A leadership and management trainer her USP is cross cultural etiquette training and she has successfully delivered workshops and training in India and here in the UK
A regular contributor to the BBC, prior to working in the UK, was in Dubai as Head of News for Dubai Radio Station - Radio 4 (not the BBC version) and before that in India working on communications projects such as a media consultant to the Department of Adult Education, Ministry of HRD India. Her early career was with All India Radio and Doordarshan in Delhi.
A law graduate and a qualified business mentor, she is currently doing an NLP practitioner course while growing her business.
Sangita has several in- demand specialities. Although her main work is currently with small and medium sized enterprises working between Britain and India, right now she is up early at 3.30 am most days to talk to India, as her company is recruiting for multinationals there, and yet she still managed to interview pleasantly with The Asian Voice.
Articulate and media-savvy, Sangita had wanted to set up her own company for some time, and in 2011 she founded Corporate Life Skills. Despite her extensive experience before launching her own business Sangita made sure to work with other training organisations in order to get robust experience in the art of delivering formal training in a structured way. “It was useful to be able to measure aims and objectives, measure the effectiveness of training and take that forward. Because of my insight into formal training, I am able to marry knowledge with skill and I aim to ensure that these standards are always met in our training deliveries.”
Sangita was quick to realise that as a start- up one has to do everything oneself. “I would make calls, write emails, go for meetings and everything else, but then it was all so worth it as I got my first contract within 15 days of setting up. And then the same year delivered training sessions in India.”
Her cross cultural work is fascinating and arose because she was intrigued by how different nationalities reacted to the same situation. Having lived and worked in multiple locations both in India and abroad, “I found that individuals, companies, corporates, businesses all want pretty much the same thing. Without exception success is the one ask.”
She experienced differences in business etiquette when working in Moscow, China, Hong Kong, Dubai and other cities. She says “coping with global cultural challenges is key to business success now more so than ever when you don’t always have to go abroad to encounter cultural differences.”
Communicating to business the importance of understanding the differences between cultures is integral to her work. “I deliver standalone cross cultural training sessions and have now woven them into almost all of my other training modules” she said. She has delivered workshops and webinars at PNB UK, Warwick Business School, Common Purposes UK, Conner India, and UKIBC UK.
Sangita described India, Pakistan, Japan, Nepal, Bangladesh and China as among those with hierarchical cultures as compared to America, Britain and Australia. “A common example to facilitate understanding is realising that questioning is not common in hierarchical cultures which means managing teams and meeting business objectives when working with people from these cultures would require a different management style.”
Sangita believes that corporate skills are not just for when one is in work; nurturing young talent is important. She recently spent time in a west London high school teaching 12 and 13 year olds about corporate etiquette and employability skills. “Giving children those skills at a young age helps them in later life,” she said. She elaborated that simple things like where you place your napkin when leaving your seat in a restaurant can become very important depending on the type of job you are going for.
And of course spouses and families are supported into changing corporate environments- in short, Sangita Pandey’s Corporate Life Skills is a one stop shop.
Whichever direction the SME or business is travelling; to or from the UK or India, SMEs and others can find in Corporate Life Skills a legal and tax consultant, media adviser, recruitment specialist, talent manager, and cross border etiquette trainer. Where else would you go for solutions to your challenges?
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In Corporate Life Skills you can find a media adviser, recruitment specialist, talent manager, and cross border etiquette trainer
