Indian Outsourcing: When 'Yes' is not 'Yes'

Have you ever asked a question, got an answer that sounded like ‘YES’ and then later discovered it wasn't?

#My2014Moments ... Recently, Frank Casale, CEO of the Outsourcing Institute asked me to write a write paper on this topic. Having lived and worked in India from 2005 to 2009 and now still working with organizations from that part of the world, I have written a balanced view with a powerful way forward for organizations wanting to overcome the conflict occurring from 3 primary differences: corporate culture, geographic culture, and industry culture. Here are excerpts from the paper.

Most people working with an Indian outsourcing company can relate to this. Why does this happen? The root cause is most likely cultural differences. These differences impact time orientation, response to authority and ultimately decision making, productivity and deadlines.

THE WESTERN VIEW

Say “No” or say “Yes”, whatever it is, your word is your bond. This message is reinforced throughout a westerner’s life and career. In fact, the book, “Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In”, based on the Harvard Negotiation Project, remains a best seller since 1984. ‘Yes’, or anything that sounds like ‘yes’ is a commitment. Unless you clearly tell me ‘no’ then you have committed. Commitments kept enhance reliability and that builds trust.

THE EASTERN VIEW

‘Yes’ means ‘YES’ only when the person says “YES” without hesitation. Anything other than “YES” without hesitation is most likely ‘no’. However, saying “no” directly to someone is considered disrespectful. It’s an easy bet that right now those of you from a Western culture are scratching your heads because ‘no’ is one of the first words you learned to speak. Here’s the bottom, line in Asian culture, face-saving is important so you don’t make someone look bad by telling them ‘no’ to a request. It’s especially disrespectful to directly say “no” to someone more senior than you. So people all over Asia have developed indirect ways of saying ‘no’ that can actually sound like ‘yes’ (especially to Westerners). Some of these include:

• No response. Silence does not equal agreement.
• Postponing the answer by telling you they will get back to you without setting a specific time. This usually means ‘no’. The person is buying time because they are not comfortable saying no and you may or may not hear back.
• “I’ll do my best.” When someone from the U.S. says, “I’ll do my best to get that to you by Tuesday,” the person has told you it is their highest priority and they are going to make it happen. When someone from India say this, it’s most likely not going to happen.
• “I’ll try my level best.” Nope.
• “I’ll try.” Means no
• “Let me see what I can do to make that happen.” Most likely not going to happen.
• “I’ll get it to you in a day or two.” Without an exact date and time commitment, this still means no.
• “It might be possible later.” Don’t count on it.
• “I understand.” Means just that. The person understands but has not committed to anything.
• “Everything’s fine.” Ask for a meeting to review the deliverable that afternoon or the next morning.

RESOLVING THE CONUNDRUM

Start by realizing these issues are not about trust or lack of commitment or accountability. They are about communication differences, many of which are influenced culturally.

Those from North America and Europe may ask, “Why can’t the Indian IT workers adapt to our culture when working with us?” The answer is, they do try very hard, but undoing a lifetime of habits formed by cultural influence is not an easy thing to do. It would be the similar to you going to visit many parts of Asia and having to learn to use a Southeast Asian Squat Toilet. An Asian toilet has no seat. It is basically a hole in the floor that you have to squat over to use. I can tell you from first-hand experience, after a lifetime of sitting on Western toilets, learning to squat and go was a complicated task, especially if you do not want to get yourself soiled. See the point?

The most important thing to remember is that the responsibility to seek to understand belongs to everyone. It's NOT because it's about the contract or who's in charge. It's because it's the right thing to do, It's how we can all demonstrate respect for each other.

The most common communication mistake, and not just between varying cultures, is the use of closed questions.

CREATE A JOINT MICRO-CULTURE

Customers and outsourcing companies come from varying cultures, this is obvious. Customers most likely have broad diversity in their organizations making assimilation to corporate culture much easier. The outsourcing company will be more influenced by its primary culture. Rather than assuming one will adapt to the other, consider creating a new micro-culture.

Start with the most common pain point—gaps in communication. Build communication protocols that state clearly the what, when, and how to communicate and most importantly who should receive each communication. The best approach for developing protocols is to apply an established framework in a facilitated workshop setting.

Using an outside facilitator who is familiar with cultural nuances and team development, the workshop is attended by both teams (if small teams, or representatives if large). The facilitator guides participants through the framework to quickly build trust as everyone works toward common protocols. Either during or prior to the workshop, I like to conduct a session on “Transitioning to a Global Mindset” that includes open discussion around the similarities and differences of the cultures represented. Then, we set about co-creating. Co-created protocols have the greatest chance of being understood, proliferated and followed. It’s a highly motivating way to begin a project because it creates a quick win for the joint team. Even if the team is well into the project, it’s never too late to step back and establish protocols.

Decision making and problem solving are the two other primary areas where protocols need to be co-created.

About the Author

Ed Cohen is Executive Vice President for Nelson Cohen Global Consulting. In addition to providing executive coaching and leadership development, Ed works with companies on both sides of the outsourcing equation to help them move up the value chain to becoming high performing partners. During a seven-year stint living and working in India, Ed led talent development for many companies across Asia. As senior vice president of talent management for Satyam Computer Services (now call Tech Mahindra), they became the first and only company outside the U.S. to attain the top ranking by American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). He also consults with Infosys, Cognizant, UST Global, Polaris Financial Technologies, CGI, Cap Gemini, and HCL Technologies along with each of their customers.

Download the complete while paper - with additional tips and ways of working at the Outsourcing Institute Website -- FREE, no strings attached, no registration required.