Communication and Management /Leadership Development Barriers are Best Kept at Bay, Thus….

In the last few weeks, I have interacted with numerous training participants from not only different nations, but also varying continents. Indeed, it was a great honour to interact with delegates bestowed with different cultures in line with their countries of origin. The same were as diverse as USA, Botswana, Madagascar, Cameroon, Spain, Nigeria, Southern Sudan, DR Congo and obviously Kenya.

In all the different programs that I was involved in, I never missed taking the delegates through Intercultural communication, an area of study that fundamentally affects the way we all communicate in the various situations of our lives, irrespective of our locations in the global village.

But, the key challenge was when I ventured out of my usual comfort zones for some of the assignments. I have been severally out in the past, visiting the East African region as well as the Middle East. During this time, I have been very lucky to have English and Kiswahili at my disposal. Thus, I have never felt desperate at any time.

Nevertheless, the experience in DR Congo was a nightmare of dimensions that I had never contemplated. I had thought that Kiswahili was a commonly spoken language given the impression at the visa issuing office. But, on this, I was caught off guard. Indeed, Kiswahili is a common language in Eastern DR Congo (around Goma), but that is all. The western side, Kinshasa (about 2000 km away from Goma) being the national administrative capital is a French speaking zone.

That realization came to my attention right at the Kinshasa airport. The hotel staff there have no appreciation whatsoever of Kiswahili or English. The agony started right from ordering for a cup of tea and a snack. The same was marked by serious language barriers, to the extent that the tea landed on the table without milk, minus expected explanation. Worse still, the snack that could have lightened the experience was never to be.

From then onwards, it was a mission of searching  for English or Kiswahili speakers, at least for survival, during the one week experience. Luckily, the language of communication during my training assignments was English. It was however marked by variations in accent that ranged from French, American, British, and Spanish. Also, there was a good combination of heavy African languages oriented accents. That mix was enriched by the fact that my training delegates out there, were from an International development agency.

The long and short of this is that I faced serious communication barriers, head on. It could have been possible to go hungry after work, had it not have been for some elaborate shopping for scanty Kiswahili and English speakers, especially outside the 5 star hotel, that was my temporally residence. Ironically, it took search efforts of two evenings to get an English speaking taxi driver, for a trip to River Congo.

Thus, one of the greatest lessons from this experience is that nothing hinders development more than communication barriers. Further, nothing can retard development more than challenged management and leadership skills not only at individual, but also organizational and national levels. I witnessed this live with my own eyes and ears.

In that light, we at Newtimes Business Solutions have vowed to make it easier for readers to comprehend better, how they can benefit through our solutions that have now started attracting international learners, outside the East African region. Consequently, we have attached elaborate brochures on our newly re-packaged change inspiring management /leadership development solutions, starting from the month of July 2013.

You are invited to take advantage of the largely 2 day solutions , which will no doubt yield invaluable change as will be experienced by potential training delegates as well as their respective organizations. Obviously, the past delegates have had their share of positive experiences, which have encouraged continued repeats for some.

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