Glorious Recession!
Recession - a word that touches a nerve and sends shivers across the globe. How differently it is approached and experienced, Suzy Lake deepens upon in her experience report about coming to next level Europe from next level South Africa.
One could see this economic crisis as a cancer, sit around waiting for sympathy, rescue packages from the government, wishing it away or that it will return to what it was… It will be too late!
Or one could see it as the golden thread of our times, an opportunity to weave a different reality. In our life time one thing is for sure … the only constant we will know is Change!
The world has been forced into globalization with the intention to build collaborative relationships as we move into the reality of our world becoming one global village.
This has translated into opportunities and the opening of global markets, of which I through my internship with next level consulting have recently experienced. I had the opportunity to be trained in the framework of project and process management, and to be exposed to a variety of industry specific knowledge bases by leading experts. This has given me a confident grasp of these methods and instruments. I was also fortunate to work on a grass roots level in a variety of multinational organizations and experience the direct challenges Europe is facing in having to work with intercultural teams which are a direct impact of globalization.
On returning to South Africa and on reflecting on my internship – I have become more acutely aware of the intercultural differences between Europe and South Africa. South Africa, having negotiated the transition from a turbulent past into a new post apartheid society has gained enormous expertise in the areas of working with diversity, interpersonal relationship building and communication. It has become one of the leaders in the world in these fields and has a lot to offer Europe during this global transition period.
The cultural differences between the two countries, in general Europe having greater expertise in project and process management and South Africa in the human capital area, potentially offers an exciting opportunity for growth, collaboration and a cross pollination of strengths and different skills sets.
By weaving these golden threads of difference together we can form a global rope of knowledge which would create the flexibility we need to unite us as a global family in facing the complexity of these economic times and offers the possibility to recreate a sense of stability.
Humankind has realized on a global scale that the balance between corporate process and objectives, and human capital (interpersonal relationships, communication and performance capabilities) has been lost. Both sets of skills and competencies are necessary in order to realign the balance and create sustainable development.
Europe to date has been a very process driven system which in many ways has resulted in a high rate of human burnout. If we look at South Africa’s formal sector in South Africa we can see a great demand for expert management skills, and the informal sector of the rest of Africa is desperate for entrepreneurial skills which are needed to build our economy.
So as next level South Africa we welcome the reciprocity that this relationship can create for sustainable development in the field of management and entrepreneurial skills development here in South Africa, Africa and in Europe, in the field of change management, leadership, working with intercultural teams, diversity and relationship building. We as next level consulting in South Africa are driven by the philosophy of ubuntu. The intention is to lift people on our shoulders in order to see them move ahead. We believe a person coming together is just a start but a person working together is success.
We too look forward to exploring the other golden threads of our emergent global family of next level consulting.