I am fortunate to have grown up in Singapore and have also had the opportunity to spend three years in the UK, and four years in the gorgeous city of San Diego, California, USA. In my interaction with leaders in these countries, I often find that there are very distinguishing traits in cultural and social norms, that can often create awkwardness if not addressed or understood. In a recent interview with Steve Scott for Leadership Point Radio, I classified them into three categories and compared those in the US and Singapore.
Communication
Singaporeans often tend to get into a very formal “work” mode when interacting regarding work-related issues. There is plenty of camaraderie at the workplace, but it is not as apparent when interacting over email or phone. Few niceties open and end the conversation, and you would be hard pressed to find someone talking about how you have been doing and engaging in small talk (e.g., US West Coast-esque). Sometimes, that can come across as a little curt, but the upside is that Singaporeans tend to be very straight-forward and cut to the chase. You’ll almost always know the objective of that interaction. Don’t take offense to that – pragmatism and efficiency is the name of the game in Singapore.
Management
Having been in the States for four years, I have witnessed a great number of risk-takers, many of whom are successful entrepreneurs who were willing to do something that defied the “norm”. Ivor Royston of Forward Ventures recently spoke at a San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange event on the San Diego biotech ecosystem, and described how he had faced significant opposition from his peers at UCSD when he was spending 20% of his time (as allowed) to start Hybritech. He took the risk and ignored the naysayers, and needless to say the rest is history, and the San Diego biotech scene was spawned. In Singapore, there is a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, and there is a general avoidance of risk where possible. One of the ways to navigate this is to create a well-defined plan that the Singaporean counterpart can see how risk is de-mitigated. This would hugely benefit interaction with managers in Singapore.
Negotiation
It is important to find the decision-maker when you need a “yes” quickly, and even more so for Singaporeans. Why? Singaporeans are almost religious about going by the book. There is a certain code of conduct where a request for permission is usually the norm, compared with being liberal and creative when taking certain actions. Sim Wong Hoo, Founder of the Singapore-born Creative Technologies, famously coined the “No U-Turn Syndrome“, where Singapore does not allow U-turns unless a traffic sign allows it. In contrast, some US cities (San Diego included) allow U-turns at most intersections unless it explicitly says it is disallowed. This contrast is stark and can drastically slow down discussions and negotiations. Add this complexity to the risk-avoiding Singaporean mindset and you can imagine how this can hamper decision-making. The way to get around this is to get to the right person!
I suppose I wouldn’t want to go into any detail about Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, but one can see how culture would greatly impact interactions in business relationships. It is important to understand the cultural norms and navigate this carefully. How we can effectively bridge cross-boundary relationship between the US and Singapore is going to be another post!