Managing a Polish team

Ewa, Polish and intercultural consultant, gives us the keys to understanding and managing Poles. In passing, she points out the obvious: it is not because you get along well with your in-laws from another culture that it will be the same with professional interlocutors.

Is being a good manager in France enough to lead a Polish team?

A French manager and his Polish team

Étienne manages the Polish subsidiary of a French public works company, ROUTE PLUS. Married to a Polish woman and father of two bilingual children, he knows the country, the language and the people. Three years ago, when he was offered the position, he felt ready to take on the challenge and the very important development objectives.

Deterioration of Franco-Polish relations

However, three years later, it's a nervous breakdown...

While the figure is there, there is a real management problem: high turnover and low motivation of the Polish team.

Étienne is starting to get worn out and he sometimes has mood swings.

How does Étienne perceive his Polish team?

It must be said that the way Poles work is starting to be annoying! According to Étienne, they have no strategic vision of a project:

• Little collaborative spirit, everyone works in silos without transmitting information between them.
• No initiative (e.g.: a colleague realizes an error made by a colleague but says nothing because he is not directly concerned).
• Behavior of performers. Furthermore, if they don't understand, they don't ask questions or try to find out.
• You have to explain everything in capital letters and in detail, all the time.
• The delegation of tasks is ineffective.

And the Poles, what do they think of their manager?

Obviously, on the Polish side, the point of view is different:

• No clear direction and indications.
• The manager gets angry when the work isn't done.
• The previous CEO was much more directive. He was really in control and more regularly.
• Too much discussion and waste of time in meetings before moving on to implementation.

Is French-style management suitable in Poland?

Étienne's past successes in France confirmed the validity of his method. Moreover, married to a Polish woman, he thinks he is familiar with the local culture. This double assurance made him inattentive to the weak signals sent by his colleagues and he did not adapt his management method. In fact, Étienne uses methods proven in the French context but unsuitable for the Polish context:

• An implicit communication calling on the “good judgment” of its collaborators in the interpretation of messages.
• A Frenchapproach to autonomy which leaves employees great freedom of action within a defined framework.
• A “missionary” approach to work involving the responsibility of employees at all stages of the project.
• A global vision that invites all stakeholders to feel responsible for the success of the project as a whole.
• A decision-making process based on a confrontation of ideas and dynamic application allowing modifications along the way.

What were the Poles waiting for?

Polish employees are used to a different management style (a habit reinforced by their long-term experience with the former CEO):

• Explicit and directive communication. Clear and precise instructions are expected and do not offend the “capacity of judgment” of the person receiving them.
• An apprehension of autonomy based on support from the manager and regular feedback allowing the gradual acquisition of freedom of action.
• A “contractual” approach which sets clear terms of collaboration with a detailed job description.
• A fragmentary vision of the project where everyone tends to concentrate on their task.
• A generally short decision-making process, favoring rapid and pragmatic application with the possibility of subsequent adjustments.

How to reestablish a climate of trust?

Cultural differences and especially their failure to take into account have had a considerable impact on the quality of the collaboration between Étienne and his teams. Misunderstandings and frustrations fueled a climate of mistrust and caused the withdrawal of the best employees as well as some wear and tear on the manager.

• Mutual incomprehension
  • The Polish employees do not know how to interpret Étienne's expectations and instructions when they are communicated implicitly.
  • Étienne, accustomed to contradictory debates with his employees, does not detect the unease that is developing between him and his teams.
• A management style poorly suited to the working context of Poles
  • The lack of regular feedback from Étienne is interpreted more as a lack of interest than as a mark of trust.
  • Étienne interprets the lack of reaction from the teams as a lack of involvement and initiative.
  • Étienne's strong reactions are not at all understood, to the extent that he did not really seem to follow the project. They are felt to be unfair and reduce confidence.
• Differences in the decision-making and project management process
  • The decision-making process which involves an important phase in France of comparing ideas in order to arrive at the best possible solution (culture of "brainstorming meetings") is perceived by the Poles as an unnecessary waste of time.
  • The Polish's fragmentary approach to project management, which prevents fluidity in the transfer of information and collaboration between services, is poorly judged by the Frenchman.

Étienne is an experienced manager who needs help. His management style has proven itself in France but his overconfidence and failure to take into account cultural differences caused a rethinking and required a period of adaptation. Becoming aware of these differences is generally a first step in adjusting your operating methods and, above all, understanding the reactions of teams which seem illogical to us. Accompanied by an intercultural management consultant, Étienne understood the challenges and was able to adapt to this new context. His teams trust him and have learned to appreciate his management style.