One of the biggest ahah I got when starting to work internationally was that the same word had a different meaning in different countries. It goes from time management all the way to the simple word YES. When you tell a call is at 5PM to a German, he will call in at 5, an Italian (particularly from the south), may call in between 5 and 5:30.
When I started to work with my Indian colleagues, I was in a number of teleconferences with them. In one of those, I asked them for some material and got an enthusiastic yes. I really felt good, those guys were so willing to help. In the following days I actually became nervous as I did not see anything coming. So, what the heck was this. Were these unreliable guys? I called them back and reminded them of what they had promised me. And that's where I got the shock. They did not feel they had promised me anything. Their yes did not meant they were going to send me something, but yes they had understood what I said.
It's much later that it dawned on me, when one of my friends told me there were 40 ways to say yes in Hindi and no way to say no. Whether this is fully correct or not, I don't know, but yes can mean many different things, from yes I hear you say something to yes I agree, with the whole spectrum in the middle.
Ever since, when I work with them, I finish my calls by asking them what they are going to do. If the answer is, "do we need to do something", then I know I have to be more precise in what I am expecting. I rewind and start all over again.
I have shared this many times in conferences and more than one have come back to me telling me they had similar experiences, so keep that in mind, what does a yes actually mean.
On a different subject, I am going to take some holiday, so the blog will be quiet for a little while. Don't worry I'll be back. Have some good time, and don't hesitate to leave a comment.
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