As typical of me, let me start off with a personal story and slowly move to the subject.
I come from a family of authentic Indian cuisine experts. One of my favorite dishes that I can relish anytime and every time is “Aviyal”.
Aviyal is a super simple dish where all vegetables get cooked in coconut, green chili, and cumin paste, topped with coconut oil and curry leaves. Though the recipe sounds simple, the taste is amazing, and the look is very tempting. It goes along with gravy for rice, as a side dish for pulses loaded “Adai” (another delicacy), and personally with anything and everything for me.
My mom has this habit of giving me tips and trivia while doing chores and cooking at home. Every time she makes Aviyal, she would say “There’s an inbuilt meaning to this dish, different vegetables with their different colors, different textures, and different boiling points from different origins gel together to give this unique taste. The more types of vegetables are added, the taste gets enhanced. They complement and supplement each other and bring out the best. So, differences are to be appreciated wherever we face them.” This has stuck deep into me (just like the taste of Aviyal).
Differences or diversity always pave the way to different perspectives, different approaches, and varied innovations. Now let’s slowly seep into the subject: Perficient has global teams throughout and so differences are to be expected.
Accepted differences may not bring out the team’s full potential. Embraced differences will foster better team trust. Celebrated differences bring out the best in all by kindling different perspectives, bold approaches, and innovations.
Celebrating Differences
How can you embrace and celebrate the differences in your global teams? Here are some things you can start with:
- A small ice-breaker meetup as soon as the global team is set.
- A trivial gesture of wishing the global partner in a meeting, based on their geographical time.
- A respectful meeting schedule so that it’s not very late or very early for any of the team members.
- A common interest identification among the peers.
- A little googling on an upcoming festival of the global partner and a prompt and apt wish for that.
- A note of empathy shown for everyone’s commitment towards work and life.
- A little autonomy based on individual goals and team goals.
- A thorough listening to everyone’s feedback without judgments and assumptions.
- An unbiased appreciation for everyone’s contribution to the team’s goal.
When this happens, the magic happens and the team’s trust and collaboration levels sweep up gradually and sometimes exponentially high, just like Aviyal’s taste.
Let’s share the similarities and celebrate the differences in our global teams.
Thank you for sharing. I read a piece on LinkedIn the other day about how one of the most joyous things in life is traveling to new places and meeting new friends! Our world is really very small and now very virtual too. We have opportunities every day to make new acquaintances and build professional relationships outside our own “circle”.
Aviyal also stores multiple vitamins and essential nutrients in one serving. That same metaphor gives the strength and trust to the Perficient Global teams. Great and creative blog once again by you. I enjoyed reading it.