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How can a cross-cultural business strategist help us?

Posted On: February 28, 2020

Who gets help from a cross-cultural business strategist

Answer:
Since 2011, several categories of professionals have benefited from sessions with our cross-cultural and language experts at Authentic Journeys: 

  •  Virtual IT teams working across global boundaries. We help your teams communicate more effectively in daily StandUp meetings and in other interactions with clients and stakeholders in the USA. 
  • Indians working offshore, interacting daily or regularly with US clients via online meeting collaboration tools, conference calls, chat, and email. 
  • Indians working onsite in the US wanting to know how to improve their communication with Americans for moving up the corporate ladder.
  • Indians preparing to be expats going onsite to the client site. Sessions helped IT and other professionals to wine and dine clients or work onsite for an extended amount of time.
  • US Americans preparing to start and offshore development team or any offshore office location in India.
  • US Americans trying to understand and navigate daily work conversations with Indian counterparts. (Jennifer Kumar, the Managing Director has over 10 years living, working and doing business including negotiating deals in India.) 
  • Prepare Indian business professionals to interview with Western (US, UK, Canadian, Australian) clients looking to hire offshore talent.
  • Professionals wanting to improve their written and business English skills in the US and global workplace. Typically, most of the clients are English as Second Language (ESL) speakers or want to fine tune their English to more of an American vernacular and accent. (See our recent ESL coaching case study.) 
  • Expats in the US from any country who want to understand US Culture with more ease for integration, socialization and professional enhancement.
Facilitating a session on Small Talk.
Jennifer Kumar, Managing Director of Authentic Journeys
facilitating a session on Small Talk.


Note: Though our focus is on bridging cultural gaps between the US and India, we are adept at coaching you regardless of the cultures you are trying to bridge through our coaching approaches.

 

Authentic Journeys Coaching & Training Process

 

Are you wondering about outcomes while working with a cross-cultural business strategist? Take a look at this recommendation:
“When it comes to US business, the first name that comes to my mind is Jennifer. She is my mentor, coach and guide for empowering me to bridge the US – India cultural gap. Back in 2014, I have had a very painful event in my career where I lost a US client due to my lack of understanding of this cultural mismatch. I had the client team visiting and I thought I played the roles really well..of course…according to Indian standards. But when the client shied away, I was perplexed and dejected. I did not know what went wrong and spend a lot of sleepless nights pondering this over. I then connected to my peers and they suggested that I meet Jennifer.

One great thing about Jennifer is her in-born talent of not judging people and accepting them as they are. Jennifer after listening to my story of the lost deal just knew what could have gone wrong and inducted me to her real-life practical sessions on US Business Culture. Oh man! that was an eye opener. Since then I didn’t have to look back and could close deals one after another with the US clients.

Before the incident, I thought the sessions on culture was just a mumbo-jumbo with a lot of hype around it. I am now a living example of how Authentic Journeys and Jennifer created a paradigm shift. She is really genuine and accommodates serious learners. Since then our journey has had a definite meaning and I will always remain grateful to her for my transformation.

Authentic Journeys, I would say is The Cultural Translator for Indo-US Businesses. Small details that goes unnoticed might create a great divide and will drive the clients from the US away. Having said that, it is NOT to say that US companies don’t know that they are in a new country and the cultural differences definitely exist. In spite of that many meetings go astray. Jennifer and Authentic Journeys have taken pains to list down the do’s and don’ts for US visitors to India. I would strongly recommend businesses that aspire to build a base in India or US connect with Authentic Journeys Representatives.

Ensuring the true spirit of cross cultural translation is what Authentic Journeys advocates. This is not easy. A more deeper level of understanding of both the cultures is required to ensure that the transition is perfect. Every communication verbal or non-verbal becomes important in business. Starting from a handshake which is otherwise perceived as harmless to the first 14 seconds of personality scanning (mirror neuron connection) decides the future of the business relationships. Authentic Journeys connects with both the cultures and translates the meaning of their verbal/non-verbal maps. Sometimes Authentic Journeys has to step into the role of a behavior coach as well. Jennifer is highly qualified and experienced to take this feat forward.

I wish all the very best to Jennifer and Authentic Journeys for the wonderful work that they are doing now. Please continue to inspire more businesses.”

~Jinesh Naranayankutty
[sic]

Certificates and Online Graduation Ceremonies Celebrate Learning.
Certificates and Online Graduation Ceremonies Celebrate Learning.

 

Links to all five parts:
The whowhat, howwherewhy and how of cross-cultural training and strategy facilitation.


Original Post Date: Jan. 25, 2011
Updated: February 28, 2020

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