Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in India and their partners

Benefits of Attendance

This seminar aims at significantly improving the ability of the participants to meet the challenges of living and working abroad. The objective is to enable them to identify the stumbling blocks that lie ahead and to be able to adapt and integrate in India.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired insights and techniques to help them to:

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand India and its culture
• Analyse situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
• Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
• Understand another mindset, different work practices, decision-making processes and negotiating styles
• Strike the right balance between personal et professional lives

Training Approach

• A cross-cultural approach of International Mobility
• Country specific trainers
• Personalized and familiy focused action plan
• Access to the Nomad’ Network, an exclusive online tool for Akteos’ clients and experts:  find resources, exchange experiences, knowledge and insights

Programme Outline

Module 1: Successful personal integration in India

1. Cross-cultural awareness : the key to a successful expatriation

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• Culture shock and the integration process
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Indian culture

• The world’s largest democracy. A thousand-year history
• A cradle of civilisation at a junction where east meets west
• An economic giant with a booming economy
• From a subsistence economy to a specialized economy
• The emergence of a middle class
• A key player on the world stage politically

3. Indian values and behaviour patterns

• An extremely hierarchical society: social classes, castes, community
• Religion
• The key place of the family in Indian society. The role of women
• A continuous view of time
• Reasoning and thinking patterns, communication styles
• Attitudes to risk-taking and uncertainty

4. Practical day-to-day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare: necessary precautions
• An endless range of things to see and do.
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful personal integration in India   

1. The Indian corporate world

• Keys to understanding how companies operate in India
• The Indian view of intellectual property and the notion of quality
• A state-managed economy, in the process of embracing liberalism
• Indian economic patriotism

2. Effective communication with Indians

• Forming your own “network”
• The importance of small-talk
• Understanding underlying messages and non-verbal communication
• Indian English or an interpreter: asking the right questions

3. Working with Indian teams

• Building a sense of community: instilling a team spirit
• Superstition within the workplace
• Recruitment, loyalty building, training, knowledge transmission
• Motivating, delegating, providing feedback, boosting self-esteem and handling conflicts

4. Succesful meetings and negotiations

• The preparation phase: identifying decision-makers
• Taking full account of ethnical and regional characteristics
• Time and deadline management
• Indian negotiation techniques
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Indian rites and symbols, mealtime etiquette, festivities and celebrations
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code, etc