How to make CEE audience speak

When you cooperate with people from Poland, especially when you run meetings or trainings—whether face to face or online—you might face some challanges.

Many of my international colleagues, particularly those coming from Western European and North American countries, feel a bit insecure about how to read reactions from us. By “us,” I mean Polish people, but also more generally people from Central and Eastern Europe, because it seems that the type of reactions and behaviors in meetings is quite similar across our part of Europe.

In this episode, I am talking about it with Małgorzata Miętkiewicz.

In this episode you will learn:

Why CEE audiences often stay silent or hesitate to speak in meetings
How history, education, and hierarchy shape communication in CEE
Why leaving space to speak is key—and why interrupting is avoided
How fear of making mistakes in English holds people back
How to spot and engage quieter participants in mixed cultural groups
Tools and techniques to boost engagement in CEE teams
Why setting expectations upfront makes a big difference
How small groups, anonymous tools, and personal stories can encourage interaction
Why managers should speak last to get honest opinions

When you listen to this conversation, please think about any leader, HR, DEI expert that can benefit from it and share with this person later on. I really care to be reaching the right people with my content, so thank you very much for this in advance.

I wish you fun and discovery!

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Additional materials:

Get to know our guest

I’m a cross-cultural psychologist and linguist. I’ve also been a cross-cultural trainer, and I have twelve years of experience. I’ve been working in international settings for twelve years, leading global teams, international teams, and projects. I also lived abroad for a while—when I was in high school, I graduated from a high school in Costa Rica.

And I’m Polish, by the way, which gives me an additional insight into the topic we will be discussing today. I have this insider perspective, and at the same time, I’m an outsider as well because I research cultures and try to take an outside, objective look at Polish culture and Polish work culture.

Cultural Misunderstandings in Meetings

I recall a situation from around ten years ago, in one of the companies I worked for. There was a group of German colleagues who came to give presentations in front of Polish colleagues. They came to train us on some new processes that we were learning. I remember how confused our German colleagues were. They were giving these content-rich presentations, and they were really engaged. Every now and then, they would pause to check in with the audience: “Now, do you have any questions? Are there any questions? Is there anything I can clarify for you?” They were very keen on receiving questions.

But what they encountered most of the time was a wall—a silence on the Polish side. Whenever they asked if there were any questions, there was immediate silence in the room. People were looking down, avoiding eye contact, pretending to check their notes or write something down, as if they were just praying not to be the ones to speak up or be called on to speak.

That’s a reaction you can often observe in Poland. And I know that our German colleagues were very confused. The feedback I heard from them after the presentation was that they thought the audience was either completely disengaged, not motivated, or not caring enough to start any kind of debate. Or maybe they thought the Polish colleagues were completely lost and didn’t understand anything—so lost they wouldn’t even know where to start asking questions or commenting on the presentation.

A Common Experience in Poland

That was the perception on the German side. But in Poland, I must say, it’s quite common to be confronted with silence from the audience. And I think we will get to the details in a minute of why that is and the background behind it.

American Presenters in Poland

Many of my American colleagues presenting to audiences from CEE say they feel a bit discouraged because of the blank gaze or facial expressions, which—according to their perspective—don’t show any emotions. It’s very hard for them to read whether the audience’s reception is positive or negative.

Sometimes it even goes as far as feeling personally threatened by an audience that doesn’t give enough feedback. But now, it seems that these audiences do give a lot of feedback—as long as you’re able to read them quite well. It’s just a matter of the expectations you set and what cues you notice.

How Polish Audiences Respond

I would even go one step further and say that it’s not that it’s hard to read any kind of reaction.

In Poland, we tend to be either neutral—poker face—or negative.

And I think those negative reactions can be picked up quite easily when it comes to facial expressions, voice, and body language: closed posture, crossed arms as a gesture of skepticism, frowning. So there are verbal cues and nonverbal cues, and I would say we can be either neutral or quite negative in our reception of a presentation. And that’s the thing.

Fear of Speaking Up vs. Cultural Expectations

On the one hand, sometimes people are shy and don’t speak up or ask questions. Going back to the example of the German colleagues, for them, any question was a sign of interest. People who asked—even about something obvious that had already been stated in the presentation—would reassure the German colleagues because it signaled engagement. That’s what they were expecting.

Whereas in Poland, it’s more like, if it’s obvious, then don’t ask or comment. It’s not necessary to speak up if we are all on the same page—so why say it out loud? There’s also a fear of judgment, a fear of being ridiculed, especially in a bigger group. People wonder: Am I asking the right question? Am I going to make a fool of myself if I ask about something that is obvious?

I would say these are some of the common fears and reactions.

The Other Side: Readiness to Criticize

Interestingly, on the other hand, we as Polish people can also be quite confrontational. So it’s not very intuitive—on one side, we can be quite neutral, no reaction at all, but when we do speak up, when we are asked for our opinion, we can be quite confrontational.

It’s easier for us to point out the negative things, to be skeptical, than to give praise or positive feedback.

The Small Talk Gap

When we talk about all this, it starts right from the very beginning—meaning small talk. In some Western cultures, small talk is very popular and well-developed. And at least here, we have something in common with our German colleagues: we are not masters of small talk.

That’s a skill we would need to learn, especially when working not only internationally but specifically with cultures from Western Europe and North America.

Small Talk in Poland

Now, we do engage in small talk, but maybe it has a different feeling, a different taste, and it doesn’t necessarily come upfront at the beginning of the conversation. It often only develops over time and with certain people.

A Personal Experience at an American-Owned Factory

There was a case I experienced last year. I was waiting to enter a manufacturing company to deliver a training. It was an American-owned business, so we all needed to get ID cards to be properly registered as visitors when we entered the factory.

I was waiting in line behind a group of people who seemed to be enjoying themselves, exchanging jokes, even though it was a little bit superficial chitchat—but still, they did all they could to show that it’s a good day.

They were followed by two or three other people who were just standing in line, keeping quiet, not really chitchatting with each other, maybe even avoiding eye contact. It seemed they didn’t know each other very well.

Who Was Who in the Line?

The people kind of trying to shut themselves down, separate themselves, and avoid eye contact, not really being chatty—those would definitely be Polish colleagues.

The Americans, on the other hand, would naturally be more open, extroverted, looking to bond and network with people, even if it was just for what we might call superficial talk. Like, we might only share the same space for five minutes, but it’s still nice to make a conversation.

Whereas in Poland, that’s not always the case. It’s funny—small talk is not our natural habitat.

We’re definitely not the masters of small talk.

Learning the Art of Small Talk

But it can be learned. It can be mastered over time. In fact, it’s a common topic that Polish people ask about during intercultural trainings. Some even attend entire workshops or webinars on the art of small talk, because it’s not intuitive in our culture.

We tend to prefer what we call authentic small talk, which can also focus on the negative aspects. Like, “Oh, my kid is sick again,” or “Ugh, the weather sucks,” and things like that. So, I think we really take the proverb feel good when you mention that—though in our case, it’s often in a more gloomy or self-ironic tone.

A Polish Way of Bonding

As a Polish person, I’m able to make that connection because I also have failures or difficult moments in my life. That’s the thing—I think we really take the proverb misery loves company to heart.

We are often looking for someone to share our pains or struggles with. We just want to feel relieved, or we want to reassure ourselves that we’re not the only ones who are not having the greatest day of our lives. And I think this is what connects people and brings them closer together.

Historically, if you look at Poland and all the hardships we went through over the past centuries, I think it became a kind of coping mechanism, a survival mechanism—being able to identify your crowd, build a community around shared pain or shared negative experiences. That would give you some sense of identity and some motivation to go through it together.

Silence as a Sign of Respect

So that’s one of the reasons why, when you enter a room physically to present something as a speaker, you wouldn’t naturally hear those little jokes or bits of chitchat, which might be expected from audiences in some other cultures.

But when you present in a professional setting here, there’s also the matter of respect that goes along with your position in the company.

Respect is often shown through silence and attentiveness, rather than through casual remarks or informal interactions.

Power Distance and Hierarchy in Poland

When we think about this behavior in a broader context, it’s also worth mentioning the cultural dimension called power distance, identified by Geert Hofstede. The power distance in Poland is quite significant, meaning hierarchy is still quite prevalent.

Things like power, status, someone’s job title, or position in the hierarchy are indicators of how you should behave around that person.

Of course, I’m generalizing here—I’m talking about the culture as a whole. We’ve got generational differences coming into play, and there is now a strong trend to build more egalitarian cultures and dialogues based on partnerships. But historically, again, or if you work with people aged 35 or 40 plus, you would still encounter those patterns. This thinking is quite deeply embedded in the Polish psyche.

Power and status are important, so you wouldn’t necessarily want to contradict your speaker or correct them if they are senior to you—whether that means being older or higher up the hierarchy ladder.

The Inner Dialogue Before Speaking Up

You would also feel like every time you speak up, you are taking up space. So you start thinking: Is it going to be worth the speaker’s time? Is it going to be relevant for the entire audience?

If there are 20 people in the room and you’re the only one with this question, maybe it’s not worth troubling everyone with it or taking up time and space to ask, because it might not be of interest to others.

There is a strong consciousness of time, deadlines, and punctuality. Meetings are supposed to be efficient. But again, it’s very deeply connected to this respect for power distance and for the speaker that we talked about.

Watching the Group: A Polish Perspective

Also, watching the group, as you said, is another important element. I was just recently part of an international project launch where we were getting information about the project’s characteristics and specifics.

At the end, there was a section for questions: Do you have any questions? And let me tell you how surprised I was when my Spanish colleague just started asking questions about the Spanish group. And I thought, Can’t she see that there are 11 other people here, and none of them is part of the Spanish group? We’re just using our time here.

Why wouldn’t she ask a question that would be relevant to everybody?

Individual vs. Group-Relevant Questions

That would be something typical for Polish thinking—or rather for the way of thinking that we have learned here in Central and Eastern Europe. When you have a question that is relevant to everybody, you are welcome to ask. But when you have a specific question about your particular case or situation—something that might be very appropriate to ask in Western meetings—it’s not so well received here.

It can even come across as if you were blowing your own horn, being oblivious to the other people in the room, and, in fact, being disrespectful of their time and the energy they are putting into the meeting.

Collective Thinking in CEE Meetings

Maybe that’s also another reason why Polish people are so hesitant to ask questions in meetings. Watching the group is an important aspect here, and we could definitely relate it to collective thinking.

The Polish Queue to the Speaker

Sometimes there’s also an interesting observation we can make in meetings. When there’s a Polish group and a speaker, there are usually no questions from the audience during the presentation itself.

But then, once the meeting is over and people start leaving the room, you might observe a nice, long queue forming around the speaker because people want to ask questions one-on-one. They wouldn’t ask a question in a group setting, but they would seek an individual consultation or clarification after the presentation.

One-on-One Feels Safer

The first reason for that, as you said, is becoming self-aware and self-conscious in front of the group—people don’t want to take up time and space if they feel the question isn’t relevant for the majority.

And on the other hand, I think the fear of judgment, the tension, and the pressure are also a bit lower when it’s a one-on-one situation.

People sometimes even say: If I ridicule myself, at least I’ll do it in front of one person, not in front of the entire room.

How Education Shapes Communication Styles

I think it goes back to the very early days—the education system in Poland and the way we are brought up. And again, it’s changing for the better. But speaking of professional settings where you work with people in their 30s, 40s, or 50s, this way of thinking, socializing, and this mentality are still quite present today.

Our education system, unfortunately, embeds a fear of failure and ridicule in us. Teachers in Poland—I’m talking about teachers from twenty or thirty years ago, and I’ve heard it’s progressing for the better—but back then, it was common for teachers to discourage asking questions. You were supposed to listen to the teacher, to their lecture, and not question them.

You could also be ridiculed in front of the other kids in the classroom if you asked what was considered a “stupid” question. You might hear something like, Oh, Monika, once again, you didn’t listen to the teacher. Pay more attention. Things like that.

A Culture of Criticism and Fear of Mistakes

So, the culture of pointing out flaws, mistakes, and what doesn’t work is something we get from school. Teachers could be quite critical in their feedback and also biased, focusing on the errors rather than building on the child’s potential or reinforcing their strengths.

And the intention is good—it comes from a place of care. I care about you, so I will point out your mistakes so you don’t make them again. It comes from a good place, but the way it’s received and internalized by kids, teenagers, and eventually adults translates into an enormous fear of failure.

Perfectionism and Uncertainty Avoidance

There is also the topic of perfectionism and the huge uncertainty avoidance that we, as a Polish nation, tend to have. And it’s quite interesting that in most cultural dimensions, if you look at them, we are somewhere in the middle.

When it comes to uncertainty avoidance—having the need to be reassured, to receive very precise instructions, and to have clear communication—that’s where we stand out. We see this a lot.

The Role of Language Barriers

And when it comes to presenting or asking questions in a meeting, sometimes something as simple as a language barrier can come into play.

When I talk about fear of failure and the perfectionism that’s been expected by teachers, I’m also referring to the way we are taught languages in Poland. You’re expected to know your grammar, the vocabulary, all the rules—everything should happen by the book. But you’re not encouraged to speak up or practice speaking in a classroom of twenty or thirty kids. That’s barely feasible for every kid to have a conversation with the teacher or to receive such customized attention.

So what happens is that people have brilliant ideas or millions of questions in their heads, but they think: What if I make a linguistic mistake when speaking up? I don’t want to look like a fool if I use the wrong grammatical tense or whatever. So, sometimes there’s also the issue of language holding people back.

The Pressure to Speak Perfectly in English

And this desire to speak perfectly when using a foreign language—especially when speaking to our British, American, or Canadian colleagues, who are native speakers—can feel quite overwhelming.

Why CEE Audiences May Stay Quiet

We’ve just discussed many of the root causes why audiences from Central and Eastern European countries might be a bit more hesitant to take an active part in meetings. They might be a little quieter, might need a bit more time, or prefer more privacy or a different context to ask questions.

We’ve discussed:

Not being experts in presenting ourselves
The small talk gap
Power distance and the respect that comes with it
Group orientation and collective thinking
Uncertainty avoidance
The deep imprint of the education system

It’s All About the Context

Now, I think there’s one more important thing to state here. Many of these challenges we are discussing become active or visible only when people from this region of Europe interact with people from Western Europe and North America.

On the contrary, when we interact with people from Eastern countries—like Asian countries, or some countries in Africa—we might actually be perceived as those who are super active, overactive, even overwhelming to the audience, or not really able to read subtle cues.

I really want to highlight that this specific dynamic is present particularly in meetings and relationships with Western cultures. But of course, we get a lot of exposure to these dynamics, as quite a significant part of investments in Poland comes from Western countries.

How to Activate the CEE Audience

Now, how to activate the CEE audience in meetings—that’s what we would like to finalize with. A bunch of hints and tips, hopefully useful to our listeners and readers.

Because we want to make this constructive—we’ve talked a bit about the historical context and the root causes just to paint the picture—but in order to leave you with some takeaways and reflections, I think it’s important to now focus on hints and tips.

Let’s talk about what we can do to improve cooperation and increase engagement levels.

Tip 1: Don’t Surprise People—Give Them a Heads-Up

Some things that I notice work quite well in practice and are positively received by Polish audiences—or more broadly, Central and Eastern European audiences—start with one key principle: Don’t surprise people.

Give them time to digest and prepare if you’re going to call on them during a meeting. A good practice is to already include the aim of the session and the agenda in the meeting invitation.

You can also additionally follow up by email: “With regards to the meeting we’ll have next week, here are some points I would like you to think about or prepare.” This sets expectations and allows people to come in ready.

Tip 2: Be Clear About Roles and Why Input Matters

It’s also important to state the why. Explain why their input is important, why their voice matters, and what their role is in the meeting. Since the decision-making style in Poland can sometimes be more top-down than bottom-up, people may feel like their voice doesn’t matter because their boss will ultimately make the decision anyway.

So, highlight the importance of everyone’s participation, outline roles, and explicitly say why their input is important.

Tip 3: Send a Preread to Avoid Overwhelm

Another good practice is to send a preread. If you’re going to share a presentation and it’s not confidential, send the slides in advance so people can get into the topic beforehand.

That way, they won’t feel overwhelmed by the content during the meeting itself. They will have time to digest the information, formulate their opinions, and there is a better chance they will come to the meeting prepared and more confident to speak up, because they had the space to structure their thinking.

Tip 4: Explicitly Say You Expect Questions

I would also add, on top of what you just said, that it’s really important to set the expectation that you will be expecting questions.

I was just participating in a similar meeting where I got the slide deck beforehand. And during the meeting, I thought: Why are they discussing the slide deck that I’ve already read? I didn’t realize—thinking with my Polish mindset—that I would be expected to ask questions.

Of course, after so many years of international exposure, I not only had questions but also the courage to ask them. But still, I think setting this expectation very clearly is crucial.

A Reflection on the Polish Education System

And I think this might also resonate with the Polish education system. In school, when the teacher says what she wants to say, she doesn’t expect questions. She only expects the class to take it in, accept it, and that’s it.

So, this habit of not expecting questions is deeply rooted. That’s why it’s good to set the expectation explicitly: We expect your questions, and they are welcome.

Tip 5: Manage Your Own Expectations, Too

And speaking of setting expectations—it works both ways. So, yes, we should be setting expectations toward our audience, as you’re saying. But at the same time, I encourage everyone to also work on managing the expectations they have when working with Polish or Central Eastern European colleagues.

For example, if you are American, work on managing your own expectations. Just assume it’s not going to be the same dynamic as it is with your American colleagues back home. Work on your own assumptions and expectations about how interactive or engaging the meeting will be.

Embracing Different Dynamics and Paces

It’s also good to come to terms with the fact that each culture is different, and we might not get the same pace of discussion, the same level of passion, or the same level of extroversion that you might see in other cultures.

And the same goes for Central and Eastern European colleagues working, for example, with Asian colleagues—because, as you rightly pointed out, it’s all relative when it comes to cultures. It’s not only about which culture we are talking about, but also which two cultures we are comparing and contrasting at any given point in time.

Tip 6: Leave Space—Don’t Expect People to Interrupt

In Poland, it’s considered very rude to interrupt. So, if you don’t leave a little space for people to speak, they will never want to interrupt you. They will just think that you have overrun the meeting and might even feel frustrated, seeing it as disrespectful.

That’s a very valid point because, as you said, interrupting is not really part of our culture. At the same time, we are quite time-conscious, especially in business settings. So it’s important to be punctual and structured to make the most out of the meeting.

If we’ve agreed on an agenda, it’s important to be respectful and not go beyond that frame. Overtaking the meeting or hijacking the agenda might not be welcomed and will be frowned upon by many Polish colleagues, out of respect for time.

They might reflect afterward: This meeting was useless. We didn’t reach any conclusions. That person totally hijacked the agenda, and we didn’t work through the content and structure that was outlined before the meeting.
So, again, it’s quite important to be time-disciplined and precise.

Tip 7: Create a Safe Space for Questions

When the slot for asking questions appears, it’s a good idea to actively encourage people to ask. Just as we said before, using phrases like “There are no stupid questions” can really help. This simple sentence might seem obvious, but it can work miracles from my observation. It opens people up, relieves the pressure, and takes them out of the rigid school-like setting we talked about—where the teacher is hunting for mistakes.

You can also suggest a few sample questions or topics to get things rolling. Sometimes, especially if you know your people well, it might work even better to ask people by name individually. This approach works well and makes the space more personal and engaging.

Tip 8: Use Group Leaders as Advocates

Another strategy would be to identify formal or informal group leaders in the meeting—those who are particularly strong, charismatic, or persuasive, and whom the group tends to follow.

If you are on good terms with these people, you can use them as your advocates by agreeing with them before the meeting that they will share some comments or questions. If these group leaders—one or two people—initiate the discussion, it will warm up the room, making it easier for others to follow and join the conversation.

Tip 9: Show Vulnerability as a Speaker

I would also encourage speakers to be vulnerable and open up, maybe by sharing something personal about themselves. This allows the group to see you as human. It’s particularly important if you’re a speaker who is senior in terms of age or experience, as we talked about earlier with the power distance.

Showing vulnerability will be very well received by the group—it will remove the perceived barrier of distance and hierarchy and invite people to open up and speak.

Tip 10: Ask for Opinions—and Let Others Speak First

Always give people space to speak and specifically ask for their opinion, because they might still think: What does my input matter? Maybe it doesn’t matter anyway.
If you persistently ask about their opinions and input, it sends a clear message: Your voice is important because I’m asking you directly.

If you’re a manager, it’s also crucial that you speak last and avoid giving your recommendations upfront. In more hierarchical cultures, people will tend to just nod and agree with you if you speak first. But if you really want to hear their honest perspectives, let them speak first, then wrap up and give your recommendations at the very end.

Tip 11: Be Mindful in Mixed Groups—Don’t Assume Everyone Feels Equally Comfortable

I’m also thinking about groups with a mixed composition. There might be people from different European countries, for example. And with high probability, when you run a meeting for such a group, you will see that some people will be very active—they will resonate with you, maybe share some jokes, or ask questions.

But watch out. None of them might actually be Polish, Czech, Slovak, or Bulgarian.

So please don’t get tempted to feel satisfied with what you receive from the few vocal participants. Those quieter people were just waiting for a moment—while still showing respect to the meeting and the other participants—where they could ask questions more comfortably.

Tip 12: Call on the Quieter Participants by Name

We frequently see such situations in our online trainings where we have groups composed of individuals from various countries. And it’s almost a rule—you can almost 100% expect that participants from Spain, Italy, or the UK will be very lively, spontaneous, and eager to take the stage.

But if we only get satisfied with what we hear from them, it might seem that we haven’t noticed half of the group.
So we need to call the other participants by name, invite them to ask questions, share comments, and participate. It’s about applying intercultural sensitivity.

Tip 13: Use Technology to Lower the Barriers

There might also be sensitive meetings where the topics are difficult to discuss openly. In these cases, you can almost guarantee you won’t get much direct interaction from these groups.

But technology can help here. If it’s an online meeting, there are fantastic tools for asking questions and gathering opinions anonymously. Tools like whiteboard apps, Miro for brainstorming with post-its, or poll tools like Kahoot, Slido, or Mentimeter can help feel the energy of the room and collect opinions in a way that feels safe and aggregated.

Tip 14: Use Small Group Discussions

Another strategy is to divide the participants into smaller groups. For example, if you have 20 people, divide them into five groups of four. Let them discuss in smaller settings, where they might feel more comfortable and be bolder in their discussions.

Then, ask a delegate from each group to present the outcome to the larger forum. This helps people feel they can contribute safely in a smaller setting, while still ensuring their voice is heard by the entire group. And, as a bonus, it taps into the collective orientation that’s strong in Central and Eastern Europe.

Tip 15: Apply These Strategies in Face-to-Face Meetings, Too

By the way, those anonymous ways of asking questions using the tools we mentioned can also be applied in face-to-face meetings. Even in a live audience, if you have sensitive areas to discuss, you can divide the audience into groups and ask them to generate questions using an anonymous tool. Then you can show the results on a big board for everyone to see and resonate with.

This is a great way to increase interaction and engagement, even in traditional settings.

Just remember to give people a heads-up before the meeting—let them know they will need their phones or computers to connect to the tools and give their input. It definitely facilitates smoother meeting coordination and success.

Final Words

Of course, we are always open to receiving your questions—or even doing a little intercultural training for your colleagues, your team, or your audience. But I hope you will be able to make a good start with what you already have.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for you—wishing you lots of successful meetings and success in engaging your audience!

Thank you!

Photo by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash