Do you make the SOCIAL MEDIA work for you?

We start each morning with an honourable intention to draw out and follow a sacrosanct to-do list and make it the most meaningful and productive day. We all seem to understand, only too well, the importance of setting priorities, maintaining discipline, being focussed, consistently perseverant and goal oriented.

Yet, the moment the morning starts progressing into the day, our will begins to wither, the determination gets embattled by the urge to click elsewhere and the spirit starts slackening.

The charm of social networking beckons and ensnares us in its fold, tempting us to relegate what's important to another time. And once we are onto this social, virtual juggernaut, it is extremely difficult to wean ourselves out as it begins to suck us into the deep recesses of its womb. Sooner than later, we get into this jocular, other-worldly mood living a vicarious existence in the lives of our friends, far removed from the real and important goals of OUR life!

With the advent of Social Media, there are a zillion inducements, such as checking out friends' statuses and pictures on Facebook, keeping abreast of the latest tweets of our tweeple, watching that interesting video on YouTube or simply getting down to a nonsensical virtual game that is so utterly unproductive but helps us hide behind the sham that we are occupied, albeit ungainfully.

There are legion cases of employees hiding behind a screen whiling away office time playing Solitaire, Candy Crush, Farmville or whatever the flavour of the season is. There are an equal number of us liking friends’ Facebook posts or commenting on LinkedIn updates or retweeting a wisecrack, while still at work.

When you are on the net you tend to make that big mistake and be disillusioned with a make-believe situation that you can actually multitask to the extent that you can work and play at the same time. 

So, you get into this monstrous maze that sets you clicking from one tab to another in the most futile manner delivering zilch on the productivity front.

There are enough studies being conducted to show how people are becoming more prolific, creative and successful in meeting their goals by taking up the challenge of leaving the social media trap for one year (or whatever block of time they may have chosen); or uninstalling Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook  applications from their smart phones; or limiting their access to such pitiably bottomless attractions (indeed the newsfeed of some of these social media platforms is bottomless and unceasing) to just one or two hours in the day.

Having said that, Social media comes with huge advantages and gains – as tools of publicity and promotion, brand building and image reinforcement, news sharing and opinion-making, creating trends, shaping consumer behaviour, furthering causes. The pluses are endless and gigantic; big enough for you not to take these platforms lightly. The essential need-of-the-hour is to be wise, intelligent and judicious in harnessing these channels for effective use (as also requisite doses of fun); as against getting sucked into the whirlpool of the unreal / semi-real world they propagate in a manner from which you cannot be easily rescued.

Soren Gordhamer, Organizer of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference, which brought together staff from Google, Facebook, and Twitter with others to explore living wisely in our modern age, says “There have never been more things that call out for our attention: We have tweets to read, Facebook statuses to check, put up pictures and posts on Pinterest and Instagram — not to mention text messages, e-mails, and cell phone calls. And the amount of data is growing each day. Recent reports estimate that the average American consumes 34 GB worth of content a day, including 100,000 words of information. While this access to information has numerous benefits; learning to live and work skillfully amidst an active social media lifestyle is an art in itself — one that will be increasingly challenging in the years ahead.”

With the number of social media platforms increasing rapidly and with new features being added each day on the existing ones, it is becoming imperative, more and more, to try and not only keep one’s head above water but to stay relevant and industrious, accomplishing one’s key goals.

Here follow five simple tricks and tactics to manage the Social media and make it work for you. 

These lessons will help you stay sane and focused amidst an active social media lifestyle.

1. Internal needs vs. External stimuli

Back in 1943, Abraham Maslow put forth his theory of the ‘Hierarchy of needs’ in which he rightly put pleasure and trivia below esteem and actualization.

Ask yourself each morning (or several times in a day) what is it that you actually wish to achieve at the end of the day or the week. Having determined the actual point of focus, go after it with all that you have; allowing yourself only minor, short-lived digressions.

To channelize the internal impetus back on track look towards a short walk, or a spot of reading, or listening to your favourite music to get back, with renewed vigour, to what needs your undivided attention.  

“The biggest (and hardest) lesson I’ve learned in life is that the external world is just a reflection of the world within,” says Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.

Finally, know the raison d'être for your life. Listen to that big drummer up there who beats uniquely for you, hear out the silent little beats that make music only for you and follow your impassioned heart and rational mind into getting on the path that only YOU are meant to tread upon.

Go on, beat the brash blitz of the unimportant or the less important, conquer the bastions and charge ahead on your mission and goals in life by wearing the blinkers of high resistance to fruitless pleasures of social media.

2. Downside of Multi-tasking

New research is beginning to point out that humans cannot multi-task on more than two things at a time. A recent study at Stanford found that the more people multi-task, the worse they become at it.

So, turn a deaf ear to this latest scientific revelation at your own peril.

If you wish to accomplish a lot more, then do one thing at a time – satisfactorily, having given it your 100%. Then get on to the next and from there on eat that mountain bite by bite.

“When people try to perform two or more related tasks either at the same time or alternating rapidly between them, errors go way up, and it takes far longer — often double the time or more — to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially,” states David E. Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

3. Do not be too hard on yourself

From time to time, cut yourself some slack. The temptations of the Social media are so large and incessant that the more you try to push them away, the more you will be drawn towards it. So, instead of creating a mental prison, give in to the ‘pull’ and you will be able to pull away with far more ease and conviction.

Create a healthy, happy balance between Social media time and the no-go zone. Also, learn to maintain a healthy, constructive equilibrium between Social Media for work (after all, Social Media is an integral part of your business strategy; true for any business that you may be in today) and Social media for fun (that is essential too – to keep you in touch, to bust your stress, to keep you in step with breaking news and latest trends).

4. Prioritize. No indulging first thing in the morning

A lot of us wake up to the alarm set on our smart phones. And with this proximity with the device comes the easy opportunity to quickly check out the posts on the Social media. Similarly, we fall into the trap at the Breakfast table or when we are booting the computer at work. We tell ourselves it will take only a few minutes but it never does as we get so immersed in one post after another, losing the track of time.

Time Management Gurus have been telling us for years to fight the urge to check and respond to our emails first thing at the start of our day. Now the onslaught is from several directions and the risk of losing precious time so much more.

Make a rule of finishing at least one major or two moderate tasks before you get on the Social media platforms for work. The feeling of having accomplished good work will be substantially high and you will end up achieving more by the end of the day.

As for Social media for fun, use it as a reward or a stress buster to a long, hard day. Treat it special, like entering a Country Club to catch a drink with friends on Facebook or engaging in a cerebral dialogue over coffee with connections on LinkedIn or allowing yourself interesting time-out on Twitter with shoes kicked off, satchel laid aside and that tie loosened up.

5. Pay your undivided Attention

Oftentimes, we flit from one Social Media platform to another with a zombie like stance, mindlessly rolling down on one and then sprinting to another; with no time given to comprehend, digest, enjoy or introspect on what we are soaking in, giving our valuable time to it.

“In the age of social media, our attention can get bounced around like a ping pong ball, from this call, to that text message, to that tweet, such that by the end of the day we are exhausted. Mindfulness, or attention to the present moment, is lost. We spend our day “chasing,” letting others determine our focus, not choosing for ourselves where to put our attention and attending to the tasks most important to us,” warns Soren Gordhamer.

Be cognizant of whatever information you are taking in. This way you will register the information more and will also feel satiated with the consumption of the information overload. Being present on the platforms but still not being really there creates a sense of vacuum that mechanical surfing fails to fill, instead creating a sense for more craving.

“When players practice what is known as mindfulness — paying attention to what’s actually happening — not only do they play better and win more, they also become more attuned to each other,” advises Phil Jackson, who has won a record 10 NBA Championships as a coach.

The lure of Social Media will only increase with time. With their significance and power as a potent media form, we will not be able to switch ourselves off or log ourselves completely out of it. What is going to be of utmost importance will be to come to a state of balance between how much and how little, how often and how infrequently and which one to lean more on than the others. Similarly, like in work-life balance, we will have to learn to carve a middle path between a simply ‘wired’ life to one that we must live in the real terms.

“The challenge of our time is to live connected and use all the great social media available to us, while at the same time harness and direct our attention where it is most needed at any given time,” adds Gordhamer.

Learning to manage and reap the Social media with the above strategies will bring in the distinction between being fatigued and focussed, shifty and attentive, engaged and effective, busy and productive, reckless and result-driven and overwhelmed or empowered.

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Picture courtesy - Google Images

5 Ways to never be out of a Job!

A Big Gun’s head has rolled in the international hospitality playfield. It is one of the bigger exits by way of the profile of the Company and the stature of the person.

The man has held a strong reputation in the industry. He has a proven track record and is well-respected. He has often, in the past, proven his meritocracy via his experience and expertise and added magic figures to the bottom line. Still, the door is being shown to him.

Must all of us be prone to getting the pink slip, at some stage in our careers? Must the ‘sword of sack’ always hang perilously over our heads?

There must be something surely, that we can keep up at, so as to be able to leave just when we want to, on a positive note, with a warm handshake and a promise to meet again at another crossroad. Could the following be some of the important things we can do to keep our jobs?

Stay relevant

The dynamics of businesses are in a constant state of change. Innovations and the latest R&D ensure that we must continually upgrade our product. Further, wide exposure, varied experiences, cross-cultural influences and personal demands bring about frequent changes in the needs and desires of the guests. They are demands that products and facilities, endorsed by the guests, must meet and satisfy.

Furthermore, the profile of our customers keeps changing – we not only keep adding new segments to our guest pie but even the existing customers bring in their bagful of new wishes and expectations.

Suffice it to say that our business is in a consistent cycle of evolution. Therefore we, as significant cogs in the wheel, must stay relevant and ready to address these changes that spell growth.

Ask yourself! When the great wheels of motion, brought about by the intense winds of positioning and the cyclonic pressures of competition, churn with momentum, are you prepared to realign yourself both tactically and strategically? Only those of us who are; will continue to remain useful to the organizations we work for?

If yes, then you are there for good!

Keep your contact database updated

Regardless of the changes in the way we communicate and stay in touch in these digitally-heightened times, a rolodex or the cards-holder as a time-tested contraption to help us stay connected will never go out of fashion; as long as we continue to display our professional identities through our ‘calling cards.’

In hotels, a lot of people do each other’s jobs which were heretofore considered traditional territories. Think Sales, Public Relations, Guest Services. Now, reflect on how many times a

Front Office clerk or a Housekeeping executive has initiated a deal! With this sort of multi-functionality at play, a professional is most dynamic when he keeps his rolodex ship-shape, weeded out and up to speed with any fluctuation in his contact database.

And who is the smartest sales person? It is the one who cross intersects the contact base from various departments, collects gems of information and reaps benefit by mining it wisely.

I have outsmarted myself on two distinct scores at different places of work. As a Media Relations Officer at the Australian Diplomatic Mission in India, I set about creating a magnum opus of a media list. Apart from the regular suspects, the list also had residence address and number, spouse name, birth date and anniversary date. Of course, it was a time consuming exercise and done without the help of an assistant (the High Comm. had a no secretary policy).

I, often, insisted on speaking with the targeted journalist / editor to get the information. At the end of it, I had invested enough time to get to know the person better. ‘The’ list, indeed, paved the way for fostering a great relationship. To this day, well 20 years after, I still count a lot of people on that list as good friends or business associates as the case may be.

Another time, I made an ambitious plan to make a giant database of guest contacts, pooling information from my own office, the General Manager’s, Sales, Front Office, F&B and the Guest Relations departments.  I set about putting all relevant information – from likes and dislikes to allergies and tiniest of preferences. Of course information on important dates in the guest’s life was de rigueur.

And to make it one mean list, I also put all the relevant data around the guest’s virtual avatar. A list, such as this, kept in its most healthy and up-to-date condition is an extremely potent arsenal for conducting the business of hoteliering.

Network

The database is only as good as the use it is put to. A good list of contacts that is allowed to sit out for long and gather dust is a career-killer.

In most businesses, but primarily in industries such as hospitality, Networking is simply butter to our bread, with the propensity to elevate a simple interaction to a business proposition.

There is a plethora of people to network with – colleagues from other departments, team mates from sister hotels in the chain, most definitely guests – all kinds viz. room, restaurant, Spa or those visiting any other facility offered by your hotel, the media, members of the fraternity, community folk, people from allied industries – travel agents, government bodies, tour operators, tourism boards and international travel associations.  

I find networking to be one of the best real-time teachers, imparting valuable lessons that you imbibe both consciously and subliminally. Besides, networking keeps you in the circuit, ensures top of the mind recall for you and your brand and provides a ready track for two-way information sharing.

Finally, in the present times of one-touch, instant communication, there is no excuse for not staying networked with the right audience. The only downside of this, perhaps, maybe that you must watch for the overkill!

Keep your ears, eyes and mind open

The above should, in any case, be a mantra for your life in general. It, undoubtedly, pays richly to keep your senses sharp, soaking in important information, new knowledge and experiences as you go up and along.

While at work in a people-rich environment, you must be aware of the concentric and intersecting circles the human equations work in. You must learn to accept peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, be receptive of behavioural differences, take the high road more often than not and be a great team player in the dynamics of the disparate smorgasbord of attitudes and aspirations.

Keeping your ears and eyes open also helps you be in touch with the grapevine – certainly an inevitable, irresistible and often the main source of information regarding important goings-on and changes in the offing.

But the most important thing is to keep your mind open and be amenable to changes, novel additions to your work life, new colleagues, new way of doing things and of the evolutionary aspect of business as it gets ready to fight new competition and meet its vision headlong.

Learn new techniques, tricks and tactics

Yes, it is a fact of life. Change is, truly, the only constant. As time goes, we stay in a continuous state of churning. Everyone and everything – our vision, our projection, the way we do our business, demands on us, guest expectation, technology, creative influences, benchmarks, our aspirations from the brand value and the bottom line – yes, we all are in a state of upward progression.

That is why we must be perpetual learners, adding new skills to our repertoire. As a PR Specialist, I know that I must become adept at the social media, website management, SEO, photo editors, publishing tools, webinars, video conferencing, virtual meets et. al.

A Sales resource must be as proficient in the traditional sales strategies as in Digital marketing, TripAdvisor, Reputation and Social media management, prompt addressing of comments left behind on the Company website or elsewhere.

It pays for a Concierge or Guest Relations executive to be multi-lingual. This holds true for a lot of other team members too. At hotels, not only do we work in a multinational / multicultural environment, our guests too fly in from all corners of the globe. It is a given that speaking in someone’s native tongue is an instant connector breaking down most other barriers.

The General Manager has to be a jack of all trades, mastering new facets from all departments so as to be efficient enough to captain his ship.

One of the finest practices an erstwhile boss had adopted was to share a lot of information covering all departments with his team. We were a part of his change agent team working at re-launching a brand and he made sure that each of us kept up our eagerness to learn what was happening around us in the other areas.

I remember being reprimanded by the French boss when I came for the morning meeting through the lobby failing to notice the spectacular flower show-stopper that had been put together by the newly hired Floral Artists. The GM kept up with his incessant reminders for us to branch out and develop a keen interest in all the other functions of the hotel, prohibiting us from becoming the proverbial ostriches.

Today, when I write informative articles about General Hotel Management and find my pieces used as case studies by hotel schools, I have a lot to thank the GM and his ways for.

Do reflect on these tips to bridge the gap between your efforts and expected rewards. And try them out as a professional strategy for not only keeping yourself firmly ensconced in your business chair but to put yourself in the reckoning for greater returns.

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Note - Picture courtesy - Google Images