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Comment by kaelig | Hacker News Reader

I am French. This "start with no" attitude has been an issue when I started working with other cultures. First, when I worked in London, and even more so when I started working in California. At the first California-based company I worked at, there was an implicit bias towards what I'd describe as an "everything is awesome"-attitude (which was a huge departure from the French way to start conversations).

I would start conversations the "French way" to debate certain aspects of how/why things are done, but it backfired because I did it in a clumsy way, without considering the cultural gap and how people were expected to communicate at this company.

Today, I easily switch between American and French styles, but it took me a while to understand what my California-based coworkers meant when they said "it's more important to be kind than to be right"!

Curious to hear if this happens to other expats too.

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French in Japan. I realized I was really overly critical of everything. I started forcing myself to say good things first (without lying) wherever I was doing an appreciation about something.

I think the french habit is to jump to the flaws, because that's where work needs to get done, but I now learn that there is a ton of value in taking the time to recognize when a work has been done appropriately or when it surpassed expectations.

Been there too, French in the Anglo world, same cultural clash.

I always believed having one "French" mindset person in the team is an asset as a counter balance to the "Yes everything is awesome". Much like the UK is (was I guess) to the EU, simply because it opens up new perspectives / discussions.

Now if you have more than one (or a tiny percentage on really large teams) that's probably where the troubles start.

I'm from California, but I think I might be French. Would explain why I always felt so alienated all the time...

> This "start with no" attitude has been an issue when I started working with other cultures.

The Indian attitude must be the polar opposite then. "Yes I understand. We'll do the needful."

One of our Indian coworkers gave us a crash course how to work with his team - the answer is always yes so tracking commitments is where all the work ends up.

OK, that sort of thing would be hyper-helpful to me; I'm an immigrant myself, having fairly adjusted to North American/Canadian culture, now working with remote teams in India I'll never meet. Without overly sterotyping, any useful resources that would help me understand cultural standpoints and attitudes?

Respect the culture i.e, don't be dismissive offhand and talk down to them. Adapt yourself to the situation. We can be quite touchy even on so-called trivial matters. Maintaining status, image is important.

Always read between the lines. Pickup on any hesitations, wishy-washy statements and the like and interact accordingly. Get commitments written down.

Hierarchy is important; bosses throw their weight around. You have to be diplomatic in managing it.

Engineers crave recognition. Give them plenty of positive feedback and incentives. Treat them as equals and they will open up. Once this happens they can become very friendly and often personal but that is the culture.

Finally, make a trip to India and do meet your remote team members. Personal interaction allows you to setup relationships which are invaluable in getting things done.

> Finally, make a trip to India and do meet your remote team members.

I'm from Sweden, and a Swedish colleague met a team that visited from India. Half-way through the meeting she had to stop and ask why the Indian team were shaking their heads. It turns out it was a head bobble or Indian head shake.[1]

My colleague thought that they kept signalling "no, no, no" by shaking their heads while she was speaking, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. I'm very happy my colleague stopped and asked, because a lot of people would stay silent and keep their misconceptions.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_bobble

Good approach when dealing with any unknown cultural nuances.

I always get annoyed when people go with preconceived notions and stereotypes rather than asking/figuring out for themselves. In today's "Yellow-journalism style media" facts and truth are no longer relevant but everything is turned into a caricature. We should know better in this era of "Globalization". "Cultural Sensitivity" is much more important than we realize.

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