Historically, most people spent most of their lives interacting with people from the same culture and who spoke the same language. Globalization has put more people from different backgrounds in direct contact with each other, and this trend is only accelerating. The next adventure of humankind is learning to be effective working on diverse teams – overcoming language and cultural gaps, and making the most of the varied perspectives and ideas that people from different backgrounds bring. This involves understanding the impact of culture, understanding one’s own cultural style, learning effective techniques for communicating with those who have different styles, and learning how to bridge the language barrier.
This session will explore these issues, with a focus on what everyone can do to make communication in their teams more effective. You’ll come away from this session with a new awareness as well as things you can try right away.
