Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Pakistan 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 Pakistan.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Pakistani 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 Pakistani 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 Pakistan

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 Pakistani culture

• A young country with a rich and complex history
• The impact of British colonisation
• A multiethnic society
• A delicate political situation

3. Pakistani values and behaviour patterns

• Curiosity and hospitality
• The country’s Islamic roots
• A male-oriented environment
• A flexible view of time
• Respect for authority and status
• A society comprised of economic and political classes
• Cricket: an important social phenomenon

4. Practical day-to-day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• Social life, leisure activities
• Learning the language
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Pakistan

1. The Pakistani corporate world

• A formal, well-structured and hierarchical organization
• A focus on productivity
• The role played by government offices and departments

2. Effective communication with the Pakistanis

• Politeness and greetings
• Implicit and  limited gestural forms of communication
• The importance of networking
• Pakistani English used for business

3. Working with Pakistani teams

• Management material: leadership, professionalism and experience
• The advantage of strong interpersonal relationships
• Making the most of opportunities: responsiveness and rapidity
• Encouraging team input
• Effective decision-making: listening, supervising and verifying

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Pakistanis

• Patience and diplomacy
• Discipline and precision
• Making the most of networks in order to forge relationships
• 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, India, Afghanistan
• Humour: a double-edged sword