It takes a particular skillset and cultural competence to be a good manager for a team from another cultural background. The strange thing is, companies often neglect to train the managers who work with these teams in the soft skills that would help them develop cultural intelligence and cultural competence.
We’ve written before about the importance of partnerships for exporters in Russia. Now, we go through a complementary process for the managers at the frontline working with teams based in Russia and CIS. We’ll walk you through some of the exact steps we have applied in regional manager roles in Moscow and CIS and help our clients implement in Russia through our consultancy.
As usual, we’ll introduce some of the exact tactics you can use in your work in Russian-speaking countries. Of course, there are regional differences, like a very fast-moving business environment in Moscow vs a more relaxed pace in the regional cities, requiring a bit different approach. Or young generations having expectations of a more inclusive leadership style. Still, there are also many things in common. They include the need to build trust with your team and understand how your team in Russia perceives your thinking and actions and how to get more out of those relationships.
First, create interpersonal trust for successful teamwork
What has made our approaches to managing teams from different cultural backgrounds a success again and again?
It begins with a deep understanding of the two different cultural backgrounds of the Nordics and Russia and what issues their value-based characteristics are likely to generate when mixed. We use scientific, cultural models for this. You can read more about them in the detailed article 6 Little Known Measurable Factors Nordic Exporters and Vendors in Russia Can Leverage to “Unlock” Their True Competitive Advantage.
When you work with people from different cultural backgrounds, trust-building can be a challenging task. In terms of the models we mentioned, Nordic countries are more individualistic, and Russian-speaking countries tend to be more collectivist. So we already know we should try to learn what that difference means in practice when we want to develop trust within a team.
To be successful, we would break down the components at play here:
1. In Russia, loyalty based on personal relationships overrules task priorities and other rules
2. Discussing only work or business does not build that trust
3. Preserving personal relationships is essential and plays a role in how your team in Russia communicates with you
Instead, the culturally intelligent way to ensure your team’s smooth operation is to start by asking team members personal questions and getting to know people personally. We in the Nordics would often see this as crossing the line of privacy.
Because context such as who is asking, the timing of the request, and the situation itself always matters when your team is prioritising tasks, you want to make sure you are a person they view as a high priority. In the Russian culture, people will fulfil promises to people they prioritise, not necessarily based on the most critical task. If you are their direct superior, they prioritise you, but this can often be a problem in a matrix organisation when there is no direct command chain.
When I started working as a manager in Moscow, it was a new experience when my local team showed me respect by not questioning my ideas or decisions. It felt strange but also good for a while when they always said “yes”.
But after working in Russia a little longer, I realised my team members wouldn’t always tell me how things are going and would not take the initiative to fix anything that was going wrong.
That was my responsibility that came with the superior status. As much as you can, try to develop a skill for reading between the lines and understand the indirect communication that helps people in collectivistic societies to preserve essential relationships.
Although taking these steps will already help you understand your team in Russia and get things done better, you can go one step further.
Master the art of team motivation in Russia and CIS
So what really motivates your team?
Again, if we look at the cultural differences, we see that Russian culture is different from the Nordic countries in having high uncertainty avoidance and power distance.
Unfortunately, this means the natural consultative managerial style typical in the Nordic countries where managers give much autonomy to their subordinates can often be seen as a sign of weakness in Russia.
Your team expects you, as a superior, to judge and decide what to do in challenging situations, provide clear guidelines, and then do regular process checks before the deadline.
Consider using the following advice in getting your point across and affecting how your team perceives you:
- Shift to a more decisive management style if you are using the more consultative Nordic style.
- Be there for your team proactively, show care and understanding to team members’ personal problems, but react strictly to any mishandlings.
- Create an inclusive atmosphere to encourage your team to communicate directly with you.
- Give your team clear and detailed instructions: who, what, and especially how you expect them to do things, and check that work is in progress with the deadlines.
- Prepare to be the problem solver for your subordinates.
This approach will make your work easier and help you adjust to your team’s expectations of you in a culturally intelligent way.
Increase the level of control you have in managing your team in Russia
It’s tempting to think that anyone who is not working or thinking the way we do just hasn’t realised our approach’s advantages. Keeping deadlines and normative thinking like ‘there is only one right way to do things’ is typical for cultural backgrounds that are short-term oriented, like the Nordics.
Russia, on the other hand, is more long-term oriented and pragmatic. Short-term deadlines and punctuality do not carry the weight they do in business in the Nordic countries. As frustrating as this might feel, you can help your team in Russia deliver something urgently.
The best way to do this might be considered “micromanagement” in a Nordic office. When giving the team a detailed task briefing, you need to emphasise the importance of both the task and the deadline.
But that is not enough; you also need to play your hierarchical status and carry out those frequent checks and ‘inspections’. It might feel unnecessary, but essentially these checks help people get the job done for you. You’re making it as easy as possible for them to deliver what you need within the deadline.
Increasing the control does not mean you cannot be humane simultaneously. When you combine inspection with offering your team support, you ensure that people in your team feel psychologically safe to perform their best.
When all else fails: Create strategies for anticipating and handling problems within your team
Even when we have a deep understanding of cultural differences and already apply principles of cultural intelligence to our strategies and management style, sometimes everyone ends up working on autopilot.
We resort to doing things the way we learned in our cultural surroundings because it feels natural and right. Under stress, everyone inevitably makes cultural mistakes.
When mistakes happen, take action. It might seem like a lost cause because you already made a mistake, and you want to move on, but remember there are humans on the other side too.
You can diminish the impact by following some simple advice:
1. Discuss the cultural differences in a non-judging way with your team. Cultural models like the Hofstede 6D model offer a “common language” you can use, for example.
2. Make your management style and the way you work explicit to avoid misunderstandings and misperceptions.
3. Attend training that will help you develop more skills and methods for solving intercultural problems. Then practice their application at work.
4. Create some commonly accepted rules for your intercultural team.
Often solutions start from simply telling your team that your consultative management style does not mean you don’t pay attention to their results or are weak.
Proactive communication also helps a lot. You can encourage your team members to ask questions when they don’t understand something you do or how you behave. Questioning your behaviour is not something they feel appropriate to do if you are their superior. Frequent one-on-one discussions work well, too.
Many problems can bubble under the surface unless you make it your job to know what your team is thinking. Inclusive leadership style adopted to Russian cultural environment is the key.
If you’re interested in having us work with you to develop your skills and understanding, contact us here.