Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Singapore 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 Singapore.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand the context and the culture of Singapore
• Analyse situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
• Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
• Understand Singaporean 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 Singapore

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 Singaporean culture

• A city state surrounded by powerful neighbours
• A multiracial population. Extensive Chinese influence
• Singapore’s British and military heritage
• A successful economy based on trade and industry

3. Singaporean values and behaviour patterns

• The importance of Chinese references and values
• Family traditions, the role of women and children
• The Singaporean approach to time and space: cyclical and unified
• Identifying private and public realms
• Attitudes to groups, hierarchies and authority: a quest for harmony and coherence
• Attitudes to risk and uncertainty

4. Practical day-to-day information in Singapore

• Singapore in brief: density and overpopulation
• Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
• An intense and extremely diverse cultural scene
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Singapore

1. The corporate world in Singapore

• The main keys to understanding the way Singaporean companies operate
• Different approaches and working methods.  The notion of quality
• The market and employment: Singaporean factors and challenges
• The role of the state and of the Communist Party

2. Effective communication with the Singaporeans

• Understanding the true meanings of Yes and No
• The value of the written word, the importance of non-verbal communication
• Identifying connexions and relationships. Maintaining a necessary distance
• The role of the interpreter: ensuring that your message gets across

3. Working with Singaporean teams

• Local management styles: a well-established sense of hierarchy
• A concept of responsibility similar to that of the Chinese
• Recruitment, loyalty building, training, knowledge transmission
• Motivating, delegating, providing feedback and handling conflicts

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Singaporeans

• The preparatory phase: negotiation is seen as both an art and a sport
• Identifying decision-makers
• Time and deadline management
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility: allow others to save face
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
• Humour: a double-edged sword