Duration: One or two days
Intensity: One-day program = Moderate; two-day program = High
Participants: Incoming Couples or Single-Status Employees
Venue: To be confirmed
Trainer: Karen Huchendorf, Cultural Acumen
Resource People: From the participant’s home culture (Part 1) and the participant’s Direct Manager (Part 2)
Pre-Work: Complete background questionnaires and the Intercultural Development Inventory
SAMPLE PROGRAM AGENDA – DAY 1 – LIVING IN AUSTRALIA
Introductions and Program Overview
- Introduce the trainer and participants, program objectives and structure
Impressions of Australia
- Debrief the participants’ experiences to date of Australia and interactions with colleagues
Cultural Self-Awareness
- Introduce key concepts for understanding and managing cultural differences
- Relate these concepts to the specific issues of living and working in Australia
Morning Tea
Australian Culture
- Understand how geographical factors and historical events have shaped the present-day culture of Australia
- Explore core Australian cultural values
Cross-Cultural Interactions: Part I – with the resource person
- Differentiate culturally-appropriate from culturally-inappropriate social behaviours and expectations, including courtesies, meeting people, developing relationships, entertaining and gift-giving
Working Lunch: Everyday Life in Sydney – with the resource personDeal directly and specifically with the participants’ concerns and need for information, including international parenting issues for families
Cross-Cultural Interactions: Part II – with the resource person
- Explore non-verbal communication and cross-cultural “speech acts” such as complimenting, complaining, asking permission or for assistance, apologising, expressing emotions and feelings, thanking, and leave-taking
- Examine differences between the culture of the participants’ home country and the new culture in concrete, practical situations
Cross-Cultural Effectiveness
- Gain an awareness of the normal pattern of cross-cultural adjustment over time, highlighting predictable high and low points
- Understand the particular issues faced by the assignee’s spouse/partner in accepting and successfully completing the assignment
- Introduce a set of targets for successful cross-cultural adaptation
- Revise the participants’ current repertoire of stress management techniques
Afternoon Tea
Action Planning
- Set goals, consider realities and options, and commit to taking action
Summary and Program Evaluation
SAMPLE PROGRAM AGENDA – DAY 2 – ORIENTATION TO THE WORK CULTURE
(Employee only)
Welcome, Introductions and Program Overview
- Revise program objectives and structure
Intercultural Communication Skills
- Consider the typical stumbling blocks to effective interpersonal, intercultural communication
The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
- Understand the model on which the IDI is based
- Interpret the participant’s IDI Profile
- Set targets for further development
Morning Tea
Description, Interpretation, Evaluation Exercise
- Establish norms for discussion of cross-cultural issues
- Become aware of value judgments
- Appreciate the personal and cultural relativity of interpretations and evaluations of the behaviour of others
Conflict, Assertive Communication and Problem-Solving–lecturette, discussion and practice
- Learn how to communicate clearly and cleanly perceptions of and feelings about a problem without attacking, blaming or hurting the other person
Working Lunch – discussion of “Australian Cultural Values” in the workplace
Critical Incidents – interactive session with the participant’s Direct Manager
- Apply knowledge of differences between the participant’s home culture and Australian culture to concrete, practical situations that the participant can expect to encounter at work
- Explore the variety of approaches one might take to the solution of cross-cultural problems and generalise about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in these circumstances
- Enable the participant to compare his/her own perceptions, values, judgments, and expectations about cross-cultural encounters with a corporate cultural informant
- Practice skills of assertive communication and problem-solving
Afternoon Tea
Critical Incidents (cont)
Next Steps and Program Evaluation
