Everyone has their own way of working. You have a number of international salespersons. They are talented professionals, but have their own habits and routines. You’ve been working together for a while and you notice that things aren’t going all that well. ‘That’s not normal, is it?’ you might think when your international colleague says or does something differently than you would. Great cooperation is being blocked by minor frustrations and misunderstandings. The longer you work together, the clearer the differences between you become. You’re obviously not on the same wavelength.
Are you letting opportunities pass by?
As a result of differences in background, you use different ways of communicating, influencing or planning. This is totally understandable and no problem at all if you’re aware of these differences and are open to learn more about your colleague. If that’s not the case, you’ll be missing great opportunities for making your international collaboration an enjoyable and lasting success.
Become aware of culture and differences
The first step towards bridging cultural differences between you and your international colleague involves creating awareness. As part of the Intercultural Awareness programme, you’ll examine the following questions together:
• What is culture?
• What kind of culture do I have?
• How does my culture influence my outlook, interpretation and behaviour?
• What are the differences between us?
• How do these differences affect our cooperation in practice?
The Culture Map
We will use The Culture Map by Erin Meyer to make you aware of your own and other people’s culture. We will discuss the following 8 aspects of culture within a professional context: communication, evaluation, influence, management, decision-making, earning trust, disagreement and planning.
Trough a questionnaire, you’ll easily gain an understanding of your own and your colleague’s culture at both country and personal level. Comparing the results quickly demonstrates what the cultural differences mean for your cooperation in practical terms.
Understanding leads to success
This programme results in full awareness of your own and your colleague’s culture. Why do you do what you do? And why does your colleague sometimes do things differently? Intercultural awareness brings insight and understanding. This is the foundation for smooth and effective communication and cooperation. Not only does it make working with an international team more enjoyable, it also encourages greater results achieved together.
Coaching as part of International Recruitment
The Intercultural Awareness programme is a fixed part of our recruitment process. We initiate it around six months after the start of the cooperation between you and your new international sales colleague. We determine how aware you are of your cultural differences. How does this affect the cooperation? Why does this happen? And what’s the best way of handling it? Once the cause is clear, we can come up with a solution together.
Want to take even a step further?
Our Intercultural Readiness programme focuses on using your competences to bridge differences for even more intercultural effectiveness. How ready are you now? And what can you actually do in order to further develop your competences, with greater international success and job satisfaction being the ultimate goal?