Before, I knew it was just a story, now I know it is ‘cultural diversity’. I learnt the art of story telling from mother. Without electricity then, as it is in many places even today, village nights can be very dark. The only source of light in many villages was the fire place. It was here that we gathered for wisdom, security briefs and emotional intelligence. She told quite a story my mother and many a story had high entertainment value and now, decades later I discern a wealth of meaning.
“King Kogibo invited fellow Kings for a security meeting” my mother told the story. He asked all the Kings to pack their lunch as it would not be possible to satisfy every King’s needs and tastes at the meeting. At lunch time the host King provided a round table for lunch . Within a few minutes of the lunch break, it was clear all was not well. “That is disrespectful“ retorted one King to a neighbor, “How can you bring a frog at the dining table?” Efforts to convince the offended King that frogs were a delicacy in the other’s culture came to naught. Across the table , mayhem broke loose as another King served what looked like a ‘snake’ dish while yet another let loose a slimy group of live worms on the plate all apparently distasteful acts in the eyes of one King yet not in the other’s! . Cultural diversity punctuated by intolerance breached the peace the primary aim of the meeting .
We can use the positive aspects of cultural diversity to improve on our performance and achieve our goals
A brown bag lunch is generally an informal session or meeting during lunch break. ‘Brown bag’ is representative of meals brought along by participants. But there are as many varieties of meals in the bags- some not exactly that attractive- as they are ideas presented at the meetings. While varied in form, shapes and taste, one thing is clear, all brown bag contents have nutritional value.
Cultural diversity can be harnessed to have different cultures respect each other’s differences. We can appreciate differences in values and learn from the diversity.
We can use the positive aspects of diversity to improve on our performance and achieve our goals. We can learn the aggressiveness of the Japanese in pursuing results and the exactitude of the Swiss in keeping time. I would like to pick the proactiveness of some of my colleagues to go the extra mile and the resilience of the others to withstand stress. To do this we need to be adaptive- be ready to turn unconstructive or destructive attitudes and values into constructive behavior. In a work environment, personal values should be mapped on to the organization’s values to establish the relationship between the two. When your values are compatible with organization’s values alignment occurs and this drives performance. On the other hand conflict ensues when your motivating values are incompatible with organization’s values EE