Supporting organisations to manage and leverage cross cultural diversity in the workplace. Dúchas Coaching conducts Cultural Awareness Workshops and Cross-Cultural Training and Coaching both for corporate and private individuals and organizations. Cross-cultural competence, the ability to communicate effectively across cultures, is a mandatory skill in today’s interconnected world because:
Ireland has become a multi-cultural society in a few short years. This is in large part due to the Celtic tiger. The proportion of population born outside of the republic of Ireland more than doubled in 10 years between ‘96 and ‘06. While most business people understand that it is good to have a diverse workforce that mirrors their increasingly diverse customer base, the speed at which this change has happened has meant that many businesses have found themselves in this situation without planning for it
Managers working with Intercultural teams at home often tell us that they are facing difficulties in achieving goals and business objectives due to cultural barriers and misunderstandings within their teams. They fear that similar issues may be hampering interactions with customers.
Unmanaged diversity creates conflict. The diverse workplace will be stressful, ridden with conflict and counterproductive. Typical symptoms that clients report include stressful exchanges, friction, misunderstandings and miscommunications, lost opportunities, increased cost of doing business, ineffective teams and a general loss of productivity.
Businesses are also trading globally and need to negotiate effectively with partners, suppliers and customers from other cultures. The cost of doing this is high so it makes sense to ensure that success is not threatened by cultural misunderstandings.
International businesses in Ireland based in Ireland require managers to look after virtual teams in diverse global locations. This is often quite challenging;
Our Services
We provide services for business teams, professionals and private clients.
Patricia is a knowledgeable coach, being able to understand you in a very short period. She finds the right balance between questioning as a coach and helping you to find your own advice. This makes you not only realize the why you encounter certain issues, but also drives to do something about it and change your behaviour.
Rens van Waes, Johnson & Johnson
Typical Dúchas clients
Manager who has to travel frequently overseas and/or deal with multicultural teams
HR manager dealing with escalating unhappiness and/or escalating conflict due to in cultural issues with a team or individual
Married expat on a short/medium term accompanied by spouse and family
Single Expat recently arrived on a 3 month to 2 year assignment
Workers who interact on a daily basis with multicultural nationalities
“Being culturally intelligent isn’t about having stamps in your passport. It’s about deep connections with people. It’s about knowing who you are and thinking about your own thinking. And above all it’s about using that thinking to strategise and take action. Context matters”.
The Dúchas approach
Dúchas Coaching offers both training and coaching approaches which are customised to the individual or team. Our approach encourages experiential learning, dialogue and critical thinking and doesn’t rely on stereotypes or memorized lists of dos and don’ts. We provide a process for recognizing cultural differences, helping clients to understand and leverage them as assets rather than as roadblocks, transforming obstacles into opportunities, and frustration into innovation.
Packages
Cultural Awareness Training Workshop
2 days
We offer an interactive and experiential workshop which helps the client understand the various dimensions of cultural difference and the sub-conscious barriers that may be getting in the way of results. We avoid reliance on stereotypes and offer simple advice to help you find a way around these barriers.
Cross Cultural competence Training and Coaching Programme
8 week programme can be customised to your requirements depending on individual or team needs.
As Cross Cultural fitness like physical fitness requires ongoing, structured practice, this is a more extensive training programme underpinned by a strong coaching approach. Culture is complex and not one dimensional so the addition of coaching to a diversity training programme can make a unique contribution in consolidating its underlying guiding principles i.e. communication, openness and flexibility. Coaching is also underpinned by these principles and seeks to create increased awareness and responsibility in the person being coached.
Benefits
Increase creativity and innovation in workforce by bringing difference perspectives and experiences to the organisation. Multicultural teams have an enormous wealth of material with which to create innovative approaches to complex organizational challenges, and a great range of operating modes with which to develop new ways of implementing solutions.
Business negotiations, marketing, sales and purchasing are all facilitated by thorough knowledge and understanding of cultural differences.
Develop mutually respectful relationships with clients, employees and other stakeholders.
Higher staff retention of non national employees as they experience greater job satisfaction
Increased productivity, lower levels of absenteeism and staff turnover
Attract more talent as emphasis on individual socialisation in the cultural diversity programmes leads to overall workforce feeling more appreciated and valued. (McMillan-Capehart, 2006)
If cross cultural coaching is part of a diversity programme in the organisation, the people and organisation will slowly learn and change to create the ideal conditions for sustained cross cultural success
