The Czech Republic – my second home

I have spent a few years as a child and then as an adult in the Czech Republic, so I feel that going back to Prague or any other city is like being in my second home. This is why my intro to the Czech culture will be more subjective than the others, which are based on work relations.
I started to like beer when I realised that beer might be a lot cheaper in a pub than water. I am sure you all have similar memories, but if you are not a beer drinker, you probably remember at least one Czech cartoon, fairy tale, folk tale.* Family (and the pub ) is the focal point of the social structure.

Czechs are different from other Slavic countries, maybe because of the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy regime. They are less passionate, more careful, more practical, and more efficient. They seldom move to a first-name basis with people outside their family and close friends. They are reserved, but keeping last-name basis is because of their politeness and respectfulness.

Again, maybe, partly as a reaction to the Austrian elite, Czech are considered one of the originators of black humour. They are keeping the rules, but say many black jokes about them. One interesting thing is that there are more than 40 theatres in Prague, many of them are black theatres.

My colleague has written a blog post about age differences and why these are important in EU projects. It is true that someone from the ‘old’ generation might behave very differently from a young manager in the Czech Republic. It is a little bit true for all post-Soviet countries, but Czech primarily base their trust, work collaboration on connections, knowing each other and that is to be taken into account when working with older generation researchers. Czechs are very distant and you cannot build up a good relationship with them during one meeting. They need time, patience, because trust is built slowly. It is easier if you know the language, but that is hardly the case in EU projects.

 

Another bad heritage from the Soviet-style system is the hierarchy and the lack of responsibility coming with it. Taking responsibility for your actions or committing yourself strongly to a work related issue is not the strongest point in the Czech character. They might be very used to a paternalistic style of management, where they are told what to do and they comply. Taking an initiative is not to be expected from them. It does not mean of course that they are not interested, they are just not involving themselves emotionally into the business. This attitude might make the team work a little bit more complicated. Also their indirect communication style makes it harder to read them and understand their real opinion about an issue.

In case of conflicts, you should know that Czechs are not really good at finding compromises. As a first reaction, they will become silent, much less cooperative. But if they get into a fight, they will want to win it.

Maybe they are not that passionate, but definitely efficient. Consider their contribution to European art, which is simply amazing – literature, music, painting, cinema, etc. If you have the chance read Svejk or watch one Menzel movie, you will understand your Czech partners much better.

In summary some tips:

• Try to create situations in which you gain their trust, get to know them better. Invite them for a good(!) glass of beer as a start. But always remain polite.
• Do not push Czech people, they will resist.
• Do not expect quick decisions.
• When they complain about things, you might ignore it at first; they just like doing that. This is a common habit with Hungarians.
• They will not get offended when you tell them politely what it is they should do in the project. Sending lists of tasks, reminders about upcoming deadlines is OK, still not considered pushy.

*I have discovered an eTwinning project, which translated European fairy tales to English.

Enjoy!

Ms. Gabriella Lovasz

Young project managers in the consortium – does the age difference matter?

Consortium building and the involvement of the best experts is one of the most important steps of the project development. The project team is working hard together for several months on the proposal to be successful and to receive a positive evaluation. As a result of the persistent and thorough work we arrive to the kick-off meeting where all the partners can meet for the first time.

This will be the first event where you can meet with all the experts you worked with previously, and with further colleagues who will be responsible for the project implementation at the partner organisation. It happens more and more often that your contact person is a young project manager, a young researcher, who is supposed to have the general overview of the project structure; who is responsible for the deliverables and their timely submission; for the for the budget control and for the monitoring of the project activities. This young manager will participate in the project meetings and represent the position of his/her institute.

In many cases the young project manager can hit the wall, because the senior, more experienced managers and researchers do not treat her/him as an equal partner. How can we overcome this gap? How can a young manager/researcher get accepted? What is the best attitude from the senior researchers?

 

Although in many cases we do not pay a particular attention to this issue but it is important to handle it from the beginning because the conflicts may hinder the implementation of the project.

The possible solution needs to be approached from two sides, as the attitude of the young researcher is just as important as the senior researcher’s attitude.

As I am one of the young managers with 3,5 years of experience I believe that the young, less experienced person has to make the first steps. A lot depends on our style/attitude while we are expressing our opinions and suggestions. It is not surprising that young people have different understanding of the world and they would use new innovative approaches, which don’t necessarily reflect the views of the seniors.

In this case it is important to bear in mind that the “self-assertive” “I will change the world” behaviour is not to best way to enforce our interest but the calm, professionally sound arguments and the well considered actions that reflect our full commitment and “lowliness” is much more effective.

I believe that the forward looking professionalism (in line with our experience), the commitment and the respect to the senior colleagues may help you soon to be treated as an equal partner.

I have to highlight that the attitude of the senior researcher is also important. They should be able to accept that not all the young managers are “Pretenders”, and the new approach of the young people can be an added value during the project implementation.

 

Young people should get professional help and guidance, which not only supports the skills development of the young researcher but the conflict-free cooperation and the supportive environment contributes to the project achievements. If the seniors cannot treat the young colleagues as equal partners, they should become tutors, mentors.

During my first project due to age and experience difference I’ve had to go through some difficulties but as I mentioned above, it is possible to surmount to this. I am grateful to my partners that they were helpful, partly this is the reason why we are still good colleagues.

I’m sure that most of us have been in a consortium where the partners with different age and years of experience worked together. Does the age difference or the different level of experience cause any problem for you? If yes, how did you overcome this situation? What was the good solution? Was there any good solution?

If you wish, please share your thoughts, comments! Let’s help each other!

Krisztina