Make Others Successful
By Bulb Digital
While a lot of the concepts we talk about are platform/tool agnostic in nature, some of the specific tools you can count on hearing about are Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, Power Apps, and Power Automate.
Make Others SuccessfulApr 22, 2021
Communication That Curates Connection
The Bulb Gals are back for episode 31 of the Make Others Successful podcast 😊 Emma, Livvy, and Michaela are discussing the importance of communication in the workplace and how it can bring employees closer together.
Creating structure, promoting participation, and building those spaces for work and play create a safe and fun environment for great communication. And we've learned that great communication builds stronger connections.
Let us know what you think of today's episode and your thoughts on communication within your workplace.
Helping Others — How We Approach Success
In episode 30 of the MOS podcast, Mitch, Matt, and Mike discuss the history and development of Bulb Digital and reflect on their problem-solving journey while discussing the history of Bulb!
They talk the challenges they've faced, including the gap between people who need strategy upfront and those who need help with specific problems, along with their biggest goal: helping people and their businesses 🙌
Let us know what you think of today's episode! Your feedback means a lot to us.
Building a Better Workplace: Our POV
Between growing our business and helping customers with their workplaces, we've gained useful insights into creating modern work environments, tech integration, and everything in between.
In episode 29 of the Make Others Successful podcast, Mitch, Matt, and Mike discuss the challenges and misconceptions of building a better workplace for employees and customers. Learn our perspective in today's episode.
When You Think You're a Modern Workplace
We asked ChatGPT for an outline regarding workplaces that think they're modern workplaces, but in reality, aren't adopting the practices that truly make a workplace modern. Hint: your technology isn't necessarily what makes a workplace modern 👀
See what Mitch, Mike, Matt, and ChatGPT have to say about this in today's episode, it may surprise you!
M365 Updates You Should Know About
We are in the M365 world every single day, and there are new updates everywhere it seems. It's a lot to keep track of!
Luckily in episode 27 of the Make Other Successful podcast, Mitch, Matt, and Emma discuss all of these recent updates and how they feel about them. Everything from New Teams to Copilot. Listen to day and see what's on the M365 horizon!
Tell us below what M365 tools you want to be in the know about below ⬇️
Meet the Bulb Gals (and Modernize Your Workplace)
Get to know the Bulb Gals in episode 26 of the Make Others Successful podcast!
Emma, Livvy, and Michaela discuss the benefits of working for a modern workplace and share some ways that they could have modernized their former workplaces.
If you're wondering how you can make your current workplace a bit more modern, the Bulb Gals are going to give you some tips on how to do so in today's episode 🙌
Why Training Isn't Enough When It Comes to Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams: a familiar software for many of us, no matter what industry you work in. As familiar as it may seem, Teams can be a massive pain point for many.
In episode 25 of the Make Others Successful podcast, Matt, Emma, and Mike explain why generic training isn't enough and the importance of having structure around how you use Teams as an organization.
We hope you enjoy this episode — tell us what you think or questions you have below!
Why You Should Be Thinking Like a Consultant
A note from us: the Internal Communication Guidebook isn't released yet, but will be soon! More updates to come 😁
In today's episode of Make Others Successful, we're taking you into the mind of a consultant and why adopting this mindset is beneficial for many reasons when it comes to business.
Mitch, Mike, and Emma chat about what separates a good vs. bad consultant, having a sustainability mindset, and the importance of setting priorities and aligning them with the overall goals of a business.
We hope you enjoy episode 24 of the Make Others Successful podcast — tell us what you think below!
Adopting Technology — How to Get Your Team On Board
When new technology is introduced to your organization, it's crucial to know how it'll be adopted, how to get employees to want to use it, and what guidelines will need to be followed. We know, it's overwhelming!
Thankfully, this is what we do. In episode 23 of the Make Others Successful Podcast, you'll learn what governance means and how to implement new technology that sticks within your organization.
Make it Easy to Work With Others Outside of Your Organization
What are the requirements for easy and effective collaboration with customers, vendors, or anyone outside of your organization? It's not such an easy (or straightforward) question to answer, yet every business has to externally work with others at some point in time.
Luckily, we know a thing or two about what makes external collaboration effective. We're going to share our strategies that have led us to great external relationships in today's podcast episode of Make Others Successful 🙌
Improve the Way Your Organization Communicates
It's time to end the difficult cycle of rumor mills, lost documents, misread messages, and other internal communication mishaps. In episode 21 of the Make Others Successful podcast, we unpack how to improve internal communication within your workplace.
From new mindset adoption to actionable steps you can take today, we're here to help make internal communication effortless and stress free!
Level Up Internal Collaboration Within Your Workplace
Internal collaboration within the workplace, an easy concept! Right? Turns out, it's not that simple. Many factors go into effective, worthwhile collaboration within an organization and between employees. Between mindset, creating safe collaboration spaces, and updating the technology you collaborate in, it can become overwhelming.
That's why Mitch, Livvy, Matt, and Mike are unpacking what internal collaboration looks like within a modern workplace and how your organization can improve your your processes today! Enjoy episode 20 of the Make Others Successful podcast and let us know what you think.
Why We're Not Microsoft Partners Anymore
If you know anything about us, you know we are major Microsoft users. I mean, it's kind of our thing 😁 So, it might be a little shocking to find out that we aren't Microsoft partners anymore...Yep, that's right!
Join us for episode 19 of the Make Others Successful podcast where Mitch, Matt, and Mike explain our reasoning for not being partners with Microsoft anymore.
Excel: The Sneaky Trap that's Costing You Time and Money
Excel, you know it and love it, but is it doing more harm than good when it comes to your business? Between the sunk costs, the never-ending updates to your spreadsheets, and the toll it takes on your sanity, you may find yourself trapped in an Excel cycle without even realizing it. We are here to help you move on from Excel before disaster strikes and show you the benefits of leaving it behind.
Mitch, Emma, and Mike discuss the reasons why Excel is not the solution to running your business and how it actually is costing you valuable time and money. If you want more resources regarding the trap of Excel, make sure to checkout Mike's recent blog post about this topic here.
Your Business Is More Than the Work You Do
When someone asks what you do for work, it's easy to talk about the tasks you work on, but do you ever stop to talk about your company's mission? What problems you solve? The work you do is not necessarily your mission, but it's vital to communicate your mission effectively to your employees so they can take that mission into account when making decisions and ultimately work towards a shared goal.
In episode 17 of the Make Others Successful podcast where Emma, Matt, and Mike dive into the importance of defining your business' mission, and how vital it is to communicate said mission to your employees effectively for overall greater success.
Keeping the Human Connection Through Technology
Technology: the ultimate double-edged sword. Some days it's our best friend and other days, our worst nightmare. But, in regards to connecting people to one another, is technology the answer? Communication via technology isn't here to replace the in-person connection, but rather help us when the in-person option isn't always available.
In episode 16 of the Make Others Successful podcast, Mitch, Matt, and Mike dive into the ins and outs of communicating and continuing to connect through technology.
This Isn't "Set It and Forget It"
But when we're talking about modernizing your workplace, using technology better, improving your employee experience, and automating processes, it's far from a one-button operation.
In this episode we'll talk through some of the misconceptions we've seen over the years as well as the mindset it takes to fully embrace the efforts behind building a modern workplace.
What is an Intranet?
What is an intranet? Is it different from an Employee Portal? What are they good for? What are they BAD for?
We're boiling it down to some basics here so you can understand how an Intranet can help you and your organization.
Building Low Code Apps With The User Experience In Mind
We Had a UX Designer Fix Our Power App Video
The Psychology of Color
5 Non-Microsoft Apps We Use
As a consultancy that primarily does work in the Microsoft space, it often feels like "if there is a Microsoft tool that does what we're looking for, we should use it".
Well, that isn't always the case, and sometimes we use others for a variety of reasons.
In this episode we'll dig into 5 tools that we use, and why.
Choosing the Right Technology for Your Business
Should you buy software off the shelf?
Or should you build something custom?
What about something in between?
In this episode we'll dive deep into the timeline, cost, customizability, risks, benefits and lifecycle of all these different methods of solving business problems, so next time you're presented with the choice, you'll have this knowledge at your disposal and can choose well.
New Ownership: A Great Time To Modernize Your Workplace
Low Code In The Workplace
It aims to get the power of building applications into the hands of those close to the business process.
It's a great concept, but has its challenges.
In this episode we'll talk about who Low Code is good for, who might want to use it, and give you some strategy for how to use Low Code tools at your organization.
Please enjoy the conversation between Mike Bodell and Mitch Herrema.
Related Resources
Intro to Power Apps Course
Ownership of Resources in the M365 Power Platform
Stabilize Your Team's App Development Process With ALM
The Champions Model Moves Organizations Forward
If you're looking for a way to roll out new technology or new ideas and really get some momentum behind them at your organization, you should consider the Champions Model. The Champions Model involves building a team around the idea that new ideas are great, but need to be vetted before launching to the whole organization. The Champions Team is able to easily validate the ideas, give feedback, and have a balanced mindset on how the new concepts should be used.
We're going to dig a bit more into this model, talk about the pros and cons, and help you identify who the Champions on your team should be.
Please enjoy the conversation with Mike Bodell and Matt Dressel.
Should You Hire In House for Office 365 Help?
Our focus today is around hiring consultants to help you with initiatives in your organization. Should you be looking for a company/expert to help? Should you hire someone on your team internally? And what information do you need in order to make this decision? We’re going to target Office 365 today, but a lot of this thinking is “agnostic” to the specific technology. And full disclosure, we offer O365 services, but this podcast isn’t about us, it’s about helping you find your way when you have business goals that may require some technology behind the effort. So please enjoy the conversation between Matt Dressel, Mike Bodell, and Mitch Herrema.
Iterative Intranets
We've built our fair share of intranets over the years, and we've noticed many of our clients like the idea of the "big bang" launch where they can celebrate and have an event for the launch of the intranet. We're all about celebrating, but the process of actuallly getting all the pieces in place and keeping it all up to date while the intranet is being built is a lot of work. So we have a few ideas around this topic, and why you might want to consider a phased approach to your intranet launch.
Please enjoy the conversation with Mike Bodell and Matt Dressel.
What is a Modern Workplace?
What really is a Modern Workplace? Being a “Modern Workplace” can mean a lot of things, but there’s one thing that’s certain - it’s always a moving target. We’ll be talking through our 3 areas of focus: Communication, Collaboration, and Business Applications, and give a glimpse into what we see those areas looking like in a “Modern Workplace”, as well as a little history on where they’ve come from.
While we do talk about some specific technologies, know that these can be applied “agnostically” independent of a specific technology. It’s more about culture and mindset than anything. So let’s get into it - Please enjoy the conversation with Matt Dressel, Mike Bodell, and Mitch Herrema.
Ownership of Resources in the M365 Power Platform
Today we’re going to be digging into the Power Platform in Microsoft 365 a little bit, specifically creating resources in Power Automate and Power Apps. Who should be the owner of these things? Should we be using a service account? What happens if the owner of these resources leaves the company? If you are the Power Platform Admin at your organization, this one is for you.
We’re going to be answering all these questions, and give you a few recommendations for how to best manage resources in the Power Platform. Please enjoy the conversation with Matt Dressel, Ashley Jolman, and myself.
Making Technology Services Approachable With Productized Services
Have you ever been on a website that offers technical services you need, and all you find are flashy case studies, as well as pages that list all these great benefits you’ll get from working with them? Everything looks great until you start looking for pricing. It’s nowhere to be found. All you see is a big “contact us” button, or "schedule a demo". Odds are, things stop right there. You’ll have to get on the phone with a salesperson who is driving to close the sale, which is never fun.
We’ve been working to challenge this process, and give someone browsing our site all the information they need before they get in touch through the use of productized services. Today we'll be chatting today with Mitch Herrema (Operations), Ashley Jolman (our delivery lead), and Mike Bodell to dig into this topic and understand some of the benefits we’re seeing through the use of productized services.
Onboarding in a Modern Workplace
In today’s episode we’re going to be talking with Matt Dressel and Mike Bodell about all things onboarding, and give you some recommendations about how you can use technology to help your process and make it a great experience.
An Intro to Make Others Successful
Welcome to Make Others Successful, a podcast about modernizing your workplace and breaking down technology barriers to improve communication, collaboration, and automate business process. We do all of this so you can get back to what your job really is, and move your business’ mission forward.
In this episode, we wanted to take some time to introduce ourselves to help you understand where we came from, where we're at now, and where we see ourselves in the future.
Please enjoy our conversation with Mike Bodell and Matt Dressel, founders of Bulb Digital.