Navigate the complexities of international collaboration with confidence. As our company expands globally, this 30-minute online course is designed to increase your cultural awareness, helping you to better understand your colleagues and collaborate more effectively across borders.

In today's interconnected workplace, misunderstandings between different cultures can easily occur and quickly turn into major frustrations. This course provides the foundational knowledge to prevent these issues by exploring how culture shapes our perceptions and communication styles. You will learn to see the world from different perspectives, recognising that what seems normal to you may not be for someone else.

Who Is This Course For?

This course is essential for any employee who works with international teams. Whether you are collaborating on a project, communicating daily, or managing a multicultural team, this training will provide you with the insights needed to build stronger, more effective working relationships.

What You Will Learn

This course is structured into three key sections, each with a specific learning objective to guide you on your journey to becoming more culturally competent:

1. Why Cultural Awareness Matters A great deal of culture is invisible, yet it unknowingly defines how we see the world and act within it. In this section, you will understand why being aware of cultural differences is so important for successful collaboration. You will learn to:

• See Beyond the Surface: Explore the "cultural iceberg" concept to understand the visible (e.g., language, art) and invisible (e.g., values, concept of time) aspects of culture.

• Understand Cultural Dimensions: Get an introduction to the five cultural dimensions developed by Erin Meyer, which provide a framework for understanding cultural interactions.

• Appreciate Cultural Relativity: Learn why it's crucial to consider how cultures interact with each other, rather than judging which one is better.

2. Communicating: Low-Context vs. High-Context Understand, recognise, and learn how to communicate effectively with colleagues from different communication styles. This module dives into a key cultural dimension:

• Identify Communication Styles: Learn the difference between low-context communication (simple, explicit, clear) and high-context communication (nuanced, implicit, layered).

• Recognise Potential Misunderstandings: Discover what happens when low-context and high-context communicators interact and why one might take a message at face value while the other looks for a deeper meaning.

• Apply Practical Tips: Gain actionable strategies for communicating effectively with both low-context (be explicit, recap key points, put things in writing) and high-context (listen more, ask open-ended questions, 'read the air') individuals.

3. Evaluating: Direct vs. Indirect Negative Feedback Giving and receiving criticism is a common source of friction in a multicultural environment. This section will help you understand, recognise, and know how to handle different approaches to feedback. You will explore:

• The Two Feedback Styles: Learn the characteristics of direct negative feedback (blunt, honest) and indirect negative feedback (soft, diplomatic, wrapped in positives).

• Decode the Message: Understand how "upgraders" (e.g., "totally unacceptable") make feedback stronger in direct cultures, while "downgraders" (e.g., "a bit," "perhaps") soften the message in indirect cultures.

• Develop Strategies for Giving and Receiving Feedback: Receive practical tips on how to adapt your style, whether you need to give feedback more directly or learn to "read between the lines" to understand a subtle critique.