Anna Shevchenko, senior consultant at Farnham Castle International Briefing and Conference Centre, offers guidance on negotiating the cultural hurdles involved in doing business in Russia.

Russia has a very distinct culture, and this needs to be understood and appreciated in order to conduct successful business. If the effort has not been made to understand the cultural nuances of this nation, even the simple action of a handshake could cause unease. A businessman welcoming a Russian counterpart with an extended palm when opening the office door might receive a frown. This is because there is an unspoken Russian understanding that considers it bad luck to shake hands over a threshold. The meeting might be off to a difficult start, right from the outset.

Such national characteristics are based on years of historical turmoil. They go to make up a series of values and beliefs which become a standard way of life to a particular country's inhabitants. 

Russian culture is focused on building close, long-term relationships, for example. The relationship comes first, then business follows. 

Similarly, in Russia, the right connections make all the difference between business success and failure. 'Who you know' is very important, and the right contacts can help you open business doors. In this sense, Russian culture is often called a 'high context' culture. 

Russians like long meetings, which rarely start on time. They use direct language, and only tend to smile once the relationship is established. It is easy to see how confusion and mistrust are created and how business dealings may get off on the wrong foot. 

Assuming these initial cultural hurdles do not accidentally cause offence on either side and are largely overcome, the ongoing working relationship can also present a minefield of cultural issues. Take negotiation, for example: Russians tend to see the bigger picture and then agree details later. This is often where contract negotiations get stuck, as some cultures, like the British, for example, prefer to work with a sequential approach, moving logically from point A to point B and dealing with details as they come up. 

The Russian nature also doesn't accept compromise easily and doesn't always incorporate feedback. Therefore, to be successful, businesspeople working in a cross-cultural environment will need to ensure that Russians are not seen to lose face through concession.

Similarly, once a relationship has been established, a Russian executive would rather promise than say a project cannot be delivered, to avoid any loss of face. Business people will find themselves needing to confirm and re-confirm arrangements to ensure things work to any project timetable.

The initial approach in Russian culture is based on the word 'no' rather than the word 'yes' – a further important point to be aware of. The word 'no' is apparently used in conversation on average nine times more frequently than in America, for example. Perseverance will allow executives to find out how to change that 'no' to a 'yes' for successful business transactions to take place.

In today's global world, it would be easy to assume that people would be able to put aside their various cultural differences to conduct business successfully together. However, our respective cultural traits and values are often so deeply ingrained that we are not aware of their very existence, and this, in turn, can create misunderstandings, inconvenience, damage to relationships, and sometimes lost business without anyone really being sure what went wrong. However, interacting well across cultures – with just a little more understanding – can make the difference between any project's success and failure.

For further information, visit www.farnhamcastle.com