Intercultural Communication Workshop

Cultural diversity in the workplace can foster creativity and innovation; however, as culture is about perceptions, different cultural backgrounds can lead to misunderstandings. These misconceptions can be amplified as e-communication substitutes face-to-face interactions, or when one operates in stressful disruptive work environments as caused by Covid-19. It is therefore crucial that everyone working in culturally diverse environments develops an understanding of the impact of culture on day-to-day interactions, now more than ever.

This workshop will make you aware of the most common cultural assumptions you may encounter in your workplace, and give you tools to address tensions and improve cross-cultural skills.

Facilitator: Kasia Łanucha, from Speak Culture (https://www.speakculture.co.uk/about)

Aims & Objectives

During the interactive session, participants are asked to reflect upon and share their experiences of their own culture to encourage empathy and to promote better group dynamics.They will also become familiar with a framework for understanding key cultural differences in communication style and work practices. The result is openness and flexibility, as well as competence in working with colleagues/students from different cultural backgrounds.

Outline

• What is culture and how does it affect the way we think and behave?

• Which culture and the limitations of generalising

• The impact of culture on work – culture clash

• Cultural dimensions

• Case studies

• Intercultural competence: Best practice and next steps

Format

This training is delivered in one day as an online (Zoom-based) 2-hour session. The workshop is a mix of theory and practical skills development. The session ends by developing an action plan for putting learning into practice in the workplace.

Requirements: cameras need to be switched on (at least in the breakout room) at the point of registration