Doing business in Mongolia can be both challenging and very rewarding at the same time. Adapting to the way of life here can take time. In Mongolia, things may not run on time or as smoothly as you are used to in the Western world.
Differences
Mongolia is called the Land of The Blue Sky and has a harsh climate with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in the winter months and plus 30 degrees in the summer months. Be prepared for the culture shock. It may look like a modern capital but the city is also one of the world’s most polluted cities with a lot of dust in the summer.
Walking around the capital you could be fooled into thinking you were in a modern European city with expensive designer stores and swanky bars but it really isn’t like other capital cities. There is a lack of order and structure. Every summer there is a shortage of hot water and you can go for weeks without, except in the more expensive hotels, and the amenities aren’t to the same standard that you would find in other places in Asia. The diet is also heavier and the country isn’t that great for vegetarians, as meat is the staple diet.
There is a divide in the capital and a contrast between the middle class and working class. The office workers live in apartment buildings and the poorer people live within the ger district on the city outskirts without proper amenities. Be prepared to see some drunken locals as Mongols like their vodka and typically drink it straight, so you may see a few stumbling around the streets during the day.
Knowing a few phrases of the language really helps to get by. Not many people speak English here, with some speaking Russian. Mongolian can be a difficult language to learn but smiling and body language is definitely universal here.
Doing Business Here
Although doing business here is more flexible and relaxed than the UK, there appears to be a lack of order and structure within the workplace and the city itself.
Mongolian’s can be wary of westerners and can take time to trust you before they accept you into their group. Mongols tend to be very direct so it’s best to always look people in the eye when speaking to them. The person who called the meeting is the one who should start the discussion and keep things moving forward. When greeting others, a handshake is enough with no other physical contact, as people generally just say “Hello.”
Mongolians expect other nationalities to adapt to their way of doing things so don’t expect meetings to start on time as it is not considered rude to be late. People tend to show up when they are ready and are scheduled to a particular time, and even transport runs later here.
Dress
Mongolian women are so stylish and you’ll often see them walking around wearing tight dresses even during the day. For business wear either a mid-length skirt or a suit with a blouse to look more professional than those choosing to wear tight dresses. Hand over your business card with either your right hand or both hands, and receive either with the right hand or both.
Wear good comfortable working shoes as the roads are crumbling and often just dug up and left so high heels aren’t recommended.
Westerners in Mongolia
There aren’t many westerners in Ulan Bator and the tourists that come generally spend more time in the rest of the country exploring the landscapes. The younger generation are more westernised and open to other nationalities so with their international experience Ulan Bator will become a more comfortable environment for tourists and business people.
There are a lot of Expat places if you are looking to meet others during your stay. A great networking place is Henneseys – the owner is good at connecting people. The Blue Sky Hotel & Tower is also a great place to meet others and is one of the nicest places in the city. There’s entertainment in the form of karaoke but it is very limited unless you enjoy bars.
Flagging down a taxi isn’t necessarily that safe as anyone in a car can collect you and charge you a fare. For safety, there is now an English speaking taxi firm that you can call called Help Taxi +976 9965 2371.
Although doing business in Mongolia can be somewhat challenging, it is definitely an experience.
Lisa Eldridge is a travel journalist specialising in solo travel. Her background in the travel industry fuelled her passion to see the world and for the last seventeen years, she has travelled extensively as a solo traveller, living and working in numerous countries. Follow her on Twitter at @girlaboutglobe
Further Reading
Liz Smith-Mills, hotel inspector extraordinaire was the star of our recent event “Confessions of a Hotel Inspector,” which was sponsored by Champneys. With a wealth of experience as a senior hotel housekeeper at prestigious hotels around the world, Liz’s expertise has been recognised with a hotel CATEY award, which is the hospitality industry’s equivalent to an Oscar. Liz’s far reaching knowledge in the industry made her an obvious choice when the AA were looking to increase the team of hotel inspectors.
Liz started the fabulous evening with this hilarious video from the British comics French & Saunders.
Unfortunately, everything you see in this video has happened at some point in some hotels. Thankfully we can safely say not in our Maiden Voyage approved hotels, where cleanliness is just one part of our thorough hotel inspection.
Liz continued throughout the evening to recount hilarious stories from her many years in the hotel industry and shared bloopers such as this menu typo found in an Australian hotel.
With these stories shared on what not to do in the hotel business, Liz also had some top tips to keep you clear of germs and bites when staying in a hotel:
- Always, always wash the cups in your room before using them.
- Keep your suitcase as far away from the bed as possible (to reduce the risk of transference of bed bugs)!
- If you find spots of blood on the sheets that is a sure sign of these pesky little critters so ask to be moved.
- Tidy your things away that you are not using.
The evening cumulated in networking, food and drinks with 60 amazing professional women, all of whom will be using Liz’s top tips to avoid hotel room horrors!
We’re lucky at maiden-voyage.com to work with Liz, one of the industry’s best, so rest assured if she has inspected your female friendly hotel you can sleep easy knowing that it’s spotless.
Let us know if you’ve experienced any hotel rooms that were clearly not up to scratch and what you did to get it resolved.
Further Reading
Humour is an international language. The world’s biggest selling comedy franchises are Mr Bean and Benny Hill who owe their successes to the power of slapstick and saucy seaside postcard humour. I am not suggesting that you adopt a funny walk into a business meeting and emulate Monty Python but there are a few simple tips I have learnt along the way about how to use humour and break the ice.
Laughter is universal and whatever the culture, there is always something funny for you to communicate about. Food is a particularly popular subject as regional delicacies vary. Sheep’s eyes may be every day fayre in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, and frog’s legs a delicacy in France but we Brits are famous for our reserve when it comes to menu choices. Maybe it’s time to introduce your overseas guests to the delights of jellied eels or whelks?! Not so weird now are we? Next time you are presented with something unpalatable by your foreign hosts, have the names of a few unusual British food delicacies up your sleeve and threaten to return the favour when they pay you a return visit.
Once you are in the boardroom it is best to be cognizant of your surroundings and avoid fussing. Nobody takes a fiddler seriously. Look like you know what is going on even if you do not have a clue.
One of my favourite ‘laugh out loud’ visual comedy sketches takes this to a whole different level. It is from the film ‘Johnny English Reborn’ with Rowan Atkinson playing a hapless secret agent who gets everything wrong. He attends a meeting around a boardroom table and grapples with the height of his chair which first goes first up and up and then down and down until he almost disappears from view with side splitting effect borrowing heavily on his Mr Bean persona! Let this be a lesson to us all – sit where you are sat, don’t play with knobs (inanimate or otherwise…) and engage. Even if you don’t actually understand a word they are saying you can pick up a lot by nuance – anger, frustration, agreement and pleasure.
In the UK we like to boast the most ‘intellectual’ humour with satire at its core. Every culture will have its own version of satire which pokes fun at the news and challenges the system.
How you tell ‘em could make or break a deal. Do your homework if you want to be politically or geographically relevant. Check out what you can and cannot get away with and unless you are certain that a well-placed anecdote will bring a smile to the face of your hosts, leave it out!
Remember that culture is a major reflection of the society you are doing business with so as more women are sitting on boards and occupying powerful roles in public and political life our voices are increasingly heard and (maybe) understood. This results in more representation overseas and we now have to adapt to ensure that our female presence is not undermined or trivialised. Even more importantly we do not want to put women in less open societies in jeopardy.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, does a great job of combining her power with a twinkle in her eye! She commands respect on a global leadership platform and there is very few references to her appearance when it comes to the media. My guess is that she uses her humour amongst her peers to equalize her status and draw attention to the issues she wants to raise.
A sense of humour is not a given, and then being able to communicate with humour across the boundaries of language and culture is an even bigger challenge for men as well as women. Taking on board the simplicity of visual humour like slapstick is not going to win you any prizes at the next international board meeting but watching and listening instead of looking at your mobile will ensure that you stay in the room. Social media crosses boundaries but will never replace the art of visual and verbal communications. Even if you do not have time to fully learn the lingo, research what your hosts or visitors laugh about in their country as humour can always be shared.
Lynne is the founder and chief executive of Funny Women and the new workplace brand. HERlarious. Follow her on Twitter at @funnywomenlynne
