Multinational Team: Comprehend, Accept and Work
Do the national differences affect efficiency?
What is the value and complexity of multinational teams? The world is globalizing and it is very important to know how to live and work side by side with representatives of different cultures and bearers of different mentality. Victoria Dzyba, Chief HR Officer at TECHIIA, an international technology holding, talks about the experience of her team.
How and why multinational teams are formed in Ukraine?
It’s not so much about the pros and cons but more about business necessity.
For example, a company from Ukraine makes an IT product for the global market and scales to new regions. The company can find and hire employees here in Ukraine, with knowledge of the language and technical background according to the position, or it can search locally in a new region. We are mainly talking about roles such as sales, support, and business development, professions directly related to communication. It is much more effective for business if these people already know the local market, understand the mentality and culture. And the company will help them understand the product.
And it is totally different if we try to introduce a Ukrainian into new territory. No matter how well he knows the product, it is much more difficult for him to understand the local subtleties of communication. He is in a different news stream, he has a different way of life. A Ukrainian employee can prepare, learn the culture and language, but it will take a lot of time to adapt, in addition to the fact that a number of mistakes cannot be avoided in the process. But even if the company is willing to wait and pay for this time, a cultural barrier still remains. In many Asian and Arab countries, foreigners are treated in a special way, not to mention gender issues. It’s one thing if you’re a tourist, another is if you are trying to build a systemic business there. “Aliens” are accepted extremely reluctantly and wary.
You may have a very cool product but in terms of communication and sales, it is people that matter the most. And 80% of success can be achieved if it is “your guy”.
National features of work
We are very considerate about any statements, up to facial expressions and gestures. Especially in the first days, when colleagues from new cultural directions join our team. This primarily concerns HR and executives. We are required to be careful, respectful, moderate. We need to devote some time to studying the culture of the person who came to the team.
HR also plays the role of a buffer, it observes and prevents the risks of conflicts in time. And they can flare up on any acute non-working topic, religion, politics, racial or gender discrimination. What is unacceptable for some people, for others can be normal.
For example, here is one case that we had. One of our companies, j: Mind Systems, is currently working on a project in the Chinese market. At the very start, they could not understand in any way why meetings with the customer were ineffective by our standards. We are accustomed to the fact that at meetings we come to some kind of decision, write an implementation plan and we are ready to go.
Chinese partners have the opposite situation. They just talk at meetings, gather information. And all decisions and approvals occur later and are coordinated strictly according to the hierarchy. And there were cultural differences in that background.
The problem was solved only when we studied these national features. We began to look for a point of contact, we stopped pressing with our mentality. First of all, we began to hear each other’s pains and tried to eliminate them. And communication has improved. By the way, earlier this project was carried out by another company for two years, and they were never able to complete it. I would not be surprised if, among other things, due to cultural misunderstandings.
There are also enough nuances in the everyday work of the team. For example, at Enestech we have employees whose culture implies significant self-control. And even if they have some major problem, they smile, speak in a calm tone. While they may panic deep inside. You may ignore this just out of habit. After all, we, Ukrainians, speak more directly about problems. There is also the opposite story when Spanish-speaking colleagues very emotionally talk about some completely routine tasks. This can also be confusing and distracting to the less important. How to deal with these features? We, HR-specialists, learn to “look into the eyes” more attentively, ask screening questions. For those who hide emotions, we try to talk a little more, to react more sensitively. On the contrary, we try to speak more easily to those who express their thoughts in a rough way. But we build the most trusting relationships with everyone.
To build a bridge between cultures
It all starts with hiring and thoughtful onboarding (an introduction to the course of work in the company). We use our internal resources and values as efficiently as possible, we talk about the culture, the specifics of communication. Moreover, we explain it to both the foreigners and the locals. And in the working process, we regularly broadcast these features to the whole team. At the same time, it is not necessary to give lectures on the cultures of different countries, these can be, for example, culinary days, when guys prepare national dishes and share stories about their country. Or speaking clubs where colleagues can teach each other the basics of their language.
Especially, when the initiative does not come from HR. Here at TECHIIA, we have such a valuable feature, employees do not keep silent but bring their ideas to the table. It is important for us not to skip them, to discuss them, to help implement them.
Speaking about national stereotypes, I will say that they are sometimes taking place and sometimes not. On the one hand, different cultures express themselves differently in their work. Also, representatives of different cultures have different perceptions of information, you need to check whether you’ve made your point absolutely clear. But still, there are particular moments. Not all Spaniards are expressive. Not always guys from Turkey will shower you with compliments. Not all Chinese are perfect in operational skills. We try to stay away from labels.
