Leadership Styles, West vs. East - What's efficient is not always effective!
China. Tianjin. First training session I had run in Asia. A cross cultural training moment that opened my eyes to the difference between Western and Eastern management styles, and to the difference between two very similar words - efficiency, and effectiveness.
Let me set the scene….
I was as jetlagged as you can be, having spent the last 18 hours flying from London Ontario to Toronto, to Beijing, then in a minivan to Tianjin, where I would hold a management training session with a mixed team of technical and white-collar leaders over the next three days. Most were department leaders, Mandarin speaking ethnic Chinese from the Tianjin area. All participants were experienced, bilingual, and sharp.
The general manager was responsible for the on-time delivery of large industrial implements used in automotive manufacturing, and was very Western in his background and management style. He was participating in the training session while also keeping his eye on the production floor. His job, in his eyes, was to lead the plant, but through his local leadership team, relying on them to participate and contribute to decision making.
There are so many different aspects of cross cultural communication to discuss in just this one following anecdote, but I’m going to focus on one concept that really opened my eyes to how different communication styles are between West and East – the difference between efficiency and effectiveness.
It’s all about Solving the Culture Puzzle…
The general manager, (I’m going to call him Arnold), was Austrian/Canadian. He was a very results-oriented individual, very personable (according to Westerners), very approachable (again, according to Westerners) and an extremely direct, or “low context” communicator. This is good right? Doesn’t that make an office or a plant run smoothly? Isn’t that what everyone wants? Well, it depends on where you’re from…
Your communication style makes me uncomfortable…
Half way through the first day of my training session, Arnold, the general manager, burst into our training room, and launched an open-ended question at his department managers. The contrast between Western and Eastern management styles was very clear.
Arnold leveled his gaze at his management team and barked, “What are we going to do about line #4? We’re way behind production schedule and we’ve got defects! We have to ship by Friday! Brainstorm people! What should we do?”
Now anyone who has even a passing knowledge of manager/subordinate interaction in Chinese Asia knows that this style of open, direct questioning, with lots of eye contact and finger pointing would make most Chinese extremely uncomfortable. Arnold was attempting to be an “efficient” communicator in the Western idiom. Direct questions, open conversation, lots of back and forth between different levels of management. The Chinese in the room, however, were so uncomfortable I noticed they immediately clammed up, looked down at the floor, shifted in their seats, and said nothing.
Arnold became very upset, frustrated at his perception of his senior management team’s “lack of participation”.
“Come on people! This is what I pay you for! I need some ideas here!” he shouted again, with no answers back from his group. After a few more moments of silence, in frustration, he spun on his heel and left the training room.
Solving the Culture Puzzle isn’t always “common sense”.
Arnold wanted an answer from his skilled management team. His management team didn’t want Arnold, their leader, to lose face in a public venue, and therefore remained quiet. Suggesting that Arnold do something that wasn’t originally his idea, in many parts of Asia, would cause the superior to look momentarily “out of control” or to be losing status – losing face. As well, Arnold’s tone of voice, apparently “aggressive” approach and loud volume made them even more uncomfortable. Isn’t that unprofessional? In most of Asia, yes. But not North America. The answer now about the cultural differences that were at play is obvious. But in the heat of the moment, it wasn’t. Not to anyone, in spite of their years of experience working with different cultures.
Conclusion?
The general manager’s style was efficient, in his eyes, but it was not cross culturally effective. And that’s the distinction that is so important to understand. He communicated quickly, demanded a response, and got nothing. Measured on a time scale, the interaction (what little of it there was) happened very quickly. It was efficient, sure. After all, his message was delivered quickly to his team. But results, what you really need to save time and money….well. There were no results. Just frustration.
So what should Arnold have done? He could have announced there was a technical problem on Line #4, and that he expected a suggestion or idea from each manager before leaving that day. In his office, via email, over the phone, face to face, however his team felt comfortable, but they needed to answer him before the end of the day. He also could have made it clear that his team could also go through an intermediary, if they felt more comfortable, like his assistant general manager.
As well, Arnold would have to be prepared and ready to understand that the recommendations he would receive would be “suggestions” and “ideas” and they would be couched in very diplomatic language so as not to suggest that Arnold were not capable or fully in control. Arnold may have had to “read between the lines” somewhat to truly understand the message within. His team would not want to put Arnold in a situation that would cause him to lose face. Difficult maybe for a Westerner to understand, but with a little coaching, a little understanding, it’s possible to move past an “us” vs. “them” approach and find simple ways to get things done across cultures, saving time and money. It just takes some more effort, a little training, a little awareness.
It’s that simple..
Solving the Culture Puzzle means understanding cultural differences enough so that you can get done what needs to get done in spite of the different communication styles on your intercultural team, saving time and money and frustration – that’s it.
Ted Bezner
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