Part 3 - It Dawned Upon Me...

After 3 days of feeling like an insignificant part of the committee, Elena summoned me into her office one fine day.

She closed the door behind her, and said to me,

"I know you were not happy during the last meeting".

Gosh, how I love Elena. She has probably more Japanese traits than Russian / Kiwi ones. She could tell just from my carefully concealed expressions that I wasn't very happy about the previous meeting. I can't help but to think about the intercultural paradigms that were taught in class - high-context cultures usually communicate through embedded meaning rather than explicit statements, and to read a person's concealed emotions must take years of experience to accomplish if one wasn't born

She went on to apologize about how Jonathan was overriding my responsibilities, and that it wasn't a deliberate plan by the committee to rid me of my work, but rather it was Jonathan's born and bred personality to take things into his own hands, and usually going a bit too much than what is usually expected of him.

At this point, I grinned at her and said, "you really read expressions well, don't you?"

Light-hearted conversations aside, she turned serious and gave me a new duty:

To rein Jonathan in.

As I am now absolutely clear about the nature of the event (thanks to Jonathan, albeit the unhappiness that ensued), I know getting too many people involved would definitely overwhelm the event, giving it more than what it could accommodate.

As such, I needed to keep check that Jonathan was not involving too many people in the event, and I had to make sure we engage what we need, and nothing more than that.

Challenge accepted! With a renewed spirit, I press on to carry out what needs to be done at this stage...

(end)