Seminar

Are Cultural Differences Costing You?
Day 1: Awareness
Day 2: Skill Development

This seminar corrects the underlying causes of frustration and misunderstandings and gaffes when east meets west. It requires participants to filter a series of questions through their own personal experience in preparation for a roundtable discussion. Through discussion of face and surface harmony, and how language reflects thinking, they come to see the world through Asian filters. Participants learn to alter their pace to build rapport. Brief video clips illustrate meeting and greeting protocol, the Asian bow, business card exchange, and chopstick and toasting etiquette.

Communication can be a minefield at the best of times. All risk of miscommunication increases exponentially when we are dealing with people of different language, culture and customs. A cultural chasm separates the two sides. Interestingly, when relationships are going well, Asian companies are the most loyal customers and suppliers in the world. So it pays to learn how to adapt our communication style to theirs.

Note: This module was written at the request of Siemens VDO’s Motor Division in Germany. With the emergence of China as an economic force, and with customers and suppliers in Japan and Korea, it became apparent that their engineers, managers and directors needed guidance as to how to navigate relationships across the cultural divide. The training is based on my usual in-depth research, followed by numerous in-person and videoconference interviews with Chinese, Korean and Japanese business people from both sides of the customer relationship.

Objective:

ü    Improve productivity by addressing the cross-cultural issues that get in the
       way.
ü    Promote long-term, profitable relationships, build trust and assure loyalty
       to you and your organization.
ü    Dramatically improve communication and smooth day-to-day interactions.
ü    Resolve problems while meeting the customer need for information,
       respect and “face.”
ü    Understand, value, and act upon the differences in East/West business
       culture.

Target Group
Your Entire Asia Team: Anyone in your company who has contact with Asian customers—not just in person, but also by phone, fax, e-mail, teleconference or videoconference: includes senior management, finance, engineering, IT,  purchasing, customer care, reception. They need to be just as aware of cross-cultural sensitivities as the business traveler who brings home the contract.

"If only I had met you three months earlier, I would have saved my company five million dollars. I am happy to say that, as a result of [our work together] I was able to save a contract that I was sure was beyond saving. In fact, we had been told by our Asian contact that we had [expletive deleted] … 'squandered' . to be polite ... the opportunity! And if we had worked with you three months earlier, we would have saved the extra $5 million that it cost us to renegotiate the deal."
~ Executive VP, Fortune 100 firm (Quoted with permission. Client confidentiality assured.)

Contact Us
Crack The Code
1.800.240.8734 (North America)
1.519.679.8734 (Regional and International)
email