When you buy a jar of jam, you know it’s jam inside because the label says so. You know what to expect from jam, you know what to do with the jam, and you know what the jam will do to you. The label forms the basis of our interaction with the jam. If we open the jar and find that there are processed peas inside, we will be disappointed, shocked and disappointed (whoever heard of peas on toast). I suspect you are wondering where I’m going with this.... Every day we use linguistic labels... Read Full Story

James Foreman-Peck, in a report written for the Cardiff Business School, suggested that in 2005 British SME’s lost out on £3billion worth of export trading due to a lack of foreign language skills. A Grant Thornton report in 2004 shows that less than one third of UK executives are capable of negotiating in more than one language.A 2007 report under ELAN project showed that 11% of the businesses surveyed blamed the loss of a specific contract on lack of language skills – contracts with a value... Read Full Story

....well, a gas actuallyCulture is like a gas, a reactive gas such as O2.Gases always expand to fit the container they are in, and if oxygen comes into contact with another reactive substance, it will react and become something else.It is therefore unstable, dynamic, constantly changing and unpredictable. Culture is in the same way dynamic, constantly changing. Whenever you interact with someone, you create a culture – a way of defining the commonly understood rules of behaviour, etiquette, ... Read Full Story

As the initiated will know, there is a little controversy around Professor Hofstede and his research into Cultural Dimensions, first published in 1980.For those who aren’t aware, Hofstede took survey results from IBM and from the identified 4 “dimensions of culture” (he later added a fifth), to distinguish between nationalities. There is a large amount of criticism aimed at his research methodology – not being an expert, I’m not really in a position to comment too much on that, however I can... Read Full Story

Do you really understandDo you really understand? Communicating across culturesImagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for......or is there... Read Full Story

Do you really understand? Communicating across culturesImagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for......or is there?Are you really sure tha... Read Full Story

Do you really understand? Communicating across culturesImagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for......or is there?Are you really s... Read Full Story

I suppose it's "traditional" to post a New Year welcome message, so I thought I'd start off by looking at where people are moving to. Apart from the traditional "oil" expats in Nigeria, Middle East and Central Asia, we've seen Brazil and Argentina become much more popular destinations for business expats. India and China remain frequent subjects for the training I'm involved in, although the number of actual expats seems to be in decline - more and more co... Read Full Story

Personal security and safety are, for many assignees and frequent business travellers, two of the most important considerations overseas. In certain regions of the world and in specific countries national values of security and safety may be well below the norm expected by assignees.Informed approach A professional and informed approach to personal safety awareness should assess driving hazards, maintenance and safety in national airlines, the capability of fire services, effectiveness of med... Read Full Story

Reserved and Repressed or Resourceful and Released?It is a fascinating challenge to introduce newly-arrived employees from abroad to what they might expect to encounter in the workplace during their stay in Britain. Many have a stereotyped view of the British at work, perhaps based on films or John Cleese training videos. Whilst operating in a wide range of work cultures and environments, they will be in a better position to anticipate and understand the behaviour of their fellow workers if t... Read Full Story