Relationship building is a skill that it is critical for you to possess when doing business in Australia. You need to have good, stable working relationships with all of your business relations whether it is your employees, your customers, your suppliers or your co-workers (Kimberley, 2014). Good relationships make employees more productive, creative and innovative. Australians are very social and they enjoy building relations, both privately and in business, it is important for them to do so because they rely on loyalty and trustworthiness to achieve their future long term goals.
Casual Approach
Australians prefer to be informal with a person in their first meeting. They like to meet casually and introductions are brief consisting of a handshake and an exchange of first names. To relate to Australians, it can be advantageous to discuss sports or drinking a cup of coffee or beer while conversing. Australians relax and let their guard down while having a drink, which is a great way to get to know them better in a casual setting, which helps to build the relationship. (JustLanded.com, 2017). Unlike many Asian and Middle-Eastern countries, Australians prefer flat hierarchical structures in a business organisation (Kimmorley, 2017). This attitude decreases the distances between management and employees, and it is easy for employees to approach their managers regarding any topic. An example of this is the reluctance to address people as ‘sir’. For them using ‘sir’ is way too formal. They consider everyone to be equal in front of the law, and believe that formalities and hierarchical structure divides and drives them towards the inequality, which diminishes transparency among employees and employers, that cannot be accepted by Australian population. (JustLanded.com, 2017)
Face-to-Face or virtual meeting: which one is preferable.
(Source: Google Images, Image by: Not Displayed)
In this era of technology, Australians still prefer to meet each other in person rather than virtually. For them, Face-to-Face interactions are important. They love to understand the mindset of a person and meeting helps them do that in a way that you can’t if meeting virtually. Although they are very aware of the advantages that technology brings, but they recognize the advantages of personal meetings, especially for the first one. It hard for them to feel comfortable with people they have not met in person a faceless entity.
How to build a good relationship.
Good business relationships are very beneficial. Characteristics of a healthy relationship are trust, mutual respect, mindfulness, openness to diversity and open communication (Mind Tool Editorial team, 2017). For an employer, it is necessary to understand and build this culture in an organisation. To achieve this the following steps can be taken:
- Enhancing people skills: Collaboration, communication and conflict resolution, these are soft skills which can help in enhancing people skills
- Understanding what the relation needs to build a healthy culture.
- Time devotion: Prepare your schedule or make your to do list of the day with 20-30 min. of group discussion.
- Appreciate others: This is where you must go against your ego. Even if you are not getting praised from your bosses you must praise and appreciate other’s work to keep their motivation high.
- Be Positive: Build an attitude of positive achievers and go getters.
(Mind Tool Editorial team, 2017)
Where to Build relations
(Source: http://www.keywordsuggests.com/fpROEiUeDRnma2Q4hUcoxjGEd*OxzH0sLWYlYCJIv%7CI/, I , Image by: Not Displayed)
Australians are very punctual (See other blog), it is important for you to be on time when meeting with Australians as it will not be appreciated if you are late (JustLanded.com, 2017). Australians are easy to predict. Don’t worry in deciding the venue for having an interesting conversation. Take them for some good coffee in a nice café, Australians love good coffee (Huffington Post, 2016). An even better idea would be a to grab a beer during the weekend somewhere in a nice bar, Australians relax and let their guard down while having a drink, which is a great way to get to know them better in a casual setting, which helps to build the relationship. Lastly, it can a sports ground as well with a live match in progress.
REFERENCE LIST
Campbell, Leigh, 2015, Australians Love Coffee. We have Proof, Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2015/08/26/australians-love-coffee_n_8029268.html
Cited 05/05/2017, Available at: https://www.justlanded.com/english/Australia/Australia-Guide/Business/Business-etiquette)
Image, cited 07/05/2017, Available at : http://www.keywordsuggests.com/fpROEiUeDRnma2Q4hUcoxjGEd*OxzH0sLWYlYCJIv%7CI/
Google Image, Cited 07/05/2017, Available at: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cross+cultural+training&tbm=isch&imgil=qO5AS_WuexhnEM%253A%253BDnM_ew_dg
Kimmorley, Sarah, 2017, 24 things expats find surprising about Australian working culture, Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/24-things-expats-find-suprising-about-australian-working-culture-2017-1)
Kimberley, 2014, Why Relationships Matter by Kimberley Laws, Available at: http://propelbusinessworks.com/guest-blogs/relationships-matter/)
Mind Tool Editorial team, 2017, Building great work relationships: Making work enjoyable and productive, Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/good-relationships.html
Cruise to Australia 