HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR ASSISTANT?

After living abroad for 10 years, my wife and I were not willing to move to another country. In order to keep me busy with new challenges (and get two jobs done for the price of one salary!) my company came up with an “excellent solution”. They made me a regional GM while I continued in my position as a General Manager in Turkey. If you’ve experienced the same, you know what this means: basically living on airplanes and in hotel rooms, with weekends back home.

I had two offices: one in Istanbul and one in the Netherlands. The latter is my second home as I went to business school and started my career there. The first Monday on my new job, I took my first “red-eye” flight (at 5:50 a.m.) from Istanbul to Holland for my first staff meeting. When I entered the office I greeted my Dutch assistant, who was talking on the phone. In turn, she nodded and asked me to wait with a hand gesture. Studying, lecturing and living in multi-culture environments for many years, I said to myself: “Aha, my first culture clash!” Unlike my assistant in Istanbul, she was sequential (focus-oriented). She could handle one task at a time. She had to focus first on her phone call and then on me. On the other hand, my assistant in Istanbul had a synchronic personality: a multi-tasked. She could greet you, fill in a courier registration form, and talk on the phone - all at the same time.

Synchronic and sequential personalities always experience conflict when working together. For example, a sequential supplier can drive a synchronic distributor mad by not starting to pick up his orders until the entire shipment process for another client is complete. These conflicts in personalities can create daily dilemmas among colleagues working on the same team.

The most common problem that sequential expats have with their Turkish counterparts is about not meeting agreed deadlines. In turn, expats are constantly being criticized by their Turkish colleagues for being too slow and not multi-tasking. I am often asked how to overcome these conflicts which can cause direct (losing a deal with a Turkish partner) or indirect (Blocking the promotion of an opposite personality) financial losses.

Rule number one for a sequential individual when dealing with a synchronic individual is do not tell him to focus on one thing at a time. The second rule is to specify which task is your priority. If the synchronic is doing three things at once, only one will be accomplished by the deadline; the other two tasks won’t.

Conversely, if you are a synchronic individual working with a sequential colleague, do not force the person to do several tasks at the same time. This will result in the failure of all the tasks assigned. The second rule is that for each task, specify a deadline.

In the end, what you have to accept and realize is that “your way” is not the only way to achieve results. This is applicable to managing people and business deals and to friendships and marriages as well. If you are aware of this, you can respect “other ways” of doing things and eventually reconcile conflicts in your life. At the end of the day, we all work for a happy ending.

When my Dutch assistant finished her phone call, she greeted me and asked how my flight was. As soon as I answered, she started walking and talking as I followed.

“Here is your office. I ordered your computer. It should be here today, or at the latest, tomorrow,” she said. “Here is the coffee machine. Don’t leave dirty cups in your office. They won’t be washed. And here is the photocopy machine. When it gets jammed, the service telephone number you have to call is posted on the wall. Dial nine first to make a call.”

She went on: “And before I forget, I work part-time. I am in Monday morning, Tuesday the whole day, Wednesday I’m off,

Thursday I’m in, and Friday I work only in the morning. Please do not call me on my mobile when I am not working unless it is very urgent as it is my private number.”

I listened with my mouth wide open. When she was done, I went into my office, took a deep breath and called my assistant in Istanbul. After talking about daily matters, I told her how much I appreciate all the things she does for me, making my life easier.

What you view as a “given” in one country can be considered a luxury in another. So while you are in Turkey, it’s to your advantage to enjoy its cultural values.