Learnings from Working Cross Culturally Workshop
Group facilitation methods: Action planning, Process improvement, Team and Community Building
Identification
To gain insights about the Cross-cultural learnings we have had in working another country and to become excited about what we have learned and to be aware of what we have not learned.
This workshop was designed as a way of bringing together learnings from working in a cross cultural situation. A similar workshop was done a few months earlier. This design could be used as the first workshop in the series with some minor modifications.
This is a standard ToP workshop.
Howto
Context
We want to spend the rest of the afternoon in a workshop determining the learnings from our work in the country we have been working. A group of us did a workshop on this a few months ago. I am passing out the results of this workshop. What I hope to do is add to this and give it more depth. I think it would be good to give examples of the situations where we learned something. Take a few minutes to read through this list.
Steps
Brainstorm
1. Please take 10 minutes to write down 25 learnings from your work in the other country. These can be positive or negative. I would like these to be situational that is in such and such situation I learned ....
2. Select the 3 most unique and put them on a Post-it.
Organize
3. We would like to organize these by situations i.e., when giving a presentation, when working with a counterpart, when talking with a Managing Director, etc. Please pass up your three post-its.
4. Organize by situations, avoid ?a general? situation if possible.
5. Please pass up the next three most different.
6. Continue until all cards are up.
Naming
7. We want to divide into teams to write paragraphs. Each paragraph should include the kind of situation, what is appropriate in that situation and what is not appropriate. Please give examples of actual appropriate behaviour and inappropriate behaviour from the experience from this morning or from your own experience. You have 30 minutes.
8. We would like to have the paragraphs read out. Have each paragraph read. For each paragraph ask the following questions:
- What would you like to add?
- What would you like to keep the same?
- What would you like to change?
9. I would like to have an editorial team volunteer to write these up in a nice format and put in each persons mailbox. Ask for volunteers. Ask when they will have the material ready.
10. I would like you to take a sheet of paper and write down 3 practical ways you can improve your interaction with people in the other country. We will not collect these nor ask you to read them.
Reflection
1. We should reflect on the day.
- What were some of the events of the day?
- What was helpful?
- What was not helpful?
- What did you learn today?
- If we do this again what would you keep the same?
- What would you change?
2. I am quite convinced that there is much to learn about working in cross-cultural situations. In one way this department, along with business development, is pioneering in developing the internationalization of the whole company.
Background
This workshop was prepared for the training department of the Dutch Telephone company.
the methods files of Imaginal Training
Suppliers
Name | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Gooding & Associates, Inc. | The Woodlands TX | United States |
| Imaginal Training | Groningen | Netherlands |
| VALDUS | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| Name | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Gooding & Associates, Inc. | The Woodlands TX | United States |
| Imaginal Training | Groningen | Netherlands |
| The Guinn Consultancy Group, Inc. | Bristol, TN | United States |
| VALDUS | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| Name | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Gooding & Associates, Inc. | The Woodlands TX | United States |
| Imaginal Training | Groningen | Netherlands |
| The Guinn Consultancy Group, Inc. | Bristol, TN | United States |
| VALDUS | Port Louis | Mauritius |
