Project Support & Organization Development

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I have substantial experience with work in the following areas of project support:

• Communication Intermediary:

  • The MENA societies operate on the principle of relationship building. Unless trust is established, the collaboration with an international partner may prove difficult to impossible.  The consequence for its businesses and institutions is that despite the common use of virtual communication tools, face to face presence of the international partner is often required; especially in the early stages of the project  or when problems in implementation occur. This can pose a serious obstacle for some organisations that do not have a representative on the ground in the region.

  • I have substantial experience of working as a go between, representing the absent organisation in the face to face meetings and thus ensuring that the project runs smoothly until such point when virtual communication becomes sufficient.

• Reporting:

  • My experience in this stage of project support includes different types of reporting extended over a project´s lifecycle. Progress, status or final reports, I´ve done it all.

• Monitoring & Evaluation: 

  • As an independent observer and evaluator, the credibility and objectivity of my monitoring and evaluation reports is a given.  My academic training in qualitative research methods is yet another plus.

Training Interventions

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In case you are preparing a workshop, training, or an interactive conference and you need further ideas or support when it comes to one of these areas:

• Training methodologies & methods
• Training design & flow
• Engaging the audience (group dynamics)
• Organizational logistics
• Monitoring & Evaluation;

or you need a sounding board (or devil´ s advocate) to ensure that the preparation and/ or implementation of your training or event are on the right track, I am here to help! 

Intricacies of Daily Life in Egypt

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I provide tailored cultural advice about the daily realities of foreigners living in Egypt, based on my personal experience of living and working in Egypt since 2004 as well as my academic studies and research.  In order to understand the challenges and benefits that Egypt has to offer to foreigners who choose to settle down here, I look into three main areas:

• Egyptian society & people
  • Cultural & socio-economic overview
  • Tips for Egyptian social etiquette
• On being a foreigner / woman in Egypt
  • Egyptian attitudes to foreigners
  • Foreign women & Egypt
• Daily reality of living and working in Egypt
  • Main challenges
  • Strategies for successful life & work

Doing Business in Egypt

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I provide tailored cultural advice with the aim to advance client´s deeper understanding of the local business  reality and its primary players so as to ensure successful adaptation of client´s practices in order to foster effective business cooperation.

Primary topics covered:

• Egyptian business culture & etiquette
• Effective business communication
• Management and negotiation styles in Egypt

Project Collaboration

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Is your team or organisation at the point in the project where you need to:

• Come up with a strategic plan of action 
• Find creative solutions to problems that evade classic solutions
• Agree on a highly disputed issue?

It all comes down to meetings: in order to achieve one of the goals above, a group of people usually embrace the reality of a long, drawn out meeting that, at some point, will border on boredom and frustration yet in the end will deliver the results needed.

It does not have to be this way however! It can be an engaging inspirational collaborative process that brings added value to all parties involved: innovative ideas, creative solutions, and mutually advantageous agreements and commitment.

Participatory Events & Interactive Conferences

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A typical event or conference follows a classic top-down approach where participants have very little, if any, say. Someone decides on a series of plenary sessions and lectures or workshops/ seminars with set topics and the only responsibility of the participant is to show up (and if they happen, as they often do, to simultaneously follow up on social media or answer emails they should do so inconspicuously). The most exciting moments usually evolve around coffee breaks and longer meal periods: that is where the truly meaningful conversations and networking take place… 

I work with interactive participatory methods, such as Open Space and the World Café, that harness the energy and level of engagement of the informal coffee break moments and bring these on as the main agenda. The result is an event where participants´ creativity is unleashed, they feel respected and heard as they have a say and in consequence are ready to engage, commit and own the event.  Long-term collaborations based on conversations that stem from such events are often the rule.

Train the Trainer

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I have always been intrigued as to what happens “backstage”: why do we do things the way we do, how should they be done properly, how can we improve. When it comes to training, the backstage is all about the delivery process: How to design, deliver and follow-up a training course.

The main topics covered by TtTs:

• Training intervention formats
• Design & Flow: from preparation to follow-up
• Learning approaches / methodologies & methods
• Group dynamics
• Presentation and facilitation skills
• Logistical considerations

When designing  a TtT for less experienced trainers,  I opt for the integrated model of content delivery followed by train-back experience. This approach allows the future trainers to try out what they have learnt in a safe environment followed by constructive feedback.

TtTs for experienced – advanced – trainers offers the ability to go deeper into real life issues connected with training and facilitation.

Teambuilding

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Good teams make for successful ventures. Unfortunately, they do not just happen.  
Good team is a matter of the right balance of expertise, work style and personal skills that often require a long time, several work projects  and inevitably some conflict situations along the road. Teambuilding training interventions can speed up this process.

With the use of experiential tools, my teambuilding interventions work on two levels: individual level of team members and the collective, team level. In order to understand how the team works, it is crucial to know who makes it up. I thus begin with raising awareness of the individual team members: of their working style, strengths and weaknesses (a.k.a. potential for improvement)  and then take it to the next level of team dynamics and roles.  Besides the awareness itself, we work with the willingness to discover, accept and work with what other team members have to offer. Further steps involve trust building, leadership (when to lead and when to follow), problem solving, creativity & flexibility, motivation and creation of commitment and ownership. 

Other Training Services

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The cross-cultural communication field offers a variety of topics that go beyond competence building and interject with other current trends and issues. Here are several examples of such topics I have had delivered to date:

• Active Citizenship Education: aims to foster active, responsible and sustainable approach to one´s community and society at large.

• Interfaith Dialogue: aims to promote understanding between different religions or beliefs to increase acceptance of others. Based on my experience, educational background and research, I focus on the relations between Islam and Christianity

• Community Dialogue Processes: bringing communities together in order to seek out creative solutions or consensus on contested issues; or simply creating a safe space for community members to connect, share and discuss important topics and concerns

Relocation Programmes & Support

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Living internationally (expatriation) necessarily involves coping with change and with the effects of significant cultural differences. Depending on individual circumstances, the challenge this poses to individual expatriates ranges from significant to overwhelming. Of course, everybody learns and adjusts over time, but what is learned, how long it takes, and the forms adjustment takes vary widely when the process is not supported and managed.

Offered early, training and coaching interventions can be of great value, ensuring a swifter and more successful transition to a new home and workplace. Given the depth and opacity of our own cultural filters, with proper support even experienced expatriates can expect to acquire valuable insights into their own and others’ cultural determinisms. 

In order to ensure an in-depth relocation programme that allows for transformational learning to take place, I offer a combination of 1-2 day relocation training followed by coaching sessions. The extent and duration of the training & coaching depends on the client´s needs and experience.

Relocation Cross-cultural Training fosters cultural awareness and provides an array of coping strategies to properly manage the adaptation process and significantly reduce the negative consequences of reactions to ‘culture stress’. The coaching that follows supports ongoing learning once expatriates begin to perceive their environment more accurately. 

The Relocation cross-cultural training addresses the realities and initial needs upon arrival to the new country. It aims to address the following areas:

• Navigating the settling in process: understanding the different stages of the adjustment process and devising the best strategies to deal with these
• Understanding the environment: understanding the subtleties of contemporary Egypt and its society from the inside out – so as to be able to escape the limited and limiting perspectives of the expatriate ghetto
• Integrating foreign ways of being, knowing and doing: supporting clients in seizing the opportunity to expand who they are and what they are able to achieve

 The follow up coaching offers a confidential space to go deeper in addressing the particular professional and personal challenges each expatriate will necessarily encounter in the course of both ongoing adaptation and everyday work.

The main objectives of the coaching sessions are to:

• Support individuals in developing the resources to meet the cross-cultural challenges they encounter in their professional and personal settings;
• Provide immediate support and effective coping mechanisms in areas where cultural adjustments and lifestyle changes threaten to become overwhelming;
• Respond to each particular individual’s needs and interests, so that their expatriation experience yields tangible benefits;
• Assist individuals in leveraging the complexity of their international assignment for increased work performance and productivity.

Diversity Management

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In the constantly evolving work environment of the 21st century, with diverse workforce being a common reality, the golden rule of “treat others as you want to be treated” is not cutting it anymore. It´s time to move on to the platinum rule - "treat others as they want to be treated", which is what diversity management training aims for.

Every person is a unique individual. Diversity focuses on this individuality and its benefits. 
Diversity constitutes inborn characteristics such as gender, skin colour, sexual orientation as well as  socioeconomic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies and other cultural background differences.

Diversity management understands the value of these unique individual characteristics, since they  affect performance, motivation, success, and interaction with others. It strives to create inclusive environment that goes beyond tolerance  and mere compliance with equality/affirmative action laws: it's proactive in terms of acceptance and respect, it calls for true understanding and meaningful integration that in turn leads to improved performance, employee engagement and motivation. 

Diversity management constitutes a holistic approach to the team that acknowledges and embraces the individual roots of each team member and seeks to integrate them fully. It enhances good management practices by preventing discrimination and promoting inclusiveness. However, good management alone will not necessarily help an organisation work effectively with a diverse workforce.

That´s where diversity management training comes in with its focus on the following areas:

• Embracing diversity: creating awareness and inclusive skills
• Creating inclusive working environment: bringing different voices to the table
• Working with unconscious bias
• Developing clear and credible communication

Diversity is an opportunity. It's time to leave the realm of passive values and elevate it to proper strategic business imperative. Otherwise it becomes a missed opportunity. 

Cross-Cultural Awareness & Competence Building

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In our increasingly globalized world with its merging markets and growing international cooperation, embracing the ensuing diversity among the different players still poses a considerable challenge. Cross-Cultural Competence training aims at developing strategies for mastering cultural differences and thus succeeding internationally. Working with different others essentially translates into HOW we decode their behaviour and thus ensure successful collaboration.

The complexity of human nature evades clearly defined, black & white descriptions and do’s and don´ts. In my training interventions, I choose a behaviour centred approach that focuses on strategies of recognition of different styles of communication and habits of perception, behaviour and negotiation of conflict situations. 

The main topics covered by cross-cultural competence workshops:

• Cross-cultural Awareness: the ability to recognize that people from other cultures perceive, think, and behave differently and readiness to act on it.
  • Awareness of self and the Other
  • Cultural Intelligence - Cross-cultural Sensitivity
  • Local cultural knowledge: values, norms & behaviors

• Cross-cultural Conflict Management & Communication Styles:  impact of cultural differences in communication and strategies for managing the ensuing misunderstandings and conflicts.
  • Prevalent communication styles and their cross-cultural elements
  • Effective communication skills
  • The art of listening
  • Perception, stereotypes & prejudice
  • Constructive conflict management strategies
  • Cross-cultural elements of conflict and skills to address these

• Intercultural Management: managing cultural differences properly is one of the key factors in getting things done effectively across borders.
  • Recognition of cultural conditioning in the workplace (working styles)
  • Cross-cultural skills of decoding of different behaviours and communication patterns
  • Multicultural / multinational teamwork