Our workshops

Our Workshops

Socially diverse multicultural and multiracial people on an isolated white background. Happy old and young women and men with children, as well as people with disabilities standing together.

Experiencing another culture does not necessarily lead to understanding and making sense of cultural differences. To develop strong intercultural skills that will be essential in your daily and professional interactions, you must learn to observe and interpret cultural behaviors, your own and others’. 

At Crosscultural Directions, you will access fundamental tools to live a positive experience abroad, in four workshops. 

In our workshops, we offer tools for understanding all cultures, no matter how different they may be, and we use examples from cultural contexts that span all continents.

Our workshops are given in French or English. They are intended for anyone who feels the need to make sense of their own culture and/or to understand how another culture works.

Workshop 1 : Self-awareness in culture (3 hours)

This seminar is about learning how to position oneself to be able to observe cultural differences effectively. This step is above all an awareness on different levels :  

  • become aware of the place and importance of culture in communication
  • give attention to the undeniable impact of culture on exchanges 
  • recognize the nature of the intercultural experience
  • know the pre-existing tools at our disposal to make sense of cultural differences
  • discover a perspective to adopt in order to observe your behavior objectively in an intercultural situation.
Top view of six people, men and women, drawing bright yellow light bulb on a large sheet of paper or placard. Conceptual of teamwork, research, education and innovation.

Workshop 2 : What information to communicate and how ? (2 hours)

Groupe de personnages peints et colorés

Through concrete examples from a wide variety of private and professional situations, you will learn to recognize and observe the cultural differences around which major misunderstandings arise :

  • the amount of information needed to accomplish a task in different cultures (“low-context” versus “high-context”)
  • the construction of a convincing argument (Why versus. How)
  • the art of conversation (Conversing versus Debating)
  • formulating negative criticism and evaluating performance.

Workshop 3 : The Subjectivity of Time (2 hours)

In this seminar, we will present two different concepts of time brought to light by Edward T. Hall: Monochronic Time and Polychronic Time. You will discover all the implications that these concepts of time have on :

  • organizing personal and professional time
  • the relationship to a task to be accomplished
  • respecting schedules and deadlines
  • developing interpersonal relationships, in particular, developing trust.
cropped view of multicultural friends with colorful holi paints putting hands together

Workshop 4 : From intercultural to intracultural (2 hours)

Top view of group of happy smiling young diverse people standing in circle and looking up at camera all together. Concept of business team, teamwork, collaboration, support, unity and common goal

In this final workshop, we will collectively assess the knowledge you have acquired and your ability to apply it. You will present a case study based on your personal experience.

We will reflect on the value of these new life skills which you have mastered and their usefulness beyond a cross-cultural context. To what extent can this skill help foster diversity, equality and inclusion of all in a company, in personal life, in civil society.

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