Scattered teams, where a PM may work in one country, a developer and QA in another, and a customer in a third one, are a common practice in IT. But how to build communication in international teams effectively? And how do the cultural particularities of different countries affect such communication? Our colleagues, Project Manager Maksym Pasynkov and Recruitment Team Lead Sultan Hasanov, shared their thoughts.

Maksym Pasynkov, Project Manager, AMC Bridge

We always deal with specialists from different countries: either on a customer’s or our side. As a Project Manager, I saw interactions of completely different teams and know what works effectively and what hinders. Below, I will provide recommendations that are based on practical experience and, for convenience, divided into three sections: the social element, oral, and written communication.

Social element

Profile avatars. In an international team, it’s worth knowing who’s on the other side. Set your photos as avatars in work messengers, bug trackers, repositories, SSO account profiles, and so on. Seeing a photo gives a person an impression that a specific colleague is on the other side, not an abstract somebody with an automatically generated or cartoonish avatar. Of course, you can see some team members on video calls. But when working in a big team, most likely, there will be those with whom you will never talk at meetings. In such cases, a photo in your profile will help.

Video meetings. The second important point is to turn on cameras during calls. This practice adds a sense of presence and helps you stay focused during long meetings.

Oral communication

Small talks. In my honest opinion, small talk is one of the main components of high-quality communication in remote multicultural teams. It is a few minutes of conversation at the beginning of a meeting when folks are still gathering. During this time, you can listen to and talk about local festivals, what grows in whose garden, children, pets, the weather after all, and other things.

I know that there are software developers who really don’t like it. I remember cases when participants joined meetings three minutes later to miss the small talk. However, this lasts only until the moment they have tasted it.

A few minutes of work-unrelated conversations make people less “abstract” and create the feeling of a team as a single organism. It brings people closer together, especially when teams are halfway across the World, improves communication at all levels, and, in some cases, helps improve a foreign language.

Daily status meetings. Although daily status meetings should include small talks, they should be short. Daily calls are helpful to keep the team working at the same pace and identify problems or blockers in the early stages. But when the team is scattered around the world and lives in different time zones, the brevity of such meetings is paramount: it may be morning for someone and about the end of a working day for somebody else. Therefore, debugging sessions and detailed problem discussions that do not require the participation of the entire team should not occur at stand-ups. Give them a separate call. This practice manifests respect for each other and affects the team microclimate.

Foreign language. Sometimes, due to imperfect English, people try to avoid oral communication and convey questions or updates through their team leaders and managers. But you can’t learn it if you don’t talk at meetings; on the contrary—the more you talk—the easier it becomes to practice. My advice is to prepare for a meeting by writing the main ideas on a piece of paper and reading them out loud before the meeting. In addition, there is almost always a colleague who will answer your question or help you choose the right words. If you start speaking at meetings now, you will notice an improvement and be able to communicate without assistance in 1.5–2 months.

Communication via an interpreter. In one of our projects, we work with the Japanese on the client’s side with whom we communicate via an interpreter. And, a nuance is here—interpreters are proficient in languages but rarely, if ever, are technical specialists in programming or engineering. Therefore, they can get lost and confused when interpreting very long sentences. Consequently, the meaning of what was said is lost, and meetings are delayed. I recommend pausing for an interpreter every 2–5 sentences to reduce misunderstanding chances and increase meeting productivity.

Written communication

Courtesy. It’s simple—be friendly. When asking for something in English, use the past tense of modal verbs: might, could, and would. “Please do this” is almost an order. “Could you do this?” is a neutral request.

Style. Write informally only when you are sure that an interlocutor supports this style. For example, “Hi guys” is not a good idea for people who talk to you in a more formal way using “Hello” and “Regards”. The same applies to communication with a client’s managers and representatives. Still, this is quite normal for a team or group of people who initiated an informal correspondence style.

Illustrations. Use examples and pictures when a communication language is not native to your interlocutors or you. Even with high-level language knowledge, non-native speakers can sometimes write not precisely what they mean. Therefore, support messages and emails with examples and images to avoid confusion and wasting time checking whether everyone understands each other.

Use UML diagrams to describe processes, relationships, and architectures. In fact, they are a reliable source that gives a unified visual understanding of any term, thereby removing ambiguities.

We used to work with a team of non-native English speakers. For some time, situations repeated when it seemed like we had discussed everything, but something went wrong as a result. That’s why we started drawing UML diagrams and demanding them to do so as well. Consequently, that team began to understand our requirements and we—their difficulties. The development time was significantly reduced as a result.

Additional questions. If you receive an email including ambiguous terms with different meanings, feel free to ask clarifying questions to get more details. The questions should be addressed to the right person, and their number should be enough to ensure everything is clear to you. Believe me—there are no cultures where people do not tolerate questions. But there are cultures where people do not understand: “Why didn’t you ask again?” Trust me—clarifying questions is cheaper than redoing tasks that were not properly understood.

Sultan Hasanov, Recruitment Team Lead, AMC Bridge

In its nature, cross-cultural communications in IT are not much different from the usual business communications we are used to. However, something distinguishes them: cultural moments that may not be obvious at the first glance but will have their impact. Erin Meyer, an international communication consultant and professor at the international INSEAD business school, revealed them in her book The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business. I would like to share with you the main book ideas, which I apply and advise my colleagues to apply.

Two kinds of communication

There are two types of communication:

1. Low-context—intrinsic primarily to Western countries—the USA, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, Finland, and so on.
2. High-context—intrinsic primarily to Eastern countries—Japan, Korea, Indonesia, China, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Singapore, and so on.

Low context is characterized by precision and simplicity. Words have a literal meaning and are taken at face value. At the same time, high context is more about subtexts: when messages are expressed indirectly, you need to read between the lines and not rush to conclusions. For example, did you know that one Japanese word, depending on the context, can mean both leg and foot, yesterday and tomorrow? These are all features that are important to be aware of to achieve communicative goals more effectively.

Communication strategy

• Summarize discussion results.
• Clearly assign people responsible for a particular task.
• Ask team members to tell what exactly they will do next.
• Record discussed topics in notes or follow-ups.

Two methods of persuasion

The persuasion methods are also different. There are two types of argumentation:

1. Inductive — 80% practice and 20% theory: the USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
2. Deductive — 80% theory and 20% practice: Italy, France, Spain, russia, Germany, and Brazil.

The first group will usually rely on practical experience when making decisions. Therefore, people will rather choose to test an idea than weigh theoretical arguments for a long time. But the second group will rely on theory and evidence base.

Communication strategy

Why is it important to understand this? Imagine a situation. You’re a deductive person presenting your project to colleagues or partners from England. You’ve prepared a powerful case of arguments with too much theory while being expected to get right to the point. Hence, you may not be understood, and your arguments will not work.

Accordingly, if you deal with the countries on the first list, quickly go to the main point and discuss the applied matter. With the countries on the second list, focus on explanation and facts and then on the applied matter.

Two types of evaluation and feedback

The persuasion methods are also different. There are two types of argumentation:

1. Inductive — 80% practice and 20% theory: the USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
2. Deductive — 80% theory and 20% practice: Italy, France, Spain, russia, Germany, and Brazil.

The first group will usually rely on practical experience when making decisions. Therefore, people will rather choose to test an idea than weigh theoretical arguments for a long time. But the second group will rely on theory and evidence base.

Communication strategy

Why is it important to understand this? Imagine a situation. You’re a deductive person presenting your project to colleagues or partners from England. You’ve prepared a powerful case of arguments with too much theory while being expected to get right to the point. Hence, you may not be understood, and your arguments will not work.

Accordingly, if you deal with the countries on the first list, quickly go to the main point and discuss the applied matter. With the countries on the second list, focus on explanation and facts and then on the applied matter.

Two types of evaluation and feedback

1. Intensifiers—categorically, absolutely, completely, and so on—Israel, Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Australia, and Italy.
2. Mitigators—allegedly, a little, somewhat, and so on—Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, China, Kenya, and India.

So you might hear “It’s not quite what is necessary” when the real meaning is “It’s not at all what is necessary.” And this can be confusing.

Consider also that people from countries where intensifiers are used more often provide direct negative feedback. Those using mitigators choose indirect negative feedback. Somewhere in the middle are the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

Communication strategy

Thus, I advise you to remember that people of different cultures formulate feedback differently. While it is more or less easy with positive feedback, keep in mind the following tips for negative feedback:

• The Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Denmark—negative feedback is usually expressed directly. Take their words literally, but as those said with respect for your professionalism.
• The USA, Canada, and UK—negative feedback is more often provided indirectly, that’s it, diplomatically, with mitigators. Consider this when you get feedback. When giving feedback, try to be more open and low-context and make sure that your negative feedback is balanced with a positive evaluation as well.
• Israel, France, Spain, and Italy—direct feedback can sound a bit harsh due to the hierarchical culture of these countries. If it hurts your feelings, politely tell the other side about it and ask them to take it into account.
• Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, India, Kenya, Japan, China, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia—feedback is provided delicately and veiled. If you communicate with representatives of these countries, give individual feedback only face-to-face and collective one to the whole group.