Doing Business and Working with Americans

Transcription

1 Doing Business and Working with Americans How to develop strategies for successful communication and solid partnership PREMIUM TOPAKTUELL S E M I N A R Do you or your colleagues or employees find yourselves having difficulty working with Americans? This 2-day seminar helps German business people recognize the hidden cultural obstacles and understand Americans better, in order to communicate successfully, learn to work together and build solid partnerships. Being successful in business means learning how our partners tick Juli (Stuttgart) September (Hamburg) 30. September 1. Oktober (Stuttgart) Dezember (Frankfurt) März (Stuttgart)

2 Introduction Dear Reader: Do you and your colleagues or employees do business and work together with US Americans? Do you need to know how to cope with different business practices oveseas? fulfill their expectations of you, as the manager, seller or customer? effectively present and sell your product or concept? build, manage and motivate mixed teams for success? manage your employees at your Detroit subsidiary? deal with difficulties in communicating with headquarters in Chicago? How tolerant are you of other ways of doing business? A recent report in Newsweek described Daimler Chrysler employees who can now cope better with the differences between American and European business and working practices, after their intercultural training seminars. Did you know that current figures of up to 70% failure rates have been identified for international ventures? And they didn t fail because of a lack of technical knowledge or financial obstacles; what led to the breakdown was repeated miscommunication between players from different cultures. It s not a language problem! Most Europeans working with Americans speak English well enough to promote their product or concept. Globalized managers are aware of cultural differences, but are often not aware of how cultural upbringing impacts communication, expectations, and working styles. It s those hidden differences in business practices and communication styles. This seminar will provide the background you need to understand the American way of thinking and how Americans can be motivated. Being successful in business means learning how our partners tick. This seminar will help you understand American culture so that synergy can be created. Do you sometimes ask yourself What do they mean when they say, No problem? Why does the American say everything is great? Why is my American customer sending me all these s? How do they define urgent? Why don t they invest more time in planning? When will we start achieving some results? Why do they act like that in meetings, on the phone, at trade fairs? What do they expect of me, as the manager, seller or customer? Why is it so hard to get the information I need? How can I effectively present and sell my product or concept? How can I build, manage and motivate teams for success? Do I have to change my leadership style in the United States? Answers straight from practice These are just a few of the many comments we ve heard repeatedly in our seminars. Your comments and your experience and questions build the basis for this seminar, to help you communicate more effectively to achieve success in your business ventures and transactions with Americans. Over 400 participants, just in 2004, found the answers to their questions at one of our most popular seminars. This 2-day seminar helps European business people recognize the hidden cultural obstacles and understand Americans better, in order to communicate successfully, learn to work together and build solid partnerships. We look forward to seeing you at this seminar. Yours sincerely, Bernd K. Zeutschel President & CEO

3 Seminar Program IN-HOUSE 01 Day I Your experience doing business with Americans up till now Your questions, needs and expectations Participants share their experience and anecdotes, specific questions and problems they have had in business Introduction to this huge country: The USA Communicating across cultures Simulation: How does culture have an impact on business? Why does understanding cultural aspects has increased importance today? Which skills does the successful global player need? 02 Day II Negotiating styles and expectations Tough cookies: tips for success Preferred styles and strategies used in meetings, negotiations, decision-making Cognitive styles Action-orientation The cultural triangle: communication, leadership and organization Americans and Europeans in a multinational team: video analysis How can we communicate more effectively? Who s the boss? How will we proceed? Also available as In-house Seminar Germans and Americans working together Stereotypes and generalizations: minilecture Comparison of cultural standards Values and assumptions Creating a positive working atmosphere Perceptions & interpretations: video analysis Boss-employee relationships Peach - Coconut The function and use of small talk and humor That American feeling Understanding the Can-do mentality Video analysis Exploring American cultural standards What do Americans expect of the manager? Charisma: mini-lecture Status, critique, praise Expectations of the team leader/boss Motivating the Americans Exercise: Giving the right feedback Preferred presentation styles Insight into American expectations in presentations What works with American audiences? Participant presentation workshop Participants are invited to present their companies, products, services in a short talk, using overhead transparencies from their companies The trainer and the group provide feedback on intercultural appropriacy for American audiences in terms of style, contents, terminology, among other criteria Building intercultural synergy How can we work and do business together? How can I develop an innovative mixture with my partners to achieve our mutual goals? Cool down: Debriefing, checklist, and feedback What does adaptation mean? How can I develop a broad range of coping strategies at my disposal? Which insights am I taking home with me that will enhance my performance?

4 Facilitator & Further Information Herbert R. Nestler Herb Nestlerhas a unique background and varied experiences which make him ideally suited as a facilitator for professional seminars and workshops. Educated in the United States where he lived for most of his life, Nestler received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and a Master of Arts in Communication from Northwestern University. As a university teacher he was on the faculties of the University of Illinois at Chicago, North Central College and the European Division of the University of Maryland where he specialized in business and interpersonal communication as well as media and theatre. As a trainer, he has presented seminars and workshops for private corporations in the United States, Canada, and Europe on effective business communication and motivation. He is resident of Ger-many since His training programs have been held throughout Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Asia - in more than 30 nations in total. Prof. Nikola Hale Born in the US Niko has lived in Europe since 1978, working trans-atlantically between Germany and the US to support businesspeople and government officials in their international activities. She is an intercultural communications trainer with strong emphasis on client-specific training, focused on supporting her clients in their endeavors to build cultural synergy. Originally trained as a intercultural communications trainer at Tufts and Boston Universities, she has expanded her fields of operations over the years to training for foreign assignments, expatriate couples, on site observation and facilitation, team-building and personal communication skills across borders. Nikola Hale has designed and held training seminars for over 2,000 participants in Germany and the USA. Along with her activities in consulting and training, she is a professor for Intercultural Communication and Management. Global Competence Forum We organize conferences and training seminars on current management topics and international practical seminars as well as country-specific seminars for the regions in Asia Pacific, North and South America and Eastern and Western Europe. Outstanding coaches, well-known specialists and experienced industrial practitioners impart their premium management knowledge and their know-how using modern training methods which work. In order to make the best of your training experience, we attach great importance to finding comfortable conference locations. We offer to our participants - in addition to the knowledge and skills they will acquire at the seminars - a forum for the exchange of Know-how and experience. Who should attend? German speaking executives, managers, employees and entrepreneurs who: sell to, buy from, or negotiate with Americans communicate with US customers, suppliers, partners in person and via phone, fax, manage teams/employees on site or remote work in mixed teams in the US or in Europe participate at exhibitions/trade fairs in the US consider themselves global players who want to build strong long-term relationships Seminar Goals The present trainer will: provide detailed information and impart practical knowledge show established approaches and answer concrete questions give the basics for decisions and expose useful orientation guides hand over experiences and sources of nformation ask for experiences of the attending participants, incorporating these into the seminar impart abilities to estimate potential risk in a realistically way encourage an exchange of information and experience between the participants

5 Further Information Seminar Methods A well-balanced combination of interactive lectures, case studies, simulations and exercises, discussions, presentation exercises and exchange of experience. Seminar Language Since in most countries you have to use English as the international working language, this seminar is held in English. But don t worry, trainer speaks German fluently. The documentation and some videos are in English, the training explanations,discussions and your questions can be in English or German. Training Schedule Arrival/Registration: 8.45 am Training session I: 9.00 am am Training session II: am pm Training session III: 2.15 pm pm Training session IV: 4.15 pm pm hotel information and your invoice. Seminar fees must be paid in advance or, at the latest, at check-in on first day of the seminar. Cancellation & Rescheduling Policy Up to four (4) weeks before the first day of the seminar cancellation and/or rescheduling is free of charge. For further information on our cancellation & rescheduling policy after that date please consult our website: www. gcforum.com/agb. Conditions & Scope of Services The fee for the 2-day seminar is Euro 1.580,- plus VAT. The following services are included: Attendance of seminar, complete seminar documentation, lunch on each seminar day and all coffee breaks. Hotel accommodations, breakfast and dinner are not included. Seminar Code You will find this seminar on our website under IKUS. Coffee break and lunch During shared coffee breaks and lunch, ample time is provided to network and share experiences with other participants and the trainers. Seminar Location In order to create a pleasant atmosphere which is conductive to training, we hold all of our seminars at carefully selected comfortable conference hotels. Overnight Stay We recommend staying at the conference hotel for the ideal benefit from the seminar program. All participants can opt for a room in the conference hotel itself. Registration Please register online at In case of further questions call us at After we have received your registration, we will send you confirmation of course registration, description of location, Germany Global Competence Forum GmbH Schlossbergstraße Tübingen Tel Fax info@gcforum.com Austria Global Competence Forum Fischhof 3/ Wien Tel Fax info@gcforum.at

6 Germany Global Competence Forum GmbH Schlossbergstraße Tübingen Tel Fax Austria Global Competence Forum Fischhof 3/ Wien Tel Fax info@gcforum.at