Today is Memorial Day in the USA. In Canada, the May holiday was Victoria Day, on May 19th.

Since a good part of our business is done with organizations outside of Canada, we have to pay attention to holidays happening in other countries. This means a slower day today, but it also meant someone needed to field the phones last Monday, even though it was Victoria Day.

As the planet grows smaller and project teams can easily spread across continents, it's becoming increasingly difficult to manage people the traditional way. For the team to work well, one cannot assume everyone knows most people don't work today in the USA, while in the rest of the world, it's business as usual. While there might be a danger to loose one's culture and individuality in the globalization, I think there is another way to see this.

It's not loosing one's identity, but rather enriching one's world, gaining different ways of seeing things and getting things done.  Managing across cultures requires openness from all parties. This is harder than it looks. It's no fun being the one who is working while everyone is off enjoying spring. However, it's good to be the one who's taking the day off when everyone has to go to work. 

I think managing international teams is like turning the tables on yourself. It can be scary, but it can also be fun!