Sunday, June 29, 2014

3 Key Lessons I Learned Working in China

When the time came for housekeeping end last year, my boss notified me that I had to use my leave before it expired. Then I realized: for almost the entire year of 2013, I hadn't taken a single day of leave.

The first half, I was swamped with an extremely tight site migration project in Bangalore, which we thankfully drove to a perfect success and closure. I barely had a moment to catch my breath though!

The second half of 2013, though, it was different. I was just having so much fun both at work and during the weekends, that I barely needed to take any additional leave to relax myself!

I finally got my dream 'relocation' rotation, a 5 month stint in Guangzhou (plus a week in HK, half a month in Shanghai). I always believed that to live and work in a different place and culture, is an entirely different experience from traveling there. And it was. I truly had a taste of what China culture is all about - and frankly speaking, it is a diaspora of cultures, with every province having its own nuances and personality.

Nevertheless, I felt that I understood invaluable learnings, and matured quickly in this span of time. My Guangzhou manager, in fact, was impressed by how quickly and strongly I adapted into the culture.

LESSON ONE - Always show Strength

That proved I learned my first lesson quickly - always maintain an illusion or 'front' of strength and comfort, rather than being seen to have a weakness. For the ERP implementation project I was thrown into, I had to convince Manufacturing quality managers to switch to our system, while furiously mastering the system myself! There was no room for any errors or risks that may influence their belief in the system - so I resolved any question they raised within the same week, by scouring through documentation or picking my seniors' brains.

The result: A QA team that now believes in our system, and currently realizes a more reliable QA process that saves up to 100 manual errors and 150 man-hours per year.

LESSON TWO - Be Streetsmart

The biggest difference between PRC Chinese and Singaporeans, I believe, is Street smarts. I can imagine, how you have to be flexible and work around the edges, to survive amid the chaos of rules that don't always apply. I have had my jaw drop in varied situations on and off work, at how 'things actually work around here'. Your choices will never look the same as A, B, C or D ever again.

Being streetsmart, and 'thinking outside the rules', may not be the closest to creativity and 'thinking outside the box'...  but I'll bet, it's a good first step to start.

LESSON THREE - Build Relationships

I know this is in every 'DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA FOR DUMMIES' book out there - yet it really did strike me as the most important lesson I had to learn. I feel a great deal more conscious, more aware of my relationships with people now, simply because of how important they were in China, how they were magnified and scrutinized.

I am extremely glad that I was lucky enough to forge close bonds with the amazing people over there. I know they have done incredible things for me - pulling strings, putting in a good word, helping out my projects. Building relationships with Chinese is the most important investment you could ever make with them.

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This half-year stint in China has been my best working experience so far, and reinforces my core belief: the more you stretch yourself outside your comfort circle, the faster and further you grow as a person. Here's to more good years ahead.

Friday, January 24, 2014

A Life Changing Journey

What does it mean when we say, this journey will be life changing?

Do we expect to be uplifted as a person, to emerge rejuvenated, almost in an instant, automatic process? Do we feel that, out of the mundane everyday set, here is where we can finally direct our life's masterwork?  As simple as swiping out a credit card for that ready made package of vivid sights and cityscapes, interesting people and tales.

Yet life experiences can never be bought or negotiated with. Nor will it respond to your expectations, no matter how wild. There can be no trip that promises you anything beyond the itinerary. Look in the fine print.

You see what you see.

But oh, how one's vision differs from the next! Values. Intentions. Prejudices. They reshape the world around you like a spinning kaleidoscope, twisting to your perspective, your inner self.

In that sense, do we ever really change? Or are we simply reliving in a different time and place, the same actors on a different set?

Yet after all these years, I still bear this same foolish hope. The hope that, despite who I am, in spite of who I am, I will be changed. I will be happy, fulfilled. Free. Released in a final catharsis, the proverbial butterfly from the cocoon.

I never believed, only hoped. Who could?

Then I met her.

And I felt something then. Besides the usual fluttering, I mean. I felt a distinct click. Like a puzzle with a missing piece. The most marvelous feeling in the world.

...

What does it mean when we say, this will be a life changing journey?

Why do we travel?

Because we are open. Because we are passionate for life. Because we dream, and we hope.

And because we never know where that missing piece may lie.