of connecting. I was surprised and had considered their questions about my education so diff erently, so much so I had considered it to be a similarity more than a diff erence, but for my colleagues it seemed to be neither. I believe, even though my internal dialogue had a very diff erent meaning and made a diff erent type of sense to me, the elements of joining, my gender, my role and willingness and desire to meet and engage with all of the leadership paradoxically engendered the thin strands of connecting with all members of the leadership team.
Joining through one-to-ones, teaching and coaching
I learnt more about the hierarchical nature of their organisation, the pressures from the government departments, the weight and stigma associated with mental health, and establishing services and practices to reduce the number of patients on the wards. As an organisation, they experienced similar dilemmas with disenfranchised staff , developing and meeting training needs and staff retention, albeit within a diff erent context within the domain of production. My one-to-ones and teaching sessions
enabled me to bring some of the collective dilemmas into the spotlight. To demonstrate how, as a team, it was necessary to explore the roles and responsibilities within the organisation to ensure the vision and values of the hospital was something every staff member was a part of, and had an important role to play in its success. In the fi rst week, I had met most of the
leadership team and had one-to-ones and run a three-hour workshop. I was still getting lost on the site and would often say goodbye to one colleague only to bump into them again a few minutes later because I had gotten lost and was retracing my steps; then to meet them back at my fi nal destination because we were going to the same place, which I had not understood. I am not sure what they made of this, but their smiles where familiar. In London, I leave one spot only to return because I have forgotten something or misunderstood the directions of Google
maps and found myself further from my intended destination. I would like to believe they saw my humanness in these encounters, some of the essences of my personality.
What I have learnt and I am still learning from my relationships with colleagues in Dodoma I now refer to my colleagues in Dodoma,
Tanzania, as my brothers and sisters. We talk often; we encourage and continue to support one another on our further educational journeys. I have not yet travelled back to Tanzania to do any new work, but I am still an active member of the partnership. The initial joining that created anxiety within me is a past memory now but an important one. Godwin recently stepped down from the position of co- ordinator because he has returned to studying full-time. His replacement, Irene, has now taken the reins. I unconsciously began my conversations with her in the same way I had with Godwin, but she said she has heard all about me and about my commitment to the link. She has seen me via video link, where I was once again speaking loudly because the video link sound was not right. I stood up and added in multiple hand movements that added nothing to the sound quality or understanding of what I was saying. But I did bring a smile to everyone’s face as I verbalised my inner thoughts about what I was doing before I fi nished speaking and sat down.
Language is the critical third in our
communication, but we must remember language is not always verbal, and in joining and connecting with others the seeds we sow grow and support us in maintaining relationships with colleagues from the past and build bridges for relationships with future colleagues.
References Bakhtin, M.M. (1986) Speech Genres and Other Late Essays (Trans. by Vern W. McGee). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Burnham, J. (2012) Developments in social GRRRAAAACCEEESSS: Visible-invisible and voiced-unvoiced. In: I-B Krause (ed.) Culture and Refl exivity in Systemic Psychotherapy: Mutual Perspectives. London: Karnac.
Joanne is a senior family therapist, working for an NHS trust in London and also in private practice. She is a fi rst-year doctoral candidate on the Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice at the University of Bedfordshire. During her spare time, if she is not sleeping, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, which predominately involves food and lots and lots of laughter. Email:
joannehipp@outlook.com
Context 169, June 2020
25
Working together across country lines: Cultural familiarity and unfamiliarity in both professional and personal contexts
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