Question

It’s been six months since you began your role as a regional sales manager. Your territory includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, making it highly culturally diverse. You feel like you are doing fairly well, but still feel somewhat uncomfortable when coaching sales people from Mexico. In fact, a recent meeting with a Mexican sales rep did not go well. You tried to motivate him but he just became very defensive and you’re not sure if he reacted that way because of the negative performance feedback, because you violated some cultural norm, or potentially, both. You spoke with another manager in Mexico who assured you that you were culturally sensitive in your feedback delivery. Which of the following would be LEAST helpful in continuing to develop your cross-cultural skills in delivering performance feedback?
a. Deliver performance feedback to sales reps in a written format.
b. Increase your confidence through practice by coaching Mexican sales-reps and then seeking feedback on your approach.
c. Differentiate between what you say and how you say it.
d. Determine whether you delivered the feedback with enough humility and deference.

Answer 1

Answer: Increase your confidence through practice by coaching Mexican sales-reps and then seeking feedback on your approach.

Explanation:

Based on the above scenario, to

continuing developing cross-cultural skills in delivering performance feedback, I would need to deliver performance feedback to the sales representatives in a written format.

Another helpful method will be to differentiate between what I will say and how to say it and also determine whether I delivered the feedback with enough deference and humility. This will be needed to convey my message across well.

The least helpful method will be the increase in confidence through practice by coaching the Mexican sales representatives and then seeking the feedback on your approach. Coaching them isn't the way forward.