Hidden Cultural Differences
or….what I also learned on my trip to India
I travelled to India this month for the first time, and learnt some important cultural lessons and got a timely reminder of the fact that I still have much to learn to be a better leader of a diverse team.
When I arrived at the airport I was due to be met by a driver (my observational driving skills would not keep me alive in what a local colleague insightfully called the 'opportunistic driving culture' of India). I came through arrivals and he wasn't there, after a wait I called the car company, they called the driver and he told them he was in the parking, 30 mins later with no sign of him, it was apparent that he had not been in the parking.... given the amount of time until he arrived he likely had not even been at the airport when he said that. My initial conditioned cultural reaction and feeling was to be annoyed that 'he lied' to me and frustrated that I had to wait outside the entrance to the terminal for close to an hour after the booked pick-up time.
However during my week in India I, who pride myself on not bring quick to judge and being diversity aware, had a big learning experience. I saw something similar happen a number of times, and I myself was also late for meetings with clients and partners due to traffic, despite leaving considerable buffer in the agenda; yet when this happened I was received with welcome, respect and no apparent frustration.
In the latter part of the week I had a round table with the people managers that are part of IBM's world wide integration & messaging team (for which I am one of the executives), based in our India development lab. During this discussion I asked the team, "what could we as a leadership team do better for you and your team based in India?" I was met with mostly polite silence, I have to admit this surprised me, if I had asked their UK or US based peers then the 'table' would have been alive with suggestions, comments and points of view....... 5 minutes later my ah-ha moment had occurred and I was left considering exactly how culturally aware and accessible I really was as a leader.
So what happened in those 5 minutes? Well I was lucky on this trip to be travelling with a peer of mine who had travelled from the US (I being Director of Development, owning the resources and detailed execution plan, she being Director of Product Management and owning the strategy and product direction/high level content...... the reality, as is so often the case, actually being everything gets done by a combination of the brainpower, experience and hard work of both our teams working in tandem); she had travelled from her home in the US, however had been brought up in India, her parents still living there, having emigrated to the US some 15 years ago. My luck was that this meant she could clearly see the unconscious cultural differences in the room and call us on it. She did this by telling the stories.... initially reminding those of us who had read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers of the Korean co-pilots who many years ago had literally allowed planes to crash for fear of questioning and providing feedback to their lead pilot; then of her personal experience in the differences of the Indian and US/UK culture, and the guidance and understanding she had received from mentors that had allowed her to become already very successful in a US based culture. She warned the Indian leaders in the room that while their culture may mean they are reluctant to voice a view or opinion that I as (hierarchically) their senior would in principle not want to hear, saying nothing would very likely mean that nothing would change for the better for their team and I would leave thinking all was well (they would not literally be 'crashing the plane', but..... ) and believe me years have taught me where ever there is a team and a leadership structure above it there are always lessons that said leadership can learn on how to do things better, how to ensure the team becomes happier and more productive, if we always knew and did everything right, we wouldn't need the team ;o) .
While seeming to be talking to the locals In the room, as with all good stories and insight these also taught me personally two things: Firstly that just asking initially and (what from where you sit may feel openly) what can we do better is not enough to actually gain meaningful feedback and insight in some cultures, you must take time to understand the natural response to any request and decide how you can overcome any cultural misinterpretation of that. Secondly that the driver on the first day I arrived was not necessarily 'lying' about where he was to avoid trouble for himself, or to deceive me, but possibly he was telling me what he felt I wanted to hear, what would make me feel more comfortable and in control of the situation. Would I have rather had the actual facts of the situation straight out? Yes, but that was putting my cultural lens on things, assuming that my preference would be everyone's preference, and possibly more importantly experience, of any given situations. I was quick to judge motives without consideration of the diversity of culture and experience, and also quick to assume, when I had not been explicit in my requirements 'I would like to understand honestly where he is, as if he is 30 minutes away I will return to the terminal and grab a sandwich & a drink'.
I have worked with this team for a number of years, and I believed had a good open understanding with the managers there, in many ways I still think I do, but guess what, my understanding of what constitutes an acceptable open discussion between us ( i.e. what they feel able to say to me) and theirs may not be the same! I could have done more to ensure that I was not I fact making a set of assumption based on my cultural ignorance and norms.
International travel most certainly broadens the mind, in many positive ways, as I always promised to myself at such times, I need to do more of it.
Would love to hear your experiences and insight.
