Who Should Attend

Employees preparing for an assignment in South Africa 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 South Africa.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand South African 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 another mindset, different 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 personal integration in South Africa

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 South African Culture

• A country with immense resources, 9 provinces and 11 official languages
• A multiethnic population, an emerging but fragile nation
• Vast economic potential waiting to be developed
• A country of great interest to imperial nations
• Independence, apartheid and the “pigmentocracy”
• “Truth and reconciliation”: the quest for ”interracial” peace
• Black Economic Empowerment

3. South African values and behaviour patterns

• The family and the South African social fabric, the liberalisation of South African women
• The impact of the Christian religions, limited tribal influence
• A variety of social distinctions
• The passage of time and its regional variations
• Self control and conflict avoidance

4. Practical day-to-day information in South Africa

• Focus on the host town or city Nature reserves, folklore, arts and crafts
• Life in a “living compound”, vital precautions
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• Social life, leisure activities, schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professional integration in South Africa

1. The South African corporate world

• The importance of hierarchies and decision-making bodies
• The impact of day-to-day difficulties upon productivity
• Differing management cultures according to the sector concerned
• The Employment Equity Act

2. Effective communication with the South Africans

• Generating and maintaining dialogue: greetings and small talk
• Giving relationships that personal touch
• Deciphering non-verbal communication
• English, Afrikaner and Zulu: the advantages of knowing at least the basics

3. Working with South African teams

• Building trust and confidence
• The key to effective management: appropriateness, fairness and flexibility
• Encouraging performance: “khuba” and pay
• Responsibility and decision making
• Motivating, delegating, providing feedback, conflict resolution

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the South Africans

• An approach to business which is both Anglo-Saxon and African
• Identifying decision-makers, time and deadline management
• Dealing with administrative burdens and obstacles
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

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