How to Design a Training Program for Different Cultural Customs
Cultural diversity can be extremely advantageous to a business; it can create a dynamic, responsive, and cooperative internal environment and can translate directly into better customer service, more intuitive sales staff and more profits. However, designing a program that accommodates cultural diversity can be difficult without a clear plan of action. A cultural diversity training program that doesn't provide the benefits listed above can be worse than not having one at all.
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Instructions
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Designing a Training Program for Different Cultural Customs
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Establish a diversity steering committee to direct and design the program. This committee should be made up of volunteers representing a cross-section of the business entity. Participation should be open to all levels of the corporate body and encouraged from the top-most executive to the supervisory level. Initial direction, purpose, and goals should be provided by the Human Resource Director.
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Clearly communicate to all committee members, management and staff the needs and benefits of a successful cultural diversity program. While the program is morally constructive, it is foremost a business decision to improve the bottom line. Be repetitive and consistent when communicating the benefits of a successful program; if you can establish cultural diversity as an aspect of the corporate culture, your program will have a greatly increased chance of success.
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Tie the understanding of diverse cultures into various aspects of the business. The diversity program should train human resource managers to recognize and screen for diverse cultural characteristics that will benefit the company in a given position. For example, staff a position that relates daily to customers or vendors in Italy with a background of cultural exposure to the country and its people.
Having a greater cultural understanding of a market or consumer group because your company promotes cultural diversity within can prevent serious business losses. For example, Gerber brand baby foods could have used the cultural awareness necessary to realize their name translates to "vomit' in French-speaking markets (especially before spending millions of dollars on market entry).
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Obtain "buy-in" and the full commitment and participation of management. Coordinate events, seminars, and training sessions that incorporate trivia, prizes, or competitions that encourage full participation. Incorporate an additional competitive aspect targeting supervisors, managers, and department heads. "Which manager can lead the diversity effort best," can be a very engaging theme to gain the dedication of the managerial staff.
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Custom design your training program to include those cultures that best represent your corporate body as well as your clientele. When staff members ask themselves, "What has this got to do with me?" the relevance will be apparent in both the internal and external business environment.
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Be consistent with follow-up. The training must be periodically revisited and refreshed in order to maintain the program membership in the steering committee must be periodically rotated out to offer leadership opportunities. Trainers and session leaders must train staff in such a way that they are prepared to train others; build these opportunities and aspects of self sufficiency into your program and it will generate benefits for your company year after year.
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Tips & Warnings
Many firms offer "pre-packaged" diversity training; you should be very careful how you use these vendors' services. It's usually best to have them perform an analysis of your company's training need and design a program for you to fulfill yourself.
If you employ outside consultants, partner with the training effort. If the program does not appear to be internally driven and internally owned, stakeholders will perceive it as something to be endured. Eventually, the effort will fail to be assimilated into the corporate culture and will become too expensive to be supported by third party consultants.
