Global Business Communication
We help individuals contribute to a healthy bottom line by writing emails that get read and acted on, and conducting effective telecons. We also create an awareness of cultural differences in communication styles, vocabulary and idioms, which facilitates comprehension and enhances client confidence.

Cross-cultural CRM

Our program is steered by the premise that it is imperative to understand and appreciate diversity in clients' cultural values, personalities, work preferences and pressures. In addition, business etiquette varies in different parts of the world, making it a critical element in establishing effective business relations.

Leading Global Teams
We coach global leaders to leverage their understanding of cultural variations in how a team member views hierarchy or risk, or how he values time. By tweaking one's communication and feedback style, respecting differences and building upon what's common, he is able to build a culture of trust.

Travel Sensitization

Culture shock is real for a large percentage of individuals traveling to client location. We prepare these often first-time travelers to make the right first impression by understanding the host culture, and exhibiting appropriate workplace as well as social etiquette.

Content Development and Editing
From ghost writing, guidebooks and manuals, e-learning content, life skill and lifestyle articles to brand identity and marketing collateral, our team of writers delivers audience-driven, high-quality content. We help companies communicate with impact through the power of strategically thought out copy. 

Pay it forward (Train the trainer) 

As experts in executing pilot projects, we create modules from scratch, run and test them in their live environment and then pass the baton on to the next generation of trainers. The package includes trainer manual, audio visual support and props if any).

Games leaders play

What makes my training unique is the use of game to teach various corporate concepts from the Johari window to win-win negotiations.

One of my favourite sessions was with a group of young leaders in Colombo. I took a game off the shelf and made it my own. The learning was embedded in the various twists and turns I orchestrated. The debrief was participant A-HAs and best practice sharing.

I've been using game for over 7 years now, and can say with confidence, that it does enhance learning on a subconscious level.

WARNING: These games are designed by a professional and played under supervision. Do not try this at home:)

NLP interventions at the workplace -- more than what meets the eye

I understand the skepticism some people might have about using NLP at work. These are the folks on the sidelines, looking in and seeing people either drifting deep into themselves for answers to outcomes they want, or moving from one square to another on the floor to get different perspectives on a problem.

Ask anyone who's experienced the change and you'll hear testimonials of managing difficult team mates better, being able to handle a really tough client, or standing up in front of a crowd to make a presentation -- minus the crippling fear.

Our application of NLP can even be as simple as understanding people's communication styles.

Case study: Resolving a manager's conflict with his one-down, Mahesh.
The manager's complaint, "He just talks a lot and I see nothing concrete! His presentations are very basic! He just calls team meetings and doesn't email an agenda." After meeting with Mahesh and hearing his side of the story, we realized he was more auditory, preferring verbal updates over reports, mentally going through a meeting agenda -- basically relying heavily on speech over visual communication. Any wonder the more visual manager thought he was all talk?

Mahesh has put a plan in place to email updates and meeting agenda. He's putting together more structured reports and has decided to maximize his reach by documenting on-the-job training. Finally, when it comes to team training, he's realized he needs to resort to show and tell.

All in a day's work!

Managing your time as only you know how

Had a very interesting session, helping individuals manage their time. Many realized they were caught in quadrant one (urgent and important), rushing against the clock to deliver on ad hoc, last-minute tasks the clients sent at the end of the day. Some found they were over reporting, while others spent WAY too much time in QC (quality check).

As each drew out the big picture of their 24-hour day, and traced patterns, they were able to step back and find solutions.

One realized client A invariably woke up on a Friday evening, the day with back-to-back reports to generate. She decided to email A that she had xxx tasks for Friday and should A need anything, to let her know end of day Thursday, so she can block the time.

Another found elements that overlapped in many of the reports and that he was duplicating his efforts.

Time to ponder where you're spending this valuable resource, don't you think? 

Write right

As a writer writing for others or shall I say for a living, I am sometimes taken to the far corners of despair and frustration. Luckily for me, the theatrics of me does not allow me to become a cynic and sitting in that far corner surrounded by frustration, I can hear my own laughter. For every moment that I think the client is being unfair, I know it too well that they are human too. There is a lot I learn with every interaction and it has only helped me become better, smarter and patient. The lines that follow depict the predicament of many of us... To my fellow writer friends, write with passion, submit your work with dedication and have the ability to stay in meditation till you hear from your client…We are in it because we choose to be in it…

An ode to writers

When ideas flow

And creativity takes wing

Just when you think you have the right words

The client calls in…

Give me something different

Make it interesting

It should be entertaining, amusing and interesting

And here you wonder –

So I must use only adjectives in the writing?!?!

You put pen to paper

Fingers on the keypad

Writing, yes!

But very worried about Ithenticate…

Day turns into night

Surrounded by cups and more

You go all out to meet the deadline

Aha! Mail sent, work done

Only to get a response –

Will revert in a few days, I am on Vacation…

Contributed by Meenakshi Mehta


The writing team at Contentmentindia spends many a creative moment giving your processes and products a voice. We aim to help companies create an impact when they communicate internally and externally, through the power of strategically thought out copy. From ghost writing, guidebooks and manuals, e-learning content, life skill and lifestyle articles to brand identity and marketing collateral, we deliver audience-driven, high-quality content.

Varying perspectives

I also run Now! let's play with my business partner Rahul George. We use a combination of  NLP and Metaphors of movement in our executive coaching and group interventions.

Thought I'd share a powerful tool in our repertoire : the NLP exercise of perceptual positions. I use it when working with teams or individuals looking to build bridges between peers and clients.

Use it on yourself and let me know how well it worked.

Political correctness for dummies. Oops! Sorry ... for the ...challenged?!

I agree we need to respect self, others, AND our planet and I thought this was a good article to begin a discussion. A politically correct version of Noddy.

The issue isn't the terms we use to refer to 'different' people, but that they are still treated as 'different'. My 'differentlyabled' participants wanted to be treated just like the others and that I acknowledged their 'difference' instead of tippytoeing around them. Great learning, what do you think?

Two diverse cultures take on a third

Every team intervention I do focuses on an appreciation for diversity -- cultural as well as personalities, work styles, upbringing, lifestyles, exposure, schooling, interests, etc.

Recently, I worked with two cultures who had come together to travel abroad to take on a sensitive client project. 

Firstly, it was imperative that the two teams understood AND stood by each other. Their second challenge was to understand the host culture to secure the account.

The two team cultures were similar in the way that they were both highly collective and indirect communicators; however, one to a greater degree than the other. Secondly, one team had folks from smaller towns who hadn't travelled abroad before and hadn't had to worry about dining and meeting etiquette.

The preparation included global business etiquette -- making small talk, the handshake, body language and personal space. We dug deeper into understanding tone, reading between the lines, and feedback styles -- both when giving and receiving feedback. 

I held a separate session for the second team where we simulated dining and meeting etiquette, as well as asking intelligent questions in training.

All in all, a very rewarding session. The team is standing tall and walking the talk.

Follow up: Netting the big catch

I had promised to check back with the team I talked about in my post Netting the big catch.

Am happy to report that the client has increased communication with the team, something they were able to influence by putting a system of update mails in place. 

There are still some ups and downs in the account, but like any relationship, they're discovering ways to build stronger bonds. 

To be part of the shrinking world, expand your horizons

The influx of MNCs in India has resulted in several Indians traveling onsite to client locations and expats making India their home for months or even years together. As a result, Cross-cultural training has become an integral part of the employee development initiatives in corporates.

I've prepared individuals for a seamless transition, using my special brand of humor, sociometrics and
game. More recently, we've begun to use Neuro Linguistic Programing to help individuals  overcome their fear of meeting the client/making conversation and handling work pressure.

For example, we worked with a young girl who would black out from time pressures at work. She was expected to travel onsite to work with her very demanding client and her VP was concerned. Needless to say, a couple of sessions and she was able to manage herself well. 

Using the META model to build cross-cultural relationships

Am sure you know the story of the six blind men and the elephant. Each described the animal as a tree, wall, fan, rope, spear, and snake in turn, and each believed he was right. Each was creating his description from the part of the animal he was exploring.  

I know you know where I'm going with this: The map is not the territory. Each of us interprets the world differently and responds to our internal map of reality. These maps are plotted from a variety of beliefs, values and experiences and could often prove inaccurate when communicating with others, particularly from different cultures. 

Remapping via the Meta Model changes the language that guides behavior, opening one up to more choice.

We find asking the right questions allows leaders, individuals and teams across cultures to reexamine their experience or beliefs about the other.

We've worked with client-facing individuals who perceive the client as abrasive and difficult. There have been teams who brand their team leader as unapproachable and tyrannical. We've been able to stand in the gap and challenge these beliefs/perceptions. We've even worked with the said leader to tweak his style.

We use a combination of tools from mind maps and fish bone diagrams for the HOWs and WHATs. I've found the META model gives added impetus to problem solving. 

Netting the big catch

Understanding the client's pain and finding ways to ease it is the bait that will bring in the big fish.

Recently did a fish bone analysis with a group who were so much in the picture that they believed their client was an ogre. Well that's where we began. Working backwards, each team member listed possible causes of this perceived effect on postits. The idea of this independent working was to allow each one's voice to be heard. We bucketed like causes and fleshed out more specifics under each.

I say perceived effect because when we brought the team manager in, she was able to play devil's advocate and plead the client's case. The team was able to see the bigger picture and put best practices in place to minimize the challenges they were experiencing, namely lack of communication, ambiguity and unrealistic expectations.

Will check back with them in a month to see how they're doing in calmer waters.

Using mind maps to wow the client

I use mind maps extensively in facilitation, from planning a con call agenda to writing emails and reports.

More recently I facilitated a CRM session using mind maps to help participants literally see the big picture.

The various branches included client personality, communication preferences, position, goals and priorities. As they unleashed their right brain, the network of branches showed where the individual fell in the the client's vaue chain, how his deliverable figured in the client's scheme of things, what's worked to build the relationship, what has been tried, and the gaps.

This best-practice sharing session helped participants borrow ideas from each other and also get more specific about the challenges they were facing. One's tendency to generalize and say something like, "My client constantly changes his mind!" led to a discussion on when specifically the client had asked for changes, what led to these reiterations and how some individuals have capitalized on their clients' disorganized behaviour to partner with them, make suggestions and increase dependency.

NLP techniques to accelerate learning

I'm on turbo drive, researching various NLP techniques to facilitate adult learning.

To get into a truly ready state for learning, one needs to be emotionally receptive -- free of limiting beliefs.

Many of these limiting beliefs took root in school. For example, being humiliated in class for being too soft when reciting poetry or making a grammatical error could surface as a fear of public speaking in later years.

One could use disassociation, the swish or a belief change to rid one of emotional baggage standing in the way of learning.

Another challenge to learning is one's state of mind when one is either too excited, stressed or bored. NLP anchors can help put one into the right learning state.

Do add suggestions and techniques you use to help adult learners.

Thanks

NLP and language learning

If you're looking to learn a new language, model the experts -- babies!

Here are a couple of interesting points I came across from Michael DeBusk's post.

1. It's not just exposure to the language; babies learn from those important people in their lives -- find that state inside yourself

2. Babies babble -- you don't need to babble, but play with the language and experiment -- have fun and learn from feedback

3. They don't go through the dictionary in alphabetical order; they begin with words that get them the results they want -- 'mama' ' papa', etc.

Begin using words in context -- meeting someone, asking for directions, giving information, talking about yourself, and even conversations related to your work.

From Michael's post we learn that unlike babies who are wired to learn language, after the age of six most of us depend on our memories. I'm exploring the two books he referred.

In the meanwhile, here's one: unlocking self-expression through NLP.
It promises to stimulate a real desire to talk and write and create a growing sense of ownership. I particularly like the exercises for reading comprehension.

There are activities for beginners to advanced learners.

Do share other NLP techniques you use in ELT.

Don’t tip-toe around tipping

British Prime Minister David Cameron hit the headlines after failing to leave a tip while on holiday in Italy.

Tips can be tricky, and, if you're not careful, you could end up either embarrassing yourself or causing offence to another party.  For example,  the Japanese are pretty clear cut when it comes to tips. Any monies left are more likely to cause offence than gratitude. The number stated on the bill is what you should pay. No more. No less. 

So, what's the correct number? 10%? 15%? 18%? And what if service is included? How much should you tip then?

Read more on http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3311756  to learn about tipping around the world.

Empowering leaders of global teams

We stand in the gap for companies that operate in globalized markets, building bridges, trust and an appreciation of diversity between teams and clients.

We integrate Hofstede's research on cultural dimensions and Neuro Linguistic Programming in individual and group coaching, enabling participants to build strong self-belief which enhances communication.

We have perfected the art of using game theory and challenge participants with physical, mental and board games to simulate real-time workplace challenges. Apart from these tools, we widely use sociometrics — a physical representation, measurement and study of preferences.

Contentment INDIA customizes the following business communication modules:

1. Email and telephone etiquette, based on an understanding of

a. Cross-cultural value diversity that impacts communication

b. Client diversity – personalities, pressures and preferences

2. Communication between global teams, leveraging an understanding of hierarchy, communication and decision making styles, as well as of how one sees time

3. Leading global teams, paying attention to management, communication and feedback styles

Diversity? Look for what's common!

For years I've helped groups see the reasons for communication breakdown between cultures -- power distance, focus on task over relationship and vice versa, or even how open one is to risk -- or not. The realization has no doubt helped many an individual to pluck up the courage to speak more directly and hence build trust. It has even perhaps helped him conduct more effective conference calls and be more proactive.

At the IAF conference, however, I learnt an amazing truth: when working with diversity, look for what's common. I can't remember if it was Rhonda Tranks or Tom Schwarz whose advise I promptly put into action. The results have been amazing, especially when standing in the gap for global teams.

Nothing brings people together better than a shared vision and respect for multiple ways to make it a reality.