You know, folks often have these fixed ideas, especially when it comes to people from other countries. I had my own share, for sure. I remember this one time, I was trying to get a small community project going. Nothing big, just a local thing. And I was working with a bunch of people, some younger folks too, from Germany.
At the start, I kinda stumbled. I had this picture in my head, probably from old movies or something, about how German women, especially the younger ones, were supposed to be. Super serious, maybe a bit distant, you know? Like, all work and no play. That was my ‘brilliant’ theory back then.
So, I was trying to organize stuff, and my approach was all wrong. I was being overly formal, expecting a certain kind of reaction, and things just weren’t clicking. It was frustrating, felt like hitting a brick wall. My little project was going nowhere fast, and honestly, I was blaming everyone but myself.
Then, there was this one afternoon. We were stuck on a particularly tricky problem, and I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel. And one of the young women on the team, someone I’d unfairly pegged as super reserved and quiet, just kinda sighed, looked at the mess we were in, rolled up her sleeves, and said something like, ‘Okay, this is just silly. Let’s just try this completely off-the-wall idea I had.’ And boom! It was like a switch flipped in that room.
Suddenly, everyone was buzzing, brainstorming like mad, actually laughing, and throwing out all sorts of wild suggestions. Turns out, my whole ‘serious and distant’ idea was complete and utter rubbish. These women were direct, yeah, no doubt about that, but they were also incredibly creative, super passionate about what they were doing, and way more open to just trying stuff – to taking a chance – than I’d ever given them credit for. They weren’t afraid to speak up, or to be wrong, which was a real eye-opener.
It hit me then, pretty hard. My ‘practice’ in that situation wasn’t about managing a project at all; it was about unlearning my own dumb assumptions. I’d been so caught up in what I thought they’d be like, based on nothing really, that I wasn’t seeing who they actually were right in front of me. It’s like, you build these little mental boxes for people, slap a label on them, and then you act surprised when they don’t neatly fit. What a waste of time.
So yeah, that whole experience taught me a massive lesson. Forget the stereotypes you hear. Just talk to people, actually work with them, and make an effort to see them for who they really are. It’s usually way more interesting, and a hell of a lot more productive, than whatever nonsense you cooked up in your own head beforehand. That’s my two cents, anyway.
