Culture
HR Professional
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By Erin Meyer

 

Strategies for working effectively around the world

Today, whether we work with colleagues in Dusseldorf or Dubai, New York or New Delhi, we are all part of a global network (real or virtual, physical or electronic) where success requires navigating through wildly different cultural realities. Unless we know how to decode other cultures and avoid easy-to-fall-into cultural traps, we are easy prey to misunderstanding, needless conflict and deals that fall apart.

 

Canadians working with colleagues from other countries can employ simple strategies that help navigate a cultural divide more smoothly.

 

Build trust from the heart
In task-based cultures such as Canada, the U.S., Australia or Germany, trust is cognitive: it is built through work. If you do good work and prove to be reliable and effective, you are more likely to be viewed as trustworthy. In a relationship-based society such as China, Turkey or Argentina, trust results from spending time getting to know each other at a personal level. Although slightly more relationship-oriented than the U.S., Canada is still one of the most task-based parts of the world, and much more task-based than many emerging markets.

 

As one Canadian manager said, “The first time we bid for business in Turkey, we worked hard to get the presentation just right and the brochures perfect. But we didn’t invest the necessary time to develop a personal bond with the people we would be working with. We lost the business, and learned that we needed to spend just as much time sharing meals and building a friendship with our counterparts as we did showing our product was top of the line.”

 

Soften the blow
All cultures believe criticism should be given constructively, but the definition of “constructive” varies greatly. In Israel or the Netherlands, a colleague may say, “Your work was unacceptable,” while in Ghana or Saudi Arabia, they are more likely to say, “This is good. You might possibly think about doing this part a little differently.” Canadians can be at risk of being too direct when giving negative feedback to certain cultures. One Canadian manager who had recently moved to Thailand lost several employees in his first month on the job by giving feedback in a way they perceived as blunt and disrespectful.

 

Eye off the clock
Many Canadians approach tasks in a sequential fashion. They avoid interruptions, focus on deadlines and stick firmly to the schedule set in advance. Employees watch the clock closely and being organized and structured is held at a premium.

 

In most Asian cultures (with the exception of Japan and Singapore), as well as across the Middle East and Latin America, flexibility and reactivity are more important than meeting a deadline and following a timeline. As one Brazilian manager said, “We are more flexible in Brazil. Because we grew up in a society where currency wasn’t always stable and governments could change regulations on a whim, we learned to value flexibility over linear planning. But Canadians, like Americans and Europeans, are more rigid. They expect us to work by carefully closing one box before opening the next.” When working with these flexible-time cultures, try ignoring the clock and focus instead on meeting your clients’ needs at that particular moment.

 

Sit down and listen
In the Canadian school system, there is often a participation bonus: the participants who speak up the most receive credit for that, and it boosts their grade. In the workplace, it’s not just appropriate but desirable and expected that employees make their voices heard. In many Asian cultures, on the other hand, the importance of waiting carefully for your counterparts to finish their sentences before you speak demonstrates valued listening and communication skills.

 

The first global team one Canadian managed comprised six Canadians and two Malaysians. He noticed quickly that during these meetings, the Malaysians hardly spoke while the Canadians were pushing to have their voices heard. Later, he pulled one of the Malaysian members aside and asked how she felt things were going. She responded that she found it difficult to participate because the Canadians were constantly interrupting and talking on top of one another.

 

When leading a global team, don’t mistake a lack of participation for a lack of something to say. Build an opportunity for each person to contribute into the agenda. At the end of the meeting, go around and ask each person for a last reflection. You might find at that those who were quiet throughout the meeting have something important to offer.

 

Follow the leader
The level of respect and deference shown to a boss varies dramatically from one part of the world to another.

 

Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Australia and Israel are some of the most egalitarian parts of the world. There, the boss is one of the team and treated as facilitator among equals. Canadian culture tends to be more hierarchical than these environments, but much less so than BRIC cultures and other emerging markets. In Brazil, Russia, India and China, there is more respect and deference shown to the authority figure. People avoid disagreeing openly with their boss in public, or suggesting that they know more than their boss knows.

 

In today’s global business environment, it is not enough to know how to lead in an egalitarian culture or in a hierarchical culture. Managers need to develop the flexibility to manage up and down the cultural scale. Often, this means going back to square one. It means watching what makes local leaders successful. It means explaining your own style frequently. But, ultimately, it means learning to lead in different ways in order to motivate and mobilize groups who follow in different ways.

 

Erin Meyer is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business.

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