Ya, you read that right. Some days my co-workers drive me up the wall. My team needs so many things from me, and always all at the same time, and everything they need is obviously the most important thing I should be doing at the moment. Oh' and no one knows how to give me a heads up on things!
1. Hawk Ears
I would not call myself a nosey person, but I do listen to what my team is saying and try to guess their needs ahead of time. So when I hear someone talking about going on a client visit with a potential new partner, I immediately email, call, or visit them to ask who the client is and what they need from me and when they need it.
How does this help? Well, it mainly helps me manage my time more efficiently. Usually, the team is so focused on the days' tasks, that they don't think about tomorrow or next week, so I end up helping them at the last moment. By asking as soon as I hear them talking about something it allows me to put it on my calendar and get it done in advance of when they may need it.
2. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I say NO! Ok, that was a lie, I hardly ever say no (I am a people pleaser and like to do the impossible). What I do say is "I can't right now" but can I get it to you (insert a time frame that makes sense). Often I forget that the people I assist don't know how long it takes me to do things because they don't work in the same department as me. So editing a marketing document to have their name on it takes seconds but creating a brand new page on our website with copy (that means text in the marketing world) can take months (ok, maybe not months but a while).
How does this help? Well, it helps me politely educate my team. I will not say no to them (I mean my job is to say YES and assist), but I do work to give them a timeline as to how long it will take and WHY it will take that long. That way next time they think of a brilliant marketing campaign they know I can't just make those happen magically like Hermione Granger.
3. Pete and Repeat were on a cliff, Pete jumped off who's left?
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. My mother once told me that when I grew up, I was going to get tired of my repeating myself over and over again to my kids. While I don't have any kids yet, I now understand what she was talking about (I hate it when my mom is right).
My team moves a mile a minute (feels faster than that sometimes) they are working so incredibly hard to help individuals find their dream job, that they forget about my needs. I am one of the few marketing professionals Kavaliro employees in-house; witch means I am responsible for the majority of our Social Media, Blogging, and, Website (and all other duties not assigned). I find myself constantly reminding my team to click, like, and share on Kavaliro's Job Posts, Blogs, Free Consultations, and more.
At first, I found this constant repeating very very annoying. "How hard is it to click the like button," I thought to myself! Then I realized that my coworkers don't have the mental bandwidth to be actively following what the Kavaliro marketing department is doing at all times. So, the rest of the marketing team and I came up with the brilliant idea of releasing a weekly training/marketing newsletter. This way no one at Kavaliro would not miss our recent blog posts, have updated job posting information and get some fun training videos as well. While this does cause me a little extra work each week, it is 100% worth it because it means I am not continually begging people to like, click, and share (they can now do all of that from the weekly email directly).
4. You only had one job
Look I am not the office police here but don't heat up your salmon in the office microwave because it makes everything stink for like a week. Why am I talking about smelly microwaved salmon? Well because sometimes things are out of our control and we have to learn to live with it.
I will never be able to stop things from happening at the last minute, or having to say I can do it later, or repeating myself, but I can try and combat these things strategically. Finding ways to improve my communication skills with my team is one of the best ways for me to decrease my aggravation at work. Look, as a marketer, my job is literally to communicate with people. So I better have the skills needed to know how to talk to my team and when to pick my battles.
My team still drives me up the wall somedays, but it's not actually that bad when I use these tips and tricks. The moral of the story here is that people are going to drive you nuts (especially those you spend 40 hours a week with). Giving them realistic expectations as to your capabilities and learning how to communicate clearly is the key to success (Oh' and not heating up salmon in the microwave).
