I have once again been blown away by the power of social networking.
A few weeks ago I ran a workshop in Singapore. It was an intimate, but diverse group from Singapore, India and Brunei. Being a South African by birth and working in many different countries has given me an appetite for working with diversity. When we are on workshops with diverse cultures we often discover similarities along with our differences. This group was no exception. Being in similar roles in different organisations and different countries with different cultures, they still face the same day-to-day concerns. It can be a huge relief to realise that we are not the only ones!
Some of the themes that arose were interpersonal issues, issues around communicating and concerns about how to manage time. Of course there are also questions about how to have difficult conversations with people at more senior levels in the organisation.
What has amazed me about the group in Singapore is the way that the participants have continued to support one another after the workshop ended. They formed a WhatsApp group and send regular encouraging morning messages to one another. I think that’s great! Right across borders, language and time zones our similarities are greater than our differences.
The only drawback for me has been that being in a different time zone at the moment (when I forget to switch my phone on silent) I receive their “good mornings” at three a.m. in South Africa!
I love working in Singapore. It’s safe to walk around at night, so my evenings were often spent exploring and finding new tastes for dinner. This time I decided to give the shop that sells “Pig organ soup” a miss. Maybe next time. The streets are clean and the trees and gardens beautiful.
Because I travel so much, I have found social networking to be the best way to stay in touch. Sometimes it can be a little tricky as the lines between personal and professional life can become blurry. So, I keep the two quite separate – Facebook for the personal stuff and LinkedIn for business. It saves my clients from having to see me posting about my cat. (She is cute though.)
You are invited to find me on LinkedIn – Liesl Gini. I have recently reviewed my profile and added some more information and a recent photo.
Liesl Gini 
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