Understanding...

Dreamgenius wrote

Some of it is down to our insular nature, having lived forever on an island.

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I agree with this but I think there has also been a certain amount of arrogance by the British over the years by expecting other nationalities to speak English.

I really believe it should be mandatory for schools to teach pupils a second language - because of the failure to do this twenty years ago, other nationalities who are mostly bi-lingual or even tri-lingual now seem to have the advantage over us when it comes to doing business with other countries.

There are so many different aspects to this issue.

I have travelled on business to about 70 countries in the course of my business career. I've visited some countries - for example, Russia and India - many times. I was raised and educated in the UK and worked in central London. I have lived for almost 20 years in the US. By trial and error, I've learned many valuable lessons from experience.

1) Virtually no country fits its image. The US is not the violent, mindless country it is portrayed to be; Vietnam is not the thriving business society that some claim it to be; Indonesia is not a violent hotbed of terrorism; France (other than Paris!) is not the intolerant contrarian of Europe; and so on. Frankly, I don't believe any more the image I read of countries. Shame on the popular media for caricaturing countries in this way and on us for believing them.

2) In business, you have to consider the perspective of your customers to be successful. Even if you cannot speak the local language, customers notice the little things you do that demonstrate respect for their culture. The key here is attitude. It's OK to make little errors, so long as there is respect. For example, I once shook hands with a businesswoman in Bangladesh when I should have waited for her to offer her hand. I apologized when I realized my error, and my hosts were very gracious.

3) A common language can be deceptive. The UK, the US, and Australia are three very different cultures. Because we speak the same language (some might dispute that!), there is a tendency to assume a common culture; this is a big mistake.

4) It is not right to claim that one culture is superior to another. Every culture has its strengths and weaknesses, and the world is far more interesting because of these differences. What might be right in Britain is wrong in other cultures, and vice versa. For example, gifts are expected when doing business in several African countries; even accepting a free lunch is forbidden in some western countries. (Common sense, thankfully, is a universal principle.)

British managers can generally be relied upon to be well-educated; despite problems I have heard about recently, the British education system takes some beating. As Jan/James Morris wrote in a famous series of books about the British Empire, the British display an incredible sense of fair play; I agree very much with this. I find that most Britons have a strong conscience and a remarkable sense of humour. We really care about issues and actively do things to help. For these and for other reasons, I'm proud to be a British citizen.

In the interests of learning, I'm now going to say some controversial things about my experience of British executives overseas. I know I could be pillaried for this (and maybe my UK passport will be revoked!), but this forum is all about sharing experiences for the greater good of UK companies. I hope my comments will benefit some here - and I apologize in advance to anyone who might be upset by my observations.

I find that British managers working overseas fall into one of two categories (and I don't think this is any different from Empire days):

Type A managers are as adaptable as anyone under the sun. They are sensitive to other cultures and go out of their way to respect those cultures. I find these people to be a pleasure to work with.

Type B managers are arrogant in the extreme. They assume they are superior and that British ways are superior. They have no desire to understand other cultures, loudly complain about them, and expect everyone in the world to do things their way.

I'm really not sure what makes someone a Type B manager. Some might say it's the residual class system, the influence of public schools, etc., but I don't believe that. I have friends who are top Oxbridge professors and have worked with wonderful people from all classes of society. Whatever causes these people to display Type B behaviour, I wish it could be fixed!

In our courses, we make a point of addressing the different forms of English. We've touched on this topic in other threads, and I know that some disagree with me, but it's important to understand and to respect the differences. If your business is local, the matter of language is not a big deal; if your business is international, however, differences among the various forms of English must be taken into account. If you have a company website, it is in some sense international whether you like it or not.

I could write for hours on this topic and bore the pants off everyone here (my stories probably fall into the "when I was a lad" category!). Nonetheless, my purpose in posting this message is to urge us all to understand the perspective of the customer. Please, let's not assume that one culture is better than another; we're just different.