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June 30, 2008
Dear Friends:
As you read this, I'm probably lying on a beach in Costa Rica, about to go enjoy another beer and some fresh fish before heading inside for a nice nap, as raindrops gently tap the wooden roof of my casita.
So, how's work going today?
OK, that's cruel.
We've got about 40 new jobs this week. In particular, there are an abundance of new jobs in the public relations field.
One of the things I've been thinking about lately is the variety of skills in public relations that are transferable to other jobs that might not be considered a traditional public relations job. For example, community relations specialist, special events planner, government relations, corporate relations manager, etc.
If you've transitioned from a pure public relations position into a second career that is similar, but not specifically what would be considered traditional public relations, please drop me a note. I'll be writing about this in the near future.
Team building
Many of you know that I'm the VP of Communications and Marketing at ARCADIS, US, a large engineering firm, based out of Holland with its US headquarters located in Denver.
A couple of weeks ago I organized a team-building retreat for my staff. We spent 2.5 days in Evergreen at the Highland Haven bed and breakfast
www.highlandhaven.com, which has excellent facilities for small retreats. It's also very reasonable, the rooms are excellent and the staff is friendly and accommodating.
Our Communications Department has gone through some challenges lately. Massive growth through acquisitions, realigned operational strategies, new people, acquisition integrations, new assignments....it's been a hectic year. However, through these challenges comes terrific opportunity to rally together and, through our growth, position our company as one of the leading engineering consulting firms anywhere.
Our retreat was a success. Everyone was excited. We grew together as a team and, perhaps most importantly, we broke down some walls relating to trust and communication that will help us better work together as a team.
As part of our retreat we had two consultants to whom I want to introduce you.
Brad Montgomery, corporate funnyist
Brad is a motivational speaker, but likes to consider himself a corporate "funnyist." He uses f humor to help organizations realize that there is indeed room for funny at work. Because our group is small (about 13 people) he facilitated several activities that helped break down walls and made us all realize that we shouldn't take ourselves all too seriously all the time....we all need to keep in good humor and not let the stress of deadlines, clients and unending change kill the fun and good moods we can also have at work.
I would highly recommend Brad for any organization. He is a regular on the Fortune 500 circuit and speaks to crowds of 1500 or, as in my case, small intimate groups. Brad is really funny. He's hilarious in fact. But he's got a serious message. It was the perfect kick-off to our team building retreat.
Go to
www.bradmontgomery.com to see video clips, hear testimonials and to just get a good chuckle.
Alchemy
 This is the second time I've used this amazing organization. They were first introduced to me by Sharon Linhart of Linhart Public Relations when I was overseeing Frontier Airline's Advertising, Marketing and Communications division and we had just hired Linhart as our PR Agency.
Shortly after we began our agency relationship, Sharon suggested a facilitated team-charter session with Alchemy so that both our teams could immediately come to some agreements on what our expectations were in working together.
Using the book, Now Discover Your Strengths, the team filled out the surveys that helped all of us to understand from a very baseline level, what types of personalities and strengths as individuals we were bringing to the team. Then, using a graphical illustrator and an intensive 4-hour facilitated team-building conversation, our team slowly created a team-charter that we have ALL agreed to follow. It helps our team keep us focused on the vision, goals and challenges at hand and addresses how as a team, we have agreed to work, how we treat each other, and what we expect from each other on a professional level.
The final result is shown below.
A two-paragraph description of the process does not do real justice to the great work of Alchemy. I would suggest going to
www.link2alchemy.com to really understand the types of organizational development work they do for their clients. You can also call Lois Todd directly at 720-932-8720.
Happy job hunting.
Andrew Hudson
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