Training in a Cross Cultural Environment

When thinking of the risk factors for disruption, your success as a trainer relies on understanding how everyone’s values influence the learning process.

Try to collect as much information as possible about the participants’ cultural background and values prior to the training. This can be accomplished by conducting interviews, referring to previous sessions or contacting their managers for feedback.

If you can, take structured notes on each person and use this information when assigning workgroups. This analysis will dictate how you position the objectives to the team.

Here are the cultural aspects to consider as a trainer:

Power Complex

If several trainees seem to have a strong ego or sense of “knowing it all”, group discussions and simulations take more time because the individuals are more focused on obtaining new knowledge. In contrast, a smaller power complex will require more activities to help build the level of trust between you and the class participants.

Masculine vs. Feminine

Participants will behave differently based on whether they come from a nurturing or assertive culture. This attribute is not necessarily defined by gender, so it is important to look at the behavior of participants to gauge whether they have a strong ego or whether they are more feminine in the sense of being jealous of others who excel. An example of feminine culture would be participants who are not driven to excel and accept that fair work performance is the norm.

Collective vs. Individual

Collective societies are focused on the collaboration between the group, whereas individualistic societies have a distinct separation between yourself and the participants. The difference in your approach would mean structural guidance for collective participants and adjustments to active learning for individualistic participants.

Short Term vs. Long Term Thinking

Participants oriented to “out of the box” thinking is more receptive to learning new topics. When it comes to collaboration, short term cultures thrive from more creative activities such as process flow mapping. Long-term orientated cultures trust more concrete learning methods and will benefit from activities with a clear step-by-step process.

Weak vs. Strong Doubt Avoidance

Those who have weak doubt avoidance will be more receptive to group activities while participants with strong doubt avoidance require more focus on the flow and meeting structure.

For example, if many participants seem to be concerned with having the “right” answers, facilitators can support their culture by implementing a recap at the end of each activity.

Your planning process should consider the cultural aspects as well as how the activities will align with the desired outcome.

For example, if a group consists of many collective cultures, each activity should be centered around the engagement of the team. These individuals thrive from collaboration and want to feel that their input is respected.

Alternatively, if you notice many trainees are independent, more case studies and self-paced activities should be incorporated into the session.