Who Should Attend ?

Employees preparing for an assignment in Israel 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 Israel.

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

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Understand Israeli 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 Israeli mindset, work practices, decision-making processes and
• 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 Israel

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 Israeli culture

• A young yet ancient state.  Zionism, Judaism and national identity
• A country of major geopolitical importance.
• A “patchwork quilt” of cultures, ethnic groups and religions.  Urban areas and kibbutzim
• A changing economic situation

3. Israeli values and behaviour patterns

• National identity and military commitments
• Sabra, goyim, diaspora: the importance of individual’s origins
• Male-female equality: differences from one region to another
• Frankness, sincerity and respect
• Emotiveness, humour and irony
• Attitudes to risk and uncertainty

4. Practical day-to-day information

• Focus on the host town or city
• The security situation: recommended precautions
• High quality, high cost infrastructure
• Social life, leisure time and out-of-work activities
• Learning the language
• Schools, extracurricular activities, sport

Module 2 : Successful professionnal integration in Israel

1. The Israeli corporate world

• Israeli companies: a second family
• The concept of “freier”, business and the Talmud
• Liberalized methods with the focus firmly on getting results
• The authorities, the state and the unions: the importance of Istadroute
• Jewish festivals and the business calendar

2. Effective communication with the Israelis

• A relaxed communication style
• Gestural communication, tone and implicit messages
• The challenges of protexia
• Learning Hebrew: a definite advantage

3. Working with Israeli teams

• Effective management: aptitude, leadership and qualifications
• Earning respect: fairness, responsiveness and adaptability
• Collective decisions
• Forging relationships: patience, perseverance and empathy
• Dealing with dissent: using dialogue to defuse difficult situations

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Israelis

• Getting to know your contacts, identifying decision makers
• Preparing for a long-term presence in the country
• Written contracts, their interpretation and implications

5. Final handy tips

• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: the Holocaust, Palestine, the Diaspora
• Humour: a double-edged sword