这种口是心非的情况也会出现在其他可能造成灾难的沟通方式中。迈耶说：“如果你问一名中国员工：‘你能在两周内把这项工作完成吗？’他或她会这样说：‘是的，我们会尽量。’而这通常只是出于礼貌。如果对方有任何犹豫或叹气，那么他们真实的意思可能是：‘根本不可能。’”她补充说，如果“感觉存在任何否定的意味”，这表明“你需要深入挖掘真实情况”——而如果已经与对方建立了亲密关系，这项工作便会容易得多。

    中美文化的第三个主要差异在于，在中国，集体的意见高于个人观点。迈耶说：“如果当场询问，你不可能得到诚实的回答。员工不愿意表达自己的意见。他们需要先在私下里彼此协商。”

    所以，按照在美国的方式召开团队会议，比如逐个要求员工或希望他们表达自己的想法，在中国可能行不通。相反，迈耶建议：“建议团队在你不在场的情况下，进行一次简短的讨论——例如在15分钟的休息时间，你可以离开会议室，之后要求他们向你报告他们对当前情况的看法。”通过这种方式，更有可能得到你所需要的坦白，帮助你成功地扭转局面。（财富中文网）

    反馈：如果你曾在异国文化下工作，它与在美国类似的工作有什么区别？欢迎留言评论。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    This plays out in other potentially disastrous ways, too. "If you ask a Chinese employee, 'Can you get this done in two weeks?' he or she will say something like, 'Yes, we will try,'" says Meyer. "But that is usually just politeness. If it comes with any hesitation, or a sigh, it probably means, 'No way in hell.'" Anything that "smells at all like a 'no,'" she adds, means that "you need to dig deeper to find out the real situation" — which is a lot easier if you've already built rapport.

    A third major difference between American and Chinese culture is that, in the latter, the group's consensus takes precedence over any individual's point of view. "You won't get honesty by putting anyone on the spot," Meyer says. "Employees are not comfortable expressing their own opinion. They need to confer with each other first."

    So it's a mistake to run team meetings the way you probably do in the U.S., calling on people one by one or expecting them to chime in with their thoughts. Instead, Meyer advises, "Suggest that the group have a short discussion without you — during a 15-minute coffee break, for instance, where you leave the room — and report back to you afterwards on how they see the situation." That approach is much more likely to lead to the kind of candor you'll need to successfully turn things around.

    Talkback: If you've ever worked in a foreign culture, how was it different from doing a similar job in the U.S.? Leave a comment below.