International Meetings
Self-Management in a Growing Organisation
Self-Management in a Growing Organisation
Authors: Ulrike Fuehrer | Director at Context
“If we change the way work works, we can live the dream of work-life balance and sustainability” Ricardo Semler: The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works
Self-management is not a new concept, yet one that is understood in many different ways.
Self-management based on equal access to key business data, joint decision-making, a flat hierarchy and a strong focus on personal growth and professional development has always been the modus operandi of the Context team. The Irish company was founded over 30 years ago to provide outstanding language services to an international clientele, delivered by a highly motivated team of language experts and supported by state-of-the-art proprietary technology.
Fast forwarding to 2025, a lot has changed – yet the company remains true to its values and delivers on its vision. The formula has been refined and is now shared and promoted by 4 self-managing teams operating within a much larger overall organisation.
Self-Management and Scaling
For a small, dedicated team it was intuitive and perfectly attainable to acquire the business acumen needed to shape the company’s strategic direction and develop its service portfolio, to promote the way we work and incorporate the company values in our daily activities.
In the past 3 years, however, the Context team has tripled in number. At the same time, continuous technical improvements of our operational processes have freed up capacity, improved our operational well-being and allowed us to spend more time listening to clients and adapting our services to their changing requirements.
These rapid parallel developments gave rise to unprecedented challenges for a self-managing organisation. They also created ample opportunity for individual specialisation, professional development and role formation. The multitude of emerging tasks exceeded our existing capacities and were adopted by new joiners, with the established operational teams providing the hands-on expertise. Examples for project managers and supporters jointly tackling new tasks include focus areas such as Leadership development, Client Relationship support, Sustainability agenda and AI Research, Quality, Information and Cybersecurity systems, and Communication strategies. Experts in each of these areas are briefed by the operational teams which cooperate closely on strategy and implementation.
Courage and Determination
It took courage to leave the comfort zone of our familiar processes and daily routines. Change can be unsettling. And it has also been invigorating and inspiring to think outside the box, to flirt with new challenges, discover new interests and develop one’s strengths in ways we may not have imagined.
It may be daunting to prepare and deliver an overview of your team’s business performance to the whole company; or to self-organise annual leave in a fair and just way within a large, intricately interwoven team; or to initiate difficult conversations to address and resolve a cross-departmental challenge; or to become a self-management champion and inhabit a space which should fall to ‘Leadership’. Targeted, hands-on training in self-management and in various business aspects has been the key ingredient in turning our multiple challenges and learnings into great successes. Business skill sets, strategic thinking and ownership behaviours are promoted in a purposeful, deliberate manner.
Determination is needed to venture out into new ways of working and to try out different roles and tasks. The initiatives that the Context teams have taken and the bold changes we made jointly were however amply rewarded: enhanced work satisfaction, augmented personal and professional growth and real connection are some of the benefits of our self-management efforts. Recognition is earned by one’s contribution to the thriving of the team and of the individual, by unique and welcome initiatives to the benefit of others, by consistency and commitment.
The new, larger Context is more than ever committed to meaningful work, excellence in service delivery and healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders. From where I stand, I see a growing number of dedicated, enthusiastic individuals building powerful teams which play to their strengths and live their values.
“For a company to excel, employees must be reassured that self-interest, not the company’s, is their foremost priority.” Ricardo Semler, The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works
What does your ideal place of work look like? Would a 4-day work week be of interest to you?
Global Action Plan – Plastics Challenge
Global Action Plan - Plastics Challenge
Author: Aleksandra Sweeney | Freelance Interpreter with Context
Global Action Plan - Plastics ChallengeI have been working as a conference interpreter with Context for quite a while now, and I know that sustainability is important to the whole team. When I was invited to participate in two sustainability challenges last autumn: Food Waste Challenge and Plastics Challenge, I was intrigued. The idea was to track our daily activities using a dedicated platform, record the progress, and take actions every day, no matter how small they might seem at first.
In a way, I thought that the Food Waste Challenge was slightly less difficult, as I’ve been very careful about avoiding any unnecessary food waste over the years, but it was great to discover what else I could do regularly, and how to improve things even further.
But the Plastics Challenge was indeed a real challenge! When Context invited us to take part in it, they mentioned that sometimes ‘the dissonance—the gap between what we believe and what we do—can feel frustrating. At times, the scale of global environmental issues or the political climate can make our individual actions seem insignificant, leaving us with a sense of helplessness’. This rang so true for me. I’ve been trying to reduce plastic use at home, but we are surrounded by it, it’s everywhere we look, and it’s just not that easy. However, I really enjoyed this challenge and thanks to the daily tasks I found out there were some new steps I can take to go that bit further and make change possible. It’s sometimes difficult to change our habits, but I found it was easier to come up with some solutions when I was committing to change something together with the rest of my family. Hopefully some of these small steps will help us all in the long term.
I was surprised and delighted to find out that I was one of the winners of the Plastics Challenge. The amazing prize offered by Context was a sourdough bread making class at Kalbarri, a family run cookery school not too far away from where I live in Co. Kildare. It was a hands-on day course that took place in the warm and friendly atmosphere in Kalbarri’s kitchen, where together with other participants we learned how to make flavoursome and highly nutritious sourdough bread from scratch, and how to start and maintain a sourdough starter. The class focused on how to manage the fermentation process, flavour of the doughs and how to blend flours to create different flavours in your breads. We talked about incorporating Irish grains and flours into our baking and making the most of the nutritional benefits of sourdough breads. We also discovered what we can do with unwanted excess of the starter or the sourdough to avoid unnecessary waste. I went back home with a selection of loaves I baked, fresh sourdough starter and the confidence to bake real bread at home.
We try to use less and less plastic in our everyday life, and teach our children how to do so. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they’ve also taught us a bit in that respect, as they bring new ideas home from school!
The Plastics Challenge, organised by Global Action Plan, is all about embracing imperfection and taking action, however small. “Behaviour change happens when individuals take small actions over time, and these small changes add up to create momentum. It’s not just about what we do alone, but how we inspire others to do the same.” (Source: Global Action Plan) Change is possible and valuable even when it’s not perfect. Every small effort counts, and collectively, these steps we take towards reducing plastic waste help to reshape the future we want to see.
Further Reading:
- Plastic Waste Crisis – UNEP
- Plastic-Free Alternatives – EPA Circular Economy
Hybrid Meetings – Technology and the Human Touch
Hybrid Meetings – Technology and the Human Touch
Authors: Context Conference Interpreting Team
Hybrid meetings are becoming the norm both for European Works Council meetings and other types of events. ‘Hybrid’ means different things to different people: participants and interpreters on site with remote key speakers ‘dialling in’, or everybody on site and only the interpreters remote. Let’s take a closer look at the second scenario.
Language service providers (LSPs) and Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) platforms offer an apparently similar package including platform use and interpreters, so does it matter whose services you engage? The packages offered may look the same at first, but under the bonnet they are very different and suit different requirements.
Platforms draw from a huge pool of interpreters available at very short notice in all time zones. They are large organisations that offer a standard ‘on-demand’ product. Project Managers may be dispersed, difficult to contact and busy with several meetings running in parallel at the same time. Information sharing between the various layers of the organisation can be slow. Their web sites and internal tools offer video tutorials and digital training material. Audio and video are usually managed via the platform without any additional equipment like table microphones and cameras on site. As a result, sound and vision are often less than ideal and impact user experiences.
Clients have access to a platform, interpreters are an add-on; a good choice if you are looking for a standard product available on demand and at short notice worldwide. Perhaps less suitable for sensitive negotiations where continued support by a steady team of interpreters, technicians and project managers ensures smooth meeting experiences for all stakeholders.
If you work with a hands-on LSP like Context, the approach will be radically different: we start from selecting the best interpreters for the job and focus on a tailor-made solution to meet your individual needs. Our team of experienced Project Managers, who are themselves seasoned interpreters, are based in Europe and will be happy to discuss with you the pros and cons of a range of different platforms to find the one best suited to your requirements and your budget. Not all platforms offer the same functionality! Advance introduction to the use of specialised platforms is delivered by competent humans and actively supported. Crucially, one of our support managers is always present in the background throughout your meeting, to assist participants and coordinate with interpreters and technicians. We work closely with a wide network of skilled equipment providers in many European locations to make sure that additional microphones and cameras are installed where necessary, and to achieve high quality sound and vision. In a nutshell, we ensure that the participants in your meeting make the most of the service provided and communicate successfully.
So, what would work best for you? A standard on-demand package or a solution tailored to your company, your people and your goals? You can call us on +353 91 353820 or email conference@context.ie to discuss your needs.
The Future of Work - Beyond Hybrid
The Future of Work - Beyond Hybrid
Author: Ulrike Fuehrer | Director at Context
What allows us to thrive and perform in happy, well-functioning and high-achieving teams?
Much has been said about hybrid working. A recent experience profoundly changed my way of looking at virtual and hybrid teams.
In 2019, I alone had 83 work-related flights. There seemed no other way of doing my job. When Covid forced me to stay put I was grateful, not for the pandemic but for the paradigm shift in multilingual simultaneous interpreting, despite all its technical challenges. Our first international online meeting with 6 languages was held on 26th March 2020. Hundreds of similar events followed. Two years later we introduced combined meetings with an online and an onsite element. Participants were able to have chats at the coffee dock and over dinner while keynote speakers from the US logged in remotely for their half-hour input. Once the technical hurdles had been scaled, the benefits of reducing travel to the necessary and meeting in-person for clearly defined purposes became apparent and were met with approval and relief.
Our ‘in-house’ team doubled in size during this period and was geographically as dispersed as our thousands of freelancers and their respective meeting participants.
Over the next two years, we embraced a hybrid work format with small groups coming together in the same physical space some of the time for training and team activities, for project and strategy meetings. On those office days, animated conversations between peers and pairs permeated the building, creating an atmosphere of quiet excitement. Work-related road blocks tended to be removed in minutes; small challenges that may have been put on the back burner were addressed, and a sense of inspiration and contentment was palpable.
Two years on, we pushed out the boat and held a full onsite team event, bringing together all operational and support people from 4 countries and 7 counties. Some of us had been working together closely, yet never met in person. This large facilitated event took place at a beautiful countryside location with a variety of indoor and outdoor facilities, in lovingly furnished buildings surrounded by flowers and vegetable gardens. Working on an intense agenda and committing to a range of actions felt like child’s play in this environment. Meeting the 3D version of our Zoom colleagues released creative energies, courage to tackle bold projects, a sense of a shared purpose. We all came away smiling. The depth of personal and professional engagement experienced on that day made us realise what we had been missing. It showed us that we need to build regular, meaningful in-person events into our working lives.
Yes, it has its advantages to work from home some of the time. However, realising what we need and miss in our hybrid world might sharpen our awareness of the values that underpin our culture, commitments and success. A great starting point is to look someone in the eye – rather than into a Zoom or Teams camera.
There is no simple way of making this magic happen for dispersed teams. It requires organisational effort to provide for those personal and professional interactions, that depth of dialogue, the heated or measured exchanges, a meeting of minds and bouncing of ideas. It’s an effort well worth it.
Spending time together in the same physical space, sometimes away from traditional work environments, allows us to thrive and to perform as a happy, well-functioning and high-achieving team, in the interest of our personal wellbeing and to the benefit of our clients and suppliers.
How much direct personal interaction is desirable for the New Work and New Culture of 2024? What can we learn from Frithjof Bergmann 50 years on?
The Power of Technology, Teamwork and Tenacity
Case Study: Striking Success
The Power of Technology, Teamwork and Tenacity
Author: Ulrike Fuehrer | Director at Context
Strikes occur in Belgium nearly as often as in Paris, Berlin or Madrid and frequently affect the transport system. They are as powerful as they are disruptive.
On 20 June 2022, access to all Belgian airports and train stations was severely disrupted, also impacting on participation of two parallel meetings we supported in Brussels. As a project manager on site in Brussels, I received a flood of emails, phone calls and messages from participants and interpreters scheduled to arrive from 13 different countries who were unable to reach Belgium.
The stakes of the meetings were high. The organisational effort of getting everyone together – after 2 years of lockdowns – had been considerable.
At 6pm that evening, I took stock of the situation on the ground: We had some participants in Brussels, some participants from the same and/or from other countries stuck at their home airports, some interpreters on site and some equally stranded elsewhere.
During the next 3 hours, I discovered the power of advanced conference technology and the pivotal role conference technicians and a committed team of interpreters can play. With the help of the two most dedicated and determined technicians and a lot of communication back and forth, a solution was designed that allowed all participants, whether in Brussels or at home, and all interpreters likewise to connect successfully.
Both meetings went ahead the next day as scheduled. The software and hardware deployed in Brussels interfaced in a technically highly complex solution, supporting an event which ran as smoothly as the proverbial swans gliding across the lake. The amount of peddling beneath the water was extraordinary.
One interpreter received a call from her airline at 5am that morning offering her an early evening flight; she interpreted remotely on day 1, rushed to the airport at close of business, caught a flight and worked from the Brussels booth the next morning. Half of the participants made it to the destination on day 2, the other half logged in online and stayed where they were.
While travel may have been a small nightmare during that week, the technical challenges were of a different magnitude altogether. My gratitude and respect for our solution providers took on a new dimension. Our long-term take-aways have been: a creative, solution-focused, state-of-the art technical provider is worth their weight in gold. A committed interpreter team of versatile travellers, unfazed by any eventualities and ready to surmount any obstacles is as crucial as a group of excellent linguists. And: All meetings need to be planned with an in-built virtual component, to be activated in case of a volcanic ash cloud, an air controller strike, icy weather conditions and – strike.
What is a ‘Translator’?
What is a ‘Translator’?
Author: Ulrike Fuehrer | Director at Context
“A big round of applause to our translators without whom this meeting would not have been possible”. The world thinks very highly of conference interpreters. How can they possibly listen and speak at the same time, and render in a different language what they just heard, with a delay of only 3 seconds, or even finish the sentence before the key note speaker who is racing through their presentation at breakneck speed.
While I have interpreted hundreds of meetings of this kind and assisted heads of state and government on their various missions abroad, my own admiration and deep respect goes to a different group of ‘translators’: those who facilitate communication with refugees and victims of war in reception centres, who assist the family of a terminally ill patient in a hospice, who communicate bad news to the parents of a new born baby, those who assist busy nurses, stressed front-line staff, prosthetic surgeons, A&E staff trying to manage long lines of patients on trolleys. All in the one day, every day.
I’m speaking of our freelance community interpreters.
Every community interpreter I have met is motivated by humanitarian aspects, by the desire to help, to facilitate communication, to make a meaningful contribution to having patients, clients, refugees, children, vulnerable adults provided with adequate support.
Community interpreters are a typically underpaid, underrated, untrained cohort of linguists without whom, however, equal access to public services would not exist. Their fate is largely determined by public procurement; where working conditions are set by tender competitions, and where service quality is compromised by rates per hour (or even per minute), dictated by a tendering authority.
If we want to create a robust and sustainable job profile for community interpreters who choose this as a career path and develop to become the best professionals they can be, we need to talk about budgets, about ownership and about political will. Training and professionalisation for community interpreters come at a cost. There are some – albeit rudimentary – training courses currently available, and comprehensive training expertise in community interpreting does exist in Ireland.
Where simultaneous conference interpreters (who process the spoken word in real time) and translators (of written text) have university degrees and the prospect of or actual experience of an adequate income, community interpreters struggle to make a living from their service. Despite the key role community interpreters play in making health care, education, local government services etc. accessible for everyone.
15 years ago, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) was about to set up a state register of trained and accredited community interpreters, when the banking crisis defeated this project. Waiting for the tide to turn again does not address the current, urgent need for qualified community interpreters of a broad range of languages. At Context, we do what we can to recruit, onboard, support, train and professionalise hundreds of community interpreters to take on the daily challenges. We try to motivate our freelancers and fight for their recognition. Every respectful service user is appreciated. Every positive comment helps.
What is your experience, as an interpreter, service user or observer?