Sharing my cultural knowledge with my team in a guild session
Being a non-native, working in a foreign culture using a second language presents its challenges. However, there is a certain beauty in this situation. We have the opportunity to observe and appreciate the interesting differences in culture and practices, which we can actively share with our team.
My background
Allow me to provide some background about myself. I grew up in Hong Kong and spent over 20 years there. This experience has had a significant influence on shaping who I am today. It is an integral part of my identity, with the language and culture deeply ingrained within me.
Hosting a workshop for my team
As part of my personal development plan, I wanted to enhance my facilitation and influencing skills, as well as my confidence. I saw hosting a workshop during our internal guild session as a great step towards achieving this goal.
While brainstorming ideas for what I could share with my team, an idea struck me:
Why not leverage my background and introduce them to the unfamiliar Asian design culture? Thus, I came up with the workshop title, “UX Design and User Expectations in Asian Countries (Chinese Chapter).”
The workshop day
Fast-forward to the workshop day, where approximately 20 designers joined my workshop. I was thrilled that my first workshop was for my fellow design team members. Here is the structure I followed:
Ice-breaking
I began with a fun quiz centered around Chinese characters and idioms. I presented a few Chinese pictograms and translated some Chinese idioms, asking participants to guess their meanings.
From my perspective, it was intriguing to see how people interpreted characters and idioms that I had learned and grown accustomed to since my childhood. From the participants’ perspective, it served as an engaging way to get a glimpse of the Chinese language and prepare them for a deeper dive into the upcoming content.
Knowledge sharing
In this part, I shared information about internet usage in China, cultural norms influencing user perceptions, the challenges of designing in the Chinese language, common design styles observed in popular apps, and popular sales channels in China. Some key points I covered were:
- Mobile first internet usage in China
- The complexity and beauty of designing in Chinese language
- High information density due to user expectations and the nature of the language
- The popularity of super apps and how they work
- The influence of community on people’s shopping motivations
Throughout this section, I illustrated my points with personal experiences. For instance, I shared how my relatives in China would send virtual red pocket money through our family WeChat group during Chinese New Year as an example of what a super app can do. Additionally, I discussed my involvement in a community bulk-buying WhatsApp group and how it influenced my purchasing decisions. These real-life examples proved valuable in conveying my ideas.
The participants generally found the content interesting and actively asked questions along the way. For example, when discussing the look of super apps, one team member expressed concerns about data protection and privacy, leading to a brief conversation on data privacy.
Another participant shared an anecdote about encountering a Chinese lady using her phone for live video in Bicester Village (an outlet village in the UK), which made more sense to her after I explained how live commerce worked in China.
Brainstorm activity
The final part of the workshop involved a group activity where participants were asked to ideate and create mock-ups for a DIY super app. After showcasing a few examples of super apps, the participants were excited to engage in this ideation exercise and design their own app. I witnessed an abundance of energy and enthusiasm within the groups. Also, all teams have actively adopted the ideas they’ve learned in the previous section in their prototype. Here are some snapshots:
Feedback and lessons learned
After the workshop, my team members generously provided me with positive feedback. One colleague mentioned that the workshop struck a perfect balance between activities and learning. Others found the fun quiz on Chinese characters to be fascinating. I was truly inspired by these positive responses, especially when team members showed genuine interest in the cultural content.
Great session yesterday! It was the perfect mix of learning and team interaction. Well done - Mark, Principal Product Designer
Growing up learning Chinese as my first language and being a Hongkonger, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to introduce my familiar culture to my colleagues in the UK. I’d like to credit our guild for being an open platform that encourages team members to share and learn from one another.
As we come to the end, I want to encourage all non-natives to recognise the value of your unique cultural backgrounds and proactively share your knowledge whenever the opportunity arises. The fact is, our culture is fascinating and interesting in a lot of natives’ eyes.
Speaking the thoughts of people from different culture background will provide a fresh perspective, challenge assumption and broaden the team’s horizon. It also fosters the spirit of inclusivity, openness, curiosity, and understanding within the team.
I also encourage companies or teams to provide such platforms where team members can openly share their passions which therefore benefits the whole team.
Want to find out more about our team?
- Follow our Kingfisher Medium account where you will see many articles written by the team
- Connect with me and the team on LinkedIn
- And if you want to work with us, check out our careers page too
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