Communicate Effectively Across Cultures

Learn to navigate with ease across cultural differences and become a confident cross-cultural communicator

When we communicate with people from other cultures, we usually see ourselves as good communicators. But are we really? The cultures we are born into influence us in a myriad of ways. They shape the way we think, reason, and express ourselves, things we consider important, our behaviours, and our expectations from the world and others. Understanding cultural influences is crucial to accepting cultural differences. Understanding others helps find better ways to live and work together. In this two-week course, we will look into the origins of cultures, we will observe and analyse our own cultural behaviours and we will learn how to interact with others in the most effective way, both personally and professionally. We will explore different elements of communication and will answer many questions:

• What is being an effective communicator in a cross-cultural environment?
• How to make ourselves clear using verbal and non-verbal communication?
• What are the key elements to influence and persuade others?
• Why is it important to build relationships across cultures?
• How can we give constructive feedback?

Communicating well is about practice! This is why we will dedicate only a short time to theory, allowing the practice to be our main focus. We will do individual and group work. We will work on case studies. We will put ourselves in the manager's shoes. We will get initiated to negotiate across cultures and more. The course is designed to be fully interactive, playful, and fun. Are you passionate about communication? Are you curious about cultures? Are you planning to study and work in a multicultural environment? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then this course is for you.