June 14
The Organizer
Dan Z.
Throughout my life I have always greatly appreciated my friends. Friends can offer you advice from an outside perspective. If they are good friends, they will also tell you the truth about a situation even if it’s the last thing in the world you want to hear. Friends give you someone to talk to, someone you can open up to without having to fear rejection or false judgment. And sometimes, friends give you someone to just be around in total silence while you contemplate things in your life. If you’re really lucky, your parents know how to be your friend as well as your caretaker. They guide you through the trials and tribulations you face, while still respecting your decisions as an individual.
As a child, I was a part of the over 50% of marriages in America that end in divorce. This turned my world upside down and caused me to lose faith in my ability to trust people. Luckily for me, I had already made a group of about 8 or 10 good friends. Probably without their knowledge, they became my solid foundation for an otherwise frightening and unstable experience known frequently as Life. As time went on, a few of these friends grew distant but new friends became a part of this growing foundation. My parents also reestablished themselves in my life as a source of trustworthy knowledge and experience. I slowly grew out of my long lasting depression, and life took on a whole new vibrancy that begged to be shared.
These events are what led to me thinking of myself as “The Organizer” within my ever growing group of close friends. Because my friends played such a pivotal role in helping me through what I still believe to be the most emotionally traumatic event of my life, how could I be anything but grateful? In order to show my gratitude to my friends, I frequently organize fun events for everyone. Sometimes it’s going out to dinner with a noisy group of 15. With age we have become slightly belligerent, but we make up for our raucous behavior and our aggravation of some guests and waiters with our good tips. As the organizer other times it’s me buying 15 tickets ahead of time to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, and then dealing with the hassle of collecting from everyone. Whatever event I decide to organize, it’s always a time for fellowship and interaction.
If there is one thing in life I’ve learned, absence leads to more than making the heart grow fonder. It often also leads to relationships atrophying into a mere shadow of their previous brilliance. This also seems to be true in the business world. Communication is a key component of any organization that hopes to function at optimal performance. It allows a unified purpose to be conveyed to every member of an organization. It helps coordinate due dates and goals throughout the company. It also helps people connect with each other on a more personal level. I never mind doing a favor for someone I know personally, but I sometimes find it hard to motivate myself to be inconvenienced for someone I don’t know.
With the rapid increase of globalization, many companies are spread out between different regions. In response to this conferencing has become less of an unnecessary benefit and more of a commodity. Although not true for every company, most companies can find unparalleled benefits from conferencing. It allows for an ease of interaction between company members that 50 years ago was almost unthinkable. Now all I need to do is find a way to implement conferencing in my group of friends, and we will never have to worry about our relationship deteriorating = )
Daniel Zachmann is a member of the Marketing team at Copper Conferencing. Copper Conferencing is a provider of audio conferencing and webinar services. Copper also provides wrap-around services including online account, invoice and recording management. You can try Copper’s great web and audio conferencing services — FREE. Just sign up now.
