Culture story: Understand the culture before you act!

Culture story: Understand the culture before you act!

The British East India Company first arrived in India and established their initial trading post in Surat, Gujarat, in 1612. Colonial rule in India began in 1757, following the Battle of Plassey against the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies. This indicates that the British took 145 years to understand the local politics, culture, strengths, and weaknesses before engaging in their first major battle. After that, they were unstoppable and ruled India for nearly 200 years.

Taking the time to observe, understand what works and what doesn't, and then strategize is often underrated. In 2014, after switching jobs, I started working in a senior leadership role in a small company, called as Soft***. I was in a rush to prove my worth and implemented many changes within a month. The next month, I started receiving a lot of pushback from other senior leaders, to the extent that they began making fun of my emails asking for information. By the third month, I resigned and left the company.

In contrast, in ZS, I was assigned to a new project in 2018. During the first year, I didn't make any changes to the way of work or deliverables, even though not everything was perfect on the project. This wasn't intentional, but my other existing project was demanding, so I couldn't give time to this new project. 

After a year, my manager gave me feedback that I needed to improve the process and delivery. 

Then, within six months, I was able to turn everything around on the project, overcoming stiff internal resistance. This was possible only because I knew the people, culture, and bottlenecks on the project, much like how the British understood India before their first battle.

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Read past stories like above at https://lnkd.in/d9ijze8r