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A negotiation can be over before it even gets started.
Let's pretend that I'm an entrepreneur raising capital from three different funds
operating under three different culture norms.
Camille, thanks so much for your time today in Shanghai.
In China and Japan, it's customary to make a two-handed business card exchange.
Frank, I really appreciate the time today in Mumbai.
In India, it's customary to make a right-handed only exchange, and
you should have your university or
college promptly displayed on the card as education's so highly regarded.
Ellen, thanks so much for your time today in San Francisco.
Instead of giving you a business card, I've decided to conserve paper and
I'll be texting you my contact information.
>> [LAUGH] >> You're cool with that right?
>> Yes.
>> Well, this is a slight exaggeration many firms in the US are shifting away
from the traditional business card exchange practice.
Nonetheless, at this point in the meeting, a small blunder can have a negative ripple
effect through the rest of the negotiation.
Grace, Deepa, Felix and
I are going to explore the strategies in cross-cultural negotiations.
While we are all pretty familiar with the concepts of IQ EQ.
What about CQ, cultural intelligence?
CQ can be understanding when to dress more formally for a presentation, and
when to wear a hoodie.
But it encompasses so much more than that.
Pre-negotiation formalities, such as handshakes, exchange of business cards,
and simple greetings, can be culturally independent, and
the most compelling argument in a negotiation may become null and
void if you lack the awareness up front.
The keys to navigating these negotiations are pretty consistent across cultures.
A strong argument, a willingness to capitulate on certain aspects, and
a desire to reach a conclusion.
And while finding an outcome and cultural differences are not mutually exclusive.
Having the awareness and
preparedness will ultimately put you on a better position to succeed.
There also exist a there versus here fallacy.
People wrongfully assumed I have have no plans of raising money or
doing business in Russia anytime soon.
But what happens when a Russian investor comes to you?
What happens when there comes here?
Cultural context in independent of geography and
it's very important to be aware of that.
Our goal today is to brag you with three basic tactics and strategies that will
give you the confidence to help navigate through each cross cultural negotiations.
I'm now going to pass off to who'll talk about the nuances of disagreement.
>> Thank you, Matt.
Disagreement is inevitable in any negotiation.
Let's take quick peek in a short video.
>> He's wired in.
>> Is he? >> Yes.
[SOUND] >> How about now, are you still wired in?
>> Call security.
>> You issued 24 million new shares of stock.
>> You were told that if new investors came along-
>> How much were your shares diluted?
How much were his?
>> Lots of emotion, right?
>> [LAUGH] >> This could happen to any of us.
And what makes this more complicated in a cross cultural context is that fact that
the weak disagreements are express very significantly from one culture to another.
Researchers say that there are two essential characteristics of how
disagreements are expressed.
One is confrontation is expressed.
And the second is how emotions are expressed.
So for example, if you're in a negotiation with your Russian counterpart,
there's a strong likelihood that he or
she will disagree with pretty much every single thing you say.
Because from their perspective, that is an open invitation to have an animated and
lively discussion.
On the other hand, if you're in a negotiation with a Mexican counterpart,
you may want to soften the disagreement so
that you don't run the risk of completely shutting down the conversation.
So if you have any plans of co-organizing a trip to with Hyman and
you're negotiating the terms and
the itinerary, you may want to approach it along the lines of,
I'm not sure I quite understand this or could you explain this a little bit more?
>> [LAUGH] >> Researchers also say
that negotiators have an assumption, which is a fallacy,
that emotional expressiveness goes hand in hand with confrontation.
And that's not always the case.
Your German counterpart may be very open to confrontation, but only so
long as it's expressed calmly and factually.
On the other hand, your Indian counterpart may be polite and
soft when it comes to confrontation, but will wear their emotions on their sleeves.
So now that we're aware of these different cultural nuisances and
contexts, how can we be prepared for a cross cultural negotiation?
Linguistic experts say that the key is to analyze verbal cues.
And this specifically highlight two types of cues.
What the call Upgraders and Downgraders?
Upgraders are works like absolutely and
completely that help you strengthen the disagreement where as downgraders
are words like maybe just a little bit that help you solve a disagreement.
So the key really is to make sure that you analyse and
understand these verbal cues within the cultural context so
that you're able to adapt your reaction and your response accordingly.
That will help- >> [COUGH]
>> Be more success and
more effective in establishing [INAUDIBLE] connection and
with that, I'm going to hand it over to Grace who's going
to walk us through the implications of the words yes and no in cross culture.
>> Do you want to watch another video?
Yes.
>> Yes.
>> No.
>> Am I right in thinking there is nobody else in this house?
>> No.
>> Then, there is someone else in this house.
>> No, sorry, I said no, meaning yes.
>> No meaning yes?
>> [LAUGH] >> In the United Kingdom,
where I grew up, yes means yes.
And no, means no.
So this is where things get confusing for me.
In some countries such as Egypt, yes actually means no,
or maybe, or I'll think about it, or I really want to do what you want but
it's absolutely not possible and I hope you can tell that by my body language.
A verbal yes maybe seen as more polite or pleasing and
there's no expectation that yes is binding.
In parallel, there are some cultures where no,
no might actually mean yes or let's discuss this further.
Wait, wait.
Let's say you're doing a negotiation with a French person.
Let's say Claire.
And she responds to a question with no, no, no, no, no, no.
She might actually mean yes, she just wants to debate it a bit further.
>> [LAUGH] >> So if yes means no and
no means yes, don't ask yes or no questions.
>> [LAUGH] >> Instead of saying, can you do this for
me, say by when will you be able to do this for me.
And if you just have to ask that yes or
no question, make sure to analyze tone and body language.
For example, yes is very different than yes.
Now, that we've discussed the difficulties of yes and no questions, I'm going to hand
it over to Felix who's going to discuss problems with putting things in writing.
Thank you, Grace.
So and Grace to the challenges of what a negotiation has
in terms of oral communication.
But what about what we put in writing on whether we have to put it into writing?
>> You know I don't do contracts, but what you do have is my word.
>> And it's stronger than oak.
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>> So in the countries on the left hand side of the screen especially in Africa
and Asia a word is stronger than oak.
But in other countries, the ones we have in the right hands side of the screen,
we like to put things into writing.
So let's say that you're for instance guys, here in the US you like and
repetition as a way to make sure that the other party understands what you're
negotiating about.
So to us, if you go back to I'm sure you will be doing that, and
you lead the procurement division at your family business Don't be surprised when
you need a ship with your American suppliers and
they send you an email with a list of things you have agreed on and
even ask you to reply back to them by saying yes, I agree with that.
They do that, and you guys do that, and we do it in Western cultures because we
want to protect ourselves against potential eventualities and because
we want to build trust with a counterpart that we don't necessarily know.
As opposed to that, in Africa in countries like Nigeria and those of
you who want to go into Africa [COUGH] business people will take an email or
a contract at a sign of disrespect and also as a sign of lack of trust.
They want you to be flexible.
Be flexible around two things.
First, to take a contract an oral contract as a right contract and
secondly to take an oral contract as something that is flexible and
can change over time because circumstances change.
So the third piece of advice for you, on how we want you to be prepared,
is actually to ask your counterpart to prepare the first draft of the contract,
so that they feel more comfortable with it.
And remember one thing,
in some countries around the world, a contract is not binding at all.
So by now,
you're probably a little bit overwhelmed by all the advice, the countries,
the references, the friends that we have from France, from different countries.
We want you to remember four things.
The first one is you have to analyze the verbal cues and
adapt your reaction to the emotion you are perceiving from the other party.
Second thing is avoid yes and no questions as Greg said.
And third thing is please ask the other party to write the first draft
of the contract if you have to do shows so that they feel more comfortable with it.
But if we want you to remember something, it's the APS framework.
Be aware of the differences, be prepared for those differences, so
that you can be more successful next time you're negotiating in a different culture.
Thank you very much and now we will be happy to take any questions you may have.
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