"Us" and "Them". "You guys". "We" do it this way..." "Yours and Ours". When I started out, just about two and half month's ago, I was definitely the outsider looking in. I was constantly, consciously trying to use the right personal pronouns to fit in, although it took effort to keep it straight. When I did try to say "we", including myself as one of "them" ("us"?), it felt forced and artificial. I told myself stories that the people around me knew I was 'faking it'. That I really wasn't part of this place.
But driving back on my biweekly 6-hour commute, I caught myself thinking about the week ahead, and realized that sometime in the very short last two and half months, my brain had switched.
"I" felt like one of "them". How did that happen? Truly the best way to learn is immersion.
I thought back to the meeting I was in a week or so ago filled to capacity with folks from across the agency, both functionally and geographically. Looking around that room, I realized I pretty much new who they were and what they did. If I said 'Hi' in passing, I could attach their name (with at least an 80% chance of getting it right). They knew me too. I'm pretty sure they'd say 'hi' back. Cool.
More surprisingly, I didn't feel I'd given up my identity with my 'real' company to do it. I kind of belong to both right now. Being decidedly mono-lingual (is that a real word?), I wonder if that is how people's brain's work when they are speaking a language that isn't the one they grew up with. Is it still translation or at some point do you just start speaking and thinking based on where you are? When in Rome, and all that.
All good, right?
Well, that was my initial thought too. But then I thought a little bit more about the challenge it presents. One of my big values to the agency is that I bring an outside perspective...different experiences and a way of looking at things. That's my big value add, and it is what gives me some initial credibility (coupled with my charming disposition, of course).
Of course, I want to make new friends and new colleagues. I know I can help at a different level if I understand more about how this place works,... who is who, what is what. But I can't abandon my perspective to fit in too tightly. I have to be a citizen of both. I simply never thought it would happen so quickly.
At least now I can see it again. I guess that's the advantage. It is less conscious to translate between Fortune 500 commercial industry and the non-profit space, but I've been translating all along. It is good that I'm less of an unknown. It is good that I understand the place I'm professionally residing in. And if I keep challenging myself to look at my experiences and test them against this new place, I'll continue to add value as an outsider...just a little more inside than I once was. I can add the context to my translation, not just use the vocabulary. I'm sure that helps me do a better job of knowing what will work, and what might just get lost in translation. I can choose better, and offer even more value.
and when this is done, and I'm off to my next assignment, I'll have another language added to my vocabulary. Definitely good.
