Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in a country of the Maghreb region, 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 the Maghreb.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand North African 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 another 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 the Maghreb

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 North African culture

• Geographical information: defining the Greater Maghreb area
• Arabs and Berbers: a mix of peoples
• The impact of colonial domination: colonies and protectorates
• All the richness and diversity of a thousand-year-old heritage 
• The issue of democracy
• Highly promising economic ambitions

3. North African values and behaviour patterns

• Vital bedrocks: the family and tribe
• A sense of hospitality and honour
• The key role of women in the Maghreb
• Islam as a guiding force
• A respect for age and authority
• The role of the individual in and via the community
• A flexible view of time

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 in the Maghreb

1. The North African corporate world

• A paternalistic environment
• The impact of Islam in business life
• The control exercised by the state and the authorities

2. Effective communication with the North Africans from the Maghreb

• The challenge of implicit communication
• Interconnecting networks
• The value of gestural communication and appearances
• Arabic and French used for business

3. Working with North African teams

• Availability, distance and an open mind
• Building a specific company culture to boost staff loyalty
• Responsiveness and feedback: getting the most from creative people
• Decision-making and supervision: conflict avoidance

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the North Africans from the Maghreb

• Giving relationships that personal touch
• Negotiating and haggling: identifying decision-makers
• The virtues of patience and perspective
• Giving your best and taking the long-term view
• 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