Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Ghana and their partners

Benefits of Attendance

This seminar aims at significantly improving the ability of the participants to meet the challenges of living and working abroad. The objective is to enable them to identify the stumbling blocks that lie ahead and to be able to adapt and integrate in Ghana.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Ghanaian context and culture
• Analyse situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
• Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
• Understand Ghanaian mindset, work practices, decision-making processes and negotiating styles
• Strike the right balance between personal et professional lives

Training Approach

• A cross-cultural approach of International Mobility
• Country specific trainers
• Personalized and familiy focused action plan
• Access to the Nomad’ Network, an exclusive online tool for Akteos’ clients and experts:  find resources, exchange experiences, knowledge and insights

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Successful personnal integration in Ghana

1. Cross-cultural awareness : the key to a successful expatriation

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• Culture shock and the integration process
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Ghanaian culture

• A relatively stable member state of the Commonwealth
• The impact of British colonisation
• A multiethnic and tribal society
• A complex political situation

3. Ghanaian values and behaviour patterns

• The importance of patriarchal values
• Looking beyond the stereotypes: The role of Ghanaian women
• The huge importance attached to private life
• An intrinsically hierarchical society
• The contrasts between rural and urban life
• The importance of religion
• A haphazard view of time
• Irony and teasing
• A rather fatalistic mindset

4. Practical day to day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• Social life, leisure activities
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Ghana

1. The Ghanaian corporate world

• A paternalistic company structure
• A high degree of formality
• A tradition of professional comradeship and fraternity
• The role of national and local authorities

2. Effective communication with the Ghanaians

• The importance of interpersonal relationships and networking
• The extensive use of gestural and non-verbal communication
• The deceptive ease of explicit communication
• English, dialects, and the selection of an interpreter

3. Working with Ghanaian teams

• Goodwill, an open mind and charisma
• Being firm but fair
• Supervising, explaining and understanding
• Encouraging personal and collective success

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Ghanaians

• Ensuring flexibility and coherence
• Creating a climate of trust
• Socialising outside working hours
• Attitudes to contracts and their implications

5. Final handy tips

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