Heimatgefühle aka. Some things you can't translate

Recently, I have had a lot of "Heimat" here in England: My boyfriend moved in, my mum and sister came for my graduation in mid-November and we had friends staying over last weekend. This made me think about and also miss my "Heimat". Although we have decided to stay in England for now, it doesn't mean that I don't miss all my friends and all these little things that I love about Germany/Bavaria.

I realised that there is no proper English equivalent to "Heimat". Literally, it means homeland or simply home, but I think this doesn't live up to the German word. I have my home in England, but my "Heimat" will always be Munich!

How can you not love Munich?
Source: Telegraph

However, it is not the first time that I am literally speechless when it comes to expressing something in English. Have a look at the words below and consider using it in your language in the future! ;)

Schadenfreude

It means to feel happy for someone's misfortune. Like, when someone falls and you can't refrain from laughing. Although I have read this exact word in an English book - so I guess it has been imported already - it needs to be general knowledge so people don't frown at me when randomly throwing in German words.

Fremdschämen

When someone behaves really badly in public and you just feel ashamed in his/her stead. For example, someone is screaming at a cashier for doing something wrong and you feel like you want to curl up and die. I am really surprised that Brits don't have a word for that. You're like predestined for that, aren't you?

Torschlusspanik

The feeling that you're getting older and you're running out of time or opportunities to do everything you want. The best example is often used with single women in their thirties; the clock is ticking and they need to find a man (not my view, but mainly society's opinion).  

These are my favourite untranslatable words. You can find some more international words here. I'd highly recommend clicking on the link as these words are truly beautiful. Do you have any untranslatable words in your language? My dear international friends, share them with me! 

Time flies when you have fun....

...and boom, one year is over. Today is thesis deadline. But being a pro in time-management (haha!) I handed in my thesis on Friday already to spend a lovely weekend in London with my friend. Time to look back:

One year ago, I came to England, nervous, excited and naive. Nervous about all the uncertainty ahead - will I make friends? Will I like my course? Excited because hey, I was moving to England! Living abroad has always been a dream of mine (my friends know that my initial goal was Australia, but that is incredibly far away, so let's take one step at a time!). And naive, not knowing that this "one day a week" uni course would turn out to be the busiest year in my life. And because I thought that these cultural differences aren't that big. I mean, after all, Brits are Europeans, as well! Oh how wrong I was! Brits are so hilariously different, you just gotta love it!

So was it worth it? All the stress, the money, being away from your loved ones? 

HELL YEAH!

Not only did I learn so much about PR (thanks Catherine!), groupwork, cultural differences, assignments, living with people you did not choose to live with (don't!), Sunday Roast, Pub quizzes, politeness, driving on the left ( = wrong) side of the road, rain, rain and also rain, and how many episodes you can watch on Netflix before it asks you if you want to continue watching; I also learned a lot about myself, I developed new skills and discovered skills I didn't even know I had (see also "German efficiency").

Of course, not everything is sunshine and rainbows (particularly not in November, where it's mostly rain and rain). You have times you miss your home, you feel alone and you feel so stressed out by all these bloody assignments that you just want to get out of there and forget it all. My advice, if you're in this situation: Just do it (reference to Shia Labeouf not intended). Take a trip (goes best with a travel buddy like Susanna and some Cream Tea in whichever city you go to) or book a flight home for some time. No assignment is so important that you should risk being happy! My thesis didn't stop me going to Germany for my friends' wedding (twice!). Because sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

It's interesting: Many people/blogs tell you that your year abroad/Erasmus/exchange is "the best time of your life". During that year, I waited for the "aha moment" to happen, when I would finally realise that this was the best time of my life! Well, it never came. Living abroad is not just adventure and travelling and everything being exciting. It is an awful lot of routine as well. Which doesn't mean that I didn't have a good time. As mentioned above, I learned a lot and I enjoyed myself. I also learned not to compare phases of my life. Of course, there are good ones and bad ones, but to pick which is the "best" one? Naaaah, thanks!

A small glimpse of my year in pictures

What can I say? I loved (most of) it and this is why I'm staying.

Why groupwork sucks

Long time no see. 

My posts are getting rarer. I really need to apologise for that...Over Easter, I spent three lovely weeks at home in Germany and completely put everything uni- and PR-related aside (Apart from that last post, where I was bored rewatching Game of Thrones and spontaneously decided to take part in the #SOSM2015). 

The last days we were quite busy finishing our reflective report of our group PR Campaign. The more we reflected on it, the more we realised how much we actually learned. I really can't say that the campaign was a good one, as Murphy struck pretty hard.

Not only did we lose our client half-way through, we also had to deal with a lot of differences within our "agency". There were not only cultural (as our team consists of 3 different nationalities) difficulties, but apparently we also different working standards. Some members couldn't or wouldn't want to deliver work to a distinction or merit level, while others wouldn't accept anything less.

Well, like in real life, you can continue whinging or try to fix it somehow. You just can't always choose your colleagues or clients. Deal with it!

Now I can tell you that you learn a hell of a lot more from difficult than from easy times! You learn a lot about other people, how to deal with them and how to solve a problem despite these difficulties!

But if you're waiting for me to disprove what I wrote in the title, you'll be disappointed... 

Groupwork does suck (most of the time), but it is incredibly important to grow.

PS. The campaign wasn't THAT bad. Yes, we lost our client. But we managed to apply our product development skills and design a similar product for a new client. Boom!

#SOSM2015: TMI: Are we oversharing on social media?

On Facebook, there are 1.28 billion monthly users. 500 million tweets are sent per day. More than 20 billion photos have been shared on Instagram so far. 100 hours of video are being uploaded on YouTube every minute. 

Source: Social Media Stats 2014

What is even oversharing? Google answers with "reveal[ing] an inappropriate amount of detail about one's personal life".

No one can even look at all this stuff that can be found on social media. Are we oversharing? 

Margaret Rock says oversharing is psychologically natural for us. We want to present us at best to impress others. But does a massive posting of pictures of food, cats and our last holiday make us better people? Does it impress other people or just annoy them?

Data is money. On Facebook, we are not the customers. We are the product. This means that oversharing comes along with a loss of control about our privacy. So, in times of data privacy issues we should think twice before we post our latest drunk pictures. These will probably be seen by our future employers. Future parents-in-law. Think! Are we really making a good impression? Can we really look at these pictures a few years from now and not be ashamed of ourselves?  

Have we even come that far that we go to nice places or do nice things just to post about it? We are creating a virtual ego that is so much more exciting, better looking and funnier than we really are. With this virtual picture of us in mind, we are losing the ability to just enjoy things for their sake. 

Yes, we are oversharing. But at what price? 

With this in mind, I'll put down my phone now, go out and enjoy the sunny day without posting it on Instagram and Facebook.

PS. #SOSM2015 (Stand out on Social Media) is a student-run competition. You can read everything about it here. 

My #ebookinaday experience

It was just that I was writing another blog post for Solent PR about our #ebookinaday project (you can read the very post here) that I realised that I haven't been posting for 11 days. It seems that money actually makes the world go round as I have been writing way more on the Solent PR blog (which I get paid for...) than on my own one. Shame on me!!

But while writing about our chapter of the Ebook in a day (if you wonder what the #ebookinaday is all about, you can read everything about this project here), I thought back to that day that was full of hustle and bustle, a lot of fun and also a bit of anxiety.

At the very beginning of the day, I was nervous and wondered, if any of the undergrads would "choose" my chapter, if they would like my concept (which was admittedly pretty draft-ish, but - to be honest - I had some other assignments to take care of as well), if everything would work out as planned and if we would manage to create something worthwhile. 

Photo by Richard Berry

But luckily, when Catherine kicked of the event, there was no time to worry. And no need, as it turned out. I had the loveliest team members who were very excited for my topic, were proactive and had a lot of good ideas.

So busy, we can't even look into the camera...
Photo by Richard Berry

Photo by Richard Berry

Photo by Richard Berry

It was very unfamiliar with being a "teamleader" and giving people instructions. At first it felt really weird, but when I realised that my ladies completely relied on me (as I was supposed to be the one with the plan...), I started to relax.

As you can see on the pictures, we also had a lot of fun. The day was a huge lesson in time and project management, team work (not so challenging though with my perfect teammembers) and social media.

Here's what my team members had to say:

"It was great to work on ebook in a day again and throw myself into the tasks. It was a really interesting and engaging experience!" (Charlotte)

"Ebook in a day was an unbelievable fun, hectic and instructive day! I really enjoyed to see how passionate and creative people were!" (Sanne)

Thank you (again...) Charlotte Heeney, Catherine Butcher, Vanessa Sumpmann and Sanne Villemoes! 

#thedress put to a good use

We all remember when #thedress broke the internet last week. No one could agree on what the colours of the dress were, as there is apparently some weird perception thing going on...

"The Dress" that divided the minds

Although it blew my mind (it was definitely white and gold!!), I must admit that this was an incredibly profane matter to have the whole world talking about.

Eventually, this dress was put to a good use: The Salvation Army South Africa twittered this picture today:

With this powerful message, the Salvation Army wanted to raise awareness that one in six women are victims of abuse. With the question "Why is it so hard to see black and blue?" they refer to the black and blue marks on the model's body. 

The small print says:

"The only illusion is if you think it was her choice."

Within the scope of the International Women's Day on 8 March this campaign has the perfect timing and also the perfect hook, as almost everyone knows about "The dress".

Although I personally think that this is a brilliant campaign, #theDress's "ghost" seems to be around, as the controversy in the Twitter world continues:

It seems as if people just can't agree on anything regarding "The Dress". But I'm glad that it may become a symbol against the abuse of women instead of a stupid perception controversy. 

Finding Permit A 38 aka. My life as a Freelancer (Pt. 1)

For about two weeks now, I've been working as a freelancer. We need a work placement for one of our assignments and I wanted to gain some experience anyway. And hey, I even get paid for this. While the project itself is running pretty well, I discover the bureaucratic difficulties in working freelance. 

It's like finding permit A38. Some of you are probably too young to know what I mean. One of the tasks of Asterix & Obelix in the 1976 (ok, I'm not that old, but I've watched it in my childhood) movie "The twelve tasks of Asterix" is finding the permit A38 in the place that sends you mad. 

You can watch the scene here. The fun thing about that task is that people keep sending him somewhere else and back and forth again to get that permit. And he needs a lot of other permits which eventually almost drives him mad. 

And while I am not looking for a permit A38, I am indeed looking for information on how to work as a freelancer tax- and insurance-wise. Did no one print a leaflet? 

On the website of the HMRC, you can make a test to find out if you need to pay taxes. Well, for that money I earn on my project, I don't need to pay taxes. But don't I need an insurance number? Don't I need to register anywhere? I'm confused. 

But hey, the uni will probably help me with that, won't it? That's what I thought. So I went to Students First, they can usually help you with everything/know who can help you. They sent me to the Employability Desk. The girl there wanted to send me to Students First. Or Solent Creatives. Or the Finance Department. Now you know, why I feel like Asterix with his task.

Source: http://www.midnightonly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/twelve-tasks-of-asterix-11.jpg

I feel like running around with no one being able to tell me what I actually need to do. I struggle with bureaucratic stuff in Germany already, I don't need that in another language...

Maybe I am being too German? Germans need regulations and instructions on everything, don't they?This is one of the few times I actually admit: It does make sense to have regulations like these (if I were to work freelance in Germany, I would need to google it once and know what to do...). I am now in need of clear instructions on how to proceed next. Because I don't want to end up getting a fine for not declaring my (massive) income...(or whatever can happen...)

...to be continued...

How Twitter can ruin your life: Public Shaming 3.0

Last week, I stumbled across this article from the NY Times: "How one stupid Tweet blew up Justine Sacco's Life" and I read it with curiosity, as this topic has bothered me for quite a time.

If you don't know who Justine Sacco is: She was senior director of corporate communications (was...) at IAC at the time she tweeted this:

If she had realised that this tweet would destroy her life, she'd probably thought twice (Read the full story here). 

Some time ago, I found a (German) website that showed the full names and Facebook profile pictures of people along with their racist and nazi posts. Like, really bad posts that have got little to do with freedom of speech and reminded me more of Germany 70 years ago... When I discovered that website, I thought it was amazing and laughed at it. I mean, if people are stupid enough to post stuff like that publicly - why shouldn't they be shamed publicly?

But it seems like things got out of hand considering the Justine Sacco issue. The internet has simplified communications, true. That goes for good as well as for bad communications. One inconsiderate comment can turn into an avalanche that covers you with the world's hate. I mean, it was nothing more than a tweet! 

People have always been saying stupid things. With the help of the web 3.0, the whole world can know (if it's only stupid enough...). Somehow, now the world seems to be really keen on seeing someone being completely destroyed. Do people really deserve this?

On the other hand, shouldn't you be aware that public expression of opinion could bring you opposing views? The thing is that it is mostly not opposing views. What happens here is a communal power dispensing "justice" upon those who did wrong. There are Twitter accounts, Tumblr pages or Facebook sites about Public Shaming. People shame others to make themselves feel good, superior. It's got nothing to do with justice!

I myself will regard public shaming very critically, because often, single statements are taken out of context. What about you? Public Shaming - Yay or Nay?

Why you don't need an Elevator Pitch

The Elevator Pitch. We discussed that in a lecture in late November and our lecturer gave us the "homework" to create an elevator pitch for ourselves. 

For those who don't know what that is: It is a short speech of ca. 20-30 seconds telling everything what a potential client/employer/whosoever needs to know about you. A good elevator pitch makes people keep you in mind. It helps networking. And getting jobs.

Source: http://freelancefolder.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/elevator.jpg

Well, the elevator pitch has been on my "blogposts-to-write" list for way to long now. I have been thinking about it from time to time, but nothing really came to my mind.

So I wrote a post about it last week. When I was about half way through creating my elevator pitch, I stumbled upon this website. After watching her video, I read through my pitch and noticed that she was quite right:

"An elevator pitch sounds artificial. A set of sentences that feel awkward to say, the other person feels awkward because they don't represent who you truly are."

Damn it, now I've put so much work into that blog post and my pitch to notice that it is crap (ok, maybe the instruction how to create an elevator pitch is alright). But then, maybe she just hasn't heard a good elevator pitch in her life? Apparently Dr. Laura Nelson is quite experienced in high performance coaching (and she's even a Neuroscientist...Can't really argue with that, can I?) and to be honest, what she says does make sense: It is important to be able to explain what you do briefly and precisely.

So she mentions a two step process:

1. Talk about your passion
2. Keep talking.

The second step is basically to "practice", but also to reflect on your passion. This in turn will lead to you being able to frame it better; your message will get clearer and clearer and people will more likely remember because you are authentic.

Eventually, it is probably some kind of elevator pitch, but it is not as stiff and artificial like a "real" elevator pitch. Also, it is really important to be aware that the pitch (let's call it like that for the moment) changes with every person you talk to. 

So, think about what you love (from a professional point of view - it would be awkward if you were talking about getting wasted every weekend...) and next time we'll meet, I will tell you about my passion. 

Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox: #ThisGirlCan

If you have been to the cinema lately, you may have seen it. It's an advert with the motto "This Girl Can". I haven't, but my lecturer told me about it. She told me that she LOVED that advert because it showed normal girls; no Size Zero; girls with a bit of paunch. The interesting thing is that she didn't know what the ad was for. 

I have heard the term before (in the Facebook Group of the Solent Subaqua Club) so I decided to do a bit of research. You can watch the video HERE (YouTube):

The message is clear: Women shouldn't bother about how they look while doing sports. Their "not perfect" bodies shouldn't keep them from being active and having fun. And of course, they shouldn't be ashamed of their body!

On the WEBSITE it says: 

"This Girl Can is here to inspire women to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement is a barrier that can be overcome."

The campaign is being run by Sport England to encourage women to be more active. According to Sport England, 75% of women would like to exercise more but are put off by issues ranging from body confidence to motherhood. The This Girl Can ad celebrates women in all forms and shapes.

And because I think this is a fantastic campaign, I share my #ThisGirlCan picture with you:

15 July 2014, Munich, Germany

This was last year when I finished the 6.4 k Run for my company. I was nearly dying but so proud of myself that I did it (I took part to prove myself that I can do it in the first place!). Indeed, I was sweating like a pig, but feeling like a fox after that!

Why Internal Communications Matter

In contrast to external communications, internal communications are often treated as an orphan by senior managers and executives. But what many organisations don't know is that internal communications are a crucial part of organisational communications, although their contribution to the business success is not that obvious.

Good internal communications can drive Employee Engagement. Robinson et al. define Employee Engagement in the following way:

"A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of the business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must develop and nurture engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employee and employer."

(Robinson et al., 2004, p. xi)

The level of engagement surely depends from the personal disposition, but apart from that, internal communications can in fact contribute to encourage employees. If the organisation manages to successfully drive engagement, it can reduce recruitment costs, lower turnover rates and even increase customer satisfaction. 

Happy employees = happy customers. It's that easy. Well, not exactly. It is rather difficult to implement a strategy that engages employees and to measure the actual behavioural change, respectively. 

For the first part, MacLeod and Clarke identify four "enablers" of employee engagement:

1. Leadership providing a strong strategic narrative

2. Engaging Managers who focus on their employees

3. Employee voice throughout the organisation

4. Integrity: practice what you preach

(MacLeod & Clark, 2009, p. 75)

The second part, the measurement, is fairly easy: the "magic tool" called VMM (valid metrics matrix). If you're a PR person and don't know what it is: Google it. You should know! 

Thanks to my lecturer, I even dream about the VMM! ;)

According to MacLeod and Clarke,  engagement is a circle of Attitude, Behaviour and Outcome. These attributes "trigger and reinforce" each other (2009, p. 9). The problem is that many organisations measure staff satisfaction and think, people are engaged. Well, they are, but only to a certain point. Satisfaction reflects Attitude. We're not speaking of behaviour or even outcome. Yet. 

Virtuous Circle of Employee Engagement
Source: myself

Suitable metrics for outcome would be turnover rate or recruitment costs. Happy employees stay with their organisation. Some companies do in fact manage to change their employees' behaviour. With great initiatives that affect not only the workplace atmosphere but also the private atmosphere. But they don't know because they don't measure it. 

So, as you can see, internal communications can have a huge impact on business results and also on the workplace atmosphere. Speaking for myself, I had always thought it was more or less about informing employees and telling them how great the company is. But it's way more than that. I just learned that in my last assignment for this term (*yay*), that's why this post is so academic-ish.


References:

MacLeod, D. & Clarke , N., 2009. Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee management. [Online]
Available at: http://www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/file52215.pdf
[Accessed 29 January 2015].

Robinson, D., Perryman, S. & Hayday, S., 2004. The Drivers of Employee Engagement. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.

What doesn't kill you (or your stakeholders)...

So last Wednesday was Crisis Day at SSU. In fact, we conducted a crisis simulation with the PR undergrad students. While the undergrad students were the PR teams from the fake uni USS (University of Southern Sarum), we, the MA students were to observe and control them. Southampton Solent University has been running crisis simulations for now several years. 

Why do you run a simulation?

Well, in real life, a crisis simulation is to get trained to know how to behave in critical situations, since it's too late when the crisis hits. At university, it's similar, the students are being thrown into a situation that gets worse and worse every hour to learn how to deal with a crisis. 

As funny and amusing as it was to watch undergrads freaking out, I would have liked to play an active role in that simulation, because you really can get a lot out of it.

What's the deal?

This year's crisis simulation had a very actual topic, so it was even more important to have control about everything being communicated. Fake (private) Twitter Accounts and closed Facebook groups were set up . The simulation was about a student potentially being infected with Ebola. The PR teams were being bombarded by panicking "students" and curious "news reporters" during the day, while trying not to let the issue become a crisis.

All in all, the students did a really good job, although there were times we wanted to take them by the hand and lead them into the right direction. On the other hand, it was good fun to watch them freak out...

Lecturer Dr. Catherine Sweet observing Twitter Accounts.

New year, new me??

It's the same procedure every year in January: The gyms are full (for the next two months...), everyone stops smoking (just to start again at the next party) and you'll only find salad and veggies on the dinner tables (trust me, you'll sin again soon!!). However, I can understand how people use the new year, a new chapter, to start over again, but to be honest, does it really make sense to shoot for the moon when you'll find yourself back at old habits soon?

I have never made a New Year's Resolution. In my opinion, you can - and you should - start all over anytime you want! Don't put yourself under social pressure to make a new year's resolution. A study has found that only 1 out of 10 people actually achieve their goals. So if you want to change something in your life - just do it! Why wait till New Year's Eve?

I set my current goal last year - to finish my Masters having learnt a lot. So you may have noticed that I changed the blog's title from "Great PRitain" (which is still a fabulous name - at least in my opinion) to "Frieda Goes PR". That does not come out of a NY resolution, the timing is just a coincidence (it goes together with handing in my professional development plan assignment...). It is just a part of a kind of "rebranding" process I am going through to continue my professionalisation. Which again is another "sub-objective". The blog's initial purpose was to write about my personal experience, my unilife and, of course, PR. However, I have realised that I would like to keep these things separate. Therefore, my blog will focus on mostly PR-ish topics. 

So be prepared for some further changes on the blog. And, by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Frieda Goes PR"