Navigating Culture-Based Workstyles to Improve Collaboration
How cultural differences between monochronic and polychronic societies impact team collaboration
If you are North-American or European you might be frustrated about working with Asians because your colleagues don´t give you a clear heads-up when they will miss a deadline.
If you are Asian you might be frustrated because your European colleagues appear to be disrespectful.
Reason for this can be cultural differences.
Monochronic vs. Polychronic Cultures
Those two concepts describe how different cultures perceive and manage time and relationships.
Monochronic cultures tend to emphasize punctuality, schedules, and have a linear view of time. That means they may choose to drive the completion of a task instead of building a deep relationship first.
Time is seen as a finite resource that needs to be managed well. You only have one life and want to use it wisely.
A day in a monochronic culture was a good day if you delivered something on time.
One fact that helps to understand this view is the way those cultures fulfill their need for safety. They pay for health insurance, legal insurance, unemployment insurance and all kinds of other insurances. I have all three. As a result relationships are NOT crucial for support and survival.
In contrast, this is exactly what polychronic cultures do. Extended family and relationships are the safety net for survival. If you lose your job, you can count on family or friends to help you out. If you get in a fight with someone, your family will back you up. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that people from those cultures prioritize relationships over project schedules.
Time is more fluid and seen as less finite as many people also believe in having several lives. What you cannot achieve in this life, you can still do in another.
The day in a polychronic culture was a good day if you built and deepened your relationships. You strengthened your safety net.
Most of the world tends to be polychronic. Monochronic cultures are in North America, Northern Europe, Australia and parts of Western Europe.
How to bridge this cultural gap
Whatever your preference, it helps to make peace with the fact that other cultures might have a different style to get things done. People value relationships differently and they perceive time differently.
If you feel closer to the monchronic style and want to collaborate successfully, give your polychronic colleagues what they need to feel safe and work well.
That can be:
Small talk about your family and friends
Interest in the other persons life.
Praise for what the person has accomplished.
Respect for what the person does or who he/she knows.
Call them up in between just to hear how they are doing without asking about work progress.
This is no useless distracting “fluff” but part of the process to achieve your goal. In fact, it is time well spent.
If you grew up in a more polychronic culture, be aware that others might focus on schedules and tasks. They can come across as rude and disrespectful. Unfortunatelly, I don´t know what mental model or tool would help to embrace this directness. Hopefully, awareness helps a bit.
Real life example
My Asian colleagues were supposed to provide data to me so that I can run my prediction models for product development. I explained to them what data I need. When I was done presenting in my very structured Geman way, I asked “Do you understand? Can you please provide this data to me by the end of next month using this template?”
Answer: “Yes, yes, of course!”
Well, they did not. And they also did not tell me that they did not fully understand the task.
Later, I understood that admitting they did not understand me meant to put our relationship at risk which was no option for them. Relationships are more important than deadlines.
I failed to build a relationship first.
Have you experienced frustration when working with other cultures?