Samuel and Rakesh’s past history may be having an influence on how this situation is playing out. The importance of the project and its troubled history are probably creating additional pressure, too.

It sounds like Samuel is from a low-context culture while Rakesh is from a high-context culture. They both have very different styles of working and communicating.

First, conclude the meeting with Rakesh by asking what he would like to see happen next. Next, meet with Samuel one-on-one. The meeting might look like this:

• Outline the concerns that Rakesh brought to your attention. Focus on how they are affecting the project rather than on Rakesh’s feelings.
• Ask Samuel for his interpretation of the situation. For example, he might say, “Someone needs to take charge and get this project finished. It’s late and over budget because no one has the guts to make people accountable. I’m the only one who dares to say anything to these people.”
• Then, you might want to help Samuel understand how others feel about his behavior. You might use a statement like, “I appreciate that you want to do the right thing for this company and your dedication to this project. However, you might want to consider the effect that your behavior is having on others, particularly people who are used to communicating in a different way.”
• Hopefully, Samuel will say something like, “I didn’t realize that my behavior was affecting people in such a negative way. I just want this project to be successful, so if that means communicating differently, I’m willing to do that.”
• You can wrap up the meeting by suggesting that you conduct a mediation session to help Samuel and Rakesh work out an action plan.

The mediation meeting might look like this:

• Begin by stating the purpose of the meeting using a statement like this: “Samuel, I’ve invited you and Rakesh here to help you work through some issues that are affecting the call intake system project. Rakesh came to me the other day with some concerns about your communication style. You and I then met to talk about it, and you hadn’t realized the impact that it was having on the contractors and on Rakesh. Do I have things right so far?”
• Assuming that they agree, you can then ask for suggestions from both people on how to improve their communication. One option might be to have communication meetings on important issues (such as project delays) so that both Rakesh and Samuel can meet with contractors together. They might also want to create a communication plan before the meeting so that they agree on what needs to be said and how to say it.

Wrap up the meeting with a commitment to action from both Rakesh and Samuel, and set a date when you will follow up with them to see how things are going.