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Why do people hire a cross cultural business coach?

Posted On: January 20, 2011

If you have ever worked across cultures as an expat or working on a virtual team, you may consider to hire a cross cultural business coach. In considering this, you may wonder if you or your team is suited to working with me. In this post, I’d like to share nine characteristics of successful clients who have worked with us.

 

1. Are trying to understand how to communicate across cultures.

I help you to understand how to adapt your ways of communicating and interacting to make good impressions with your foreign counterparts. We explore through coaching and training how to adapt language, body language or behaviors to be more easily understood by others WITHOUT compromising your values or integrity. 


2. Want to present more convincing sales presentations, demos, meetings or status updates over virtual mediums. 

We specialize in helping you organize more effective meetings in a variety of contexts over online platforms to create first good impressions, maintain your good impression or rebuild connections especially when trying to better understand how to communicate effectively with US Americans. 

3. Want to build their contexts of their foreign counterparts they work with online but haven’t traveled outside their country.

A majority of professionals we have coached work on offshore teams or provide digital services from outside of the US. This means they will work with US Americans but may not have met an American citizen in their life and they may never have stepped outside of their country. Because professionals like this lack a context to the culture of those they work with, it’s important to learn about cultural and language differences to work more productively across cultures.


Watch the video on this page to help you build context with those from other cultures you are not familiar with. 


4. Want to feel comfortable in new and foreign environments.

Feeling ‘at home’ in a new city or country is a process. Walking into unfamiliar territory can bring tremendous rewards and also many challenges. I am here to help you sort out your experiences and help you balance your rewards and challenges to create more comfort in your new environment.

5. Want to build your fluency, competency and comfort in Global English, Business English, or American English.

While we do not specialize in formal English teaching, we do help developers, back office professionals, some call center agents, global business people, expats and international students in the US, offshore sales and recruitment teams to learn how to use English in a global or, specifically in a more US centric way to build relationships, convince, negotiate and build trust with US Americans. We have also helped small companies to adapt the English on their websites and promotional materials to a more US style to relate to prospective clients in the USA quicker. 


Additionally, those clients who believe in the following tend to progress through our process with more ease and success because they….

6. Want to regain their identity and freedom while living abroad.

When we move we have to learn, unlearn and relearn ways of doing things in a new place. Sometimes, we feel “at the mercy of others” for our day-to-day activities. Things we took for granted ‘back home’, like finding our favorite food, ordering food at fast food restaurants, knowing how to make friends, make small talk, being successful at school or work, driving, or any other daily activity can be difficult or feel impossible to do in our new cultural and social situation abroad. Sometimes, cultural situations happen to us that we don’t understand and we’d like to discuss them with someone who’s neutral, who won’t judge us and maybe can provide an insider perspective.


In many cases, many we coach want to retain their cultural identity while living in their hometown or home country. As many we coach live in India and may work day in and out in a “US cultural work environment” in India including working EST business hours and having only US holidays off (working on Indian holidays), and using American accents and English all day long. 

7. Believe cultural adjustment is an ongoing process that affects many aspects of our lives and relationships.

Life is all about relationships. When we move abroad, we experience different kind of stresses on our relationships we may not have experienced if we were ‘at home’. Basic, daily situations, even as simple as how to communicate in day-to-day situations with ‘strangers’, coworkers, new friends or others suddenly require a lot more effort than before. Misunderstandings may seem to happen more frequently and quickly than in our ‘native cultural environment.’ I can help you sort out aspects of cross-cultural relationships in your community, within your friend’s circle and within your family environments to create comfort.


In addition to helping you solve cross cultural problems while living in a foreign country, I also specialize in helping you figure out solutions to cross cultural misunderstandings when working with foreign counterparts while working on virtual teams from your native country. 

8. Already know English and want to be better understood by Americans in daily life situations.

Having had studied English grammar, vocabulary and idioms in one’s own country is very essential in preparation to coming to America. However, many people are bewildered when they come to America and realize that they can’t seem to understand daily conversation in grocery stores, doctor’s offices, daily greetings among strangers and the multitude of other areas language is used. Some people benefit from English (ESOL, ESL) Coaching that I provide, or “Enhanced American English and Culture Lessons.”

9. How can I help you as an ESL/ESOL* Coach with “Enhanced American English and Culture Lessons?”

I help people who already have the basics of English (grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary) to ‘Americanize’ their communication through enhancing their sounds, teaching some American body language/hand gestures, and other communication strategies that increase their comfort, understanding and confidence in understanding Americans and being better understood by Americans. This process is highly individualized toward the unique individual you are. The point is not to compromise your identity or ‘make you lose your culture’ but to help you enhance some of your skills through exploring how to do things differently while maintaining your unique qualities that make you you. Read Questions and Answers about this service.


Jennifer Kumar, author of this post, is a US citizen who has lived in India for about 10 years studying and working. She has provided cross cultural coaching and training services to over 4,500 professionals just like you. Get in touch with her to know more.

*ESL – English as a Second Language
*ESOL- English for Speakers of Other Languages.

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Published Jan. 2011, updated Nov 2014, May 2020, 2022