Arrived in Beijing on July 18 with my favorite train, chatting with colleagues about what we would have expected in the months to follow. Past an endless week of training at an international school where all District Manager and the Chef have learned by heart the battle plan. On paper, perfect macro level, from the outset lacked some details, but it goes on. Order of battle: Follow the menu, follow the plan. The plan I have eight seats to watch. A gymkhana task matrix, a good challenge.
Powerful means of a millionaire budget allowed me to share the hotel room with a professional snorers, with great stress from lack of sleep for the whole week. Meanwhile, the first challenges ahead: truck blocked the entrance to security that will not take responsibility, leaders arriving in China the last minute, suppliers who do not find the goods or do not have clear details like "what are 100 or 1,000 cakes a day? ".
It begins. From me and a colleague to come for an apartment with a room .... The picture shows the cathartic moment of the coin toss: who would sleep on the cot in the military stay? Vinco. A week later my colleague moved from friends.
The first 10 days were formative: call at any time of day or night, openings, talk, discussion, staff arriving from Shanghai, coffee. So much coffee. After two days I understand the irony of things every place serves meals to people often massively single nationality (for example, the Canadian boxing, beach volleyball in Brazil, ...). This meant working even harder to deliver in each of them the right offer. Quickly. Over five days in an Olympics at the end make the difference between a service "perfect" and a "decent".
All of a sudden the password is no longer follow the plan, you have imagination, change, adapt. In China this means the great risk because staff needs time and patience otherwise be confusing. A job, especially against China 100% because all the chefs assigned to me (rest of the staff will not speak) do not speak like a English comma.
Meanwhile, the office, the boss of bosses every day is a victim a day shopping, one day human resources, the first who does not follow the plans, after those who can not change. Every iota of pressure received from the upper floors of the customer is transferred verbatim below, with disappointing choice of modes, times, and understanding of the realities on the ground. I stop here for the sake of synthesis and because details are inside the company, but personally I was extremely disappointed by the project management, especially in the treatment of staff. Do not want to miss it out and see what it means.
Another thing that will remain of this Olympic experience is definitely the fact that they live by insiders. With the Pass to enter all the structures, the pleasure of seeing in Internet time a game and sit in the press gallery, where spectators can not enter, run around the Olympic lane when the other machines are blocked from traffic Peking understand how many people and there are many stories behind the Olympics to be able to run the machine. A lot really.
Professionally, having seen our staff in Shanghai stand at the Olympics, the unravel a thousand commitments without pause (a day "free", but on the phone in a month and a half), the pressure to achieve results and results obtained in every respect, thanks the many executives and customers, all this will certainly among those work experiences that teach you a lot, and be proud of.
Now I go to work, write about why it is so late ...
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