This article is inspired by Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling by Jane Hyun.
Many Asian professionals in Canada are bi-lingual/ multi-lingual. It is an asset! How can we leverage it by using some unique career strategies?
People who speak more than one language often say that when they switch languages, their personality and communication style change, too. This manifests one’s intercultural competence.
People do code-switchings all the time to adapt to a cultural environment that is different from their original ones. More and more businesses have realized the benefits of having bi-lingual / bi-culture employees in their team who not only speak the language, but also have experiences living in another country for a good period of time.
These people can act as a “bridge” to connect the two complex cultures and find shared meanings between each other, which can be a crucial part for businesses.
What does it look like?
I remember bringing the VP of my previous college to China for the first time.
She is a celiac, a rare disease/ dietary restriction in China. For every meal, I went to the kitchen area to talk to the chef directly about her meals to make sure that they wouldn’t serve her anything with soy sauce, MSG or oyster sauce. These are the most common ingredients in Chinese cuisine.
My VP was first surprised that it took so much work for people to even understand what celiac means. And then, she said she was so grateful to have me with her. Business aside, that single piece of “bridging work” makes a big difference in someone’s experience overseas.
What else can I do as an Asian professional?
This bridging work is not the only value you can bring to your workplace as a foreign worker, though. There are many more.
Many organizations have realized the importance of having a diverse team and including their voices. However, there is still much work to do to examine how the different value systems have impacted Asian employees’ career path.
There are strategies for you to navigate in North American workplace as an Asian!
Some generalizations are captured here. Asian culture does have diverse subcultures in different nationalities, but some traits and characteristics are shared.
1. The loudest duck gets shot vs. The squeakier tire gets oil
No matter if you are an immigrant like me, or a second or third generation who was born and grew up in Canada, Confucius philosophies that your parents and grandparents passed on to you must have shaped your value system in some way.
Asians, generally speaking, don’t really like the self-promotion piece. We would rather give credits to the team instead of claiming that award to ourselves. I often hear my Asian friends say that some of their colleagues just say fancy stuff, but never actually put the words into action to deliver results (not pointing at any nationalities).”
However, just putting your head down, working hard and expecting that people can automatically notice your effort is also unrealistic.
It simply doesn’t work in Canada’s work environment where the majority of people value individual achievements. So, when you achieve something, make sure you share and communicate the news with your team and your network. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn can really be effective.
2. Ask for feedback
Most Canadian workplaces have a “nice” culture. Canadians are generally polite and nice. They communicate directly, but not in an aggressive way. Whereas in Asian culture, people rely heavily on facial expressions, gestures, tone and other non-verbal signals to make meanings in an interaction.
This could mean that if your supervisor sees a problem of your work, they may not point that out directly, because of their value of politeness, but rather involve some coaching strategies to help you to see where you can improve, and support you to achieve a better result.
Therefore, instead of trying to find all the non-verbal signals to guess how they view your work, be proactive and engage in a discussion with them to ask for candid feedback.
3. Showing some emotions is okay
Asians have been taught to be self-restrained since we were young. Showing emotions is something you only do with your family, partner or close friends. In a workplace setting, revealing your emotions, especially frustration, sadness, anger, guilt or disappointment, is often unacceptable, as people may take it as weak, unprofessional and incapable.
Especially when the “Model Minority” myth sustains, it reinforces the so-called “positive stereotype” about Asians.
A colleague of mine who is a second-generation Chinese, once said to me: “We work our butts off without complaining, hardly speak up when we are treated unfairly and digest all the hard feelings on our own until they become unresolved traumas that impact all aspects of our lives. This is not right.”
So, when you are not at your best, it is okay to tell your supervisor and your team and even seek help. Everyone has their ups and downs. You and your team both have the responsibility for each other’s mental health at your workplace.
If you are treated unfairly or being discriminated, make sure the offender is aware. Most Canadians at work do not have an intention to offend you, but because of some lack of understanding or skills, this could happen.
Do not swallow the hard feelings yourself. Talk it through in private with your colleagues or your supervisor in a respectful way, either to create a mutual understanding or seek extra support. Let people share your emotional burden!
4. Be engaged in discussion
In many Asian countries, standardized norms are formed in a much more unifying way. People grow up having more “black & white” standards in their world views.
For example, showing-off is bad behaviour. It doesn’t matter if it’s about the knowledge or the money you have.
An old Chinese saying goes “Careless talk leads to trouble.” Another one goes “Silence is gold.” Both have an important value underneath- The more you say, the more mistakes you are likely to make, so make sure you carefully choose what to say.
When this mindset is used in a Canadian work setting, it may appear that Asian employees are often disengaged in discussion. They don’t offer their opinions or comments.
It’s like they don’t care! In fact, many times, they have so much going on in their brains. If an Asian employee is put on the spot in a meeting, surprisingly they often do have great ideas to share.
Humbleness is also part of the culture, which can be manifested by not imposing their opinions on others. Unless they absolutely have something important to say, they prefer not to say anything.
Be mindful of this trait of yours and intentionally fill the gap by always offering your thoughts, even though they are small. Demonstrating that engagement in a team is very important.
5. Take care of yourself
I always purposefully touch this point when I give career strategies to young Asian professionals. In fact, this piece applies to every minority group of professionals. Take care of yourself – It sounds as simple as common sense, but do we practice that enough?
We sometimes do not realize how draining and exhausting it is for us to do the big volume of adaptation work everyday in our workplace, out of our choice!
In this blog, I’ve only touched the tip of an iceberg of the “code-switching” we do everyday due to our different cultural norms. But, there is much more out there that we constantly do to adapt.
Nowadays many organizations are talking about diversity and inclusion. A question that we must ask:
Who is adapting who?
Who is making the effort to do most of the adapting work? When will be the time that this workload can be shared between the minority and the dominant groups?
Compared with other racial groups, Asian people tend to unconsciously bear more adapting work on their shoulders to fit into that “model minority” narrative. Without speaking up, negotiating or drawing a line, this weight can be heavier and heavier. Be mindful!
Hope for a better tomorrow
I have personally been using these career strategies and they do work! However, to create an ideal work environment for Asian employees doesn’t only require Asian people’s effort.
We have a long way to go for equity and inclusion in this country, but let’s start by learning, understanding, developing intercultural skills, being aware, curious and humble to work in solidarity.
Never lose hope.
Take care of yourself intentionally. Spend some time healing your wound and trauma with your people and the communities that resonate with you.
Trust people around you that they all have good intentions and trust that Canada is making the progress to move towards a better tomorrow.
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