Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Burkina Faso 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 Burkina Faso.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand the context and the culture of Burkina Faso
• Analyse situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
• Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
• Understand Brazilian 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 Burkina Faso

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 Burkinabe culture

• A West African enclave state,  “The land of upstanding men”
• A young, large and multiethnic population
• Upper Volta during the days of the French empire
• The challenges of independence and democracy
• A fragile and chiefly agricultural economy

3. Burkinabe values and behaviour patterns

• A male-dominated society
• The family: a vital cornerstone of society
• Religion in a secular environment
• A relative approach to time
• Careful attention paid to appearances
• Hierarchy and social classes within Mossi culture
• The group takes precedence over the individual
• A rejection of envy and jealousy
• Restraint and self control

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 Burkina Faso

1. The Burkinabe corporate world

• Respect for hierarchies and authority
• The collective aspect of productivity
• Personal commitment and a fear of failure
• The role of the state and the authorities

2. Effective communication with Burkinabe

• The importance of greetings
• Maintaining neutrality: remaining above the fray
• The importance of mediators and networks
• The French language spoken in Burkina and local languages

3. Working with Burkinabe teams

• Effective management: consensus and expertise
• Building trust and confidence: establishing your credibility and reputation
• Overcoming passive resistance
• Recruitment, loyalty building, training, passing on knowledge
• Motivation, delegation, providing feedback and praise, conflict resolution

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with Burkinabe

• Building trust and confidence: giving relationships that personal touch
• Identifying decision makers
• Restraint and subtlety: learning to be patient
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code, etc
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion