have also decided that I am going to have my family take the DiSC survey and use the results to have fun over the holidays.  Now that my kids are grown, and we have added a daughter-in-law, it would be a great exercise to talk about our personality styles and it may help them as they choose their future career paths.

It was just the first session….and already I found that MedMan University is offering a curriculum beneficial to my professional and personal life.   I’d say this is a world class institution!

Written by on October 7th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Training, What's New

No Comments

Getting Things Done

It occurred to me today how much I have accomplished this week on the road.  By ‘on the road’, I don’t mean work that occurs from a location remote from my primary residence in Boise.  I literally mean ‘on the road’.  I left Boise on Tuesday morning for the Tri Cities and have burned up the highway between Kennewick and Prosser all week.  I’ve had more things to accomplish this week than hours available and so I’ve maximized my road time with a little GTD tip that I learned from our own Brad Turpen.

Each morning, I have taken an inventory of the priorities on my @Calls list in Outlook.  That’s where I store the tasks that I am responsible for completing that require me to use a phone, but not necessarily a computer.  Brad taught me to put the telephone number in the subject line of the task so that as I pull it up, I need only click on the 10 digit number (which Outlook recognizes as a telephone number) and it automatically asks me to confirm that I want to call.  My Bluetooth allows me to keep my hands on the wheel while I conduct business from behind a windshield instead of a desk.

So this week I’ve initiated a special meeting of our Board, conducted a reference check on one of our recruitment candidates, done a screening interview with another potential candidate, negotiated details of the compensation package that our client is offering one of our candidates, and more.  As a matter of fact, I didn’t get in to my car one time this week without the name and number of my next call already prepared on my smart phone.  As I arrived at my hotel room each night, I could at least feel good that the work before me was work requiring me to use a computer – the person to person stuff was already out of the way.

Technology isn’t making my workload any lighter but it sure is helping me to get stuff done.

Written by on September 7th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Training, What's New

No Comments

Project Management Never Seemed So Cool

One of our newest “MedMan Ways” is mind mapping.  We’re rolling MindManager9 software from MindJet out to our entire company this week after early adopters decided they couldn’t live without it.  Once when I was on the phone with a MindJet technical support representative, she pitched it as the “missing piece” of the MS Office suite and I’d say all of us at MedMan would agree.

Why do we like mind mapping so much?  Here are my top three reasons:

  1. Project Management – our corporate team uses MindManager for our annual operating plan.  We can add tasks, task information like resources and due dates, attach documents, link to websites, and move things from one area of our plan to another with the click of a mouse.  Once you add your information you can view it in an integrated Gantt Chart or filter by resources.  For example, anytime I want to see what has been assigned to me (and make sure my due date isn’t creeping up) I just do a power filter on my name and less than two seconds I have what I’m looking for.

    Annual Op Plan

  2. Presentations – we recently used a map for the first time to give our marketing presentationto a new client.  I think everyone was a little nervous at first to change from our trusty ol’ Power Point, but the whole idea of a map just makes sense.  You can see the starting point and ending point at the beginning, but as you move through the map, you can focus on a bit of information at a time with the “walk through” view.

    Presentation Map

  3. Visual organization – my personal use is where I really get the most out of mind mapping.  I am one of those people that has to get the crazy, disorganized thoughts out of my brain before I can start to make sense of it all – from “operationalize technology plan” to “tell husband to pick up dog food.”  Which leads me to another MedMan Way – GTD, or Getting Things Done (based on the book of the same name by David Allen).  But that is a topic for another day…

    Personal Brain Dump Map

Written by on August 29th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Opinion, What's New

No Comments

Learn More By Doing

This week I learned that the bathrooms on flights are international.  When you enter you’re Russian, when inside European and when you leave you’re Finish. 
I was exposed to more important things this week but that seemed to stick in my memory.  And, so I wondered why.   I’ve heard it takes over 20 repetitions for something to be remembered or for something to become a habit.  While that is hardly scientific it does illustrate that it takes many times over for something to become ingrained in one’s memory.  So, why then am I able to remember a silly joke after one repetition but many other more important things I have to hear over and over again to internalize?

Often it is because we choose to recall some things we hear shortly after we hear them while others we just put in our reserve memory to tap at a later time.  As an example, in my sophomore year in college one of my jobs was to tutor students in accounting.  While that may not seem like a stretch today, as a sophomore in college there were other extracurricular activities that demanded my attention than being scholarly.  I learned more about accounting through my tutoring experience than I did in all the accounting classes during my undergraduate combined.  So, I am suggesting that we should do more instead of just studying more.  We learn much faster that way.

Written by on August 9th, 2010
Posted in Culture, Opinion, Training

No Comments
Subscribe
SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

Enter Email Address:

Powered by FeedBlitz

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives


Warning: mysql_affected_rows(): 12 is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/medman/public_html/blog/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1125