Potential Training Sessions

ICIU offers training sessions that can be as short as 1 hour or as long as 2 days. Training sessions can also touch on a number of topics related to cultural competence and diversity or be specific to understanding another country culture. Examples of ICIU-led workshops include:

Diversity Training for Beginners, Experts and Everyone In Between – because no one has maxed out on their learning about issues related to cultural competence. In this training participants have an open, honest discussion about real world issues bringing an interactive dialogue, rather than just looking at facts and figures. The use of the synectics technique allows participants to learn from other people and develop a different perspective that can lead to new understanding and action-oriented results.

The Importance of Culture in Communication – to help prevent the inaccurate stereotypes which can hinder relationship building. It is no secret that communication is important to workplace relations and morale, but few realize how understanding other cultures can improve communication even between colleagues or between employees and clients. Everything from the obvious to the subtle in cultural differences can impact communication, and being able to successfully communicate across cultural boundaries can impact your organization's bottom line.

In Their Shoes Training - features personal perspectives from members of diverse groups. Presenters can represent national cultures or sub-cultures of the U.S. The opportunity to hear from members of these diverse groups as a part of a facilitated discussion makes this workshop unique. Participants are better able to understand, and therefore, interact more effectively with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and other fellow community members as a result.

Examining the Special Role of Leaders in Valuing Diversity – since leaders have the most impact on the success of valuing diversity in their organization. The support of a leader is necessary in encouraging their followers to actively participate in learning about diversity and cross-cultural issues. Also, leaders can influence relationships between individuals in a positive way resulting in increased morale and productivity whether in workplace, in the classroom, or in the community.

Training of Trainers – ICIU can work with individuals, or a small group, to help them acquire new training techniques that can be applied to many different situations. This is another cost effective way to provide consistent training within an organization. After participating in Training of Trainers, individuals are able to lead several types of workshops and use techniques effectively.

Potential Training Topics That Can Be Incorporated into Workshops

I. Setting the Tone/Community Building

• Addressing the Need
• Multicultural Leadership
• Vision Comes First, Then Comes the Future
• Diversity Values

II. Exploring the Basic Principles

• Multiple Perspectives
• Culture Is Something Everyone Has
• The Multicultural/Global Bridge
• Head-Heart-Hands-Healing
• Co-Responsibility

III. Exploring Personal and Institutional Culture

• Cultural Bag
• Identity Triangle
• Institutional Culture
• Iceberg Model
• Where Personal Culture Meets Institutional Culture

IV. Sharing Personal Perspectives on Diversity

• Race/Ethnicity
• Gender/Sexual Orientation
• Disability
• Socio-economic
• Religion
• Others

V. Understanding Prejudice and Power

• Defining the Isms
• Ism Is Like…
• Collectives
• We, the People

VI. Five Aspects of Self-Esteem

• Uniqueness
• Belonging/Connectedness
• Security
• Purpose
• Empowerment

VII. Applying the Learning

• Stages of Multicultural Growth
• Assessing the Multicultural Climate
• Creating Strategies for Change

Cross-Cultural Training

Cross-cultural training is a special type of training that examines the similarities and differences between two specific country cultures. This type of training focuses on improving teamwork and communication between the originating culture and the target culture. Both cultures are examined in relation to the working environment, whether it is governmental, business or educational. ICIU focuses on improving understanding of cultural differences, breaking down stereotypes and building stronger teams. Each cross-cultural training workshop is individualized to meet the specific needs of the organization. Analyzing case studies has proven to be very valuable in understanding and improving cross-cultural difficulties in the workplace, and in identifying potential problem areas. Possible cross-cultural training topics include:

Communication and Knowledge Management:

• How information is shared
• Discuss formal and informal communication

Customs:

• Greetings and salutations, formal, informal, physical and verbal
• Gift giving and receiving
• Gender relationships
• Seniority relationships
• Workplace relationships
• Entertaining and socializing
• Body language
• Important “do’s and don’ts”

Leadership:

• Characteristics of leadership
• Responsibility
• Decision-making processes
• Relationships with subordinates and managers
• Motivational approaches
• Conducting cross-cultural meetings

Teams:

• Individual vs. team issues
• Characteristics of a good team
• Team member roles
• Multicultural team building

Language:

• Successful use of expressions, gestures
• Process for translations

top of page