Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for a professional mission in La Réunion 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 on Reunion Island.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand culture and environment of the Reunion
• Analyze 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 of the French of the Reunion
• Establish optimum 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 on Reunion Island

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 Réunionnais culture

• A French overseas département at a crossroads between Africa and Asia
• The largest island of the Mascareignes Archipelago
• Mascarin, Bourbon, La Réunion: historical timeline
• A multi-ethnic and multiracial society
• A tropical climate with volcanic influences
• An economy chiefly based on agriculture and tourism

3.  Values and behaviour patterns of the Reunion

• Family and community: Key factors
• Individualistic cultural development
• Monotheism and paganism
• A flexible and adaptable view of time
• Significant social disparities
• Festivities: important social occasions

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 on Reunion Island

1. The corporate world of the Reunion

• A liberal, state-supervised company structure
• Concerted decision-making, though open to discussion
• A fragile labour market

2. Effective communication with the people of the Reunion

• The importance of networking
• Understanding verbal communication
• Implicit and unspoken communication
• The French language and Creole used on a daily basis

3. Working with Réunionnais teams

• Effective management: an open mind, flexibility and charisma
• Recognising and praising individual performance
• Cafres, Z'oreilles, Malabars, Malgaches, Petits Blancs…
• Lenient and benevolent supervision to encourage feedback
• The importance of maintaining a respectful distance

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Réunionnais

• Establishing your credibility
• Relationships based on trust and confidence
• Responsiveness and inventiveness
• The value and obligations of a written contract

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