Best Practice for intercultural competence: Germany, Austria and Switzerland—so close and yet so far!
27. January 2016
Understanding each other: Intercultural cooperation—an interview by Webasto WORLD with Gerhard Hain
9. February 2018
In the realm of intercultural training, intensive collaboration is already taking place between the Robert Bosch GmbH and ti communication, especially with regard to preparing for foreign assignments. No matter the destination—our network of experts spans the globe: from Singapore to Portugal, from the Netherlands to China, Saudi Arabia to Australia.
This year, we received the opportunity to support the Robert Bosch company with a different format: On the occasion of an international conference with participants from Germany, China, the USA and Japan, a 2.5-hour workshop was held with our trainers Anna Corbett and Susanne Taylor.
In the realm of intercultural training, intensive collaboration is already taking place between the Robert Bosch GmbH and ti communication, especially with regard to preparing for foreign assignments. No matter the destination—our network of experts spans the globe: from Singapore to Portugal, from the Netherlands to China, Saudi Arabia to Australia.
This year, we received the opportunity to support the Robert Bosch company with a different format: On the occasion of an international conference with participants from Germany, China, the USA and Japan, a 2.5-hour workshop was held with our trainers Anna Corbett and Susanne Taylor.
Understanding cultural differences
Our experts started off by presenting a few intercultural basics, such as various cultural dimensions:
Task orientation vs. relationship orientation
High context cultures vs. low context cultures
Direct vs. indirect communication
Right away, participants noticed a few differences, some of them recognizing why, in the past, the one or the other tense communication situation had developed with foreign colleagues. Although many of the participants had already known each other, some for several years, occasionally there would be “challenging” situations, conflicts or misunderstandings while working together.
World Café offers new perspectives and an exchange opportunity
In order to promote exchange and actively involve all participants, a so-called World Café was conducted following the motivational speech. This is an interactive event format which is very suited to larger groups.
The participants were first divided into groups. Within these groups, they reflected on and discussed their expectations regarding conflict-, leadership- and feedback behavior based on concrete questions. In addition, the various requirements for the mutual, respectful treatment of each other and the influence of cultural characteristics on the participants’ daily work life were considered.
In the end, very similar as well as very different needs crystallized for the expected or desired behaviors. The implicitness of one’s own behavioral expectations was put into perspective, thus creating an initial basis for exchange. The “effectiveness” of the World Café was also evident in the subsequent evening event, during which participants were able to continue discussing what new perspectives and insights each had gained.
Positive feedback across the board
Participant feedback was consistently positive. Due to the highly interactive nature of the event, they perceived it as being very entertaining, with the resulting food for thought as very valuable within the framework of the short time span.
Would you also like to give your employees the opportunity to change their perspectives, broaden their horizons and experience the opportunities of intercultural competence? We would be happy to prepare a customized offer for you. Just contact our customer service agents!
