Cross-cultural training for expatriates

Relocation coaching

If you’re looking to live and work abroad, it is highly beneficial to undertake a cultural training for expatriates to help you become better acquainted with the culture. Our coaches can help you not only understand the new culture, but give precious insights into how to behave and communicate with others successfully. Whether a novice or a seasoned expatriate programs can be tailored to your experience, the length of your stay and your own personal objectives. You have the option to extend your training once you are onsite, and you can take online classes too.

Welcome back home

After a long stay abroad, things may have changed in your home country. This program can help you readjust to life back home—both personally and professionally. We can advise you in defining a customized roadmap based on your personal expectations and goals.

A training based on an exclusive model

The COI (cultural orientation indicator) profile is an integral part of every mobility program and we strongly recommend that you generate your profile prior to undertaking the expatriate training. This will enable us to assess your cultural preferences and comfort zones in order to build a highly customized program. This program is based on reducing gaps which may exist between your habitual way of functioning in terms of behavior and communication style and those you may encounter in your new host country environment.

The six levels of culture

All Berlitz cultural training programs address the six levels of culture that impact people’s work-style preferences.

• National/Societal - What many people think of as the only type of culture, national cultures are the result of their country’s social, political and economic history.
• Social identity group - Each ethnic, religious, social or demographic group in any given place has its own cultural norms.
• Organizational - Organizations have their own unique cultures, often reflecting the vision and mission of the organization’s founders or current leaders.
• Functional - Within each organization, functions have their own cultures. For example, the IT department might have a different culture than the marketing department.
• Team - Building a team is not an easy task, even if the team’s members are all in the same department or have the same goals. The team leader is often the driver of their team’s culture.
• Individual (inter and intra-personal) - Each person has their own unique culture, the result of their upbringing, education, career experiences, etc.

This approach helps participants to:

• Understand their own way of functioning in the workplace and become more open to the advantages of other unfamiliar and different approaches to the business environment
• Acquire keys for decoding and deciphering unfamiliar behavior and communication patterns
• Successfully integrate both a new and challenging professional and home environment for the whole family
• Acquire four fundamental intercultural skills (due diligence, styles switching, dialogue and mentoring) which when applied help harness and leverage the inherent power of diversity in culture, improving the individual’s capacity to better communicate, negotiate, collaborate and influence when interacting on the international plane.