I reminisce about working on various projects and in different companies up until 2016, comparing it with what I see from the USA (projects in the USA, Europe, and Asia), and I notice one interesting thing – there are no screaming matches during calls, no hysterical outbursts, no unhinged managers yelling at everyone around, and getting upset over every little thing. There are no overt conflicts. Of course, there are still covert games and politics, but if someone is unpleasant to someone else, they do it with a smile and politely (though, overall, not often).
In my past life,” this was a common occurrence that nobody really considered abnormal. Especially if the hysterics were over some genuinely important work issue, and the person was truly passionate about the results.
What I’m really interested in is – what has changed? There are four likely explanations, probably working in conjunction:
1) I moved to the USA
2) times are different
3) people are on meds
4) online etiquette is different.
There’s also an obvious fifth reason – “I have changed,” but it doesn’t quite fit here, because I’m not talking about conflicts involving me or with me, but about observing others’ interactions, which are unlikely to have changed. From my perspective, as I observe, interactions during meetings have become much kinder, but I can’t tell if times have really changed everywhere or if Russian companies are still the same, and I just don’t see it for obvious reasons. Or is it the nuances of online meetings, where yelling at a computer somehow feels odd? We’re talking about major serious companies, not a meeting at a city sports committee.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 