A cross-cultural problem seems to have arisen in one of a client's project. Apparently, their Bratislavan counterparts are finding it difficult to communicate with them, and it has gotten to the point that email coming from Bratislava is questioning the competence of the Filipinos. It has become that serious.

I was then called in, sometime September, to learn what the situation was, and make possible recommendations - I became involved because one of the courses I handle happens to be on Effective Cross-Cultural Communication. Apparently I was seen as an expert - of which I can really relate to, give the seeming nature of the problem.

As part of my first telecon with both our client's representative and his Bratislavan counterpart, I looked up additional subjects regarding cross-culture problems, specifying (if possible) the Philippine setting.

I can say that the net - with all its resources, gave a limited view of refferences. Either that or I searched the wrong search engine. In comes Marimel (both friend and colleague) who had a book to recommend to me - 'Working with Filipinos - A Cross-Cultural Encounter' by F. Landa Jocano. A narrow paperback (if you could call a 100 page book narrow, that is), clearly explaining why Filipinos behave the way they do. This was exactly what I needed, and armed with this, I could definitely see what needed to be emphasized on both sides - from both sides.

After our first telecon - where I mentioned that we (meaning, me representing the company i worked with) could help, was where I also recommended the same book to my client, who naturally expressed the need to read up on it first and see if the book's discussions fit their situation, and did not put Filipinos into bad light (though why would a book by a Filipino put Filipinos to bad light is a question I thought about - but hey, my client was just being careful not to add possible ammunition to an already exasperated Bratislavan).

Well after sourcing the book in our local bookstore myself, and our actually having purchased several copies to possibly send to Bratislava (and possibly Germany), we're ready to further discuss how things are going to proceed... thus a second telecon is happening this afternoon to discuss just that.

Now, aside from this book, we do have a cross-cultural training that shows just these problems; I'm just wondering if things could have been avoided had people gone through the training first - and been able to apply the lessons learned. I mean, it is there - if they simply knew about it... and since its an official client-related training, it is determined to be a needed training for them all to attend and learn from - not just locally, but globally.

I recommended the possibility for Bratislava to somehow send us a counterpart of their culture, so I can emphasize this during a stylized conduct of their very own cross-culture issues and answers.

Man... I knew I had been equipped with seeming diplomatic capabilities (a topic for another time) and through this, my ability to address cross-cultural needs.

Oh yeah... if you do find similar difficulties, i do suggest gettign Jocano's book. In In case you're all wondering, the ISBN 971-622-009-x. Get the book, its proving to be very uselful in conducting said cross-cultural needs.

I've been asked to develop a training outline on 'Coaching'. But before I continue, perhaps a little backgrounder is needed.

I work for a training institute which has as its client a very large and established IT services organization. For this training institute, the IT services organization is currently it 'golden egg', mostly because said IT company is its sole client - now before one egts into saying 'what?!... only one client?!', let me assure you that this client; from the viewpoint of the Pareto principle, is the 20% that matters for 80% of profits... in short, it is enough to give the training institute its profitability.

Unfortunately, if I will now insert Porter's 5 forces model, I could easily say that this client has great negotiating clout, and the training isntitute cannot get a better deal, as I'm sure both of them know that the IT company is the sole golden egg. This naturally affects all of the traning company's employees since we cannot seem to get a good deal in increases - even if the IT company seems to be very profitable. Ah... so much for 'a fair deal' (unless the training institute has certain undeclared profits that its employees are not feeling - which might also explain why the IT company is reluctant to allow increase of fees).

All that is speculation, though, and not really helpful to the backgrounder - so, to continue...

It so happened, my week - through a fluke of training schedules not pushing through, was really filled with free time, thus my boss took the opportunity to tap my development and coaching know-how to develop this training. Why? Because she has had several queries regarding the possibility of conducting trainings on 'Coaching' outside of our main client.

What's the significance here? Well for starters, it looks like this traiing institute is strating to spread its wings. After all, so long as it remains fully dependent on one client, things will not improve for the company and its employees - me included.

But the upside for me here is that in the process of developing this new course, I learn a little more (or should I say a lot more) on coaching - outside of what I normally teach for this IT company. So I admitedly considered myself a good enough coach, in a way... I was a natural - though the book I read now gives me access to tools, a more formal process to follow and a few assessment tests i can take to see where I need to improve on... and this is the reason why i did want to take the assignment.

It was an oportunity for me to learn new things and access new knowledge. It certainly will broaden my skill-base for being a coach. Once I develop the training itself, I can even say that should I eventually leave this company, I would have left a legacy. Though technically, I already have a legacy here by virtus of a 'client service' training that I did almost three years ago. Still, two - maybe even a third training (if the Filipino cross-cultural training pushes through) will be better than just one.

This definitely beats doing repetitious trainings that I can do, even with my eyes closed.

I've recently been searching for alternative options for my future work. "How?" - you ask? Well, for starters, I've purchased the latest version of "What Color is Your Parachute" byRichard Nelson Bolles, to see how his techniques can help me realize what potetials I've been missing out on. From there, it would just be a simple case of comparing what I have with waht I can do or want.

The thing is, I'm stuck in between some pages, specifically the parts where I'm being asked to take stock of my insterests... or skills. Its not that I'm confused or anything, but more likely reluctant to choose a narrow set of skills to best describe me. The inventory of skills I saw had me able to cover almost 2/3 of all the items in the list. Hard pressed to choose just five, and I no wrealize that this can be a daunting task of trimming things down.

The other reason for my reluctance? I would obviously end up with the same skill-set that I'm currenty using... just for the simple reason that these skills are what I've been honing ever since I've been training. Its not necessarily a good or bad thing, btu I just fear that I'll end up considering the same thing I'm in now... that is, training - then what would that mean?

What if, one's best destiny is rather limiting in the economic scale? I've already pointed out that training (at least, here in the Philipine corporate sector) seems limited in terms of growth, due to a preception that it is not as critical as marketing or sales or finance. Which therefore gives the reason for not having competitive pay rates - as compared to the other work departments I've just mentioned.

Might I be missing a glaring point? After all, the skills I cite as seemingly connected with being a facilitator are strong communication, facilitation of either a training or meeting (either way, its knowledge exchange - thus communication), and when I say communicating - I mean both written and verbal. Then there's the ability to empathize, maybe follow through in an analytical sense... to understand whre the other person is coming from.

So what is this glaring point? Well, isn't communication and understanding very important, regardless of which industry one is in? Might this really be the reaosn I find it hard to consider another career path - because too many are possibly open to me? Might I therefore be like a cat, trying to catch too many birds - only to end up with none?

Man... am I confused. Things are a whole lot simpler whrn you know what you need to focus on. But when so many options rise up, oen wonders which is the better option. So why can't I choose? Is it a fear of choosing wrong? But if I'm left with inaction, won't that be equally wrong? You bet it will. So choose I must... and choose wisely.

Soon...