Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Croatia 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 Croatia.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Croatian 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 Croatian 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 Croatia

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 Croatian culture

• A nation situated at the gateway to Europe, between the Balkans and the Mediterranean
• The impact of the Yugoslav conflict
• A multiethnic society
• A booming economy, currently in a state of transition

3. Croatian values and behaviour patterns

• The importance of family and patriarchal values
• The emancipation of Croatian women 
• Pride in one’s identity and a sense of honour
• A class based, status-centric society
• A flexible view of time
• Cynicism and irony
• Appearances and reality

4. Practical day-to-day information

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

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Croatia

1. The Croatian corporate world

• The persistence of Soviet-style traditions
• A hierarchical and conservative organisational structure
• Fraud and corruption
• Favouritism and privileges

2. Effective communication with the Croats

• Deciphering indirect communication
• The importance of networking
• A sacred personal space
• The specific features of the Croatian language

3. Working with Croatian teams

• Building trust and confidence: patience, adaptability, flexibility
• Effective management: experience, detachment and charisma.
• Carefully scheduling deadlines in order to maximize productivity
• Avoiding jealousy and rumour-mongering
• Encouraging people to be responsible for their actions

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Croats

• Formality and discipline
• Gaining respect and generating interest
• Written contracts, their interpretation and 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