There is an old Chinese curse - “May you live in interesting times”. In Russia at the moment this has never been truer. Indeed in recent days a huge threat to the very viability of my business (and I suspect many others too) has emerged.
The crisis in the Caucasus ? No. Worryingly large capital outflows from the Russian banking system ? Nyet. The sharp decline in US/Russia relations over the missile sites in Poland ? Wrong again.
It’s much worse than that.
My colleagues have come back from their holidays.
With photos.
Hundreds and hundreds of them and the whole office staff and all visitors have to see them. Every one of them. They also have to be given a detailed day-to-day account of the times had in Antalya/Rimini/Sharm El Sheikh etc etc. Now under normal circumstances I am more than willing to look at photos of young females in bikinis frolicking in the sea. But these are not normal circumstances – businesses are grinding to a halt. Offices across the country are full of small groups of sun blackened people with three day hangovers hunched over PCs comparing photos and memories of heroic drinking and clubbing sessions, and all the new friends of the opposite sex they have made. (Not like we Brits if course – we can’t remember the new friends of the opposite sex we have made).
I assume I am not the only foreign manager struggling with this. So what is can be done ?
Embrace it. Join in.
Russians are above all ‘people people.’ Human relationships are far more important than business relationships, yet at the same time they underpin them. You need to get the personal relationship in place first, and maintain it, before any successful business or workplace relationship can commence. These gatherings to talk about holidays and the equally disruptive celebrations of colleagues’ birthdays (and never, ever forget a birthday) are great ways for you to cement personal relationships at work. Sitting at your desk looking grumpy will be noted and cause resentment. Taking part and expressing a genuine interest in your staff at a human level will pay off many times over in terms of loyalty, overtime and just ‘going that extra mile’ in the workplace.
So make a special effort to join in with social events even if they are in what you view as work time and you will have your team right behind you.
And you get to look at pictures of people in swimwear.
