Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Australia 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 Australia.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Australian 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 Australian 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 Australia

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 to Australian culture

• A continent-sized country, 14 times larger than France
• A unique and occasionally hostile ecosystem
• Colonisation and migration: a multi-ethnic and ultra-urbanised population
• A combination of the English language and multilingualism
• A Parliamentary democracy, part of the Commonwealth
• Top level education

3. Australian values and behaviour patterns

• An American-style family structure
• A respect for private space and distance.  Sport as a religion
• Autonomy and an ability to adapt 
• Politeness and humility: a respect for differences
• The relationship between men and women: equality and separation
• Australian humour: a part of day-to-day life

4. Practical day to day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• Excellent infrastructure
• Immense regions and outstanding towns and cities waiting to be discovered
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Australia

1. The Australian corporate world

• A unique pace of work
• A very limited sense of hierarchy
• A relaxed yet hard-working professional environment
• An Anglo-Saxon business culture

2. Effective communication with the Australians

• A frank-talking nation: say what you do and do what you say
• Avoiding those awkward silences: the role of visual contact
• Understanding Australian familiarity
• The special characteristics of "Aussie English"
• The working language: the role of the interpreter

3. Working with Australian teams

• A cool head, a relaxed attitude, reliability and discipline
• Efficiency, speed and pragmatism
• Consensual decision-making.  Performance as the key
• Respect for differences and for the private lives of others
• Conflict resolution: perspective, separation and mediation

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with Australians

• Making the right impression: precision, conciseness and punctuality
• The value attached to the written word
• The importance of feedback and follow-up

5. Final handy tips

• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code, etc
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, aborigines
• Humour: an important part of your social toolkit