MICE SUPPLEMENT: Office Cultural Differences

By Leah Stickley

My first team building experience in China was a banquet with a university president in 1999. It involved far too much food and equal amounts of toasting – luckily only with beer. The second experience was much more pleasant – a five day trip to the mud houses in Fujian province followed by a day at a beautiful national park. Upon moving to Shanghai, team building got spicier. We had hotpot followed by KTV, and I learned the complex mix of dice, whisky and green tea. I sang my heart out to rapturous applause from my fellow team members. Oh the joys of Chinese Teambuilding!

Alas, no more. The factories of Dongguan are losing workers fast, and they have turned to western, military style team building. The workers don army fatigues and have to work as a team to accomplish a task. They sweat and cry together. And collapse into the posh resort style hotel, whispering the team’s newly invented mantra. Better team, better life.

‘Tis the season to be silly especially with team building. But before you rush to your HR director to find out about end of year teambuilding budget, ask yourself: ‘Why am I doing this?’ You may find that your expectations and your staff’s expectations may not be aligned (now there’s a good excuse for some teambuilding!).

When I meet HR professionals who want to organise a ‘teambuilding’ for their boss’ staff, they want fun and relaxed, but also to focus on ‘improving communication’.

However, when I talk to the (non-Chinese) boss, the discussion is about objectives, outcomes, activities. The boss wants the team to be aligned with company strategy, to improve performance of the team, to learn how others think and behave. The boss sees a gap in performance; the team does not.

Herein lies the conundrum. How to get a bunch of individuals to work together with a common goal and vision? The Chinese team members would say first you must build the relationship and this is done informally around the dinner table, singing, playing cards and other relaxing group activities. The non-Chinese team member (and often the team leader) would say first you need to understand each other’s ways of thinking and behaving, each other’s goals, motivations and aspirations. Then you set team values, vision and goals.

Recently I had the great pleasure of being invited to facilitate a team building activity in the deserts in northwest China. The difference of opinion between the local HR director and the foreign boss was a good example of the resulting unmet expectations. The HRD knew that the team members were expecting to relax, go sightseeing and generally have a holiday. The foreign boss however wanted to give his team a challenge and an experience to remember. The result? A camel trek across the Gobi Desert and a night in the desert. The reaction? They loved it, but were exhausted! In the team debrief session after the trek, the team commented on how much they had learned about not only each other, but also themselves.

In conclusion, some advice when planning your next team building event. First be very clear in your own mind why you’re doing this. Secondly, be very clear what your team’s opinion is with regard to the purpose of skipping work for a day or two. Three, blend learning with fun with relaxing with sightseeing and shopping. Finally, plan follow up sessions to ensure the learning has stuck, and there are observable changes and improvements in the team’s performance. Above all have fun during the process and reflect on the insights gleaned. Self discovery is a wonderful journey.

Leah is Chief Peeler at The Onion Peelers and Senior Coach at Expat-Repat Coaching, a service for international assignees and their families. For further information and assistance, contact Leah at [email protected] or 6083 1155 x 161. Web: www.theonionpeelers.com