Virtual teamworking – Argonaut https://www.argonautonline.com Learning to succeed internationally Tue, 24 Mar 2020 06:19:48 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Help for intercultural training businesses through the corona virus pandemic https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/help-for-intercultural-training-businesses-through-the-corona-virus-pandemic/ Tue, 24 Mar 2020 00:00:23 +0000 https://www.argonautonline.com/?p=14800 The hardest hits to the economy from the corona virus are falling on small businesses, which is where you’ll find most intercultural training providers.

When the crisis is over, we need a strong community of interculturalists to help businesses and society to adjust to new ways of doing international collaboration.

To help intercultural trainers stay in business and their customers continue to benefit from interculturalists’ expertise, we’re providing our service for free.

If you are an intercultural consultant or trainer and you are facing cancellation of face-to-face trainings by a customer, we’re offering CultureConnector for free to you and your customer – and help switching to online training delivery.

 

Applying to use CultureConnector for free during the Covid-19 Corona virus crisis is easy. Shifting from in-person to online training delivery may not be so easy. We’re here to help you help your customer through the transition.

Apply to use CultureConnector for free

To qualify, you must be switching to an online model from a previously-agreed face-to-face training.

Practical answers to the everyday questions of globalisation are provided by the members of the intercultural training community. Let’s keep it strong.

]]> Eight trainer tips for delivering virtual training https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/eight-trainer-tips-for-delivering-virtual-training/ https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/eight-trainer-tips-for-delivering-virtual-training/#respond Sat, 20 May 2017 11:23:37 +0000 https://www.argonautonline.com/?p=10430 We asked intercultural coach and trainer Béatrice Rivas Siedel to share her tips for trainers who are making the transition from classroom training to remote sessions.

To succeed facilitating virtual sessions means changing the approach compared to working with clients face-to-face.

Max session time: two hours

Time (2 hours on clock)Consider the maximum session time for effective learning in a virtual situation. Face-to-face can realistically run for a full working day, with breaks. In practice, a virtual session has a max time limit of 2 hours.

Minute-by-minute scripting

Icon: documentPrecise scripting maintains momentum, keeping a pace which puts the trainer in control of the dynamics of the situation – despite the remote location. Your trainer script is best defined per minute.

Switch activity every five minutes

Icon: task listTo keep energy and attention, switch activity often. After 5 minutes of teaching, it’s time to switch.

Demand interaction

Icon: action, sports, batInteraction keeps learners engaged in the session. Trainers should require participants to take an active part. Use games, tests, Q&As and other ways to keep the group ready to respond and feeling fully connected.

Lead with your voice

Icon: megaphoneYour voice becomes the key instrument for setting the mood of the moment when some traditional trainer techniques not available (moving around the room, passing three-dimensional objects, using height, distance, touch). Practise, get feedback, base your session facilitation on your voice.

Allow no place to hide

Icon: teamUse session content to bring all participants into the interaction. Maintain every participant’s visibility by frequently activating everyone. Monitor and respond immediately when busy multi-taskers sitting at their own computers/devices in distant locations seem likely to slip out of full engagement with the training.

Use a different script

Icon: interaction, danceCreate a fresh script for your virtual sessions. Don’t base your virtual training scripts on your classroom script. Lectures, PPT shows, long individual tasks are out, interactive learning experiences are in.

More from Béatrice
Virtual meeting with trainer

My breakthrough moments as a trainer in the e-learning revolution

This is the story of Béatrice Rivas Siedel’s professional transformation as an intercultural trainer. In two years she moved from being an outsider to the technological revolution in coaching and training, to being a full participant, driver and advocate of blending online and face-to-face learning.

 

]]> https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/eight-trainer-tips-for-delivering-virtual-training/feed/ 0 Five signs you could be CultureConnector’s next cultural expert https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/five-signs-you-could-be-cultureconnectors-next-cultural-expert/ https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/five-signs-you-could-be-cultureconnectors-next-cultural-expert/#respond Sun, 31 Jul 2016 22:19:00 +0000 https://www.argonautonline.com/?p=5303 From 2014 to 2016 I coordinated Argonaut’s Cultural Correspondent community. Correspondents are the people who bring the culture-specific expertise to CultureConnector. And they are a pretty impressive group of people.

The Cultural Correspondents are using their deep cultural knowledge, their writing skills and creativity to share their knowledge and demonstrate their professional standing in the industry. That makes it a win for CultureConnector’s users who get great content and a win for its expert contributors who get additional visibility. But the role is demanding and to gain a place among the Cultural Correspondents, you need a few factors.

Here’s what I learnt about making it as a Cultural Correspondent for CultureConnector.

Success factors of cultural correspondents
Success factors of cultural correspondents

Five signs you could be CultureConnector’s next cultural expert

  1. Knowledge of an insider, insights of an outsider. Successful Cultural Correspondents know the history and the latest trends in the culture and much of the detail and variety within it. But to truly identify the relevant issues, they also think like an insider trying to build bridges into the culture.
  2. Packaging knowledge into short, powerful texts. Our Cultural Correspondents are great writers. They find the essentials and boil them down into sharp, engaging texts.
  3. Fearlessness with challenging tasks. Even with deep cultural knowledge, some writing tasks are not easy. It can demand deep thought and imagination, and sometimes research too. But the key thing each time is to just get started. Writing is iterative: it gets better with every version.
  4. Community spirit. Writing can be a lonely task, but usually it gets social too. You need to be in dialogue with your editor and to connect with other correspondents who may have worked on the same task as you. We’re all seeking the same goal, so we’re in a collective enterprise.
  5. Understanding the learner. All writers need to write for the reader. That’s especially true when the reader is a busy working person with little time for study but a big need for understanding and context. Experience of working life and training situations enables our most successful correspondents to produce content which really serves the needs of learners.

The rewarding role of a CCCC Cultural Correspondent Community Coordinator

The CCCC title needs shortening, but my experience of the role was not heavy at all. It was my task to help the Cultural Correspondents to get their assignments done. We Skyped and met in informal group sessions which I called virtual coffee tables. We clarified the writing goals and through initial edits condensed the most valuable insights into tight packages of text. I was supporter, assistant, coach, cheerleader, facilitator while at the same time admiring how professional they are.

Our virtual coffee table meetups created a real connection and the feeling of community around the CCs. However, even though we connected using multiple media the fact is that community is not built overnight.

For me the most rewarding aspect of the role is interaction with the correspondents who are located all over the world. Sharing ideas and visions or just simply going through their views about an assignment I felt I always learned something. It is an amazing feeling when you are part of lively network that is truly global.

Get in touch

Get in touch with the Argonaut team if you want to turn your cultural knowledge and writing skills into a business advantage. This could be an important step on your journey to developing and demonstrating the 7 most-requested talents of an interculturalist.

I could see that our Cultural Correspondents welcomed the fact that their knowledge has great value and will stay in demand in the Cultural Correspondent community.

MORE ABOUT JOINING

]]> https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/five-signs-you-could-be-cultureconnectors-next-cultural-expert/feed/ 0 The challenges impacting virtual cross-cultural teams https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/challenges-impacting-virtual-cross-cultural-teams/ https://www.argonautonline.com/blog/challenges-impacting-virtual-cross-cultural-teams/#respond Fri, 22 Apr 2016 17:44:15 +0000 https://www.argonautonline.com/?p=1475  

Understanding the backgrounds of each team member can assist managers in the molding of an effective and collaborative work group.

In a recent survey completed of 70 global teams, only 18% considered their team performance highly successful and achieving business goals1. As technology and globalization continue to transform the workplace, people from many different cultural backgrounds are beginning to work together2. Developing teams to understand and appreciate differences while motivating employees in a virtual environment is a new challenge many managers are now facing3. ff14 gil for sale Global leaders are now identifying a new subset of skills and talents required to effectively lead teams as organizations leverage team members from around the globe4. Air Jordan 11 Donna

Understanding the importance of trust in a virtual cross cultural environment

The concept and meaning of “team” varies significantly across cultures and organizations; therefore it is imperative to note that behaviors and communication styles will likely vary as well. Establishing a ‘we-feeling’ and commitment are the first steps in collaboration5. New Balance 009 hombre Within some countries around the world trust is an earned respect not easily given; therefore establishing a trusting relationship virtually requires careful precision and finesse to ensure the relationship is built upon mutual trust and respect. Järvenpää and Leidner (1998) studied the concept of “swift” trust, noting that this type of trust is very fragile and temporal in nature. They further noted global virtual teams do not build trust, but import trust from more familiar settings and place a high value on timely responses with regard to communication5. LUNARGLIDE 8

jennifer-merrell-virtual-teams-full.paper Download the full version including Jennifer Merrell’s reviews of Argonaut (2015) and Denyse Perry’s Roadmap to authentic communication

 

Overcoming the barriers language creates

Zofi (2012) speaks to the importance of overcoming intercultural disconnect using five cross cultural communication strategies which can be easily remembered using the acronym LEARN. Saint Joseph’s Hawks

  • Listen
  • Effectively Communicate
  • Avoid Ambiguity
  • Respect Differences
  • No Judgment

Understanding the limits of technology

Technology, while great at connecting people around the world, creates additional challenges for people to notice and pick up on many nonverbal behavioral cues. NIKE AIR ZOOM STRUCTURE 20 Even with the recent introduction of video conferencing, subtle nonverbal cues often go unnoticed6. In recent years, the use of technology and globalization have been accused of homogenizing particular ways of working and studying to align more with Western behaviors. Some question if this protocol is ethical to ignore local cultural preferences to achieve collaboration on a higher level as it can later manifest as a cause of communication problems5.

Motivating and training cross cultural virtual teams

Motivational and training aspects of a manager’s role can be further complicated by the degree of differences in employee cultures. nike roshe two hombre What acts as a motivator within one culture is likely to have a different impact within another; this also holds true for employee development and the educational approach needed to properly train staff to use new technologies, which will assist in the continuation of cross cultural projects. Asics Gel Kayano Evo Homme To offset these challenges facing today’s global marketplace, many organizations are introducing balanced training programs to ensure team members achieve a healthy balance of intercultural skill development and technological development to further develop leadership potential in a high performance, high cooperation workplace6.

Intercultural competence and virtual teamworking skills training

Along with these balanced training programs, many organizations are finding it helpful to regularly review established ways of working that all team members agree to, ensuring all team rules continue to remain relevant. Todd Gurley Jerseys Investing time in staff development opportunities to showcase cross cultural differences to improve team members’ understandings of each other has also been shown to help build trust and respect within groups, and when possible, a rotation of team meeting locations which can allow colleagues to show off their culture1. Working with a company striving to build strong virtual cross cultural teams will require forward thinking analysis of each individual team member. Air Jordan 7 (VII) Understanding the backgrounds of each team member can assist managers in the molding of an effective and collaborative work group.

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