Getting Feedback From Chinese Audiences
By Greg Bissky
During presentations Western audiences ask questions, Chinese don’t. But you need audience feedback to ensure they understand your points. What can you do? Absent a weapon how can you get Chinese to ask questions?
An easy, if time consuming way is quite simple: don’t leave. Chinese will ask questions, even good questions showing exactly what they don’t know, they just won’t do it in a group. You have to find a way to let them come to you alone or in small groups to ask.
If at some function, a hotel or such, just standing alone in the lobby after your presentation is often good enough. Chinese will circle around, in ones and twos, waiting for their chance to get you alone to ask questions. At an office is a little harder, and takes longer. Keep your office door open and encourage visitors works, as does wandering around, giving many opportunities for staff to find you alone and thus safe to talk to. Sharing tea or lunch works too, but is harder to arrange 1×1 or a very small group.
A senior European engineer once fulminated at length against this Chinese tendency, alternating between the lack of intelligence shown and the enormous costs it caused. His solution: sermons to the almighty machinery god, logic. His sermons fell on deaf ears.
Chinese want to do a good job! Like all people, Chinese employees do not go to work in the morning hoping to make mistakes and to get in trouble. The difference between Westerners and Chinese is in how they want to be taught. Westerners are ready to be taught directly: you made this mistake, this is why and this is how to do it properly. Moreover Westerners accept, even expect, group learning, using one person’s mistake to teach everyone at the same time.
Chinese want to learn, just in a way that does not cause anyone to lose face. What does “face” here mean? It means “embarrassment,” as in “He was embarrassed when his mistake was pointed out in front of his coworkers.” Like in so many other areas, the Chinese rule, the how has to right before Chinese will listen to the what, applies.
The engineer hated this answer, believing that training the Chinese way was inefficient, thus illogical. I agreed with him, to a point, but then asked him what was most important, that the Chinese did the job properly or that they learned in the proper way how to the job properly. Which was more important, process or result?
I just spoke at a conference of Compliance Professionals in San Diego. During the reception a man told me about their Chinese brokers seemingly adding unnecessary steps to the import process. I asked him what his objective was, the goods clearing customs in an acceptable timeframe or a process that was efficient. Sputtering he started to say they were the same, but finally admitted they weren’t, and that the acceptable timeframe was most important. Exactly.
I often don’t like, and sometimes don’t even understand, how Chinese do things. So? I care about goals, not methods. So should you. Early in our careers we all heard a variation of, “I don’t care how you get it done, just get it done.” Sadly the way Chinese “get it done” is often so different than Westerners expect that it, the way, becomes more important than the what, the result achieved.
Your goal inside China is not to change the Chinese, it is to achieve your goals. Focus on your goals and let the Chinese worry about how they achieve them. Yes, of course there are exceptions, but this is a general principle. Worry about your own goals, not Chinese methods.
Greg Bissky, BicBiz.com | Bicultural Business
7 Comments » 7 Answers » 
Print
Email
April 1st, 2009 at 2:09 am
Great article Greg ! Your two messages have been quite succint and clear.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Excellent article. Well said.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Plus, leave the audience your contact info especially online ones and encourage them to be in touch.
April 4th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Goal focused as opposed to process focused is a top down methodology which can be extremely productive. But questioning fundamentals – even if not seeking to change them – can be critical. Simply accepting the end result can lead to dangerous situations, especially if you are considering compliance with regulations. In a specific example, if “getting it done” means a phone call to sort the problem out – but without actually addressing the problem face to face in writing – can result in a liability nightmare for foreign firms in China. Especially when transparency is required by foreign stakeholders.
Just a caveat, overall the article reinforces a good message.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
This is a very familiar problem, and one I encountered when first working in China.
I’d do the presentation, propose what I thought was the solution, and ask for any comments or criticisms. Silence.
I found the best way is to simply say this is the problem we face and could you please offer suggestions as to how we can deal with it (even if I thought I already had the answer). As there was no implied, or actual, criticism involved, this proved to be highly effective in getting my Chinese staff/colleagues to open up in very creative ways.
Over time, using this approach, where people get used to proposing solutions, it allows for the development of a much more open, Western style culture.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I greatly appreciate this piece and experienced many of the quiet respect that one receives from the Asian audiences that I have lectured to. What I have learned is that when you set expectations, especially around your standard, you are apt to be disappointed. But at the sametime, learning how others interact can be the key to a successful experience. In a recent C-Level workshop that we held in Beijing (the 4th in a series during 2008) two things emerged to create discussion and questions; presenter respect and humility, and setting at atmosphere of ‘friendly learning’. We must remember that experts/authorities/professors are viewed with reverence. Often this role is misused and therefore this atmosphere remains tense throughout the learning process. If you are allow people to be in comfort not only will the learning experience increase but so will the questions. The true measure however is not the questions (heaven knows lots of questions may mean that you aren’t getting your point across) but the application of the principals being conveyed.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Yes, It is a chinese way not to ask questions in gathering during presentations, particularly when their seniors are also present in the same meeting.They think that only senior has a right to ask questions.but if you want to take a feedback, definitly there are ways, after finishing your presentation you can ask their seniors to comment on the issues and problems or alternatively you can arrange a dinner with the required persons and can open the dialogue. Many issues and problems are solved on dining table. This is the traditional way of solving business issues and problems.