【Sherry’s Leadership Story】我的越南行銷團隊討厭我, 因為我是空降的外派台幹
My local team disliked me as an expat manager.
2013年夏天, 我接下一家越南台商生產個人保養用品的行銷經理職位, 外派到越南的胡志明市, 負責六個品牌在東南亞區域的通路行銷跟銷售策略規劃執行。
I was assigned to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam as a marketing manager in the summer of 2013. At that time, I worked for a Taiwanese company located in Vietnam and was responsible for marketing its personal care products in Southeast Asia’s trade channel, which included local supermarket stores and sales agents.
我的越南行銷團隊有五位行銷專員以及一位平面美工設計, 在跟他們合作的期間, 其實很愉快, 學習到很多東南亞市場操作以及團隊(特別是不同文化背景)發展實務。
During my stay, I enjoyed leading the marketing team, which included five marketing executive members and one in-house designer to manage business development and marketing activities in Southeast Asia’s trade channel.
當時是我初登主管職, 真真正正擁有自己管理的團隊, 還是跨文化背景的成員呢。後來我的越南團隊跟我說, 他們不只是喜歡我的管理風格, 也感受到我真心尊重彼此文化的差異。
It was the first time that I had my own team to manage. I got to learn about leading talents from different cultures. My Vietnamese teammates commented that they appreciated me not only for my good management skills, but also for my respect for their culture.
一切聽起來很美好, 對吧? 但是一開始, 我是被自己的越南團隊討厭的。
However, things weren’t going so smooth at the beginning.
我的越南行銷團隊討厭我, 因為我被視為(老天啊, 又一個)從台灣派來的外國經理!! 為什麼這樣對我呢? 我們才剛見面啊? 很快的, 我從公司管理氛圍以及台越同事相處中發現原因: 總經理(也是創辦人之一)跟其他創辦人們屬於傳統型強勢領導者, 也就是說, 他們運用(保守)幾十年前成功經驗, 只有他們下指令, 屬下遵從的”溝通方式”, 宛如聖旨不可違逆, 不可妄言(溝通討論)。在我接手越南行銷部前, 他們已經經歷了多位台籍經理用上對下不可侵犯的態度”管理”他們, 糟糕的是, 前任經理們並未明白, 其實越南行銷團隊每位同仁, 才是最了解當地市場操作實務跟文化的人, 忽略當地團隊的意見, 往往造成當地團隊不願意多花心力優化專案, 甚至一開始就知道專案不適用在當地市場, 也會不在乎的照主管指令執行錯誤決策 (反正錯了又不關他們的事, 多講可能還會被指責。) 長期累積下來的不健康以及無信任感的工作氛圍, 也難怪當地團隊下意識先討厭外派來的台灣經理。
My local Vietnamese team members disliked me as an expat manager from Taiwan (again!!) I soon found out why. The general manager and co-founders were “traditional type” of leaders who gave orders and expected subordinates to simply obey without any communication. Before I took over the marketing team, they already had been through several Taiwanese managers. I had guessed the main reason why the local team disliked them: unfortunately, those Taiwanese managers only obeyed orders from top management group without considering if the orders were suitable for the local market. They didn’t listen to the local team which really understood the market and cultures. It created problems such as local team members felt unable to make better recommendations and efforts. They just quietly followed orders even if they knew at the beginning that projects would fail. It led to an unhealthy atmosphere of suspicion between any of Taiwanese managers and the local marketing team.
接下來就來談談我當時是如何改變這個有毒的工作環境, 取得當地團隊的信任。我將這個過程分為四個領導力層面來說:
How did I change this toxic atmosphere and gain trust from the local marketing team? Here are four leadership skills that I developed in my team.
1. 請先尊重跟謙虛Respect and humility
來到人家的國家, 請先尊重跟謙虛看待不同文化。我是來自外國的外派經理, 並不表示我比當地團隊優越或聰明。我觀察到的台越同仁衝突, 通常源於最基本的不尊重對方文化, 尤其是部份台幹會覺得自己比較優越,我個人覺得這樣的觀念非常不理智。我們就是一個團隊, 為了共同目標跟願景前進的團隊啊。沒有人會想跟不尊重他人的人當朋友,我到達越南前,自己先做功課了解這個國家的歷史文化背景,儘管還是不甚深入,但是我的當地團隊發現我有努力了解他們的文化時,對我的好感度急速升高呢。
Be humble. I clearly came from a foreign country different from Vietnam, but it doesn’t mean I am smarter. Most of the conflicts I heard between Taiwanese managers and local colleagues were because Taiwanese managers looked down upon locals. It’s insane. We were in the same team to cooperate and achieve the same goals together. There’s no such thing that whose culture is better. No one wants to be friends with a person who lacks respect. I had read some of Vietnamese history and culture before I went to Vietnam. And the outcome was incredible. When my teammates found out my efforts in understanding their culture, I soon won them over.
2. 互相信任並授權給團隊Delegation and Empowerment
在我接手越南行銷部後, 發現行銷部幾乎每個專案, 都會被切成不同部份交由不同的專員執行, 而又互相不知道部門同事內的工作狀況跟進度, 以至於常發生兩個人重複執行同個工作, 或是專案因為無人追蹤到最後而無疾而終。
所以第一件事,是先招集大家每週一早上開行銷部門週會,讓每個人列出自己手上的專案, 並在週會上匯報進度, 每個同仁都會知道專案主要執行者是誰或是上下承接的同仁是誰, 目前的進度如何等, 如果沒有主要追蹤成果的執行者, 就當場依照對專案的熟悉度討論並指派最適人選做最後追蹤。我也鼓勵他們在會議上參與討論跟發表自己的意見。首週會議結束後, 因為他們之前都沒有過固定的部門會議, 大家的反應是為何要浪費時間開會告訴部門其他同事自己的進度？我解釋說, 藉由簡單的部門週會, 我們整個部門的每個人會更有效地掌控手上的專案, 大家也都清楚知道專案進度到哪? 誰是主要負責人? 而不是大家重工或是專案被莫名消失。我們是在同一個團隊, 榮辱與共, 要走向同一個方向, 而不是六個行銷專員加一個外國經理走七個不同的方向。幾週後, 行銷同仁們告訴我, 經由每週一的部門週會, 他們確實感到對工作更有動力, 且更了解公司目標。
下一件事就是授權給團隊成員們。
身為行銷經理, 我傳達公司的願景跟目標給團隊, 但是在當地市場的實務操作上, 他們比我更了解, 我授權給他們, 讓他們有空間去發想規劃更適合當地市場的作法, 不只是工作成效提高, 我也從中學到很多當地市場的操作實務, 同時也加強團隊間的信任度,營造出正面循環的工作環境。
When I first reviewed the marketing on-going projects, I found out that each single project separated into several parts and assigned to different marketing executives. Even though in the same team, each of the team members didn’t know others’ work. They may duplicate the same work or drop projects since no one tracked the results.
Therefore, the first thing I did was holding marketing team weekly meeting every Monday. I asked them to list and update all their projects in weekly meetings. They were encouraged to express their ideas and commends too. Well, at the first week, they found it annoying since they never had it. However, I explained to them it would help us to better control projects. Through the meetings, they would know who the key project owners were, and where the projects would go. No more duplicate work and missing projects. It helped us connect and work as a team, not six executives and a foreign manager moving in seven different directions. Few weeks after the first meeting, they feedback that they felt more motivated and understood the company goals than before.
The next thing is empowering the team members.
As a marketing manager, I articulated the vision and goals to the team. But remember, they knew the local market practices much better than I. By empowering team members to make better projects and efforts, I did learn a lot about local market practices from them. For me, empowering the team also means giving trust to it. It turned out that the working atmosphere of trust among the team produced much more efficient results.
3. 做決策的能力Decision-Making Capabilities
領導者需要做決策。
授權給團隊後, 我們經常就可能的提案討論, 以檢視是否符合主要目標跟策略, 通常不同的解決方案會涉及不同的資源以及策略優先順序。身為主管, 我明白我的團隊會需要我做決策, 而這也跟接下來的”可靠性”領導力相關。
A leader needs to make decisions.
After empowerment, we often openly discussed possible solutions and reviewed them to achieve the main goals and strategies. Usually, different solutions have different priorities. As a leader, I know my team counted on me to make decisions, which I also think related to next leadership skill: be accountable.
4. 當個可以依靠的主管Be accountable
“好的領導者會承擔多一點團隊的責難, 分享少一點團隊的功勞” 這句話點出了領導者要可以承擔責任, 並將功勞跟團隊共享。我告訴我的越南行銷團隊, 他們可以信任我, 我也會擔起當主管的責任, 所有我們決議後進行的專案成果成敗我會扛(白話翻譯:如果被總經理罵,我會出來擋)。畢竟如果出現問題, 第一時間應該是共同找解決辦法, 而不是找人扛責。另一方面, 如果大家做得好,那是大家努力的成果, 功勞本就應該要歸給團隊, 而不是只給我。我記得我曾經答應團隊說如果大家可以合力達標某個重要年度專案, 我就請大家吃豪華午餐, 最後我們甚至提前一週完成。當然大家也一起盡情享受了工作完成後的週六午後午餐派對啊。
“A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” Yes, as the old saying goes, I ensured my team that they could trust me, and I would take full responsibility of every work our team had done. If anything went wrong, we should spend time on finding solutions, instead of giving someone out to the top management group to blame. On the other hand, if the team did it well, they should take the credit, not me. I remember I once promised to my team that if we could finish the annual strategy project on time with good results, I would treat the whole team for a good lunch party. Guess what? We did it even one week before the target date. And of course, the lunch party on that Saturday afternoon was joyful after the hard work.
透過這四個領導力, 我們建立了團隊間的信任跟尊重, 進而團隊間的溝通才是真正有效的, 讓大家願意往共同目標前進。在我外派即將結束, 一位越南行銷部同事在歡送派對後, 對我說: “我們一開始以為妳只是另一個高高在上的台幹, 但跟妳的相處中, 我們很快發現妳不一樣。妳真的努力要理解我們, 並尊重我們之間不同的文化。這些我們都感受得到, 妳努力讓團隊跟妳一起成長。妳是一個我們會想一起出去玩一起喝啤酒的好朋友(而且我們有!), 也是一個我佩服的好主管。我們後會有期。”
Through those four leadership skills, we could finally have good communication with the team. Because we built up the base called trust and respect, we could really work toward the same goals. One of my Vietnamese team members told me what he thought about me after my farewell party: “We thought you were just another arrogant Taiwanese manager. But soon we know you’re different from them. You are eager to understand us and our culture with respect. We see your efforts on working together with us. You are a true friend that we want to hang out and drink beer with (we did!), also a good leader that I admire. We see you around.”
