My Favourite Tipples from a strategic consultant
Jinfo Blog

By Rebecca Gebhardt Brizi

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Rebecca Brizi, a business operations consultant with a deep knowledge of the information industry through her time at Vable. She shares her go-to online resources in the areas of communication and project management.

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When your work is that of enquiry and facilitation, defining and producing deliverables becomes as much an art as it is a science.

Tracking conversations, new ideas and communication with my clients is key to providing a consistent service and demonstrating the impact of my work.

Communication tools that are flexible as well as simple to use become essential. Here is my mix: 

• Google Drive: The best tool for keeping everything in one place. I can store any documents my clients share with me right alongside my own notes and information. I keep detailed minutes on all meetings and interactions, and Drive allows me to store and connect documents I need, as well as share easily and access from any device.

• Airtable: Being used to spreadsheets in Drive, Airtable gives me just the extra functionality I need for project tracking. It allows comprehensive management of client deliverables and due dates, as well as individual project plans for each client. These connect to the relevant Google Drive documents, as mentioned above.

• Google Mail: Yes: this was a strategic decision. No other email client allows the search functionality I have found in Gmail. I can easily find old communications, determine which attachments were sent and when, and connect back to my Drive documents. In addition, I can monitor multiple email addresses in one inbox, as I occasionally take on a client email address as well.

• FullContact: With its Google Mail plugin, it is a simple click to sync client information to the FullContact address book - and I am all about seamless updating. FullContact will sync my various personal and social media accounts, and allow me tagging, notes and connections between people, so I stay on top of my client news and contact details.

For fun:

• Facebook: Sticking with the communication theme, let me go old school and mention Facebook. It does have a two-fold purpose for me: having moved a great deal in life, I find it is the simplest way to keep up with family and friends around the world, as we can share, post and comment as a group. In addition, I have clients who use Facebook for their own marketing, so being a user is the best way to keep up with the platform's latest advertising and communication options. 

An article in Jinfo which I found particularly interesting:

• Communication within organisations is essential but complicated. The Jinfo article "Cultivating interdepartmental relationships through research and communication" acknowledges that communication is not just message, but has to consider the sender, the receiver, the available resources and the context of all of the above. Communication is about improving relationships, and Shimrit Janes' article considers all that is required.

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