It’s Never Too Soon for Protos Prep

For many industries, a new year brings awards. The film industry has the Oscars (Academy Awards), SAG awards, Golden Globes. The music industry has the GRAMMYs, American Music Awards, MTV Music Video Awards. It may not be quite as glamorous as the Hollywood scene, but in the Orange County PR industry, we have OCPRSA’s Protos Awards. And at HKA, Protos are our Oscars and GRAMMYs combined.

For us, the new year comes and we’ve got Protos on the brain. What were our accomplishments? Which media hit are we most proud of? Does that campaign fit in category A5 or A2? Should I submit that project under category B3 or B13? Maybe all four? Protos season is BIG around the HKA office. We look forward to and dread it every year. We dread it because of the late nights and long hours it takes to create our various entries (in addition to our client work) and the high stress levels we often hit. Most importantly, though, we look forward to Protos because we get to look back on the previous year, highlight our accomplishments and quite possibly be awarded for it.

At HKA, we are always busy doing what we do for our clients. I’ve noticed that individually we might get caught up in the hustle and bustle and often don’t congratulate ourselves for a job well done.  Not only that, but when we do accomplish something great, we often think of how we could have done a better job. It’s the high achievers in us.

Luckily, Hilary Kaye, our leader and mentor, is amazingly quick to commend us on every job well done, which always puts a smile of happiness, comfort and confidence on our faces. But individually, we are our toughest critic. Fortunately, Protos forces us to review everything we’ve done the year before and realize, wow, that really was an awesome campaign. I’m not saying we should toot our own horns or that we don’t have room for improvement, but it’s such a motivating feeling to know we’re doing our job right and we’re doing it really well. Whether we win the award or not (though we’d rather win!), just having something worthy enough to be in the running means a lot to us.

Now, OCPRSA may not have posted the 2010 Protos Call for Entries yet, but we’re already preparing–we feel it’s never too early in the year to get ready for it.  So far our list of award-winning possibilities has had to be whittled down a bit–we had too many! The late nights and long hours may be inevitable, but we’ll keep our eyes on the walls and shelves of our office where HKA’s multiple Protos Awards are displayed. We know we have what it takes to add to the collection.

Looking in the Rearview Mirror

It is hard to believe that it is 2010.  Yes, I know, New Year’s was over a month ago but the reality that we are 10 years into the 21^st century is still sinking in.  I remember celebrating New Year’s at the turn of the century.  Y2K was the big scare and I was living in New York City at the time.  My dad, “Mr. Secret Service,” was trying to scare me into spending New Year’s at home in California but I was determined to join the festivities in the city singing Prince’s “1999”! To say it was unforgettable is an understatement, but now fast forward 10 years later and I am basking in the events that transpired this past year.

• Professionally – I grew in my role as a PR Specialist and was honored to play a role in helping Ken, Dan and Henry Walker, executives of Farmers & Merchants Bank (F&M), receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. It was also very rewarding to receive awards of excellence from the Public Relations Society of America for media relations and Overall Program for F&M bank.
  
• Personally – In my mid-thirties, I finally met the man of my dreams and walked down the aisle.  It was a dream come true to have an out-of-the box wedding celebration that will long be remembered.  Just to give you a snapshot, the ceremony took place in a 100-year-old church with a full gospel choir, bagpiper who played as my dad walked me down the aisle and my husband and his groomsmen wearing kilts with a processional to the reception hall across the street.
• Physically – I lost 10 lbs., mostly because I was trying to look good in my wedding dress and didn’t have time to eat.  I worked out regularly and tried to walk more.

Many of you may have had a difficult year and have already embraced 2010.  I empathize as I have been there many times, but 2009 was good to me.  I think reliving the events in this blog will help me to store the snapshots from this past year, but I have to admit, I’m still holding on.

Winning Workplaces

I’ve been thinking about my clients’ workplaces a lot the past few weeks. Working in the PR industry, I’ve become accustomed to asking clients the question, “tell me about your workplace – what makes your culture special?” This is a standard question in our industry and a theme we often play off of in our work with the media.

So why has this been on my mind lately? Because I recently finalized a nomination for Inc. Magazine’s Winning Workplaces annual award for one of my clients, global freight and logistics experts Primary Freight Services.

Primary Freight's LA Headquarters Team

The application was long, 7 pages to be exact. But the nomination questions were thoughtful and really got me thinking about what makes a workplace unique and special.  The questionnaire included queries about workplace culture, growing talent within the ranks, team building exercises, and exceptions to the rule made for key staff. Primary Freight Services is a company that deserves to win this award, or at the very least be among those recognized, for a variety of reasons.

I’ve spent some time at Primary Freight’s offices, and one thing I’ve witnessed every time I’ve been there is joy in the workplace. The brother/sister team that has built the company from the ground up (John Brown, CEO, and Kathy Hogan, President) has created a very special environment for their staff. For example, this past year John decided to bring some healthy competition into the office and launched a company-wide Wii bowling tournament. Every staff member participated, from creating avatars to wearing wild-colored matching bowling shirts. Team spirit could not be denied.

The winning Avatar - and yes, they were all this good!

This was in large part done to battle the spiraling morale felt due to the crushing blow of the recession. Despite the business’s need to do a small round of layoffs and require all staff to endure a period of furlough days, team spirit runs deep in the veins of Primary Freight Services staff as a result of the on-going team building.

And as I learn more about each of the staff members, I am struck with their amazing stories of personal and workplace growth. Individuals that the company hired on a “hunch” or identified as “diamonds in the rough” are now leading divisions of the organization, and are viewed as leaders in the industry, thanks to the training, mentoring and quality supervision they were given.

Primary Freight Services is a company that really cares about its staff, and shows it through quality training programs, team building exercises and realistic goals, matched with public recognition and praise. I’m impressed by their workplace; it always feels good to walk down their halls.

So, think for a minute about what your workplace is like and what makes it special?  These really are important questions to ask. I think we should all take some time to think about our workplace and culture, make changes to the elements that aren’t working, and celebrate the things that are!

Lessons from the Beehive

   

I learned a lot yesterday – none of which I could have predicted two days ago. Suddenly forced out of our office by thousands of uninvited bees, the stage was set for my unexpected learning.  

First, and foremost, I learned, once again, that silver linings are part of every bad experience – you just have to open your eyes to them. This week was very hectic. Deadlines loomed. Yet the thousands of bees who apparently lived in the eaves of our vintage 1920s Craftsman Bungalow decided THIS was the week to visit down below, which was OUR part of the office. Last week’s torrential rains had wreaked havoc with their entrée and exit. When their scouts buzzed by for a visit, our HKA team was not happy. The bees were docile – not Africanized attack bees – but they buzzed and were scary to some of us. I was suddenly faced with tremendous loss of productivity, not to mention the cost of ridding the building of bees, and loss of staff morale, as people’s attitudes were dropping like flies, I mean, bees. The serendipitous silver lining? Overnight, we FINALLY scheduled an office retreat where we learned about each other’s personalities, planned small “Kaizen” steps to achieve our newly stated 2010 goals, and even began noodling over our upcoming industry awards competition. Pretty darn good use of time! We left our retreat conference room (generously provided by client Farmers & Merchants Bank) more bonded, more focused and actually laughing again. And I wouldn’t have done this, despite wanting to, if we were not physically forced from our comfy surroundings.  

Lesson #2: We saw for ourselves –as we always tell our clients, publicity works! While none of us LIKED having the bees buzzing around, none of us wanted to kill them either. Especially not when honeybees are growing scarce. Two of us remembered an OC Register article from last year about a beekeeper who removes the bees live and relocates them so they can continue living and making honey – just not at HKA. Perfect! Our intrepid property manager (my husband Layne) called her up and she quickly came over, wearing the funny white bee suit you see in movies, to investigate.  

Beekeeper Melinda Nelson

  

   

Melinda's "helper" -- Layne

  

When she returned, she spent four hours gently coaxing the swarming bees out live and removing their intricate honeycomb hives and, hopefully, the queen bee. It was more expensive than extermination, but, hey, we all felt better about it. See how it works? We wouldn’t have known to call her without the press. If you have unwanted bees, here’s the article: http://www.ocregister.com/news/bees-166952-bee-cable.html.  

Lesson #3: I learned that fresh honey, right from the honeycomb, is an amazing taste treat! Couldn’t believe the intensity and purity of the sweetness when I sampled what our unwanted visitors had been producing upstairs. My husband had salvaged a hunk of honeycomb, dripping with honey, and encouraged me to indulge when I returned: a first-hand lesson on the value of buying/eating locally produced food. I suspect I won’t find exactly the same flavor burst from honey at the local farmer’s market, but I definitely won’t settle for that supermarket honey-in-a-jar anymore!  

  

 Yes, there were lessons learned yesterday. But not all questions were answered. For instance, who the heck decides who is the queen bee? Is she elected? Or is she royalty?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Worker bees at HKA

As the HKA workers were creating buzz for their clients, some other busy bees were creating buzz around the office yesterday afternoon.

Working in a restored 1920’s Bungalow, HKA has enjoyed the privilege of being aesthetically differentiated in a neighborhood of modern apartment complexes and office buildings. Our office has all the modern conveniences, yet there are a few things that give the building “character” according to its occupants.

It was late last week when Nicole first discovered the addition of bees that have made their home in our attic. Their first appearance was in one of our bathrooms, yet today they boldly buzzed through the back hallway and into one of the offices. The occupant, who shall remain nameless (ok, it was me, LaDonna), shrieked back in justifiable alarm and called for back up.

Not many know that amongst her public relations talent, charming personality, and good looks, Anika is what appears to be an animal whisperer. She swept into the office fearlessly in search of the misplaced bee and within seconds had the situation well in hand. Taking the poor bees (for there ended up being two) out to their natural habitat, she rescued the office from another traumatic bee experience.

According to an article from treehugger.com the current number of hives has declined by 25% since the 1980’s. We may have just found that 25% in our attic.

In conclusion, do I like bees? From a distance.

Do I want to cohabitate with them? Not so much.