Program Outline

Overview

This workshop is designed to help Vietnamese staff and expat managers understand each other better, making it easier to communicate. It is highly interactive and very practical to help address day-to-day cross-cultural business challenges for Vietnamese staff and expats managers working together.

The facilitator will help both sides learn to express their views and opinions in order to understand the particularities of cultures another’s culture. All participants are engaged in discovering and understanding the specifics and roots of their own and the other culture.

The discovered knowledge will be used as evidence behind the differences. Tips and strategies will be given to bridge the apparent gaps.

Goals of the workshop

Primary goals:

• Make Vietnamese and expats aware of their own culture and that of each other
• Make both sides shift from their cultural position toward the middle, where they can meet and work together
• Because managers are agent of change, expats managers will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and techniques to manage and communicate with their

Vietnamese staff to make them shift from their cultural position toward adopting Western management and best practices.

Secondary goals:

• Identify potential conflicts and help resolve them
• Develop communication between expats and the Vietnamese staff
• Reinforce team spirit

Learning Objectives

• By the end of the training, each participant will:
• Be aware of his/her own culture and its roots
• Be aware of the culture of the other and its roots
• Be aware of cultural differences
• Understand what is culture
• Know how to communicate across cultures
• Know their respective cultural position
• Be able to compare it with any member of their team
• Be able to understand the differences between their cultural position and that of the other person’s culture
• Be aware of the reason for cultural gaps and how to bridge cultural differences
• Be able to use the social and business etiquette of the other culture
• Know tips and strategies to reduce the differences

Know practical steps, tips, and strategies to fit into the local culture/corporate culture:

• Equip yourself with knowledge of the local working culture
• Experience coaching with practical and proven techniques and strategies to help the participant communicate, build relationship, motivate, engage and manage his/her Vietnamese team efficiently
• Understand most successful leadership style in Vietnam
• Learn the 5 roles of a successful Leader in Vietnam
• Learn 3 pillars of leadership in Vietnam
• Know the 3 benefits of building personal relationships
• Know the 4 characteristics of the Vietnamese people
• Know the 3 keys to Vietnamese employee motivation
• Know the 5 essential business skills in Vietnam
• Know the 7 steps to retain Vietnamese employees
• How to give negative feedback

Be An Agent Of Change:

• Use the knowledge of the local Culture to shift toward the Vietnamese staff’s cultural position to Induce Cultural change and help them to shift from their working Culture position toward the company’s working Culture
• Create a cultural mix and meet them at the middle cultural point
• Motivate and Induce adoption of best practices and international standards by local staff
• The 5 steps to change people
• The Vietnamese cultural values and strategies to leverage on when changing Vietnamese employees
• The change strategy in Vietnam
• The virtuous development circle

Understand Better The Western Culture:

• Roots of the Western culture or expats’ specific countries
• Perception of other working cultures by Vietnamese and Westerners
• Best ways to work with Westerners

Content of the workshop

The following content will be customized to answer the particular needs and concerns of trainee(s)

Section 1: Introduction & Cultural Self-Awareness

• Your objectives
• My objectives
• Cultural awareness

Section 2: Understanding Cultural Differences

• “Cultural Sunglasses”
• What is culture?
• The Iceberg Model

Section 3: Vietnam Specific Information – Roots of the Culture

• Geography
• How climate and geography influence a living/working style and mindset
• History of the country and its influence on local culture
• Historical background
• Which ethnic groups form the nation? Differences between the North, Center,   and South
• The government’s influence on culture
• Religion and its influence on local culture
• Religious groups
• Traditions, rites, and rituals
• Holidays and their meanings/ influence on culture
• Social and Business etiquette
• Gift giving
• Accepted/ non-accepted behavior

 Section 4: Culture in the Workplace: are you a Global Employee/ Executive?

• Workplace culture
• Cultural differences: comparison of Western and Asian cultures – Korean and Vietnamese
• Set your personal “Culture Compass”
• Set your cultural position and compare it with your country of origin and that of the Vietnamese
• Identify gaps
• Tips and strategies to gap the working Culture differences

Section 5: Interactive Case Studies

• Practice of acquired knowledge using one or more real case scenario(s) or real work situations brought by the participants

 Section 6: Intercultural Communication

• Culture and communication
• Communication Style
• How we communicate
• 7 approaches to saying “NO”
• Overcoming language barriers: working with “Global English”
• Practice:
• how to give negative feedback to a Vietnamese staff?
• how to detect when a Vietnamese staff is saying “YES” but means “NO”

Section 7: Conclusion

• Key learning, takeaways, and action plan

Competency Focus

• Development of cultural Intelligence: cross cultural and cross cultural communication skills.
• Vietnamese people and Western expats after the training will work, manage, negotiate, and communicate efficiently together and with their staff.

Target Audience

Expatriates living and working in Vietnam or dealing with Vietnamese international customers, partners, and employees in international companies.

Methodology

Interactive PowerPoint presentation with exercises, practice (role plays) and group discussions; handouts; real case scenarios; and Cultural Compass tool debrief (cultural profile assessment questionnaire).

Duration & Language

• Duration: 2 days from 9.00am-5.00pm. one-hour lunch break. 2 x 15 minutes’ break.
• Language: English or Vietnamese

Toolkit for Participants

A questionnaire to build personal cultural profiles

Follow up an d support after training for an additional cost

• Consulting and personal coaching (or group coaching) to help implement your personal action plan or win the particular cultural challenges created by a multicultural working environment (cross cultural management, cross cultural communication).
• Intercultural leadership development
• Multicultural team development
• Consulting on building a local corporate culture and working environment to fit the local culture

Program Outline

Key Learning Objectives
How to live, work, study, and communicate with Westerners

• Know the specifics of your own culture
• Know the specifics of the Western culture
• Know the differences between your and the Western culture
• Learn tips and strategies to bridge these differences
• Understand Western behavior and know how to transform yours to work together successfully
• Equip yourself with the necessary cross-cultural knowledge to do the following:
  − Avoid conflicts, tensions, and misunderstandings in your relationships with Western superiors and colleagues
  − Communicate appropriately and efficiently with your Western colleagues
  − Understand and develop the required skills to study successfully within the Western academic system
  − Help Vietnamese families sending their children to study abroad to become aware of the cultural differences and challenges their children will be facing to provide better support

Competency Focus

• Development of awareness of the 14 cultural differences between the West, Asia, and Vietnam, plus the cross-cultural and cross-cultural communication skills needed to succeed in the West.
• After the training, you can live, work, study, and communicate with Westerners.

Target Audience

• Vietnamese managers and staff living and working in Vietnam, dealing with international colleagues, customers, or partners and who may be future expats in the West.
• Vietnamese students and their families who intend to live and study in the West.

Methodology

Interactive PowerPoint presentation with exercises, practice and group discussions; handouts; real case scenarios; videos; role plays; and a cultural assessment tool (cultural profile evaluation questionnaire).

Duration

• 1/2 Day: Cultural Awareness Pack
• 1 Day: Cross Cultural Pack Essentials
• 2 Days: Full Cross Cultural Pack

Language: Vietnamese or English

Follow up and support after training

• To help you build your action plan after training.
• Consulting and personal coaching (or group coaching) to help you translate into action the knowledge received during the training in order to practice the cross cultural skills necessary to adapt to cultural differences and win the particular cultural challenges created by your local living, working, and studying environment.