Building cross-cultural intelligence
During our cultural awareness workshop, you’ll learn what culture is, why culture influences how we communicate, and how you can develop your cultural intelligence to improve how you communicate at work and at home so that you can avoid misunderstandings and minimise frustration.
If you’re working in an international environment and need to interact with colleagues, peers, and audiences who come from different countries and cultures, understanding how to navigate cultural differences and build bridges is what leads to successful and productive relationships.
Our cross-cultural intelligence workshops help you gain deeper insights into some of the areas where culture can cause conflict and challenges, and strategies to deal with tricky intercultural encounters.
Sample session outline
This course can be tailored to your needs, but here is a sample outline to give you an idea of what to expect.
- What is culture?
- How can (or does!) culture affect your working life?
- What are your cultural preferences and those of others? An exploration of your own values and those of people from other cultures
- Facts > Attitudes > Behaviour: a flexible model for learning about cultures and developing an inquiring approach
- As others see: an exercise in perceptions and dealing with stereotypes
- Offshore English: the rules for using the international language of business
- Strategies for communicating effectively across cultures
Optional: Working with specific cultures
We currently offer intercultural training for individual and teams working with a wide range of different international cultures, including American, Arab, Australian, Austrian, Brazilian, British, Chinese, French, German, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, South African, and Spanish partners. If you have another country or culture in mind, get in touch – we may be able to help. The content of the course is designed around your specific objectives, but, by the end of the course, you’ll:
- Know yourself: how has culture shaped your own values and behaviour?
- Understand the motivations of partners from your target culture.
- Use this knowledge to communicate more effectively cross-culturally.
Outcomes
After the training, participants will:
- Be more aware of the cultural assumptions we all tend to make
- Be more aware of how hidden cultural values can cause challenges
- Have a better understanding of your own cultural style
- Understand how to adapt your style to improve communication and build bridges
- Understand more about other cultures and how they work in professional contexts and be equipped with a method for continued learning
- Be better able to modify professional behaviour to work more effectively with your foreign partners and peers.
Delivery formats
We offer this training as:
- A half-day or two 2-hour interactive group training sessions online via Zoom or similar platforms.
- Small group and individual coaching, particularly for culture-specific training
- Shorter formats with modified (reduced) content depending on your needs, for example, webinars, short talks, and masterclasses.
Suitable for
This training is suitable for researchers, scientists, and groups who work in multi-cultural teams or international projects, or with students and colleagues who come from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
It can also be useful for individuals and teams who need to prepare for international fieldwork assignments, and who need to increase their awareness of local communication styles and cultural tendencies to ensure smooth communication and reduce misunderstandings.
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Kind words
Loved this. So much information and still time for some good discussions with fellow students. I look forward to being able to use some of the ideas when I create my first poster.
I have just completed SciComm Success' Poster Design Workshop. It was full of interesting tips and tools, some of which I have already built into my poster planning. Although we had a big group and I expected a lecture/webinar format, Suzanne constantly invited us to provide feedback and our own experiences, and I enjoyed hearing what fellow biologists like and don't. I liked that the group was international and enjoyed the flexible and informal discussions - some via chat, some using whiteboards, some simple audio discussion. It felt as if we could all contribute, wherever we were. I would recommend this workshop for anyone new to creating posters for conferences. It would probably be a good refresher for poster presenters, too. Thank you, SEB, for the opportunity.
This was a good refresher on best practice planning and design for posters. I particularly enjoyed the sessions on tools for choosing colour palettes, which I have since used in other communication materials, and the discussion about online and virtual conferences, which was an eye-opener for me during COVID. Thank you, Suzanne!
Have something different in mind?
Book a call with one of our training team and let’s explore what you are thinking about, what you need, and what we can do to help.