Working with overseas co-workers and managers can be challenging for Japanese business people. The language barrier is one of these challenges. However, the other important issue is how to communicate with foreign colleagues effectively, for example, how to convince a foreign boss to allocate more money for an important business project, or how to evaluate the performance of foreign employees in the cross-cultural team. It is important to learn how to deal with difficult foreign managers or how to improve the motivation of foreign employees if you need to manage them in your company.

The key to the effective communication is to understand the cultural differences and to be able to adjust personal communication styles to these differences. The workshop will give a practical guidance on how to improve the efficiency of communication with foreign co-workers and managers. Various examples and short case studies will be employed to explain how Japanese employees can work more effectively in cross-cultural teams.

This workshop is suitable for those managers and employees who work with the overseas co-workers, but find it challenging to communicate effectively with them.

Online support (additional discussion topics, articles and exercises) will be available in addition to the seminar session. Each class will follow the interactive learning format and will include role-plays and class discussion.

Originally from Russia, Mr. Kotykhov received his business training in New Zealand and earned a Master's Degree in Business from Auckland University of Technology. He has taught business-oriented courses in Japan and New Zealand for the last seven years.