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hi nice to see you


uh it's Friday evening


6 p.m so I think we have all of us we


have something in common


we are all nerds because come on Friday


evening we are in a conference


uh


as you can see it's quite obvious I'm


even wearing a turtleneck and one of my


biggest uh nerdy accomplishments it's


that I met my husband during a


conference


so try to beat that


and today we are going to talk about


International cooperation


and I believe that probably all of you


work in International Teams


and some of you might also not be locals


not be polish raise your hands please if


you are if you came here from abroad


okay so we have a mixed theme


here so that's nice


uh why this topic


uh well


and actually how it all started a few


years ago I uh was a biology graduate


I didn't study computer science I had


not much to do with computer science at


all


I used some statistics during my


University course and some basic things


and now a few years later I'm here in a


conference


I work as a software engineer sorry a


quality assurance actually engineer in


an international big company


and actually it all started when I


picked French as my second language at


High School


I always liked learning foreign


languages


and so I learned English and French


because it's my passion and that led me


to my first job as a software tester in


a French speaking team and since then


I've been working with people from


various countries in a couple of in a


few companies and actually there was a


short period when I worked in a Polish


team and actually it was quite boring


because it wasn't challenging enough and


I think that International cooperation


is really difficult sometimes but it's


really so interesting and I love it and


I would like to share some thoughts with


you we have one hour but the stock will


be probably shorter so don't worry there


will be a lot of time for the party or


some discussion


uh


well


and this is a photo of me during work


drift in Paris I know bad quality well I


didn't have a good


smartphone yet


well and let's think if our office is a


global village


this torque okay uh what do you think


when I say the word Village


like Village Countryside


uh you might have some picture in your


mind


but in general Global Village it seems


like an oxymoron because Global means uh


like you know


it involves the whole earth whereas


Village it's usually a small place with


a small group of people


who know each other who have the same


customs the same Traditions usually the


same religion language and everything


so they are quite


uniform in their views


they are quite homogenic


so how can we say it's global


and when I'm thinking about the concept


of global village I have a picture in my


mind there is a chain store that sells


furniture that is that is all over the


world


and probably everyone has some item from


there I'm not sure if you already know


what I'm talking about


that's it


so let's think about it they have their


stores in many countries and they are


the same when you look at the things you


can buy there but also architecture the


whole style even food


and people all over the world can have


the same items it's a great example of


globalization


when some people don't even go there to


shop


they go there for example to eat


some favorite food like meatballs are


some people just like to wander around


and get lost in The Labyrinth


which is a bit strange to me but oh well


and also if you like to travel uh


you might for example travel to the


other


end of the world


you get off your plane you are quite


tired you get to your Airbnb you want to


drink some water and what do you find


there


probably the most famous glass in the


world and you might feel even nostalgic


because you have the same glass at your


home or maybe at work


okay so we have our glass and uh


when you look at many companies


corporations


they would also like their offices to be


global


and even when you look at the design


very often


uh all the offices look the same


if you go to an office in broadsworth


let's say and the given company has an


office I don't know in London you will


go there everything is the same they


even ship the furniture I've seen that


happening but is it really uh valid like


okay you can buy the same items but


items but is it only a facade or is it


really global


and since you are all probably working


in International Teams or you have been


working


I'm sure you know that it's not that


easy


what issues there can be


um yeah we might have several issues for


example the most obvious ones time zone


if you are based in Poland and you work


with the states that might be a bit


difficult right uh some people in Poland


might need to be working in the evenings


in order to have some meetings that's


not so terrible but imagine living in


the states and working with Indian


people


I knew a developer who would do that and


actually he would work at night and


sleep during the day and well he was a


night owl but not everyone is so that


might be difficult


but even if you have countries in the


same time zone


you can have some differences for


example work and lunch hours


and


let's take an example of Poland and


France


if you work with French people it can be


really difficult if you are polish


they usually start work at nine or ten


after two hours they leave for lunch


sometimes it's lunch sometimes something


else some errands in the city they stay


there for two hours


they come back and then they work until


like maybe six or even seven pm


which is quite unbelievable for Polish


people who prefer usually to start work


at seven or eight and just be finished


by four


so how do you schedule meetings


when all the Polish people are so ready


you know to uh to talk and to have a


meeting all the friends are gone for


their lunch


when the friends are ready you know


after the lunch after their coffee


Polish people are like sorry we are


going home it's like after 3 P.M


and it's it's really problematic and


even you know communicating like for


example I've heard from the French


people that you are not living a healthy


life you know if you only eat a sandwich


or a salad and then you go home and you


eat some bigger dinner like after four


come on how how do you live


so it's a big cultural cultural


difference


well


we also work remotely


obviously right now after the pandemic


but even before if we have remote teams


of course we cannot meet on regular


basis


and


you have to all admit even if you are


fans of remote work and for example I am


there are some problems connected to


that


you don't get to see people's faces


their facial expressions sometimes you


see them on the camera but it's not the


same


you you don't get many non-verbal signs


you cannot even learn about their


gestures and things like that


if you go to an office and you meet


people from another nationality


you are able to learn that


quite fast but sometimes you never get


to do it and you might not be able to


interpret some signals


uh well something that might not seem


obvious but work and promotion rules


what do I mean


sometimes or even often especially if


we're talking about corporations bigger


companies uh


there is like you know a company has


headquarters in a country let's say in


Western Europe and they decide to


Outsource some of their work to Eastern


Europe for example or to Central Central


Europe


and what's the problem with that well it


might happen that all the management and


for example research and development is


in the main country


what do we Outsource for example help


desk some maintenance


and we end up uh with you know an office


where there are some workers there are


some employees there might be motivated


they would like to be the part of the


company they would like to have an


opportunity to for example get promoted


and let's say they cannot


because you know they are only


contractors there is there is not really


a path for them


and of course that might not be a


problem but it might happen that you end


up with two offices of the same company


and in one of them people do not feel


motivated enough and


some problems might start to arise also


employment conditions well if a company


decides to open an office in another


country and and they do not prepare well


they might not be able to find any


people or to have a good team if they


don't know what employment conditions


are standards in the given Market if


they don't know the salaries or standard


perks


and obviously if they are not open to


also learn cultural differences


and we can identify Identify some of


those problems but some of them are


really difficult to grasp


I had a situation once


I had a French project manager and we


had many difficulties communicating with


her


it seemed like she didn't understand our


needs as the QA team and well we spoke


the same language but we weren't on the


same page and we just thought okay


maybe she's just you know a person who


is hard to cooperate with or maybe it's


cultural difference but then we traveled


to Paris to meet up


and I don't know what exactly happened


but


we went to the office


and


after the first meeting the first hour


discussion face to face


we felt like it was a breakthrough like


it changed so much and we spent there


several days several meetings with


various people and I could feel that


this thanks to this trip magically our


cooperation improved a great deal


we started to hear each other and up to


this day it's hard to identify one


factor I think it's a combination uh


both eye to eye contact an opportunity


to have a coffee together and all of


those small things you might have


experienced something similar


so even though I'm a fan of remote work


I think such business trips are


important


well so let's say that we uh we already


know that it's good to meet in person


we've traveled and met the team so


that's the first step to having like


good Global office but what else can we


do or what else could we learn


and now a question there is a water tank


what do you see inside


what would you point at


nice one frog


okay yeah sorry


yeah


uh most people from from Europe or from


the states will say fish or will point


to the three biggest fish and actually


this is like a classical psychological


experiment


where there is a difference between


people from the west and from east by


East I mean mostly Eastern Asia


people from Asia would rather see the


background and other details and people


from Western cultures will mostly focus


on the main fish


and it's not only that there were many


experiments


for example taking photos if let's say


an American is asked to take a photo it


will be something like this like a


portrait of a person there will be


mainly the face but when the Japanese


were asked to take like portrait


the photos were really different


they


pictured like the whole silhouette and


some details from the background not


necessarily the horse but in this


example I just found such a stock photo


so I decided to use it as an example


and all of that is connected to cultural


values


there is a spectrum it's and on two ends


we have individualism and collectivism


so Asian cultures are more more


Collective and we Europeans or Americans


are really individualistic and there are


there is more to that of course than


perceiving pictures or taking photos


there are differences in many aspects or


the way of taking this making decisions


for example


um there are other values for example


power we have hierarchy or equality and


that's a really important one


uh


many cultures


for example Asian ones are hierarchical


and in Europe what is most appreciated


equality


so you should be basically like you're a


colleague of your manager right flat


structure


uh and you just you know talk to each


other as friends


uh for example in countries like India


it's a bit different hierarchy is


important and I once met a European


manager who said you know I don't like


to work with those people from that


country


uh they are waiting for me to like give


them some tasks they like expect to


follow some orders they don't have any


initiative uh why are they like this


but this person didn't understand that


that's a sign of respect and that's


how they would operate in their country


in you know a company in their country


so from their point of view that was


something positive


so here we should be on the same page


and if we are not it's difficult


and for example you can also have


competition so some cultures might be


more competitive or more cooperative and


there are other values


uh which differ a lot


so let's say that you made some effort


to travel to meet the team to learn


about the culture the values you are


closer and closer to uh to really you


know being an effective International


profession like you know professional


but there is something more language


do you think that by speaking English we


speak the same language


if so you are quite mistaken


because language is not only the words


we speak we can speak the same words but


have different meaning in mind


an example


uh well


uh some English phrases were taken and


it was assumed that they are spoken by a


British person to a Dutch person and in


this example I think that a Dutch person


could be also replaced with a Polish


person because we are quite similar in


understanding English in this spectrum


so let's say that a British person says


with all due respect and something like


with all due respect let's discuss


something and something


so what would you think well a lot of


people think oh he's listening to me


he has respect for me


and what could it mean in British I


think you are wrong


oh by the way


how do you understand it by the way


means that


somebody wants to mention something it's


not the main topic but but let's mention


it so like this is not very important


it's like on the side


well and in British the following


criticism will be the purpose of you


know the the following discussion


please think about that some more


okay is it a request to really think


more like it's a good idea keep


developing it not necessarily it might


mean it's a bad idea don't do it


I'm sure it's my fault


is it his fault


no it's not my fault and of course this


is a bit of a joke but it is true that


especially in British


some phrases might have like a deeper


meaning and foreigners don't always


catch you know those subtleties and it


might be a challenge and it might not be


that obvious and easy to learn that and


we are often not taught you know this


deeper meaning


and once I asked people uh because I had


a similar presentation but it was


discussion panel do you prefer to work


with native English speaker or do you


prefer to actually work in full


International environment for example


Polish people working with I don't know


the Dutch people or something like that


and some people preferred the first


option some people preferred the second


one


and actually both of them have some pros


and cons


well if you talk to the natives you


expect them to have perfect accent of


course there are many accents and


dialects Etc


but you know if you're a foreigner you


hope to okay I will just pick up this


great accent from those people I will


you know learn thanks to that improve


fluent speech that's what you expect and


also might be quite a sophisticated


vocabulary and grammar


that's also possible but what happens if


you speak International English


it might be simpler


because if you talk to the natives they


might use many like Regional words slang


or some Proverbs that you might not know


as you know a foreigner even if your


level of English is really you know High


you might just not know them you don't


know every English accent in the world


uh clear and concise speech of course


not always but I assume that you are


talking to some non-native English


speakers that you know are quite fluent


and usually uh their speech will be


quite clear


and actually you reduce the emotional


and cultural layer if you have two


people for whom English is not their


native language


they're both will be like you know on


the same kind of level uh they're both


will be


disadvantaged in some sort but also the


emotional layer will be reduced and of


course all the cultural things like I


said Proverbs slang so that might be in


some way better


so there are actually pros and cons and


I think there is no you know like one


perfect way of composing your team


uh a thing I have to mention although


it's not a problem of International


Communication it's a problem of


communication in general


abbreviations


try to understand this phrase


I don't know if you can see it well


this doesn't look like BAU what is the


POC and ETA for the fix find the RCA


ASAP will it be up by EOD


I don't know WTF


what does it mean


uh it's Friday evening you're probably


tired so let's maybe not try to decipher


that I will just give you


a solution


so this doesn't look like business as


usual what is the person of contact and


estimated time of arrival for the fix


find the root cause as soon as possible


will it be up by the end of the day and


WTF


what to fix and


actually this phrase is a bit artificial


but all the abbreviations are real from


the real project


and some of them have even


um like many multiple meanings for


example POC I always knew this


abbreviation as proof of concept like


let's build this automation framework as


a proof of concept then somebody used


this in another context so I started


Googling it and I found person of color


and I was like no it doesn't match you


know and finally I found out it's person


of contact so obviously sometimes


abbreviations are good


but try not to use them too much


and one of the last things I don't know


if you've heard about the rule no hello


it's in Polish you can of course replace


PL by en


so when you write to someone in the chat


and it's like hi


sometimes passes


how are you


do you have a minute


and you see that kind of message you


don't know what it's about you are


really focused on the task


you are


quite frustrated


if you get such a message from HR


department you start wondering you know


is it a promotion or maybe I'm fired


but maybe it's better to do it like this


hi I'm writing to you and then you


describe the issue you might use one or


two abbreviations if they are you know


quite clear


and you might even say something like


could you write back to me when you have


five spare minutes please and you can


still be polite you don't need to ask


how are you or just live high and it's


much more efficient and if everybody


abuses it in your project it might make


your life easier


so there are many ways to improve


communication


apart from that


of course you can learn about various


cultures but managers can also introduce


some trainings for example


employees can be trained so that they


use some Universal means of


communication an example there is


something called non-violent


communication NVC


and basically uh


if NVC was like an architectural style


it would be rest so basically it's a


style of communicating uh where you have


some certain rules of separating like


intentions emotions Etc it can help you


be more efficient but also you know be


on the same page with other people and


it's International


uh you know translated to many languages


you have trainings everywhere so maybe


it's worth thinking to learn such a way


in a company and then communicate more


easily just one idea


so to sum up let's say we've traveled


and met our team


we learned about cultural values of


course it's work in progress we want to


learn about it in one day


and we can decide on some common means


of communication some simple rules


and if we do so


we are a bit closer of you know being


really International uh like a global


office


and that might make our life


professional life a bit better


uh when I prepared this presentation


actually


like closer to the end I discovered this


book and I found out it has a lot of


useful uh things in it it's also


translated to polish and if you want to


read one book on International you know


cooperation read that one or you can


also search for the author she has some


YouTube videos it's really useful and


she develops all the topics like you


know more broadly


and


that's all right now if you have some


questions or maybe thoughts


we can discuss


[Applause]


any questions


okay there's


uh hey I actually have a question


related to what you meant what you


mentioned about the language differences


and the direct or indirect communication


on the example of British versus Dutch


and I work for the um Asian company and


this is like a huge a huge


um diversity in terms of direct and


indirect Communication in Europe and


there


um and how are your tips to actually


reduce this burden this difference where


people are like extremely not Direct by


the culture and the other side of the


team or the world is like like Direct by


nature and just by giving a direct a


nice or


um cool feedback to the other person


this other person can be absolutely hurt


by the direct communication because they


never experienced it for example okay so


we mean that people people are kind of


used to wrap up everything in like nice


words uh yeah so it's a common issue and


an idea for solution that I found is to


have uh like when you start cooperating


you set up uh in some situations it's


called the contract but it's like you


know a contract for communication or a


contract to organize your cooperation


which simply means that you discuss you


know you discuss uh the rules that


you'll be using and uh there is an


interesting example actually from this


book where there was like a French woman


who worked in the states


and she got some feedback and in the


opinion of her American manager this


feedback was quite negative he was not


happy but he like you know he uh said


like uh also you're wonderful we love


how we work etc and in the end he


mentioned someone negative thing and you


know like you know his way


it meant negative feedback but for her


she was convinced that he's really happy


and she had no idea you know and


what to do in this situation probably he


should mention at the beginning listen


now I will give you some feedback and I


will list some things that I'm happy


about but there is one or two things


that I'm not happy about but I think


that you should start by also by


teaching people about those for example


cultural values that you should teach


them listen this culture is different


they are more direct or the opposite but


it's difficult because usually companies


don't do that you just come to a company


you have some onboarding but it's not


really cultural you know you just learn


about the technology and then you just


start working and I think it's not right


you should have some cultural trainings


otherwise there will be


misunderstandings and giving feedback is


difficult in general even within one


culture


anyone else


so I have one story related to Cher


maybe an ask for your opinion uh


who here already uses chat GPT to create


messages to your clients co-workers okay


quite some number of people so we we do


that in our company that we uh when we


as mostly Polish people in our company


we try to make a nice message and we


being polish were often not so nice uh


at minimal communication directly


especially when we work with other


programmers from other company and we


try to create one team what we do is


just you know create this message in


let's say in Polish and we try to say


say to chat GPT could you make it nice


for a programmer from Denmark let's say


so I wonder what's what's your opinion


on this is is chat GPT some kind of


solution for such situations that's a


great idea but I


I don't know if if chat could do that


Maybe


but yeah I would have to test it but


yeah possibly


why not actually uh yeah uh last time I


I saw a meme that uh like somebody sent


a message and like there was an email


right and the person responded uh listen


I see that this email is really dry it's


written by AI please put me in contact


with a real person and the person


responded no I'm a real person I'm just


autistic so this seems quite dry but I'm


not an AI you know so very often you


talk to some people and or people from


some other culture might have some


specific way of phrasing things and for


you it seems like AI because it's always


the same I haven't mentioned that but


there is some psychological mechanisms


where you perceive people from other


group or culture like they seem the same


and it's not only about face for example


it's also about language so so I'm not


sure if you create things with AI it


might even sound uh you know more


artificial but maybe it could work


I'm not sure and also it changes like


from month to months so it will improve


yeah


yeah okay thanks


um I was a little bit surprised by uh


the story about the feedback from an


American person uh I would


uh think of American culture as being


um on the side of uh being direct rather


than indirect I would say that the


British people as it was demonstrated by


the examples uh the British are indirect


uh are there any


um warnings you can provide us with all


hints that


um are unobvious that for example I


don't know


um our Germans or our I don't know


Italian people that


it's from your experience right


oftentimes people assume that uh this


nation is indirect but it turns it's the


other way around which


um


uh might cause much of uh commotion and


communication problems can you advise us


on some unobvious things


well I think it's a difficult question


and uh


what do you mean to like it probably you


need to do research on the given Nation


right but that's true that sometimes uh


it's only appearances right a nation


seems to be direct but uh in general if


we are talking about Americans I've


heard about many issues that they seem


uh direct at the beginning but with time


when you cooperate closer you find out


that they are not and uh it's easy to


have this first Contact like to


let's make friends but it's you know not


that deep and uh when you cooperate


closer and closer you kind of like hit


the wall and actually there is a term


for that uh it's called there are two


types coconut cultures and Peach


cultures so coconut that's for example I


think Polish people could classify or


Scandinavians so it's quite hard to have


this first Contact and those people


won't smile at you at the beginning and


I or maybe they will but not so much as


Americans but if you know get to know


them better they will be direct and you


will build uh you know a bond slowly and


it will be strong if you have a pitch


culture it's quite easy to like you know


pierce the speech and it seems like they


are very open but then there is this


hard part inside that car and that's


harder and I don't have a remedy for


that I think it's quite difficult and


well


I've talked to people for example who


work with some American team on a


project


and they for example they get answers


that uh okay this version of your work


is not good we want a different one okay


but what should I correct and they just


don't want to tell them so there are


many issues and I think it's also you


know on personal level some people are


just difficult to cooperate with some


are easy so it's really hard and it's


difficult to give an advice I think


okay no more questions thank you very


much


thank you