I am taking the direct approach this month, after days of considering how to deliver the most poignant message; I would like to shine the light directly on the end results of the region’s challenges in workforce development.
We as professionals sit so far at the start of the process we can easily forget to study the end result.
No cheese, please! I am unsure how many times in the UAE I have said this. I am lactose intolerant; most food items seem to be burdened with cheese, particularly fast food.
- Chicken sandwich – with cheese
- Fresh grilled prawns – with cheese
- Healthy salad – with cheese
- PLAIN jacket potato – with cheese
- Fresh to order subs – white or yellow cheese?
So, when ordering my food, I am relentlessly requesting ‘’No cheese please’’.
I don’t just say it once; I can be saying this up to four times, in any one order.
Why then, I questioned myself recently; do at least 90% of my orders become stressful and result in my food order being loaded with cheese?
I’m not perfect by any means, but I do have relatively high ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘high self-awareness’ (even if I don’t always choose to use it!) and I critique my approach, tone, clarity, timing and even my body language – they all seem friendly, clear and well paced – I can even say ‘no cheese please’ in FIVE different languages!
I converse with my friends and colleagues – I ask them, “what am I doing wrong?” They laugh ‘”Nothing – It’s just like that here – it happens to me all the time.”
I decide to dig a little deeper into the issue. I just don’t want cheese – that’s all.
It is stuck hard and fast in my mind, so when I travel, I do my global research:
- France – ‘’Pas de fromage, s’il vous plaît’’– no problem (apart from when ordering the cheese fondue)
- America – ‘’No cheese please ‘’ – sure thing Ma’am.
- UK – ‘’No cheese please’’ – no problems – cheesless food.
- India – it even works there – they hear me – no cheese = no cheese.
- Australia – ‘’No cheese please’’ – sure thing – no cheese.
- Singapore – ‘’No cheese please lah’’ – success!
- Bahamas – ‘’No cheese please my friend’’ – no cheese – (ok, some hours later!)
I return back to the UAE – ‘”No cheese please’’ – result? Yes, that’s right, I got cheese.
Is it me? No, I think not. Do I accept this? No, I don’t think I should.
After years of developing and studying people, working in customer facing industries, learning and training in all cultures, globally, I should be able to crack this one – I also refuse to knee jerk into stating this is just a ‘”listening skills’’ issue.
I have a wave of incidents that I can recall. All similar examples, but non-cheese related!
There are so many examples I could write, but a clear one is: my branded watch needs a new strap. You can’t buy one ‘off-the-shelf’ so I carry it around and when near the relevant shop I call in. “Do you have any straps for this watch please?’’ Out comes the box of appropriate straps from under the counter. “It needs to be brown please,’’ I ask, so the assistant hands me a purple one. “No, brown please”. So the assistant hands me a white one. ‘’No, brown please’’. I leave soon after as I can see there are no brown straps in the box. And I am a little in shock. This has occurred three times, in three separate outlets. Why? Is it the language? Is it listening? Am I not speaking correctly – which one? What training have these people received to act this way? None? Up-selling? Just product?
My conclusions:
A known fact, the UAE has a big challenge! It is also common knowledge many industries are hiring on a lower pay package system; yet this still should not mean I have to have cheese on my food when I request none.
What this shows is there is a distinct lack of ‘’back to basics people skills” development. Our multi-national workforce could flourish with some grass-roots people skills training and a little cultural knowledge. I’m not talking about off-the-shelf culturally complex training or text book tick box training, but pure back-to-basics people skills.
Maybe we are missing the basics? I note that there are copious amounts of skill-based/tick box trainings running, many of which follow a tick list –‘study the menu’– ‘say Ma’am or Sir lots’ and we are all going to be OK – well, unfortunately, we all know, there is more to it than that.
We read and talk about lots of leadership issues, Emiratisation and workforce strategies, there are many academic revolutionary programs flying around, yet I cannot get the cheese off my food?
Does it really matter – after all I could just remove the cheese? YES IT DOES! – It costs businesses: in time, reputation, economic growth and customer satisfaction. It has a bottom-line impact. It’s unfair on the service people and it certainly is unfair on the customers.
It’s just got to change and it surely can – why aren’t we investing in back to basic ‘people skills’ or ‘behaviours’? Why don’t we have more ‘speed reading’ people courses? Why does the standard ‘customer service’ element get drilled in through copious PowerPoint slides day after day, yet the results are rarely evident.
Years of owning my own business and dealing with the globally diverse people, leads me to believe, in no uncertain terms, it is all about the people, the communication and their behaviours. Yes, I am saying it again, let us all get back in the box, instead of continually trying to jump out of it. It can work all over the world and yes, of course, I have some outstanding examples of amazing service in this region, but very few I’m afraid.
I’m not giving up – and I still won’t be eating cheese (which is a shame as I love it!) and I will strive to play my minutia part of developing and empowering our wonderful multi-national workforce.
