Today’s the day - Making a Presentation on Increased Offshoring

Last year I spent six weeks in India working with our offshore partner firm (I kept a journal of my adventures) … long story short - last year was a difficult one for my organization because we were adopting and adapting to a completely new business model and it included offshoring as a way to decrease cost. My world became much flatter as a result.

Problems, objections, difficulties, etc. ensued … some of it was process oriented … some of it could be characterized as a lack of change managment … and others just had a difficult time ‘getting with the program.’

Since I’ve been back home I’ve been pulling together all my experiences and delving into data - all with an eye to making the offshoring partnership work more efficiently this year.

Part of it includes presenting information to my colleagues in my firm. And today is the day - presentation number 1 … and I’m a bit nervous about this. It’s not that I have to do the presentation … I’ve made plenty of those … and I’m very well prepared for today’s session.

What makes me apprehensive is that I have to walk a very fine line - being an advocate for my firm’s position (have to tow the company line) while advocating for process improvments that can only make us better at our jobs and projects. But to do this without coming off as some ‘offshore evangelist’ … because it’s not about an out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new kinda thing. It’s about doing our work better, faster, cheaper (if I may be so crass).

My mind is racing - trying to remember all of the important points that need to be made - hoping that I do get the support from management - trying to anticipate the myriad of objections that will inevitably come up … Whew!

This could be the start of a new, bumpy ride … or it could be an opportunity for honest communication and collaboration among the ranks … will just have to see what happens. I’m ready. I only hope that others are.