Overview | Cultural Awareness Training Courses
Cultural awareness training is a course that provides the essential skills for succeeding in a diverse and globalised business world. Research from The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 64% of executives believe cultural misunderstandings have hindered their company’s international business. This course is designed to address that risk directly.
For many organisations, combining cultural awareness training with management training ensures leaders can adapt their style to different contexts while keeping their teams aligned.
It helps you develop what is known as Cultural Agility. You will learn to move beyond a simple list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for specific countries, and instead use practical models to decode any cultural context you encounter.
This approach is critical for managers leading multicultural teams, sales professionals negotiating with international clients, and any team that needs to collaborate effectively across borders. As a specialist in this field, MTD Training is a provider of cultural awareness training that gives you a practical map for navigating a complex world.
Key Outcomes & Objectives
Here are the main skills you will be able to apply after this course:
- Decode key cultural differences in communication, leadership, and decision-making using established models.
- Adapt your communication style to be more effective in both high-context and low-context cultures.
- Anticipate and resolve potential conflicts that arise from differing cultural approaches to feedback and hierarchy.
- Build trust and rapport more quickly with international colleagues and clients.
- Avoid the common mistakes that can derail cross-border negotiations and projects.
- Lead a diverse, multicultural team with greater confidence and inclusivity.
- Recognise and begin to mitigate your own unconscious cultural biases.
This Course Is Suitable For
This training is designed for any professional whose success depends on working effectively with people from different backgrounds, including:
- Managers and Team Leaders of diverse teams
- HR & L&D Professionals
- International Sales and Business Development teams
- Project Managers on global teams
- Senior Leaders overseeing international operations
- Expatriates and international assignees
- Client-facing staff with a global client base
- Anyone working in a multicultural environment.
Make An Enquiry Today
Please complete our enquiry form with
your requirements or give our team a call.
Course Content
Here is an example of an in-house, customised course we can run for you. We can deliver this course exactly as it is below, or we can tweak it to suit your requirements.
Introduction To Cultural Awareness
- Why is it important?
- Common challenges that workplaces face
- Are you culturally aware?
Understanding Values
- What does culture mean?
- What are values?
- Improve the awareness of cultural values and how these compare with people from other cultures
- Understanding the world according to others
Relationship Building
- How to build up effective networks and relationships with others
- To provide tips, techniques and strategies to understand and adopt business and social etiquette
- How to handle questions during negotiations, sales and presentations in a multi-cultural context
- How to encourage non-native speakers to communicate more effectively
Communicating
- How to communicate effectively and how to overcome language barriers
- Techniques and strategies to improve the understanding of organisational and cultural differences
- Looking at how teams operate from other cultural perspectives – how meetings are run, the role of a manager, preferred communication methods etc
- How to effectively negotiate with people from different cultures
Personal Action Planning
- Developing a plan action – what will it take?
- What are you going to start doing?
- What are you going to stop doing?
- What are you going to do more of?
- What are you going to do less of?
Key Features
Cultural Awareness Training
Gain valuable insights and strategies to navigate and appreciate cultural diversity in the workplace. Our courses are delivered by experienced trainers in an engaging, practical way that makes the learning easy to understand and apply.
Embed The Learning
Understanding cultural awareness is essential, but applying it in everyday work situations can be challenging. That’s why our courses include methods and tools to help you embed cultural awareness practices into your work environment.
Certification
All our solutions are assured by the Institute of Leadership and Management and are CPD certified. This reassures you that the training you will receive is the very best.
What Learners Say
Participants often share that the cultural insights and strategies learned on our courses have greatly improved their interactions and team collaboration. Please check out our independent Feefo reviews to see for yourself.
On-Going Support
After the cultural awareness training has taken place, all learners will receive 3 months access to our sister company Skillshub’s eLearning platform. They will also receive email and phone support that they can tap into.
Similar Learners
Our courses are ideal if you’ve had no formal training or a new to the role. All the other learners on our course are in the same boat as you which helps to gel the group.
Make An Enquiry Today
Please complete our enquiry form with
your requirements or give our team a call.
FAQs about Cultural Awareness Training
What Is Cultural Awareness Training?
Cultural awareness training is a course that provides practical frameworks for working effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds.
It moves beyond stereotypes to give you a reliable system for understanding why people from other cultures might think, communicate, and act differently in a business setting. The course is about building conscious understanding to replace unconscious assumptions. It also complements equality and diversity training, since both focus on creating inclusive workplaces where differences are respected and valued.
The goal is to help you develop what is known as Cultural Agility. This is the ability to read a cultural context and adapt your behaviour to be more effective in that specific situation. As a specialist, MTD Training is a provider of cultural awareness training, and we deliver it through in-person workshops.
Ultimately, the aim is to give you a portable ‘cultural compass’. This is a set of mental models that helps you navigate any cross-cultural interaction with confidence and skill.
What Does The Training Cover?
The training is built around a practical toolkit of cultural frameworks, not just a list of customs. A central model we use is Erin Meyer’s 8-Scale Culture Map, which is specifically designed for international business.
You will learn to map cultures along eight key dimensions. These cultural frameworks are also explored in training courses for managers, where leaders are taught how to adapt their style to different contexts and build trust across diverse teams.
These include how different cultures communicate, from direct and explicit to indirect and nuanced. You will learn how they build trust, either through tasks and shared work or through personal relationships. The course also covers different approaches to leadership, from hierarchical to egalitarian.
By learning to analyse a culture through these scales, you gain a powerful predictive tool. You’ll understand why a direct feedback style that works well in one culture can be deeply demotivating in another, giving you a method for adapting your approach.
What Are The Key Benefits?
The key benefits of cultural awareness training are better business outcomes, reduced risk in international dealings, and a more inclusive company culture.
The primary benefit is improved financial performance. Research from McKinsey shows that companies with high cultural diversity on their executive teams are 36% more likely to be more profitable.
It is also a critical risk-management tool. Data cited by SHRM shows that the high cost of a failed international assignment is most often due to cultural issues, not a lack of technical skill. This training directly addresses that risk.
Finally, a culturally competent organisation is a more attractive place to work. A global study by Deloitte found that 83% of millennials are more actively engaged when they believe their organisation creates an inclusive culture. This is critical for attracting and retaining the best global talent.
Who Is This Training For?
This training is designed for people in a few distinct situations.
- For the Manager of a Diverse Team: It is for the manager who needs to get the best out of a multicultural team, but struggles with communication gaps, different working styles, and making certain everyone feels included. The course gives you a framework for leading that team more effectively. These are the same challenges often explored in a leadership training course, where managers learn how to adapt their style to different individuals and contexts.
- For the International Professional: It is also for the international professional. You might be a salesperson negotiating a deal in a new country, or a project manager leading a virtual team across three continents. This training provides the tools to avoid costly cultural missteps.
- For the Organisation: Finally, the course is for the HR leader or executive responsible for a global expansion or for building a truly inclusive culture. It provides a practical way to support your people and create an environment that can attract and retain the best talent from around the world.
Make An Enquiry
Please call us on 0333 320 2883, email us at info@mtdtraining.com or complete our form below with any questions that you may have and we will get back to you.