Culture
It is commonly assumed that, once you have a language in common, the communication challenges you face will only be minor ones. This is very far from being the case.
Indeed, the very fact that we on the face of it speak the same language makes cultural difficulties all the more irritating. Why don't they come on time? Why do they insist on pointless small talk? Why can't they come to a decision? Why do they not answer the question?
If a lion could speak, we would not understand it
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
According to Wittgenstein, to understand a language is to understand a form of life. But culture is yet more subtle, dividing Britain from America and Portugal from Brazil. The forms of life vary within and between cultures. And - crucially - very few people conform in total to their cultural stereotypes.
The licensed cross cultural training system we use allows us to position individuals within their national and corporate cultures using a series of questionnaires.
Together with an extensive database covering the whole world and a global network of partner trainers, we have powerful tools to transform cultural competencies in any organisation. We can
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identify areas of possible conflict even before it emerges
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place culture specific behaviours in a context that makes them understandable
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advise on how decision-making and other business processes work in specific target cultures
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give detailed insights into the value systems of specific cultures
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help trainees as individuals to identify areas of similarity and difference between themselves and individuals from their target culture.