The Business Relationship Code

First quarter of 2023 has been pretty hectic for me - unexpectedly but very much welcomed, I was part of three projects. One was Men's World Handball Championship in Sweden (Jönköping & Malmö), second was e-sports event Wandercon in Osijek and last but not least, TOP.hr Music Awards in Zagreb.

While I had amazing time at all of the mentioned projects, they also taught me some valuable lessons and once again reminded me that working with people is the most challenging part of my job. Not all use Jeff Bezos's methods - “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” So let's dig into practical examples!

Example no. 1 is World Handball Championship 2023. Due to my previous experience in Sweden, I was on high alert when it came to hospitality and kindness of certain individuals. And when we arrived in Malmö, all of those fears came true… From the rude hotel personnel, to the rolling eyes of the media representatives we collaborated with – although prepared for it, we were still in shock about how people lost their basic human courtesy and forgot that only one kind word can make a difference.

And just as I came back to Croatia and thought – „there's no place like home“, I faced new challenges. Example no. 2 is the e-sports event Wandercon where I was, for the first time in my life, introduced to the world of influencers and gamers. And what a learning curve it was! I must say, the organizers really put in all of their efforts to deliver world class event, but yet again, some individuals were really difficult to work with - rude, arrogant and childish know-it-alls. This made me think that maybe their amazing online lives are pure opposites to their real lives...

Finally, my example no. 3 comes from the latest event - TOP.hr Music Awards. And while I worked with truly amazing, experienced and dedicated team, our nightmares were caused by the venue management. Through all of my work experience, I have truly never encountered such an uncompromising and difficult communication and approach. Once again, karma showed itself – I was bragging how we, Croats, are adaptable and accommodating and then – a slap in the face…

All this being said, there is still one more thing I need to bring to your attention. At all of those encounters, there were always people who were kind, working and ready to help. People who understand that MY success is OUR success and vice versa. So with a good coordination, communication and diplomacy, I managed to build strong relationships with those individuals and navigate all the challenging situations mentioned.

To sum up, not everyone is always on the same page, there are times when we encounter resistance or even hostility from people we work with or who provide us services. The lesson I learned is that  keeping positive human relations, good planning, resilience and innovation are true answers to those challenges. Developing those skills and abilities will make you a remarkable professional. Although I am still learning how to set my emotions aside, I think I managed to do so and I am  grateful I can apply these lessons to my future projects.