How to Work Happily with your Chinese Colleagues
Many foreigners at times struggle to work effectively and happily with their Chinese colleagues or clients. James McTavish here shares with you how Chinese people think and how to work with your Chinese co-workers.
"I’m British but have a Chinese wife and have been working for about six years in and around China including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao. This article will discuss six ways you can work more efficiently and effectively with your Chinese coworkers and clients based on my experience."
1.Understand Chinese people’s core values.
People behave in a certain way based on their beliefs and what they think is right and wrong. Chinese people are no different. In a recent training course in Shanghai the trainees suggested these five points are Chinese peoples’ main core values:
• Family first
• Collectivism
• Respect the hierarchy
• Guanxi – relationships
• Harmony / balance
As a result of these cultural norms and core values what is “normal“ for say an American may be weird for a Chinese person and viceversa.
Let me give you a very simple example. During the hot summer Chinese people like to drink hot water but westerners always prefer a cold drink. If you want to work more efficiently with your Chinese colleagues you need to understand what’s important to them and what drives them.
2.When Chinese people say “yes“ in English it doesn’t mean “yes“ like foreigners mean it!
When Chinese people say the word “yes“ in English it is like the Chinese word “shi” which basically means I’m listening to what you are saying, but don’t entirely understand what you are saying. So when explaining something to your Chinese colleague or client be very careful when you hear the words “yes, yes“. If you want to be sure they understand then ask them to summarize what you just said to them.
3.Chinese people don’t like saying no.
Instead they use other methods such as saying “maybe” or changing the subject entirely. My former Chinese colleague in Hong Kong told me that Chinese people don’t like to give a 100% yes or no answer to anything in case it’s wrong and they may feel embarrassed or lose face. Therefore through practice and experience you should get a feel for when your Chinese colleague means no without actually saying it.
4.Never ever criticize or lose your temper with your Chinese colleague or staff in public.
If you’ve been in China for five minutes you will know that losing face is one of the worst ways to insult someone in this country. Chinese people will do everything to avoid this. If you criticize your Chinese colleague in front of other co-workers you may embarrass them so much that they will leave your company. To build strong relationships in China always keep your cool and give as much face as you can to your co-workers and clients through praise and compliments.
5.To Chinese people the result is everything.
The process is far less important. My wife previously worked as an interpreter for a large Irish recruitment firm in Qingdao. Every day she had to interpret during meetings between the Irish General Manger and the Chinese Management team. When the sales figures were a bit low the Irish GM wanted to know what the Sales Director was doing to improve the situation but he didn’t want to explain every step like a Western Sales Director would. The Sales Director became frustrated and said words to the effect of “We are doing our best.”
Remember one of Deng Xiao Ping’s famous sayings “ It doesn’t matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat as long as it catches mice. ” Basically meaning the process doesn’t matter as long you get the result. Western supervisors should bear this in mind when managing their Chinese employees.
6.Promote an open culture to ensure your Chinese colleagues speak up in meetings.
In the west we often say, “The early bird catches the worm“ but some Chinese joke, “The early bird catches the worm, but the early worm can be eaten by the bird! ” Therefore due to the fear of losing face and also keeping the “he xie” (harmony) in a group and to respect the hierarchy – basically whatever the big boss thinks, which means some Chinese people will not speak up to voice their opinions in meetings.
If you are a Manager in a foreign company and your Chinese staff are not used to working in a Western way, it’s important to coach them and emphasize the benefits of speaking up and sharing their ideas. When they share ideas – good or bad – encourage and reward them. This will facilitate clear and open communication in your company and help new ideas and innovations to flourish.
By James McTavish,from internet
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