Working With Americans
Why did you write 'Working with Americans'?
One of the reasons I wrote the book 'Working with Americans' with my co-author Laney Denslow is mostly because I found, as she did, that over the course of many years of living outside the US, you find you're explaining the business culture to people a lot. And you have several conversations, different angles, but several conversations about, Well how come the Americans do this, and how come they write emails that are so short and why do they take so long to do this and that. And you find after you explain them so long, so many times, I found that after 20 years or so in the UK, I finally had enough knowledge and distance from my own business culture that I could actually observe it as an outsider much more objectively than when I was in it. So I think part of the reason for writing it is because partly there had never been a book written before purely about the US business culture. But secondly, I really wanted to help my clients and other people that I met to understand and demystify why Americans behave in the way they do.
How likely am I to have to work with Americans?
It's very likely that you will work with Americans at some point in your business career mostly because American companies are all over the world. American companies are in vast numbers in the UK. They employ several million people outside of the US. So if you don't actually, directly are not employed by an American firm, it is very likely that you will have one as a customer or a client or at some point in your career, you probably will work with an American.
Are Americans really that different from the British?
One of the common mistakes British companies make when they are working with Americans is maybe their formality to match the level of informality of Americans. For example you will want to call an American colleague by their first name right away. You will want to be very demonstrative. You will want to be very energetic and enthusiastic and demonstrate that by talking about the project or the program you are going to be working on together. So that is quite important. I think another key thing is making sure with the Americans that you are not mistaking their interest in transacting with you and relating to you later in the wrong way. So what is very important is for Americans to do the deal, tick the box. We have transacted. We have structured the arrangement that we are going to have and then I get to know you a little bit later. Whereas in the U.K., there is usually the ten, fifteen minutes upfront of meeting. Where it is small talk. How did you get here today? Did you battle the underground etc? Whereas in the U.S., we do not really have that level of small talk on the front end. We immediately talk business. Pleasure later, business first. So that is another thing that could get people quite confused in the U.K..
Are Americans more or less formal than the British?
I think in business one of the things you'd find is that Americans are much less formal than the British are. So there aren't so many protocols in trying to establish a business relationship. So we call you by your first name from the very beginning. We might put our arm around you or give you a pat on the back. Which isn't really something that happens in the more formal U.K climate. We may not even shake hands, we may just give you a hug sometimes in the U.S So the formality is definitely different. The protocols are also different about talking about money. In the U.K. you generally won't talk to a prospective customer about how much they have in their budget, for your product or service, at the very beginning. Whereas in the U.S one of the very early questions is, "so, how much have you got", or "let's try and work with your budget", which is a bit of a shock to a U.K. professional.
What hours do Americans work?
Americans do work pretty long hours. We're generally in our offices from about 8:00 AM local time and then we leave usually maybe around 6:00 PM. So it's a long working day. Whether we're maybe as productive during those hours is up for debate. But certainly we do put in long hours. We also put in some hours sometimes on the weekends in answering e-mails too.
Where in America is most business situated?
What common mistakes do the British make when working with Americans?
One of the common mistakes that British company is make, wonder working with Americans is maybe they are formality to match the level of informality of Americans, so for example you want to call the American call by their first name right away. You want to be demonstrative, you want to be energetic you and enthusiastic and demonstrate that like talking about the project. The program that you can work on together such quite important and I think another key thing in, is making sure that Americans that you're not mistaking their interest in transacting with you and relating to you later in wrong way. So what‘s very important for Americans is to do the deal take the box we transacted we structured the arrangement that were going to have and then we got to know you a little bit later and the your going to be okay there usually later ten to fifteen minutes talk prompt in every meeting were small talks how they get they, did you battle the underground etc. Whereas in US we don't real don't have that level of small talk in he font end, we immediately talk business and then pleasure later.
Are Americans more litigious than the British?
American companies are definitely more litigious than in the UK. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of the key reasons for that is that we see our court system as the ultimate clearinghouse. It's how we settle our disputes. In the UK there is much more protocol around escalating a dispute. First you talk and if you still don't agree, then you meet and you talk again. You keep talking and you keep talking until hopefully you've resolved the issue. In the US, we don't really do it that way. We almost sort of go nuclear early according to people I know who accuse Americans of working this way. We immediately go to the courts. We don't necessarily try to talk it out first. The reason we go to the courts is because we see them as the ultimate authority and the best place to settle a dispute because we see that as where fairness prevails. It might be a mythology but in any case that's how we tend to do things, unfortunately. So it means that a British company will need to be very careful to make sure that they have their contracts in order, that they've talked to American lawyers and that they've covered all their bases before they operate in the US.
Should I contact an American colleague on the weekend?
I am not sure they are going to welcome phone calls, necessarily. But I think with e-mail, you will find that most of your American colleagues or contacts will probably answer you over a weekend. Partly because when they come in on Monday morning, they do not have a mountain of e-mails to deal with and it just means they can manage their work load a little more carefully that way. But generally speaking, we do respect our privacy on the weekends and do not really like to take too many phone calls or do too much work over the weekend.
What is the dress code in American industries?
Americans in terms of dress code in the office typically it's airing on the side of a suit these days rather than smart casual. Even though the era of smart casual which for men was pretty easy to do which is the blue requisite button down shirt, the Cacky trousers, the burgundy loafers and the black computer bag and you spot these people in American airports all the time. So they're in every company but now there's a trend more towards the formal and back to wearing suits and ties. So I think a lot of it depends in part on what part of the United States you're working with and also what industry sector you're working with. So if you're in the media industry a suit and a tie actually says that you're disconnected and you don't really understand how it works. So a bit of the black turtle neck ironically like I'm wearing today is probably what you're expected to wear if you're in California. If you're in New York and you're in the media industries. If you're in banking it's definitely a suit and a tie. If you're in manufacturing it very much depends on the company and their culture. So although there aren't really hard and fast rules any more the best advise is to look at how you're colleagues dress. If you're not sure and you're going to be meeting Americans and you're not sure how formal to be the best thing to do is to ask them just what level of formality to apply but it very much depends in part on what the corporate culture of the business is like.
How important is punctuality in corporate America?
As employee punctuality is extremely important with Americans because the axiom that time is money is one that every American knows and has learned from very early on in life, not just in business. So people who are late, it expresses disrespect and it says that really your time isn't valuable for your ideas and you aren't very valuable. So its very important that you are on time. If you're going to be late, in this era of mobile phones you can ring ahead and explain that you're going to be late. Maybe you've been held up by transportation issues, by airports, that we'd completely understand, but just being late without a good reason is disrespectful and doesn't start off a relationship or a meeting on the right foot.
How prompt should I be for an American business meeting?
The protocol with meetings is typically to arrive 5 minutes or so early but not much earlier than that. I say 5 minutes early or bang on time, bang on the hour that you agreed. But being too early sort of unnecessarily communicate eagerness if anything it might even communicate it have been a bit of competence that maybe you just didn't get the date and time right on the calendar. Being right on time is actually what's expected.