Don’t kiss me. Don’t hug me.
Posted on May 8, 2009
Filed Under Business Culture, Trends |
Pigs are all around these days. Seriously. Everyone is talking about these little Mexican sick-versions of Babe and an outbreak of influenza that made appearance few days ago and is putting dollar bills in the eyes of many pharmaceuticals.
But I am not going to talk -once more- about the swine flu, as there is enough coverage about it (for those that have been sucked out of the Earth during the last few days, you can check some information about the pandemy here, here and here). No, what called my attention was one remark made by the Mexican government, which suggested to “avoid large crowds, refrain from kissing as a greeting and maintain a distance of at least 1.8m from each other”. After reading that and comment it around -and, well, making some black humoured jokes about this remark- what stuck me is: can this ‘forced distanciation’ affect business as it is meant today in countries like Mexico or, therefore, the whole Latin America, as well as -in smaller measure- Europe or North America?
Body language takes an important role in business and, in particular, in negotiations. And a part of it is, in some countries, physical contact.
It is well known that this is not always the case, being probably the best example those territories living under a strict muslim tradition, where physical contact is only ‘recommended’ among half of the population (e.g. men), even while doing business. Although this is something that would come as surprising for most Western-minded people, it is by far a common tradition not to touch others’ gender hand when being introduced. I still remember crearly my astonishment when a previous boss, born in Iran but educated in Germany, told me not to introduce to him any female partner, ever again, after I did so while attending an important telecom event in Germany, where he saw himself forced to shake hands with a good colleague of mine.
On the other side, latin cultures, including the Mexican one, see physical contact as a way of breaking the ice and showing trust. What appears as a normal behavior for a Spanish person like me, can result funny or uncomfortable for a Central European minded one. While it is traditional to shake hands, when meeting for the first time, in the Netherlands, Spanish peers usually kiss each others’ cheeks between male and female partners. So was the case when some colleagues (Dutch) meet a bunch of people from Telefónica Spain. The latter ones received them with kisses and hugs, treated them in the most informal way and even started showing them pictures of their family, trips, etc, during a break in the meeting. These actions took the Dutch ones aback, but they were soon delighted by the familiarity of these business partners.
Going back to the point, there seem to be four different types of body language, categorized in Industrial, Conservative, Casual and Academic.
In relation to the swine flu, it is clear that body language in casual business environments shall (or should) be modified. Following the definition:
Body language in a casual business culture is typically quite relaxed and often characterised as being light-hearted and fun. Most interactions are conducted in a more personal manner and with body language that is more relaxed, open, and some would say genuine. It’s okay to develop and nurture friendships in a casual business culture, and acceptable body language includes those non-verbal behaviours that are more social and relationship-oriented.
Therefore, cultures where hugging, kissing or patting each other’s back are established forms of communication while doing business may see their standard ways modified by this type of illnesses. In fact, the spread of swine flu roiled trading in everything from livestock futures to the Mexican peso to airline stocks a week ago. Traders fretted about possible cutbacks in consumer spending on travel and food products perceived to be less safe because of the disease outbreak. At the same time, company events, exhibitions and fairs taking place in touristic places along Mexico (e.g. Cancún) have been postponed or even cancelled, putting the already fragile Mexican economy in a chessmate position. People are just afraid of getting sick, and prefer thus avoiding all physical contact with those that can be infected.
The questions are, then: shall latin cultures modify their habits and become Asian-cold, in terms of business body language? How can a pandemy outbreak modify the behavior of a culture and what is the impact on the economy of a territory?
Is this perhaps triggering a pure acceleration of the future-to-come, empowered thus through newly ‘developed’ illness-free technologies like videoconferencing, desktop sharing and even telepresence?
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Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?
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