Workshop at a Glance:
Setting Goals, Pursuing Fulfillment, and Navigating Complexities

In our global world, people from different cultures and contexts often work together on projects – be it in design, software development, ecology, or social projects. This workshop aims to enhance students‘ and employees‘ intercultural awareness and cultural competence to develop a global mindset and improve the ability to integrate different values and practices into a positive work environment.
They need cultural knowledge and specific skills to survive and thrive in cultures other than their own.

Key Takeaways from Our Intercultural Workshops

Intercultural competence and resilience can be effectively and purposefully fostered in an environment where culturally mixed teams work together on defined tasks in small projects. In the learning process by doing, guided reflection and theoretical, yet playful input, participants quickly and sustainably expand their intercultural competence.

Sensitization for intercultural differences and backgrounds while building self-awareness for your own culture

• Behavior such as expression of opinions and feelings (different rules of behavior)
• Way of thinking and interpretation – stereotypes and prejudices – attitudes and beliefs – gender roles
• Non-verbal communication – signs and symbols
• Environment e.g. furniture, images, shopping malls
• Daily life and/or business life

Experiencing consciously different work approaches in multicultural teams.
Valuing cultural diversity.

• Diversity fosters innovation and creativity by bringing in a wide range of experiences and knowledge.
• Diverse skills enhance teamwork and bring significant benefits.

Recognizing the benefits of working together in multicultural teams.
Being able to apply intercultural conflict resolution strategies.

• Identifying potential problems before they arise
• Understanding intercultural conflicts‘ causes, dynamics, and solutions
• Overcoming cultural barriers by appreciating and accepting different ways of working and thinking

>> Build a strong multicultural team

Learning and Process in This Intercultural Workshop

In this three-day workshop, participants will explore a single topic that varies significantly across cultures like:

• Food and eating styles
• Behaviour and Rules of etiquette
• Communication and problem-solving
• Nonverbal communication such as signs & symbols 

The participants learn how to conceive and develop a communication strategy for the medium of short-form videos/animation and the purpose of social media or company presentations with limited content but high attraction such as

• for a social media campaign for an NGO or
• for a branding process in a company or
• for a social media campaign of a travel provider like Traveloka, TUI, booking.com
• for a governmental institution or an agency

 This is followed by a design phase including storyboarding and an evaluation with an authentic and credible approach that takes those involved seriously and respectfully

• Research of the involved people and also of the target group
• Evaluation of the first drafts and ideas regarding all involved
• Appropriateness and effectiveness of the design language and the tonality and the overall appearance regarding the target group

Learning outcomes

It was amazing to see how goal-oriented, creative, and playful the participants were when approaching the task. After just two days of teaching and learning input, followed by three days of project work in their culturally mixed teams, the students achieved outstanding design results. But more importantly, they understood how to get to the heart of complex intercultural content and communicate it to others.

by Susanne P. Radtke