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. 

Neither is wrong, but if you don’t know this, you might assume:
❌ That Indian team members are quiet because they have nothing to add (false).
❌ That Australian team members are interrupting because they don’t care what you’re saying (also false).

Just different styles. If we understand this, we can avoid misinterpreting intent and create space for everyone to contribute. 

Anyone else noticed this? How do you handle it in global teams?

#CrossCulturalTeams #Communication #WorkplaceCulture 

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