Onwards to the City of Red!

When I say the City of Red I am referring to Marrakesh which was a beautiful combination of buildings, palm trees, camels and dance but this time, seeing red is a very apt description of one of the days we spent on the client.

When you put four different personalities together, from different worlds in a room and ask them to do a piece of work in a completely different culture, you are bound to have a disagreement or two.

This week was my turn.

As a team, things were excellent and importantly, we always had fun!

There was always an immense level of respect and drive from all to complete our work at hand; however, this week I was able to experience a valuable lesson in communication and also about myself.

I knew that when the work I need to do is larger than the amount of time I have (to work at a comfortable pace), I will put my head down and focus. I also know that when this happens (at least when I work in Australia), those around me would give me space and let me overcome that point. In Morocco it was different!

In Morocco it is polite to always accompany and accept gestures of food and tea so every time our client came in, whilst we would all go out, I can only imagine the frustration in my face growing each time I would leave the laptop behind to go out. It was one of those times where nothing bad happened; however, my image of being a great consultant was bruised.

In everything I do, I have preached about relationships being key, but clearly in my heart there was an exception where I gave myself permission to block out my compassion for human differences or cultural influence with an overwhelming urge to just put my head down and work.  

To me, this just is not good enough anymore!

Happy that on my own reflection I was able to figure this out within 24 hours – pull my team in a room and apologise for my behaviour (which was noticed by one and appreciated) and could ensure I talked through what was stressing me so we can figure out a solution together.

One day is not a lot of time in the four weeks and I am happy it was solved early but it also acted like a re-fresh for me. The next day was better than normal, productivity through the roof and we felt closer.

I am glad we got there together. With half the journey done, we have a clear path ahead and will be better than ever to ensure the client gets the value they deserve.

Ciao.

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Pictures below show the journey of the weekend starting with another visit back home (IBM Morocco office) to meet with the CGM and then travelling to Marrakech to see another side of the country hosting our stay.