Who Should Attend ?

Company managers and staff working and dealing with the Latvians

Benefits of Attendance

The aim of this seminar is to significantly improve the participants’ effectiveness in their professional relationships with the Latvians, enabling them to be operational right from the start.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Fully understand Latvian context and culture
• Analyse possible situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating
• Reduce stress and misunderstandings
• Decipher and understand Latvian decision-making and negotiation processes

Training Approach

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Understanding cultural differences

1. Intercultural awareness, the key to success in international business

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• The basics of effective intercultural management
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Latvian culture

• A Baltic state: geography, population and languages
• A multi-ethnic society
• A fragile economic situation
• The challenges of European integration

3. The impact of values and behaviour patterns on professional dealings and relationships

• A well-entrenched tradition of equality
• The powerful role played by women in Latvia
• Reserve, caution and mistrust
• The importance attached to appearances
• The slow pace of time in Latvia
• Humour, irony and causticity
• The importance of collective folklore

4. The Latvian corporate world

• The persistence of Soviet methods
• The differences between the private and public sectors
• A hierarchical company structure with centralized decision-making
• Professional relationships

Module 2 : Succeeding in work with the Latvians

1. Effective communication with the Latvians

• The importance of networking
• Understanding gestures
• Silences and unspoken communication
• The advantages of learning Latvian

2. Adapting your working methods

• Effective management: experience, reliability and perseverance
• Building trust to maximise personal commitment
• Dealing with touchy and sensitive people in order to combat inertia
• The importance of socialisation both through and during work
• Pitfalls to be avoided

3. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Latvians

• Proposing and convincing
• Forging long-term relationships
• Patience and perseverance
• Attitudes to contracts and their implications

4. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Protocol and etiquette
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, Russia
• Humour: a double-edged sword