As with all the dimensions of culture, when it comes to giving feedback internationally everything is relative. The Japanese find the Singaporeans unnecessarily direct. The Americans find the Singaporeans opaque and lacking transparency. The Singaporeans who join Netflix are shocked at their American colleagues’ bluntness. To many a Dutch person, the Americans at Netflix don’t feel particularly direct at all. Netflix, despite its multinational desires, continues to have a largely American-centric culture. And when it comes to giving negative feedback, Americans are more direct than many cultures but considerably less direct than the Dutch culture. Dutch director of public policy Ise, who joined Netflix Amsterdam in 2014, explains the difference like this: The Netflix culture has succeeded in creating an environment where feedback is frequent and actionable. Yet when an American gives feedback, even at Netflix, they almost always start by telling you what’s good about your work before telling you what they really want to say. Americans learn things like, “Always give three positives with every negative” and “Catch employees doing things right.” This is confusing for a Dutch person, who will give you positive feedback or negative feedback but is unlikely to do both in the same conversation. At Netflix, Ise quickly learned that the manner of giving feedback that would be natural and comfortable in her own Dutch culture was too blunt for her American collaborators: Donald, my American colleague who had recently moved to the Netherlands, was hosting a meeting in Amsterdam. Seven non-Netflix partners had taken planes and trains from around Europe for the discussions. The meeting went very well. Donald was articulate, detailed, and persuasive. His preparation was evident. But several times I could tell other participants wanted to share their own perspective but didn’t have the opportunity, because Donald talked so much. After the meeting Donald said to me, “I thought that went great. What did you think?” This seemed to me like a perfect time to give that candid feedback Netflix leaders are always preaching about so I jumped in: “Stinne came all the way from Norway to attend the meeting but you spoke so much she couldn’t get a word in edgewise. We asked these people to take planes and trains, and then they didn’t get time to speak. We didn’t hear all of the opinions that could have helped us. You talked for 80 percent of the meeting, making it difficult for anyone else to say anything at all.” She was about to move on to the part of the feedback where she gives actionable suggestions for future improvement when Donald did something that Ise feels is typical of Americans: Before I’d even finished, he groaned and looked crestfallen. He took my feedback way too harshly, as Americans often do. He said, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for having messed this all up.” But he hadn’t “messed it all up.” That’s not what I said. The meeting was a success and he showed he knew that by saying, “That went great.” There was just this one aspect that was not good, and I felt understanding that could help him improve. That’s what frustrates me about my American colleagues. As often as they give feedback and as eager as they are to hear it, if you don’t start by saying something positive they think the entire thing was a disaster. As soon as a Dutch person jumps in with the negative first, the American kills the critique by thinking the whole thing has gone to hell. In her past five years at Netflix, Ise has learned a lot about giving feedback to international colleagues, especially Americans: Now that I better understand these cultural tendencies, I give the feedback just as frequently, but I think carefully about the person receiving the message and how to adapt to get the results I’m hoping for. With more indirect cultures I start by sprinkling the ground with a few light positive comments and words of appreciation. If the work has been overall good I state that enthusiastically up front. Then I ease into the feedback with “a few suggestions.” Then I wrap up by stating, “This is just my opinion, for whatever it is worth,” and “You can take it or leave it.” The elaborate dance is quite humorous from a Dutch person’s point of view . . . but it certainly gets the desired results! Ise’s words sum up the strategies Netflix learned for promoting candor as they opened offices around the world. When you are leading a global team, as you Skype with your employees in different cultures, your words will be magnified or minimized based on your listener’s cultural context. So you have to be aware. You have to be strategic. You have to be flexible. With a little information and a little finesse, you can modify the feedback to the person your speaking with in order to get the results that you need.
The final excerpt I’ll be sharing of this book. Among all the other things mentioned about Netflix’s core company culture, flexibility is still required especially when working in international environments. For this, the key is finding the balance between the core values of the company while allowing for some room when adjusting to different cultures.
The authors speak quite a bit on understanding the nuances of each country and giving some leeway to accommodate to these while still trying to tie in the core values they have set out.
