Pushmeet Bhatia, U.S.
“I have learned to always remember that everyone comes from a different perspective, and sometimes, the best solution to a problem is to give others the benefit of the doubt and hear varying perspectives. Believing in the goodness of people will help us work together to achieve our goals.”
Pushmeet Bhatia, a member of our contracts department at MSI, A Tetra Tech Company, believes having diverse perspectives and including a variety of voices is the best problem-solving method when working across cultures. “Working with different cultures can be challenging. I have been in situations where different cultural contexts can create misunderstandings. However, I have learned to always remember that everyone comes from a different perspective, and sometimes, the best solution to a problem is to give others the benefit of the doubt and hear varying perspectives. Believing in the goodness of people will help us work together to achieve our goals.”
For Pushmeet, a diverse and inclusive work environment is of crucial importance. Building a flexible work environment to accommodate for different lifestyles and cultural and personal needs starts with having an understanding that each person comes from a different background and has different life experiences.“As a woman, a single mother, and an immigrant, I have a lot of personal responsibilities and not a great support system. Without an inclusive work environment, it would be hard to keep everything together. I am humbled by the support provided by my team at Tetra Tech.”
Throughout her work with Tetra Tech, Pushmeet has gained confidence in herself to effectively navigate cultural differences that exist while working in the field. “I feel honored to be a part of an organization that helps me be a better version of myself and provides me a platform to grow and shine. I feel confident in taking risks and speaking my mind. Tetra Tech has helped me have a voice.”
Gaining confidence in her own voice and experiencing the benefits of a flexible work environment has helped Pushmeet create a similar environment in the field for local staff. She described an experience where she needed to be more inclusive of cultural contexts in order to get buy-in from the project’s local partners. “While training local staff, I did not receive any feedback. When we were not able to get buy-in from local partners, we discussed with our team and determined that the process defined may need to be adjusted to the country context and ground realities. I did not understand why the local staff did not point this our earlier during implementation, but then I realized that culturally, the staff did not feel like they could correct someone who is considered their superior. Moving forward, I aim to give local staff ownership and always ask for their recommendations in adjusting processes to the local context.”
The healthy work life balance Tetra Tech promotes and their investment in their people has inspired Pushmeet to develop her career in international development and instill the same standard of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of her life. “It is not possible to work in a country without understanding their culture, their perspective, and how they view the world. Working with people from different backgrounds helps one understand how different people can be and how the same facts can mean two very different things to people from different backgrounds. Empathy and being able to see things from the eyes of another are crucial to develop effective programs that can be more widely accepted and generate more effective results.”
