Already after three months at Seidenschwarz & Comp. consultant Markus Saalfeld took off to a consulting project in China. This is his field report.

Looking out of the airplane window the memories of my first visit to China are passing my mind, just as beneath the lights of the 14-million-city Shanghai. That was the first time I left the gigantic airport of Shanghai and stepped into the sweltering warm humid air of the city. What is waiting there for me?! But slowly – all the impressions and memories of my now already eleven trips to China have to be well sorted.

Let’s start with the interview at Seidenschwarz & Comp. Already then they said “We are acting internationally, especially in China.”  A thought that fascinated me on the one hand, on the other hand I pushed it away quite quickly. On a project like that they surely won’t employ a recent graduate from college, with some luck maybe after three or four years.

And really: The first weeks in my new consultant-job are characterized by the initial skill adaptation training regarding methods and consulting processes of Seidenschwarz & Comp. China has moved into a far distance.

On a Tuesday morning, only three months after my start, the superior calls me into the office. “Do you have any customer appointments that are not listed in the project overview? If there is nothing that is not to be delayed, you would be flying to China for a project together with a colleague. The first workshop is on Monday afternoon, departure is next Sunday.” What surprising news!

The anticipation regarding a strategy project with a Chinese regional organization of an international corporation perishes amongst my travel preparations: Quickly gather all the necessary documents, get a visa, book flights – nothing should go wrong. Only when my colleague and I pass the passport inspection two weeks later, I finally realize: An exciting project in China lies ahead of me…

On the way to the hotel we are driving over a motorway with eight lanes. The ongoing changes of lane and the never ending blowing of horns are making the ‘project meeting’ in the car and the last preparations for the workshop a real challenge.

After a quick stop at the hotel for a shower and a short taxi ride through the seemingly always blocked streets of the city of millions we have reached our destination: a glittering skyscraper with the office of our customer inside. It is sweltering hot and humid, between the houses there is an unbelievable entanglement of cars, pedestrians and cyclists. Amidst the skyline I feel like in a mixture between Disneyland and Manhattan. Is this really China? However there is hardly time for these thoughts, as the workshop is about to start in a few minutes. With the totally overcrowded lift, which we only reach by full use of our physical strength, we are going to the 18th floor. I pictured Asian patience and aloofness to be different…

As I am entering the office of our customer – despite my China-major while studying – a feeling of uncertainty is coming up within my mind. Is there not a lot you can do wrong with Western behavior? Maybe the workshop will be met with rejection? But the first contacts with the workshop participants are going well, especially since my China experienced colleague not only taught me how to hand over and receive business cards with two hands earlier, but also prepared me to the country specific ways of acting. The passively starting workshop soon changes into an intense discussion which is only interrupted by exotic sounds of mobiles ringing. Getting up, walking around as well as conversations in Chinese accompanies the event and the English of some participants asks for all your concentration. Already on the first day I realize that workshops in different countries happen differently.

As my colleague ends the workshop for this day and I see myself already lying in a comfortable hotel bed, the head of the group says a few words to the participants. Everyone – naturally also the consultants from Starnberg – are invited for dinner. What first looks like an obligatory event soon doesn’t only turn out to be an interesting excursion into the Chinese cuisine with a knowledgeable briefing in the use of chopsticks but also gives an idea of how “guanxi” (relations) are cultivated in China.

It is a loud group and you can hear that the colleagues are enjoying their meal. Only when the table is completely empty some team members get into action. “Gan bei” is the motto and quite a few Tsing-Tao beers are going down our throats that evening. The group splits up sooner than I feared they would.

When I am going back to the hotel in the evening I have to admit that the hour of workshop night rework lying ahead of me is not going to be easy. I can only enjoy the breathtaking view from my hotel room on the 40th floor on the skyline of Shanghai for a short while and – after a normal project day in China – finally give in to my jetlag.

After the first China project, others followed. Along the glittering Shanghai I got to know the more traditional Beijing and also less well-known cities such as Guangzhou or Shenyang. How to communicate directly and still let the others keep their face; how to get by with a few words of Chinese learnt at university; how to be patient but act energetically to get results -  all that has proven to be just as important in China as the factual work in day-to-day projects. The speed is unbelievably high and often exhausting but the mood is full of enthusiasm. The entrance to the Chinese culture requires openness and is surprisingly easy; however some things will always remain mysterious. But I will definitely go there again.

Markus Saalfeld