Collaboration across cultures, whether virtual or physical, is essential in many companies and organizations, and culture is present in nearly all aspects of any international collaboration.
It can present challenges, from fundamental cultural biases about what a good leader is to inter- pretations of micro expressions such as tone of voice, eye contact and body language.
Whether it is the Danish project manager in Dubai struggling with unspoken social rules, the Indian IT-worker in Copenhagen who must navigate the Danish humor or the leader who leads a virtual multicultural team across 8 locations – cultural differences are at play.
It takes more than just setting a diverse group to achieve the benefits that cultural diversity offers. It takes an inclusive mindset to achieve this DIVERSITY BONUS in the workplace, by creating an environment where you truly benefit from the cognitive diversity amongst your team members and the unique skills, life experiences and perspectives that diverse workers have.
Through humorous examples, cases and quotes from experienced global leaders from different companies and organizations such as LEGO, Novo Nordisk, Vestas, Arla, Maersk, Rambøll, AAK, COWI, Blue Water Shipping, HydraSpecma, PepsiCo, UCB BioPharma and Tajco, Signe Ørom provides insights into how we can use cultural intelligence to strengthen our global collaborations.
This interactive talk is for anyone with an interest in culture in the workplace and how companies can benefit from diversity.
Read more about the NOCA-theme Diversity and Inclusion here
Signe Ørom, PhD in language and culture,
is the founder and CEO of the consultancy ConnectingCultures and author of “Did You Get the Point? Cultural Intelligence and Diversity in Global Collaboration”. For more than 10 years, she has held work-shops and speeches about cultural intelligence, virtual cooperation, diversity, and inclusion in Danish and international companies. She has lived abroad in different countries for about 10 years and worked across cultures for more than 20 years. Furthermore, she is part of the research group CIRCD at Copenhagen University and is a member of a series of networking groups for researchers and consultants.