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What Great Intercultural Support Looks Like
For starters, it’s not just training; it’s all about global communication skills.
Learning — any kind of learning, including intercultural learning — is usually a process of accessing information, and information can come from many sources: an informal discussion with a mentor, coach or colleague; through a formal, student-teacher, classroom experience; reading a book or online information; or working through a self-paced learning module. While providing information that may be organized toward understanding, none of these modalities produce behavioral change.
Training, on the other hand, including intercultural training, provides the opportunity for real behavioral change, which is precisely what is needed when working across cultures. Merely accessing information, or learning the facts about working abroad, does not ensure productive, culturally-appropriate behaviors. Individuals need to know how to translate the intercultural “head” knowledge they may have gained (through a class, a discussion, a coaching session, or an online tool) into on-the-ground, immediately implementable behaviors that work for them to accelerate their success with their colleagues in other cultures.
Good cultural training? That’s so 20th-century. Great…
