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| How Thais can make the visible invisible! September 2000
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Culture shock for the Singaporean Last weekend I attended an in-house workshop organised by my Bank. During dinner one night, I asked my Singaporean colleague about working with Thais and asked "What is the common difficulty that most Singaporeans have experienced in working with Thais?". He replied that one problem he faces is that when work instructions were given or discussed with Thai subordinates, they gave the impression that they understood the message. To the Singaporean's dismay, they later found out that the Thais indeed did not understand, but also did not ask for clarification or explanation. One of my Thai colleagues at the table added that one of the reasons they did not ask was because of the language problem since they had difficulty in expressing themselves in English. Another Thai executive at the table added that even some Thais who were good at English are often not assertive and too shy to ask when they don't understand an instruction. I then posed the following question to the group "What can we do to prevent this kind of problem from recurring?" My Singaporean friend suggested that he usually advised his Singaporeans colleagues to speak slower. "...We as Singaporeans are very productivity driven, we tend to do things very fast including speaking. I then further advise them to check with their Thai colleague that they understood what was discussed at the end of the conversation. You will then be able to know how accurately they understood your message..." I added that checking for understanding is important, but that others have to understand the fact that Thais are concerned about face value. In this case, HAIKIAT is very important. You have to use words that maintain their self-esteem. I have seen some expat bosses use a polite approach that saves the "face" of their Thai subordinates by saying that they themselves may have spoken too fast i.e. they blame themselves - "...It's my fault that I speak too fast, would you please summarise what I just said?..." This technique allows one to tell if there has been any errors in the message being sent, and helps Thais feel more relaxed and free from feeling guilty that they do not undertand English as well as visitors. If you are to conduct a group meeting of about 3-4 people, you may want to consider using a whiteboard or flipchart to emphasise key messages allowing your Thai audience to visualise the "verbal" communication. Alternatively, you may like to appoint one of the Thais who is fluent in English to record the minutes of the meeting. At the end of the session, a summary of the key points of the meetings will be read out to everyone. It would be even better if the minutes of the meeting be distributed afterwards. Some organisations rotate all team members to record the minutes instead of having the same person all the time. Some organisations use the personal assistant or secretary of the Expat to record the minutes. Language and Workshops One workshop was conducted by a Thai instructor in English as the class had 2 expats out of 17 participants. The instructor spoke English very well. However, I found that it was a Lose-Lose situation. Of the 15 Thais there, 3-4 of them were not fluent in English. When we broke out in small work groups, the discussions were conducted and presented in Thai except in case of the expat group. At the end of session, it seemed that all the Thais did not understand all the concepts fully and the 2 Expats too did not understand all the presentations and discussions that they were supposed to. I made a suggestion to the organiser that the workshop should have been conducted in English or the groups should have been separated into Thais and Non Thai groups. When I was working in a management consultant firm, I conducted many management workshops. Some organisations mixed the classes between Thais and non-Thais, as the boss wanted the Thais to practice their English. This approach however may not always be worth the effort. If you want them to practice English, perhaps sending them to English classes would yield better results! Please do not use management workshops as English lessons as it detracts from the real purpose of the meeting. ...not to mention they also become very expensive English lessons!. Touching Me Recently, an international organisation that had their headquarters in USA organised a regional workshop in Thailand. The participants were Asians from China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The facilitator was an American. On the 2nd day of the workshop, the group felt exhausted and tired. The facilitator had an idea to cheer up and energise the participants. After lunch, he asked the participants to join him in a mini exercise. He told the participants to pair up - males and females. Each person in a pair would take turns to lift the other person up. The participants reacted and "Booed" the exercise. The facilitator looked surprised at the participant's reaction. However, the group did as instructed. At the end of the session, one of the Thai Human Resource Executives let the facilitator know the reason for the reaction. Usually Asians, particularly Thais, do not touch the body of the opposite sex unless they are a couple or relative. It is embarrassing to be touched by the opposite sex especially when there is no close relationship. What Thais are good at Westerners are good at making the intangible visible. For example, they are able to document concepts of skill building into manuals. On the other hand, Thais are better at making visible things invisible. For example, we are good at making that manual disappear and with good reason! Thais and Empowerment The most common mistake the expat visitor does is to assume that Thai people are in the same mode of development as themselves. For example, a new expat manager in town will empower the Thai subordinate. However, to be able to empower, the subordinates must have at least the competency and commitment. To empower prior to those 2 C's is risky. Therefore, be careful prior to empowering your people. Thais and Sympathy Thais live in harmony. We have a tendency to sympathise the under dog. For example, in situations where 2 people are arguing, if one of them remains silent while the other maintains a verbal attack, the attacker will be blamed and the person who is silent will get full support even if the attacker was right. This was evident in our recent Bangkok governor election. When Sudarat, who was second popular to Samak, came out and challenged Samak whenever they appeared in public or through the media for a face-to-face debate in public, Samak, who really knows himself and that he easily loses his temper, did not react. He kept quiet. So, the public become HEN-JAI (feeling sympathy for him). Hence, the voters emotionally took the side of Samak. Thai hospitality Foreigners enjoy and appreciate Thai hospitality. In every hotel, airline, or restaurant, we are usually very polite and provide good service. One of my expat colleagues told me that Thais do not need any service skill training. "You all are already born with a servicing attitude!", he said. He may be wrong! Many local Thais are not satisfied with Thai services because when a Thai is providing a service to another Thai, they have a tendency to be less courteous than if they were providing the same service to a foreigner. Many people and I have had the same experience especially when we were using the services from establishments that serves both locals and foreigners. On many occasions, we were treated differently from the foreigner. Someone told me that there might be 2 reasons for it. Firstly, foreigners usually tip better than Thais. Secondly, foreigners are usually polite and say "thank you" to the people who are providing the service while the Thais tend to look down on the people who are providing the same services. The latter reason can be traced back to Thai tradition. In the past we were lived under an absolute Monarchy. We had slaves. Usually, people who performed service functions in the house were second class. Old habits die hard and older or traditional Thai's (as well as those who need to reinforce their "importance", may still look down on those who provide services. The 3 H - Management Thai Style Khun Chaiwat Utaiwan, my boss who related the story of the Monk's Tale, has recently been hired by another organisation. He is a Thai executive who is very good at managing people. This column would like to pay tribute to him by passing on one of his secrets to managing Thais. Khun Chaiwat refers to his management style as the 3-H management style. Let's look at each H in more detail. Heart. In working with Thais, the leader is required to put a lot of effort and attention to win over the Thai's heart. Once you have gotten the Thai's heart, the rest is easier. Head. Winning the Thai's heart without business sense is like managing a country club. People will love you but one may not have good results in business. You have to use your head and put a lot of emphasis on logic - in this case the business justification as well. Humour. By nature, Thais like to be relax - SABAI SABAI. So, if you are a leader who can create a humourous atmosphere at time, it results in a more comfortable environment. With this 3H style, you will win the Thai's heart, get business results and also create a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Bottom line is that from this foundation you will be able to create a high performance workforce.
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai
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| ...from Kriengsak Niratappanasai's Thailand Tales |
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| Kriengsak Niratpattanasai Thai Danu Bank Bangkok Thailand |
| Kriengsak was one of the Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine's earliest columnists and continues to provide some of the most savvy advice on the Net on working in Thailand. His down to earth advice from years of working with falang and locals mixed with local folkstories continues to delight and inform. Click on Kriengsak's picture to learn more about our great friend and colleague. |
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