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in this issue
· Teambuilding:
6 Keys to Building a Strong Team
·
User Group Meeting Gets High Marks
·
CLI Website Redesigned
·
Welcome (Back) New Customer: R. M.
Sullivan
·
Save the Date: Leadership Summit
Sept. 26-28
·
Tip of the Month
·
Calendar of Events
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Greetings!
Welcome to
the April 2007 edition of CLI's newsletter. In this issue, we'll recap the
recent, highly successful Annual User Group Meeting, look ahead to the Fall
Leadership Summit, and take a look at the redesigned CLI website.
The feature
story this month focuses on the importance of Teambuilding, which was focused
on at the User Group meeting. Teambuilding skills are an important element in
any successful organization. Ian Evans, a long-time CLI consultant and an
established project manager, writes about why "dream teams" have
failed in the past and tells us what the common components of a successful
team are.
We also
welcome back a former client into the CLI fold -- R. M. Sullivan of Springfield, MA.
Originally a customer in the 1980's, they have returned to CLI to take full
advantage of the benefits of the total freight management system, FACTS®.
Almost 20 years after first working with CLI, R. M. Sullivan has returned to
the best system available.
Finally,
our Tip of the Month details how to use the CLI web-based Help Desk to assure
that your help requests are handled in the most effective and efficient way
possible. And as always, please check the calendar listings for upcoming
industry events.
Enjoy the
issue.
Teambuilding:
6 Keys to Building a Strong Team 
By Ian
Evans, Ian Evans & Associates
The idea of forming a team in order to solve a problem, or
because it is a fashionable thing to do is not new. The thought process goes
something like this: "Let's hire the star performers in the field,
money being no object, call them a team and wait for the successes to role
in."
Sound
familiar? Dream teams such as this usually under-perform and fail, in some
cases in spectacular fashion. Take the 2004 men's Olympic USA basketball team
- every member was an NBA star -- and yet the team only finished third. Other
examples include the movie
Ocean's
Twelve, which was critically panned and a
box-office disappointment and the recent business case of Enron.
Failed
teams often display conflicting goals, ineffective meetings, silo thinking
and personal agendas. There are many solutions to turning a team around,
including strong leadership, clear common goals, picking the
"right" team players with complementary skill sets, listening and
responding to other team members, and showing flexibility to changing
circumstances.
Key
criteria in highly effective teams include:
- Sharing a Common Goal
- Grooming Effective
Leadership
- Creating an Environment of
Mutual Respect
- Empowering Team Members
- Establishing Clear
Measurement Criteria
- Ensuring that Teamwork is a
Mindset for Each Member
Putting
together the best and most effective teams will vary depending upon the
circumstances. If a sports team is at the bottom of the league and the season
is half over, high velocity change is required as the timeline is short. If a
company is setting up a new division that will become active in 12 months, there's
more time to build the right team. Different circumstances require different
approaches to teambuilding.
I encourage
everyone to reassess the effectiveness of their own teams, whether in a
business, community or personal environment. By acknowledging any problems or
hurdles, making the necessary changes and implementing the six keys you can
then truly reap the rewards of a high performance team.
Ian
Evans, principal of Ian Evans & Associates Inc. offers in-house training
on teambuilding through Carrier Logistics. For more information on this
training contact Craig Lis at clis@carrierlogistics.com
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User Group
Meeting Gets High Marks
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 Highly Evaluated Program featured Hands-On
Labs
The
annual CLI User Group meeting took place on April 19 and 20 at the Crown Plaza
Hotel in downtown White Plains,
NY. This year's program was
the best attended and most highly rated meeting yet. Participants came from
across North America to learn how to
maximize their use of the CLI FACTS system.
After an
engaging opening keynote by Progress Software vice president of IT, Denis
Goulet on "Creating Value from Conflict: The IT Challenge," the
group had their choice of breakouts ranging from topics on Administration,
Operations and IT. Sessions included Deploying the Mouse-Driven System,
Digital Mapping, Collection Tools, Costing, Autorating and a two-part
seminar on EDI.
New this year were the Hands-On Computer Labs. Dedicated to
specific topics and limited to small pre-registered groups, these labs gave
attendees the chance to discuss detailed issues, questions and strategies
with CLI experts and their fellow attendees. Listed by several participants
as one of the best parts of the program, CLI will look to expand these labs
next year to allow for more participation.
The
roundtable discussions, perennial favorites, were also very well received.
Participants had the opportunity to discuss a range of topics from Managing
your Upgrades to How to Train your Staff. The roundtables were a perfect
opportunity for long-time users to share their insights with new clients
while gaining fresh input on new ways to solve old issues.
After a
reception on the first evening, Friday morning started out with an
interactive workshop on Teambuilding before the group broke into breakouts
for the final day. The program, which received the highest-rated
evaluations of any CLI User Group prior, was overwhelmingly marked as an
event that participants plan on attending next year. With that in mind, CLI
urges you to register early for next year's event so that the appropriate
space can be held for the meeting. Please note that due to limited space at
the hotel, the general session room was maxed out this year and additional
registrations could not be accepted.
Thank you
to all the attendees who participated in this FREE program and special
acknowledgement to Progress Software whose support was very much
appreciated. In addition to providing the keynote speaker, Progress
supplied speakers on Business Continuance and Crystal Reports as well as
two memory sticks which were raffled off to those who submitted completed
evaluations. Congratulations to Dave Huff of Standard Forwarding and
Lisa Ludwikowski of The Custom Companies on winning the prizes.
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CLI Website
Redesigned
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The CLI website has been redesigned to help users easily
navigate the site to find the information they need quickly and easily. The
new, sleeker look and better organized content allows users to have easier
access to reference articles, news and helpful information found on the CLI
website.
CLI has
designed its website to be user-friendly and is organized to aid customers
and prospects to find the information they need. In addition, the site is
dynamic, providing timely event information and recent articles accessible
right on the home page. And for the first time, customers and prospects can
sign up for newsletters, white papers and events using an electronic form
on the site.
Customers,
as always will be able to login to the Help Desk from any page on the site
to either log a new help request or check on the status of an existing help
request. For more information on this service, please see the Tip of the
Month article below.
Checkout
CLI's new website by clicking the link below and let us know what you
think.
Click
Here for CLI's New Website »
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Welcome (Back)
New Customer: R. M. Sullivan
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 R. M. Sullivan, a family-owned freight
delivery company located in Springfield,
MA, has signed on as one of
CLI's newest clients. Although they are ready to reap the benefits of CLI's
total freight management system, FACTS, including the Dock Management and
Broker modules, R.M. Sullivan is not new to CLI. Originally a client back
in 1988, R. M. Sullivan opted at that time for CLI's ROUTRONICS operations
system. As CLI had not yet developed its back office integrated system,
R.M. Sullivan eventually created its own legacy system. However, recently
the company realized it could greatly benefit from the comprehensive and fully
integrated FACTS system so R. M. Sullivan returned to CLI's client roster
nearly 20 years later.
CLI would
like to welcome back R. M. Sullivan -- A powerhouse in the Northeast
transportation marketplace with more than 140 power units, 350 trailers, 2
million square feet of warehouse space and more than 400 dedicated
employees. We look forward to working with them (again) and their entire
team.
Click Here for R.
M. Sullivan's Website »
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Save the Date:
Leadership Summit
Sept. 26-28
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 The Annual Transportation Leadership Summit will take
place September 26 through September 28 at the Tarrytown House Estate in Tarrytown, NY.
This event was oversubscribed last year so we urge you to register when you
receive your formal invitation. Remember, this is an industry business
conference. A wide-range of speakers are recruited
to discuss how to better run your organization.
The theme
this year is "Money Matters: Navigating the Financial Landscape."
Sessions will focus on how to manage increasing costs, new ideas in
pricing, innovative ways to increase revenue, how to sell value, building a
business model for future growth, what you need to know about
consolidation, offshore outsourcing and much more. Leading economists
and Wall Street experts will give you the inside scoop on the changing
economy and what you need to do to prepare your business for future growth.
This
by-invitation-only educational event brings together top executives from LTL
and courier companies from around the world. There will be a strong
educational emphasis on using innovative thinking to grow your business
with an overriding theme of Financial Management running though each
session. There will be keynotes, interactive workshops, and lively
roundtable discussions on critical industry topics. Once again it promises
to be three days of learning, idea exchanging, and networking. Space is
limited and we fully expect this program to be oversubscribed again this
year.
So hold
the date, September 26-28 and watch your e-mail for further information.
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Tip of the Month
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 Using the Web to Access the Help Desk
The CLI
Help Desk can be accessed via the CLI website. Customers can either log new
requests or check on the status of existing requests. After you have logged
a help request, the following will occur:
- 1. You will receive a
confirmation e-mail with a direct link to the request logged at CLI's
website.
- You can update or inquire
about requests from the web and send e-mails directly to the support
staff.
- You will see a log of all
prior web/e-mail correspondence displayed in the details of the
request.
Please
note that updated descriptions of Priority Codes for logging requests are
available in the Help Desk section of the website.
If you
have any questions about utilizing the online Help Desk, please contact
Rainer Tauchert in the CLI Training department at rtauchert@carrierlogistics.com
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Calendar of
Events
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Quick Links
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