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Apr 21

Beating the ‘No-Fly’ Order with Virtual Communication

Communication Skills Training, Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

The eruption last week of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano has caused major disruption to air travel throughout Europe. As this took place during school Easter holidays, many UK families have been stranded abroad, unable to return to school or work. Business travellers have also been affected and many meetings have been postponed and projects put on hold. The disruption that this has caused to business has been immense and the impact of people being unable to travel is as yet incalculable.

In this situation, unprecedented in recent times, virtual communication comes into its own. Companies that are equipped with video and teleconferencing technologies are likely to suffer far less of an impact than those companies that rely on face-to-face contact between colleagues in different locations.

Business Woman on laptop 2 quavondo i Beating the ‘No Fly’ Order with Virtual Communication

While email and telephone usage is ubiquitous in today’s business environment, video and teleconferencing technologies enable companies to interact internally and externally anywhere in the world. This can not only save a great deal of money but allows global organisations to be responsive to business needs and to avert disruption in situations like the current no-fly order.

Savvy companies realise that communication via virtual platforms is most successful when they are aware of the obstacles and know how to overcome them. Cross cultural differences, the absence of non-verbal communication and working in different time zones are all issues that need to be handled sensitively when working virtually across cultures.

Communicaid’s Managing Virtual Teams cross cultural awareness training course is specifically designed to address these obstacles and equip managers with the knowledge and skills they need to communicate effectively with their teams through virtual means.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

Tagged with: Courses - Cultural Training • Cross Cultural Awareness training programs • Cross Cultural Training Awareness Programmes • Cross Cultural Training Programs • Flight cancellations • Intercultural Training Programmes • Intercultural Training Programs • No-Fly order • UK • virtual communication • working virtually across cultures • Working with Virtual Teams

Apr 13

International Assignments – Understanding the Impact of Reverse Culture Shock

Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Culture training for the Public sector No Comments »

‘Culture shock’ is a widely tackled issue in cross cultural and intercultural training programs as it can have a huge impact on the international business community. In its broadest sense most people understand that culture shock can occur to an international assignee on their arrival in a new culture or to a short-term business traveller during their time in another culture. While culture shock is a widely understood concept, people tend to be less familiar with the concept of ‘reverse culture shock’, the condition which can affect international assignees or business travellers arriving back to their home culture after a prolonged period spent living and working in another culture.

When we think of returning home after time spent abroad, we don’t automatically think there might be problems or obstructions to our readjustment. We might not even think we’ll need to readjust at all – after all, we are returning back home!

Whilst abroad there is the tendency to think that life at home has stood still, that nothing has moved on and that our friends’ and family’s lives have carried on as usual. However, when we get back to our home culture, we often find the opposite has happened. Life has moved on, and we have missed it. Even seemingly trivial things such as television can have an impact on our mood and feelings.

What is more, there is often the expectation that when we return from an extended period abroad, people will want to sit and listen to our stories. This however is often not the case. People might take a passing interest, but the truth is that if they have never had a similar cross cultural experience they will not typically appreciate your situation and may be uninterested in what you did during your time away. This can cause you to either become frustrated, despondent or repress the memories of your time away.

Though you may not realise this, while things have changed at home, you too have changed over the course of your assignment so remember this. You have spent time away from what you know, from the familiar and have been transplanted into the unfamiliar. This will affect you on returning and readjustment to your home culture.

If you are preparing your return from an extended cross cultural experience living or working in another culture, here are some tips to help you deal with the effects of reverse culture shock:

Plan in advance and make sure you prepare for your homecoming in the same way you did for your departure.
Be aware that things will have moved on and will not have stayed exactly as you left them. If you are prepared for this, then you will not be so surprised by the reality of your return.
Find people with similar experiences of living abroad in the same or other culture, with whom you can share stories about your international assignment or travels.
Be aware that the business may not recognise or understand what skills you have developed or the knowledge you have gained while living or working abroad. Try to set up meetings with your manager or team to help them harness your new competencies and awareness.
If you have family, be aware of the impact your return can have on them. Be sure to set aside time when you can reminisce on your experiences together and talk about how the adjustment process is going.
Make occasional trips back to the other culture so you don’t lose touch with it.

While general tips like the above are useful, the effects of reverse culture shock can be as diverse and profound as your experience abroad. No person is the same and we all assimilate and react to different situations in our own way. Communicaid has long recognised this and developed a highly tailored and blended approach to intercultural and cross cultural training to help individuals deal with the complexity of reverse culture shock.

Communicaid’s cross cultural training programs for repatriation provide individuals returning from an extended international experience with skills and strategies to re-assimilate as effectively and smoothly to their home culture. Repatriation Training examines the potential cultural, social and work challenges of returning to your home culture. These cross cultural awareness training programs also provide practical information on recent home country changes and developments and strategies for reintegrating into the organisation. By providing repatriation training to your employees and their families, you can ensure a higher retention and satisfaction rate resulting in improved performance for the organisation.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

Tagged with: Courses - Cultural Training • cross cultural awareness training programmes • Cross cultural training for relocation • Cross Cultural Training Programs • Intercultural Training Programs • international assignment • Living and Working in • relocation training • Repatriation Training • reverse culture shock

Apr 10

Multilingualism: Advantages of Seeing the World from Different Cross Cultural and Linguistic Angles

Communication Skills Training, Cross Cultural Training, Cultural training for Relocation, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Culture training for Human Resources, Language Training No Comments »

The Italian film director Federico Fellini once said “a different language is a different vision of life”. A person’s world can stretch out in front of them for miles and miles or it can be a box around them depending on who they can communicate with.

Learning another language can open up new worlds, broaden your horizons and bring you into contact with many new cultures. The language you speak can mould your world view and by association your experience of life. Opening up to new cultures can enrich your life and give you new opportunities. Taking part in a cross cultural training program or in a language training course can help you broaden both your mind and your world view, increasing your cross cultural competence and your ability to communicate across cultures.

Scripts catscandotcom i Multilingualism: Advantages of Seeing the World from Different Cross Cultural and Linguistic Angles

Many people think that learning a new language will be boring or too time consuming, but they are often surprised by the progress made even after the first few language training courses. Even a basic knowledge of a language allows you to communicate and interact with someone from another country. Being able to say something as simple as ‘¡Hola, buenos días!’ (Hello, good morning! in Spanish language) will improve the positive impression you make on your Spanish speaking counterparts while it will also help you to build the trust that is so vital when building international business relationships. Seeing that this secret code registers and gets a response from the native speaker can be very satisfying indeed. After a few more language training sessions this could follow onto a conversation – and from there who knows?

Businesses can greatly benefit from building the cultural and linguistic skills of their employees. Speaking another language can open new markets up to you that were previously closed. Because English predominates as the ‘global language’ of trade and commerce, people often forget that the ability to conduct business with a non-English speaker in their own language, and with knowledge of their cultural values and norms, can build lasting bridges and forge links with that individual or company for many years to come. By taking part in Communicaid’s cross cultural training programs or in our language training courses, you or your staff can learn the language and culture skills needed to truly break any communication barriers and achieve global success.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

Tagged with: Communicating across cultures • Cross Cultural Training Programs • Cultural Awareness training • intercultural training • Language Training • Learning a language • Multilingualism • Spanish language • Working across cultures

Apr 06

To Speak or Not to Speak: Avoiding Awkward Silences in Cross Cultural Interactions

Communication Skills Training, Cross Cultural Training, Culture, Culture training for Business & Management, Negotiation Skills 2 Comments »

In an ever-increasing global working environment, the successful outcome of cross cultural business negotiations is often determined by our capacity to work effectively across cultures with international business partners. However, this capacity highly depends on the interaction process itself as much as on what is said during the negotiation. Turn taking strategies, or the way people structure their participation throughout the negotiation, are just one element of cross cultural negotiations that are crucial for success.

Have you ever thought to yourself, during a conversation, why isn’t he saying anything? Or have you found yourself getting frustrated that you can’t get a word in? Taking a turn is the precise moment in any interaction when the role of speaker is taken or given to another person. This can be shown through a pause, a change of intonation, decrease of volume or a gesture such as a head nod.

Methods of signalling that it is now someone else’s turn to communicate can vary significantly when working across cultures. For example, when doing business in Finland you may notice conversations are often filled with a series of pauses before the next person speaks. Conversely, doing business in Spain you will see that your Spanish counterparts often take their turn to speak before the other person finishes their sentence.

People unfamiliar with Finnish turn taking patterns may try to fill the silence while those communicating for the first time with Spanish counterparts may feel frustrated by their constant interruptions. Failing to understand when you can contribute to the conversation can have a negative impact on how you are perceived and the impact you make in cross-cultural business negotiations.

Such implicit rules of turn taking are deeply embedded in our communication style. A lack of awareness of how people pause or overlap in conversations can lead to misinterpretation, confusion and frustration. Participating in a cultural awareness training programme such as Managing International Teams or Doing Business in Finland will help you understand the cross cultural styles of turn taking and ensure you communicate more effectively when doing business with international counterparts.