My understanding of work has been greatly impacted by my upbringing in the Republic of Moldova. In Moldova, your WORK defines you. Your social position, your possibilities to move from that position to another are impacted by what you do for a living. Someone who works is highly regarded, even though excessive work is still considered a positive characteristic. If you do not work, you do not deserve to exist.
Even now, if I listen closely, I can still hear those voices saying : Cine nu lucrează nu mănâncă. Who does not work, does not eat. Sustaining life, by making sure that there is enough food to eat, is in many parts of the world still an essential concern. In Moldova also.
My work, my life work, has been quite meandrous ever since leaving Moldova. I’ve been part of very different environments, surrounded by very different people and found myself in situations I did not understand at that time.
This is to say that, my curiosity to understand difficulties first, rather than attacking them, to understand conflict and how progress is done in professional circumstances, to understand conflicting communication styles- has been inspired by the WORK itself.
So, when these books fell into my lap ( metaphorically speaking :)) I was not surprised.
I will not refer to each one of the books in particular this time. The subject matter is rather sensitive and complex. It would be inconsiderate to only scratch the surface.
Nevertheless, I could come to a sort of personal, open-ended, conclusion:
Peaceful conflict solving in general and especially in a professional environment, is possible only if those involved become aware and respect the differences contained by the other person involved. Their timing, needs and ways of expressing themselves might be different, rightfully so. Constraining someone to see, think and do just the same as oneself is simply not working long term.
The author of these books, Thomas Erikson, is sharing his experience while working with “over 4500 executives and over 10 000 salespeople in how to communicate” . He is the DISC method and the support of AI ( self developed program).
The spectrum - we are red, yellow, green and blue all at once and rarely just of one color. These are all different personalities and communication styles coming together, so of course there will be fire and some things will go wrong. The way these differences are bridged, cracks mended - that is an art. The art of being human right in the middle of internal or/and external war. Good luck !
Feedback - most probably the only way to change anything. There is no chance that things will turn out differently if the current state is not looked at, made visible. Feedback at work is even more difficult. How can a boss, technically a strange person, transmit the message -your performance is bad, do step it up, dear employee- if the employee is showing an apathic, passive, distant, closed off behavior doing the least required? Yet again, forcing him/her will not work and it might cause further damage. Well, Thomas Erikson presents solutions for this issue. They are all about communication and the intention behind it.
Driving force - we all have it and it is most often always different, changing as life circumstances change. When a person is doing something, gives their commitment to a certain activity, they do it because they are following their driving force. Thomas Erikson is describing them beautifully in his books. Nowadays, as we become more aware of each other's needs, it is cruel and inefficient to avoid speaking about this openly.
What color am I? - I’m mostly green, with a dollop of blue and pinches of red - should life ask for it, as it does :)
If someone decides to read these, do let the information sink in for a while, otherwise the risk of only seeing 4 colors is pretty high.
Life and people are spectral. Isn't that beautiful though?
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