5 Things You Can Learn From the Country That’s Always in Turbulence
I’m only 36 but I’ve already been through 2 revolutions and 2 crisis. I was born in Ukraine and turbulence is a part of our existence.
During these strange times my multinational clients started telling me that their Ukrainian offices are going trough the crisis much better than their West European and US offices. One particular client has even said that their revenue is 30% higher than in all other offices.
Now, this got me thinking. Why are Ukrainian offices that don’t have any governmental support are doing better than the ones who do? What is it in Ukrainian business spirit that is helpful now?
Working and living in other parts of the world, I have understood that these global uncertain times are stressing and depressing a lot of people who are used to a, well, more stable times. Thus, I’ve decided to compile 5 lessons that will help you go through this no matter where you live and work.
- Ukrainians don’t stress out about crisis.
We have been in it for 30 years now. You can even call it a daily reality for Ukrainians and while the expectation of a new wave of turbulence does frighten us, the reality of it doesn’t bring anything we haven’t already faced before: unemployment, losing your savings, company bankruptcies and raider seizures. Our emotions are low, which means that we don’t make any decisions that haven’t been previously thought of and calculated.
Ukrainians have what might seem a very rude habit: we run fast and try to get there first out of a fear that nothing will be left for us. We even run on board an aircraft.
When I was a kid, I remember standing in line with my grandma for 3 hours just to buy the sausage and we were always afraid that by the time we get to the counter, nothing will be left for us. We have been historically used to running faster and faster in our lives and businesses, so when we hear that another crisis is coming, we usually ask each other: “So what now? As if we are living in abundance now…”
2. Ukrainians are not expecting help from the government.
Instead, we hope they just leave us alone :) We calculate our business risks without relying on ‘someone’ who will come and help. It actually works the other way round: we, businesses, help the government when they need to dress the soldiers or when public hospitals need equipment and masks or when they need volunteers for anything, the businesses stand up and help, as the government perpetually doesn’t have money for anything. We work hard and rely on ourselves only.
3. Ukrainians have tight social relationships.
Our businesses are usually based on relationships with clients and employees. And strong relationships are the basis to survive anything.
4. Ukrainians are not easily frightened by bad news from other markets.
We usually have ‘our own way’ and partially we are still a closed system: we can’t easily invest into international markets or companies and international investment is still the privilege of IT and Agri sectors mostly.We try to avoid bank loans as the percentage is unthinkable for small and medium size organizations. Thus, our potential losses are initially lower and mainly limited by our own means.
5. We laugh at our problems.
Ukrainians have a great sense of humor. We even have a saying that if translated word by word, goes like this: “Somehow it will be”. Meaning, that somehow everything will turn out fine in the end. Laugh helps you to see your hardships in a different light. Not to say that miraculously issues will disappear, but for sure you will have a different motivation looking at your present situation with healthy humor.
Anastasia V., Inspirational Customer Experience Consultant and Speaker
