Ever felt anxious after communicating with your non-native English speaking global counterpart in fear that he/she didn't fully understood you? If so, probably you're right. She didn't. But before you blame on her English proficiency, you might want to blame on yourself and consider re-learning how you communicate in English.

For the past three years, I have been training non-native business people (mainly Japanese) how to speak up and contribute in global business meetings. I always felt that it was the non-natives that need to learn how to speak-up to communicate effectively with native English speakers.

But recently, I found out that this only solves half of the problem.  Yes, non-natives need to learn how to speak up but equally important, native English speakers must learn how to speak down,