We are living in a world of cultural change with an increasing level of intercultural collaboration. What does this mean for our business processes? How can we on the one hand drive innovation with radically new thoughts, and at the same time acknowledge and support what already exists as the foundation of our business? How do we establish a company culture that combines both aspects and connects people from different cultures? We understand the concept of culture in its ethnological, socio-cultural and technological context. For example, digital transformation does not only drive changes of technical processes, but also creates changing requirements at the workplace for many employees. These change processes are only successful if they are supported by the employees. When different cultures collide, there is generally tension between the parties. However, several research studies show that cross-cultural and diverse teams show more creativity, demonstrate higher efficiency in communication and deliver overall better results … if they are managed well – and this is the focus of this program.
The Business Development across Cultures (BDaC) program has been developed within the framework of a dissertation on intercultural leadership, is based on latest research results and has been implemented in larger organizations.*
We offer the BDaC program for the three levels individual, team and organization in three corresponding modules.
* The BDaC program has been developed by R. Kreikamp as part of a doctoral thesis on Intercultural Leadership. It has been implemented with a Chinese supplier in large telecommunication operators in Europe
The BDaC program in a nutshell – topics and results
Level A
Personal level (Individual) – Cultural Intelligence Coaching + Training (Optional)
Developing the individual’s cultural intelligence.** This module appeals to everyone who wants to better understand other cultures and who wants to achieve better results with business partners from these cultures.
The goals are
- The development of motivation and interest in intercultural engagement
- (A better understanding of) different cultural traits, habits and behaviors. The clients develop a cultural awareness and get to know intercultural models and dimensions.
- Applying this cultural knowledge to their own situation. The clients develop a strategy and a concrete action plan as to how they want to act in intercultural situations in the future.
- Concrete doings and actions. The clients observe and check their own actions. The aim is to increase their cultural intelligence. For this we use certified surveys and interviews.
We recommend combining Cultural Intelligence Coaching with participation in the “No Culture Shock” seminar.
The components of this module include
- Pre and Post surveys on cultural competence with self-image and external image analysis
- Individual interviews and individual coachings
- A training on cross-cultural awareness and cultural models followed by a workshop to develop the action plan (recommended/optional).
- Coaching during the change process and in the execution of the action plan
- A development report on the BDaC results, incl. survey and interview results
Cultural change processes do not happen overnight. A single coaching, a single seminar offer a good basis. In addition, we recommend process support with surveys, interviews and coaching, as well as participation in the “No Culture Shock” seminar. We would be happy to prepare an individual offer for you.
**The concept of Cultural Intelligence is based on research results and publications by C.Earley/S. Ang (2003) on Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
Level B
Team & Management Team Coaching & Training
Our target group:
Teams working in an intercultural environment and their leaders
The goals
include all goals of the personal level (level A) and additionally
- The improvement of team collaboration and performance
- The enhancement of leadership competence in a cross-cultural environment
The components of this module include all interventions of the first module, and additionally
- Intercultural leadership survey and assessment on team collaboration and leadership, before and after the program
- The introduction of ‘Cultural Brokers’ with training and coaching***
- Team interventions in addition to cross cultural workshop (Level A), focusing on team collaboration
- Final BDaC Report on Team Collaboration and Leadership
Duration:
This module lasts 3 – 6 months and includes the seminar “No Culture Shock” for teams, online surveys, interviews, cultural broker training and coaching, another team event and two coaching sessions per person.
Learn more about the “No Culture Shock” Seminar
*** The Cultural Broker concept is an essential part of the BDaC program and has been successfully introduced in Chinese and European companies.
Level C
Organization – Intercultural Consulting – between departments/companies
Our target group:
‘Across Cultures’ relates to the cultures that we find in various groups; for instance, across departments within an organization or across companies. As an example, the way of thinking and working within a creative marketing department might significantly differ from a responsible quality assurance department. Nowadays many teams are staffed internationally with people who come from different cultural circles. This may cause tension and misunderstanding, which may even become more obvious if companies from different cultural backgrounds want to do business with each other.
The BDaC program has been developed and validated for a Chinese supplier in business operation with its European customers.
The goals
include all goals of the team & management level (level B) and additionally
- Overcoming barriers arising from departmental and/or corporate cultures
- Improving collaboration between departments/companies – validated by measurements
- Improving customer satisfaction in a customer/supplier relationship – validated by measurements
The components of this module include all interventions of the second module, and additionally
- surveys, analyses and evaluations on customer satisfaction (internal/external)
- The introduction of additional cultural brokers across departments/companies, including training and coaching
- In addition to cross-cultural training and workshops, other interventions focused on the relationship between departments/companies
- Project review meetings related to collaboration and processes between departments/companies
Duration:
approx. 6 months, including seminars and workshops, online surveys, interviews, cultural broker training and coaching, two additional team events and two coaching sessions per person.