Getting to Si Ja Oui Hai and Da

Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da Based on the Harvard Business Review article by Erin Meyer, December 2015

What Gets You to YES in One Culture May Lead to NO in Another 3

Tim got the principles right … 4

… but he got the communication wrong. 5

To Cross the Cultural Divide, Focus on Unspoken Signals 6

5 Rules of Thumb for Negotiating Across Cultures 7

RULE 1 Tailor the Way You Express Disagreement 8

Listen for Verbal Cues That Strengthen Disagreement 9

Listen for Verbal Cues That Soften Disagreement 10

RULE 2 Know When to Bottle It Up and When to Let It All Pour Out 11

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Read Emotions and Adapt Accordingly 15

RULE 3 Learn How the Other Culture Builds Trust 16

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Cognitive Trust Cultures 20

Affective Trust Cultures 21

Invest in Building Trust Do things together Show your human side Demonstrate genuine interest Be patient 22

RULE 4 Avoid Yes-or-No Questions 23

In Indonesia, Yes Sometimes Means No 24

In France, No May Signal an Invitation to Debate 25

Reframe Your Questions 26

Listen and Observe 27

RULE 5 Be Careful About Putting It in Writing 28

In the U. S. contracts are legally binding. 29

In Nigeria, a contract can feel like a trap. 30

Understand the Role of Contracts Deals aren’t always final. 31

The Five Rules of Thumb Tailor the way you express disagreement Know when to bottle it up or let it all pour out Learn how the other culture builds trust Avoid yes-or-no questions Be careful about putting it in writing 32

Bring Someone Who Understands the Other Culture 33

Sarah’s team was doing all the talking. 34

“Give the Japanese space to make decisions. ” 35

Words Matter, But Cultural Context Often Means More 36

Who here has been involved in a cross-cultural negotiation? How did that experience go? Have you ever misread unspoken signals in a negotiation? Can you share an example of a situation where standard principles of negotiation led you astray? What mistakes do you see people making in cross-cultural negotiations? Which of the rules do you think would be most helpful to you? Why? 37

Articles Global Teams That Work Tsedal Neeley Contextual Intelligence Tarun Khanna Book HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing Across Cultures Slide Deck Navigating the Cultural Minefield Erin Meyer Tool Assessment: What’s Your Cultural Profile? Erin Meyer Video Bridging Two Kinds of Cultural Differences Blythe Mc. Garvie 38

Read the Full Article Originally published in the December 2015 issue of Harvard Business Review: “Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da. ” About the Author Erin Meyer is a professor and the program director for Managing Global Virtual Teams at INSEAD. She is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business (Public. Affairs, 2014). Twitter: @Erin. Meyer. INSEAD 39