Expats in Thailand:10 pitfalls, 10 skills, 10 tips
What are the most common mistakes made by (new) foreigners at work in Thailand? What skills and behaviours do Thais expect from expats? And what advice do successful business leaders give to newcomers in Thailand?
1-2-WIN Executive Coaching and the Dutch and French Chambers of Commerce surveyed business leaders to find out what can help expatriates quickly excel at cross-cultural work in the ‘Land of Smiles’, and enjoy it.
In this second article of a series, executive coach Jean-Francois Cousin summarises the findings.
In general, Thais extend a sincere and warm welcome to expatriates. They anticipate new foreign managers will contribute know-how, best practices, creativity, quality analysis and decision making, and enhance their exposure to the ‘outside world’. Yet, while both Thais and expats normally nurture the best intentions to work effectively together, the road to success for foreigners is not always a straight and smooth ride, and most of them make serious mistakes before they get it right.
Where It Goes Wrong?
What are the 10 most common mistakes? According to our survey:
- rushing to change things before understanding the situation
- ignoring Thai cultural values
- misinterpreting a ‘yes’ or a ‘smile’
- being impolitely too direct/losing self-control
- publicly blaming or expressing disagreement with a Thai colleague
- comparing Thailand with other countries
- relying on monetary motivation alone
- arrogance/underestimating Thais’ capability
- using inappropriate body language
- lacking flexibility
Thais aware of cultural differences will usually forgive a foreigner such faux-pas for a while, however an accumulation of mistakes will likely discourage them to fully support him/her over time.
