Greenbank Bulletin

This month we are starting a series of articles that focus on the challenges and opportunities of working and living in other countries. The inevitable globalisation of our lives and businesses has huge socio-economic ramifications - it also means that many of us will increasingly need to work or relocate to other countries and find ways to be equally effective in those different cultures. At Greenbank we also work internationally delivering programmes around the world from our home base in the UK to China, South Africa, Buenos Aires, the Middle East, the USA and across mainland Europe and know that we need to be sensitive to the local culture and be flexible in our delivery of training so that it really meets the needs of our clients wherever they operate. We asked some of our clients with firsthand experience of international working to share their experiences, tips and hints with us. This month we bring you two experiences- a report from the economic powerhouse of Beijing and another from one of our clients who has built a successful  international HR career moving around the globe as assignments and opportunities have evolved.

Simon Teale

We first met Simon on one of our Sales Skills Workshops when he was a senior management consultant with Atos. He then went on to establish their consultancy practice in Beijing where he lived and worked for several years.

Now back in the UK Simon is one of the founding partners of Inkberry Associates www.inkberryassociates.co.uka consultancy delivering a range of services from developing a vision and strategy to determining those capabilities required to really deliver

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We asked Simon about his experience of working in China…..

What was your biggest surprise when first arriving in your new assignment in China?

Lunch!  We were working on an urgent Sino/Anglo proposal that was going to require long hours working to meet the deadline. But at 12 noon, our Chinese colleagues got up as one to eat a proper sit down lunch. They were back within an hour. Much more civilised and tastier than our sandwiches.  Rested and nourished, they then carried on working with us late into the night.

What was similar to your home context?

Despite the politics and what I had read, people have very similar outlook as we have in UK. Attitudes about work-life balance are similar, opinions about world events are the same, the sense of humour is very similar, and they have the same ambitions for career and family. Also, just like UK, there is a wide range of cultures, but more so: such as young vs old, private sector vs government sector vs multinational, modern educated vs traditionally educated (a legacy of cultural revolution), Beijing vs Shanghai vs Hong Kong. And in large Chinese cities they all mix up!

What were the biggest differences?

The geography and changes over the last 50 years resulted in deep divisions.  China is much larger than Europe and has undergone enormous social, cultural, political and industrial changes in a span of only 60 years - changes that took us 250 years to navigate in the West.  Today's Institutions and Individuals are products of many different circumstances.

There is often a reticence for people to make decisions and act on initiative beyond their formal role. The respect given to senior managers and leaders in roles is very important.Some might say this is traditional Confucianism.Informally subordinates will show a similar level of disparagement about individual managers that you would expect in the UK, but in practise, managers will avoid crossing the boundaries into their managers authority.

If you were to give 3 pieces of advice to someone setting off on an assignment in China what would say to them?

1. Set-piece meetings, with formal introductions and agendas are very common, but in my experience do not result in major, clear decisions. Decisions and agreement are the result of lots of small personal meetings, often at meals.
2. Always remember the concept of "mianzi" or face. Although younger, well-educated Chinese are able to do business and interact in a Western way, most of their senior colleagues will struggle with the assertive Westerner who might inadvertently challenge a senior manager's status by contradicting or not supporting their views. The secret for a new Westerner is to be prepared to focus on asking questions, not asserting solutions, to make a point of agreeing or even praising and building on your counterparts' thoughts, to employ an experienced translator who can advise you and help frame your conversation accordingly.  Once you have won the confidence and respect of your Chinese client, you can start to focus more on your own objectives and messages.
3. Everything will take much longer. So set your UK sales director' expectations at the beginning so you can enjoy the slow, careful development of sincere and generous business relationships; accompanied by world class cuisine!

Mariano Carpintero Aras

We have worked with Mariano for many years both when he was based in the UK and later in the US and we have often worked together to deliver leadership training programmes around the world.

Mariano was born in Spain, educated in Argentina has lived in Brazil, Spain, UK and now is based in the US with his beautiful Italian wife and young son born in Wisconsin.

Mariano has worked in Human Resources and Learning & Development with SC Johnson and is currently their Lean Lead for North America.  You can contact Mariano via his linked-in page http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mariano-carpintero-aras/5/6a8/660or his blogwww.livingwhileworking.com

Mariano has generously shared with us some of his own experience of travelling and working internationally....

Since an early time in my life, I have had the privilege to live in many different countries. I was an "inmigrante" in Brazil, "le inmigrant" in France, "un inmigrante" in Spain and "the funny Argie" in England- as long, of course as our national teams didn't play against each other!

I have always been fascinated with cultural differences so when I was offered the chance to get a job with the prospect of 50% of my time travelling internationally, I accepted immediately. It is perhaps no surprise that I also found a partner who was just as eager to explore and live in other parts of the world. Ok, she also likes shopping in flea markets and has developed bargaining skills that would be the envy of any procurement manager… but that's a different story.

In any case, when possible, I would take my wife and jump on a plane to an exciting new adventure. As I was visiting new countries and learning about their cultures, I tried focusing my attention to see if I could spotall the differences and the ways in which my own values, beliefs and views of the world differed from those of the country I was visiting. I would develop complex and elegant theories to justify the differences between theirs and my own beliefs.

I don't know why but at one point Ifinally stopped searching for the differences and startedfocusing instead on the similarities. I quickly realized that for every single difference I could find; there were hundredsof similarities.

From that day on, I put my energy into exploring and learningabout the similarities. I would find ways to gain new friends outside of my expat circle, learn the local language and understand the world using a new set of lenses. It's interesting how many things you can learn when you don't need to justify them from your own set of beliefs. The world is flat. Enjoy it!

Greenbank and cross-culture working

At Greenbank we are often asked to help international teams gain a better understanding of some of the cultural differences that influence the way they work and communicate with one another. We have run workshops and conference sessions on the topic of cross-cultural working that give teams a better understanding of what it feels like to work in a different culture and from that experience develop practical strategies that will allow them to work more effectively together-taking the best from both cultures.

If you would like to know more about how we can support you in this area please contact Judith Hirst on +44 (0)1252 82072 or email Judith