Inspiring Client Stories from Our Cross-Cultural Training Programmes

Computacenter is a leading independent technology and services provider. They are a public company quoted on the FTSE 250 and employ over 20,000 people worldwide.

Babel initially started working with the company in 2013 and since then we have coached thousands of their delegates to build their intercultural competence and learn foreign languages.

When Computacenter relaunched their Leadership Principles, they asked Babel to develop a new programme aimed at those executives fresh into job roles leading across cultures (which included leading people from different geographies or people with different cultural backgrounds).

The objective of the programme is for participants to pinpoint their own leadership preferences and compare their methods to the management styles and expectations of other cultures. They also develop cultural intelligence by learning about and adapting to different cultural values and approaches in their global teams. Babel’s programme builds on the new Leadership Principles and ensures the participants understand what is expected of them in driving the company’s high-performance organisational culture.

MediaTek is the world's 4th largest global fabless semiconductor company. Since 2015 we have provided Intercultural  and Communication Skills training to participants located in the UK, Finland, Sweden, and Taiwan. The participants are developers and engineers whose daily tasks require communication with overseas colleagues and customers, mostly in text (e-mails, comments in company systems, instant messaging), but also videoconferences.

During our programme, the participants explore the core concepts relating to culture and reflect on country-specific preferences to working relationships and attitudes towards time and deadlines. They practise communicating clearly in ‘Global’ English, compare preferred communication and meeting styles and agree on best practice for remote communication. To finish, we review the expectations of a manager and team member in each culture, dealing with delegation and giving feedback, building trust and developing teamwork.

Our content includes work-related challenges such as responding to a problem raised by customers, asking colleagues for technical support to resolve the problem, obtaining rapid feedback from other team members, and ultimately communicating the resolution effectively to the customer. This ensures that the participants gain practical advice that is applicable immediately.

EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned Électricité de France. As their Preferred Training Supplier, Babel has for many years supported their international assignees with pre-departure cross-cultural training, offered in three stages.

Stage 1 is access to The International Profiler- a self-assessment psychometric questionnaire and consultation. This helps assignees become more self aware and adaptable.

Stage 2 is our cultural briefing designed to increase the ability of assignees (and any accompanying family) to adjust to living and working in France. We start with an overview of their new region and city before delving into the practicalities of daily living and the issues that are important to them. The session continues by reviewing the French work environment including business etiquette, meetings and presentations, attitudes to management and authority, trust and developing business relationships.

Stage 3 is then scheduled after the move and is an opportunity to provide confidential support for any challenges that the assignees are experiencing. This support is valued and consistently rated highly by assignees.

Berkeley Group is the UK's leading residential property developer and they are committed to providing training for their Sales and Customer Service teams. Keen to improve the interaction between their customer-facing teams and overseas investors, they commissioned Babel to design a one-day workshop that could be rolled out to staff at various developments throughout London and the South-East.

Our training focuses on improving interaction with buyers from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Middle East, India and occasionally Nigeria and Turkey. For each culture, core cultural values, preferences and approaches are discussed. Practical business etiquette is understood and practised such as the correct naming conventions and titles, meeting and greetings, recognising hierarchy, status, gender and family issues, different approaches to timeliness and deadlines, the importance of relationships and trust and symbolism, taboos and acceptable topics for conversation. Service expectations are also discussed especially the importance of formality, courtesy, respect, physical appearance and dress code.

Since 2014, the participants have rated Babel’s programme very enthusiastically. As a result, we also deliver master classes for Chinese and Middle Eastern investors and deliver International Negotiations Skills.