The Hindu Business Line : A new direction

As the New Year dawns and we all seek direction, so I thought of an article that gives it too. When I invited a British associate over to my home for the first time, I suddenly realised how I had so much to learn in giving clear directions. "Which turning to the left after Chola hotel did you say to get to your home?" my associate asked. "Not sure, third or maybe fourth, there will be a tea stall at the end of the road," was my response.

"Okay, I will look for a tea stall then, hope he is open by the time I come to that street, and which house on the left is it?"

"Hmmm let me think, first is the Appaji apartment, then there is an independent house, then another one or is it two? Maybe it is the fourth or fifth house.

I am not sure... why don't you come to Lifestyle, which is just near my house, I will come there and escort you home," was my response.

Chris, my associate, politely asked me "How long have you lived in this house?" I cheerily replied "Oh, 28 years."

Now, compare this to Americans who give directions: "1027 Arlington Boulevard, Take 101 due North, take exit 17, stay on it till you hit Arlington Avenue, make a right on Arlington Avenue and drive two miles, make a left on Arlington Boulevard, and it is the sixth house to your left."

"How long have you lived in this house?" you ask. "Oh, it's already been two whole weeks," is the reply.

These two stories tell us something about a capability we lack in India, which, if we are conscious of, can easily be developed. We simply can't give clear, succinct directions.

In the workplace, this cultural trait translates into non-clarity in tasks or jobs we do on projects as well. A programmer who has to walk a customer through a screen must have the mindset to give clear instructions to enable the customer to fix the error on the system. We use simulations and role plays to teach this rather effectively in our cross-cultural communication courses for Indian professionals.

Trompenaars, a Dutch cross-cultural expert says there are cultures that are far more process oriented and others that are result oriented. This ties in with the way each culture looks at time.

Sequential cultures: Time can be structured in two ways. In one approach, time moves forward, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour in a straight line. This is called sequentialism. These people will do one thing at a time; they see time as small bits of consecutive segments, which can be divided into small parts. These people must stay on schedule and therefore plan every little detail.

Synchronic cultures: In the other approach, time moves round in cycles of minutes, hours, days and years. This we know as synchronism. People who belong to cultures that follow this approach do many things at the same time. Changing plans easily, they value interaction with others more than anything else and time commitments come as second to that. They will also plan, but not to such a great extent and will stretch things to suit relationships.

There are no prizes for guessing that as a culture, we in India are synchronic and not sequential. This translates into our poor planning and non-observation of things around us .

If we had to get from point A to point B in the US, we would have to do it on time, and elements such as clear directions would matter tremendously in that situation. It helps too that road signs are clearly laid out and things are organised and predictable there. In India, we arrive more or less on time and we don't rely on external clues as much.

But as Global Indians, the time has come to change that. Let's observe our surrounding keenly, give clear and succinct directions and make interactions effective and efficient. Four steps on how to do this whether in a work or social situation:

Do your homework

Rehearse. Prepare and plan your talk till it becomes second nature.

Then walk your talk, making it crystal clear.

Recap and summarise so you are sure both parties understood what was meant.

(The writer is Founder-CEO of Global Adjustments, the India focused cross-cultural and destination services company)