LSA Global Teams Presentation to the Silicon Valley Employer’s Forum

LSA Global, the premier one-stop global training and consulting firm that focuses on achieving measurable business results with a select group of clients, was invited to deliver a business Global Teams Presentation on the subject of Working with Global Teams to the prestigious Silicon Valley Employer’s Forum (SVEF) on March 4, 2009.

The Forum’s members include such Silicon Valley leaders as Adobe Systems, Agilent Technologies, Apple Computer, Applied Materials, Autodesk, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, eBay, Electronic Arts, Google, Intuit, Hewlett-Packard, KLA Tencor, LSI Logic, Microsoft, Seagate, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Synopsys, VMWare, and Yahoo. A coalition of 28 high technology employers with a presence in California’s Silicon Valley, SVEF has as its mission the building of collective intelligence regarding corporate employee benefits. They meet monthly to address common issues and share best practices and solutions. This month Intuit was the host at the Yahoo facility in Santa Clara.

“As difficult as it can be to design a benefit package that appeals across the board to employees in the valley, imagine how challenging it is to create a package of benefits that is welcomed and valued in different cultures overseas,” states Tris Brown, CEO of LSA Global. “Recognizing our depth of experience doing business abroad, our understanding of the challenges, and our successful record of avoiding the pitfalls that get so many companies into trouble overseas, Intuit approached us to provide a keynote on doing business in India. They wanted us to focus on what the Indian culture would most value as benefits for employees in various categories: male/female, new/experienced, young/old.”

In addition to specific suggestions for benefits, there were lively discussions about how different communication skills and styles can foster misunderstandings, examples of business conversations that went awry because of words that were ill-chosen, and suggestions of more effective ways to effectively influence and communicate with Indian colleagues. Judging from the enthusiastic applause at the conclusion of the 75-minute address, the session was very well received.

Unsolicited comments from participants included:

• “I learned so much.”
• “I look forward to my next call to India and to using what I’ve picked up about flexing to the Indian style of communicating.”
• “I have a much better understanding now of why the projects we work on together hit so many snags.”
• “I have a list of low-cost benefits I can propose with confidence that they fit the culture and values of our Indian employees.”
• “LSA Global has shown itself to be truly global in its understanding of different cultures, especially in working with India and what we can offer our teams there.”

Get more Global Teams Presentation information about working on global and virtual teams.