{"id":459,"date":"2015-02-24T04:01:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T04:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/?p=459"},"modified":"2015-02-24T04:01:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T04:01:11","slug":"key-interpersonal-skills-help-when-travelling-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/key-interpersonal-skills-help-when-travelling-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Interpersonal Skills Help When Travelling Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a story from my business trip in 2008 to Moscow, Russia, where I trained managers at an oil services company in Western business communication and English language skills.\u00a0 The story does not take place in the office, but rather during my free time.
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I coach and train relationship building techniques, like the art of small talk and the fundamentals of a solid, winning first impression. These interpersonal communication skills are vital in life. I also teach networking skills, as these soft skills are imperative in building business relationships. <\/span>Here is a story where I combined my interpersonal communication skills with local commerce.<\/p>\n

In Moscow I was facing a big language communication barrier (although I did my best to learn to read and speak some basics while I was there for 2 months)<\/em> and so I relied on other communication techniques. They are worldwide, human techniques. One day my old PC laptop\u00a0 equipment was failing (remember – 2008 – and this was also before my Mac<\/em>) and so I went with a Russian friend looking for a new headset and microphone in a local mall, and I saw an Indian man running a computer shop. He spoke with a strong Russian accent (so I was told<\/em>) and it was obvious to me that he was an immigrant or migrant worker there. I immediately felt like I was back in Toronto,\u00a0 and started to speak English to him. We smiled and chatted and he sold me a new headset which worked very well. I was back to \u2018Skyping\u2019 my friends and family constantly, as you may appreciate. <\/span><\/p>\n

A few days later, after a great day of site-seeing (for those who know Moscow I visited Old and New Arbat, Hard Rock Caf\u00e9, and Victory Park)<\/em> I decided to add a webcam to my long distance conversations and returned to the same mall. I purposely sought out the same shop and yes, the same Indian man was working. We smiled again and chatted briefly. I told him this time I was in need of a webcam that can skype, and he recommended one immediately. I asked how much and the answer was 1000.00 Russian rubles (FYI at that time the exchange rate was 1 dollar to 24 Russian rubles, so do the math if you wish<\/em>) and then I asked if there was a cheaper option that could still skype. He smiled and played with his computer for a minute and then said to me that he could sell it for 800. DEAL. Done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of you reading this story may not be too surprised by a seemingly independent shop keeper giving a bit of a discount, but I was told by my Russian guide that discounts at malls and proper businesses are quite impossible. She was genuinely surprised by my discounted price. I explained to her that I felt that he liked me for these 3 reasons: <\/span><\/p>\n

A)\u00a0 He thought I was a nice guy; I smiled which is almost rare for Russian men in that business situation <\/span><\/p>\n

B)\u00a0 He was happy to see me as a repeat customer; he did not want me going elsewhere\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

C)\u00a0 I think he could appreciate me as a foreigner in Russia \u2013 the same as him!\u00a0 In that way we ‘connect’ even though we have very different cultures and personal situations
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Most of us at some point travel, and we should not think that our actions do not matter to the local people. Carry yourself as you would at home and continue to be in the constant habit of initiating great people skills that cut through different culture and language. You never know when they will help you!\u00a0 People all over the world seek to feel appreciated<\/strong>, to connect<\/strong>, and to have their mood elevated<\/strong> in a positive way.\u00a0 I felt that way after my dealings with the shop keeper, as I’m sure he did too.\u00a0 Remember those key concepts in business, and in life, here and abroad.\u00a0 They will serve you well.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a story from my business trip in 2008 to Moscow, Russia, where I trained managers at an oil services company in Western business communication and English language skills.\u00a0 The story does not take place in the office, but rather during my free time. I coach and train relationship building techniques, like the art of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[535,533,534],"tags":[552,553,554],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esl-cultural-communications","category-interpersonal-communications","category-professional-communications","tag-interpersonal","tag-russia","tag-sales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.communicationcoach.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}