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Common FAQs
- Why put resources into the learning one program when there are so many disciplines requiring our attention and resources?
Besides the fact that Outlook is usually the personal administration center for most individual users, it is the common denominator connecting all employees in a company culture. It is not enough to acquire the technical proficiency that one can with other Microsoft products like Word and Excel. Used properly, Outlook can set up the blueprint for how an entire company performs task and project management. If all employees approach Outlook in a similar way, using best practice, the chances for synergies are greatly enhanced and misunderstandings and poor communication are proactively routed out. Instead of dealing with problems as they come, challenges are sought out and threshold issues are dealt with before they fester; relieving tension and encouraging cooperation.
- What benefits are there besides learning how to better to deal with e-mail?
Even if getting one's e-mail under control is the first priority, it is far from being the most significant benefit of AST. While most companies take a reactive approach to an employee's self- administration (Outlook) by giving them the program and hoping for the best, companies who supply AST to their employees take a proactive approach. Instead of reinforcing various beliefs and behaviors developed in the past, AST reinforces consistent beliefs and behaviors needed to support present and future strategies according to thoroughly tested best practice. Rather than allowing the volume of incoming information and threshold problems influence the success or failure of a project, tactical planning and the application of resources become the most important determinants of success or failure.
- What makes AST different from e-learning programs?
AST re-examines how we operate and relate to our work flow and takes an interactive approach whereby the participant feels integrated in both the learning and teaching process. Where as most e-learning programs tend to focus on technical issues, IST takes a holistic view; taking in consideration the fact that our hearts learn faster than our brains, and that we need solutions for when we are meeting our demands and when we are unable to absorb the amount of change occurring in our lives. It?s doubtful that an employee would report that his family life improved after his e-learning program in MS Excel, but we would consider it to be a failure if that didn?t occur after completing the six- module IST course. One might experience an a-ha! Feeling the first time one learns that it is possible to copy using ctrl+c, but that pales to the a-ha! Feeling of knowing that you can go home at the end of almost every day with zero mails in your inbox, zero tasks needing actioning and a complete overview of your various projects and tasks on a consistent basis. (What is more dehumanizing than not clearly seeing your progress on a regular basis at least daily?)
- Does AST require adding any software?
No. Although there are many benefits to using our AST Add-in (The majority of our clients do use it), AST can be implemented without the use of software - with no need to even contact your IT department. Some organizations prefer to take the training using "manual" settings changes in order to avoid the sometimes long wait for their IT department to test our add-in. Even a few features are absent, the potential benefits of AST will be crystal clear.