Talking Down Under

Aussies talk a lot. Try this:

In Melbourne – two guys passing each other in a hallway:

• Dick: Hi Tom, how are you

  Tom: Hi Dick, I’m very well, thank you. What about you?

  Dick: That’s the way. I’m very well too Tom. Thank you.

KL version:

• Mat: Hey (nods the head and smiles)

  Seng: Hey (nods and smiles back)

For a typical greeting, Melburnians use a 28-syllables exchange, compared to 2 in KL. At work, an issue requiring a quick decision can take a 15-20 minute discussion before any action is taken, whereas the same result could be achieved without that discussion. Yet, this is what makes the average workplace ticks. I have found that to be true in each of the three of the four places I have worked in, since we moved here in late 2004 (one of them was a short and temporary stint in an Asian firm). Before one does anything, one talks to a colleague, a boss or subordinate and that talk starts by the above styled greeting with some niceties thrown in about taking up that other person’s time for a few minutes, followed by a five minute introduction on the matter. One then goes on to talk about his own thoughts on the matter and talks some more, about what he thought that other person might think about it. That other person would then thank the first person for talking to him about it, offer his own thoughts on the matter and asked if that first person agreed with him. 15 minutes later, the first person would thank that other person for his time and promised to see him later. Such discussions precede many things, not just the more important or serious issues. Yet, for all the additional time the whole process took, the country is not worse off economically or in productivity wise, than a country like Malaysia.

Malaysians who move here have this common observation about the above, notable difference in working here. People here talk so much more, about so many more things. A culture shock of sorts presents itself and it hurts both ways. If an Aussie who is not used to working with new Asian migrants finds that that migrant doesn’t talk too much, it could be interpreted as being unfriendly or being aloof or that nothing stirs him.

I wonder what the present customs are in the Malaysian office. I wonder if people talk more these days. I don’t mean the gossips and sports talk, the bravados about girlfriends, the note comparisons about food joints or about the latest football results. Those things get talked about a lot too, over coffee, in pubs, at a dinner party, on the train or tram and such places. I mean the talk at and about work. Does it happen more now?