Are you coming
from or going somewhere? If you're new to a culture, without
preparation, you're either early or late. You feel squeezed
in rooms too small or invisible in rooms too big. Why is it
so dark?
Why is the foreigner you're negotiating with suddenly frowning
-- or twisting in his chair -- or....
Nothing feels right. Everything is confusing. Your work suffers.
Negotiations get snarled, conflicts abound. |
Polly Platt can shift you
to the appropriate culture-mindset, and entertain you at the same
time.
Americans coming to work in France are disoriented and, equally
so, are French people working in the U.S. -- because French and
English-speaking executives and managers are culturally worlds apart.
Polly Platt has been setting them -- and their spouses -- on the
right culture-track since 1986.
"I was used to dominating things. In France,
I was lost as a newborn baby," said Lou Martin, a surgeon,
of his first weeks with the CNRS in Paris.
"I've gotten to my present position by using
my instincts," said the global head of human resources for
a major pharmaceutical multinational. "I've had to learn not to
heed a single one, or get into terrible trouble."
Culture guru Geert Hoftede calls culture "the
software of the mind."
 What
Is the software of your mind?
Is it compatible with your foreign associate's?
Polly Platt's
seminars teach you these tools for working and negotiating with
foreigners... and make it entertaining:
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knowledge
of what's behind their thinking |
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History,
geography, values, traditions, taboos, labor regulations, mindset,
prejudices, legal system. |
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Management
procedures: decision making, deadlines, manager-subordinate
relations, organizational structure, getting information, teamwork,
risk-taking, meetings. |
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Protocol
and ethics.
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respect
for their way of doing things |
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By
knowing how they do them, and why, you're able to create synergy.
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awareness
of your and their cultural programming |
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The
person you're talking to is as stuck in his culture as you are
in yours. Recognizing the impact of cross-cultural difficulties
and your contribution to creating them is the first step to
solving them and avoiding conflicts. Then come the skills.
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alertness
to what is happening in front of your eyes |
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Avoids
miscommunication.
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an
open mind receptive to new ideas |
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Gives
you the power to analyze.
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humor |
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Can
make them love you or despise you. How and when to use it --
and when not to use it. |
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Benefits
to You and Your Company
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For
executives transferred abroad: |
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With understanding
and with the techniques for being competitive comes the confidence
that you can win -- and then the power to win. |
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Managers and
executives sent abroad with cultural training are more comfortable,
more quickly operational, more quickly profitable for their
companies -- and less likely to request a costly early repatriation.
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For executives
negotiating in different countries: |
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Executives who
are aware of the cultural values, procedures and taboos of the
foreign country concerned are less anxious, less self-conscious
and intellectually nimbler in the negotiations. At the same
time, they are less likely to irritate or insult their opposite
numbers of another country, are, on the contrary, more appealing
to them, and consequently are more likely to bring home the
bacon.
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For employees
of different cultures working together in the same company: |
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With knowledge
of other countries and cross-cultural skills, employees gain
respect for each other, avoid conflicts and look for rewarding
synergy. |
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