Czech Republic - Working and dealing with the Czechs

Who Should Attend ?

Company managers and staff working and dealing with the Czechs.

Objectives

The aim of this seminar is to significantly improve the participants’ effectiveness in their professional relationships with the Czechs, enabling them to be operational right from the start.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired insights and techniques to:

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Fully understand Czech context and culture
• Analyse possible situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating
• Reduce stress and misunderstandings
• Decipher and understand decision-making and negotiation processes

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Understanding cultural differences

1. Intercultural awareness, the key to success in international business

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• The basics of effective intercultural management
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Czech culture

• A nation situated at a crossroads in Central Europe
• A proud and impressive historical and cultural heritage
• A relatively uniform population
• Significant regional disparities
• A political system which remains unstable
• The challenges of European integration
• A high performance educational system

3. The impact of values and behaviour patterns on professional dealings and relationships

• The compartmentalized relationships of men and women
• The Czech sense of humour
• Etiquette, politeness and courtesy
• Aesthetic aspects and the day-to-day art of living
• The subtleties of Czech expressiveness

4. The Polish corporate world

• Working methods influenced by the country’s Soviet past
• The generation gap
• A high degree of formality
• Czech business environment: success and performance
• The unions: a key factor in the business world

Module 2 : Succeeding in work with the Czechs

1. Effective communication with the Czechs

• A respect for protocol and etiquette
• Understanding implicit messages
• A complex Slavic language
• Business English not particularly prevalent

2. Adapting your working methods

• Effective management: charisma and availability
• The motivation challenge: autonomy and recognition
• The pace of work and the working day: pitfalls to be avoided
• Maintaining trust and confidence: building and maintaining loyalty among your staff
• Team working: providing feedback
• Favouritism and fairness
• Conflict resolution: the danger of inertia

3. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Czechs

• The importance of working in a climate of trust
• Negotiation techniques
• Reaching a compromise
• The primacy of the written word

4. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Protocol and etiquette
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code, etc
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
• Humour: a double-edged sword