Your Career Questions Answered by Jolito Ortizo Padilla - from Savola Group-KSA and Viva Telecom of Bahrain

From Savola Group of Company-KSA
Situation: I want to make my company's marketing strategy more environmentally friendly. Where do I start?

Thanks for reading my book- Strategic Management -Building Competitive Advantage through IPad e-book..

First, identify the real environmental issues throughout your product life cycle-not just Good news stories. Research the issue that concern customers and the connections they make between your products and climate change or waste. Get engineers , production, purchasing, sales and distribution to ask:
- Do we know how good our suppliers' environmental performance is?
- Have we taken every opportunity to improve energy and resource efficiency and
avoid waste?
- Are other less resource-intensive ways to meet customer needs?
- Can we reclaim and reuse or recycle products?

Green marketing becomes tokenistic when separated from the rest of the business. Integrate your green efforts with overall quality management , strategic planning and budgeting processes and set firm targets. Aim to be ambitious but realistic and consistent. Everybody hates a "greenwasher" so base any claims on substantive improvements. Then start dialogues with suppliers, customers, your workforce and intermediaries about how to work with them to improve further.

Get help. The Carbon Trust can help with reducing energy use, the Chartered Institute of Marketing has a range of resources and many trade associations are tackling environmental issues that affect whole industries. Finally be brave. The companies that try wholeheartedly derive the most benefit.

From Viva Telecommunications Bahrain
Setting: My workload has increased recently and I can't cope with it. How can I approach my manager to explain the situation?

Thanks for reading my book- Emotional Intelligence-Putting Things in Proper Perspectives.

Before speaking to your manager about your workload , first examine four important threads that could be influencing your feelings:
* Has your workload changed significantly and are you struggling with either the
volume or the content of your work?
* Has anything significant changed in your life that is impacting on your work
and /or your feelings?
* How would you describe your relationship with your manager?
* Most importantly , how is this feeling of not coping impacting on your health
and work/life balance?
Examining these four areas may help you decide which approach to use to move forwards and change your situation. If may be that when you think about these areas more closely , you will have a better idea of the right way to approach your manager.

However, you sound quite overwhelmed and you may also benefit from finding yourself a mentor to assist you in clarifying your personal reflections and how to move forward. It is very important to address issues straightaway rather than ignore them. You can then make changes that prevent you from burning out.

Try making some notes and deciding what and how you can change things for yourself. Making changes and taking control of your situation will not only be empowering for you, but will also help you in your role and your relationship with your manager.