Creating the "million dollar team": 11 benefits of cross-cultural training

Today, we at MCS International would like to summarize the benefits of cross-cultural training (CCT), explain what they mean for your team, and illustrate how they could make your team the gold standard of your whole company. Let’s get right into it!

  1. Employee motivation

    Cross-cultural training gives employees/expatriates the tools they need to overcome culture shock, which is arguably the largest obstacle when it comes to the success of a non host country national (HCN). CCT will help the employee foster positive feelings toward their host culture which can help prevent possible negative experiences. This, therefore, promotes employee well-being and motivation.

  2. Development of trust between colleagues

    Colleagues who do not understand each other’s behaviors cannot build authentic relationships. Take the following example: an employee from East Asia withholds their opinions from their colleague out of politeness, while the colleague from North America attempts to give them leeway to express themself freely. Both are trying to appease their counterpart, but do not realize that they are both making the other uncomfortable through their actions. CCT helps fill in the gaps in a person's understanding of another's behaviors that result from exposure to their own culture throughout their lifetime. 

  3. Return on investment (improve assignees’ adjustment)

    The return on investment for CCT is manifold and long-lasting. 

    a) Firstly, expatriate failure is reduced immensely when the expatriate has completed CCT. Up to as much as 40% of expatriates return prematurely from an international assignment and can cost a company upwards of three annual incomes, or well over $1m dollars over the course of a longer assignment.

    b) Secondly, CCT accelerates an employee’s adjustment in a new culture. Before moving, an employee forms their own opinions about a new culture. If these opinions are misinformed or based on inaccurate information, the person is negatively surprised upon their realization that the new culture is not what they expected. This can have detrimental effects on a person’s well-being in their new surroundings. In this regard, CCT helps people form realistic expectations of the new culture. The accelerated rate at which an employee adjusts, as well as the improvement of cultural understanding as a result of CCT will help prevent unforeseen problems, and save your organization time and money in the long run.

  4. Confidence building

    An employee who is informed about the culture they find themself in can better adjust to the societal norms of the new culture. A feeling of fitting in builds the employee’s confidence when interacting with host country nationals (HCNs).

  5. Cultural competency development/breaking down barriers

    Naturally, a benefit of CCT is the development of cultural competencies. This includes improved understanding of subtle cues from people of other cultures, as well as the expectation of behaviors that are different from one’s own behaviors. Among colleagues, this facilitates the removal of barriers toward effective and non-judgmental interactions.

  6. Development of interpersonal skills

    One of the few outlets where professionals can seize the opportunity to develop interpersonal skills without returning to university or other formal education programs is through CCT. A CCT program is generally built by outlining cultural principles and informing participants about cultural norms, both of which are followed by case studies and role-playing. This immersive experience allows the employee to reflect on their own behaviors and actions in the context of behaviors and actions of people from a different culture.

  7. Becoming sensitive to subtle cultural differences

    A decisive executive in a boardroom may be what everyone at the table expects in one culture, yet in another culture they may come across as bullish and rude. The skills that make someone effective in one culture may not be what makes them effective in another. In fact, those who are most effective in one culture are primed for exactly that culture and not for any other. CCT will help sensitize employees to these subtle cultural differences, and become more aware of how their own behavior is perceived. All employees have something to gain from CCT.

  8. Development of listening skills

    Through learning to expect differing cues in another culture, those who complete CCT develop more adept listening skills. While now expecting different behaviors and actions from counterparts in a new culture, CCT trainees will be better able to listen out for subtle differences in tone and pattern of speech.

  9. Recognizing and responding to changes in markets of other cultures

    As an added benefit of CCT, your team may develop keen insight into the trends and interests of people of a culture other than their own. This places your organization in a unique position to reap the benefits of enlightened insights about another culture which can be acted upon to capitalize on market arbitrage.

  10. Career development

    As your employees move up the rungs in your organization, you will naturally wish for them to be as well equipped as possible to deal with issues that may arise. Through the global trend of cooperative work in cross-cultural teams, including cross-cultural virtual teams, cross-cultural conflicts and issues will most likely be of increasing concern to managers. In this vein, CCT will act as a further outlet for career development for the employees of your organization.

  11. Elimination of prejudices and biases among coworkers

    Naturally, learning about other cultures induces introspection toward one’s own behavior and norms, and opinions held of other cultures. Any obvious prejudices and biases will most likely be removed once the employee is aware of them. However, learning about another culture can be a great opportunity for an employee to discover what they enjoy most about the other culture in general. This could be anything ranging from the culture’s values to the importance of timeliness, or the disposition of members of the host country’s culture regarding the invitation of private life affairs into conversations among colleagues.

Not only will your team set a great example for other teams in your company, but the additional synergy created from more efficient cooperation and citizenship behaviors (behaviors which the company does not compensate the employee for such as helping new hires settle into their jobs) will increase the value of your team manifold.

If you would like to learn more about cross-cultural training, please visit our website and send us a message via our contact us page. We would love to hear from you. Here’s the link: https://mcsinternational.de/