Having just returned from a trip to Europe with one of the other UK team members, I found that working with my colleagues has reinforced a lesson I learned many years ago but had forgotten. The lesson was that if you bring the correct people together and remove the poor communicators from the loop then you will make significant progress, this was reinforced within about an hour of arriving at the European office and made me feel quite bad about a couple of the earlier posts on the blog. I realised that the problem wasn’t with my peer’s but was with the layers of management that was positioned between us, I arrived at the European site with a four page list of points to address. Only to find that my counterparts in Europe had done so much work that my list was reduced to two items, after a short discussion the problem was clearly identified and yes you’ve guessed it the management. Over all this just seemed to be a general lack of communication, the end result being the poor old grunts on the ground getting all the crap to deal with while the management was out having a good time!
While working from the European office, we were treated to a night out (and I might add that I tasted one of the nicest horse steaks ever) – everything was paid for by our European colleagues. When I suggested that it would be courteous to return the favour I was told that the budget may not stretch to it, well if I have to pay for the evening out myself I will – I wouldn’t let someone embarrass me that way. So I have decided that even if I have to pay for the evening myself these guys will not go home thinking that we are all tight fisted yorkshire men, that is quite a statement for a scotsman to make I might as well tell you!