Leading in the Global Matrix by John Futterknecht

Author:John Futterknecht
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948836746
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Published: 2019-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

CASE STUDY: FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

We were called in to consult with a global company whose Moscow marketing team was working with its UK marketing team. The two teams had been collaborating on a project over a period of three or four months. The dynamic had gotten so bad that HR intervened and ultimately called us to see if we could help resolve the conflict.

This clash was a perfect example of what happens when there is a lack of awareness and poor communication on both sides. The Russian marketing team had a very direct and task-oriented approach, together with a communication style that was often openly challenging. Members of the British team would sit down at the meeting or join the call, only to be startled when one of the Russian participants launched immediately into the first item on the agenda. No hello? No smattering of small talk before the meeting got underway? The absence of niceties struck the British as brusque, even borderline rude.

Additionally, the Russians were comfortable challenging their colleagues’ perspectives in what was perceived as a harsh and abrupt manner. “Everything I say invites a challenge,” complained one British team member. “No sooner are the words out of my mouth than one of them will be in attack mode—‘What does this mean? What are you trying to say? What more can you tell me about this?’—I am under fire.”

Finally, the British were put off with what they felt was a very “telling” and non-collaborative way of sharing ideas. The Russian team was likely to use words like “should,” “must,” or “need to” when providing their recommendations.

At the same time, the Russian team members had plenty to say about their British counterparts and their inability to say what they meant. One of the Russian team said, “On the opening call of a new project, I proposed an ambitious timeline that I believed would take months out of the implementation process. One of the British leaders replied, ‘That’s a brave proposal.’ I thought it was a compliment and I had a green light. How was I to know that it really meant, ‘That sounds overly risky, we are not on board’?”

In general, the Russians became highly frustrated with what they felt was the wishy-washy, murky communication style of their UK counterparts, which often left them confused about where they stood. As one commented, “If they would only tell us what they really mean the first time around, we could have half the number of meetings!”

In this highly complex scenario, the Russian leaders stood on one side; they were exceptionally direct in their language, very opinionated, and comfortable with conflict. On the other side were the British leaders, who were exhibiting the famed politeness and understatement associated with their country.

After meetings and conference calls, both parties would leave frustrated. Among themselves, and ultimately with HR, the Russian leaders talked about the passive-aggressive behavior of their British counterparts. They weren’t saying what was really on their minds. They were saying one thing in a meeting and then another after the meeting.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.