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Switch off, recharge,
perform to your potential
Jennifer Davidson, founder and MD of Sleek
Events, wants you to switch off… and on again
hen your laptop is playing up, you switch it off and
reboot: it normally does the trick.
Your body needs to switch off occasionally too, and
not just when you expect. Of course, you hope to
get a good rest overnight, but you need to truly switch off, and not
just when you’re sleeping.
My team at Sleek Events has just enjoyed a weekend together at
Retreat East in Suffolk. We prepared two-and-a-half days of
Poison Apple
Richard John sweats over the ‘Reply to All’ button
as United Airlines drops an Apple bomb
ver sent a text to the wrong person, hit ‘Reply All’ by
mistake, or failed to notice a ‘BCC’ in an email sent to you?
It’s easily done, even for the most attentive of us (which
explains why I’m now a single man living in France!),
especially when so many people communicate through a variety of
platforms. And when your average Road Warrior is trekking around
with masses of data on their tablets, and the ability to connect and
send forms anywhere on the planet, the risk of a mis-sent missive is
magnified exponentially.
Of course, as part of your preparation for GDPR, no doubt you
Think Tank
meaningful business and professional
development work mixed with fun activities.
Getting out the pads and pens to leave our mobiles and laptops
at the door, we enjoyed a digital detox and well as some mindful yoga,
cooking with local ingredients and brisk walks in the chilly countryside.
Digital detox seems to be the fad-phrase of the moment but it’s here
for a reason. Anyone with a child will know the perils of screen time but,
as adults, we go from screens for work to screens for socialising and
then turn on a screen to watch our favourite telly. We rarely switch off
from technology – checking our phones before we go to sleep and as
soon as we wake up, normally charging them by our beds and using
them as our alarm clocks.
So, my advice, plan to recharge your batteries and stick to it. My team
has a wide range of daily habits to fit their preferences to recharge their
batteries. Our top three after getting a full night’s sleep are:
• Spend at least 15 minutes a day exercising – your mind may be
exhausted but if your body isn’t tired then you may find it difficult to get
that all-important sleep
• Keep a note pad and pen handy at all times – once you’ve written
something down, your mind will be clear to concentrate on relaxing
• Download a calming app – the sound of waves on a beach or birds
in the countryside – whatever will create a calming oasis for a timeout.
We like Headspace for meditation made simple.
Yes, an app! Sometimes our phones are good for helping us to
switch off.
and your organisation have created a whole raft of policies and
procedures, underpinned with the direst threats, to ensure strict
adherence. However, with the obsession about personal data taking
precedence, it’s easy to forget that data isn’t always about people.
United Airlines discovered this last month. Their largest corporate
account is Apple, which was revealed by a picture posted (and then
reposted instantly, thousands of time) on Twitter, along with their other
accounts. We now know Apple spends $150m with United annually and
buys 50 business class seats daily - $35m a year - on the San
Francisco-to-Shanghai. That route alone delivers $35m in revenue a year
to United from Apple.
It seems the information was posted to employees for the right
reasons; your top accounts need to be treated royally by everyone in your
company. However, it’s well-said that the road to Hell is paved with good
intentions and no doubt the other major carriers are making major
approaches to Apple, talking about not just price but service, timeliness
and, of course, confidentiality.
Our industry thrives on relationships, and most of us recognise that a
referral sale is by far the most valuable; that’s why good marketing is
often about securing and sharing client testimonials. But the
counter-argument to that is to consider how much you want the
opposition to know about your top accounts. Of course, sometimes it can
be impossible to hide that information, for example at an exhibition,
where the biggest stands and boldest sponsorships can give the game
away.
Maybe it’s time to add a few more words to the GDPR policy.
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