Working across cultural boundaries Overview In today’s increasingly global world, few senior executives can afford to limit their key relationships to people from their own country; but working across international and cultural boundaries can be difficult and frustrating, and the scope for miscommunication and misunderstanding is much greater than when working in a familiar context with people who have shared cultural backgrounds and perspectives. We believe passionately that everybody can deepen their understanding and build their skills in order to become more effective when working at an international level. For most organisations, cross cultural working should form a central skill in all leadership development programmes. Objectives The services we offer in this field will help your people, and your organisation as a whole, to communicate, interact, influence and enjoy more constructive and effective relationships with partners from other countries. Description Our approach to working with clients may include some or all of the following elements:   1. Assessing individual capacity and readiness for working internationally; 2. Building an understanding of how the values and perceptions of people from different cultures differ, and how, even with positive intentions, these differences can lead to misunderstandings, negative stereotyping and a break down in relationships; 3. Helping people to adapt their normal approaches, behaviours and communication styles so that they can become more effective when working in unfamiliar cultural settings; 4. Focusing on ‘trust’ as a key aspect of international relationships, and as something that can be measured and managed; 5. Facilitating individuals and virtual teams operating in a cross-cultural context to negotiate ways of working together that are effective both in business terms and in releasing the creative energy inherent in multi-cultural teams. Eurians itself is a multi-cultural organisation and when working with you we will select consultants who have a deep knowledge and understanding of the various countries in which your organisation is represented. This ensures that the cultural differences and the consequent business issues that arise will be well understood by the consultant team. Supporting Tools All of our interventions are tailored to the specific needs of the client, but we have available a number of psychometric questionnaires, inventories, and training materials which we use to support our work in this field including: An International Competency Framework The International Profiler (IP) International Trust in Teams Indicator (ITTI) 7D Intercultural Competence Questionnaire Organisational Cultural Inventory (OCI) Cognitive Process Profile (CPP) World of Difference DVD and training pack Benefits We can help you to achieve the following benefits: Improved working relationships with international customers, partners and suppliers; Reduced costs arising from streamlined communications and improved co-ordination; More creative approaches within the business resulting from the synthesis of diverse ideas and perspectives; Increased knowledge transfer and better alignment of objectives and working practices between different parts of the organisation; Identification of ‘trust gaps’, leading to enhanced trust building behaviours; Identification and development of the personal skills and approaches required to work successfully in a particular international context.