Who Should Attend?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Gabon 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 Gabon.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Gabonese 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 Gabonese 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 Gabon

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 Gabonese culture

• An equatorial country of sub-Saharan Africa
• A young, large, multiethnic population
• The impact of French colonisation
• The challenges posed by independence and democracy
• Oil: a precious windfall which has attracted numerous other countries
• The economic ambitions of a tightly run state

3. Gabonese values and behaviour patterns

• A male-dominated society
• The family: the cornerstone of Gabonese society
• The presence of religion in a secular environment
• A relative view of time
• Hierarchy and social classes
• The group and the community takes precedence over the individual
• Pride in one’s identity.  A sense of honour.

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 Gabon

1. The Gabonese corporate world

• A respect for hierarchies and authority
• The collective aspects of productivity
• Personal commitment and a fear of failure
• The influence of politics on the country’s economic and business life

2. Effective communication with the Gabonese

• A direct communication style
• Deciphering unspoken messages
• The importance of mediators and networking
• The French language and local dialects

3. Working with Gabonese teams

• Say what you mean and do what you say
• Supervising staff and giving praise where praise is due
• Encouraging feedback
• Dealing with sensitive and touchy people

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Gabonese

• Giving relationships that personal touch: humility and subtlety
• Patience, perseverance and coherence
• Self expression: frankness and honesty
• 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