I was born in India but moved to The Netherlands to finish high school. I went to University in England and have worked in London and Tokyo since then. I have spent probably more time than most in a state of cultural confusion. Since starting my career, I have worked with teams in India, The USA, England and now in Tokyo.
I have noticed over and over again that communication can fall apart at the boundaries of different cultures. A team that is very productive locally may not scale across different regions and cultures.
In 2010, I was transferred to Tokyo from the London. When I first moved to Tokyo, I assumed my role would be strictly technical. I did not expect my work to be much different to what I did in London. I was wrong. Over the last couple of years, my role has turned into that of a translator, a mediator and a cultural interpreter (for want of a better word).
I want to share some of the things I have learnt in my time here. This entry focuses on Email and Teleconferences.
Email
Our world runs on email. From scheduling meetings, to status updates or to “sharing information”. Email is easy to use and easier to abuse. Poorly written emails can result in anxiety, confusion and misunderstanding.
When writing an email most people err on the side of verbosity. My Japanese colleagues often are perplexed when faced with an email that is a large block of unformatted text. I believe there is the strong correlation between the length of an email and the likelihood that people will read and respond to it.
There are ways to make email more effective:
- Structure the email for clarity. Use paragraphs, bullet points and clear section headers to make the email look less dense
- Focus on the intended recipients and those who need to take action based on the contents of your email
- Do not use a single email to cover multiple topics. Send an email per topic and only send the email to the relevant people
- Address recipients (people or teams) directly in the email. It is much more effective to say: “Hi Alice, Bob, Charlie” or “Hi Source Control Team” instead of starting the email with a “Hi all”
Finally, if you find yourself writing a long email it may be easier just to put the contents of your email in an appropriately formatted document and send the document. If action is required, arrange a meeting or a teleconference to go through the document with your colleagues.
It is much easier to ignore a long email than to ignore a meeting. Sending the document as part of the agenda of the meeting will ensure that your colleagues will have the document in front of them while you talk them through it.
Teleconferences
I do not know of a single person who enjoys teleconferences. They can be boring and can be a most effective time and productivity disposal system. Things become more complicated when not everyone can speak English (or the dominant / common language of your workplace).
I try and avoid teleconferences as much as possible, but there are ways to make them work:
- Have a clear agenda, focused and realistic agenda. Having an unfocused agenda is the death knell for productivity! Enforcing a strict time limit to the meeting will also help focus minds on the agenda.
- Send any materials, documents, diagrams ahead of the meeting. If possible, attach them to the meeting invite. It gives time to invitees to read and prepare any questions ahead of the meeting.
- Do not read through documents or presentation in the meeting. Use the meeting to discuss the material, not to read it out loud.
- Prepare actionable items for those people who you have invited to the meeting. If you cannot think of one, the person should be strictly an “optional attendee”.
- Avoid slang, cultural references, and inside jokes. It can be very disconcerting for a team member not to know what everybody else is laughing about. Stick to the agenda, and use basic and direct language.
I have found that having a video meeting can be more effective than having a teleconference. It makes it difficult for the attendees to tune out the teleconference and check their email. As the facilitator, you get immediate feedback if your message is getting through.
Finally, treat meetings or teleconferences as matters of last resort. They are expensive and are an inconvenience especially if your team works in different timezones.