MY PR MANTRAS!

I was once (in 2002) voted as the best PR person in the hospitality industry by the Hospitality editor of Indian Express Newspaper in India. A highly satisfying and motivating recognition that, today, gives me the confidence to share some of MY tricks of the trade. I, in utmost humility, present herewith a leaf out of my PR book -

1. I try to be a good strategist and look at new avenues (even unprecedented) to get my company's story or message out.

2. I have tried to develop a reputation of reliability and responsiveness in good turnaround time, even if sometimes the response is in the negative. I always try to respond and close the communication loop.

3. Employ lateral thinking and use varied, multi-level opportunities, some of which are freshly created, either in isolation or in sync with a co-worker.

4. Understand the media's perspective instead of being a push-over and forcing someone to give me column cm space.

5. Be a good ideating, fact-crunching support that the Boss can fall back on at interviews. Be his mouth piece without taking the credit and the shine away from him.

6. Be an excellent writer and an eclectic one, so that one could be good at doing the press releases, articles, speeches, manuals, business letters, web text and so on.

7. Be a good public speaker.

8. Build long-term relationships with the media and the other significant publics. Respect even the cub reporter (regardless of one's own seniority) and watch the relationship blossom once the cub grows into a lion of an editor.

9. Be abreast with current, business and industry news. Not only does that make you intelligent but also a lot of ideas come from there.

10. Be adaptable and flexible and thin yourself out in terms of gaining experience and meeting new job requests. At my last job, I got to train even the telephone operators on communication skills, write manuals, prepare lot of archival documentation, write most of the business letters regardless of the department, write the web text myself without outsourcing it and enjoy the privilege of designing, writing and creating a lot of marketing communications collateral.

11. Be eager to learn and raise my personal benchmark at every instance.

12. Be a good mentor and trainer to my subordinates.

13. Be able to integrate the PR function into the larger business plan of the company and cease to see it as a soft, fluffy side-function.

14. Play an integral role in Company's profit protection by honing a lot of in-house skills.

I am sure, you have your own list too. It would be a wonderful experience to hear yours and integrate it into my 14.

Pictures Courtesy - Google Images

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SUPER STATEMENTS FOR SPEEDING ON A SUCCESSFUL WORK EXPRESSWAY - PART TWO

What we speak and how we say it has a large bearing on our personal and professional relationships. When asking someone to do our bidding, there is a world of difference between saying, “Can you please do this?” and “I am asking you to do this.”

I often notice that when my better half criticizes someone, the effect on the person and their understanding of the issue is always positive. While I may be the more glib one of the two, I do not seem to get this reaction from the people even if I may be saying the same thing. The reactions I get are generally – raised voices, flared up nostrils, stiff, stubborn body language and irritated demeanour. The only difference, I have come to realize, is in the way I say things. With the knowledge of this realization I am making fast and permanent strides towards bringing about the relevant changes. Mind you, I would be reaping the benefits from this change.

Our work places are given to form, our equations are structured and our communications have quite become pro forma. Given this background and the pre-disposing factors we come with – the latter coupled with our immediate reactions to the complex situations at work; we tend to embellish our communication set with standard statements that we fall back on often during the day.

In my earlier article on the same subject, I listed out a set of 11 statements that bring out the best in us and show us in the positive light. In this article, let us look at the flip side and reflect on the set of statements that should seldom be a part of our repertoire –

Here are the CONTRA STATEMENTS -

1. YES SIR, YES SIR, THREE BAGS FULL SIR

Being saddled with the Raj mentality, having been a colonized workforce under the British Masters, we were coerced to learn for the better part of 200 years that it was not our place or position to disagree with those who ruled us. As a legacy, this yesmanship continued well beyond the hour of freedom and into the last 64 years of our independence. Beset in a crab mentality and plagued with the twin parasites of nepotism and “Sahebism,” we learnt to resort to pleasing our superiors in order to gain favours at best or to be saved from the unwarranted wrath at worst.

The sociologists will give an in depth analysis into why we are the way we are. But even they will not shy away from stating that the times have changed. Professional India is more open, fair, meritocracy-based and comparable to international norms. What was a given earlier, is anathema today. The HR is a strong department, bosses are younger and given to fair practices, the workforce is more trained and professional. This is to say that there is no reason for us to keep our noses brown. Just being suited for the position, professionally sound and skilled is, in most places, enough to get you ahead. Of course there will always be the oddballs but a qualified person like you will be highly in demand and will not have to resort to shameful tactics.

Agree to show allegiance to the right things, do not express dissent just to be a rebel and for God’s sake don’t be a yes man just for the sake of apple polishing.

2. I, ME, MYSELF!

Don’t be an “I” man either – it is simply obnoxious. Your work should be such that it is talked about. In most cases leave the trumpet at home. I do not mean to say that you should be a wallflower or a shrinking violet and let people walk over you. But it also does not mean that the only set of pronouns you have a fondness for are “I, Me & Myself.”

How many times in our places of work have we heard such pompous statements like – “I bring the biggest sales figures to the table,” “I have the largest number of media contacts,” “Only I can get the press release published or the event covered,” “The boss listens only to me.” What’s worse, we ourselves have been guilty of this.

Please talk about yourself, your strengths and accomplishments; but in the right forums. There are open sessions, appraisals, and one-to-ones where you can wax eloquent about yourself. Besides, your work will often be such that people who matter will know of the value you bring to the table and its corresponding nuts and bolts. There are also times when it will be absolutely natural and quite essential to state your contribution. For all other times, do us and yourself a favour and don’t be a gasbag.

3. YOU ARE NOT PERFORMING / YOU ARE NOT EFFICIENT / YOU ARE NOT BEING A GOOD TEAM PLAYER / YOU ARE LATE, AGAIN

These are, indeed, important statements when you manage a team or an organization and for ensuring optimal performance from all people. But please don’t make these rants personal – there is and should be no scope for any vendetta or ego or imbalance in the liking-a-person factor. Be absolutely professional about the grouse or complaint you have against somebody, which should not be based on the fact that you do not like their face or that they forgot to wish you on your birthday.

And as an absolute no-no, please do not scold anybody in public – in a public forum, in meetings, in front of the rest of the team. When you must vent out in hyperbole, it must always be in private, behind closed doors.

Remember how one positive statement or compliment can charge you up and make your day! Then, also remember that one negative statement – at times misplaced; at other times intensified – can put cracks in the motivation level and break the day for the recipient.

4. I COULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER

And who says so? It is important to have a high sense of self worth and positive self-perception but it is as important to be both realistic and open to how others see you. The best is the middle path – a clear self-knowledge balanced with a healthy dose of significant others’ perception of you.

Instead of being a single piece band singing the same tune, let your actions and your results at work speak louder.

A blatant statement like that often shows off a basket of sour grapes. Don’t say it; just prove it by your mettle. And if you must utter it then do so in the right earnest, in order to salvage a matter-at-hand, and never to spite another colleague.

Also remember that for that task the person in question was thought to be the best suited or it is part of their portfolio or the boss finds them the right fit for it. There is no scope for odious comparisons. Your work should and will put you in the right perspective vis-à-vis the talent you bring to the table.

5. BUT I THINK IT IS THIS / YOU KNOW I FEEL THIS IS THE CASE / NO, NO WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS……..

Stop right there! In a meeting with several people or even a dialogue with one, do not interrupt. It is plain bad manners and shows disrespect towards the other point of view; besides, you also end of puncturing the flow of a discussion.

Please let others complete what they have to say. Interruptions are only called for when co-workers bring in unnecessary inputs (but be a sound judge of that before you open your traps) or are wasting time and you are good in time management. Secondly, interruptions can be easily made by the top dog (even then it should be justified) as he / she has earned the position and the inherent right to do so.

6. I HEARD SO AND SO LOVES TO FLATTER THE BOSS AND THAT IS HOW THEY GET REWARDED / DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY BOTH ARE GOING AROUND / I DON’T THINK SHE HAS DONE THE TASK ON HER OWN…..

Do NOT gossip and add to the grapevine. Remember what goes around comes around. There are thousands of great topics to be discussed and shared at the water cooler; Osama’s slaying at the hands of Obama could even be one. But why would you want to wash other people’s dirty linen in public or play up your own sob story!

Also remember, that it is YOU who makes the organization in step with all your other colleagues. And that you would wish to work for a good and healthy organisation so why get into a smearing, staining and salacious game at work.

Leave alone work, even in personal life such muck is extremely degenerative and counter-productive. So, please desist.

7. APOLOGIES FOR GETTING BACK TO YOU SO LATE BUT I WAS TRAVELLING OR MY SERVER WAS DOWN OR A BLACK CAT CROSSED MY PATH ON WAY TO WORK

If you are punctual, organize well, work hard and smart and delegate well then you will not be running late, ever so often. And your internal and external clients will not be sending you those terrible reminders.

Of course, in the big bad world of organizational cornucopia, workload is gigantic, demands unceasing and the tick-tock of the clock incessantly reminding of the sad depletion of time at hand. And hence, poor you and I have to hide behind big excuses. But you know what; everybody has those 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. Yet some of us get so much more done than the rest of us. There are people who are running big organizations, running marathons, doing their bit of social work, attending to themselves and their family – all in the same time frame.

Have you also noticed that it is the same set of people who come up with the same bleak excuses! On the other hand, there are those same admirable others who accomplish a lot more, respond to every text or email message and what the heck, also remember to wish all their colleagues on their special days. I’d rather be in the second set. What about you?

8. I THINK THAT GROUP DOESN’T LIKE YOU THAT IS WHY THEY DONOT SUPPORT YOU / BUT HE SAID THAT HE HAD HANDLED THE TASK AND NOT YOU / MR. XYZ, I DON’T SEE THE OTHER PERSON AT HIS DESK PERHAPS THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A JOB ELSEWHERE…….

You are not in politics (which is actually a different profession with a huge social responsibility and in itself should be as far removed from the negative connotation of its name). You are a good worker who works for a proper organization where merit is mighty and hard work the hallmark of success, so why would you get into becoming political and adding negative undercurrents to an organization that should thrive on positive energy.

Research shows that office politics is one of the biggest reasons for turning healthy organizations into sick institutions, for making sure that the good workforce moves to healthier pastures, for wasting large amounts of organisation’s money and resources and for sapping out positive energy, enthusiasm and productivity from its workforce.

If that still doesn’t perk up your ears then remember the old adage, one who spreads malicious rubbish about others will do the same for you amidst another willing audience. Would you like to be grouped in this category?

9. I AM IN A MEETING AND WILL CALL YOU BACK

For heaven’s sake, when you ARE in a meeting do not take that the call. Call them back after the meeting is over. Or if it is earth shatteringly important then send a passive SMS. But do get back when the meeting is over. Do not even resort to texting when in a meeting. You are in this meeting as your attentive presence is required to contribute effectively to the proceedings. Don’t belittle that!

Also, don’t use this as a lame excuse, every time, in order to escape unwanted people and calls. No one is in a meeting all the time. In order to keep your sanity and so as not to hurt others, get ingenuous and creative with your smart ones.

While on this subject, please adhere to telephone etiquette even outside of meetings. Taking personal phone calls in official spaces and being loud about the whole personal business is a big no-no. Conducting telephone discussions / Skype meetings in high decibels while still in your cubicle and within everybody else’s ear shot is a definite off-putter. And so are unpleasant ringtones, crass language and tacky mannerisms.

10. MY CHILD HAS WON A SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP / WE REALLY LET OUR HAIR DOWN AT THE PARTY LAST NIGHT

There is that lunch hour or coffee break and the cafeteria for you to share personal information. And I am sure you have enough buddies at work who would love to hear your story with a lot of interest and enjoyment. Please refrain from doing so anywhere and anytime and in front of just about anybody.

What’s more, the informal pub meetings with colleagues or weekend bowling sessions are ideal places to get to know your colleagues even more personally and share your family stories in gay abandon. But to do so in official meetings and in front of a large audience just does not cut. Your personal stories are not for mass consumption and not everybody cares how many martinis you downed last night or which expensive gift your husband brought you from his latest junket or even which Earth Day painting competition your child won.

Be discreet. Be proper. Enjoy telling your stories to the right set of people, at the right time and more importantly when it is the time for sharing also have the patience and happy willingness to hear your pals’ stuff too.

11. YOU ARE THE FINEST BOSS I HAVE WORKED WITH / I COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER COLLEAGUE / MY TEAM, YOU ARE THE BEST!

Nothing wrong in going OTT and gushing with positive statements and energy. But please do not overdo it lest you begin to sound fake and repetitive. A lot of times action speaks more than the words.

Also, never ever be two-faced – not at work and never in your life. Don’t get into corridor stop-overs or over the cubicle exchanges with absolutely contrary statements – The Boss is one hell of a S.O.B / My God, the colleagues I have are really a bunch from hell / If it weren’t for the lousy team I am strapped with, I could have delivered much better. Such a flippant attitude shows up an extremely poor character and a personality that is not reliable and trustworthy.

Just because somebody has pleased you no end and become your Demigod for the day, he / she should not get into your bad books or become a devil only because they choose to disagree with your point of view this time.

Be balanced in your understanding of people, don’t be fickle about your perceptions of them and have your thoughts perched on an even keel.

So there it is. Our set of Eleven Contra Commandments. What a fine armory they make coupled with the Affirmative Statements. And these 11+11 practised with consciousness and delivered with sincerity promise to turn you into that perfect employee-of-all-times and smoothen out all the rough edges.

Have a great work day!

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PS - Pictures Courtesy - www.deviantart.com

SUPER STATEMENTS FOR SPEEDING ON A SUCCESSFUL WORK EXPRESSWAY - PART ONE

Today, I would like to present a set of positive and contra statements that should really form the basis for a professional’s code of ethics and develop into tenets that help you become a super achiever in life.

Let’s call them our Eleven Commandments and see how they work for or against us.

AFFIRMATIVE STATEMENTS -

1. I DON’T KNOW

This by far is the single most important statement that can become part of your repertoire. It is loaded with wisdom (you are wise enough to acknowledge what you do or don’t know), maturity (you are mature enough to accept that) and inclination to learn (only when you know and accept that you do not know something that you are willing to take steps in the direction of learning it and making it part of your knowledge bank).

Once my General Manger quizzed me on the International Media plan I had presented to him. He wanted to know why I was allocating the same budget to Condé Nast Traveller in US and UK. I murmured back a weak response instead of getting into a healthy discussion around the fact that I did not know that one had a higher profile and larger circulation and readership than the other. My lame, halting acceptance made me cut a very sorry figure. But the plus side of it, on hindsight, is that I will never ever forget that.

On a cultural ambassadorship to the US and being hosted by some of the most high profile Rotarians in the District, one thing that I noticed strongly was the fact that regardless of the Rotarian’s seniority or position or experience, if he or she did not know something they would say so and would then look at the second part of this – that of getting to know about the topic. Not only did they manage to invite more respect from us for their forthrightness but they also went about increasing their knowledge base in the process.

2. I WILL FIND OUT AND COME BACK TO YOU

On the same Cultural Exchange and amidst the same group of opinion makers, we also noticed that the second statement used by them in tandem with the first was “I will find out and come back to you.” Which, we pleasantly noticed that they did, no matter how small our query or how insignificant our question.

So please do find out and come back. There are two main advantages of this. The first – it shows that you are a professional and a person of your word. Second – it makes you go through the research required in finding out and ensures that you remember the subject for a long time.

3. I WILL COME BACK IN FIVE MINUTES / IN A DAY OR A WEEK OR WHATEVER

This holds a whole lot of importance in the context of India and with regard to the large sense of timelessness that we seem to live in – a concept that is unique to this ancient land and even its modern people. Consider this – we use the same term for both yesterday and tomorrow – Kal – and the timeline seems to glide from one to the other and back in the most effortless manner.

Two poles-apart incidents come to mind here – On a business trip to Washington DC back in 2001, I came across a ‘Men at Work’ sign on a busy road. Along with this sign was another that stated the date when the Public Work had started and the one when it would be completed. Coming from India, it was a pleasantly strange experience for me. Imagine something like that happening in India even in 2011. Can we ever forget the nightmarish construction, mismanagement and botch up that went about in the organization of the recently held Commonwealth Games in India’s Capital City!

One day, I found my boss’s French wife in a terribly pesky mood. On scratching the surface I found out that the poor soul had been held at ransom by the woodworks force working in her apartment. The supervisor had been promising to her, with a big smile and a booming voice, that the simple repair work would be finished tomorrow and then most definitely day after tomorrow. But she kept waiting for Godot and tomorrow never came till the Chief Engineer withheld the money asked for by the Supervisor. Only then did the team miraculously reappear, all hale and hearty to finish the work in a few days time. Sound familiar???
However, now we should be tuning ourselves differently, oiling our mental clocks and resetting our reminders, alarms and electronic beeps. Being denizens of the fifth largest economy in the world and key players in shaping the globalizing businesses, we must be in step with how the world clock moves.
Hence, when you give a timeline for a task or a response to a query or feedback, please respect it. You and I know that the Indian Standard timed response of five minutes for everything usually means NEVER and is not only pathetic but bad publicity for all Indians in general.

4. MY PR MANAGER HAS WRITTEN THE MANUAL OR MY RIGHT HAND MAN HAS CONCEIVED AND EXECUTED THE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OR MY ASSISTANT HAS HANDLED THIS EVENT COMPLETELY ON HER OWN

Do not steal credit. Give it where it is due, in time, in the most gracious manner and in front of the right audience.

In 1996 working with the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, I was an integral part of Australia India New Horizons – Australia’s country promotion in India, the biggest that they had done in any country in the world. For the business agenda, I found myself heading the media team for Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister for Australia then. I was responsible for organizing the main India Press Conference for the Minister at FICCI. At the end of a particularly well-organised and hugely attended press meet, Minister Downer turned to Gai Brodtmann – my boss at that time – to thank her for the stupendous success of the media interaction. Imagine my immense surprise when in front of the entire Australian delegation and its Indian minders Gai told Minister Downer that it was not she but I who should be thanked. She went ahead to speak some more positive and encouraging words. Downer did what was due then and later had a wonderful letter sent to me by the Foreign Affairs Department but it was Gai Brodtmann’s action that went down as one of the best lessons in management for me – a lesson I still recall and always hope to live by when the ball is in my court.

On the other hand, in one of my recent positions, I was handling a big pie of strategic work for my organization – setting a non-existent department, building a brand from scratch, developing international and national media contacts, writing out manuals ………you get the general drift! Somehow, in the latter part of my tenure I seemed to get on the wrong side of the temperamental boss. While he still acknowledged the value I brought to the table but he began to appreciate my work in private (within the four walls of his office or during a one-on-one in the lobby) and completely disregard it publicly. This two-faced stance kept me busy with a sordid guessing game (he is happy today, tomorrow he is not) and managed to be extremely demoralizing and de-motivating. My advice – please do not give such a harrowing time to anybody.

Giving credit, acknowledging team work, appreciating the junior’s praiseworthy deliverables shows that you are a confident, secure and fair professional. Not only do you give good vibes, nurture a healthy environment but also garner a lot of respect for yourself amidst the significant others.

5. I WAS AWAY ON SICK LEAVE OR VACATION OR ………….

Unless it becomes a habit or harbours on absenteeism, we all need a chunk of ‘ME’ time every once in a while. More so if you work six days a week, twelve or fourteen hours a day or work in organizations that never sleep, like the hospitality industry.

So it is OK to take the time off when you need it – sometimes to attend that PTA meeting, to run a personal errand or to simply just relax at home. But please be honest. Give the right reasons. For everything don’t make your mother or wife or in-laws fall ill ever so often and forcibly. Everybody can see through these shams.

If you are well planned, are not given to long and recurring periods of absence and work for a decent, healthy organization then you would enjoy your work times as much as the play times. There would be a proper work-life balance and you will not have to resort to cheap gimmicks.

6. YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB / THAT WAS AN EXCELLENT IDEA

Compliment colleagues (and at times even your boss) when you feel that they deserve it. And if you are positive minded then you will often feel so.

Have you noticed how one positive comment in the morning sets the tone for the rest of your work day – you exhibit more energy, you make less mistakes, you get along better with people, there is a zing to your step and you happily put in those extra couple of hours; all because somebody took a minute to make that congratulatory remark.

Being vocal and laudatory about a good input by a colleague will help gain currency for you in their mindsets and will cultivate a healthy professional relationship. You may not like a person but even if you don’t like them it does not mean that they are not good people or good workers. Don’t let your personal biases cloud your professional attitude and judgement.

7. I THANK YOU

Three magic words that can thaw the hardest of icebergs and become a bridge between the toughest of feuding opponents. Coupled with ‘I AM SORRY,’ another set of three magical words, they should form the content of your constant communication from the time you learned to speak and add your two bit to this world.

Show gratitude for any and every good gesture that come your way or the help and support extended to you by the co-workers, irrespective of their stature. This includes well-meaning thank yous even to the office boy who gets you your tea or the housekeeping attendant who cleans up your desk. (Yes, it is their job, but they did it properly, diligently and without fail for you, without cutting corners and you ARE grateful for that).

8. I COULDN’T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOU, MY TEAM / BOSS, YOUR INPUTS WERE CRUCIAL IN GETTING MY ASSIGNMENT COMPLETED

Appreciate the influences from others that impact your work. Remember you are not an island and cannot function in isolation even if you are a lone ranger and head a one person department.

Often in the hectic humdrum of official activity, we tend to overlook the fact that the department is actually not just the lofty name – Front Office, Human Resources, Food & Beverage, Sales & Marketing – but a livewire matrix of people right from the HOD down to the Housekeeping attendant or the Kitchen Steward. And no matter where we may have graduated from – Lausanne in Switzerland or Wharton in the US – or acquired the initial years of experience, we cannot handle the department on our own steam without the valuable contribution from the team.

Similarly, if the organization is not stewarded by the astuteness, vision and brilliance of a top-of-the-line top dog then the organization will not be a happy, productive and optimally performing place that it should be. So, if this is the place you work in and that is the kind of boss you work for, then let him or her know it when appropriate.

9. MY DEADLINE DEPENDS ON YOU, HENCE PLEASE DELIVER YOUR PART OF THE TASK ON TIME

Say it plainly, professionally and without any extra baggage of undue emotion. No drama required, just plain business speak; as many a times the proper completion of your assignment depends on the inputs from others. And if they lag behind then you will fall short of your commitment. The end result – the organization as a whole suffers.

It is extremely important to be assertive and convey your expectation to those on whom your targets depend. You are hired in that position or are considered a good performer because you deliver. And when it comes to delivering well on an assignment, it would be shoddy of you to say that you could not finish because so and so did not give you the information. It is your responsibility to work through the organizational matrix and ensure that all dots are connected.

10. I CAN DO IT!

The biggest mantra in your work life. No, wait a minute, in life itself. From Carnegie to Khera, Vincent Peale to Covey, all motivational gurus have urged you to inculcate a “can do” spirit.

I recently read a highly motivating article about how baby elephants were tied with a metal chain fastened to a metal rod and trained to remain tied. These elephants, even when they grew to be 5000 kilo giants and even when the metal rods were replaced by wooden pegs, refused to develop a “can do” spirit and unshackle themselves from the bondage. This is true for the human mind as well. With several inhibitions and reservations chaining us and a myriad of criticisms, warnings, prohibitions pegging us down, somewhere along the way we forget to realize our potential and shove the “can do” will in the confines of a “will not” womb.

From working on a writing assignment to organizing an event to conceiving a brand new idea to taking on a crisis situation to being a team leader; all along our work lives, we keep coming face to face with thousands of opportunities to which we can enthusiastically say, “I can do it.”

The advantage – it shows off your leadership skills, exhibits enthusiasm, develops a take charge attitude, keeps your learning / practicing trait well-oiled and showcases the winning spirit.

Wonderful opportunities come to only those who keep the door open and “I CAN DO IT” is the biggest mental door of all.

11. I CANNOT DO IT

On the first look, this appears as a contra statement of the earlier positive statement. But there is nothing overly negative about it, if it is used judiciously and is backed by a good reputation. It simply means that you are ready to delegate or are ready to learn or are not willing to pull wool.

Every handbook on management ideas or time management, every self-help book on getting the best out of you expounds the virtues of the ability to say NO.

Use this statement well and in the right places – when you are being unjustifiably overloaded, when it is time to delegate wisely, when the demands or colleagues are being unreasonable, when your targets and performance are at stake, when you KNOW that the request is coming from a sleazy palm-offer who excels in passing on his or her work to you and when it is just too much to handle.

Use this statement inwardly as a personal motivational tool – I cannot do this hence I must learn it / I cannot do it and must find out why can’t I do it / I am an excellent, diligent performer and I will only say “I cannot do it” when I really am snowed under. And finally, I cannot do it as it is not my place or position to do it.

Here’s hoping that you find fewer speed breaks and road blocks and that your ride is as less bumpy as it can be. Remember it is the free spirit and the fearless will that will find the smooth freeways on the highway of professional happiness.

pictures courtesy - www.deviantart.com

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UNDERSTANDING THE ANATOMY OF AN ORGANISATION!

Once we are out of the somewhat carefree college and university days we end up spending a major chunk of our lives in professional organizations, quite until it is time to hang up our boots and retire to a slow-paced, less hectic twilight years.

Hence it is essential to understand what are these buildings all about where we spend anywhere between 10-12 hours of our waking up time and 5-6 days of our week. As we all know, the building are much more than edifices of mortar, glass and steel often designed by award-winning companies. They are actually living things that breathe, inhale and exhale energy and embody characteristics and emotions mirroring all of us who go in and work there. What essentially forms the baseline of these buildings is three important constituent elements – the livewire organizations, the complex set of colleagues we work with and ‘WE’ ourselves who bring in our unique disposition to the matrix, sometimes maddening but always mindful of all these elements.

Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand what kind of organizations would we like to work in - a progressive organization where we can achieve more or would we rather stay put in a mediocre one striving to improve it?

We all have worked in both kinds of organisations. There, really, is no ideal organisation and every place has its mixed dynamics as much as there are a matrix of people who work there and bring in their set of values, drives and energies adding to or depleting the corporate culture.

I used to lament about the deep-rooted politics, credit-stealing, clique driven and yes-man culture in my last organisation. And now when my niece talks of her experience with a Swiss MNC or a progressively Indian Legal Services / Development sector and my husband brings his woes from the Consumer Durables line of business, I notice that things are not very different. And that the more the companies may be different in their areas and appeal, the more they are the same in their cultural dynamics.

I am sure, most of us want to work with wonderfully progressive organisations with utopian work environments without realising that each of us are essential cogs in the corporate wheel.

My experience says that we need to do a lot of internalization and introspection in order to make our organisations optimum places to be in.

This brings us to the second component – our colleagues. How do we feel about the effect of our Co-Workers? It is, indeed, a mixed bag of thoughts and feelings depending on the personal and professional characteristics of the person in question.

There are great and efficient workers with questionable personal attributes.
There are excellent people with poor set of work related skills.
There are pathetic workers with deplorable personas, AND
There are wonderful, top notch colleagues with exemplary attitudes.

No organisation is immune to this awesome foursome of categories.

Our response to them, our kinetics of equations at work and the interconnected web of relationships therein is a result of the chain of reactions set off by each of these conductors. Isn't it???

This finally brings us to the most important component. We, ourselves.
What single-most important quality should underline the personality that defines our professional identity and that would help us row our career boat in smooth waters avoiding choppy waves?

Here's my pick - It is definitely, Passion, Zeal, Enthusiasm, fire in the belly........and any other name that you may call it by.

Passion for one’s work ensures that the tiller paves smoothly all the paths that lead to his work or Goal. Be it, then, the path of wisdom or desire or honesty or punctuality or efficiency or being not just able to lead but always blend well with the team.

And because one has the passion, it certainly means that one has made sure that the essential requisites that arm him well for the road ahead - such as education or experience - are well honed.

Likewise, while passion can make people feel flighty, it still is going to ensure that for the success to be achieved again and again, shades of wisdom are roundly and squarely employed.

Finally, if it weren't for passion, then serendipity, creative genius, excellence, going beyond the brief and the marvel in the mundane would well be lost.
And keeping all the three cogs of the big wheel well oiled and continuously serviced will ensure a smooth and long professional ride.

Yet, having said all this, when the going gets really tough (and absolutely against your grain) then the tough get going (to find another place under the sun).

*********************

MY GOLDEN RULES FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS!

1. Upfront attitude - a high level of honesty, integrity and transparency go a long way, a very long way in your career.

2. Easy accessibility - with technology in your palm and on your fingertips, there is really no excuse.

3. Reliability - you owe it to yourself, to the identity you have carved for yourself and to the brand you represent.

4. Exchange information relevant to new ideas - nurture the media, be nurtured by their exposure to a wide range of issues and develop a winsome two-way information & knowledge sharing street.

5. Give complete information - Tailor make it and often go beyond the brief.

6. From reporter to senior editor, treat everyone with respect - Today's cub reporter will be tomorrow's editor.

7. Adhere to timelines, however acute they may be - this may just be the single most important reason that keeps you in news and your competition out of it.

8. Be genuinely friendly and not falsely flattering - believe me when I say that people can see through the sham.

9. Be professional - would you like to be any other way!

10. Always be interested - in people, in issues, in the news, in your job. The six inquisitive men are, then, your best friends for life.

11. Out of the box – Bring a sense of uniqueness to your role, put forth new ideas, look at things and issues from a new angle, develop new approaches – all, mind you, within the overall Company Profile and the defined set of POPs; for that is what defines your brand.

12. Brand Image - In all aspects that define you – your physical personality, your ideation, your work ethics and professionalism, your communication skills – be the best brand ambassador of your Company that you can be.

13. Idolize - Develop mentors along the way – your immediate boss, a person you have a dotted line to, the Company CEO, an industry champion, an international whiz kid in your chosen field and keep on injecting doses of inspiration in the course of your work day.

14. Mentor others - Be a mentor to the people you manage or who are junior to you in experience. Be a friend, guide and philosopher to others. Set fine examples and get emulated. You will be remembered for years and in the most positive fashion.

15. Become tech-savvy – Today we live as much in the virtual world as in the real. Every day some other new technology or a gadget is added to the already exhaustive list. Learn new software, befriend a new gadget. Stay on top of the game.

16. Web 2.0 – Make this one of your strongest ally. Be seen, be heard, be read 24/7 and what’s more, be able to control what is seen, heard or read about you. Tailor-make, monitor, regulate and police what appears about your Company on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, YouTube etc.

17. The written word – Learn to write well. Being in Public Relations, you are often the in-house writer of Press Releases, Speeches, Backgrounders, Talking points, Newsletters etc.

18. The spoken word – Hone your oratorical skills. Blossom out behind the mike. There will be several occasions where you will be asked to present yourself on the podium. Make yourself and your company proud by shining out there.

19. Be a perpetual learner – Graphic designing for those in-house design jobs, photography or styling or power point presentations or more – keep adding to your skill set.

20. Become a part of the larger pie – somebody wants a business letter written or needs help with their resume, offer your services; the telephone operators need training on English language skills, pronunciation and pre-set statements, get out there and help; another department needs a hand on their manuals or presentations, be that hand and so on.

21. Tune in the Trainer in you – Media train and nurture the media talent within your organization – your CEO, the chef, the F&B Head, even the Chief Engineer, the Executive Housekeeper and the Security Head. When media come calling for a wide range of stories, guess who gets asked for the perfect sound bytes!

22. Need for Knowledge – know your industry well; learn about the functioning of the other departments. Being in PR all this information comes in handy when developing your communication capsules.

23. Network – Take part in Industry seminars, forums, panel discussions. Become part of Public Relations Societies, network with relevant trade bodies, club out with Alumni or Ex-employee associations.
24. Get buck-savvy – Learn to understand the balance sheets, study the annual reports, bring in element of profit protection in your area, negotiate well with the outside agencies when contracting them for PR work.
25. Superman-ly – learn to multi-task (that’s the exact nature of your role after all), wear different hats, learn to beat the stress without allowing it to impact on your efficacy, deliver under pressure and be a positive team-player. The sub-title is misleading – this is not superman-ly at all. It is all in a day’s work.

PS 1 - Picture courtesy - Google Images

PS 2 - This post has appeared on www.hospemag.com on 29 March 2011 - http://www.hospemag.com/2011/03/25-golden-rules-for-pitch-perfect.html


**************

EMPOWERING OR OVERPOWERING?

This post has also appeared as my weekly 'Distinguished Contribution' in www.hosepmag.com on April 6, 2011. Here's the link -
http://www.hospemag.com/2011/04/dc-4-existential-lessons-on-active.html

As a published poet, on-a-sabbatical writer and a to-be-published author, I really do understand the importance of maintaining discipline, being focussed, goal oriented & consistent and setting priorities. Giving vent to seed-germination-plant theory, I place enough weightage to the fact that every action was once a noble thought that was nudged out of the crevices of the mind by strong will, determination, perseverance and a muster of all three assisted ably by hard work and creativity. With such straightened out thinking, as clear as water, what becomes my nemesis is the wrong-doing or sloth that comes in my path by way of procrastination and playful, mindless distractions. Such as checking out friends' statuses and pictures on Facebook, keeping abreast with the latest tweets of my tweeple, watching that interesting video on youtube or simply getting down to a nonsensical virtual game that is so utterly unproductive but helps me hide behind the sham that I am occupied, albeit ungainfully.

Though every morning starts with an honourable intention, a sacrosanct to-do list jotted down in the most private place in the house without any worldly interference and a resolve to conquer my Goliath, the moment the morning starts progressing into the day, my will begins to wither, the determination gets embattled by the urge to click elsewhere and the spirit starts slackening. The charms of social networking beckon and ensnare me in its fold relegating what's important to another day and time. And once you are onto this social, virtual juggernaut, it is mighty difficult to wean yourself out as it begins to suck you into the deep recesses of its womb. Sooner than later, you get into this jocular, other wordly mood living a vicarious existence in the lives of your friends, far removed from the real and important goals of YOUR life.

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 and with the result being zilch on the productivity front. Besides, new research is beginning to point out that humans cannot multi-task on more than two things at a time. So, turn a deaf ear to this latest scientific revelation at your own peril.

Finally, know thyself as bible exhorts, 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 onslaught of the unimportant or the less important, conquer the bastions and charge ahead on your mission and goals in life.

Here's a fantastic and informative piece by Soren Gordhamer, that's appeared in Mashable - The Social Media Guide, where he enlists FOUR steps for managing social media attention. Read on -

Soren Gordhamer is the organizer of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference, which brings together staff from Google, Facebook, and Twitter with others to explore living wisely in our modern age.

There have never been more things that call out for our attention: We have tweets to read, Facebook statuses to check, and now Google Buzz updates — 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.

When we do not manage our social media life, our attention (the essential element for any task) gets more and more divided, and we end up constantly busy, but not very effective. We find ourselves at the end of the day overwhelmed and fatigued, wondering, “Just what did I actually accomplish today?”

Below are four lessons in staying sane and focused amidst an active social media lifestyle.

1. Know the External Reflects the Internal

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

One of the essential questions for those of us who live active social media lives is, “Where should I put my attention? How much of my attention should I give to Facebook, Twitter (Twitter), Google Buzz, YouTube (YouTube), or another site?”

However, while the amount of our attention that we give to social media is important, so is the quality of that attention. It is hard to give our full attention to anything when internally we are feeling overwhelmed and unfocused. Our internal state gets mirrored in the external world, so even though we may spend a lot of time on social media sites, it may not be spent productively.

Taking time to settle your mind when you notice yourself off balance or overwhelmed — whether it is through a walk, a visit to the gym, or whatever works for you — can shift the state of your internal world such that you have a greater chance of making your time on social media more effective.

Lesson: Balance the internal before taking action in the external.

2. Do One Thing at a Time

“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.” — David E. Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan

I know this may sound counter-intuitive, but give it a try. Whatever you are doing, put all your attention on that. This means resisting the tendency to multi-task. In fact, a recent study at Stanford found that the more people multi-task, the worse they become at it.

Yes, that’s right — the more you do it, the worse at it you get. The illusion, of course, is that the busier we are, and the more we “do,” the more we accomplish. The research, curiously, paints a different picture.

Instead of checking Twitter or Facebook while also talking on your cell, finish one first, then do the next.

Lesson: Put all your attention on whatever you are doing at any given moment.

3. Invite Instead of Force

“Do or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda

The idea that the harder we try, the more we will get done, and the happier we will be is a myth. Of course, some effort is needed in any endeavor, but the real question is, “what kind of effort are we putting forth?” We have all likely met people who work like mad at their endeavors, including social media, yet consistently get very few results.

Some time ago I interviewed George Mumford, the sports psychologist who helped Chicago Bulls players during the Michael Jordan era get “in the zone” (he later also helped Los Angeles Lakers players). He said that the first thing he often tells players is that “if they try to get in the zone, they can’t.” Instead, it involves an open alert attention, and the same applies to our social media lives.

Trying too hard, whether it is to make a basketball shot, gather more followers on Twitter, or increase sales of a product, creates tension that impedes our work. We cannot force these things, but we can invite them through a balanced, steady effort.

Lesson: Engage with a focused and open attention that invites instead of forces.

4. Know Where Your Attention is Most Needed

“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.” — Phil Jackson, who has won a record 10 NBA Championships as a coach

How many times have you been talking with someone, and the person’s cell phone rings, and without even knowing who it was or if it was important, the person immediately vacated your conversation to take the call? It was not even a choice. He or she was attentive to you for one second, and then poof! The person was mentally gone the next.

Of course, there are times to take calls and respond via text while with a friend, but if we are not careful 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 spent 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.

Lesson: Ask yourself where your attention is most needed and direct it there.

Conclusion

In the coming years, the amount of information at our disposal is only likely to increase. When Google recently launched Google Buzz, their team addressed the challenges of this information era, saying, “we want to present some tools and techniques to help you manage your attention better.” While this is partly a technological problem, it is also an internal and life balance problem.

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. After all, where we decide to put our attention is, essentially, how we choose to spend our life.

5 Ways to Reduce Social Media Distractions and Be More Productive

As writers, there are two things that we come under the influence of - a Writer's Block that really is this big boulder stuck in the head, stopping all outflow of brilliant ideas and outpouring of our creative juices. On the other end of the spectrum is the Writer's Bug - that eggs you on to become more prolific and productive, and ensures that the pen never gets lifted off the page or the fingertips off the keyboard; given your preferential style of writing.

While the Bug is difficult to catch, the Block appears more often than desired, as any writer worth his salt will tell you. What's even more disastrous is that the Block is fed by several extraneous influences, the social media networking being one of the latest and biggest viral feeders of all.

Since I am as badly infected as the next Joe or Jane in line, I would like to share this excellent piece that shares tips for getting the better off this all-pervasive, incessant distraction(s).

Scott Belsky studies exceptionally productive people and teams in the creative world. He is the Founder and CEO of Behance, oversees The 99% think tank, and is the author of Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming The Obstacles Between Vision & Reality (Portfolio, April 2010). Here follows his piece that appeared in Mashable - The Social Media Guide :-

Those of us who are social media-savvy suffer from a burgeoning problem that constantly threatens our ingenuity. If we fail to acknowledge and solve this problem, our brilliant ideas may may never see the light of day.

Every single minute, more “stuff” is being sent your way. E-mails, text messages, voice mails, instant messages, Twitter (Twitter) messages, Facebook (Facebook) posts… and the list goes on. The proliferation of mobile devices only increases the flow.

What do you do with this deluge? You simply try to stay afloat. You peck away at the latest communications at the top of your many inboxes. And since the flow of information never ends, you risk slipping into a life of what I have come to call “reactionary workflow.”

For those of us with great ideas and bold goals for the future, reactionary workflow is a big problem. If we spend all day reacting to the incoming barrage of communication, we will fail to be proactive with our energy. Our long-term aspirations suffer as a result.

For the past five years, I’ve been interviewing super-productive leaders and teams — people at companies like Google (Google), IDEO, and Disney, and individuals like author Chris Anderson and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. I’ve never asked them how they come up with ideas. I’m not interested. My fascination is how they make their ideas happen, time and time again.

Many of the people I met have developed ways to combat reactionary workflow. Here are a few tips on how they do it.

1. Create Windows of Non-Stimulation

Once you open the door to communications overload, you could spend all day reacting to what’s thrown at you. Piers Fawkes, founder and editor of the marketing consultancy PSFK, reserves a good chunk of his morning –- from 7 to 10 a.m. every day -– to do research and digest the day’s trends and news prior to going through his e-mail. Proactively blocking out time for creating and absorbing, rather than just responding, is a key tactic of productive creatives.

2. Keep Two Lists

When it comes to organizing the day’s tasks — and how your energy will be allocated — create two lists: One for urgent items and another for important ones. Long-term goals and priorities deserve a list of their own and should not compete against the urgent items that can easily consume your day. Once you have two lists, you can preserve distinctly different periods of time for focus on each.

3. Schedule Focused Periods of Processing Every Day

During the research for my book, I met a number of people who swear by “power hours.” These individuals would try to compress all response-related work into pre-determined short periods of time every day, usually one to two hours of uninterrupted inbox clearing. The notion of compartmentalizing reactionary workflow was a theme across the most productive leaders I met.

4. Don’t Hoard Urgent Items

Even when you delegate operational responsibilities to someone else, you may still find you are hoarding urgent items as they arise. When you care so deeply about a project, you likely prefer to resolve things yourself.

Say an e-mail arrives from a client with a routine problem. Even though the responsibility may lie with someone else on your team, you might think, “Oh, this is a really quick fix, I’ll just take care of it.” And gradually your energy will start to shift away from long-term pursuits. Hoarding urgent items is one of the most damaging tendencies I’ve noticed in creative professionals that have experienced early success. When you are in the position to do so, challenge yourself to delegate urgent items to others.

5. Reduce Your Level of “Insecurity Work”

In the era of Google Analytics (Google Analytics) and Twitter, we spend too much time obsessing over real-time data, just because it’s at our fingertips. Whether it is checking your site’s traffic or your bank account, these small repetitive actions don’t help you make ideas happen. They just help us feel safe.

“Insecurity work” is the stuff we do that has no intended outcome, does not move the ball forward in any way, and is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing. But nonetheless, it puts us at ease.

The first step in reducing insecurity work is becoming self-aware. Recognize what you do in your everyday life that is, in fact, insecurity work. The second step is to establish some guidelines and rituals for yourself that provide more discipline, such as restricting all insecurity work to a specified 30 minute block every day. The third step, if applicable to you, is to delegate the task of checking on this data to a less insecure colleague who can review it periodically and report any concerns.

Conclusion

How do you avoid a life of reactionary workflow? You need discipline and a dose of confidence. Recognize your tendency to surf the stream of incoming data, and gain confidence in the potential for being proactive.

It’s easy to sit there and react all day. You’ll never run out of work to do. But your bold ideas will suffer unless you take your energy by the reigns.

Quick Social Media Tips For Hotels

Here is the piece by Adam Kirby on Social Media tips for Hotels, followed by my FIVE POINTS -

Adam Kirby
Quick Social Media Tips For Hotels
April 1, 2010

In this month’s issue of HOTELS, I take a look at how a few hotels are doing social media marketing well despite relatively small budgets and staffs. Here are a few easy things hotels can do to keep a responsible social media presence, even without a large commitment of time or money.

* Register your username on every site. Even if you do not plan on engaging on each site right away, controlling your name is simply good business. Any given site may soar or fizzle, but it is crucial to own your brand identity, just in case.

* Empower your employees and get out of their way. Passionate line staff can sell the hotel as convincingly as any marketing professional, and if they are allowed to be themselves, that authenticity will shine through.

* Focus more on quality of followers than quantity. A dozen influential fans who become brand advocates can be more valuable than a thousand passive followers. Cultivate relationships and they will pay off down the road.

* Develop a story about your hotel. Give followers a theme to latch onto that sets your property apart from the competition, then incorporate it into your social media interactions. Be memorable.

* Collect content from colleagues. Regardless of who is actually in charge of the social media effort, they should involve their coworkers by gathering useful information to tweet or post. “These types of outlets need to be constantly fed with information, and it’s not always packages and offers,” says Suzanne Wenz, who oversees social media for The Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston. “Sometimes it’s just stuff like, ‘What’s the bartender mixing up in the bar.’ Sometimes I’ll touch base with the concierges and find out what’s going on in town.”

* Make it fun. Social media is a seriously important part of today’s marketing landscape, but that does not mean it should be serious. Be light-even a little edgy, if it suits your brand-and your fans will actually look forward to your postings, rather than merely skimming over them.

Do you have some more quick tips to share?

L Aruna Dhir commented:

Dear Adam,
My two cents -

1. Use all kinds of social media, exhaustively but judiciously dove-tailing it back to your brand image and philosophy. That is to say, go hammer and tongs on all that is available - LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube......

2. Use photos and videos well - the old dictum of a picture being worth thousand words still stands. Plus it helps profile your brand.

3. Invite group membership, fan bases, user participation with contests, comments, award-winning entries etc. etc.

4. Have internal contests as part of your employee communication strategy and get the little known brand ambassadors to participate on the blog, Group page etc. Highly morale boosting.

5. Study the competition(s), benchmark and innovate your own set of social media marketing strategies.

MY GOLDEN RULES FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS

1. Upfront attitude - a high level of honesty, integrity and transparency go a long way, a very long way in your career.

2. Easy accessibility - with technology in your palm and on your fingertips, there is really no excuse.

3. Reliability - you owe it to yourself, to the identity you have carved for yourself and to the brand you represent.

4. Exchange information relevant to new ideas - nurture the media, be nurtured by their exposure to a wide range of issues and develop a winsome two-way information & knowledge sharing street.

5. Give complete information - Tailor make it and often go beyond the brief.



6. From reporter to senior editor, treat everyone with respect - Today's cub reporter will be tomorrow's editor.

7. Adhere to timelines, however acute they may be - this may just be the single most important reason that keeps you in news and your competition out of it.

8. Be genuinely friendly and not falsely flattering - believe me when I say that people can see through the sham.

9. Be professional - would you like to be any other way!

10. Always be interested - in people, in issues, in the news, in your job. The six inquisitive men are, then, your best friends for life.

MY HIGH-FIVE FOR AN EFFECTIVE HOSPITALITY PR EXPERT

Prabhjot Bedi, Founder-Editor of www.hospemag.com and Proprietor of Eclat Institute of Hospitality Management - Chandigarh, saw a nice article on hospitality public relations and asked me to send in my comments (http://www.hospemag.com/2009/08/know-guest-post-five-musts-for.html).

Prabhjot thinks they make an interesting read. If you are in PR then its obvious why, but, perhaps all hoteliers should be looking at developing PR skills. This is it.

So here follow my high-five for an effective Hospitality PR Expert -

1. Develop multi-level skills set - You need to be a good writer, good with graphics and creatives for all your marcomm needs, good event organiser, tech savvy and with a bit of finance and business acumen in order to understand the bottomline well and add your spin to it.

2. Nose for news - When writing press releases and backgrounders ensure that your pitch has a high news value for both the target audience and the vehicle you want to see it carried in. Otherwise you just end up wasting paper and the journalists time who then would subject your release to the waste basket treatment.

3. FACE & THE BODY - Since you are the face of your organisation that interfaces with a wide range of publics - from heads of state to the celeb clientele to the media - you need to have well-honed social skills, be charming in your demeanour and engaging in your conversations. At the same time, since you are also the dogsbody that carries out the nitty gritties of the PR functions, you need to be always on the ball to keep the PR machinery well-oiled and running, seemingly, effortlessly. Being like the duck that seems calm on the surface but paddles madly underneath, is then a virtue.


4. KNOW IT ALL - You must have a thorough understanding of the various operations of your business. Definitely what keeps Sales & Marketing, Food & beverage, Catering, HR ticking but you must also be in cahoots with the Security Chief, Engineering Head, Housekeeping people, the interior, art or flower expert, the Purchasing Head - in order to keep all your ten fingers on the various pulses and be well equipped to develop interesting, multifarious story angles aimed at a plethora of publications.

5. Be Locally sound and Globally propelled - since you work in an international industry and are also driven to market your specific destination, being international in your approach at the same time being a great cultural ambassador is a major plus.

While on this subject, I would like to share Charlotte Novom's views on the FIVE musts for effective public relations that have appeared in hotelworld NETWORK (http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com/public-relations/five-musts-effective-hospitality-public-relations?registrationmessage=User%20created%20successfully) -

Public relations and marketing communications have taken on an entirely new level of importance in recent years. With the popularity of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, and the application of mobile messaging, electronic message distribution and many other 2.0 methods, public relations has a dramatic new face and the potential for driving even more dramatic revenue-producing results.

As a hotel operator, it is important to grasp the importance of this new role. Your message needs to be clearly crafted and tailored to specific audiences—and message consistency remains paramount. Your communication methods must be geared to the audiences’ preferred way of consuming information. In today’s economy, you need to focus on public relations because well-conceived plans can influence business results more effectively and at a significantly lower cost than advertising. It is also true that public relations allow you to speak directly to the customer in a personal tone that motivates prospects to take action. Finally, your public relations campaigns can be measured.

Consider these “Five Musts” for effective public relations today:

Think with vision. Make your positioning extend through to every message point you or your agency communicates. Nobody has time for a boring message.

Maintain an active press release schedule. Press releases, which came to be thought of as less effective than the direct pitch to a specific journalist, are now quite valuable. They populate the Internet with your product name and in today’s fast-paced communications environment, they often become a primary research tool used by journalists to write their stories.

Invest in and use technology to save time and increase your understanding of the reach of your message. Articles in the press can become “test marketing” tools and help you refine your broader marketing goals and strategies. Some agencies subscribe to highly sophisticated database management and news retrieval systems that allow you to view the penetration of the message down to the neighborhood level.

Measure results. Ensure that your PR department or agency is providing you with a strategic analysis of results. A listing of articles, copies of these and the calculation of audience impressions and approximate advertising value are the standard. Regard your PR professionals as your collaborators, engaging them fully in shaping strategy and implementing your organization’s plan.

Embrace the Web 2.0 world. Integrate your messages and deliver them through planned multiple distribution channels.

(Pictures courtesy - www.flickr.com AND www.deviantart.com)