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I have noticed that there is no loyalty among Russians to the company, if marginal better offer is found people decide to leave the company. How to motivate them?
Svetlana Kuznetsova answers:
Yes, you are right, there is quite often no loyalty to the company, but there is a loyalty to the people.
Try to create trust relations with people within the company. This is not easy due to the Russian value “suspiciousness towards foreigners”. But still, if you manage to build trust between you as a person and them as “people” (not between them and company), you would not feel that Russians are not loyal.
I do not understand why informal get together after work seems not to be well received
Svetlana Kuznetsova answers:
Regarding the negative attitude towards informal meetings after work, this could be the case of age reference (the older the people, the less they tend to stay after work for “doing nothing”), or again the unwillingness to socialize with foreigners due to “suspiciousness towards foreigners”.
Because of that Russians just could not be totally relaxed.
The thing to be kept in mind: all these reactions are unconscious, so they could not be judged very strictly.
I am confused by the fact that when making presentations to Russian people it can be difficult to receive any feedback in the form of comments, questions or even a feeling that one has been understood. In fact I make a point of telling people that they should make it known if they do not understand something but it is exceptionally rare that people will admit to this.
Svetlana Kuznetsova answers:
Refers to the rule: do not show oneself + modesty as a value.
Remember that Russian culture is partially reactive. So, the concept of “loosing face” is very strong here.
The unwillingness to provide the open feedback actually means the fear of revealing the ignorance that could cause the face losing.
Work out other ways of getting feedback.
E.g. if you really wish to get the honest assessment, ask people in one-on-one manner, not in front of the group.
Also keep in mind the hierarchy: in Russia it is not accepted to be smarter than the boss.
Russian company presented to its Italian colleagues very beneficial investment proposal. Because of Italians’ distrust to Russian, they start checking the information. It takes plenty of time.
(Respondent’s culture – Russian, target culture – Italian)
The usual way of Russian’s action in similar cases:
Usually we passively wait for Italians’ feedback loosing thereby the possibility of efficient acting at the market.
Svetlana Kuznetsova answers:
Refers to the basic trait of Russian culture “suspiciousness towards foreigners”, that is unconscious and is usually denied to be present by Russians. That is the “black hole” of Russian culture. The situation described is a typical case of the psychological defense called “transference”. This happens when the person cannot see the certain quality in himself on the strength of its negative perception and just impute this quality to any other person or group of people.
To clarify, this are not Italians who do not trust Russians (they just do their usual job), these are Russians who suspect Italians not because they have the reasons for that, but because of such strange effect of “transference”. Important note: each culture has its “black hole” and preferable psychological defenses. So, Russians could not be blamed for their “black hole”
Advice for Russians: be more conscious and do not think that any of your suggestions will be accepted without careful consideration and study. And that is proper way for doing business in any country. As far as you seek for investments from Italian side, let them take the decision whether to invest or not.
Advice for Italians: try not to remain Russians in the dark. Set clear criteria and time limits within which you provide the Russian colleagues with the final decision regarding their offers. Remember: they already spent time and energy to provide you with the proposals and have the right to know the details on how these proposals will be approached.
Certain Russian people are quite hermetic and show very little emotion: there is rarely a strong expression on the face, never any visible signs of emotion. It can make it difficult to understand the motivation of that person, what are his needs or wishes. It can also give an idea that that person is detached from what happens to him or others.
Svetlana Kuznetsova answers:
Russian culture is partially reactive – our people do not like losing face and prefer at the starting point of communication to let other side speaking first. The intention is simple. As all other people on the Earth we need to be oriented within the situation. We just do this a bit slower in comparison with totally multi-active cultures. As soon as Russians get the feeling of the context they become more relaxed and allow themselves to act more open.
The lack of facial expression may be explained with the help of a bit different angle of observation. For Russians exaggerated external emotions’ demonstration means shortage of inner mental work. We even have the proverb that says: The laughter without reason is a sign of foolishness.
So, your Russian counterpart is not detached from what happens, he just unconsciously demonstrates the seriousness and professionalism.
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