One of the services we provide at Development Pathways is to work with teams in Australia and the Philippines, to improve communication. Personally, it’s probably the service that gives me the most satisfaction – seeing the improvements in KPI’s, staff engagement, staff retention and employee job satisfaction that can result.
I want to share a personal experience with you, showing how easy it is to be misunderstood and why effective communication is vital for remote teams to work well together.
A couple of months ago, I mentioned to an extended family member in Manila that I was looking for a photo to enhance an article I was writing.
I wanted a photo of BOXES, I said. I didn’t explain why I needed the photo, or what the article would be about, just that I needed a photo of boxes. In fact, what I was looking for was a photo of a big pile of cardboard boxes, ideally different sizes, all stacked together.
“Walung problema cuz – I have one and I’ll send it right away!”, was the helpful response.
And here’s what she sent me:
So, if your Australian business has a team in the Philippines and something like this hasn’t happened to you, either it has and you just haven’t heard about it yet, or it will happen at sometime in the future. And, while it’s good to have a smile at my story here, it could easily have been a misunderstanding about something far more important.
Does this story sound familiar or did it resonate with you? If so and you would to have a chat about how we can work with your teams to improve communication between your Australian and Philippines based teams, use our ‘Contact Us’ form or call directly. We’ll be pleased to assist.
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