by Becky DeStigter

Have you ever spoken with an international contact when suddenly the conversation takes a wrong turn? Perhaps your contact seems less interested in the relationship. Or maybe your counterpart takes a defensive tone when you were not expecting it. While there may be many explanations, a common reason is a clash between direct versus indirect communication styles. This issue can seriously harm an important business relationship or even doom it to failure. Here is what you need to know.

 

What are Direct vs. Indirect Communications?

 

A direct communicating culture is where people speak their minds and leave little question about where they stand on a given topic. While they consider themselves upfront and extremely honest, an indirect culture may consider such bluntness to be extremely rude and disrespectful.

 

An indirect communicating culture is often concerned with protecting the feelings and reputation of others. While they are deemed highly considerate and respectful in their home culture, direct communicators find this style highly frustrating and time consuming. Indirect communicators typically avoid controversy and are often unwilling to discuss serious issues. When indirect communicators do tackle a difficult topic, the speaker will often talk in circles around the issue leaving the listener confused.

 

Which Business Cultures are Most Direct & Most Indirect Communicators?

 

In studying various business cultures Dutch Anthropologist, Fons Trompenaars, found that the most direct communicating cultures are the Israelis, Dutch and East Coast Americans. In more direct communication cultures no topic is off limits and nothing is too embarrassing to discuss.

 

The most indirect communicators are the Japanese, Koreans, Thais and other East Asian cultures. In Japan, for instance, "yes" normally means "yes, I understand you." Instead of "no," a Japanese person might say, "That would be very difficult" or "Perhaps we can look into that in the future." These expressions actually mean, "There is no way we are doing this."

 

Direct -> Indirect

 

If you are from a direct communicating culture (Northern Europe, North America, Venezuela, Australia, etc.), then effective issue resolution requires patience and a careful choice of words without assigning blame. For example, when your Thai supplier is late on delivery, take a deep breath and approach the issue with, "I understand that there may be some difficulty with the order. Our client is upset with us. Can anything be done to help the situation?" This will be more successful than the typical direct approach, "Where is my order? You promised shipment and now my client is demanding a deep discount and it’s your fault!" The difference is to not assign direct blame but instead explain the situation you are now facing. A good partner from an indirect culture will help to balance out this issue over time.

 

Indirect -> Direct

 

It is harder for an indirect communicator to switch to a direct style because it often feels extremely disrespectful. To adjust, focus on the facts of the situation. For instance: "My supplier was late" or "Future deadlines need to be more flexible so that my workers can check the quality of products before shipment." Other ideas for bridging the direct-indirect communication divide include reading body language, visiting your partner/client in person, and arranging for a third party to talk to both sides in order to reach agreement.