Working in a Multicultural Environment

Short description

Target group 
This is a training programme suitable for everyone who works in an intercultural team or environment and a great opportunity to improve your intercultural competences.  

Working method
Your own personal experiences will be the starting point of this training programme. An inventory of all participants’ experiences is made prior to the training during intake. In preparation of the training, you will complete an individual assessment of your current intercultural competence levels. You may do so via the internet using our on-line tool, the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC). 

The IRC, including its feedback, is available in English, German, French, Dutch and Japanese. It was developed over 4 years of research and testing and has proven to be a valid and reliable intercultural self-assessment tool. The IRC measures four key intercultural competences, essential for effectively working together across cultures:
 
1.Intercultural Sensitivity: the ability to recognise multiple perspectives of an event or behaviour, to  recognise one’s own cultural norms and values and those of others;
2.Managing Uncertainty: the ability to manage the greater uncertainty of intercultural situations;
3.Intercultural Communication: the ability to adjust one’s communication style to the communicative  needs of people from other cultures;
4.Building Commitment: the ability to stimulate cooperation between people, to take the lead while keeping others on board, and to develop an effective network of relationships in a diverse cultural environment.

You will receive confidential individual feedback in writing, to serve as input for detailed competence specific action plans and follow-up learning. This feedback will be distributed by your trainer during the course, so you can prepare an action plan to deal with and to overcome these cultural differences, and to improve your intercultural competence. 

Course content
The exact contents of the pilot training will depend on the experiences and queries you and other participants have submitted at intake. The outcome of the IRC will also determine the main focus of the programme. Basically, the two-day programme will however be built around all four main intercultural competences.

Competence 1
Intercultural Sensitivity (using a.o. Trompenaars’ cultural model, Hofstede’s model of Cultural Dimensions, GLOBE Model, etc.)

Competence 2
Managing Uncertainty; Feedback on IRC profiles

Competence 3
Intercultural Communication (different communication styles across cultures);

Competence 4
Building Commitment (teamwork and leadership); Developing an Action Plan.

Results
You will exchange views with other participants in deciding on the most effective ways to deal with cultural differences in your work environment and to effectively work together.  

Specific objectives include:

• Providing awareness on cultural differences between the cultures involved in your work environment
• Discovering the impact of cultural differences on the behaviour of people within your work  environment, especially in their communication;
• Analysis of the effectiveness of your own behaviour in this context
• Setting up an action plan on how to deal with these cultural differences effectively