One considerable cross-culturaldifference between American, British, Chinese and Swedish business people is the way they meet.

The Swedes love meetings and therefore have a lot of them. The meetings are all well-structured - too much for some cultures to feel comfortable with. So, let’s say the nanoseconds of small-talk have ticked away and it is time to get down to business in a Swedish meeting.

A lot ofwords are used in order to get everyone up to the same starting-point with a similar knowledge of all the facts. This is a bit like lining up horses before a race. Pay attention to this as detailed information from the beginning could win you many points.

However, when the stalls open and the horses are supposedly allowed to gallop away to the finishing post, they actually don’t - they trot. Things move slowly. Why? Well firstly, you can always set up another meeting and secondly, everyone has the chance to give their opinion irrespective of its usefulness and relevancy. Consensus may be pointed out early on as the underlying objective which the meeting should have. There may be considerable dormant mistrust for anyone who is not “in line” with these concepts.

The Americans whitewash the above. The goal of the meeting is the agenda. If you do not know the background to this goal, you should not be there in the first place. Feelings? Why complicate things and waste time. The meeting has to be fluid. So, after a fair amount of small talk and maybe a tour of the office building the idea is to get a move on. People should open their mouth only to be constructive always with their eye on the goal. There is no time for reflections now. They may come later.

The Brits spend considerable time on the small talk and the business side is gradually eased in. Reasonableness and some other vague concept is the goal from the outset. A fixed agenda could mean inflexibility and could be either extremely impressive or explosive. Language is fundamentally important and it is used as a code in order to diplomatically explore where possible conflicts could lie ahead. The Brit is already thinking about the best way to navigate the rough waters and again with careful use of English and humour he or she explores you, your ideas and what you are not saying from a strategic point of view. All of this from a safe distance.

The Chinese lovesmall talk as long as it is in line with their rules. Rarely, will they answer in detail if any discussion is not included in their well-prepared list of topics. If you get a Chinese businessman (and it will usually be a man) into a long-streaming conversation, you are doing well so keep him on that roll before talking about the business at hand.

It is rarethat the real decision maker would attend a Chinese meeting. In spite of this, I have known a case where one attendee from a Chinese contingent was introduced briefly as an assistant and did not speak for the whole meeting making everyone wonder why he was there in the first place. It turned out that he was the main decision-maker. All in all, they appear quite patient and polite from the outset but can become quite confrontational early on if their terms are challenged. Prepare yourself for that and for some tough-talking which may be needed further on in the meeting.

© Andrew Davies, Communicoach 2010