Contrary to the majority of training programs in this important area, whose focus tend to be on the communication of concrete knowledge and behavioural facts (e.g. 'At meetings in Japan, you shouldn't sit with crossed legs'), the approach we use for 'Intercultural Exchange' is much broader. The training program is targeted at expanding general awareness for the company as global player, at overcoming cultural stereotypes and at improving readiness to communicate beyond cultural borders. These objectives are achieved via a six-step Blended Learning program.
The six-step Blended Learning program:
CBT is the first cornerstone of the Blended Learning concept. With the help of this interactive program, participants develop basic knowledge in the areas of cultural stereotypes, personality-psychological aspects of teamwork, as well as presentation and moderation basics.
The CBT is structured in such a way that a fictional intercultural team leads participants through the program. The challenges and problems they face in their work together provide the platform to introduce possible solutions and helpful tools. Through the use of learning control mechanisms with a playful character, participants receive feedback on their learning success at the end of every chapter. An additional component of the program is a psychological questionnaire which provides participants with a differentiated outside perception of themselves.
The CBT knowledge and integration into the thematic context ensure similar entrance levels for participants, while developing a solid knowledge base which delivers the platform for activities in presence events. There, lectures can be eliminated to the benefit of experience-oriented methods.
The target group for the Blended Learning program encompasses employees in international firms, working at various locations around the world. A Web forum is especially suitable here due to easy access and non-synchronised communication.
Key objectives during the complete training program and beyond (via access forums) are to establish group cohesion by introducing partners to each other and initiating informal communication, as well as finding out about expectations from the presence events and dealing with organisational issues.
One of AHRENS & PARTNER's didactic cornerstones is the combination of 'High-Tech' with 'High-Touch'. With 'High-Tech' we are referring to modern e-learning methods. Whereas 'High-Touch' refers to methods that address participants' emotional involvement. Outdoor training plays a clear role here. In the case of 'Intercultural Exchange', it is in fact the first part of presence events.
With AHRENS & PARTNER, outdoor training has nothing to do with survival training (eating worms) or extreme challenges (e.g. bungee jumping). All the exercises - such as raft-building or the organisation of an international dinner - are challenging but not overtaxing tasks, developed to bring group processes to light and to enable their development with suitable intervention by the trainers. Especially following a theoretical platform (via CBT), a very constructive and fruitful learning atmosphere can be created.
The second part of the presence event takes place indoors, where the focus is on the fact-related aspects of group work. The indoor workshop is targeted at getting as close to possible to participants' job reality.
Questions and issues pulled from participants' everyday lives are addressed in groups, the objective being to initiate new organisational forms and processes. The development steps worked on outdoors are, in this phase, linked with content and processes from the participants' actual working environment. This is why indoor workshops play such a key role in the transfer process.
After the participants have returned to their respective countries, the tutorial-supported web forum comes into play again. It serves as support instrument in ensuring transfer. It enables exchange on questions, difficulties and solutions that arise daily.
Follow-up training (conceived as outdoor training) takes place a year after the last presence training. On the one hand, it serves to consolidate participant network building, and on the other, it enables ongoing evaluation of development needs.
Here, the most diverse methods can be used depending on individual situations: e.g. methods from a spectrum of so-called high-wire garden activities, team training in white-water or individual and group coaching. Last but not least, follow-up training serves to motivate participants, enabling them to meet up again with people they shared an intensive experience with.
Intercultural Exchange training at its best is clearly a Blended Learning solution which not only brings together e-learning with learning in a seminar, but also effective methods from the area of outdoor training. The overwhelmingly positive results of training programs implemented to date, and the numerous requests for future training programs strengthens our beliefs and confirm their effectiveness.
