By this time, I feel like I’ve fully arrived in my role here at Sun & Co and in Javea. Hosting
has become second nature at this point, and I have moved on to incorporate my strategic
skills in the marketing area.
In the first weeks, I struggled a bit with organizing my day, but also with communicating and collaborating with the team. The working environment is quite fast-paced and dynamic since the situation can change very quickly, on an organizational level in terms of bookings, cancellations, resources, and responsibilities, or on a personal level depending on the influence of guests and changes in the community.
If this experience has revealed one thing to me so far, it is the fact that I really enjoy working with people. I never had the opportunity, and really the privilege, to work closely with people.
Since I am not in a role that demands me to lead or direct anybody, but in most cases rather listen, respond, and facilitate, I’m learning and practicing a whole new way of
communicating. Those communication skills seem to not only benefit the way I interact with guests but also with my peers and superiors.
In the past, I sometimes struggled to convince people of my ideas or communicate strategies effectively. I think that might have been due to the fact that I concentrated too much on my perspective, instead of genuinely listening and understanding the other point of view.
This change has, among other things, led me to analyze the current situation around an
event Sun & Co is organizing in April and to develop a marketing strategy in response.
Instead of going through a detailed and long-lived process, I was able to incorporate the
working pace, practicality, and adaptability I got familiar with in the last weeks and present a simple and effective strategy plan within a matter of days.
The presentation has won me the trust of all team members, and we are slowly shifting to
get me more involved in the overall marketing strategy and process. Since the company is
working mostly with flat hierarchies, I’m learning to communicate my needs, time, and
responsibility effectively. Working in a small team, I also realize more and more the
importance of being effective and practical, but also the trust and reliability necessary
amongst team members.
During the last weeks of this month, another team member joined who will be helping out in the marketing area. It is a very interesting experience to help with the onboarding that I just recently went through myself. I keep noticing that beyond the act of onboarding itself, making sure a new person feels welcome, integrated, and empowered is not something that can be reduced to a task on a to-do list.
Onboarding in this sense is an open-ended effort that requires openness and responsiveness from all parties involved. No matter the professional skills, sometimes the
better team member might be a sociable and flexible person, instead of the highly qualified professional.