Share the Tribal Knowledge (Showering in the Dark - Sheffield, England)
Megan Billnoske
Leadership Trainer ● Keynote Speaker ● Coach ● Everything DiSC? & 5 Behaviors? Authorized Partner ● Artist
Jet lag is a funny thing.
I had been up all night on the plane. My excitement and the selection of movies kept my mind awake. We arrived at our hotel, the Mecure Sheffield at 8 a.m. UK time, 2 a.m. Houston time. And by the way, I have never pulled an all-nighter in college, and in fact, I am pretty sure I morph into a different person when I don't get sleep.
Well, here we were.
The hotel rooms were not ready for us to check into, so Denise and I sat in their lovely lobby to wait. It was safe and peaceful, with several large chairs to sit and wait in.
My mind was exhausted.
My eyes burned.
My stomach wanted dinner, but my mind said we needed breakfast.
So, I ordered lunch - an egg salad sandwich. Sort of makes sense, yes?
About 4 grueling, head-nodding, eye-closing hours later, our rooms were ready. I had been up for 30 hours now - wearing the same greasy makeup, same contacts in my eyes and same clothes.
After getting our room keys, we each headed to our bed. All I could think about was a shower and a nap.
I open the door to the room and excitedly entered.
I made it! I was abroad!
The first thing many do when entering a hotel room is turn on the lights. It was pretty dark in the room, except for the window, so I went to the light switch and turned it on. Nothing happened.
That's odd.
Tried again. Still no lights turning on.
Lamps - not working.
TV - not working.
Now, I consider myself to be a sensible person, at least one that can turn on a light. I flicked every. Single. Switch. And still, nothing turned on. The bathroom was pitch black.
I started crying.
I am in a foreign country and can't even turn on a light. I was so distraught and tired, I just took a shower in the dark. It didn't matter anymore. I had nothing left.
After my shower, and minor mental breakdown, I called the front desk and asked why my lights were all turned off. The front receptionist then explained that my hotel room key had to be slid into the slot next to the door, and all of the lights would work. This was in an effort to conserve energy when guests were not in their rooms.
Guess what?
It worked.
I changed into some sleep clothes and tried to take a nap listening to background noise on the TV. Well guess what - that didn't work either, even with the hotel key in the door slot.
领英推荐
Frustrated, I threw the remote on the bed and slept anyway.
That night at dinner, I told Denise my TV was broken. She explained that you have to click the Channel Up button. What!! Yea, no problem.
That makes complete sense! Don't use the power button, use the Up arrow button.
Where were all of these little nuances in the front desk's welcome? Haha, it's normal to them, I suppose. The view from my room was impeccable though...
That next morning, I will proudly admit I had a traditional English breakfast – blood pudding, baked beans, grilled tomato, fried egg and ham. Overall, it wasn’t so bad. The blood pudding looked more like a black brownie, but from my tee-tiny sample, I did not fancy the flavor.
In case you don’ t know what blood pudding is, it is pigs blood, fried. Now, doesn’t that sound exactly like what you crave in the morning? I’ll take Cheerios, thanks haha.
I did find that croissants in England are WAY better than the kind we get at in Houston. They are flakier and lighter than anything I’d had before. Well, what would be better than eating Blackcurrant jelly on this flaky croissant?
I asked the wait staff if they had any more jelly. She gave me this peculiar look and sad, "Jelly?"
In the UK jelly is like Jell-O. She walked around for a few minutes and then brought me a small jar.
She asked, “Jam?” I smiled and said, “Yes!”? Jam and Jelly, two very different things. I'm glad she could interpret my American-ness because I had no idea!
Those were some bumpy moments in my international travels, and after I had gotten rest, I started to find the joy and humor in being so uneducated about day-to-day things like light switches and TV remotes. It was only the start of a wild trip - the second half was all about the Olympics and machine gun guards! Read about that here.
As a leader, it can feel like we're in a foreign country when we are new to an organization or team. The tribal knowledge of unwritten but highly known practices makes it difficult to assimilate, unless someone is helping you understand them.
** That team who spends two hours every Friday morning in the conference room just talking, eating breakfast and not working. Why do you feel uncomfortable about not working like us?
** That company where most ladies wear professional dresses to work, all from a select few stores. This is what professionalism looks like - where is your dress?
** That boss who doesn't appreciate you bringing in a 6-inch table to your office for guests to put their coffee cup on. What are you doing? We have standards.
** That direct report who scoffs and gossips that you don't know to let her off at 2 pm the day before a company holiday. This is what we do, don't you know that?
** That coworker who makes a very rude and public announcement about how you're wearing your company badge on your pants pocket instead of your polo collar. Don't you know that healthcare does it differently than oil and gas? Gosh!
Have compassion and empathy when you have someone new on your team or in your organization. Assuming positive intent helps you welcome them and share that knowledge, instead of creating friction and discomfort. How will a newcomer succeed if you don't share that tribal knowledge in advance?
Lead where you are.
Written and lived by Megan Billnoske, owner and founder of IMSPIRE, LLC. She specializes in working with students, leaders and teams who are hungry to grow, ready to say YES! to elevating their skills and like to have fun along the way.
In her 12-year corporate career, she's trained 14,000+ leaders, had 27 bosses, launched 14+ brand new training programs, led countless international teams, worked in 12+ industries throughout the globe and loves what she does.
Services:
Great story!!!