- How to communicate and work with Chinese colleagues.
(music)
Now, with the Chinese culture,
I think in a lot of them, they may be
a little bit different in a Western company, right?
- (Jennie) Yes.
- (Dan) Or the way they work.
Asian colleagues and Chinese colleagues.
What's the mindset, first of all?
How do they think, first of all?
- I think, in general, Chinese people are very--
they need security
- Yes.
- A lot.
- So, when they're going to a company,
to work for a company, they're always thinking long terms.
They're not thinking this is just my two year job
or three year job.
They're thinking, how can I stay in this company
for more as long as possible.
- For most of them.
- Exactly.
So, that's why they're very quiet sometimes
because they're really afraid to make mistakes.
- Yes.
- That's why they don't wanna--
- They don't want to get fired.
- Exactly.
- They don't want to talk offensively about people,
so people are sometimes think they're very shy
or think very introvert.
Right?
- Yeah, and that's not necessarily the case
and I think because there is that barrier of
not knowing the Western culture well.
Well in that so that when they have conversations,
when they talk to each other, they kind of feel awkward.
They don't what to say sometimes, so they just smile
and nod and just mind their own business and--
- They don't want to create trouble...
- No.
- They don't want to create drama too much
and just kind of do their thing.
- Right?
They don't want to create a lot of enemies, right?
- No, no, no.
- Yeah, yeah it's true.
- It's true.
So, I think one of the keys to
working effectively with Chinese colleague
is knowing that when you
work with them, let's say they work with you,
you want to give them very clear directions
and guidelines and instructions.
- Yes.
- Because they, very often they'll just smile
and you tell them, "you got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
But that should make me not a bad guy, right?
- They're just so afraid to asking questions.
- Yeah, they're afraid 'cause they don't want to look dumb.
- Or they don't want just feel like you think they're dumb
then you'll fire them.
And then, they just go do it and they don't know,
they have no clue how to do it.
So, make sure you give them guidelines
and show them very clear step-by-step
'cause I think they, if you give them that,
they can follow that quite well.
- Yes.
- Right?
- Do this, do this, do this, do this.
- That's how they train when they grow up, right?
- Yeah, right?
It's a lot more like that.
So, clear instructions, clear guidelines
then you won't get frustrated.
"I thought you said you got it.
How come this is like that?"
And then, you get angry and then you're yelling at them
and it doesn't-- it's not good, right?
So, clear instructions.
I think second thing is
don't ask them if they have questions.
You've got to verify and test them.
You've got to find out
'cause if you ask them, I guarantee you nine out of ten,
"Do you have any questions?"
They'll say, "no."
'Cause they're afraid to ask questions.
Even the Chinese culture, when we were going to school,
- Mhm. - Yes.
- The teacher would ask, "Do you have any questions?"
Nobody would put up their hand.
- Yeah. - Right?
- No.
- They're not trained to put up their hand.
They're trained not to put up their hand.
- Mhm. - Yes.
- Right?
In school if you put up your hand, it feels almost like,
there's like, "Are you like dumb or like--?"
- There's a judgment.
There's a stigma to asking questions, somehow.
- You're like, "How come you always ask questions?"
Like, are you tryna create trouble?
- The teacher would be like, "I'm trying to catch up
for work alone and you're wasting my time."
- Yeah, you're wasting all of each other's time
so, we're trained that from a young age
we don't wanna ask questions.
- Yes.
- So, in the workplace, same thing.
You ask them,
"Oh yeah, I don't have any questions."
In Meetings, I would remember, right?
We have a bunch of Chinese, right?
"Hey, any, any feedback?"
Nothing.
- They're, like, so shy.
- Yeah, nobody says anything.
They just take notes.
Oh yeah, okay, okay.
- Yeah.
- You've got it?
- Yeah, I got it, I'll get it.
They may not have got it.
So, you've got to test them.
One of the best ways I found,
have them repeat what you just asked them to do.
"So okay, you say you got it?
Explain to me the whole plan again."
And they'll be like, "Oh oh okay."
And then they do explain it
and you see all kinds of flaws.
You explain it again.
You've got to be patient.
Got to be patient.
And then they'll explain to you again, kind of,
reflect back and okay, good.
That makes sense.
Now they can do it.
So, make sure they get all of that first.
So, that's the second key.
- And then, the ideal situation as well,
they might not want to ask questions in a public setting
or in an open setting. - Yeah, they want to
ask you in private.
- Right.
So, anticipate that they might come to an one-on-one
or even approach--
- Encourage, yeah.
- In a one-on-one, more private setting
then that way, they don't feel threatened
by whatever's thinking, whatever thinking
is in their head about the situation.
They can just focus on the questions at hand
and the work at hand.
- Yes. Yes.
And that leads to the third keys
which you want to compliment them in public.
That, because they're shy and I don't know
if it's because of their shyness,
but very often, sometimes, they--
it feels like they're afraid to express themselves
and live a lack of confidence.
- Yeah.
- Live a lack of confidence.
So, if you can praise them in public,
"You're doing a good job and everybody knows."
They now, they get to kind of gain some faith,
but also that builds their confidence.
- Mhm.
- They need to do that.
I don't think most Chinese colleagues, then,
they are--
they've intentionally focus on want to be
more confident, be more confident.
You know, they don't think that way.
It's more Caucasian that they would think that way.
- This thing when we're back in school, we never have--
'cause right now, like Canada, I know this, like,
you have to do presentation.
In China, we have nothing.
There's nothing called presentation.
- You just memorize. - Yeah.
- Test.
- You could go out, like go on stage
and give a speech, that's a really huge thing.
- It's a huge thing.
- Which not all the students could do that.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, so I think confidence is some Chinese
is normally lacking.
- Yes.
- And also, there's a fear of getting judged.
If you present yourself in public,
you're giving other people an opportunity to judge you.
- Yeah, they don't like that.
- And-- - They do not like that.
- That is really hard for them,
not really getting used it.
If you don't do it since--
from like when you're a child's age
or a children's age growing up,
just playing with friends, being on stage
and then a presentation, right?
You don't do a mini Broadway show,
I've done a lot as a kid, right?
Just dancing around
and without really knowing what I was doing
and all the parents just clapping and cheering for you
and having that kind of support
to going to high school and then university
where you're standing in front of your class
and actually giving presentation.
It's a long journey of speaking in front of people.
- So, it may not be the best way
if you want to get feedback from them,
the best idea may not,
"Hey, I want you to prepare a PowerPoint
and present in front of everybody and all their colleagues."
To them, it's a big-- under a lot of pressure.
- It's a very big thing.
- Not that they don't want to contribute,
it's just not easy for them.
- Yes.
- So, it may better, "Hey, if you have ideas
just talk to me directly or type something up."
Maybe that's an easier way for them
to express their feelings, right?
So, when you work with your Chinese colleagues
just knowing that give them clear directions, right?
Give them a lot of compliment.
Don't just ask them if they have questions,
test them and verify.
Those are the three keys to working
and communicating with your Chinese colleagues.
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