France - Take 2

Before twins and broken limbs, one of the thoughts that raced through my mind on a regular basis was the prospect of being based in France from a work perspective for the second time. Whilst the first spell was successful in the official sense in terms of promotions etc., it became abundantly clear to me that there is a significant cultural difference between the two countries that one needs to appreciate. Second time round I’m a lot more sanguine about the idea of being based in France again. I think there are a few reasons why….

The fact that I am officially based in Biarritz (rather than Paris) gives me immense peace of mind, especially in light of the idea of multi-dimensional success. I have a greater chance of being successful in all areas of my life, including work, with a Biarritz based contract.

My role still promises to require international travel and the opportunity to work in the UK and Switzerland – I don’t feel like I’m being backed into a Blue-White-Red corner.

Make no bones about it, Accenture is a hierarchy and the culture is very much “up or out”. By all accounts Wipro is different – you can get your (financial) rewards for working well without having to get up the next career level. This will very different for me and I’ll need to get my head around that, but I think that over time I will come to appreciate the fact that I can focus on serving clients, rather than trying to work out what the next best move is vis-à-vis upcoming promotion points.

I also think that there is a good chance that the cultural difference I’ll need to be more concerned about is the European / Indian difference rather than the Anglo-Saxon / French one. I am hopeful that I will be able to bridge this gap given both my experience of the UK (which has close links with India), and my knowledge of the French culture and its people.

I’m also just that bit older (which already helps in France), and hopefully a bit more mature and less inflexible. I think the flexibility issue is key – being a bit older has brought it home to me that just because I’m an early bird, the rest of France isn’t going to follow suit just to please me….Having Maxime has also helped me become a bit more flexible…..whilst I can see that it is not impossible to have a immaculate, pristine, orderly house every second of the day, the effort it takes to achieve that with one (or three) children just isn’t worth the satisfaction I would obtain – the opportunity cost is the opportunity lost and 24/7 cleaning means I can’t do lots of other things.

So I think I am ready for another helping of France, I’m not sure if they are ready for me!