![]() by launching into the criticism (as would be common in countries like Russia), you may find that your American counterpart is anything but receptive. Although Americans are stereotyped around the world for their directness, if you give negative feedback in the U.S. ![]() When giving negative feedback consider not only how many upgraders or downgraders you are using, but also whether to wrap positive feedback around negative feedback. Now I try to be just as blunt with them as they are with me.” Kwang’s Dutch colleagues later complained that they found him so aggressive and angry that they were practically unable to work with him. I spoke to another Korean friend who has been in the Netherlands for a while, and he told me that the only way to handle this is to give it right back to them. When they don’t like something, they tell you bluntly to your face. So when I first came to the Netherlands, I was shocked at how rude and arrogant the Dutch are with their criticism. Young-Su explained “The Dutch culture is very direct, and we Koreans do not like to give direct negative feedback. Kwang Young-Su, a Korean manager who had been working in the Netherlands for six years, made this mistake. Even in direct cultures, it is possible to be too direct and if you try to switch to their style you risk making things worse. Should Klopfer’s boss have adapted his style to be more direct in order to assure his German team member received the message clearly? There is one rule for working with cultures that are more direct than yours: don’t try to do it like them. Then I ease into the feedback with “a few small suggestions,” he said. “I try to start by sprinkling the ground with a few light positive comments and words of appreciation. Now Klopfer makes an effort to soften the message when giving negative feedback to British counterparts. He also considered how his British staff might interpret his messages, which he had been delivering without any softeners at all. Klopfer subsequently learned to analyse messages by ignoring the downgraders and focusing his attention on the raw message in the middle. ![]() And I can tell you, I was pretty surprised when he called me into his office to chew me out for insubordination.” Little did I know that his phrase was supposed to be interpreted as, “change your behaviour right away or else”. I thought about it and decided not to do it. During a one-on-one, my British boss “suggested that I think about” doing something differently. “In Germany, we typically use strong words when giving negative feedback or criticising in order to make sure the message registers clearly. A soft-spoken manager in his forties, Klopfer described how his failure to decode a message from his British boss almost cost him his job. Marcus Klopfer, a German finance director, learned the hard way. More direct cultures use what linguists call “upgraders”, words preceding or following negative feedback that makes it feel stronger, such as “absolutely” or “totally”.īy contrast, more indirect cultures, such as the British, use more “downgraders”, words that soften the criticism, such as “kind of”, “sort of” and “a little bit”.īut this can create confusion with people from other cultures. Moody’s announcement has since been widely hailed as a classic example of British understatement and it demonstrates one of the ways the British commonly give negative feedback. We’re doing our utmost to get them going and I trust you’re not in too much distress and would the chief steward please come to the flight deck.”įortunately, the plane was able to glide far enough and make a safe landing at a nearby airport. We have a small problem in that all four engines have failed. The British pilot, Eric Moody, calmly informed the passengers: “Good evening again ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain here. In 1982, a British Airways plane flew through a cloud of volcanic ash over Indonesia and lost power to its engines.
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