France – Russia intercultural management

Type of business: Transport

Subject: Program to improve working relationships with the Russians

Intercultural Management of French engineers

CONTEXT
French engineers from a large French industrial group were collaborating with a Russian company on a major project to renovate railway equipment in Russia.

Meetings between project managers and engineers from the design department were frequent, as were meetings in France and Russia, conference calls and exchanges by e-mail and via documents.
Quickly, a lack of confidence on the part of the Russians with regard to their French counterparts was felt.
The various projects were moving along too slowly for the French team and negotiations were becoming longer and more difficult to carry out.

BIRDWELLSOLUTIONS
Following a study with project managers and engineers in touch with the Russian design department, Birdwell noted that the French teams need to be given the keys to decode Russian behavior.
A one-day program was set up with support from a Russian expert engineer.
• Feedback on the experiences of the French team
• Addressing the themes of cross perception
• Knowing the rules for conducting negotiations and establishing leadership
• Assimilating the rules of teleworking with Russian people and teams

AT STAKE FOR THE COMPANY
• Understand the fundamental values of Russians
• Acquire keys for decoding Russian behavior in the workplace
• Adopt the right behavior with Russians

BIRDWELL & CUSTOMER BENEFITS
Understanding the fundamentals of Russian culture has facilitated and improved negotiation phases and relationships between the French and Russian teams.