Many people realize the value of travel as a self-development tool. I couldn’t agree more. Visiting a different country, especially one where the norms, culture, food and language are very different can really open one’s eyes and that encourages a respect for diversity. Visiting America, India, Tanzania, Lesotho and Namibia certainly left me with new perspectives.

With COVID and lockdown reducing our ability to travel many individuals have been eagerly awaiting news of a return of international travel. Their need for their travel-fix has been building for the last few months and the call of the exotic is becoming stronger by the day.

George A. Moore is credited as having said “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” As humans it in our natures to explore and push boundaries, especially as teenagers who are wanting to roam outside the influence of family ties. I believe that this leads to the need to move away from home in order to test the waters of freedom and independence.

However, I believe that we have overlooked an important learning opportunity during this difficult time. I wonder if we could encourage a trend to explore local cultures, norms and attitudes in order to grow our respect and tolerance of diversity. I live in a country where we have the ideal opportunity to do so because of the sheer diversity in the country. We have 11 official languages and more than one ethnic group related to each language, in fact Africa is credited as have close to 3000 ethnic groups.

That level of diversity is a key influencer of how people relate to each other, and yet everyday in the media, and in the manager’s office we hear about how one or another person or team is being “difficult”. What if they are not being “difficult“ but “different”. How much time, energy, money and stress can be saved by being open to the differences and finding a way to help those views and perspectives find purpose in our businesses?

How do we do this? I prefer using the wheel-of-life, which is a coaching tool that focusses on challenges from a wholistic approach.

From this image we can see the fundamental aspects that affect each of our lives, irrespective of the culture we hail from. So when feeling challenged in an interaction I try and remember that people are “different” in each of these areas, not “difficult” in each of them. In fact, to the other person in the conversation, you are being “different”.

The way to get around this? Genuine non-judgemental curiosity. Ask questions and learn about how the individual thinks and feels and work from there. This reminds me of the concept of non-violent communication that was taught to me by Sylvia Lohr, an ex-colleague and friend.

Yes, it most certainly is a longer route to take, but building bridges are worth the effort. And when those bridges are in your neighbourhood (so to speak) they serve both you and your community, whether at home or at work.

My guest this week in the Performance Café Coffee Companions series is Sylvia Lohr. Sylvia is Principal Marketing Manager at Nuance Communications (DACH & CEE) who has worked in a multitude of global team. She has a  passion for holistic and integrated B2B Marketing Strategy. Agile and lean methodologies, along with a healthy dose of teamwork are her cornerstones.