Cultural Awareness: India Cultural Training Guide Course

This workshop is designed to help American IT professionals who work with Indian colleagues, whether in the US or offshore, understand key cultural differences, with the goal of minimizing cultural misunderstandings and maximizing performance and client satisfaction.

The training has been designed to help US clients and Indian vendors avoid or minimize such common off-shoring problems as:

Too much time “managing the relationship” (no “handoff”)
Delayed roll out
Unrealized/smaller than expected cost savings
Unsuccessful/slower than expected knowledge transfer
Production delays
Missed deadlines
Work that has to be redone
Backlash against off-shoring (“We told you so”) among client’s employees
Slower than expected ramping up

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

> Identify key differences in the business cultures of India and the US
> Identify key US-Indian cultural differences regarding workplace attitudes and behaviors.
> Recognize how these cultural differences will impact working relations with Indians in common workplace interactions
> Identify strategies to minimize the impact of cultural differences and to help Indians adapt better to the US work environment and meet US business expectations
> Minimize cultural “surprises” and confusion in everyday interactions
> Identify differences in Indian and US business and social etiquette and important cultural do’s and don't’s.

Through a series of interactive activities, the workshop will explore Indian-US cultural differences in the following areas:

How to find out if Indians have understood what you have asked for or how to do something you have asked them to do
How Indians say “no” and otherwise express disagreement
How to understand when Indians are telling you they may not make a deadline or need more time
How to understand when Indians are telling you your idea will not work; how Indians give negative feedback
How to understand when Indians are telling you a better way of doing something than what you have suggested
The importance of saving face and how it affects Indian behavior
The Indian management style
Indian concepts of accountability and “taking ownership”
How to help Indians use their creativity and considerable technical skills to improve client outcomes
The Indian concept of meetings and conference calls
How to address language issues: not understanding Indian accents, not understanding Indian English, and getting Indians to talk more slowly

These topics are covered through a series of interactive activities. The one-day workshop also includes:

A cultural simulation
A strategy session on techniques to bridge four key communication differences: giving negative feedback, making a counter proposal (proposing a better idea), indicating lack of understanding, and indicating when a deadline is no longer going to be reached (falling behind)
A strategy session on techniques to bridge three common management/ownership issues: getting Indians to be more proactive, getting Indians to be comfortable with less guidance and direction (achieving a true handoff), and getting Indians to give pushback when they think you’re wrong or have a better idea
A case study