Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: #PowerPlays, Parent Leadership

The Dark Side of Parent Leadership

Bad Parent Leadership

The story of a great parent is inspiring. The story of a dysfunctional one is depressing.

In the last article, we looked at the best version of a Parent Leader, or leaders who excel at paternalistic leadership. The key trait of a great Parent Leader is their ability to take a legacy approach. All the other good traits flow from a leader who has good vision and cares for his ‘family’.

But not all those who use a paternalistic leadership style are like Atticus Finch. Some are more like Homer Simpson.

Here are some classic traits of really dysfunctional Parent Leaders.

 

They never relinquish any authority. Dysfunctional Parent Leaders don’t fully trust anyone to work independently of their wisdom and guidance. Therefore, they never fully give any authority. While they may have several VPs around them, they all much check in with Mom/Dad before they blink an eye. Decisions taken independently are either seen as an act of rebellion or a declaration that you are ‘too good’ for the family. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #See1See100, Parent Leadership

Is there a Good Side to Having a Parent Leader?

Good Parent Leader

Understanding the idea of Parent Leadership, or paternalistic leadership, is important if you work in India or many other Asian countries, but you might still be on the fence about it. Leading as if you were a father or mother might sound rather sticky or messy, especially when you think about your own family.

However, Parent Leadership is a legitimate leadership style, and instead of judging if the style itself is bad or good, you should look at good and bad examples of people who use it.

In my time in India, I’ve interacted with many leaders who naturally use this style. Some are very inspiring, like the one who made it a point to visit the housewarming ceremony of a junior employee. Others are extremely dysfunctional, like the one who refused to believe anyone else could do a better job than him at any business function.

In the next two articles, I will offer a picture of the best and worst sides of Parent Leadership. First, we’ll look at the best-case scenario to see the enormous potential this style holds. Next, we’ll look at a worst-case scenario to show just how bad things can get. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #TimeIsEternal, Parent Leadership, Podcast

Episode 3: Rohan and Shannon Prabhakar

Podcast

I often envy my Indian friends who come from family businesses. Their fathers and grandfathers have put in the hard work to carve out a niche and set up an established company. It’s not that it’s an easy position, but it seems great to have that kind of upbringing, heritage, and opportunity.

But it’s nearly impossible to break into the inner circle of that sort of family business…

Unless you marry into it.

 

Here is the story of Rohan and Shannon. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, Communication

Getting a Straight Answer in India

Straight Answer

Why won’t they just give me a straight answer?!

Many westerners feel that Indians are always beating around the bush. They never seem to get to the point, and it’s hard to determine if their yes may mean no.

You need an honest opinion about your new marketing plan, and all you get back are smiles and niceties. You are evaluating a team member that you think may be causing problems, but no one will say a bad word about him. You need advice on handling a special high-needs client, but you feel like no one is actually contributing any insights.

How do you get an Indian to give a direct answer?

Ask better questions. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Communication, Team Management

Do you hear what your Indian team is saying?

Listening

If nobody has told you yet, Westerners tend to be bad listeners. We complain when someone is just ‘telling us what we want to hear’, but we don’t realize that we might be causing the problem in the first place.

Take an example adapted from Craig Storti’s classic, Cross-Cultural Dialogues:

Leonard: Ramya, how are things going?

Ramya: They are going fine. We have a lot of good work coming up.

Leonard: Great to hear. Listen, we need to roll out this new product by next Friday. Will that be ok?

Ramya: I think so, sir. We have two extra accounts that have developed recently.

Leonard: Ok great, this product is really high priority and we have to have it, ok?

Ramya: Ok, we will surely do our best to do it.

Leonard: Wonderful, that’s great. Thanks a lot, Ramya. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Communication

Why you might be missing the story in Indian communication

Imagine sitting in on a teleconference with Jennifer who is questioning two of her sales managers on their lower-than-expected sales quarters. She asks them both to explain.

First is Dharmesh in India:

 

Second is Philipp who looks after the northern Europe region:

 

Do you find yourself starting to get annoyed at Dharmesh’s answer? Does it feel like he’s ‘beating around the bush’? Giving excuses?

What about Philipp? Is it easier to sympathize and accept his reasons?

That is the case for most western listeners. Yet, if you listen back to what they actually said, they both gave essentially the same answer, with one very important difference. This is a great example of different cross-cultural communication styles. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #PowerPlays, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, #TimeIsEternal, On the Job

34 Tips for Training in India

Young Man in Session

At home, you’re a pro. You are the subject matter expert, the go-to person. You regularly run trainings for your colleagues, or maybe you are a professional trainer. You get the room warmed up quickly, you are funny, you flow, you delight the audience, and you always get great feedback.

But now you are training in India for the first time. No one laughs at your jokes. Everything feels tense. Some participants seem combative. No one is getting the concepts. Your ‘flow’ never seems to show up.

It’s a trainer’s worst nightmare. You covered the material, but you suspect that everyone might hate you, and you are pretty sure the training didn’t make a difference. You feel like the whole day (and maybe the whole trip) was a waste.

 

34 Tips for Training in India

Whether it’s technical training, updating your India office on new tax laws, or even soft skills, there are certain ways you need to adapt your training style. Here are 34 tips I’ve compiled about how to make the most out of your training in India. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #ThinSkinned, On the Job

Should You Shake a Woman’s Hand in India?

Indian Women in the Office

Karl, a large man from Canada, was visiting an office in India for the first time. He was led around by Maneesha, a smartly-dressed, super-punctual woman who made sure Karl was at all of his meetings on time. Towards the end of the first day, she took Karl to meet a group of brand-new freshers who were going through some technical training. Karl joked about looking like a huge white monster, and promised not to be too scary.

Karl walked along behind the trainees and stopped behind Sangeetha. He noticed a few mistakes in a sentence she was typing and asked her in a friendly tone to “just fix it quickly”. She stared straight ahead at her screen. Karl said, “No, it’s easy, just erase that word and add a period.” Sangeetha’s eyes grew even bigger than before; she asked to be excused, and hurried to the bathroom.

Megan had just arrived for a one-year internship in India. She was put in a small group of desks with three younger single guys. Her first week went well, and she enjoyed working with her colleagues. On Friday, one of the guys mentioned at lunch that they were going out to a bar that night. Megan said, “Sounds like fun, can I come? I don’t have anything to do.”

The guys looked at each other and nervously agreed. Later in the day, one of them said he was not feeling well and might go home for the night, and the other two slowly dropped out as well, leaving Megan without any plans, and wondering what happened.

 

Nothing is higher on the list of ‘I-don’t-want-to-look-like-a-fool-in-a-new-country’ than knowing how to interact with women and men, specifically the opposite gender. It can seem extremely simple when done right, but extremely devastating when done poorly. In this article, we’ll explore how gender affects relationships in the workplace for an outsider in India. [Read more…]

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© Neil A. Miller, LearningIndia.in, and Madras Media Marketing LLC 2013-2015. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.