Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Benin 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 Benin.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Beninese 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 Beninese 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 Benin

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 Beninese culture

• From Dahomey to Benin: a proud history
• The heritage of French colonisation
• A patchwork quilt of tribes and ethnic groups
• Christianity, Islam, voodoo and mysticism
• A developing economy

3. Beninese values and behaviour patterns

• Family life is sacrosanct
• Significant inequality of the sexes
• A notion of time based on nature
• The socialisation of the hinterland
• A respect for elders and for status
• An emphasis on hospitality and personal relationships.
• Avoiding conflicts through peaceful and harmonious relationships

4. Practical day-to-day information

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

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Benin

1. The Beninese corporate world

• Paternalistic company structure
• Decision-making centred on the company hierarchy
• The pitfalls of nepotism

2. Effective communication with the Beninese

• A reserved and implicit communication style
• The importance of visual and gestural communication
• The deceptive simplicity of using the French language

3. Working with Beninese teams

• Effective management: expertise, charisma and diplomacy
• Building trust and confidence: kindness and an open mind
• Prudence and restraint
• Avoiding frustration and anticipating resistance

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Beninese

• Initiating dialogue
• Persevering, waiting and confirming
• The benefits and pitfalls of personal relationships
• 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