Tips on how to gain respect from Thai colleagues with very little effort, Feet, touching, and the Thai parable of Ko Nan (Nan the cow) As I have mentioned in previous columns, Thais rely on the relationship issue than Westerners when doing business. Here are some examples of how a Western manner might create trouble in relationships with local colleagues. Improper use of the foot One westerner who worked in a manufacturing environment with Thai labour, used his foot as the pointer for indicating to workers to pick up the tool. The reason was that he was usually carrying other equipment ub his hands which made him unable to use his finger hand as usual. A worker approached him with his fist in the air trying to punch him. Fortunately, the other workers did manage to stop him before a fight began! A foreign executive put his foot on the table in the middle of a serious meeting. The Thai executive who had been debating with him immediately walked out from the meeting room. They never talked to each other since. One Re-engineering senior consultant from the West was in a meeting with the client planning team. In order to give a simple example of the value chain system, he pulled his leg onto the table and pointed his finger to his shoe explaining the shoe’s value chain system. It was a shock for the group consisting of 15 senior Thai executives. After the meeting, his Thai counter part asked him to apologize to the group. In Thai culture, the feet are considered the not only the lowest part of the body physically, but also symbolically. We perceive that they are dirty with the earth and dust. Over a hundred years ago, we did not wear the shoes. That explains why we treat feet like that. On the other hand, we perceive that head as the most sacred and highest part of the body. We do not touch the head of another. Particularly for people who more senior than us (by age or position), touching their head will seriously made them angry. It could damage the relationship easily even if you are a foreigner. Be aware when touching a Thai person's head. To be on the safe side, avoiding touching the upper part of body. Cross-gender touching A Western executive in the fast food industry was assigned to be trained in the Bangkok store for one month before working in the head office. During that period, he tried to establish a good relationship with Thai staff in the store. It waa all good intentions, but he betrayed a lack of cultural sensitivity. He liked to touch all Thai staff, showing them how close the relationship was between the foreign executive and lower level employee. In the west, touching colleagues is a nice way to show care and a close relationship. However, this kind of manner for Thais might cause some misunderstanding. Later, the Thai female staff started complaining to head office that the boss intentionally touched them (what someone might call sexual harassment in low degree). In our culture, for a man to touch a woman is considered not polite and for some conservative woman, it is very insulting. An example from my own experience.... When I was in the US for four weeks, working in a head office, I was taken care by a nice middle age lady. When I was leaving, she hugged me as a good bye sign. I felt a little bit uncomfortable. Again, hugging in our culture is not widely practiced. A smart foreigners approach Let’s look at some good examples on how some foreigners capitalize the relationship by understanding Thai culture. At W.R. Grace - the major US chemical manufacturer, which has a plant in Thailand, there are quite a few foreign staff based here. Before he came to the Kingdom, one Canadian Product Manager names Scott Martell, learned as much as he can about Thai culture, tradition, and language. He even learned how to WAI (the way that Thais greet others by raising their two hands to their chest or head - it is the way we pay respect to the Lord Buddha). He had also learned how to speak Thai fluently. After a while, he took on an additional assignment as an in-house trainer. He trained Thai staff in their own language on product and technical knowledge. He absolutely earned the respect and trust from the Thais. He also impressed not only the staff but also the customers. When he went to visit a construction site, he pulled up his shirt sleeves and tested the construction by his hand (I would call it the real HANDS ON!). The customers were surprised because they never seen any foreign executive do that before. The Thai parable of Ko Nan (Nan the cow) I would like to end this month's column with the old story about how to work with Thais. There is the story about KO NAN-TA-VI-SAL (A cow named NAN-TA-VI-SAL). All Thai's learn this story at school as a way to understand how to treat others. Once upon a time in the Kingdom, KO NAN-TA-VI-SAL was a cow on a farm. His major duty was help the farmer harvest rice. One morning NAN did not move. He just stood still on the ground. He looked absolutely normal. The farmer instructed him with a loud voice many times. He still stood there - nothing happening. The farmer started to hit him many times forcing him to move forward in order to get the work done (as in Theory X in management science). Again, nothing happened.... The other farmer walked to them and touched his hand gently in the back of NAN and started a conversation to NAN in polite and soft manner “NAN, we need your help to get the work done together for our rice production, start working now please”. The cow slowly started the working day.... Kriengsak Niratpattanasai DBS Thai Danu Bank, Bangkok, Thailand

...from Kriengsak Niratappanasai's Thailand Tales

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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