Confused by why a "yes" does not always mean a "yes" when dealing with Indians? Or how to encourage initiative and a sense of urgency in your Indian colleagues? Or what the Indian head shake means?

Divya Susan Varkey is an Intercultural Trainer and Coach based in Den Haag, Netherlands and focusses on bridging the gaps between Indian and other cultures. Born and raised Indian and with experience starting a company and building a team in Bangalore, India, she has to date coached or trained more than 50 different nationalities on how to work effectively with Indians. Her clients have included CXO's from companies like Boeing, Bayer, Goldman Sachs, Heineken, Friesland Campina, Bosch, Nike, PepsiCo and the like.

Recommendation by clients:

Rolf Hoffmann, Chief Financial Officer, Bayer South Asia

"Approximately a year ago we prepared for our relocation from Switzerland to India - a true contrast in potentially all aspects of living and working. As part of our preparation we had the true pleasure of a 2 day culture training session with Divya. Besides a general introduction to India and Mumbai (our new home for the next couple of years), Divya prepared a lot of individual sessions tailored to all aspects, like office, daily living, kids activities, etc. All sessions were extremely well crafted and totally to the point. A year down the road we realize and reflect back, how easy the entire transition has been thus far; as a complete family we clicked from the first day. Even after a year we are experiencing so many different situations which remind us of the session with Divya and enable us to understand and appreciate the great diversity of the country. Especially the concept of “Jugaad” you see every day or the religious variety and the different festivals. Living right in the middle of Mumbai, you see all of that in front of your house. Given the context we learned during the culture training, it is much more enjoyable as you understand the background and context.

On my work front, we talked a lot about the high relevance and importance of attending speaker events and representing the company in industry associations. That was a good recommendation, as high-level professional relationships are vastly built in those events.

We have done a couple of intercultural trainings in the past for our various moves, but the sessions with Divya have been by far, by far the best, most impactful and relevant ones. Thank you very much, Divya"