While settling into a new environment, you tend to notice what is different. When you need to become part of and feel at home, it is essential to focus on the commonalities.

The Swiss people are incredibly loyal and proud of their Swiss nationality. The medals for economic prosperity, safety, and order hang brightly polished in a row. Most people here have many university degrees. The fact that all schools and higher educational institutions are free for Swiss citizens promotes the situation.

The official languages in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the official languages are German, French, Italian and Romansh. The people who speak these languages have many differences in terms of culture. If you socialise with the Swiss in Switzerland, they will inform you about their cultural origin. However, if you meet them in Germany, France, or Italy, you realise they are proudly Swiss.

Hirslanden, part of the South African Mediclinic group

When Charl joined the Hirslanden group in Switzerland, which is part of the MediClinic group in South Africa, changing legislation which affected them negatively, challenged them. Different computer systems at the various hospitals, acquired over time, needed to be integrated.

These challenges cause a significant number of computer projects. With this information as a context, one can understand that Charl’s new role as Head of Information Systems started with many business challenges. His arrival also meant that people had to speak English instead of German during management meetings. He is, therefore, the cause of frustration when everyone struggles to express themselves in a second or third language.

Leadership

The managers Charl works with were used to an autocratic leadership style. Coming from South Africa, we learned expensive leadership lessons about leadership from experience but also examples. Good leaders focus on teamwork to achieve common rather than individual goals. They understand the need to create space for individuals to make unique contributions and create opportunities to unlock potential. With a team accustomed to one kind of leadership style and then subjected to another, their feedback and response are not contributing to anyone’s self-esteem.

We as South Africans have many things in common

It is during challenging times like these that we had to remind ourselves about what we as South Africans have in common:

• We are excellent at making plans and innovation because we do not always have everything readily available.
• We are resilient because since birth, regardless of the year, we have learned to adapt to many new situations and changes.
• We have experienced diversity on many levels and therefore understand the strength of diversity.
• We have learned to find ways to overcome political problems, economic crises, power outages, water constraints, fires, draughts, etc. We make plans, create forums, WhatsApp and Facebook groups, and tell jokes about our dilemmas.
• We do understand that we human beings have very similar basic needs. We are all looking for opportunities to use our talents as part of living our purpose, want to see progress and need recognition.

Change and adaptation take time and require a lot of perseverance. However, we have experienced personal growth and development because of our journeys as South Africans. We can call ourselves South African with pride.

Kind regards

Emsia