Monday,
Good morning,
I’m very glad to have the opportunity to talk to you about intercultural awareness in your companies.
I do believe cross-culture differences will be people’s concern in the nearest future. I’m very happy I’ve been invited tonight. This means that it is important for you today to integrate this intercultural aspect into your company strategy.
For those who don’t know me, my name is Arlette Janssens
I organize intercultural seminars because I realized it is very difficult to work together, when you are from another culture.
Have you ever spoken English to someone from another culture and had the feeling you were not being understood?
Well, this happened to me a couple of times when I used to work in Sweden in
Germany, in France and in the states.
People do not have the same concerns. People do not have the same beliefs;
people do not have the same dimension of time and hierarchy.
That’s why I decided to set up these seminars, to help people find a common way to work together.
I’d love to share with you some results of my research and experience.
At the end of my presentation I will recap the main points of my speech and the key issues that are important to unable us to work together.
If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them as we go along. Feel free to interrupt me, and I’ll answer your question.
Today, almost all the companies I’m working with have production sites in Asia, hotlines in Morocco, sister companies all over the world.
How will you work with them? How will you set up your action plans? How will you
share your strategy with them?
The purpose of my research was: “finding a common grid to unable people to work together”
Rosinski has set up a questionnaire to determine your cultural profile. This questionnaire I use during my seminars
My goal is to make work easier and nicer for you.
The benefit for companies is to gain time and money.
There are 3 points to summarize what I said before.
Cultural awareness will be people’s concern in the very near future. Companies should anticipate this globalization.
Openmindness will lead the companies to their success.
I still remember when I used to work for British Petroleum my boss had a big poster hanging behind his desk saying: If my boss doesn’t care, why should I care.
So I really believe that our managers should care about their people, because I do believe this will make us succeed. It is such a rich experience to share these differences.
I remember two years ago, I was prospecting the banks in Brittany. They all told me they were not concerned with intercultural differences.
Today I work with two banks that are aware of intercultural differences and train their people to understand better their new Anglo-Saxon customers.
I was born in a multi-cultural environment. My mother is French my daddy is
Flemish. That’s probably why I feel very much concerned.
I’m also writing l a book on cultural awareness, compiling all my anecdotes from the 7 countries I’ve worked in.
The book is called: “Quand la culture s’en mêle ou s’enmele”
I’m still looking for a publisher.
It was really a pleasure for me to share this moment with you. Feel free to ask any questions. I will be very glad to answer them or maybe we can continue afterwards to exchange some of our experiences around the table with a drink.
Thank you so much