Working With Africans

Spouses hunting for a job in Africa

Foreigners recruited to working in an African country often assume that their experienced and competent working spouse will easily get a job locally. The image of the continent in many foreigners’ eyes is still one of poor and uneducated Africans. In search for information, some foreigners contact me with detailed questions such as these: ‘ Is [...]

How to get ready to working in Africa?

A number of organizations and businesses have requested me to develop and deliver a cross-cultural training on Africa. Some people have commented on the inadequacy of such focus as it can only generalize and stereotype the diversity of African cultures. While they are right and I rather propose a training session focused on a specific country, [...]

Are you still undecided about the need to be culturally competent? (Part2)

In my previous post, I introduced the type of preparation that zooms in the foreign actors’ interactions and activities rather than on the foreign country culture. This approach is often used by consultants, mediators and researchers when they are assigned by a client either in order to solve a technical problem or in order to observe [...]

Undecided about the need to be culturally competent?

Many people underestimate the influence of culture on their works interactions and activities. There is however a significant difference between countries when it comes to decision makers’ and key business actors’ awareness that cultural differences exist and that they have to be managed. Some countries with a long tradition of immigration have developed an experience [...]

Knowledge and Competences

Before heading to a far away business meeting, each of us reflects on how to prepare to work with foreign partners.  Years ago, foreign language proficiency was the only requirement, now much more is needed for success. How about cross-cultural training sessions focused on the host country? Nowadays, this kind of training is in popular [...]

Cross-cultural competences…What does it mean?

Cross-cultural competences enable people to effectively deal with foreigners. Cross-cultural competences acknowledge that the success of international interactions depends as much on the technical expertise as on the human one. Effectively dealing with the human side of international interactions is not limited to understanding people’s psychology. Culture matters and two decades of literature have provided strong evidence that cultural differences in [...]