Lack of communication can have very embarrassing consequences...

My experience at Pirate 88FM so far has taught me some very invaluable business lessons, mainly related to the importance of communication, and being organised.

Allow me to reflect. I recently attended a networking function along with two of my colleagues, and was asked to attend as a representative of Pirate. I was excited the team felt highly enough of me to represent the organisation among other business professionals. I should have, however, been a bit more cautious and far more inquisitive when I realised the event was only two days from the time I was asked. I had no involvement in organising this event, no idea what the event was for, and had no idea who would be in attendance. I of course happily accepted the invitation, however when I asked exactly what the event was, I was simply told it was a networking event run by The Fremantle Chamber of Commerce, being held on the iconic Leeuwin Ship at B Shed Fremantle, and Pirate was co-hosting the event.

The stunning Leeuwin Ship docked at B Shed, Fremantle

The whole situation seemed to be a bit of a mess from the word go. Long story short, I was asked to attend at such short notice as the manager needed to travel up north last minute, and 3 team members were required to attend. Pirate was asked to cohost the event as the date fell on the “eve” of Talk Like a Pirate Day, and as the event was being held on the Leeuwin ship itself (which remained docked), it was a fun novelty idea to have us involved. The event was also, as I found out on the day, focused around businesses in the local Fremantle area, so having Pirate involved seemed fitting.

As the day of the event arrived, I was excited to represent the organisation, and was eager to network with other business professionals with my new experience under my belt. I arrived at the office ready to start the day. First up, we were to collect the alcohol for the event, as arranged by Pirate. With the manager being away, all correspondence for what to do on the day was through email between my manager and my supervisor. Because of this, I had no reason to doubt the information my supervisor gave on the day. Off to the bottle shop we went.

Pulling up in the company car, we went to the register of Old Bridge Cellars in Fremantle, explained we were from Pirate 88FM, and said we were there to collect the alcohol for an event that evening. We did not expect to be met with the response, “I have no idea what you’re talking about”. After explaining the situation further and stating this was the bottle shop we were sent to, the staff remained adamant we had no such arrangement with them. We apologised and quickly left the store to avoid being seen as trying to steal alcohol! My supervisor rang the manager. “No no, not Old Bridge Cellars, you need to go to Liquor Barons in Fremantle!”. We had gone to the wrong place. My supervisor had simply assumed where to go, and did not think to double check before we left. Communication is key! We were already off to a bad start to the day.

After finally collecting the beverages, we made our way to Leeuwin to help set up the event, right on schedule for 4pm, just as we were told. You can imagine our surprise when the event coordinator rushed over to us, an agitated look on her face, asking “where have you been? It’s 4 o’clock!” Confused, we explained we were told to arrive at 4pm. As it turns out, we were meant to arrive at 2pm, and were an unacceptable 2 hours late. Lack of communication, again. We apologised and asked what we could do to help, to which we were told that nothing could be done at that time. As the event was being held on the Leeuwin ship (which looked spectacular!), all the sails and such needed to be checked and set up in order to be safe. The event coordinator sharply told us to “just leave and come back when the event starts”. Feeling uncomfortable, silly and downright useless, we waited back and tried to help where we could. We couldn’t just leave – the event started at 5.30!

When the event finally started, we felt a little out of place. Being on uneasy terms with the staff running the event, we awkwardly asked where we could help and served around plates of food to attendees, as an attempt to give the event staff a break. Although this was a great way to go around and talk to people (and give a bit of a plug to Pirate), we spent the evening feeling uneasy. At this point I still wasn’t entirely sure of the purpose of the event, despite my attempts to get information from my supervisor the previous days. My guess is that she didn’t really know either!

But wait, there’s more! Apparently a representative from Pirate was to give a speech at the event – something that was, again, not communicated to the team. Of course, this is something my supervisor should do – I had not been with Pirate long enough to talk about it to a crowd, and the other team member had come along to represent WAAM (affiliated with Pirate). Although I could understand being reluctant to give an unprepared speech last minute, I was shocked when my supervisor refused. The team member from WAAM ended up giving the speech, despite not representing Pirate, and I honestly felt quite disappointed in my supervisor.

As the event came to a close, there was a strong sense of embarrassment, disappointment, and discomfort. A lack of organisation and communication was more than evident in the lead up to this event. My excitement to attend the function quickly turned to a very uncomfortable feeling. I did, however, learn a very valuable business lesson. One, that communication and organisation is ALWAYS key. Should this have been better managed we would have saved ourselves quite a bit of embarrassment. And secondly, when something like this happens, it is crucial to remain professional. Despite being told to “just leave and come back” by a very (understandably) agitated coordinator, it was important for us to stay, step back, and help where needed, and make sure the staff knew how sorry we were for the miscommunication. We always say communication is key, but I now know this more than ever!

It was, however, a beautiful spring evening aboard the stunning Leeuwin Ship! 

The networking event on board the Leeuwin - beautiful weather!

Until next time.

Emma