Global Business Skills Development
A Global Mindset and Skill Set are what make you and your company successful in international markets. With the support of our worldwide network of 450+ multilingual business coaches, trainers and country experts, we can help you take you and your business to the next level.
Intercultural Communication
People often think that speaking the local language or a good level of English is what facilitates international business. However, while language skills always come in handy, good intercultural communication skills are usually the key to global business success. Intercultural communication competencies enable you to talk effectively with partners or colleagues from around the world. It is all about understanding that people with different cultural backgrounds perceive things differently. They have culture-specific ways to interact with each other, believe in different norms and values, follow different thought patterns, routines or judgments.
- Recognise cultural differences in verbal and non-verbal communication
- Develop a set of basic intercultural communication skills
- Learn how to navigate between many different cultures in an international business environment
- Prevent costly misunderstandings due to cultural differences in communication
- Communicate effectively with international partners
- Reduce conflicts in international collaborations
- Lead multicultural teams or projects more successfully
- Prepare for important international meetings, presentations and negotiations
- Apply for a new job abroad or in a global company
- Improve any of your global business or work relationships
Multicultural Teams
In global business life, culturally heterogeneous teams are often much more successful than culturally homogeneous teams because the team members bring in many different ways of thinking and problem-solving. However, multicultural teams need to face the challenge of pulling together first. Only if multicultural teams are able to overcome cultural differences in communication, in building trust and relationships, or in understanding processes, hierarchies and management styles, will they find their way of working together smoothly. If all sides stick to their accustomed way of working though, a multicultural team’s results fall short of expectations while tensions rise.
Develop a multicultural team leader skillset
Strategically select and support team members with different cultural backgrounds
- Get support when building a new multicultural team
- Get support when solving problems of existing multicultural teams
Adapt communication, management and leadership styles to match expectations of multicultural team members
Check cultural specifics of international teams to create the right supportive measures
- Clearly understand the working style of people from other countries
- Maximise the outcome of multicultural teamwork
- Prepare for upcoming international projects
Global Leadership
Global leaders thrive in the global business world by developing leadership competencies, increasing their cultural awareness and empowering behavioural change. They learn how to think with a global mindset and transfer their local successes into the international arena. All organisations need successful global leaders to get them globally to where they currently are in their home markets.
- Develop leadership skills
- Gain intercultural communication skills
- Develop a global mindset
- Learn how cultural factors determine leadership
- Deal with workplace dynamics in different countries
- Work effectively across borders
- Maintain good business relationships around the world
- Successfully lead a diverse, multi-cultural workforce
- Professionally manage virtual teams
- Achieve continuous high-performance results
Virtual Collaboration
From small multinational teams to big international projects, if the collaboration is all virtual you will face many challenges that result from limitations in communication, transparency and organisation. Different time zones and languages are the best-known hurdles in virtual collaboration. But there are many, many more due to cultural differences in the way team members from different countries communicate, solve problems, fulfil tasks or respond to a certain management style. To successfully lead any virtual collaboration, you will have to guide your culturally mixed team to overcome these hurdles and to work together effectively and harmoniously.
Develop a virtual team leader skillset
Strategically adapt communication skills to match expectations of multinational team members
Identify how team members with different cultural backgrounds respond to management or leadership styles
- Learn organisational skills to deal with the practicalities of any international virtual collaboration
- Check cultural specifics of mixed teams to create the right supportive measures
- Clearly understand the working style or decision-making-process of people from other countries
- Maximise the outcome of international virtual collaborations
- Prepare for upcoming virtual collaborations
Conflict Resolution
Whenever people work together, they experience conflicts that may be caused by incompatible interests, goals or needs. In international teams or collaborations, however, a conflict is susceptible to intercultural misunderstandings when differing working and communication styles are brought in. Quite often the visible manifestations of a conflict are driven by underlying invisible cultural differences. At the same time, cultural factors can quickly exacerbate a rather simple conflict. In any case, to achieve an effective conflict resolution the cultural context should always be taken into consideration.
- Understand the impact of cultural differences in conflict situations
- Recognise your own cultural framework in conflict situations
- Improve your intercultural communication skills
- Learn adequate conflict resolution strategies for a specific intercultural setting
- Check cultural specifics of international teams to create conflict-preventing supportive measures
- Create a working environment where conflicts and reconciliation strengthen work relationships
- Reflect on your personal conflict style and the conflict culture of your environment while working abroad
International Project Management
In international project management, cultural differences come into play particularly quickly. Mostly, questions of work organization lead to conflicts and losses. How does the structurally thinking manager, who likes to work with precise time schedules, deadlines and milestones, collaborate with project partners who shine through their talent for improvisation and usually give everything past the deadline? What to do if one expects to be kept up-to-speed at all times, while the other one passes on information only when explicitly asked? And how should one design a meeting when highly diverse presentation styles become a real challenge for everyone?
Develop global project management skills
Strategically adapt communication skills to match expectations of multinational project partners
Identify how project partners with different cultural backgrounds respond to management or leadership styles
- Learn organisational skills to deal with the practicalities of any international project management
- Check cultural specifics of mixed project teams to create the right supportive measures
- Clearly understand the working style or decision-making-process of people from other countries
- Maximise the outcome of international project management
- Prepare for upcoming international project collaborations
International Sales
Even the most experienced sales executives face unknown challenges when venturing into international markets. How people buy in one country is not always how they do it elsewhere. Therefore, adapting your proven sales techniques is the only way forward when selling products and services abroad. To be truly successful around the world, you will have to develop a broad variety of sales strategies to match the different business cultures you are selling in. Across borders, each client or customer’s norms of doing business – from trust-building to communication style to decision-making – define the way sales are made.
Develop an international sales skillset
Understand how well-known sales techniques play out in different countries
Strategically adapt selling techniques to match local expectations
Identify how products or services appeal to customers in a different cultural context
Prepare for challenging international sales negotiations
Develop presentation materials according to local taste
Check cultural specifics to create successful sales pitches
Clearly understand the local decision-making-process
Develop new sales options
Maximise the outcome of your sales process abroad
International Negotiation Skills
Negotiation is arguably the most challenging discipline in international business life because any negotiation skills that work very well in your home country might have an adverse effect in many other countries. To be truly successful around the world, you will have to develop a broad variety of negotiation skills to match the different business cultures you are negotiating in. Across borders, each negotiation partner’s norms of doing business – from trust-building to communication style to decision-making – define the way negotiations are conducted.
- Learn a fundamental international negotiation skillset
- Understand how well-known negotiation styles play out in different countries
- Adapt negotiation styles to international business situations
- Shift expectations and progress difficult international negotiations
- Prepare for challenging international business negotiations
- Create the right atmosphere for negotiations across cultures
- Solve conflicts and reach decisions
- Identify new options
- Maximise the outcome of negotiations
Dealing With Culture Shock
Culture shock is more than simply being unfamiliar with how things work around you in a new country. And contrary to how it often gets illustrated, culture shock does not necessarily occur right away after moving abroad. It can take several months to develop, and it can surprise you in many ways. The lowest point of culture shock usually occurs when all those seemingly minor misunderstandings, miscommunications and daily life challenges have built up. With the end of the honeymoon phase, when everything was still new and exciting, you might experience fatigue, sudden longing and homesickness. This is the stage during which dealing with culture shock is the most difficult and depression is most common.
- Clearly identify cultural differences between your home country and your host country
- Learn about the different stages of culture shock and how to deal with them
- Apply strategies to reduce overwhelm and adapt quicker
- Learn strategies to adjust your emotions
- Develop situation-specific solutions that help you see things differently
- Develop a set of basic intercultural competencies to communicate with ease
- Learn how to navigate in your new environment
- Don’t just survive, flourish in your new culture
International Career Development
Globally-minded people are sought by many companies that expand across borders as a means of growth. Be responsive to a quickly changing global job market. Position yourself as a compelling candidate of choice. Open the door to future jobs in specific countries and make the right decisions for an exciting global future. Whether you are graduating, looking for a career change, or have just arrived in a new country – developing your global business skills increases your career options.
- Unlock your global career potential
- Find a job in a new country
- Find the right country for your career
- Step up to a more global role
- Shape your career path
- Step off the treadmill and focus on a more exciting future
- Develop a set of global business skills
- Learn how to communicate your unique value to employers
- Understand the social codes in a new country
- Find out what local employers expect
- Learn about the local way of job hunting