Overview
The modern workplace is increasingly global, yet research shows that 70% of international ventures fail due to cultural differences, leaving many professionals to navigate global teams without formal intercultural training.
Working Cross Culturally is an intensive, one-day course designed to equip you with the practical communication skills, cultural intelligence, and confidence you need to succeed in a globalised business environment while at the same time challenging perspective when working in multi-cultural organisations.
In this cross-cultural training course, you will work with peers from diverse backgrounds to share experiences, break down cultural barriers, and learn practical techniques to help you lead and collaborate successfully across borders.
What you'll learn
Breaking down barriers and working collaboratively in a cross cultural environment:
What is culture?
- What does culture mean to you?
- Interactive activity on Cultural Awareness – Create a restaurant!
- Understanding culture – Why are there so many misunderstandings? Sharing unconscious basis we find most prevalent in the workplace
- Professor Geert Hofstede’s philosophy of understanding cultural behaviour
- How to recognise culture – Areas of cultural difference. Understanding that culture does not just related to ethnicity or countries, but there is diversity in age, diversity of though, cultures within cultures.
- Organisational Culture – Equal VS Unequal, Individualistic VS Collectivism etc
Cultural Barriers and how to lift them
- Group discussion on how we navigate these differences to work collaboratively
- Cultural differences and cultural barriers – how do we overcome these (Sense of humour, ways of working, managing by presence vs managing by outcomes) etc
- Barriers to Communicating cross-culturally – One of the greatest challenges in working cross-culturally is communication and miscommunication
Culture and Values
- Co-relation between culture and values
- Why do our values impact and share our culture
- The Value Iceberg activity – What drives our behaviour?
Communicating Cross Culturally
- Merhabian’s communication model and its importance with understanding how we communicate with each other cross culturally
- Direct and Indirect communication
Achieving Organisational Cultural Competence
- The journey towards cultural competence – Dr Milton Bennett’s cultural competence model – where is your organisation on this scale?
Who is it for?
This training course is for anyone who works in a diverse multi-cultural organisation.
When we talk about multi-culturalism we are not just talking about ethnicity or countries but organisational culture, generational diversity and culture and cultures within cultures of organisations.
