It has been an 'interesting' week. Interpret, a week of paracetamol and sleepless nights.
The challenges of trying to remotely manage a team of people under a great deal of stress, continue. International staff receive R&R every few months (rest and recuperation) but the local staff need it too... With the exception of periodically being driven temporarily insane by being couped up inside, having limited social interaction, living in an strict Islamic country, and being miles from the reality of our beneficiaries and team, life in Kuwait is very comfortable and safe. You can't really say this about life in Iraq. Two hours drive away, life is very different...
So hopefully next week, after the long saga of trying to secure passports for some of the team, we're holding a meeting in Kuwait for as many of the team as possible. An opportunity for the team to shop, have a break, visit the country Saddam tried to annex, see relatives who live here, share their concerns with me, and enjoy round the clock electricity and water. And an opportunity for me to try to work through breakdowns in communication and address the tensions and fractions that inevitably occur within a team in this context.
Sadly though we will not be going on a outdoor team build to learn how to work together and value each other by falling backwards into the arms of another, jumping off 20ft high sawn off tree trunks, shooting each other with paintball guns, and drinking into the early hours of the morning. No, that excitement hasn't quite caught on out here in the desert and Arab world. But you may catch me jumping off a 100ft apartment building if the meeting isn't fruitful.
The challenges of trying to remotely manage a team of people under a great deal of stress, continue. International staff receive R&R every few months (rest and recuperation) but the local staff need it too... With the exception of periodically being driven temporarily insane by being couped up inside, having limited social interaction, living in an strict Islamic country, and being miles from the reality of our beneficiaries and team, life in Kuwait is very comfortable and safe. You can't really say this about life in Iraq. Two hours drive away, life is very different...
So hopefully next week, after the long saga of trying to secure passports for some of the team, we're holding a meeting in Kuwait for as many of the team as possible. An opportunity for the team to shop, have a break, visit the country Saddam tried to annex, see relatives who live here, share their concerns with me, and enjoy round the clock electricity and water. And an opportunity for me to try to work through breakdowns in communication and address the tensions and fractions that inevitably occur within a team in this context.
Sadly though we will not be going on a outdoor team build to learn how to work together and value each other by falling backwards into the arms of another, jumping off 20ft high sawn off tree trunks, shooting each other with paintball guns, and drinking into the early hours of the morning. No, that excitement hasn't quite caught on out here in the desert and Arab world. But you may catch me jumping off a 100ft apartment building if the meeting isn't fruitful.
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