Today I woke up as late as yesterday and arrived at my workplace precisely at 8:35 AM. My senior colleague and I were scheduled for a meeting with a partner from a New Zealand-based company. Initially, we scrambled to find a quiet room where we could present professionally without distractions. Fortunately, the meeting room on the 6th floor was available, despite being blocked out on Google Calendar for the entire day.
We entered the virtual meeting at 9:58 AM, yet no one had joined. However, at precisely 10 AM, the entire partner team (approximately 6 people) logged in simultaneously. Meanwhile, others from our side trickled in roughly two minutes later.
The meeting commenced with our presentation on the communication strategy for the upcoming signing ceremony scheduled for late August. However, I could sense their lukewarm reception to our communication plan. What truly captured their attention was data accessibility for their platform and the prospect of establishing relationships with Vietnamese enterprises, particularly government-owned banks. As I had suspected yesterday, the Financial Department showed little interest in the meeting and consequently came unprepared. This was a clear sign of disrespect toward the partnership.
We remained composed, as we possessed all the information they sought and planned to follow up with them later. Nevertheless, I couldn’t shake my unease about their lackadaisical approach to partnership management.
This afternoon finds me with nothing pressing to do, though foolishly, I forgot my headphones at home. On another note, my new colleague approached me asking what he should do right now. Despite being here for three days, he remains utterly idle.
