SAP Social Sabbatical (Part 2): Moving from Discomfort to Conscious Leadership
If you read my ‘Social Sabbatical Part 1' you will have learnt how I consciously chose to move out of my comfort zone with the intent to grow, learn and discover whilst supporting those in needs. With this goal clearly defined I applied and was successfully enrolled in the SAP Global Social Sabbatical Program where I and 11 colleagues were deployed to Albania as pro bono consults, assigned to 4 different client organizations with some critical business challenges.
Now, at the midway point of my Social Sabbatical experience the obvious follow-up question to my first blog is, “How comfortable am I being uncomfortable?”. A rather loaded question that I am still self-exploring and evaluating (albeit it with the help of my coach), but I can say without hesitation that it is such a positive and mind-blowing journey.
When you first embark on a new, unknown adventure — and for me the time that I boarded the plane from Vancouver (my hometown) to Europe — my head was spinning with uncertainty, questions and the 5 W’s: What, Where, When, Who, Why? I had more questions than answers, but I was committed to staying open-minded and 100% committed to giving it my best.
Leaving my family was the first ‘uncomfortable’ step to overcome as I had never left my children and husband for so long. I just kept reminding myself that I wanted to be a role-model for my children and leave them a legacy to follow as they enter adulthood and as such it meant taking some very difficult actions. This commitment was soon rocked to the core when I landed at the hotel in Albania only to learn that my daughter had a horse-riding accident that took her to the ER with a concussion. My family deliberately didn’t tell me as they knew I would have so quickly done a 180-degree U turn back to the airport. Once I was happily satisfied that she was well, then I headed into my Social Sabbatical Day 1 of orientation and team building ready to rock and roll.
My SAP colleagues were not all complete strangers to me as we had a month of pre-work and assignments to help ease us into the process. However, when your colleague is literally on the other side of the world to you with a 16 hours’ time difference, finding opportunities to connect virtually was a challenge. So, meeting your colleagues for the first time in person is a big deal; everyone is assessing your body language, reading into the humor and the small talk, quickly assessing who is gravitating to whom and the making some quick assumptions on the extroverts/introverts, planners/flexible types etc. As much I was trying to not be biased or judgmental, it is only human nature to make initial perceptions and assumptions.
Like most project set-ups, thankfully we were armed with tools to evaluate our personality types and cultures. The Culture Wizard was very enlightening, being able to compare myself to other culture types and how you rated against other cultures. Given we work in a 100,000+ employee organization I thought I was already well versed in diversity, culture awareness and working styles but this exercise was more revealing than I anticipated. I learnt that I was far more formal in working style than I thought (the English properness in style and dress code is hard to lose) and I’m far more change tolerant (believing I was more change averse). Probably the result of working for high tech companies where change is the only constant, so you learn some professional resilience to change. It validated my controlling nature (something I consider to be a strength to be a successful PM and EA) and my interpersonal, group-working orientation (I am proud to be labelled as a ‘social butterfly’ by friends).
Compared to the Albanian culture I knew I would need to relax somewhat as timekeeping, and punctuality is apparently not their priority where coffee and socialization is a cultural affair that takes its time and should not be rushed. Overall, I learnt that I am fairly well aligned which is comforting to know ahead of time. But culture awareness proved to be key not just for the country of destination, but rather in terms of understanding your global teammates, their preferences, their perceptions, values, working and leadership styles.
The second tool was the classic Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment; a pseudoscientific self-report questionnaire that claims to indicate differing personality types. I am the classic CONSUL Type — ‘ESFJ — T’: standing for Extroverted, Observant, Feeling, Judging and Turbulent.
To quote, “Consuls are very caring and social personalities who are always eager to help. They’re attentive and people-focused, happily taking part in their social community and offering guidance.”
A pretty-accurate self-assessment and one that aligns well for someone embarking on a Social Sabbatical with a mission to help solve some critical business social-economic challenges.
In the team building session on Day 1, I was surprised to see that I wasn’t alone in our cohort finding three other colleagues with the identical profile type to me, but we were certainly a minority. In the group split between those highly judgmental and those most perceptive, we were asked to document how we would plan for an upcoming holiday. Easy I thought, and instantly scribed exactly what the few others were thinking as me. Since we were clones, we could almost read each other’s minds. Within 2 mins we filled the flip-chart paper with almost 30–40 bullets of must-do things to prepare and I read them aloud to the group. Shockingly the other team held up their rather blank sheet. It read “Go with the flow!”.
These words instantly made my tummy churn as if I was about to dive off a cliff-edge. I could feel my throat tighten; my shoulders stiffen as my flight-fight nervous system kicked in. The words triggered every alarm bell in my system as the words struck terror. I was definitely not a person that easily “goes with the flow” and if this was a hint of how my team was preparing to operate and execute, I knew this journey could be far more uncomfortable for me than hoped. At least I was not alone and took comfort in the 2 other ESFJ’s whose body language almost mirrored mine. There is always comfort in numbers I consoled myself, even if we were the minority!
But with knowledge this could easily identify our strengths amongst the group. In fact, it did not divide us yet unite us. The planners amongst us quickly enlisted the fun responsibility as the Social Committee Leaders. We loved to plan, organize events and logistics and with our combined detailed oriented minds we took it upon ourselves to help the others less inclined to care where they eat each night or indeed the weekend sights to explore as tourists. On the opposite hand, the big thinkers or “go with the flow” added creativity and depth of perspectives to the conversations we held at these social occasions. Our diversity became our united strength and within our core sub-teams you knew exactly who to call upon and for what.
By the end of our orientation and team building day I can confidently say that I had progressed from mild discomfort and awkwardness to comfort. I knew that amongst this elite, top talented consultants I was not only going to grow, learn and develop but it was going to be a team effort and that I was not alone on this journey and would be supported not only from my SAP colleagues but from the Partner Group Pyxera Global and their fabulous team of Mentors and Program Coordinators. They were setting the foundation for success and then it was up to us to define the rest. Fears dissipated to excitement and discomfort moved to a true sense of belonging.
I reminded myself that I had intentionally chosen to be here, and I could envision the value I had to offer to the projects and this team, so there was no benefit in harnessing any feelings of discomfort. From this day on I was energized, empowered, and intrinsically motivated to succeed.
I’ve learnt that paying attention to HOW you’re setting goals is an important part of conscious leadership. Do you set your goals in love or play, versus fear?
In my first blog I wrote about the motivation for deciding to apply to the SAP Social Sabbatical Program and how I tapped into my internal passion, aspirations and understood with clarity what motivates me — in fancy terms my ‘intrinsic motivators’. This is where you can unleash your engagement. The super fun fact is that when you consciously set a goal rooted in love or play you not only get to celebrate it when you reach it, but you are more likely to be energized and empowered along the way.
I am delighted to say that is where I am right now: it is my time to shine!
Coincidentally, ‘Time to Shine’ is the theme of my next blog where I can introduce you to some of the client’s beneficiaries we met at the ‘Night to Shine Gala’ hosted by the The Jonathan Centre in Albania.
There are so many highlights to share so stay tuned!
