Bridge the Culture Gaps


Book Description

The highly practical self-help guide to optimize the performance of individuals working in an intercultural environment. Readers will learn how to mitigate unconscious bias to create inclusive organizations and how to use key cultural dimensions to communicate and cooperate in intercultural teams. Addressing the unique challenges of influencing across cultures and managing international projects, this is an indispensable toolkit for a key competence in business. Bridge The Culture Gaps provides readers with a framework for developing key skills essential for effective global collaboration in the VUCA world. These include reflecting on experience, understanding the nature and impact of culture and the importance of diversity for business success. Readers learn how to mitigate unconscious bias to create inclusive organizations, and to use key cultural dimensions to communicate and cooperate in intercultural teams. It addresses the challenges of leading diverse teams, influencing across cultures and managing international transformation projects, as well as making international assignments successful.




Cultural Chemistry: Simple Strategies for Bridging Cultural Gaps


Book Description

Are you fascinated but frustrated by cultural differences? Have you stood on the edge of cultural gaps and wondered how on earth to bridge them? Don't worry, you are not alone. Working across cultures can be very challenging, both professionally and personally, but these cultural gaps can be bridged. Cultural Chemistry combines strategy with knowledge, introducing you firstly to the Four R's - an easy, four-step process for simplifying and improving your cross-cultural partnerships - and then exploring cultural differences, by meeting people and hearing stories from all over the world. Whether you are a business traveller, an expatriate, have global clients, work in a multi-cultural team or are simply a holiday maker who wants to dig deeper, Cultural Chemistry will teach you; Why reflecting on our own culture is so important How to make a great first impression Why our assumptions about people are often completely wrong Why what we say isn't always what is heard How to be an effective manager and motivator, whatever the culture Cultural differences don't have to be difficult. By learning more about cultural variances and being prepared to turn off our cultural cruise-control, we really can make our international encounters both more rewarding and more enjoyable. About the Author: Originally from the UK, Patti McCarthy is a 3CK (third-culture kid) who has lived and worked on five different continents. Through her business, Cultural Chemistry, she provides coaching and training to organisations wishing to embrace the opportunities which cultural diversity provides. She is also a regular media commentator and public speaker on the impact of cultural differences on everything from business expansion to childcare. She lives with her husband, her two dogs and her three children, who were all born in different countries."




Bridging the Culture Gap


Book Description

Praise and Reviews "As an American who has worked in Europe for the past 3 years, I find Bridging the Culture Gap to be a practical guide for communicating and influencing across cultures. The authors use authentic and engaging anecdotes, which will help readers to understand their own culture, and other`s reactions to it in the context of everyday business."Gary Kuusisto, Director, European Learning & Development, The Gillette Company"This book gives you a practical insight into cross-cultural communication in business today, based in part on the Canning team`s deep experience in training over 1,000 managers and specialists in a unique Franco-Japanese adventure. Every International professional should find food for thought in this book."Francois Foix, Human Resources Coordinator, Renault-Nissan"Full of real-life examples and practical advice which reflects the experience and skills of its masterful but unpretentious authors."Andreas Molck-Ude, Head of Africa and Middle East Division, Munich Re"Canning offers tough and intensive training, but brilliant results. I believe this book will do the same thing for anyone looking for success in cross-cultural business."Takashi Kashiwagi, Head of Global Regulatory Approvals and Marketing Support, Aventis JapanAs globalization gathers momentum, the contact between business people from other countries is becoming more frequent. The more national boundaries a company crosses, the greater the scope for misunderstanding and conflict. To succeed internationally, it is essential to be able to break the barriers of culture, language and set patterns of thinking.Bridging the Culture Gap, written by two of Canning's most experienced trainers, is a distillation of many years' work and is based on the real-life business situations of their international clients. You'll find out how to:interpret the party linecommunicate with styleget your message acrossplay the conversation gamebe sensitive to other culturesmind your mannersavoid the usual faux paswin the dealand so much more.Packed with fascinating cases, cultural awareness scales, communication style tests and practical tips, this lively guide will help anyone - of any nationality - to become a better communicator. Whether you're planning to give a presentation to a cross-cultural group or about to negotiate with an overseas client, Bridging the Culture Gap will ensure that your cultural awareness antennae are well tuned.




Bridging the Culture Gap


Book Description

Based on the real-life business experiences of the authors' international clients, this updated book addresses such issues as cross-cultural presentations, overseas negotiations, and communicating across language barriers.




Danger and Opportunity


Book Description

The Chinese characters for "danger" and "opportunity" form the word "crisis". Ancient Chinese wisdom sees an opportunity in danger. While cultural diversity brings challenges to the workplace, how do we turn these challenges into opportunities? Drawing on their extensive experience working with multicultural and multinational organizations, Lionel Laroche and Caroline Yang provide an in-depth analysis of cross-cultural dynamics in the workplace and offer practical suggestions at both the individual and organizational levels. The book analyzes cross-cultural challenges in six areas: the relative importance of technical and soft skills; cross-cultural communication; cross-cultural feedback; hierarchy; individualism; and risk tolerance. It then provides a solutions framework that encompasses people, systems and environment to bridge the issues that arise from cultural differences. The analysis and solutions are applied in four business contexts: managing a multicultural workforce; competing in the global talent market; collaborating with joint venture partners; and working with offshore resources. If you work with colleagues, managers, employees and customers from diverse cultures, if you are with an organization that has a multicultural workforce and/or global operations, or if your organization collaborates with joint venture partners or offshore resources from different cultures, then Danger and Opportunity: Bridging Cultural Diversity for Competitive Advantage is the book for you.




The Culture Map


Book Description

An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.




Bridging Cultural Conflicts


Book Description

"In our global society, challenging conflicts abound in personal, business, government, and international settings. Many of these conflicts are complicated by layers of miscommunication, cultural misunderstandings, and completely different ways of looking at the world. These conflicts cannot be solved by goodwill or sincere intentions alone. In our multicultural world, we need new tools to address gaps in communication and understanding and the conflicts that flow from them. This book answers this need in groundbreaking ways that cut through complexity, replacing confusion with clarity." - book jacket.




Bridge the Gap: Breakthrough Communication Tools to Transform Work Relationships From Challenging to Collaborative


Book Description

Tap the psychology of human connection to drive meaningful workplace communication Human beings are born to connect—but in today’s increasingly polarized world, we’re losing sight of the importance of building and maintaining professional relationships. And that’s bad for business. In Bridge the Gap, two prominent Fortune 500 coaches explore how your biology and biography define and refine your behavior in relationships where you struggle to connect. Focusing on personal responsibility and awareness, meta-cognition, and curiosity, they provide a reliable and replicable framework to enhance open communication. And they illuminate the inner workings of the human brain and mind, and how they impact the way you connect, communicate, and collaborate. Inside, you’ll find eye-opening techniques to help you: Master your biological reactions when pressure, stress, and anxiety hijack your efforts to connect Understand how you and others can better learn from and listen to each other Lead with curiosity in all your communication strategies and learn how to give authentic feedback Feel more comfortable working on diverse team and embrace all cultural backgrounds What makes this book different from others is that it focuses on the how rather than just the why of fostering better communication. And, whether you’re entry level staff or a C-Suite executive, these techniques can be applied at all levels and all capacities. Filled with practical exercises, colorful stories, and illustrative case studies, Bridge the Gap reveals how to harness the real and raw power of your mind to build solid workplace relationships in any situation.




Bridging Cultures


Book Description

Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module is a professional development resource for teacher educators and staff developers to help preservice and in-service teachers become knowledgeable about cultural differences and understand ways of bridging the expectations of school settings with those of the home. In a nonthreatening, cognitively meaningful way, the Module is based on teacher-constructed and tested strategies to improve home-school communication and parent involvement. These innovations were developed as part of the Bridging Cultures Project, which explores the cultural value differences between the individualistic orientation of mainstream U.S. schools and the collectivistic orientation of many immigrant families. The goal of the Bridging Cultures Project is to support and help teachers in their work with students and families from immigrant cultures. The centerpiece of the Module is training resources, including an outline, an agenda, and a well-tested three-hour script designed as a lecture-discussion with structured opportunities for guided dialogue and small-group discussion. Throughout the script, "Facilitators Notes" annotate presentation suggestions and oversized margins encourage integration of the facilitator's personal experiences in presenting and adapting the Module. Ideas for using the Readings for Bridging Cultures are provided. A section of overhead transparencies and handout masters is included. The Module also provides a discussion of the role of culture in education and the constructs of individualism and collectivism, an overview of the effects of the Bridging Cultures Project, and evaluation results of the author's use of the Module in two sections of a preservice teacher education course. Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module brings the successful processes and practices of the Bridging Cultures Project to a larger audience in college courses and in professional development arenas. Designed for use in one or two class sessions, the Module can be incorporated in courses on educational psychology, child development, counseling psychology, and any others that deal with culture in education.




Music, Education, and Diversity


Book Description

Music is a powerful means for educating citizens in a multicultural society and meeting many challenges shared by teachers across all subjects and grade levels. By celebrating heritage and promoting intercultural understandings, music can break down barriers among various ethnic, racial, cultural, and language groups within elementary and secondary schools. This book provides important insights for educators in music, the arts, and other subjects on the role that music can play in the curriculum as a powerful bridge to cultural understanding. The author documents key ideas and practices that have influenced current music education, particularly through efforts of ethnomusicologists in collaboration with educators, and examines some of the promises and pitfalls in shaping multicultural education through music. The text highlights World Music Pedagogy as a gateway to studying other cultures as well as the importance of including local music and musicians in the classroom. Book Features: Chronicles the historical movements and contemporary issues that relate to music education, ethnomusicology, and cultural diversity. Offers recommendations for the integration of music into specific classes, as well as throughout school culture. Examines performance, composition, and listening analysis of art (folk/traditional and popular) as avenues for understanding local and global communities. Documents music’s potential to advance dimensions of multicultural education, such as the knowledge-construction process, prejudice reduction, and an equity pedagogy.