Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in the Czech Republic 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 the Czech Republic.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Czech 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 Czech 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 the Czech Republic

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 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. Czech values and behaviour patterns

• The compartmentalized relationships of men and women
• The Czech sense of humour
• Aesthetic aspects and the day-to-day art of living
• The subtleties of Czech expressiveness 
• Reasoning and thinking patterns

4. Practical day to day information in Czech Republic

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

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in the Czech Republic

1. The Czech 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

2. Effective communication with the Czechs

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

3. Working with Czech teams

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

4. 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

5. Final handy tips

• Etiquette, politeness and courtesy
• Gifts, business cards, dress code, etc
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion