How to work with people from different cultures
spoiler alert: there’s way more than language difference
I’ll never forget the first time I realised I had completely misread a business deal.
My American leaders had just wrapped up a meeting with one of our biggest Chinese customers. The meeting seemed perfect. The customer nodded at every request, agreed to every timeline, smiled through the entire presentation. My boss walked out feeling like he’d nailed it.
Then the customer pulled me aside. “We’re not going to do anything he said. He doesn’t understand our business and we only agreed to show respect to you.”
The deal fell through three months later. Not because of bad products or poor strategy, but because we were fundamentally talking past each other without even knowing it.
Most of us have worked with somebody from a different ethnicity or culture at some point. COVID has accelerated cross-border collaborations tremendously. Startup founders often work with freelance professionals from overseas, corporations outsource certain parts of the business process to overseas teams. Not to mention those working in multinational companies, and of course, expats.
Over the past decade at Google, I worked in different regions to grow local markets. I worked in a global team with teammates from all over the world, and I led global partnerships which enabled me to work with partners who speak different languages. Cross-cultural collaboration has been the bread and butter of my career, but for someone starting the expat life, it could be equally exciting and draining. Today I want to dissect some of the biggest challenges I have faced and share my experience overcoming them.
1. Language & communication
Language is the immediate difference and it’s not just about whether you speak English or not, but how you express ideas. The main differences lie in the contextual intensity of communication, as well as how directly people deliver feedback or evaluation.
In the United States, people are trained to communicate as literally and explicitly as possible. Good communication is about clarity and explicitness. By contrast, in many Asian cultures like India, China, and Japan, messages are often conveyed implicitly, requiring the listener to read between the lines. Good communication is subtle, layered, and may depend on copious subtext. Japanese and Hindi are both high-context languages in which a relatively high percentage of words can be interpreted multiple ways based on how and when they are used.
When it comes to giving negative feedback, European countries like Germany and the Netherlands prefer direct feedback, where comments are provided frankly, bluntly, and honestly, not softened by positive ones. In Japan, feedback is provided softly, subtly, diplomatically, and wrapped in positive messages. Criticism is only given in private. I learned this the hard way when I gave direct feedback to my Japanese partner in a group setting. I thought I was being efficient and clear. In reality, I had just humiliated him in front of his team. It took months to rebuild that relationship.
Here’s what I have tried:
Learn. Before meeting with somebody from a different culture, search online about their communication styles, what types of meetings energise them, and also their pet peeves. It takes 10 minutes and can save you from months of misunderstanding.
Acknowledge difference and set contexts. Apart from learning about others, help people understand you as well. Chances are the others are even more culturally ignorant than you, and they may not be aware of the cultural differences. You can bring it up in a casual setting by saying something like, “This is so fascinating that everyone comes from a unique background and culture! In my country we tend to be quite direct. I hope I won’t be interpreted as too aggressive or too blunt.” Or before you make a big comment in a meeting, you can check in first: “I actually do have some quick feedback on this, but I just want to make sure everyone is comfortable with direct feedback? Just want to be aware of potential cultural differences here.”
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2. Difference in work culture
While communication is key, it also stems from a deeper cultural philosophy in each country, and that could hugely influence work styles.
For example, egalitarian countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have a very flat culture where a boss is essentially a facilitator amongst equals. However, for hierarchical countries like Japan, China, and India, they expect a leader to lead from the front, and subordinates show a lot of respect to their bosses.
My director’s “everyone has a voice” management style worked great in the US but actually stressed out my Chinese and Japanese reports. They didn’t want to be empowered to make decisions. They wanted clear direction from the top.
How different people build relationships also varies a lot. In Japan, business deals happen after a whole night of drinking, and relationships only develop after a long period of time working together. On the other hand, Western countries build their trust through task-based activities. Work relationships are built and dropped easily based on the job. Relationships take up a much smaller portion in decision making.
Even time works differently across cultures. In Germany, time is linear, and people stick to the schedule and focus on deadlines. In countries like China and Japan, punctuality is a virtue. In Saudi Arabia or Mexico, people adopt a flexible time schedule where projects are dealt with in a fluid manner and interruptions are accepted. In India, 15 minutes late is not considered late at all.
Knowing all these different patterns of work style based on each other’s culture helps everyone understand each other better and prevents problems before they start.
One exercise that worked brilliantly for our global team was the Cultural Map exercise. This lets everyone map themselves by different metrics based on their work style and culture, which opens up honest discussion about everyone’s differences.
Another suggestion is to be vocal and ask about people’s preferences. Managers can ask the team whether they prefer that someone be absent in a voting session. When scheduling meetings, ask to clarify how strict the deadline is and how much buffer time is allowed.
3. Local market knowledge & connections
Apart from cultural differences, a solid fact is that everyone is the most familiar with their own country most of the time. This is particularly relevant to expats, but also to founders and team leaders working with overseas talents running the local market.
When I was leading global partnerships, I encountered a lot of uncertainty based on very little understanding of different markets apart from my own region. Because of that, it was very difficult for me to carry out business conversations or formulate development plans due to my lack of understanding.
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Now that improves over time by living in the local market, talking with people, and doing research. However, a very helpful way to work around this is to find local champions. I chose to work closely with the local team and lean on their advice when it comes to evaluating partners and business opportunities. This has sped up my learning, and at the same time, it improves efficiency while helping to build my reputation.
For an American company hoping to expand to Japan, the most effective way is to hire a local Japanese talent who already has the connections and works in the local style. However, that also means when working with the local team member, the manager has to respect their expertise and perspectives while trying not to judge using his or her own cultural lens. Remember what you hired these people for.
4. What does this work mean to you?
This one is ingrained in a country’s culture, but it reflects something deeper: the meaning of work in one’s life.
When I first worked with my Chinese counterparts, I was feeling extremely anxious because of their demanding 996 culture (9am to 9pm, 6 days a week). People expect you to reply to messages instantly, day and night, weekdays and weekends. Nothing is more important than the work itself. That means personal priorities or family commitments always come behind work.
Then I started working with my European counterparts, and I had a completely opposite experience. Everyone seems to be relaxed and chill, and half of the team is gone in summertime for holiday. To a lot of Europeans, work is just a subset of life. Because of that, they do not tend to tie their self-worth to work titles or work achievements. They prefer to strike a good balance.
In America, however, people are often very driven. You have to be proactive to identify and grab opportunities. My American counterpart told me that he seldom takes more than a week off for holidays because there is so much work for him to do.
These differences in values have created a lot of stereotypes which may not be necessarily true: Asians are perceived as hardworking, Americans are perceived as aggressive, and Europeans are perceived as chill. Even though they are in the same team working on the same task, everyone perceives their work differently.
This is beyond culture, but it is a very important point for managers to take note of. Use the right motivation to influence your co-workers. Create a “How I Work” document for your team that includes typical working hours, how quickly you expect responses, what “urgent” means to you, how you prefer to receive feedback, and what motivates you at work. Share these openly. Use them to set realistic expectations instead of silently resenting each other.
5. Time zone & virtual meetings
Working with people in different countries means there are time zone differences to conquer, and meetings are going to be virtual in nature. Depending on the distance, time zones could be quite tricky. When I was in Asia, meeting with my American counterparts often meant I needed to take early calls at 5am, and sometimes that could be really draining.
When dealing with situations like that, work together to find a time that works for everyone, and try to take turns. It’s also crucial to set boundaries to avoid job burnout.
At the same time, having virtual meetings means that there are a lot fewer social cues and opportunities to build rapport. Set a detailed agenda prior to the meeting, be super specific about the goals of the meeting. During the meeting, apart from discussions, take time to understand each other with casual catch-ups. While at the same time, be intentional about next steps, deadlines, etc. This makes sure everyone understands what’s next, and the work relationship stays productive.
6. Team contexts & dynamics
Finally, a small but important point is to see beyond an individual level and look at a broader team level in terms of context and dynamics.
When you’re working in multinational companies or in a global team, oftentimes there are procedures in place to ensure that everyone is aware of and educated about respecting cultural differences. When I was in Singapore, almost my whole team were expats, and a lot of times we spent time understanding each other’s background and preferred work styles.
However, if you are the only foreigner in a local team, sometimes people may easily forget that you don’t understand the local language or you don’t work exactly the same way.
This has happened to my western friends and colleagues working amongst a Chinese team. The team doesn’t speak good English, and people don’t know how to engage with a foreigner, so they have chosen to avoid that. In moments like that, it is tough, and the minority has to intentionally speak up and remind others about some nuances and try to pull the group back to the middle. This is not easy, and sometimes minorities could feel left out and isolated, but bear in mind that sometimes this is not intentional. Your counterpart could just be culturally unaware.
Why this matters
I know this sounds like a lot of effort. You have actual work to do. But here’s the thing: this IS the actual work. That deal that fell through? The developer who quit? The partnership that’s underperforming? Cultural misunderstanding is probably at the root of at least one of those problems. And the cost is real. Companies with high levels of cultural and ethnic diversity are around 35–36% more profitable than less diverse companies, according to ongoing McKinsey studies published through 2025, and teams prioritising inclusivity experience approximately 35% higher productivity.
Where to start
You don’t need to become an expert on 47 different cultures. You just need to start noticing your own blind spots. The goal isn’t to eliminate all differences. It’s to stop assuming everyone works like you do. To get curious instead of frustrated. To build the awareness that turns “they’re so difficult” into “oh, that’s how they work.”
A very helpful book that I’ve read is The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. In the book, Erin has dissected people from different countries across a spectrum of 8 scales, from communication to persuasion. It has been a really helpful read for me to better understand my counterparts, but also to understand how I could be a better co-worker.
Overall, I think working in an international environment has its challenges, but it has been a really eye-opening experience for me. Throughout these cross-cultural communications, I have gained so much perspective from people from all walks of life, and I have also made a lot of international friends. Your overseas teammate isn’t the problem. Once you figure out how to work with people who aren’t like you, that’s when the real opportunities open up.
What’s the biggest challenges you have faced on cross-cultural collaboration? Reply with a comment and let me know. I read every message.
About me
Thank you for reading until the end :) I’m Loretta, and I’ve spent the past decade at Google working with thousands of customers all over the world. My work spans digital marketing, business transformation, strategic partnerships, program management, and app development.
I believe AI will empower individuals more than ever, and I’m here to translate my decade of experience into simple, actionable advice to help you achieve your goals. I post bi-weekly about digital marketing tips, industry updates and best practices.
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