Direct cultures – the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, the Nordics – treat clarity as respect. If something is wrong, say so; not saying so wastes everyone’s time. Indirect cultures – Japan, Thailand, much of the UK – treat harmony as respect. If something is wrong, signal it gently and trust the listener to read between the lines.
Global teams get into trouble when each side mistakes the other’s style for character. The direct speaker seems rude to the indirect one; the indirect speaker seems untrustworthy to the direct one. Both are behaving perfectly, by rules the other team can’t see.
The workable middle ground is a team agreement. Decide together: how do we give negative feedback? In public or in writing? Do we interrupt, or wait? When someone says “that might be difficult”, what do we mean in this team? A twenty-minute conversation at kickoff prevents months of quiet friction.
And if you lead the team, model both styles. Ask the direct voices to soften the delivery, and ask the indirect voices to say the difficult thing out loud once. People rarely change how they speak at home, but they can absolutely agree how this team speaks to each other.
– fin. Questions? Just ask.
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