Dave Dickey "Ten Tips for Working Effectively with Asia"

10 Tips for Working Effectively with Asia

21 February 2009

Dave Dickey – Aperian Global

© 2008 Aperian Global 2

Working with Asia: The Biggest Danger!

The biggest danger, when you are not immersed in your Asian counterparts working “context,” is…

Everything seems to be going fine. Then there is an increasing realization that things are not going as you expected.

And then it is too late: You fall behind schedule, miss deadlines, people get upset, trust

is lost, and ultimately the customer is unhappy.

Too little, too late.


Too Little, Too Late

Why do we miss it?

Everything seems to be going fine…

“Yes.”

“I understand.” Willingnessto please

The local boss

CordialityThe “Fuzzy Coconut”

Teamwork

Expertise“I will try.”

The indirect“No.”

Assumptions

Verbosity

Silence



Why “Yes,” etc.?

Everything seems to be going fine…



• Too little definition and creation of A SHARED CONTEXT (a shared understanding of the entire business venture, from top to bottom, big picture to minute detail)

• Too little high-quality COMMUNICATION

• Too little TRUST

• Too much giving the other person “free rein” and then jumping in and “trying to fix it” when it goes wrong (“delegate and disappear,” and then come back to “blow up” and “take over”)

Everything seems to be going fine. Then there is an increasing realization that things are not going as you expected…



• Definition and creation of A SHARED CONTEXT (a shared understanding of the entire business venture, from top to bottom, from big picture to minute detail)

1. Really getting to know each other

2. Explaining in detail, with examples, templates and processes

3. Listening, beyond what you expect to hear

• High-quality COMMUNICATION

4. Accurate assessment of English proficiency and communication issues, with necessary adjustments

5. Regular, well-prepared, facilitated meetings; + before, during, after

6. A “comfort zone” for input, feedback, and especially “bad news”

• TRUST

7. Discovering their rules for establishing and maintaining trust

8. Following age-old rules (which are often short cut because of tight schedules)

9. Getting your hierarchy to work with their hierarchy

10. Demonstrating trust; not assuming trust


Case Study

Working with India: Resolving Issues

LindsayGabor

AvinashJoshi

ChitraDesai

N. Ravi


10 Tips: Application/Practice (1)

Definition and creation of A SHARED CONTEXT (a shared understanding of the entire business venture, from top to bottom, from big picture to minute detail)

1. Really getting to know each other

2. Explaining in detail, with examples, templates and processes

3. Listening, beyond what you expect to hear

In Pairs…

• Person A: You have just said to the Project Leader (Person B) that your work on the project is “going fine,” even though it isn’t, because you are uncomfortable showing the PL that you are having problems. (Think of a problem that you are having, such as “never learned how to X,” or “spouse very ill.” 2 minutes)

• Person B (Project Leader): You sense that there is something behind Person A’s “It’s going fine,” remark. Continue to engage Person A and try to draw out the problems he/se is having with the project. (5 minutes)

• Large Group Discussion (5 minutes): What worked well? What didn’t?



High-quality COMMUNICATION

4. Accurate assessment of English proficiency and communication issues, with necessary adjustments

5. Regular, well-prepared, facilitated meetings; + before, during, after

6. A “comfort zone” for input, feedback, and especially “bad news”

Large Group Discussion (5 minutes)…

What are ways that meeting leaders can make the participants more comfortable bringing up their ideas, feedback, problems and bad news?

Examples:

• Have 1:1s to discuss more difficult topics, rather than large, “public” meetings

• Meeting leader starts by sharing some of the problems he/she is struggling with



TRUST

7. Discovering their rules for establishing and maintaining trust

8. Following age-old rules (which are often short cut because of tight schedules)

9. Getting your hierarchy to work with their hierarchy

10. Demonstrating trust; not assuming trust

Small Group Discussion (groups of 3, 4 or 5)…

What are ways that we can demonstrate trust to colleagues from other cultures, and to colleagues who are not co-located?

Examples:

• Team leader acknowledges accomplishments of team members in meetings

• Delegate certain aspects of projects to individuals; offer support and check in but without “micromanaging” their activities

Discuss for 5 minutes. Share 1 of your techniques with the large group (5 minutes)


Case Study: Advice in Action

Working with China: Getting Commitment

AdrianMueller

ChristianEberli

GeneralManager Liu

YangMing Linda

Wong


10 Tips – Advice in Action

SHARED CONTEXT

1. Getting to know each other

2. Explaining in detail

3. Listening

COMMUNICATION

4. English proficiency

5. Meetings ; + B-D-A

6. A “comfort zone”

TRUST

7. Their rules

8. Age-old rules

9. Hierarchy

10. Demonstrating trust


Working with Asia: The Biggest Danger, The Biggest Opportunity

From the beginning of the relationship—even before the beginning of the relationship—we need to invest more time in creating a SHARED

CONTEXT, facilitating high-quality COMMUNICATION, and building and maintaining TRUST, which will open the lines of communication and the

opportunities for collaboration.

Too little, too late?

Invest the necessary

time.

Slow down to speed up. This investment of time will not put us behind schedule or increase our workload, but will actually make business go more smoothly and make

our collaborative relationships more enjoyable.


Thank you!


Career

Dave Dickey "Ten Tips for Working Effectively with Asia"