Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Uruguay 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 Uruguay.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Uruguayan 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 Uruguayan  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 personnal integration in Uruguay

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 Uruguayan culture

• A uniform population derived from migration and assimilation
• An Amerindian country characterised by its plains and rivers.
• High urban density levels
• Colonial rivalry, the war of independence and the military dictatorship
• An economy chiefly based on agriculture and tourism
• Free education and the limits of the welfare state

3. Uruguayan values and behaviour patterns

• Hospitality and curiosity
• A patriarchal and family-centric society
• Pride in one's identity. Symbols and patriotism: the Gaucho figure
• Clearly defined social classes
• The importance of status and authority
• A collective and communal tradition: football and sociability
• The importance of appearances

4. Practical day-to-day information

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

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Uruguay

1. The Uruguayan corporate world

• A hierarchical structure with supervised decision-making
• The prestige attached to studies and qualifications
• Clubs and interest groups: privileges and nepotism
• The role of national and local authorities

2. Effective communication with the Uruguayans

• The importance of etiquette and greetings
• The decisive influence of networks
• A communication style making extensive use of gestures, hints and insinuation
• Rioplatense, business English and gauschesco

3. Working with Uruguayan teams

• Effective management: a willingness to listen and responsiveness
• Building trust and confidence: praising and enhancing skills and initiative
• Encouraging feedback: brainstorming and joint decision-making
• Planning, supervision and verification

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Uruguayans

• Giving relationships that personal touch by devoting time to them outside working hours
• Encouraging and building upon similarities
• Basic expertise and rectitude in formal situations
• 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