Australian / Indian Team learnings: Cultural Conversational Styles: A Case of ‘Feet first or wait patiently?’
We've been doing a lot of team building activities recently. One question I get asked a lot is, "How can I work more effectively with my team mates in country 'X' ". Most likely for me it's Indian and Australian teams. One of the most common observation's is: "Oh, they're so quiet, how can I get them to speak up?" Or, "Person 'Y" is so rude, they never listen to anything I have to say" I'll give you 5 seconds to work out which side of the Indian ocean the 'stereotypes' above are sitting. If you’re working in a team with both Australian and Indian colleagues, you’ve probably seen this play out. A generalisation: 🇦🇺 Australians tend to see interruptions and sentence-finishing as a sign of engagement. It’s how they collaborate—building on each other’s thoughts in real time. 🇮🇳 Indian professionals often wait for a clear break in conversation before speaking. It’s a sign of respect and active listening. Neithe...