So, You Want to Be Successful…

The late businessman and writer, Alvin Toffler, had said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler was, among his many titles, a futurist. He understood the world was changing and growing in ways that would favor those who changed and grew with it. This meant not becoming complacent with one’s work and mind. To be successful in anything, especially in the workplace, one must always have the mentality that something can be improved and that the mind can always absorb more.

At Technomics we actively embrace this precept by routinely offering our employees opportunities to expand their knowledgebase. One of these opportunities is the Technomics’ “Learn at Lunch” (L@L) Presentation Series. Each week our employees are invited to spend their lunch hour (or sometimes breakfast) learning about new industry ideas, colleague initiatives, company capabilities, and much more. This L@L series is entirely managed and supported by our employees. As such, not only is our audience employees but the presenters and facilitators as well. The internal execution of our L@L series enables us to grow the technical skills of our audience, the soft skills of our presenters, and an overarching awareness of both our industry and company.

Around 45-90 minutes, these miniature bursts of education can be filled with lectures, games, open discussions, and sometimes even prizes! While attendance is well worth the opportunity cost associated with one’s lunch hour, we here at Technomics make an effort to lessen this cost even more by providing meals at each of these events. Beyond the meal and education, these are some other phenomenal benefits of attending a L@L:

1. Networking – L@Ls are an excellent opportunity to get to know your colleagues and their projects/clients better.
2. Breaking Knowledge Barriers – Employees are given access to ideas and concepts that might have otherwise been outside their “wheelhouse” or difficult to access.
3. Industry/Company Awareness – Staying engaged in our industry can be exceptionally difficult due to the often-present client/company segmentation. Here employees are able to get a snapshot of company and industry news and activities.
4. A Culture of Caring – At their most basic level, L@Ls are simply employees helping each other. At Technomics, we are all employee owners and are therefore literally invested in the success of our colleagues. Cultivating a caring and connected culture is critical to the growth of not only our employees but our company.

What’s on the Menu?

Let’s take a look at some examples of the vast array of topics we’ve explored through this series…

Employee Ownership

This unique 90-minute “mash-up” of information and knowledge kicked off with Emily Smith presenting the re-launch of our Technomics Community Service Program. This was followed by a series of Employee Ownership-focused discussions including:

• Adam James of our Data Analytics and Technology Solutions Practice Area (DATS) presented a “dashboard” for conducting valuation analyses of the Technomics Employee Stock Ownership Plan. With the help of our on-site training guru, Ryan Horn, the audience was able to interact directly via polling games.
• Our President and CEO, Al Leung, shared a few words about company performance, values, mission, and the importance of celebrating employee ownership; Finally,
• Al presented our annual Employee Owner of the Year Awards to Orly Olbum, Emily Foglia, and Brian Flynn. Each awardee received 30 shares of company stock!   

Learn more about “What Employee Ownership Means to Us.”

Cloud Costing Capabilities

Emily Haggerty, Orly Olbum, and Brian Flynn discussed their work with developing new cost capabilities for the cloud. During their presentation, they explained what exactly cloud computing is and why it is important to the future of cost estimating. This dream team focused on the tangible assets they were able to develop, including an Acquisition Process Breakdown Structure, an Acquisition Cost Element Structure, and a Cost Estimating Methodology. These items had not yet been developed for cloud cost estimating and are an example of how innovative people can be within the company. Every coworker present could learn from how they capitalized on the opportunity to conduct thorough, ground breaking research. Read more about “Launching the DoD into the Cloud."

Professional Certifications

Eric Cohen described the various professional certifications available to those in the cost field and various parallel fields. He discussed the history of certifications, in addition to the importance and potential challenges of getting different certifications. Eric also showed what certifications certain members of Technomics currently hold and how to go about applying for those if interested. The big takeaway he wanted to leave his audience with was that professional certifications benefit not only you but your company as well. Certifications demonstrate career path dedication and show how you are motivated to “raise the bar.”

Cost Capability Maturity Model (C2M2)

Dave Brown presented the Technomics’ Cost Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) which establishes a system for measuring the maturity of a cost analysis capability and implements a system for improving it. His presentation emphasized that effective cost capabilities must not only be recognized and rooted within the organization’s foundation, but tracked as well to ensure capability growth. The C2M2 model achieves this need by grouping required skills and attributes into three major categories: the Policy, People, and Tools that any organization needs to optimize decisions. The model then uses a system to rank the capabilities. Through Dave’s presentation, Technomicians left not only with a new tool in their pocket but with the knowledge that without these skills and attributes, an organization’s cost aptitude will not effectively deliver actionable insight across project portfolios or drive program success.

What Does It All Mean and Why Should You Care?

Personnel development is critical to all organizations, regardless as to whether that company builds nano-technology, creates awe-inspiring works of art, or represents the apex of cost consulting services across the industry. Although this development is key, sometimes knowledge sharing can get placed on the backburner due to busy schedules, a lack of communication, logistics, etc. We here at Technomics have found a great solution, though, through which knowledge can be shared easily among differing segments of our internal company population through means of our Learn at Lunch Program. But for Technomics, this is not enough! In addition to helping ourselves grow, we want our mission to benefit our overarching cost community as well, because learning from each other is just as important as learning from ourselves. This is why we share our successes with the world.

How has your company implemented knowledge sharing? Does your company engage in activities similar to Technomics’ Learn at Lunch Program? Share your own ideas and comments with us below; we want to hear and LEARN from you, too!

^{Photo Credit
Main photo by John Choe​
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler
2 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
3 https://www.thoughtco.com/abigail-adams-biography-3525085
4 http://www.iceaaonline.com/
5 https://alchetron.com/William-Pollard}