Intercultural training

Our ‘Building Cultural Competency’ course will help you develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to operate in an increasingly multicultural world.

'Building Cultural Competency' course

Overview

Diversity is a reality. Being culturally competent in today's multicultural and globalised world is an essential skill needed to work effectively with ethnically diverse colleagues and clients.

We all develop culture determined by what we learn, how we learn it and the rules for living with others. Being cultural competent is about bringing together that knowledge, alongside other people’s cultures, and finding effective ways to work together.

Benefits for you

Delivered by our partners at Wellington Uni-Professional, the ‘Building Cultural Competency’ course is designed to help you develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to operate in an increasingly multicultural world.

It will support you to recognise your own cultural lens and how you apply that in everyday life to your cross-cultural interactions. This practical course will allow you to use real-time activities to test out and extend your cultural competency

Benefits for your organisation

Helping you become cultural competent will make you a better employee. As your organisation grows in cultural competency, respect and mutual understanding between cultures will grow, trust and cooperation will increase, and competition, conflict and misunderstanding will decrease. A more inclusive organisation, where staff demonstrate culturally appropriate behaviours and skills, will provide better customer service and retention

Who should attend

The course is suitable for anyone who manages or works with culturally diverse employees or clients. It also suits people who plan to travel, work or live outside New Zealand.

Course outline

There are two modules in the course – ‘An introduction to intercultural communication’ and ‘Developing intercultural communication skills’.

The first module develops awareness of the importance of communication in intercultural contexts, and teaches about the impact of differences in communication styles and the influence of cultural values on intercultural interactions.The second module is designed to simulate common intercultural experiences, give you insight into your reactions to cultural differences, and help explain the underlying values behind behaviours. The lesson is activity-based, and involves participation in small groups and presentation to the larger group

Course format and delivery options

The ‘Building Cultural Competency’ course is delivered as a 1-day workshop. The format consists of discussion, peer learning, and practical activities. The programme is based on action-learning principles. The workshop can be delivered publicly, or in-house at your organisation's offices. To register your interest, please visit our partners at Wellington Uni-Professional.

Previous clients

We have successfully run this workshop for the Ministry for Primary Industries, Auckland Transport and Immigration New Zealand.

Here is a sample of feedback from participants:

Fantastic course. Thanks so much.

Some eye-opening moments. Good content forcing self-reflection.

This was a great workshop. The facilitator was excellent. Provided a great framework for understanding how you can influence to be successful. Empathy

Very informative workshop. The effectiveness of the workshop (I thought) was built upon session by session, culminating in the role play. A very good structure. Thank you.

Further details

If you would like more information about this programme, please contact Tania McGowan, Associate Director, Wellington Uni-Professional, Victoria University of Wellington.