Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Latvia 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 Latvia.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Latvian 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 Latvian 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 Latvia

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 Latvian culture

• A Baltic state: geography, population and languages
• A multi-ethnic society
• A fragile economic situation
• The challenges of European integration

3. Latvian values and behaviour patterns

• A well-entrenched tradition of equality
• The powerful role played by women in Latvia
• Reserve, caution and mistrust
• The importance attached to appearances
• The slow pace of time in Latvia
• Humour, irony and causticity
• The importance of collective folklore

4. Practical day-to-day information

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

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Latvia

1. The Latvian corporate world

•  The persistence of Soviet methods
• The differences between the private and public sectors
• A hierarchical company structure with centralized decision-making

2. Effective communication with the Latvians

• The importance of networking
• Understanding gestures
• Silences and unspoken communication
• The advantages of learning Latvian

3. Working with Latvians teams

• Effective management: experience, reliability and perseverance
• Building trust to maximise personal commitment
• Dealing with touchy and sensitive people in order to combat inertia
• The importance of socialisation both through and during work

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Latvians

• Proposing and convincing
• Forging long-term relationships
• Patience and perseverance
• 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, Russia
• Humour: a double-edged sword