Each one of us is stuck, distressed and let down at some point and we think “it’s over, cant on any more pressure”; but somehow we also know we need to convince our minds to not surrender and look for ways to overcome it. And it is comforting if at that time someone shares few tips and valuable experiences to persuade your brainy fears to go on and deal with tough media jobs.

Managing Crazy Deadlines

Crazy deadline is a headache always hovering around you if you’re a media professional.

If you take medication with proper planning, you may get away with it.

From distribution of work to style of leadership to making ends meet, a media boss has to carry his/ her smartness throughout with clients, with employees and with associates.

Flexibility with work and workforce and maintaining it is the firm’s silver lining.

It may so happen that the work you submit is out-rightly rejected and you have to change it entirely; but how you deal with it is important. At times your work goes unappreciated and unpaid and mostly appreciated and unpaid. You simply cannot howl over your prospective client neither can you intimidate him with a knife to get your money. It’s your efforts that go in vain and it creates an additional burden of time, money and resources that you may have invested in the project. And for a media company such as ours sometimes we feel that GOD put us together for developing concept notes for free, project proposals for others to pinch on and endless options for clients who specialize in saturating our grey cells. But hey, who’s complaining, we are truce with our destiny and accept that we were born to do!!!  J

For a smart boss the only option is to spread out your resources carefully and strike a balance such that your kitty doesn’t get diluted before your spirits run dry.

In short spread your wings such that your flights are always on schedule, smooth and land on time.

Handling Human Resources

There is a direct relation between creativity and sensitivity. Creative people are the most sensitive set, dealing with them and their emotions can be more than just plain dictatorship. He/ She needs to definitely sink into their understanding and psyche; analyze what inspires them and what factors motivate them to touch the brim of their creativeness.

It may so happen at times that a member of your team may feel offended and might not take your direction in a positive and productive way. At other times, there might be internal quarrels amongst team members and it may hamper your work target.  In such dire needs wear your councilor’s cap and bring about harmony. The secret off course is to set achievable targets once in a while and high pressured targets alternatively.  This healthy mix would lead to aSatisfied Resource Output Rate that would create happy faces in the work environment as well as at the clients end.

Reading Client’s Mind

Some clients want exactly what they have imagined and execution on his imagination might want you to shut your inventive door and open small operational windows. Even if you have an idea of a masterpiece, it is advisable to lock it and make it flow out only what you are asked to. Hence, it is well said, “Sometimes it’s better to be mindlessly operational than to be functionally creative.”

When the client is unclear about what he wants but there is a crazy deadline hanging over  you like a suspended sword, keep asking questions to your clients, chew his/her brain up to get a brief and  may be give them a few options to make it easier for them to pinpoint their choice.

And mind you sometimes, your client may become your strict history teacher demanding precision in everything you do and that’s when your true merit will be tested.

Nurturing Relationships

Valuing relations, be it with your ex-employees or current employees, is the mantra that is universally applicable for each one of us; especially if you’re in a firm working on pressurized projects.

Imagine yourself getting a big project but with no resources to help you accomplish the same – there are two ways of achieving them:

Option 1: Wear your motion jacket and get into the task yourself … run, struggle, burn mid-night oil and achieve your target; in the process lose your sleep and perhaps ruin your family ties.

Option 2: Smarter Option for sure!!!  Lean your back on the people you have worked with in the past – with whom you have maintained good rapport and have them help you meet the crazy deadlines and punishing schedules. These would perhaps be the strongest shoulders that will unfailingly and smilingly bail you out.

The key to running successful enterprise be it media or any other sector is valuing relationships and nurturing them for life.

On outlook, some situations seem to be tough but with experience, patience and proper guidance, they are relatively easier to manage, isn’t it?