3. Russian Business Etiquette

First name or title? Addressing others with respect.

• Only people who are very intimate friends or relations refer to one another by the first name.

• It is perfectly appropriate when meeting someone, to simply state your family name without any additional greeting.

• Ensure that you learn the titles of everyone you plan to encounter as these distinctions are extremely important in this culture.

• Usually Russians have three names. The first name is a given name, while the last is the father’s family name. The middle name is a version of the father’s first name known as a patronymic. When you become well acquainted with a person you may be invited to refer to him or her by the first name and patronymic.

• As a visitor, it is appropriate to refer to your Russian colleague by either “gazpodin” (a courtesy title similar to “Mr.”) or “gazpazhah” (similar to “Mrs” or “Miss”) plus his or her surname. When using a person’s full name and patronymic, an honorific is unnecessary.

Gift giving

General guidelines

• Generally speaking, Russians take pleasure in giving and receiving gifts. Be sure to bring an assortment of gifts, so that you will always have something appropriate to give.

• Cheaper gifts do not have to be wrapped, while more expensive ones should be.

• Russians spend a lot of money on gifts. Avoid giving gifts such as pencils, pens, lighters (unless they are expensive ones), cheap wine or vodka, notebooks etc.

• When invited to Russian home, bring a gift of chocolates, dessert items, good wine or other alcohol (try to select something other than vodka, which is widely available)

• Bringing a bouquet of flowers (not too expensive though) for women you are visiting (doesn’t really matter how many of them are in the family you are visiting) is a good idea. Make sure you have an odd number of flowers. Even numbers usually are for funerals.

• Gifts are expected for social events, especially as “thank yours” for private dinner parties or overnight stays in someone’s home. Thank you notes and holiday cards are not considered appropriate because they have no practical use.

• If there are children in the family, it is thoughtful acknowledge them with a small gift such as a toy or candy.

• It is considered bad luck to give a pregnant woman a baby gift until after the baby is born.

Selecting flowers

• In Russia, flowers are a gift given almost exclusively for women. The only few exceptions would be male teachers, doctors or visiting celebrities.

• Pink, cream-coloured, orange and blue flowers are rarely awarded any special meaning and, thus, are quite acceptable selections.

• Avoid yellow flowers (unless you picked them up yourself on a trip to a countryside). Some white flowers should also be approached with caution.

• As in many other countries flowers are an essentially romantic gift. Red flowers especially in rich and dark shades will be perceived as a display of love or strong affection.

Public relationship

Part 1. Acceptable public conduct.

• The handshake is common. The Russian version is a firm grip with several quick shakes between two men. This is a daily procedure and saying “hello” isn’t enough, even if you know somebody really well. Between men and women or two women, however the handshake is much softer. Men should wait until a woman extends her hand before reaching for it. Between women, the older women extends her hand first.

• Eye contact during the introduction is very important and must be maintained as long as the individual is addressing you.

• Only during greetings do Russians display affection in public. Relatives and good friends will engage in an animated embrace and kiss each other on the cheeks.

• Generally speaking, Russians are most comfortable with third-party introduction. Consequently, wait a moment before introducing yourself to a new group. If after a few minutes no introduction is made you may then take the initiative.

• The “thumb-up” sign can be an acceptable gesture of approval.

• If you need to beckon a server discreetly raise your hand with your index finger outstretched.

• Smoking in public places is still a common occurrence, although the Russians are slowly becoming aware of the need to impose some restrictions on this activity.

Part 2. Behaviour considered “nyekulturny” (Uncultured)

• The Russian word “nyekulturny” is popularly used to refer to anything considered uncultured, bad mannered or otherwise socially unacceptable. The following points are examples of behaviours regarded as "nyekulturny”.

• Wearing your coat and/or winter boots in theatres, office buildings or similar public spaces is connected unacceptable. Cloakrooms are usually available and should be used. And sitting on your coat during a concert or while at a restaurant is also frowned upon.

• Speaking or laughing loudly in public is discouraged.

• Whistling in a home or other indoor spaces is considered “nyekulturny”; and there is even a superstition that it will cause a grave financial loss. Moreover, when attending a concert or other performance refrain from including whistling in your applause.

• Do not sit with the legs apart or with one ankle resting upon the knee.

• It is insulting to summon someone with the forefinger. Instead, turn your hand so that the palm faces down and motion inward with all your four fingers at once.

• Many common hand gestures popularly used in the west such as the OK sign or shaking the fist are considered very rude.

Let’s make a deal!

What should you know before negotiating.

• The use of business cards is common and often is necessary since telephone books are not widely distributed in certain areas. Consiquently, be sure to bring a plentiful supply of cards.

• It’s an asset to have your business card translated into Russian (with Cyrillic text) on the reverse side. In addition to your full name and title, ensure that you include any university degrees you have earned.

• When handing out your translated card, present it so that the side printed in Russian is facing the recipient.

• Some people, lacking resources, may not have their own business cards. In this situation, the best policy is to write down the phone numbers, business addresses and other relevant information you will need.

• Ensure that all of your correspondence is keyed in Russian, as this will allow your letters to be received and read with greater promptness.

• In most offices, the addressee opens his or her mail, rather than administrative personnel. Understandably this may cause delays. It is advisable to get straight to the point in business letters and related correspondence.

• It’s recommended that you bring all of the documents you need with, since fax machines, computers and photocopiers, if available at all, may function inadequately. In Moscow, however, you are not likely to run into these problems.

http://www.executiveplanet.com/index.php?title=Russia

1. How to be a great manager

At the most general level, successful managers tend to have four characteristics:

• they take enormous pleasure and pride in the growth of their people;

• they are basically cheerful optimists - someone has to keep up morale when setbacks occur;

• they don't promise more than they can deliver;

• when they move on from a job, they always leave the situation a little better than it was when they arrived.

The following is a list of some essential tasks at which a manager must excel to be truly effective.

Great managers accept blame: When the big wheel from head office visits and expresses displeasure, the great manager immediately accepts full responsibility. In everyday working life, the best managers are constantly aware that they selected and should have developed their people. Errors made by team members are in a very real sense their responsibility.

Great managers give praise: Praise is probably the most under-used management tool. Great managers are forever trying to catch their people doing something right, and congratulating them on it. And when praise comes from outside, they are swift not merely to publicise the fact, but to make clear who has earned it. Managers who regularly give praise are in a much stronger position to criticise or reprimand poor performance. If you simply comment when you are dissatisfied with performance, it is all too common for your words to be taken as a straightforward expression of personal dislike.

Great managers make blue sky: Very few people are comfortable with the idea that they will be doing exactly what they are doing today in 10 years' time. Great managers anticipate people's dissatisfaction.

Great managers put themselves about: Most managers now accept the need to find out not merely what their team is thinking, but what the rest of the world, including their customers, is saying. So MBWA (management by walking about) is an excellent thing, though it has to be distinguished from MBWAWP (management by walking about - without purpose), where senior management wander aimlessly, annoying customers, worrying staff and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

Great managers judge on merit: A great deal more difficult than it sounds. It's virtually impossible to divorce your feelings about someone – whether you like or dislike them – from how you view their actions. But suspicions of discrimination or favouritism are fatal to the smooth running of any team, so the great manager accepts this as an aspect of the game that really needs to be worked on.

Great managers exploit strengths, not weaknesses, in themselves and in their people: Weak managers feel threatened by other people's strengths. They also revel in the discovery of weakness and regard it as something to be exploited rather than remedied. Great managers have no truck with this destructive thinking. They see strengths, in themselves as well as in other people, as things to be built on, and weakness as something to be accommodated, worked around and, if possible, eliminated.

Great managers make things happen: The old-fashioned approach to management was rather like the old-fashioned approach to child-rearing: 'Go and see what the children are doing and tell them to stop it!' Great managers have confidence that their people will be working in their interests and do everything they can to create an environment in which people feel free to express themselves.

Great managers make themselves redundant: Not as drastic as it sounds! What great managers do is learn new skills and acquire useful information from the outside world, and then immediately pass them on, to ensure that if they were to be run down by a bus, the team would still have the benefit of the new information. No one in an organisation should be doing work that could be accomplished equally effectively by someone less well paid than themselves. So great managers are perpetually on the look-out for higher-level activities to occupy their own time, while constantly passing on tasks that they have already mastered.

(From The Independent)