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GETTING STUFF DONE

(By John)

Future volunteers receive material from Peace Corps orienting them on a number of themes. One theme is being prepared for the time required to assimilate into a new community and learn its language, culture and politics before being able to “get stuff done”. Nevertheless, many volunteers arrive in-country with the desire to get lots of stuff done quickly. I know I did.

In this entry I want to explore some areas associated with “getting stuff done” and share some observations from the perspective of someone who worked many years in the US before coming here. Let´s see how we as “gringos” get stuff done versus how stuff gets done here. More than anything, I want to have fun looking at any differences and sharing a bit of my experience adjusting to them here.

project manager

There usually is not one here. Things are often done by committee. Typically, meetings address how things are going, and what needs to be done next. No surprise. However, there usually is NOT that main point person to integrate things together, follow-up or refine things between these meetings. The result: projects do not progress as “they could”.

Things do not progress as “they could” progress… if everyone “were” to behave like I wanted them to… or like they came from my culture.

Are the things we learn in US universities and more or less practice in the US universally applicable? I do not believe there is a simple answer to that question.

The flip side of this lack of a project manager is group responsibility. People here fill in the gaps and take collective leadership decisions. There is more willingness to move forward with out that key point person, and stuff gets done.

deadlines and punctuality

Not as important here, on both counts. Starting meetings a half hour late is early, and the same flexibility on starting meetings applies to deadlines, so things can slip on the schedule. But since there is no project manager, who is there to stress out?

meeting facilitation

It is different here. Sometimes long tangents are allowed onto different topics. In fact, 3-4 hour meetings are not uncommon. For someone used to 1-2 hour meetings, this required a lot of adjustment. Now I have come to experience these meetings as part social events that include business as well.

uncertainty

There is just a lot more uncertainty here: a weak central government (of classic liberal limited government design), underfunded local governments, a whole slew of local and international NGOs, and a higher poverty level in which people may leave on short notice for emergencies or opportunities. This translates into a situation where multiple and sometimes changing left hands do not know what the various right hands are doing. Not surprisingly, there is much more tolerance for uncertainty. People have more tolerance for delays or for leaving things less clear than I was accustomed to in the States. “Sabemos esperar” or “We know how to wait”, a colleague recently told me.

Recently, I learned of a large restoration project in which the main contractor “subcontracted” work on the roof without a contract. Work went on for two months before it was discovered more wood needed to be replaced than originally thought. Unfortunately, the verbal agreement left both parties in a difficult position to negotiate a new price, because no firm costs were established in-writing to provide a detailed point for renegotiating.

And contractor problems do not happen in the states? Yea right. My only point here is there is more willingness to operate with a level of uncertainty most gringos are not comfortable with.

Also, it is worth adding here that the restoration project is still moving right along.

last minute

If it can be left until then, it normally is. I am now used to being asked to participate in a meeting or complete a needed report the very same day. For people here, this requires no getting used to, it is just how things are done.

If I needed something ASAP, I could go to my colleagues here and be almost certain they would drop what they were doing to pitch in. “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine”—I have not come across that attitude here.

And things get done.

…For someone who has extensively managed and studied projects, I could go on, but my main purpose was just to share a bit of my work experience.

All cultures are different. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. What are the ways we go about things that can be of benefit to others? Conversely, what are the ways other cultures go about doing things that can be of value to us?