My Primal Scream

We are only half way 2011 but I can already say that doing artist liaison for Primal Scream is one of the highlights of this year.

Though working at the Orange Rockcorps gig was already in my plans, the offer to do artist liaison was unexpected. Of course I couldn’t say no to this. Specially being a Primal Scream fan myself.

I exchanged only a few words with the band members in general, mostly to check if they had everything they needed or to apologize for any delays in the concert.

I did try to convince Andrew Innes to come along to our after party (I was talking to the band crew, when he came along. I think he might not have understood my accent, because he just laughed.)

I literally can’t say much else.

There was a lot of pressure, but it was a great experience and I would most definitely do it again.

Our company is like a (dysfunctional) family

In the last century this was a comforting statement to welcome a new employee.

However, now that times have changed and we have learnt to separate our personal life from our professional life, the last thing you want to have is a boss behaving like he’s your father.

We all know there is no perfect family.

This post’s title implies several kinds of work behaviours we (should) have left behind and they all have one thing in common: basing professional actions/decisions in personal opinions and personality traits.

Starting with the hiring process, would you hire someone solely because he/she was lovely during the interview? One would be surprised…

I am not saying one should completely ignore all personality traits. In the end of the day it is always more pleasant to work with a nice person than a ‘moany’ one.

However if the job is being carried out to good standards, would you penalise your employee because he/she has a more difficult personality?

My point is: adaptability. As a freelancer I learnt to leave some personality habits aside and adjust to the company I am working for at the moment.

On top of everything, professional life gets more difficult when you are faced with favouritism, based on affinities instead of performance.

Even when there is mistake after mistake made, you won’t do anything about your member of staff because he’s like a son to you.

All this behaviour leads ultimately to the biggest mistake: taking things personally.

Very often, when you tell an employee or co-worker “you’ve made a mistake“, what they hear is “you’re stupid“. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with hearing problems.

Now that I am about to finish it is hard to believe I felt the need to write a post about this issue considering that the standards of professionalism expected from us are only and constantly getting higher and higher.

Management crisis

I am always trying to learn how to improve my work by observing my superiors.

Thankfully I can say most of my past managers, in film and events (art & music), have been really inspiring and with them I learnt vital principles about communicating and motivating staff or crew.

I can say they were often fair with impeccable communication skills and amazing oratory. Plain and simple: they knew when and how to speak to any of their employees.

I don’t have the same personality as the above managers, even so, I really strive to absorb all these qualities and apply them to my work.

However, I can’t say the same about the hospitality/catering industry.

As everybody knows I work as waitress to make the ends meet.

With the exception of the manager at the Dorchester Hotel (who was superb), it’s really demotivating to see the level of communication expertise among the hospitality/catering managers I’ve met and worked for.

I have recently worked with one of the most successful events manager, but I genuinely wonder how did he achieve this status! He shouts a lot and swears at staff, he loses his mind over little mistakes or “stupid” questions (stupid according to him of course).

Just the other day, while on training to refresh my waitressing skills, I heard another manager says “I work 12 hours without eating, it’s life, just face it”.

What can I say… It’s true these things happened. It’s true we live in a society where working 70 hours a week makes you a part-timer. But that doesn’t mean it’s right and you can’t expect to motivate your staff by saying that, or expect them to do the same as you.

I will certainly write another post on catering/hospitality. Now time for the weather, Tiffany?

Good news

I am officially with RockCorps until July.

It’s not film related work but I am very I mean, very excited about it.

It’s a project with a brilliant concept and great people attached to it, from all sorts of backgrounds such as film, TV, charity and music. For more information check www.orangerockcorps.co.uk.

The cherry on top is that I get to go to free gigs during the summer and the potential line up is very impressive. I can’t say more than that though

So a little pat on the back for me and if you also want free tickets all you have to do is give 4 hours of your time to one of our projects.

give, get given that’s what they say