Tata Sky is a satellite television provider that has redefined the television viewing experience for thousands of families across India. The service aims to empower the Indian viewer with choice, control and convenience through its wide array of programming choices and interactive features offered in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound. The company is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the STAR Group and operates under the Sky brand owned by British Sky Broadcasting.
Problem
Tata Sky was booming and racing to keep up. The company, a combination of Indian behemoth Tata Group and Britain’s Sky television brand, was the second firm in India to offer direct-to-home satellite television and other services. After two years of rapid expansion, management wanted more speed, but bureaucracy and conflict were limiting efficiency.
“Because we are neither simply entertainment nor telecom nor consumer household, we have people with backgrounds in different industries and very different working styles,” said Charanjit Lehal, senior training manager. “Nobody was speaking the same (figurative) language, and it was affecting efficiency—we could see a pattern of meeting after meeting, and quick decisions were not being made.”
Executives observed the following types of behaviors:

• People avoided each other instead of confronting problems.
• Employees returned from meetings with other functions complaining about the list of unrealistic projects they were being asked to accomplish.
• Team problems were being escalated to high-level executives rather than being resolved at an earlier stage.

The Training Course
After perusing dozens of training courses, Tata Sky learning and development team led by Bhaskar Bhattacharya, vice president of learning and development, piloted three different workshops conducted by external trainers. Based on feedback and results, they chose to move forward with VitalSmarts Crucial Conversations Training in May 2008.
Lehal found the skills taught in the course were clear. The tests and exercises were effective at engaging participants. He also liked how the action items required by the course helped each participant customize the principles to their specific needs. Based on the course’s value, Lehal was able to secure executive approval by demonstrating how the results would lead to a return on investment.
In addition to the results and the skills, Lehal found the training integrated seamlessly across cultures. There was no cultural confusion be- tween the American-based course and Tata Sky’s Indian employees.
“Dialogue is a necessity for any conversation,” Lehal said. “The core content of the course has universal application.”
He acknowledged that, speaking generally, Americans may be direct in conversations while people from eastern cultures may build more background before coming to a main point.
“While techniques differ, we still need to get on the table what you are trying to say and what I am trying to say, and that is what this course teaches,” he said.
Lehal’s experience was that with sufficient preparation cultural differences did not present significant challenges.
Based on advice from a VitalSmarts master trainer, he also surveyed participants before they attended the course and built real-life examples for use in the course from their anonymous responses. This ensured they saw immediate application to their work environment.
Lehal conducted two-day workshops at each of Tata Sky’s four regional offices, focusing on the customer service function before moving to other functions. About eighty managers completed the workshop in 2008, with many more scheduled for 2009.
Results