With less than a week until we arrive in Bolivia, we have been starting to think a lot about what we actually need to accomplish while in-country in order to make our deliverables the best they can be for our client, CEOLI. While we are essentially going to Bolivia for business purposes, it is very important for us to remember that a huge part of maintaining a healthy client/consultant relationship is first building trust with the client. However, how we go about interacting with and building trust with our client will be a lot different than how we would here in the United States. Some of the Bolivian cultural norms I anticipate being a challenge to conducting business are the higher context communication style, the power dynamic between men and women in the business realm, the sensitivity of current political events, and the more flexible view of time that most Bolivians adhere to.
In class, we have talked extensively about how being cognizant of communication differences will be essential to our trip. The United States falls very low on the communication context scale, so basically any country we visit as US citizens will have a higher context communication style than we are used to. Because of this, the cultural norm of Bolivia is to place greater importance on interpersonal relationships than strictly business relationships. When we get to CEOLI, we will need to remember to show our interest not only in the business aspects of the organization, but also in getting to know the staff and students. The way our trip is structured will be extremely helpful with this because we will be spending every morning at CEOLI. This will give us the opportunity to build trust and gather valuable information that we need to complete our deliverables. Since there will be a language barrier between us and most of the CEOLI staff, it will be important to communicate our interest through body language, lots of smiles, and eye contact while at the school. Even as someone with a working knowledge of Spanish, I anticipate some challenges in communicating, especially with the younger students at CEOLI.
As far as the male/female power dynamic in Bolivia, we need to be mindful of its effects on society as a whole because Bolivia has a very patriarchal society. This is a lot different than the United States, where things have become more equalized. However, this will not have as much of an impact on us because we have an existing relationship with CEOLI as part of the 10 year plan, and they acknowledge us Student Consultants as equal partners in this project. CEOLI is also fairly progressive, as they have females on their leadership team. Even though the machismo/ patriarchal culture won’t have an extreme impact on our project itself, it is an important piece of context that could potentially impact our personal experiences in Bolivia.
Bolivia is currently in a very tough spot politically, which is directly impacting CEOLI, its mission, and its future plans. This will be very challenging for our group because our deliverables and the deliverables of future groups will be affected by the political climate. Depending on which candidate wins the presidential election in May, CEOLI will be affected. Their desire to build and maintain a juice stand to generate revenue for the organization depends on the state of infrastructure in Bolivia. There is currently a train stop being built in front of CEOLI, which would create a lot of foot traffic and potential customers for the juice stand, but the construction has been dramatically slowed down in recent months because of the political unrest and unstable government. While in Cochabamba, we will need to be understanding of the fact that our project is not necessarily top priority right now given the current political situation and everything else going on at CEOLI. We have been learning in class about the importance of reciprocity and partnership as core aspects of an effective service learning experience for both parties involved. Service learning is distinguished from community service because of the emphasis on creating a two-way relationship rather than a one-way charity project. We have committed to stay accountable, see this project through, and act as true partners to CEOLI, which means that we will work with them through whatever happens politically in Bolivia. Although our specific group will not have to directly deal with the results of the election, we are still responsible for setting future groups of Student Consultants up for success and doing our best for our client in the current political climate.
During my last study abroad experience to Costa Rica I experienced what is known as “Tico time”, which is the name given to the very flexible view of time shared by the Costa Rican people. Bolivia also has a more flexible view of time than we do in the United States, so it will be interesting to see how Bolivia and Costa Rica are similar to and different from one another. In Costa Rica, I remember getting frustrated at times when our group would be on time for a scheduled event and the group or person we were meeting would be half an hour to an hour late. Going into this trip to Bolivia, I already have experience with navigating this cultural difference, but I do anticipate that it will still be difficult for our group given that this trip is more business focused and that we have limited time to accomplish everything on our list. This challenge might be the biggest we will face because our group is going in with a lot that we want to accomplish during our week in Bolivia, but we realistically might not be able to complete everything. We will have to actively manage our expectations pertaining to the timeline of our project as we work with the staff at CEOLI.
Personally, I am hoping to improve my communication and relationship building skills through this service learning trip. More and more, I am starting to realize that I love working with people. I am very excited to finally get to interact with the CEOLI staff and students face to face, but I know it will challenge my communication skills. Specifically, I will need to be conscious of using active listening techniques such as eye contact, asking questions, and asking for clarification. I personally have a tendency to prefer quick and direct communication (as do most people from the United States), but on this trip I will need to slow down due to the language barrier and the different culture that values relationships before business.
On a more practical level, I am also excited to once again test my Spanish skills in an authentic setting with native Spanish speakers. Through my past study abroad and internship experiences, I have learned that communicating in a second language is both very hard and extremely rewarding. I hope that this trip will help me to continue improving my verbal communication skills and understanding of Hispanic cultures. Although actually using my Spanish outside of the classroom can be very scary, I think it is important that I continue to push myself outside of my comfort zone by putting myself in real life situations that let me practice my speaking skills.
Another major area I am hoping to grow more in is my ability to be effective in a team setting. I have already gotten a lot of practice in this area through our work during the first half of the semester, but I know that working with my group in-country will provide another dimension of challenge. A lot of our in-class discussions have been focused on the challenges of being effective as a team. One of the things that sticks out to me the most is that team members must be dependable and committed. Also, teams are only effective if everyone is focused on a common goal and trusts their fellow team members. While these may sound easy, they are actually a lot more challenging in practice. In our work so far, we have faced some setbacks and unfortunately have not gotten as far as we had hoped to be at this point due to things beyond our control. This is where managing our expectations as a team comes in. We have had to adjust our plan a few times and be flexible with managing deadlines and milestones. I would say that we have been able to come together as a team successfully so far in this project. While in Bolivia, we will have to continue to be diligent about communicating. This comes down to each team member individually, but I am confident that my team and I will be able to work together and face any challenges that arise with our project in the coming weeks.
It’s hard to believe that so much of the semester has gone by already and that we will be leaving for Bolivia in only six days. I am excited to face the challenges of doing business in Bolivia and to grow personally and professionally alongside my team. Adios for now!