How To Give And Receive Feedback Across Cultures

As technology helps the modern workplace become ever more global, people from different backgrounds find themselves working more closely together than ever before. Even where there isn’t a language barrier, there can still be a cultural one. Managers in different parts of the world are conditioned to give feedback in drastically different ways. In general, the Thai manager learns never to criticize a colleague openly or in front of others, while the Dutch manager learns to be as honest as possible and give the message straight. The French are generally taught to criticize passionately and provide positive feedback sparingly, while Americans commonly learn to give three positives with every negative and call people out for doing things right (which may be downright confounding to many raised in other cultures).