“Helped me tremendously!”
“I respect Katheryn's cross-cultural perspective as she’s well-versed in Japanese and Western perspectives.”
-Liza, US
Business Analyst
“Exceeded expectations!”
“I feel I’m now better armed to face business situations in Japan.”
Diego Fuerte, Spain
Corporate Development Analyst
“For 1st Time Expats!”
“My biggest takeaway? There are actually words for Japanese work concepts!”
-Catherine, Canada
International Sales Manager
Here’s what I hear people say:
“I feel like I’m in the dark…like I can see things happening that are different but I don’t really understand why.”
“I’m worried about offending people.”
“My Japanese colleagues won’t say, ‘Hey, you gotta change your approach’. Everyone sits back and lets the train crash happen.”
“I’m not sure if my company will promote me since I’m not Japanese.”
These are all fixable…let’s build your knowledge and confidence!
Here’s what you’ll become a genius at:
01
Key values around communication between managers and subordinates
Ever feel like your subordinates need to show more confidence and take ownership?
02
Deciphering what someone’s saying based on your relationship
Japanese people don’t always speak indirectly. Learn how when and when not to read between the lines.
03
Identifying what 3 key mannerisms and body language are telling you
Maybe you’ve heard them make odd noises during meetings. Maybe you think they’re gesture is pondering. What does it mean?
04
Stimulating discussions during meetings
Feel like people don’t say enough during meetings? Do your meetings lack purpose? Find out why and how to approach your next one.
05
The difference between leadership values and what that means for you
Leaders are proactive, autonomous, and assertive. But are those the key values of a leader in Japan?
06
Knowing exactly what is expected of you in your role for your next performance review
Want to gain raving feedback at your performance review? You need to know what Japanese people look for.
Here’s the program structure:
The total time for the private training is around 6-7 hours. Most people prefer to space the sessions out (i.e. four 90-minute sessions) which works well for scheduling and also information processing. You’re also welcome to opt for a full-day engagement, or two half days.
Our time together will be comprised of me sharing educational information with you, then looking at a case study together, and then doing some coaching on your unique situation and how it relates to the material.
Most people opt to do sessions over Zoom, and I’m also open to meeting in person (if you’re located in Central Tokyo).
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The average time a person has been in Japan (or working with Japanese) before reaching out about private training is 3.5 years.
I will meet you where you’re at; I typically follow the agenda and based on your knowledge gaps I may either stick to it 100% or skip info you already know and supplement it with other educational materials or coaching instead.
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I have conducted both private sessions and group sessions for people at multiple levels of organizations and find that the core material is effective across all levels, however; the specific challenges or questions that people have are unique to their position (i.e. a person leading an organization will have different challenges than one who is reporting to a Japanese manager, for example).
The people who apply for private training are usually in senior-level positions. I’m happy to meet you where you’re at and discuss the material from your perspective.
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It’s possible that there may be some cross-over with concepts you learned in a cross-cultural orientation session when you first arrived in Japan. However, I believe that what differentiates this training from others is that the program is specifically designed to address common frustrations that people have. In other words, I started designing the program with the frustrations in mind and reverse-engineered them into a program that meets common needs without additional fluff, rather than just stuffing a bunch of general Japanese cultural concepts into an agenda.
Side note: I find that people who have taken a cross-cultural education session before still need a refresher as they have more context since experiencing working with Japanese, and questions they need addressed that may not have come up when they first took a session.
Connection Call
The next step is to have a 20-minute chat to discuss your needs and to schedule our training together.
“This shed so much light!”
“I was curious to know what is truly happening in a typical Japanese work environment and this shed light on that and much much more!”
-Feral Rizvi, Canada
Scrum Master
“Lots of ‘A-ha’ moments!”
“This helped me gain empathy as I put myself in the shoes of my co- workers & boss and could finally make sense of situations.”
-Liza Chantelle Aono, England
Executive Board Member of We Rotary Club & TV presenter for NHK’s Cool Japan
“I feel relieved!”
“Hearing common perspectives of foreigners helped me discover that I'm not the only confused person and feel relieved.”
-Vanessa Quintana, US
International Beauty Trainer
“Learning about how Japanese people view relationships cleared up a lot of question marks I had over the past year.”
“I used to feel like Japanese culture was invisible, but after hearing these lessons I can now see things happening clearly in front of me. ”
“I used to feel frustrated at work but simply knowing the “whys” has helped me feel more comfortable and understanding.”