T&E Plus

What is the Cost of Change?

John Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” 

On my first trip to New York City in 1981, I said I would never return because I wasn’t so fond of The City; then I married a New Yorker and moved to Staten Island.  The first time that I tried to use a Microsoft mouse when Windows was introduced, I said I could type using the keyboard (thank you very much) and didn’t need the mouse; then I started teaching Windows as a technology trainer.  I shrugged off my high school algebra C because I didn’t think I needed numbers; then, I envied my kid’s knowledge of math. Our world, our environment, and our jobs change daily, whether we like it or not. But, how much does it cost us to change?

In the last two years, I have had four clients ask, “What is the cost of change if I do what you recommend?”  A thoughtful question that many organizations fail to ask, and may get blind sighted as they head into implementation.  Even though only four asked, I always help inform all of my clients! ;-) To get to the cost / benefit analysis development stage, I start our journey by brainstorming with my clients on everything that needs to change:  the resources, processes, and technology.  Organizations are making big changes such as moving toward a new global travel management company, changing meeting management suppliers, switching meeting management technologies, etc. and this brainstorming exercise will help you prepare for that change.

Together with your stakeholders, answer these questions:

• Who is affected?
• What is affected?
• Why is it (or are they) affected?
• How is it (or are they) affected?
• When is it (or are they) affected?
• How many are affected?
• How long is it (or are they) affected?
• How much money, time, quality and morale are impacted?

Then, rate the above answers as Favorable, Neutral, or Unfavorable to an organization in the following categories:

• Cost
• Effort/Time
• Quality
• Morale

Document all of the benefits and risks of moving toward the change.  Then, the answers are plotted on a chart, the intangibles are duly noted, the costs are calculated, and the cost/benefit analysis is created.  Attached is a sample brainstorming document for you in Excel and my high level change management matrix.  Note that more detail on both of these items will be in an upcoming book. Good luck and if you need help, please call!

Download Typepad - What is the cost of change

Download SCG Change Management Matrix

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation plus more...

 Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

•           Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 25 – EMC Webinar
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
Trusted Advisors and Superior Solutions for the Travel and Meetings Market

[email protected]
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program:  http://www.smmbenchmark.com  
Purchase the SMM Quick Reference Guide:  http://amzn.to/qoM4dw

Debi has the following designations:

•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

The Frugal Leader’s Travel and Meeting Policy

Sometimes fun is in order.  An updated T&E Plus rerun and some fun as we move into the summer travel season ....  enjoy the weekend.

New Travel, Entertainment, and Meeting Policy

1. All travel must be approved by your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director, the operations leader, the shared services vice president, the chief financial officer and the chief executive officer.  Please submit all travel requests four months in advance.

 2. All large and small meetings, events, conferences or other gatherings of 2 or more people must be registered on the portal which is located at the home page.  Click on the link called meetings/events, then click on “register meeting,” then click on “why I want to have this meeting,” then click on “the return on investment” link to ensure your meeting returns value to the company, then click on “provide business case” as to why your meeting is important, then click on the link called, “why Las Vegas cannot be your destination for your meeting,” then click on the link called “how to save money on your meeting,” then fill out the registration page.  If you have any more questions on meetings, please read numbers 9 and 10 below.

 3. All travel must be booked by finding the lowest fare such as using the online booking tool, the airline webfares, the travel agency, your sister’s travel agency, the newspapers ads, or the online travel aggregator sites.  We recognize that this may take you three or more hours, but if you can find a fare that is cheaper, you must take the time to search in order to save money.

4. Please stay with relatives or friends to reduce your expenses.  While you’re there, please raid their refrigerator to eliminate meal expenses.  If you are traveling to a location without relatives or friends, please make new friends online using Twitter.   If that fails, please retrieve the reusable tentage from the local office.

 5. Ancillary charges are not reimbursable. We expect you to sit in the middle seat, use carry on luggage and bring your own food onboard. We expect you to bring your own extension cords and flip charts to meetings. We refuse to reimburse for the airline’s or hotel’s ancillary fees.  Laundry expenses are not reimbursable. Please use your relative’s or friend’s washer and dryer.

6. Ground transportation must be provided by your favorite shoe manufacturer and your feet.  If your journey is more than five miles, please be sure to carry maps of the local bus or subway route with you.  You will not be reimbursed for these expenses because you should be willing to walk as our Health Benefit costs are increasing and you need to lose weight.

 7. Allowable client entertainment includes volunteering, going to the park or taking advantage of free events. 

8. The T&E corporate card must be used for all reimbursable expenses.  Our company has no reimbursable expenses.   Any accrued points must be turned over to your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director or the chief financial officer so that they may use to buy valuable products, such as soap and toilet paper for our company bathrooms because we have cut all janitorial supplies from our budget.

9. Internal meetings and events can only be conducted by virtual mediums. The approved virtual mediums include your personal cell phones, your personal computer and webcams.

10. External business development meetings and events can be held at the local park.  In the case of inclement weather, please use parks with gazebos, canopies or buildings.  If you require client entertainment, please bring a deck of cards.  No gambling is allowed. If you require bug spray, please purchase at your own expense.

11. All audiovisual and production requirements must be supplied by using flashlights, hand shadows and drawings on the back of the napkin.

12. All travelers and meeting attendees must bring travel sleep sacks, pillows, blankets and energy bars on all trips because you never know when a volcano will erupt, a storm will ensue, or a crisis will occur.  Dealing with the unexpected increases your tolerance for adverse situations so that you can adapt to our working environment.

13. All travelers should go to the local grocery store and eat from their "sample platters" to reduce food expenses.  Meeting planners should plan to have meetings in hotels that host weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs so that meeting attendees can snitch food from other guests in order to reduce food and beverage expenses.

Any violations or noncompliance to this policy will be reported by our data metrics, from the ERP, the OBT, the TMC, the EMS, and the SMM technology, that we build, analyze, preview, revise, reproduce, report and validate a few times each day.

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT
Author of the SMM: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Meetings-Management-Strategy-Reference/dp/0983439729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310729887&sr=8-1 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation plus more...

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
August 25 – EMC Webinar
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

•           Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

 

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
[email protected]
908-304-4954

Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program:  http://www.smmbenchmark.com
Debi has the following designations:

•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)

Congratulations to the 2011 Changemakers!

Every industry has rising stars that teach us and support their organizations with innovative meetings management initiatives.  This year, I honor and congratulate those people who have earned the 2011 Changemakers title, as identified by Corporate Meetings and Incentives.

Leanne Acton, Brett Barrowman, Michael Burke, Carrie Chamberlain, Amy Harris, Susan Katz, Gigi McGrath, Lisa Meehan, Dan Meier, Karin Milliman, Rachel Pearson, Carolyn Pund, Kathleen Ramsay, Patty Reger, Sandra Schall, Lisa Schelle, Lynne Schueler, Jana Stern, Jean-Paul Vanherf and Chris Wall. 

Of course, I am grateful to those who helped me tremendously in my career.   Specifically, Carolyn Pund, Karin Milliman and Chris Wall.  Carolyn helped me understand the importance of the Marketing Team stakeholders when I participated in the Meetings Competitive Advantage Forum with her.  Chris helped me understand the complexity of pharmaceutical meetings and how integrated technologies can be used to support compliance requirements.  Karin taught me meetings management and the importance of the senior leadership involvement in SMM Programs.  In fact, Karin helped me daily throughout the time we worked together at PwC.  Karin is also mentioned in the Acknowledgement section of my new book, Strategic Meetings Management:  The Strategy Quick Reference Guide.

Thank you to those who have helped me in my career and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you!

Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements:
Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©

August 2 – Georgia BTA
Sept 7 – HSMAI Affordable Meetings
Sept 20 – NYC (forthcoming)
December 1 – EMC Venue’s MEET

SMM: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide: http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Meetings-Management-Strategy-Reference/dp/0983439729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310443301&sr=8-1 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT, Six Sigma Green Belt

•           Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
•           Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
•           Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
•           Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)

The Scholar Consulting Group LLC
[email protected]
908-304-4954
Benchmark your Strategic Meetings Management Program:  http://www.smmbenchmark.com

Debi has the following designations:
•           Wharton Aresty Executive Education/National Business Travel Association (NBTA) Global Leadership Professional (GLP)
•           Meeting Professionals International Certificate in Meetings Management (CMM)
•           Convention Industry Council Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
•           NBTA Corporate Travel Expert (CTE)
•           Six Sigma Green Belt
•           Chauncey Certified Technical Trainer (CTT)