The HR Team May 2010 Newsletter

·          Be organized.  Create a budget and a systematic way of keeping track of what needs to happen. I created a giant spreadsheet to keep track of my budget, contact information, payments, invites, responses, table assignments, addresses, thank you's, and more.  When stuff happened (see item 4) and it does, you're prepared; or at least as prepared as you can be.  

·          Commit to what you know you need quickly.  We got our date 2 years ahead of time.  Did you know that we were able to lock in 2007 prices for the food, venue, DJ, and photographer?  Even though we were in a recession at the time of the Bat Mitzvah, food prices increased dramatically over the 2 year period.

What else did we save?  Piece of mind.  I've always said that I detest the decision of no decision.  Meaning, many times we are forced to go forward with a particular plan, not because it is the best plan, but simply because it is the only plan left.

·          People don't RSVP and sometimes they hedge their responses.  Meaning, you would get an email saying "I think it's just going to be the...of us" or "I'm trying to find a way to make it."  Do you think or do you know? Was that a yes or a no?  My wisdom to those of you out there is to respond "great, could you send your response card back, I've got someone keeping track of that for me and he/she is a stickler for the response cards." Or, "I've got so much going on right now; I would appreciate it if you could send the card back for my stack. That way, I can count you properly."

In business, of course, the same holds true for "verbal contracts," right?  When someone tells me something important, I will generally ask them to put it in writing so that we both can remember.

·          Stuff happens.  I'm pretty sure there was some kind of mini crisis every day that we had to overcome.  I honestly don't remember what they were, except one.  Three days before the Bat Mitzvah (also known as T-3), my son woke up with a fever.  Was there panic in the house?  Yes! But that brings me to my next point...

·          Don't make dramatic changes until you have all the facts.  When my son woke up at T-3 with a fever, everyone wanted a decision on what we were going to do.  I said, do for what?  Right now, we don't have enough information.  A phone call was quickly made to the doctor, and an appointment was had ASAP.  The illness - strep.  Antibiotics were quickly dispensed, fever was gone by T-2, and by T-0, he was partying like it was ---well 2009.

·          It's not your party.  As much as I would have liked to have been a guest, and partied it up all day, that wasn't realistic.  You need to greet your guests, be available for last minute caterer questions, introduce guests to each other, etc. 

·          Don't forget about the world around you and give back. The word "mitzvah" means good deed.   As part of her becoming a Bat Mitzvah, my daughter raised money for Braille literacy.  She's had some visual challenges, and she was able to relate the challenges of others with vision impairments.  I'll never forget the look of achievement and pride on her face when she got an email from the National Federation of the Blind telling her that she was one of the top 20 individual fundraisers nationwide for 2009. 

In the corporate world, we too have the awesome responsibility to not forget about the world around us, and many times need a reminder on the importance of giving back and getting involved in causes that are important to us.