Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Kazakhstan 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 Kazakhstan.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Kazakh 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 Kazakh 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 Kazakhstan

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 Kazakh culture

• A Central Asian nation located at a meeting point between numerous civilisations
• A multiethnic society
• The heritage of the nation’s Soviet past
• An ancestral civilisation with a strong spoken and Islamic tradition
• An economy in the process of restructuring

3. Kazakh values and behaviour patterns

• A mixture of Slavic and Asian values
• A deep sense of national pride
• Widening social inequalities
• A refined sense of humour
• A communal tradiction
• The importance of appearances
• A flexible approach to time

4. Practical day to day information in Kazakhstan

• 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 Kazakhstan

1. The Kazakh corporate world

• The continued existence of Soviet practices and procedures
• Rigour and discipline
• A fast-changing, market economy
• The role of national and local authorities

2. Effective communication with the Kazakhs

• Paying careful attention to formalities and greetings
• A communication style based on a combination of reserve and subtlety
• The importance of networking
• All the complexity of a multilingual nation

3. Working with Kazakh teams

• Effective management: charisma, professionalism and inventiveness
• Getting to know people well in order to boost their output
• Open-mindedness and accessibility
• Supervising, organizing and inspiring

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Kazakhs

• Building trust and confidence: reliability and straight talking
• The importance of socialising outside work
• Time and deadline management
• 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