Training for International Travel

By Valérie Berset-Price

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit(Global Firm in 2020: The Next Decade of Change for Organizations and Workers), the next 15 years will be paved with serious challenges for American organizations as they enter the global arena to sustain their growth. Those challenges lie within cultural values that differ from one country to the next, quality standards that are not interpreted equally throughout the world, and the use of different languages to communicate.

While the ideal person a company would send on an international business trip would have an international background and display the necessary traits described in my previous article (“The Global Mindset,” http://trainingmag.com/article/global-mindset), not all companies have access to such expertise. Most U.S. mid-size companies may have employees who have never traveled abroad (only 37% of Americans own a passport) and who have had little exposure to the world. How do we train such employees to be the global ambassadors every company needs?

Setting the stage and psychologically preparing people for what they will see, how people around them may behave, and the type of behaviors they should personally embrace has a deep impact on preserving the efficiency of employees abroad. Consider this scenario: Carol, a young, talented communications professional was tapped to represent her marketing company at an international symposium in Cairo. Her directives seemed simple: Mingle with your international peers and bring back some new and fresh ideas that will be discussed in the forum by presenters from around the world.

Carol was flattered to have been chosen for this international assignment. However, she had no previous international experience and no idea what to expect while in Cairo. She felt out of place the entire week. She could not understand why men—who made up most of the attendees—would avoid her gaze and refuse to shake her hand. Moreover, she felt sick during the entire week, and could not attend many conference presentations. Carol lost confidence and retreated to her hotel room, where she watched American movies while nursing her upset stomach. Her trip cost her company close to $12,000, and no return ever came out of that investment.

While Carol’s story may sound extreme, many American employees can relate to her discomfort. What could her employer have done to make Carol more efficient in this setting? Professional cross-cultural training would have provided Carol with the following knowledge:

1. Local history and customs: Knowing them has business value—when people are uncomfortable, they are not able to open up and relate to locals. Carol would have learned about Egypt’s cultural mores and would have been prepared for the disparity she witnessed while traveling throughout Cairo, avoiding thus a disorienting culture shock. A good cross-cultural class, in addition to emphasizing business culture, shows images of the city where people will go. A map of the city is displayed so people have a sense of where they will be, how big the city is, how the public transportation functions, and practical but “foreign” practices.
2. Communication: Arabic is the spoken language of Egypt, followed by French. Armed with a few basic sentences and a mini-phrase book Carol would have shown Egyptians that she genuinely desired to communicate with them. Most cultures will respond positively when they see someone making an effort to communicate with them in their native language.
3. Gastronomy: Cairo is a cosmopolitan city where many cuisines can be found. The local cuisine, however, is Arabic and not what most Americans stomachs can easily adapt to.
4.  Greetings: Carol would have learned that in the Muslim world a woman should not extend her hand, look a man in the eyes, or greet him with a warm and engaging smile. All three behaviors could be misinterpreted as sexual advances. Instead, a woman would look down or away in his presence. Having been groomed on what to expect, Carol would have learned to anticipate men’s possible behaviors, as well as other unwelcome behaviors (such as crossing one’s leg to reveal one’s sole) and not feel rejected.
5. Jetlag preparation: Carol would have learned about the 24 time zones that form the world and how jetlag affects the international traveler. She would have learned to adjust her watch to the host country as she stepped onto the plane, preparing her brain while in-flight to a different eating and sleeping schedule. She would have traveled to Cairo a couple of days ahead of the conference to adjust to her jetlag and also to familiarize herself with her new environment.
6. Attire: The class would have taught Carol what to pack to attend a business function as a woman in a Muslim country. As such, she should have packed mid-calf-length skirts, long-sleeved blouses/jackets, and a scarf in her purse to drape over her hair when stepping outside of her hotel. In short, nothing fitted and revealing.
7. Advance networking: Carol would have learned in her class to check with the conference organizers to ask if she could be put in contact with other women who might be traveling alone to attend the conference. Together, they could have visited Cairo to familiarize themselves with the area and its culture.

Training employees on cross-cultural paradigms has become of utmost importance to successful business dealings. Even for people who will never have to travel, the world often is present intruding through videoconferencing. It is, thus, essential to adequately equip your teams with the cross-cultural tools the 21st century requires.

With more than 15 years of international business development experience as a dual citizen of Switzerland and the United States, Valérie Berset-Price is an experienced consultant, cross-cultural educator, speaker,, and trainer. She offers practical insights on the essential tools necessary to achieve meaningful and profitable business results internationally. Berset-Price has an extensive entrepreneurial background in international business development and intercultural training. Over the last 15 years she has worked for Swiss, Taiwanese, South African, French, Brazilian, and U.S. companies. She specializes in international troubleshooting, cross-cultural mediation, intercultural communication, and international strategies for management executives. In addition to being a member of the North American Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE), she is a Huffington Post and a Q&A columnist for the Vancouver Business Journal. Through her “Professional Passport: Work Anywhere with Confidence” curriculum, she provides training that brings the global business world into focus, bridging cultures to succeed in today’s global marketplace. Berset-Price is also a certified image consultant and the upcoming VP of International Relations for the Association of Image Consultants International, an international association that specializes in global non-verbal communication through effective image management. For more information, visit http://www.professional-passport.com.