Category: Articles

At ThreeWill, we are always looking for opportunities to improve our own employee experience. We recently had one of those improvements by going to a Flexible PTO Policy. I would like to share our experience so far with this as we see how this helps our employees and share where it also has challenges. There were a few reasons why we moved to Flexible PTO. One was the management of using PTO that was allocated. We were getting to situations where PTO would get used at the end of the year and was not spread out evenly throughout the year.

I'll start off with the challenges of obtaining a passport if yours has expired or if you don’t have one.   Unfortunately, my passport had expired without me realizing it, which prompted a visit to the passport office. In 2023, the only way to speed up the process is to have last minute business trip or a family emergency. Applying online or making changes can take between 6 to 10 months, if not longer. To claim the business trip, I had to purchase my plane ticket and book my hotel before receiving an appointment for a renewed passport. You can ONLY

Vacations are a great way to disconnect and unwind from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. From time to time we need to recharge our batteries and enjoy a little R & R. Unfortunately, I don’t enjoy getting buried by email and messages when I come back. We hope that we have someone to handle our work while we are out, but the reality for many of us is that much of that work is waiting for us when we return. At ThreeWill we are heavy users of Teams. That means that I really don’t get that many emails

In my role as the Marketing Manager, I'm constantly looking for ways to streamline our marketing activities and promote collaboration within the team. One tool that has proven to be invaluable in achieving this is the ThreeWill intranet. It serves as a centralized platform for sharing and managing our organizational assets. Whether it's documents, images, brand logos, event materials, or the marketing calendar, our intranet is pivotal in keeping all marketing efforts cohesive and useful. A great example of how we communicate marketing activities is by having a Marketing Department area. This keeps our internal team up-to-date on the latest

In today's fast-paced and digitally driven workplace, employee experience has become a critical focus for organizations seeking to attract and retain top talent. An Intelligent Intranet, when effectively implemented, can be a game-changer in improving the overall employee experience. It serves as a centralized hub for communication and access to information. Let's explore the top three ways an Intelligent Intranet can make a positive impact on employee experience. 1. Efficient Communication: Intelligent Intranets provide a digital space where employees can efficiently communicate. While chat and discussion forums are not the primary focus, it enables remote and dispersed teams to work

Hybrid work environments for some companies are here to stay. At ThreeWill, we embrace the benefits of a hybrid workplace and look for ways to mitigate the drawbacks. We have found a key area of risk in the team cohesiveness. We don’t want our employees to feel like they are not part of a team, and we are intentional about keeping team bonds. Technology can be a part of that mitigation strategy, but it goes beyond technology. You need to find new ways to create emotional bonds between your employees. Here are 3 tips I have for improving the emotional

I know you have them. We all do. Those clunky old applications are still being used even though they are leaking oil, and making funny noises, and no developer is willing to touch them. Seems to me that might just be a sign. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on many modernization projects here at ThreeWill, and they are always my favorite ones, as it is something that I truly love doing. Working with the users as they transition to the new application and seeing their excitement for the new technology and how it’s going to make their jobs so

Meetings are an essential part of collaborative work, but they often get a bad rap for being unproductive and time-consuming. However, with the right habits in place, your team meetings can become more efficient and purposeful, turning them into something people look forward to. To help you make the most out of your Teams meetings, we've gathered three of our most valuable tips that can transform your meetings into the stuff of legends. Tip #1: Always Provide an Agenda An agenda might seem like a simple element of a meeting, but its importance cannot be overstated. Despite that, we see

What makes ThreeWill different than any other vendor offering our services? That’s a question we have pondered for a long time and the answer to that question has changed over the years. But I think we have really honed in on the answer to this question in the last couple of years and I’d like to help you understand as I believe the answer is significant. Our Values But, before I discuss why ThreeWill is unique, I’d like to lay the foundation by telling you about our core values. Our core values have essentially been the same during my 18+

We use links all the time. We text them to co-workers, friends, and family – and many times we put links in documents, articles, and blog posts. In fact, we may do that more than you think. We have seen that all our Jive migration clients have a LOT of links. A lot more than I originally expected.  In Jive you can @mention a person as many of you have done within Facebook, LinkedIn, Teams, or a myriad of other social platforms. In Jive, however, you can also @mention (if that is the right term) a place or content item

ThreeWill is a small organization, but we have clients all over the world. In fact, I am currently working with a client on a Jive-to-Microsoft 365 Migration project that impacts people from over 40 countries, including the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Colombia, Australia, and Japan, just to name a few. As such, having an effective and efficient collaboration tool is essential. That’s why we use Microsoft Teams for project team collaboration. Conference calling has been around and in use on project teams for years; long before Microsoft Teams became available. But if you’re having a meeting with everyone “talking

As we settle into new ways to get work done in the workplace, creating a healthy work environment has become more important than ever before. With the increasing stress levels and fewer in-person interactions, it is vital to nurture your employees and provide them with the tools and resources they need to succeed. As a business owner and gardener, I wanted to explore how gardening can be used as a metaphor for creating a healthy work environment. Just like gardening requires nurturing, cultivating, and patience, creating a healthy work environment requires intentionality, care, and a consistent approach. THE IMPORTANCE OF

When last I wrote, I spoke of the value that employees place on their organization being accountable and transparent. I illustrated ways in which PowerBI can be leveraged to demonstrate your commitment to this principle as an organization. But transparency and accountability are a two-way street. If you expect it, you should plan to give it too. Now I’m not talking about sharing personal things with your organization. But I am talking about being thrifty and honest with your work – being responsible and accountable. So, on top of projecting transparency and accountability in your outbound communications and information-sharing, it’s

Do you have older applications that have you wondering if it would be worth the effort, added cost, and disruption to your business to modernize? Yeah … most companies struggle with this at some point, as it is no small step to take and can be disruptive (for a time) to the business. But outdated or legacy applications could hold back business growth, impact the efficiency of your team, and be a security risk. Recognizing warning signs that it's time to modernize your application is crucial to staying competitive and meeting your constantly changing business needs. But when should you

There are various types of meetings in Microsoft Teams. In the past, I would typically create a meeting in Outlook and specify it as a Teams meeting. This works great, but this meeting is not tied to a particular Team. If you want that, you should consider a channel meeting. One reason I like channel meetings is the recording for the meeting is stored in the channel instead of my OneDrive. There are other reasons as well. For an overview of Channel Meetings and why you might want one, check out Tim Coalson’s blog post: What is a Teams Channel

Meetings are a challenge Ever since humans decided to start working together in offices, meetings have been a challenge. The first challenge is this: “Should I even be having this meeting, or could my goals have been accomplished in a more productive way without having a meeting?” If your meeting doesn’t have a clear goal, then why are you doing it? In 2015, Microsoft found that the average employee attended around 62 meetings per month, with more than half of those meetings considered unproductive. The second challenge is “Did I invite the right people?” If you have included someone, there

The heart of ThreeWill’s culture is based on our four core values. We use these core values to guide all aspects of our business, including whom we hire, how we reward and recognize our employees, whom we choose to partner with, and whom we serve as clients. We know complimentary values build strong and rewarding relationships. ThreeWill’s core values include: Better Together Extreme Ownership Choose Growth Humble Confidence "Humble Confidence" is a core value that combines humility and self-assurance. An individual outside of the company who exemplifies this value is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the

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