22 Mar 2018

2018
Cross culture understanding comes with a bit of awareness and empathy.Working with another country culture is not easy.Just because you speak the same language does not mean you are saying the same thing. When working as a team, say with Indians, here are three vital things to remember - 1. Don't jump to conclusions It's okay to ask questions. Sometimes you may not realise why are person...
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21 Mar 2018

2018, CrossCulture
A ROUND UP OF THE BEST CROSS-CULTURAL CONVERSATIONSIn the past week I have been talking (to those who cared to listen) about Cross-cultural Conversations and their significance in the workplace. Today it's worth looking back at each of them and seeing what they spoke about.Click on the links below to read any of the postsWe started with how important cross-cultural conversa...
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21 Mar 2018

2018, CrossCulture, Training
Cross-cultural communication can literally make or break a team. In a workplace without borders, increasingly every function in a large organisation has a global team. Large US corporations have a back-end team in Europe. European organisations may be working simultaneously with the US and India. And some may have a team that consists of members from China, India, Germany and the US. Whi...
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18 Mar 2018

2016
Cross culture is the unspoken issue in many a  global collaboration.When global conglomerates seek out Indian talent to work with them, a lot of attention is focused on quality of work and cost arbitrage. But there is one important aspect that gets left out.Here's an example. A large Dutch financial organisation is seeking to outsource its IT business to a large multinational ...
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16 Mar 2018

2017, 2018, CrossCulture, Training
Cross-cultural communication or the lack of it could well be the missing ingredient in a ‘dream team’ you set up.   The truth is – the world is not as flat as it seems. And while a President somewhere is busy trying to build a wall, what he does not realise is that there is really no need to do so. A wall already exists. Everywhere in fact. Especially when two cultures come together. Wha...
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16 Mar 2018

2018, CrossCulture
Cross-cultural communication can make friends. And it can make... well...enemies. Or not friends. Here's one memorable conversation I've had with someone.This young man was an Indian working in Germany. He had been there for almost 8 years when I met him to do a cross culture workshop. In an informal dinner he talked about his challenges studying, living and working there.While h...
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14 Mar 2018

2018, communications, CrossCulture
Cross cultural communication is one of the biggest disasters that technology has enabled. Seriously.Picture this scenario (quite a common one at that) Bob is running a very important project out of Texas, USA. His counterpart in India, Raj is now on a call with him.Here's a conversation that takes place between two people who speak English but whose communication styles are diffe...
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13 Mar 2018

2018, CrossCulture
I walk into a room that is seems to be partitioned.  Not in the real sense of the word, but you-can-cut-the-air-with-a-knife kind of feeling. There are two factions here, although neither will ever mention that. That would be ‘politically incorrect’, wouldn't it.It’s always Us vs Them. It’s the In-group vs Out-group. It’s your country vs mine (and guess which one is better!)And...
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05 Apr 2017

2017
When we (my colleague and I) walk into the room, the atmosphere is uncomfortable. Or rather it’s a ‘forced’ comfortable: being professional because you must.A team of about 25 people are part of the workshop that two of us will be facilitating. Nothing new about it, except that this is a team that has never worked together before. It’s a team that comes from two countries. And it’s a...
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