CROSS CULTURE ETIQUETTE TRAINING

What is Culture?
Culture is the “lens” through which you view the world.

✓ What you see?

✓ How you make sense of

what you see?

✓ How you express

yourself?
Five Fundamental Patterns of Cultural Difference

1. Communication styles

2. Attitudes toward conflicts

3. Decision making style

4. Approaches in completing tasks

5. Approaches to knowing
 Cross Culture Communication

Cross Culture Communication or Intercultural Communication is the process of

sending and receiving messages between people whose cultural background could
lead them to interpret verbal and non-verbal signs differently.
Why is Cross Culture Communication important?

• Globalization

• Multinational companies

• Business opportunities

• Job opportunities

• Sharing views and ideas

• International meetings and conferences

• Contribution of employees in diverse workplaces

• Working with international clients

Eye Contact

• In USA eye contact while

communicating indicates
honesty.

• In UK some eye contact

is important, but too
much makes them
uncomfortable.
Phone Etiquette
Microsoft Teams Etiquette
Setting Client Expectations

❑ Define scope of work

❑ Clearly define deliverables

❑ Demonstrate using video walk through

❑ Provide examples

❑ Define Clear metrics

❑ Commit to a specific checklist

Being Proactive
10-point checklist

✓ You demonstrate your expertise.

✓ You ask for recommendations and referrals.

✓ You research prospects before you approach them.

✓ You personalize your communication.

✓ You do work that gets noticed and talked about.

✓ You network via LinkedIn & other social media.

✓ You ask clients: What comes next?

✓ You follow up at intervals with both clients and prospects.

✓ You respond promptly to queries, invitations, and opportunities.

✓ You say thank you.

Being more communicative

Good client communication is

about being proactive so that
clients feel truly cared for and
informed. Make a deliberate effort
to ensure your client understands
what’s going on, and you’ll avoid
unnecessary communication
breakdowns.
How to communicate with clients?
 Being transparent

"Transparency increases the cost of hiding the

truth. More efficient interactivity exposes truths
that used to be inexpensive to hide."
Sharing realistic timelines

❑ List, estimate and assign

your tasks

❑ Visualize your timeline

with a Gantt chart

❑ Make your timeline work

for you (not the other
way around)
Being vocal during challenges

You have to
communicate clearly and
concisely. The message
must be simple to be
easily understood by all
without any assistance.
Situations & Scenarios
➢ Saying “No” : Weekend working, agreeing to something which is not documented, estimates
mismatch

➢ Ask for details : If you didn’t understand the accent or didn’t hear the call, ask them to repeat, or
go slow.

➢ Commitment: Do not commit right away or on behalf of team , do not commit to timelines that
they dictate over a call, tell politely that you will check with the team internally and get back.

➢ Transparency: Being transparent - share the challenges or blockers if any.

➢ Ask for priority : Always ask which task is priority for the client

➢ Availability: Do not create a habit of being available 24 x 7, working on weekends, team

members availability etc.

➢ Reiterate: Reiterate at the end of the call as to what your understanding is so that everyone is on
the same page ( in case language understanding has been an issue), Send out MOM
Some Tips…
Client Meeting Agenda – Share the meeting agenda with the client
before the meeting happens.
Microsoft Teams Etiquette - When sharing the deck with the client.
Would you share your entire screen or window?
Microsoft Teams - Start the live captions in case the accent isn’t
clear
Voice Variety - Vary your pace, pitch, and tone for maximum impact
when speaking
Client Place Etiquette - You are working from your client’s office,
and you have completed your work. Can you play games or do your
personal work?
Answering Client Emails – Use bullet points when you are answering
client emails, so that you don’t miss any points.
Anatomy of a Client Meeting
Topic Description
Opening the Meeting Welcome participants with quick
phrases and get down to
business.
Welcoming & Introducing If you have a meeting with new
participants, make sure to
Participants
introduce them before as you
start the meeting.
Examples
Good morning/afternoon, everyone.
If we are all here, let's
. . . get started (OR)
start the meeting. (OR)
. . . start.
Good morning, everyone. If we're all here, let's get
started.
Please join me in welcoming (name of participant)
We're pleased to welcome (name of participant)
It's a pleasure to welcome (name of participant)
I'd like to introduce (name of participant)
I don't think you've met (name of participant)
Before I get started, I'd like to please join me in
welcoming <name>from our office in Mumbai.
Topic Description
Stating the Agenda of the It's important to begin the meeting
by clearly stating the main
Meeting
objectives for the meeting.
Giving Apologies for If someone important is missing,
it's a good idea to let others know
Someone Who is Absent
that they will be missing from the
meeting.
Examples
We're here today to
Our aim is to ...
By the end of this meeting, I'd like to have ...
We're here today to discuss the progress that has
happened in our project
I'm afraid.., (name of participant) can't be with us today.
She is in...
I have received apologies for the absence of (name of
participant), who is in (place).
I'm afraid <name> can't be with us today. He/She is on
leave and will be back next week.
Topic Description
Reading the Minutes If you have a meeting that repeats
regularly, make sure to read the
(Notes) of the Last
minutes from the last meeting to
Meeting make sure that everyone is on the
same page.
Dealing with Recent Checking in with others will help
you keep everyone up to date on
Developments
progress on the project.
Examples
First, let's go over the points from the last meeting
which was held on (date)
Here are the minutes from our last meeting, which was
on (date)
First, let's go over the minutes from our last meeting
which was held last Tuesday. Atul, could you please
read the notes?
Jack, can you tell us how the XYZ project is
progressing?
Jack, how is the XYZ project coming along?
John, have you completed the report on the new
accounting package?
Has everyone received a copy of the Tate Foundation
report on current marketing trends?
Alan, please tell us how the final arrangements for
Phase 2 of our project
Topic Description
Moving Forward Use these phrases to
transition to the main focus
of your meeting.
Introducing the Agenda Before you launch into the
main points of the meeting,
double check that everyone
has a copy of the agenda
for the meeting.
Examples
So, if there is nothing else we need to discuss, let's move on
to today's agenda.
Shall we get down to business?
Is there any other business?
If there are no further developments, I'd like to move on to
today's topic.
Once again, I'd like to thank you all for coming. Now, shall we
get down to business?
Have you all received a copy of the agenda?
There are three items on the agenda. First,
Shall we take the points in this order?
If you don't mind, I'd like to ... go in order (OR)
skip item 1 and move on to item 3
I suggest we take item 2 last.
Have you all received a copy of the agenda? Good. Shall we
take the points in order?
Topic Description Examples
Useful
Closing an Item English Phrases
As you move for Running
from item to item, a the
I think that covers Client
first item.Meeting
quickly state that you have Shall we leave that item?
finished with the previous If nobody has anything else to add,
discussion.
I think that covers the important points of the merger.

Next Item These phrases will help you Let's move onto the next item
transition to the next item on the The next item on the agenda is
agenda. Now we come to the question of.

Giving Control to the If someone takes over your role,
give control to them with one of
Next Participant
the following phrases.
Now, let's move onto the next item. We've been having
a bit of a personnel crunch lately.
I'd like to hand over to Mark, who is going to lead the
next point.
Right, Dorothy, over to you.

I'd like to hand over to Jeff, who is going to discuss the

personnel issues.
Topic Description Examples
Summarizing As you finish the meeting, quickly Before we close, let me just summarize the main points.
sum up the main points of the To sum up, ...
meeting. In brief,
Shall I go over the main points?

To sum up, we've moved forward with the merger and

expect to start work on the project in May. Also, the
personnel department has decided to hire additional staff
to help us with the increased demand.
Suggesting and As you end the meeting, make Can we fix the next meeting, please?
sure to arrange for the next So, the next meeting will be on... (day), the . . . (date) of.. .
Agreeing on Time, Date
meeting if necessary. (month) at...
and Place for the Next What about the following Wednesday? How is that?
Meeting So, see you all then.

Before we leave, I'd like to fix the next meeting. What

about next Thursday?
Closing the Meeting Close the meeting with a simple So, let us end this meeting here.
statement.
Let us practice…
 Role Play 1

The client is calling you on a Friday at 8 PM and

wants your team to complete a certain task over
the weekend. How would you answer the client
on the phone?
 Role Play 2

During a client meeting, have missed certain

points because you are unable to understand
the client’s accent. How would you respond to
this situation?
 Role Play 3

During a client meeting, the client has made

his/her points and is expecting you to speak.
How would you demonstrate your expertise
when making your own point?
 Role Play 4

The client Mr. Smith has given you a brief about

the upcoming project for his ecommerce
website. He has explained about the nature of
his business and expects you to know the UX/UI
that he is expecting from you. How would
proactively probe him?
 Role Play 5

You are in a meeting call with your client Ms.

Kathy Gates and the meeting is about to end.
How would you end the meeting call?
Thank You…