Hierarchy, acceptance, self-motivation and joy! - Cultural learnings # 2:

Joy! Maybe the most important cultural learning for me so far. My life has changed a lot since I came to Uganda, and I believe the most obvious is that it is now filled with more joy. I have tried to think of what is it that has created this change. Life here is full of challenges and sometimes very frustrating. But still, somehow (as they say in Uganda), it is a lot better. Maybe it is because I learn and develop every day. I don’t have the exact answer, but I will try to share some of my thoughts around it. 

Since my last blog post “cultural learnings #1”, the list of learnings has been adjusted. In this post I will cover:

4. Hierarchy
5. Acceptance
6. Self-motivation
7. Joy

Going to Uganda = throwing myself into a lot of challenges!

4. HIERARCHY – Bragging about your expertise
From our home country we are used to company structures that are quite flat. If you are an expert with knowledge, you are heard and your opinions are considered important when making decisions. In Uganda, most company structures are quite hierarchical, means there is a huge distance between owners/managers and the other employees. Whether your opinion is considered or not, is much more depending on your position rather than your expertise. It is a system where it is much more difficult to be heard, even if you are an expert in your field, like I consider myself to be. 

Not being heard nor considered has been an important learning for me. It has made me more aware that in a context like this, you need to be very confident with who you are and what you know. You need to be more outgoing, more bragging and continuously using previous results to “prove” that you are someone to be counted on. I wasn’t good enough in that from the beginning. But, I am getting better. It is most probably a good thing for me, and also for ladies, and Norwegians in general. Neither ladies, Norwegians nor myself are any good at this. But, we need it! And I am sure it will be useful for me in the future. 

I am an expert! and I know what I am doing!

5. ACCEPTANCE - Things are not always available or they don’t always work
Technologically, Uganda is quite developed with several mobile networks, many 3G internet service providers and printers, scanners and projectors are available. But, the one thing all this technological devices are depending on, electricity, is unfortunately not always available. There are power cuts almost daily, lasting up to 36 hours. This creates lots of challenges and delays. Simple things like printing can take 2 working days: first the printer is not working, when the printer starts working, electricity is off, and so it continues. The internet speed is also inconsistent. It can take 8 hours to download a file, and you can struggle 3 hours to send an email with a small attachment.

Knowledge and capable skills is another thing that is not always available. It has been hard work to find the right designers and and other recourses for the project. Education quality and professional skills is just not the same here. Maybe the challenge again is to lower our expectations and accepting. Many things are just not the same here as at home, and I have to accept that that’s just the way it is. 

Sometimes you just have to accept and relax!

6. SELF-MOTIVATION – A solitary extrovert designer
Design is a new topic in Uganda. There is no education for industrial design and there are not many designers here. And generally, it is hard for other people to understand the design process. In the developed world, a designer would normally be surrounded by designers and other people who understands and works with design. In Uganda, this is not the case. And in a small company in Uganda, it is definitely not the case.

The people in the company who are a bit interested and have some knowledge are often too busy to discuss and involve themselves. There have been many moments where I have really been missing discussion partners for design related issues and felt quite lonely working with and promoting the design process.

The lack of network, discussion partners and sometimes also involvement from the company’s side, has demanded a lot of energy and self-motivation. Being an extreme extrovert designer, who normally gets lots of inspiration, motivation and energy from working together with other people, I didn’t know much about self-motivation. But, being the main “driving force” in the project for such a long time (10 months and still remaining 5 more months…) I have had to learn a lot. I am still learning, and still going on! 

No other designers in sight.

7. JOY - Making a difference and joy of seeing results
Despite all the challenges and learnings described above, working with this design project in Uganda is a great experience. The feeling of using design skills to make a small difference in a world development context is just amazing. When I have worked so hard, overcome so many challenges and I finally see results, it gives a satisfaction on a whole different level than at home. REAL JOY! 

I have overcome many challenges!

Working in Uganda has been the most challenging job ever, but it has also been the best job ever. Even with my 10 years of working experience, I have learned more than in any other job. Not only about design and project management in a development context, but also about culture and people. And most of all I have learned about myself: how I react to things and how I need to adjust my thoughts, expectations and behaviour. I keep on learning and improving, learning and improving: that how my days go by, with some frustration and a lot of joy.

REAL JOY!