|
Culture Sensitivity |
Work Cultures
and a Little Bit of Magic...
Needless to say, I needed instant morale boosting exercises to make it through this introduction. I had a desperate need to rush to the nearest rest room, look myself in the eye and say “Alka, my dear you thought you were cat’s whiskers and a dream employee, well here is someone who just redefined the concept of whiskers and replaced it with another part of the cat’s anatomy to signify success! Well, tell yourself that you are not too bad and pull your socks up before you are reduced to a gibberish speaking nincompoop.” Barely had I salvaged my self-esteem and walked out of my mental retreat to the loo, when I was enveloped in a bear hug, by this soft teddy bear like creature who I later identified as enormous Arnie. He was an ‘oh so sweet’ succour to my ravaged soul that even the extra personal gesture failed to ring any alarm bells. So great was my relief that I failed to note that here was a person who perhaps did not have a very good reputation for keeping time and was certainly not be the first choice when urgency was required. I was taken into the fold and introduced to other friends of his with a warmth unparalleled. I was just about coping with this study in contrasts, when my boss walked in, to introduce me to the rest of the people I would be working with. I really don’t remember the countless people I met with, but one particular person struck me as in need of help. Sirish as he called himself was a small impish creature with a nervous flutter of hands and also slightly nervous eyes. He came up to me and in a furtive tone declared “Did you know that the department you need to work with is totally like a war zone? If you want to find out about all the conspiracies and the politics, do let me know. I must tell you that Janani is really jealous of me and she makes the computer send messages to me while I am trying to learn how to type. And ‘Miss Avanti’ (who I gathered, to be the human killer machine I had first encountered) thinks no end of herself - always picking faults with all I do.....”. The babble of his voice trailed off as I began to feel afraid of having joined my new job and meeting these new people each replete with their fearsome idiosyncrasies. I retired to my own cubicle with my head spinning and was greeted by my next predator, Ravin ‘The Incredible’, who was already threatened by my femininity, my masculine confidence despite my femininity and in short, of my very existence. By now I had
tired of what was to happen to me - I was convinced that I needed
to be a magician in order to don different personas and different
styles of communicating in order to have these many people relate
to me and much worse, work with me. And here I thought I had been
appointed the Market Research Analyst, expected to do a cerebral
and individualistic job. What was I to do with myself when I was
already expected to turn in to a psychotherapist, a coach, a facilitator,
a negotiator and last and perhaps the least, a Market Research specialist? I am pretty sure that you are convinced that I took the first opportunity to quit and run for my life. The truth is I was tempted to, many a time, but I enjoyed my job and as I stayed I discovered that this department produced excellent quality work, despite and because of these very eccentric creatures which a quirk of fate had thrust into my life. ‘Queen Avanti’ was brilliant at her work and Ravin, the bete noir of my existence was an outstanding field researcher. ‘Furtive Lawrence’ was extremely good at his job of maintaining records and tabulating research data and last but not the least ‘Enormous Arnie’ was a fixer. You could get him to organise a focus group, a research location fix up, or just about any such job and be sure it would all be arranged in a superlative fashion. Sure enough this was an invaluable team for a Market Analyst. All I had to do was to figure a manner of communicating with each of them in their own way, understand how they felt, be empathetic when the need be, negotiate goals and deadlines when necessary and facilitate any arguments that arose. Sounds so simple! Truth is, it isn’t so! It required of course, not only my ability to zap a role and a persona out of my hat at will, but also an ability to understand what held them together. A common goal to complete their commitments and their loyalty to the organisational culture. I am pretty certain that even though the characters in my life are a little exaggerated they are people you will encounter in your experiences at work. In fact, many personalities make up a work culture and make it so interesting to work within. It is this variety of people, with their different strengths coming together to work for a common goal that makes it possible for teams to work out unique solutions. So all you have to do is a little magic, put on your fancy hats, pull all the tricks up your sleeves and get ready to zap! Who knows, you possibly have your idiosyncrasies too, and the next person who walks in will also write about you in as colourful terms as these. Graphic done by Sophiya
New
Articles
Connecting The Intercultural Communication
And Management |
I
had barely walked into my new office, when a cloud of cloying perfume
assailed my nostrils and forced my gaze up to an equally sweet face
with perfectly shaped eyebrows, a perfectly arched mouth and the
most clear complexion I ever saw. It was enough to bring forth the
worst of my inadequacies to the forefront. It was only then that
I noticed that the mouth had a slightly cruel set to it and the
eyes seemed too piercing. The poise with which a hand was held out
for a handshake was more a challenge rather than a welcome. Clearly
this was a force to reckon with, the worst of my dreams coming true
and a fearful adversary to contend with. 