Global Dexterity
Storyboard Text
- Introduction
- Hi, My name is Simba. This semester, I am taking Global Dexterity and my situation is as follows: I am struggling with networking particularly asking for favours such as referrals as well as cold emailing people. I hope I can get better at both!
- Introduction
- Intially, I never gave much thought on how cultural differences actually affect individuals in the workplace or the way we interact with people, So it was eye opening to be introduced to Global Dexterity and being exposed to what’s a cultural code.
- Reflection
- I would say my situation mainly stems from my background and my upbringing which is more conservative. Will taking this class help? I ponder.
- What is Global Dexterity?
- It encompasses cultural differences succinctly and includes the following: Directness, Enthusiasm, Formality, Assertiveness, self-promotion, and Personal disclosure.
- Pondering
- Hmmm, but wait, it seems like most of the American cultural code is very different from my home country. That's a challenge.
- Reaching out to Mentor
- I ran to the library to draft a quick email to schedule a meeting with my mentor to discuss on the cultural code of my situation.
- Meeting with Mentor
- Hi Simba, how are you doing... Good to hear from you... Lets get to it.... Decoding the cultural code
- So I need to make some changes and work on Directness, Formality and assertiveness
- In class
- We had a case study in class on Jin Wang at a consulting company. I had a lot of key takeaways from the discussion on the case. My favourite take away being "When in Rome do as the Romans" That stuck in my mind during the class discourse, also the fusion idea - blending the American cultural code ad the Zimbabwean one.
- Reflection: Customization
- Hmmm, I could possibly try the fusion concept of when in Rome do as Romans, and the fusion concept. I feel this will help me to stay somehow authentic .Yayyyy!!
- Reconnecting...
- Networking call
- Reflection
- Oh, that went pretty well. He loved the fact that I reached out and he was willing to connect me with someone else. The customization might be working, yayyy!
- Reaching Out...
- More cold emailing
- Reflection
- I don’t necessarily feel disrespectful for cold emailing people, but I'm still struggling with being Direct and I feel like I am too formal
- Networking call
- Another call, struggling to be more direct and being less formal
- Reflection
- Psychological challenges - I think I am facing some resentment. But how can I fix it?
- Reflection: Customization
- I don’t necessarily have to be direct and informal. I can somehow showcase a little bit of it whilst adopting the new cultural code. And maybe with more practice, I will get better!
- Meeting with one of my Professors
- Hi Prof, thank you...Seeking some guidance...career advice and some connections...
- Glad you came to me to speak to me about this...
- Reflection
- Well, I felt more authentic. I guess I have to stick to this style for longer. Customization is helping, and I also feel way more comfortable doing these network calls, and asking for favours indirectly seems more natural to me. Yayyy!
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