Taking On the Challenge: Preservation of Our Culture vs Globalization

Having worked for multinational companies, I have always admired the value of appreciating diversity of cultures, respect for differences and most of all, the thrust of collaboration with the objective of meeting targets despite geographical challenges. For 14 years, I knew working with other cultures besides Chinese and Filipinos have brought out the strong personality in me in terms of being upfront, being able to challenge things that are different from what you believe in regardless of hierarchies, race, and gender. And I'm very proud of what I've become and always look back to the experiences that honed me to be this way.

Last week, I found myself asking a lot of questions that made me feel like I became a foreigner in my own country. I found it hard to go back to being timid, keeping a low profile and having to double check myself if I'm way out of the norm when it comes to the Filipino culture. 

They say Filipinos naturally are submissive because of 300 ++ years of colonization by the Spaniards, followed by the Americans, the Japanese and back to the Americans who gave us "democracy". Filipinos have a high regard for hierarchy, they have a tendency to please everyone as a sign of having done a good job. Another Asian trait that we Filipinos have is the incapability to separate personal feelings from being objective. We feel bad when we are told the things we normally do should be changed so that we can be efficient; we harbor ill feelings towards people who give us constructive feedback and we just cannot see ourselves sharing meals or drinking beer with the people who in fact just wanted to help. 

In my mind, I thought being globalized by the companies I've worked for is a privilege. Well, it still is. But, indeed, going back to the way you were was the hardest part. What made it difficult is when I restrict myself from being the way I was developed, each muscle in my body screamed in silence to be freed, to be let alone and move on to the next task. It actually took a lot of effort for me to blog it eventually. 

So, going to the main meat of my article, I wanted to gauge now how do we really solve the preservation of our culture vs the globalization that the corporate world is demanding? I believe the Filipinos have a long way to go when it comes to really letting go of what we've been used to. I'm not saying it's bad, but there is a massive effort to be done in terms of influencing everyone in this country to cope with the change whilst being proud that we are Filipinos. I'm not convincing everyone to dump your Filipino values and adapt the ways of the stronger countries. I'm just saying, we need to start thinking how to maximize our positive traits and churn it into the globalization machinery. This is where I believe we will win and become acclaimed leaders in any industry.

Filipinos are known to be hardworking, skillful and happy beyond immense pressure. With proper guidance, these are the type of people you want to eventually see to lead, to be the alpha dog in the pack and be at par with every other nationality known or expected to do so. As a manager, I am faced daily with the task of making sure my team learns how to be stronger, more outspoken and open to feedback. I know the best reward that I want to attain is to see them next time as leaders/managers of other teams, easily developing their people with the global mindset. But I believe, everyone not only my team needs to be striving to achieve that level. After all, we do not want high performers to go down the drain. I mean, there will always be water walkers but aren't we putting competitive people in a race that will eventually force them to comply with what the whole pack is doing? Therefore, the art of globalization will now prove to be useless. It's like an experimental rat exposed to extreme variables for it to cope with and then subjecting them to an environment that's totally different. 

I guess the point I'm driving at is we need to rethink how we as a country and culture are coping up with the needs of the world today. It's not just simply following the instructions given- but challenging the way of things that you believe will be beneficial and targets collaboration and partnership with other successful countries.  Easier said than done, yes. But it starts with you.