When you work directly with people in your organization from around the globe, you are bound to encounter interesting differences, adjustments and challenges.
First and foremost, TIMEZONE differences. Setting up schedules of meeting via telecon which will be “convenient” for everyone will be a big challenge indeed. Case in point. Monthly meetings lasting two hours, after careful deliberation and trial runs, were fixed at 10 PM Manila time (which is 6 AM US and Canada, 2 PM London, 4 PM South Africa and 12 PM Brazil, etc.) Oh, didn’t I mention I work the normal day shift? GREAT.
And then, there is the ACCENT factor. Unlike watching your English/Irish/foreign movie in DVD, talking real time with your global team members does not have the luxury of (English) subtitles. Well, Windows MeetingPlace has the capability of recording the meeting, but unless you are incharge of the minutes, why would you like to re-live the two hour discussion over again? And that is if you can afford to spare some precious working time to do so. Thus, to fully appreciate your discussions and make sure you won’t missed pertinent information, open your ears wide!
LIFESTYLE, I didn’t expect, was another thing. During a light moment in one of my late-night telecon just this year, a participant was just telling everyone his recent car accident. So the other people went like….”So what happened to your JAG?!?!” And then they all started talking about their more or less similar car models. Uh-oh. Am i suppose to share as well?!!?.... Good thing they didn’t ask how was mine (or even WHAT was mine/ours – a battered Corolla). Whew! Hahaha! And yes, if I spend my pre-holiday vacation in Boracay, they did theirs in Maui or even the Paradise Island. Oh well.
But nevertheless, doing global coordination has its perks of course. These people seems to be interesting and intelligent over the phone and in their email correspondence. I can’t wait to see all of them face-to-face!
First and foremost, TIMEZONE differences. Setting up schedules of meeting via telecon which will be “convenient” for everyone will be a big challenge indeed. Case in point. Monthly meetings lasting two hours, after careful deliberation and trial runs, were fixed at 10 PM Manila time (which is 6 AM US and Canada, 2 PM London, 4 PM South Africa and 12 PM Brazil, etc.) Oh, didn’t I mention I work the normal day shift? GREAT.
And then, there is the ACCENT factor. Unlike watching your English/Irish/foreign movie in DVD, talking real time with your global team members does not have the luxury of (English) subtitles. Well, Windows MeetingPlace has the capability of recording the meeting, but unless you are incharge of the minutes, why would you like to re-live the two hour discussion over again? And that is if you can afford to spare some precious working time to do so. Thus, to fully appreciate your discussions and make sure you won’t missed pertinent information, open your ears wide!
LIFESTYLE, I didn’t expect, was another thing. During a light moment in one of my late-night telecon just this year, a participant was just telling everyone his recent car accident. So the other people went like….”So what happened to your JAG?!?!” And then they all started talking about their more or less similar car models. Uh-oh. Am i suppose to share as well?!!?.... Good thing they didn’t ask how was mine (or even WHAT was mine/ours – a battered Corolla). Whew! Hahaha! And yes, if I spend my pre-holiday vacation in Boracay, they did theirs in Maui or even the Paradise Island. Oh well.
But nevertheless, doing global coordination has its perks of course. These people seems to be interesting and intelligent over the phone and in their email correspondence. I can’t wait to see all of them face-to-face!
And yes, to my advantage, face to face meeting/s will not be in Manila, since bringing them all here is way costly than bringing me to where they live – on the other side of the globe.
Woohoo! Isn’t this job great?
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