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A Cultural Moment!
By Matthew Hill
Organising International conference calls is always tricky because someone is asked to get up early, others work through their lunch hour and the toughest luck is for those that have to stay late or phone in from home in the evening.
To make matters worse some of the participants would turn up late to the virtual meeting so missing key points and lengthening the sessions.
What was going on here, culturally speaking? And what could we do about it?
To some, the scarcity of time, their linear perception of time and their empathic projection of the scarcity of time onto others meant they had a strong emotional response to the “lateness” of others. They labeled it rude, inconsiderate, selfish, unprofessional etc.
For those others, maybe their perception of time was less scarce and they chose to emphasise relatiotionships – “Sorry I am late, I bumped in to an important contact on the way to my office. I am here now, what are we talking about?” They thought that everything would work out in the end and that reacting to issues in the moment was a healthy way to live life, conduct business and get the job done.
How could the bridge be gapped? How could the time scarce people get what they wanted and communicate with the time plentiful?
The answer in the end was so simple. By pointing out that the elongated call was having a negative effect on the family relationships for those in the time zone where they were calling from home, the subjects of timeliness and family where brought together in a meaningful way.
“Lateness” had a heavy price for the families of the executives.
The time plentiful people where thus powered by family empathy to adapt their behaviour and…adopt a more punctual approach to the conference calls.
