If I were the boss

If I was the boss there will be no Blue Mondays! The working week would be from Tuesday to Friday. The working day would start at 9am and end at 4pm because traffic is stressful and we all have enough stress in our lives without have to battle through the mindless mass of people on the roads.

The work environment will be casual but I would still require staff to have respect for one another. The office will play music and each person gets to play their choice of music for one day. Each office would have an air conditioner and floor heating, kitchen and toilets will be clean at all times and offices will have big windows so to see the surroundings outside… because everyone knows a happy worker is a productive worker.

I would have incentives to motive workers to meet targets, whether it is a day at the spa, leaving work an hour earlier or a weekend at a local bed and breakfast.

I would employ people who fit in with the culture of the organisation, people who are flexible, who work smarter not harder, people who are dedicated and that realise that there are going to be times that we would need to work late. People who understand the importance of team work.

OFFICE GOSSIP IS STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED. We all have enough occupying our brains than to fill it with information that does not add to the enrichment of our lives.

Fridays will end at 3pm and employees can choose to leave or to stay and have a cold one (beer/cider) at my expense. It is important for staff to interact and for team building to take place. This greater sense of unity will encourage everyone to work together to reach organisational goals.

All of that said - if I was the boss and employees took changes, abused the above privileges or never met organisational goals…you would be an ex-employee. I’m all about fun and games but at the end of the day I’m still a boss who wants results.

5…4…3…2…1…Bungy!

One of my goals for 2010 was to stop living in the sheltered routine of eat, sleep, work and start living life and doing adventure sports. I convinced and couple of friends to hit the long road to the Eastern Cape for the weekend and go Bungy Jumping at the Bloukrans and Gouritz Bungy.

Once on that long road to Tsitsikamma, we had good conversation, great music but despite this the voices were loud in my head screaming, ‘what the hell are you thinking wanting to through yourself off the world’s highest bridge???’ I spent the whole Friday evening in disbelief that I just drove all this way and tried to convince myself that I may as well jump.

Saturday came, I skipped breakfast I was way to anxious for that. I found myself paying for my jump despite every bone in my body saying WTF?! I got strapped in and made my way across the bridge, which was enough to freak me out on its own.

I was second last in line to jump, mentally preparing myself by quoting stupid sayings like ‘I can do this’ and ‘I’m safe, these are professionals’ and ‘This is a case of mind over matter – I’m not really scared of heights’.

Two guys assist me to the edge, my toes hang over the edge and the breeze that brushed over me lets me know that I was very far from the ground. They start the countdown 5…4…3…2…1…Bungy! I don’t move an inch. Instead my legs feel like jelly and I have literally lost all colour in my face. This countdown with no success happens another 3 times; finally I say tearfully that on the countdown, they are to push me off, I know this much – I won’t willing throw myself off.

5…4…3…2…1…Bungy! My feet leave the solid comfort of the bridge and I am free falling. I scream for a second and then I stop…everything is quiet. I open my eyes and take in all of the beauty around me, make peace will all the decisions I have made and accept that if I die, in that exact moment I felt like I truly lived.

If I were the boss

If I was the boss there will be no Blue Mondays! The working week would be from Tuesday to Friday. The working day would start at 9am and end at 4pm because traffic is stressful and we all have enough stress in our lives without have to battle through the mindless mass of people on the roads.

The work environment would be casual but I would still require staff to have respect for one another. The office would play music and each person gets to play their choice of music for one day. Each office would have an air conditioner and floor heating, kitchen and toilets would be clean at all times and offices will have big windows so to see the surroundings outside… because everyone knows a happy worker is a productive worker.

I would have incentives to motive workers to meet targets, whether it is a day at the spa, leaving work an hour earlier or a weekend at a local bed and breakfast.

I would employ people who fit in with the culture of the organisation, people who are flexible, who work smarter not harder, people who are dedicated and that realise that there are going to be times that we would need to work late. People who understand the importance of team work.

OFFICE GOSSIP IS STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED. We all have enough occupying our brains than to fill it with information that does not add to the enrichment of our lives.

Fridays will end at 3pm and employees can choose to leave or to stay and have a ‘cold one’ (beer/cider) at my expense. It is important for staff to interact and for team building to take place. This greater sense of unity will encourage everyone to work together to reach organisational goals.

All of that said - if I was the boss and employees took changes, abused the above privileges or never met organisational goals…they would be an ex-employee. I’m all about fun and games but at the end of the day I’m still a boss who wants results.

Which is more important intelligence or common sense?

In our recent Wacky Wednesday experience when we got the opportunity to undermine the intelligence and common sense of fellow students, all in the name of fun. This experience was liberating and at the same time had me feeling left with a sense of guilt. Above all it had me questioning which of the two, intelligence and common sense, are more important.

In my endeavours to both use my intelligence and common sense I looked up exactly what their definitions was. Common sense is sound judgment not based on specialised knowledge; native good judgment. Intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge; it is the faculty of thought and reason and in some cases superior powers of the mind (Answers.com).

How often do you hear people say that your qualification is just a piece of paper, that experience and common sense is valued more. If you have been for interviews you would have heard it plenty. It is the number one obstacle to overcome when completing your studies. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for education…education is empowerment of one’s mind.

That said, I personally think that common sense is more important. You could be excused for not knowing something because you never learnt it but there is no reason why people should not exercise common sense daily. If given enough thought common sense is just as important as what gets taught and could be implemented in the corporate environment. You don’t need someone to teach you that crisis management should be pro active, if possible, rather that reactive. You don’t need someone to tell you that unethical and unlawful actions will have consequences. If more people exercised common sense the world would not only be a better place but it would be one less thing to stress about.

Two people came out of a building and into a story

Bob the builder was a regular Joe; he got a good education, got a job, got a girlfriend, lost the girlfriend, got an even better job in the hope to lure a decent woman, finally gets married to lovely Sally and had 2 children. He is your standard family man, devoted and ever providing.

One sunny afternoon, Sally could not shake the thought that there is something that has changed in Bob the last few days. The past few weeks he has been taking calls in the other room and attending meetings that other colleagues were not aware of after hours.

With their 30th wedding anniversary around the corner and her suspicions growing, she has to fight herself from confronting Bob; her allegations would come up like verbal vomit. Unable to put her finger on the plotting and scheming of her always faithful companion, she does the unthinkable…she hires a private detective. Detective Johan is cheesy…as cheesy as they come. He listens intensely to Sally and how she perceives the situation to be – noting every detail down in his notebook which is well past its expiry date and carries the scars of ruined relationships. And with that, Johan goes sniffing on the trail that Sally leads him to. Bob seems like a decent guy, goes to work, eats the lunch that he’s loving wife packed in and conducts himself in an orderly fashion. But then finds him meeting a woman, they go into building and emerge 40 minutes later. The meeting with the same woman carries on for a few days. Each occasion Bob displays more enthusiasm and the picture of pure bliss. This situation is much to Detective Johan’s delight; he thinks of the payment of what is to come as he snaps away at his camera.

Devastated Sally can no longer distinguish truth from reality and anger starts to swell in her throat. She is overcome with disappointment and knows she has been pushed to a point of no return. Sally goes on a wild streak, vandalizing Bob’s work premises, his car, the building where he has been reported to have met this woman. Bob is confronted by Sally who is in no mood to discuss and unsuspecting Bob gets caught in the cross fire. Concerned citizens call the police and they are unable to comfort the deranged woman. Sally has caused so much chaos that she lands herself on the front page of the Son ‘Wife on vandalizing spree and tries to kill husband’. The private detective thinks he can make a quick buck and fuels the Son’s story by selling pictures of Bob and the mystery woman.

Bob has an interview with the Son and sets the story straight and informs them that he was meeting with his lawyers to discuss buying some property. He knew this will be a good investment and wanted to surprise his wife on their 30th wedding anniversary.

Moral of the story, nothing is what it seems; sometimes there are not just two sides to a story but three. Manage perceptions as these are sometimes more damaging than the action of doing wrong.

Online Techno Junkie

One thing that became apparent to me in the past week is that technology will let you down. My computer was unbelievably slow, the scanner wasn’t working, the internet was having connection problems and to top it all off…my machine crashed just before I could get a chance to save my work. Yes, Murphy’s Law, this will all happen when you least can afford to be offline. It got me thinking how dependent we have become on technology and the internet.

More children are being taught at a younger age the use of computers and the World Wide Web at school, being computer literate has become a vital part of a child’s curriculum. Computers and the Internet have given the option to students to remote computer based education and many class notes may now be found on the institution’s intranet. When in doubt on how some piece of technology works…ask your younger generation.

Gone are the days of paperwork and pigeon messages, adults who weren’t taught computers are playing catch-up with the fast evolution of technology and being more productive. The ‘work smarter not harder’ concept has manufactures making inventions such as the Bizhub – your all in one printer, scanner, fax machine, it allows you to browse the web, connect your USB and email.

Our mobile phones now allow us to check emails, blue tooth information and images, connect to social networks and do some internet banking, all in a day’s work. The lists of social networks are growing…Facebook, Twitter, Wiki, MSN Messenger, Fringe, Mxit and then of course you have sites to keep tabs on all the sites that you belong to. Our messages and noise pollution is being distributed to the world at an alarming rate.

Criminals too have taken the plunge to become more techno savvy. In a society that already has a perception of a high crime rate, not only do we need to worry about crimes in the street, top management corruption, illegal activities etc but also crimes online too.

The vital question that has me thinking is ‘Is technology a friend or foe?’ Without a doubt, technology is brilliant; it makes my day more productive, I get to manage my time efficiently that is however if everything is working as it should. Now that I have admitted how fantastic technology is, I would like to request that it never has an ‘Offline Day’.

Designer PR

It’s all about survival of the fittest in today’s economic climate. If you don’t have it, you better get it. Designer PR is about, dare I use the cliché phase, “thinking outside the box”. It is what gives you the competitive edge over other PR practitioners out there. The market is tough out there; your client wants to know what you can offer that goes above and beyond what others are offering.

Designer PR is about offering tailor made services that help the organisation or your clients to meet their organisational goals. It’s not just about sending a press release out to all the newspapers; it’s about knowing their market and directing that information to specific publications in that industry too. More and more you see agencies broadening their services – media relations, events management, internal and external communication, crisis management and corporate identity etc. No longer can a business rely on one service to offer their clients.

I had the task of organising a four day event for the 50 year anniversary of Harley Davidson Africa and Asia event two years back. I tackled the event with the concept of having the guests and journalists experience the life of a Harley Davidson rider...just their two wheels and the long road to freedom. I wanted the guests to experience the event with all five of their senses – smell, taste, see, feel and touch. The event consisted of costal drives, informative talks on Harley Davidson and their new release ‘Rocker’ motorbike. Guests got to see how a Harley motorbike got customised over the 4 days with original Harley parts. Guests experienced lunches and dinners at typical bikers restaurants/pubs. The grand finale of the event was dinner and a burnout (locking the back wheel and spinning till the tyre burnt) in a rough- manly setting at the Harbour. We had men in the background grinding a ship with sparks flying. Everything about the event reiterated the brand of Harley Davidson. The event proved more effective that just calling a press conference and announcing their anniversary and that the new release of the ‘Rocker’ to the motorbike family. We got word of mouth which is at times the most effective PR you can get.

Designer PR is what all PRP should strive for so to have maximum impact in the industry. You either on the bandwagon or you left behind.

Is polygamy a feminist issue

As many of us have recently learnt through recent media headlines, polygamy is having more than one spouse at a time. Polygamy is connected to certain cultural groups, for example Muslim and Xhosa traditions to name a few. Traditionally polygamy is practiced by men, allowing them the right to have more than one wife (if they can afford to). I believe that polygamy is a feminist issue, my reason for stating this is as it infringes on the rights of women to be equal member of society, to be treated with self-respect and loved as the only spouse in the relationship. Society would frown upon women if she were to take more than one spouse. There are double standards set for men and women by society, culture and religion. If polygamy were to be the way forward for healthy relationships within society, this option should be permissible to women as well. The feminist issue is that is something is acceptable for men, women should be allowed equal rights.

A first

I have tried many things for the first time...walking...talking...my first day at school...making my first friend...my first interview...my first job...bungy jumping...attempting a new hobby...my first success and my first failure in life.

Now I am entering the world of blogging for the first time, which is scary yet intriguing at the same time. I am learning about this new social network that has the world engaged. One question that has me thinking is ‘To blog or not to blog?’ This is my journey of blogging and the world as we know it.

From: A first time blogger