EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING LABS

Half‑day, highly interactive workshop designed for mixed, multicultural teams and their managers.

Workshop purpose

This workshop helps teams surface and reframe the cultural assumptions that quietly create friction, misunderstanding, and mistrust. The emphasis is on building shared language, practical tools, and simple agreements that make day‑to‑day collaboration easier in diverse environments.

Suggested agenda (3.5–4 hours)

Setting the frame (30 min)

1. Brief input on culture, identity, and bias; why diverse teams both outperform and experience more friction.
2. Psychological safety check and shared agreements for the workshop.

Mapping our cultural lenses (60 min)

1. Small‑group exercises using simple cultural dimensions (e.g., directness, power distance, time orientation) to explore differences without blame.
2. Debrief on where misunderstandings usually appear in this team.

Untangling real “knots” (75 min)

1. Participants bring real scenarios (e.g. email tone, meeting behavior, escalation style) and re‑work them using structured models such as LEARN or similar negotiation tools.
2. Role‑plays to practice more inclusive communication and conflict‑de‑escalation.

Designing new team norms (45–60 min)

• Co‑create 5–7 explicit cross‑cultural team agreements (e.g., how we give feedback, how we challenge decisions, how we run hybrid meetings).
• Capture “If you’re not sure, do this…” micro‑guidelines for everyday use.

Core outcomes

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize how cultural lenses shape communication, feedback, and decision‑making at work.
• Name specific “cultural knots” in their team (e.g., direct vs indirect, fast vs consensus‑driven) and replace them with clear, shared norms.
• Use everyday tools—check‑ins, clarifying questions, inclusive meeting habits—to reduce accidental exclusion and conflict.