Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Group Meetings & "Team Building"
Last weekend we had a group meeting starting at 10am Sunday morning. This, usually, is not a good sign. Or, more accurately, a sign that you're going to be spending the rest of the day in a little discussion room holed up with Excel spreadsheets, textbooks, case studies, and multiple versions of a Word document. Normally, this also includes lots of arguing, from the mundane ("I'm TOTALLY against italicizing the 3rd heading!") to the fundamental issues that should have been solved several days ago ("What do you mean you want to rethink the distribution channel!??! We settled on it last week and this is due tomorrow!"). However, things seem to be taking shape as this particular meeting involved a high level of productivity (fueled by KFC) and that I think we actually had fun. Or at least I did.
After finishing the Marketing case that we were preparing some "team-building" was in order. In the West, we call this "networking." Although, it is far more akin to having dinner and drinks than any sort of formal event. Somehow, I think it genuinely matters to the Chinese the distinction between simply saying dinner and drinks and team-building.
After finishing the Marketing case that we were preparing some "team-building" was in order. In the West, we call this "networking." Although, it is far more akin to having dinner and drinks than any sort of formal event. Somehow, I think it genuinely matters to the Chinese the distinction between simply saying dinner and drinks and team-building.
