Interpreting culture (3 hours)
Our cultural background has a profound influence on each of us, affecting our thought processes and how we perceive the world, and impacting upon our values, beliefs and our behaviour at home and work.
In this course, over two 2-hour sesssions, we initially examine where culture comes from and look at examples of its extraordinary diversity. We then focus on our interactions with people from other cultures, to improve understanding, confidence and trust. A simple gesture or phrase can mean dramatically different things from one culture to another and can cause unintended embarrassment, confusion or even offence. We consider how others might interpret our behaviour and also examine our own interpretations, focusing on some of the areas that can cause division in our workplaces, such as: gender norms; perceptions of rudeness; and communication skills.