Micro Tech Systems - December 2019
(208) 345-0054 MicroTech Pages
December 2019
10 Years in the Driver’s Seat Reflecting on the Past Decade With MicroTech
As we near the end of another decade, I can’t help but think, “Geez, I’m already 10 years older …”
families, but as the decade wore on, the hard work upfront had a tremendous payoff.
Existential crisis aside, this past decade has been a period of transition and growth for MicroTech Systems. In 2010, 40 years after he started this business, my dad retired. My business partner, Stuart, and I bought out the business from him, which provided us with our first big lesson in business. It’s a little comical looking back on it now. My dad was always willing to teach a lesson, and he wasn’t going to let passing off a business or tradition onto his son spare him that opportunity. When my dad retired, he essentially drained our accounts while he was still the majority owner. Meanwhile, I learned that in business transactions, working capital is a doozy. (Seriously, don’t forget about this if you’re buying or selling a business.) So, we started the decade short on cash, and while it was stressful, to a point, it kept us hungry. We had to find ways to make things happen. And, honestly, it was liberating. As I have mentioned in this newsletter, my dad did a great job of sitting back and letting me take the reins of MicroTech for years prior to his departure. But once I was able to fully take the lead in the driver’s seat, even as we were strapped for cash, I saw a point where we could start building. When I took over from my father, we only had a handful of employees. In those early years, we all held multiple positions. I was the CEO as well as a technician. We had to fit into a sales role, do admin work, and stay up-to-date on technology’s latest advances. There were holidays worked through and long hours spent away from our
In the latter half of the decade, we saw that constantly putting our nose to the grindstone was only causing us to move in circles. Instead, we had to find processes that were going to help us grow. Today, we have 20 employees, which allows us to delegate specific tasks to employees so they no longer have to serve in multiple roles at the company. We have come a long way since 2010, and I’m hopeful that by the end of the next decade, we will continue to grow. As I mentioned in our November 2019 newsletter, the Treasure Valley’s growth is conducive to business growth. I’m excited to see how the huge influx of people will continue to make us stronger. Of course, I can’t look back on the decade without considering how my personal life has changed. In 2010, my eldest child was 10 years old, and in the past 10 years, our family has finished elementary and middle school, are nearing the end of our high school experience with our junior and senior, and sent one child off to college. Keri even returned to work in this decade! By 2030, Keri and I could very well be empty-nesters. But no one knows what the next decade will hold. I do know that if it’s anything like the last 10 years, it may be a lot of work, but it will all be worth it.
Have a wonderful holiday season, –Randy Amorebieta
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DELEGATE TO ELEVATE The Secret to Being a Great Leader
Time-Consuming: These important, complex tasks don’t require you to do the first 80% of the work. Identify what they are, pass them to someone else, and step in for the final 20% to give approval. Teachable: Is there a task only you know how to do? If so, teach someone else to do it, and step in for the last quality check when it’s done. Terrible At: It’s okay to be bad at some things. Great leaders know when to pass tasks off to someone who is more skilled than they are. The task will get done faster and at a much higher quality. Time-Sensitive: These tasks need to get done right now but are competing with tasks of a higher priority. Just because it has to get done immediately doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it. Sure, some tasks only you can accomplish, but these are extremely rare. As the Virgin Group founder Richard Branson warns, needlessly resisting delegation is the path to disaster. “You need to learn to delegate so that you can focus on the big picture,” Branson says. “It’s vital to the success of your business that you learn to hand off those things that you aren’t able to do well.”
Poor delegation is the Achilles’ heel of most leaders, who often confuse being “involved” with being “essential.” To determine if you’re holding on to work you should delegate out, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) recommends asking this simple question: “If you had to take an unexpected week off work, would your initiatives and priorities advance in your absence?” If your answer is no or you aren’t sure, then you’re probably too involved. No one person should be the cog that keeps everything in motion, no matter their position in the company. Luckily, HBR has created an audit using the following six T’s to identify which tasks can be delegated. Tiny: Small tasks that stack up can undermine the flow of your work. Registering for a conference, putting it on the calendar, and booking the flight are all small tasks someone else can handle. Tedious: These tasks are straightforward but not the best use of your time. Someone else can input lists into spreadsheets or update key performance indicators for a presentation.
Happy Holidays!
CELEBRATE!
At MicroTech Systems, our mission to provide 5-star IT service wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated employees. Whether they have been with us for years or weeks, we appreciate their commitment. This December, we would like to honor Scott on his four-year work anniversary! We would also like to wish Ken, Danny, and Mike a very happy birthday !
As we prepare to leave 2019 in the past, we cannot help but think about how fortunate we are to serve the Treasure Valley. Thank you for trusting us with all your IT and technology needs, especially during this particularly busy year of a Microsoft transition. We cannot wait to serve you again in 2020. And to our faithful employees, MicroTech would not be the company it is today without your attentiveness, compassion, and knowledge. Thank you for your dedication and commitment. From all of us at MicroTech Systems, have a wonderful holiday!
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STOP THE JUGGLE!
CONVERT TO MICROSOFT 365 BEFORE SMALL-BUSINESS SERVER DIES
3. Security: A cloud format is intimidating, but O-365 offers its users extra security features. These include email encryption, data loss prevention, mobile device management, and advanced analytics to help you prepare and fight potential attacks. 4. Storage: With everything stored in one place, you won’t have to worry about losing important files. Plus, you will have 50 GB of storage, so save, save, save! 5. Savings: O-365 provides a one-stop shop without having to rely on multiple platforms. Instead, your entire team can collaborate in one space, saving money and your team’s sanity. There is no better time than now to switch to O-365! Small-Business Server — a commonly used program— is set to expire in January 2020. Its death will mean users no longer have support or update services available, which will limit the productivity of the platform. Don’t wait any longer. Stop juggling multiple platforms, and experience the ease of O-365. (There are other platforms we can recommend, too! For example, younger employees tend to enjoy Google’s platformmore.) Call MicroTech Systems at (208) 345-0054 to begin your upgrade.
If you’re a small-business owner, you’re likely a master at juggling. Between filling orders, servicing customers, training employees, improving your techniques, and keeping the lights on, you practically manage a small country every day.
But the technology programs you use don’t have to be some of the balls you’re juggling.
With Microsoft Office 365, small businesses have an all-in-one toolkit designed to minimize the number of programs you work with and to make communication and collaboration a breeze. There’s no need to keep up with rapidly changing software or program updates, and its training programs only revolve around one platform. No one will have to learn more than what Microsoft O-365 can offer. Still not convinced? Check out these five perks of O-365. 1. Productivity: Don’t miss a beat! O-365’s connection to the cloud allows for real-time email communication while you’re on the go, without losing the proficiencies that make a desktop platform supreme. 2. Collaboration: You will have a connection beyond traditional email and messaging systems with built-in tools. Share scheduling through Microsoft Planner or collaborate with remote workers through Microsoft Groups and Teams.
Visit MicroTechBoise.com/microtech-blog for more tips and advice.
Potato Latkes
Have a Laugh!
Ingredients
• •
2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed 1 large onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• • •
1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp black pepper
Safflower or vegetable oil, for frying
• • •
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
1. Using either a food processor with a coarse grating disc or the coarse side of a box grater, grate potatoes and onion. (If using a food processor, halve or quarter potatoes.) Once grated, wrap in a dish towel or cheesecloth to wring out as much moisture as possible. 2. Transfer to a mixing bowl and mix in eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and pepper. 3. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan containing 1/4-inch of oil over medium-high heat.
Use a heaping tablespoon to drop batter into the hot pan, working in batches. Use a spatula or spoon to form them into discs. Fry about 5 minutes per side, until deeply browned.
4. Transfer to a paper towel-lined wire rack to drain, and serve alongside applesauce and sour cream.
Inspired by The New York Times
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Inside
Welcoming a New Decade
What Great Leaders Have in Common
The Collaborative Power of Microsoft 365
Potato Latkes
A Better Way to Think About Motivation
Susan Fowler’s ‘Master Your Motivation’ A Science-Based Approach to Achieving More
“You have the power to change your behaviors,” says Susan Fowler, “but to be successful in changing, you need an evidenced-based framework for motivation and techniques for applying it.” In her new book, “Master Your Motivation: Three Scientific Truths for Achieving Your Goals,” Fowler synthesizes her decades of research into a guide that provides such a framework. In the process, she overturns countless widely held myths about what motivates us. Fowler believes the traditional carrot-and-stick approach to motivation (a combination of reward and punishment to induce a desired behavior) results from our perception of motivation as being either intrinsic or extrinsic. “Simplifying motivations into two types presents a conundrum when you aren’t intrinsically motivated,” she writes. “Your only fallback position is extrinsic motivation.” In other words, just by thinking about motivation as intrinsic versus extrinsic, you’ve already set yourself up to fail. To really motivate yourself and others, she argues, you need to think about motivation in different terms. Thankfully for the reader, Fowler defines an alternative framework for motivation. In what amounts to the book’s thesis, she states, “To master your motivation, create choice, connection, and competence.” When you
measure motivation across these three factors, which are the result of rigorous academic research rather than folksy conventional wisdom, you unlock the power of motivation.
It’s not hard to see how Fowler’s framework is much more actionable than traditional motivational
techniques. Creating intrinsic motivation, especially for others, is a mug’s game, but defining choice, connection, and competence is much less ambiguous. If you have teammembers who you feel lack motivation, ask yourself if their jobs have these three essential traits. Do they have agency (choice) in their work? Do they generate meaning (connection) from what they do? Do they get a sense of accomplishment (competence) from doing something well? If you can’t answer all three of these in the affirmative, you can create a plan for increasing motivation that doesn’t involve empty metrics or meaningless rewards. If you or your team could use a proverbial kick in the pants, the solution might be to ignore those proverbs entirely. “Master Your Motivation” takes a refreshing look at what makes us strive for more. It’s a great addition to any leadership library.
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