It’s days like these, when you’re sitting in your (humid) office, rattling off a score of emails that you remember just how tenuous this particular week of August is for many organisations in terms of productivity. Recently returned from your own break, you may be panicking about all of the projects you’d like answers on and are desperate to catch up with, only to find through a barrage of out-of-office emails that no one else is around!
And so, we find ourselves with a teeny bit of time to use differently than at other points during the year. Holidays can give us great things besides R & R; they offer us principles that can and should be applied directly to our professional lives. While we wait for interaction with our clients, colleagues and public, we could use the time to think about how to wield holiday ideals to suit our work missions.
Share photos
No holiday is complete without the requisite thousands of snapshots of trees, camels, sunsets, (beverages), or in my case, cheese curds from the Kandiyohi County Fair. But with the advent of social media, these photos could serve a myriad of purposes; Search Engine Watch suggests that a picture in a tweet (used correctly) could increase that Twitter engagement by 120%!
Best dig out those dolphin photos – your followers want to see them – and maybe have a chat with you about them! Your public-facing side should be as unique and interesting as your charity.
Enjoy your coffee
If you went abroad this year, or even just to a new part of your county, you may, like me, have indulged in some leisurely lounging time outside a quaint coffee shop. Taking a few minutes to sit back and savour a cup of coffee (or whatever your poison) gives us a chance to think about what the next few months have in store and how to use this time to get ahead of the game. Sometimes it’s even useful to people-watch out your window, or in our case, on Bond Street, enjoy an amateur raconteur on the street below. (Note: only some of them are enjoyable.)
September’s packed calendar will soon be upon us – you may not get another chance while the phone’s not ringing!
Be adventurous
Holidays are often inspiring – it’s not only the scenery but the new experiences and the exposure to a different way of life that lends a fresh perspective to things back home. And, sometimes, they encourage us to venture outside our comfort zone and try new stuff – like kite surfing or competing in a doughnut-eating contest (in reality, not a good idea). We shouldn’t need a holiday to explore new avenues, but sometimes it’s the impetus we need.
Been thinking about setting up a Facebook page? Want to do something different with your Christmas appeal? There’s no time like the present to try something new and to see what kind of impact it makes. This is the stuff we’re good at and like to talk about (and we’re in the office).
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