When Working Across Cultures, Understand What Silence Means

September 3, 2018

Cultural differences aren’t always obvious. Take silence, for example. At the end of a meeting, you might ask whether anyone has a question. But if your colleagues come from a culture where people tend not to ask questions in a public setting, they will keep quiet — but out of respect, not because they don’t have something to ask. That’s why it’s important to learn more about communication differences between your culture and your colleagues’: Do people shake their heads to mean yes (as they do in Bulgaria) rather than nodding their heads (as in the U.S.)? Do they defer to authority in public? Knowing these kinds of differences will help you understand what your coworkers are really saying — or aren’t saying. So instead of assuming that silence in the meeting means your colleagues don’t need clarification, you might say, “Many people new to projects like this one have a number of questions. What are some of the issues you want to know about?”

Adapted from “3 Ways to Identify Cultural Differences on a Global Team,” by Art Markman