When you must read between the lines

I asked one of my developers in Bangalore office if an important (project)feature could be completed in the next 3 days. His answer was “I’ll try”. This basically meant a No. When I ask similar question to a developer in my Netherlands team, I typically get a clear Yes or No. Since the time I started managing teams distributed in Netherlands and India, I face these different styles of communication on daily basis. 

Author @Erin Meyer, in her book “The Culture Map” calls this difference in communication style “Low Context” and “High Context”. US, German, Netherlands follow low context communication style while eastern(India, China, Japan) communication style is typically high context. In Low Context communication, messages are precise, direct and simple. They are expressed and understood at face value. However, messages from my Indian team are nuanced. Based upon who I’m asking, I need to read between the lines. A junior person in my team may not feel comfortable saying No to me, when I ask if s/he can take up an additional task. I need to probe more with additional questions about what else s/he is workin on, how will this additional task affect those etc. and yet I must read between the lines to get the precise information. 

As Managers, we need to encourage and create atmosphere where team members feel safe to share what’s on their mind. However, it is equally important to understand the culture from which the team members come from. We neither should read “No” as lack of intent from those who come from Low Context communication style nor an indirect message as lack of ability to clearly communicate from team members who come from High Context communication style. While it gets challenging, isn't that what we signed up for when we took leadership roles?