the end of life as an intern

This has been an incredible learning journey for me, not just professional wise but also socially wise. I got to work with people of different cultural backgrounds and different professional disciplines, so i got to learn more than i had hoped for. Working at MindValley has introduced me to a new working culture that makes work seem effortless and stress free. it has taught me how to be a team player and to how to express myself as an individual within a group. The highlight of my placement came during my last week when Mike, my boss, called me into his office to thank me for the wonderful,or in MindValley terms awesome job i had been doing and offered me a more permanent spot in the company because they felt i had done such a great job and wanted to work a bit longer with them. If ever i ahd any doubts about my performance and contribution to the company they vanished at that moment. This has been a great journey of learning and discovery, an experience which i will carry with me to my next professional appointment as for now its back to hiting the books and getting that degree :)

giving back to the ones who need it the most

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the topic for today's post. Most companies seem to view CSR as a burden and as a thing they need to do every now and then to polish their image and get the giving back to the society they work in. Its great to know that here in MindValley CSR has become part of the company activities. It started small with a small group of employees helping out a refugee mothers once every other month to make arts and crafts then teach them how to successfully market and sell their stuff and now its moved a workshop with refugee children every single Saturday afternoon. Giving back to society should not be seen as a business obligation but a bit of humanity should be attached to it, and that is when it really makes difference and your contribution as an organization to improve the life in the community is felt and appreciated.

Transparency in an organization

Hi everyone,its me again. Working for a company like MindValley which does not have an active Public Relations department has presented me with a great opportunity to get involved in promoting some of the fundamental and basic roles of Public Relations within the organization. One of these being transparency within the organization. It cannot be stressed enough just how important it is to be honest and open with your employees so that they know where they stand as far as their career is concerned and for them to be more than prepared should a crisis arise to handle it with ease. My boss showcased a great deal of this transparency in our last weekly meeting by breaking forward everything to the whole company from how each team was performing, the expenditure budget to why certain individuals were leaving the company. This was a way of him saying that transparency has no limits, that even the slightest detail that might seem unimportant at the moment its shared but it is essential to bring it out into light anyway. If the Public Relation role fails within the organization then how can you expect it to function with the external publics? Another good lesson learnt here for me, that first you need to build the trust with your internal publics before moving to the rest of your publics. Watch this space,il be back with more:)

is customer service the new public relation?

Over the past few weeks i have been learning the relationship between Public Relations and Customer Service. In all internet based company it is very important to have a strong, well informed and well functioning customer service for the simple reason that all communication between your organization your key publics,both existing and potential, goes through customer service. Customer service needs to be in the loop on company news, as they are the ones who will have to deal with and answer to all the angry calls and e-mails coming through.

The two main things which e need Customer Service for are, relationship management and issues management. For every organization which relies a lot on its customer service it must insure regular training o its staff on these two areas.

When it comes to Relationship Management customer service should be thought of as an investment and not simply a cost, therefore, objectives need to focus on customer satisfaction, not turn-over speed. Too much focus on the number of customers handled does not build good relationships but its rather the focus on happy customers that helps you grow as an organization, you have to have the user at the top of your mind.

Representatives responses to queries need to have an eye on issues management. Customer service benefits from sitting within, or having a direct line to the communication function and organizational structures need to reflect this role. If the customer service which is at the core of communicating with all external publics is uninformed and has to go through too many channels to gain information, then their responses are unnecessarily prolonged and very vague which leavs unsatisfied customers thus reflecting badly on the organizatio.

Just like Public Relations, customer service plays a large role in the organization as far as building and maintaing relationship is concerned and that is why it has to work closely with Public Relations. They both need all the information and resources available to make their job easy especially during times and crisis and building and maintaining the company's reputation.