Get Ready for Short-Term Business Trips to the USA

Posted On: July 3, 2020

Short-Term Business Trips to the USA: Expat Preparation Program

Check out our expansive syllabus here. You can handpick the modules that fit your team’s or assignee’s needs.

Everyday business professionals like you travel to the U.S. to represent your company in a variety of roles. While it is exciting to come to the United States, coming on a work assignment holds a certain responsibility that casual travel does not. We help you prepare for all aspects of your journey from before you leave, after you arrive, or even upon your return (repatriation).

We understand there are a wide variety of international assignments that bring expats like you to the U.S. We have tailored these programs to a wide variety of assignment types, lengths and situations; for the first time traveler as well as the seasoned international business traveler that may have come to the U.S. one or more times in the past.

Are you ready for your expat assignment to the US? Take this quiz to find out.

How you will feel better after working with us
“I learned how to shake hands and introduce myself to clients. I think it’s important to learn how to create a good first impression.”
~Allianz Participant, Trivandrum

“I credit my first expat assignment to Wall Street a success due to our cross-cultural training program.”
~Financial Analyst, Moody’s Analytics, Bangalore

“The session conducted by Jennifer on US Business essentials was extremely well structured and helpful to our team. She provided a great insight on the most important business etiquettes which are often ignored or missed out on very easily. The session was very informative, interactive and two way between the instructor and learners. A test at the end of the sessions was a good way to reinforce the importance and gauge the knowledge of business essentials. We would certainly recommend, Jennifer and Authentic Journeys to organizations that have business travel requirements to the US”.
~ Decision Maker in India Based Company, Team Attended Online Classes

“The customized role plays Jennifer did with me through our virtual sessions prepared me well for my onsite visits with my US clients. I could make small talk over dinner and even go out to the pub with them.”
~ Project Manager, Fujitsu, India

“We had taken the modules online to prepare our sales team from all over India to go to the US. We were happy that the sessions were interactive and tailored to our business need. Jennifer took time to answer our specific questions as they arose. Our visits to the US went off well due to the series of preparatory sessions.”
~ Sales Professionals from all over India

How this helps your team and why it’s important
Back in 2016 when facilitating these programs in India, we found out the cost for sending one employee from India to the US (including visa processing, travel fees, and incidentals) ranges from about USD $11,000 to USD $20,000. Companies invest a lot of money in administrative costs to send their employees. Companies would prefer to see a good ROI (return on investment) when sending their employees to the US on their expat assignments. Based on the role of the international assignee, their outcomes would differ. We help your international assignees to consider how to create a successful outcome in their travel in all areas (personal, career, immediate business goals, return to home country, family, and more).

Power Distance: Small Talk, Relationship Building, Use of names/titles
Teamwork: Gatekeepers of information, absentees, taking initiative/volunteering/ nominating, cross-training vs. working in silos, fun at work, family part of work experience
Basic Communication Tenets: Requests, Denials, Questions, Modes of Communication (Face to Face, Phone, Email, Texting, others), Pleasantries in Indian English
Planning, Time Lines, Goal Setting Orientation: Short vs. Long Term Orientation, Cyclic View of Time, Frequent interruptions, Things ‘getting in the way,’ Seeing time as ‘not in our control’
Getting & Giving Feedback
Negotiation strategies: Pitching timelines and financial details, Understanding Yes, No, Maybe in words and actions, Written communication (documentation, emails, contracts, etc)

If you have employees planning their short-term business trips to the USA, contact us to start your program today.

Check out our expansive syllabus here. You can handpick the modules that fit your team’s or assignee’s needs.

…Keep Reading…

Audience Profile

Who attends this training?
Overseas business visitors to the U.S. specifically visiting for work related assignments anywhere in the U.S. If any of the below criteria relate to your situation, we are ready to work with you or your team:

- Contract workers or short-term hires to your organization holding an H1B or L1 visa. Spouses on H4 or L2 visas also may attend.
- Professionals from any country preparing to come to the US for a few days up to a few months.
- Professionals in any variety of roles: intercompany, intracompany, international sales professionals, those coming to attend a conference, trade show, give a presentation, or do networking.

When can I attend this training program?
Because those who attend this training go to the U.S. for short term international assignments, it’s ideal to attend this training a few days to a few weeks before you leave your home country.

It may also make sense to attend a follow up to this training when you get back home to:

- brainstorm how to apply your international learnings to your home team
- understand best practices on following up with client and sales leads
- how to use your experience to mentor your own team in future similar types of assignments

Job Titles of Participants Include

- Account Manager
- Engineer Operations Manager
- Administrative Assistant
- Quality Assurance
- Production Control Specialist
- Production Control Senior Manager
- Sales and Business Development

Duration

- Most teams prefer an 8 hour program broken into two four hour sessions.
- For teams with more time, we can extend the modules to two to three days.
- Most teams may prefer a face to face session. Live online instructor led sessions are also available for small groups or individuals. As these sessions are more customized, the duration would vary, with sessions of about 1 to 1.5 hours until the content or coaching is completed.

Syllabus Overview
Program Goals:

1. Prepare your team to travel to the U.S.: We walk through the steps to packing your bags, what to expect while traveling internationally, and how to prepare for an international expat assignment
2. Coaching your team for onsite success in the U.S.: This section is tailor made to your business roles, goals and locations in the U.S.
3. How to impress your US counterparts: introductions, handshakes, small talk, meeting management, and more.

Let’s customize this United States cross-culture training outline to your team’s business needs.

Facilitation Method:

Our method is a blend of coaching, advising, and training. This not only offers you a flexible approach, but an approach that is not dependent on traditional training or classroom learning.

Our goal is to make each session have tangible, practical outcomes that you can use on the job today with clients, colleagues and stakeholders.

As a learner, if you opt for one on one coaching, you will take responsibility for your learning objectives and outcomes based on the highly interactive and individualized approach of our sessions.

Options/ Customizations

Add these bells and whistles:

- Destination modules: We can spend time talking about the specific city or cities your teammates are to visit. These modules are good for first time as well as seasoned international business travelers.
- On-the-job Etiquette: Based on the roles of the individuals traveling, their roles, purposes and types of interactions, we look at how to be successful in various scenarios (day-to-day office scenarios, one-off office visits, conferences, sales, presentations, after hours visits, happy hours, socializing and networking events, etc.).
- One-on-one Executive Coaching: Individuals can be chosen to work one on one with our coaches to tackle cross-cultural business strategy, relationship building and other scenarios as they arise.
- Certificates: A digital certificate you can showcase as part of your career portfolio can be issued upon completion.
- Small Talk Newsletter: This newsletter, delivered to you about 10 times a year, just before most major U.S. holidays and observances will build context for non U.S. Americans to make connections with their US counterparts. Try it out for free below!

Related Training Programs:

Let’s start the conversation….

…Thank you for considering working with us!…

Contact us to start your program today.

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