Abilitie has the pleasure of working with 80+ world-class facilitators, who lead our simulations across the globe. We reached out to one of our lead facilitators, Steve Gartrell, to share his insight into how he effectively facilitates across cultural boundaries and barriers. What we got was a power-packed, robust list of all the how-to’s of cross-cultural facilitation.

Today’s Learning & Development departments face significant challenges as their responsibilities expand to provide training to colleagues across widely varied geographies and cultures.  Technical expertise has always been a must for all trainers, and excellent facilitation skills have differentiated the best trainers from the rest of the pack. However, even the highest performers often struggle when training in unfamiliar geographies with participants who have different language and cultural backgrounds from their own.  I have been fortunate to lead hundreds of sessions around the globe, with participants from almost every country on the planet. In my experience, the most successful trainers in today’s demanding L&D landscape consistently provide what learners need in these environments by:

• Creating an environment of connection and comfort

• Leveraging diversity in keeping participants engaged

• Adapting content and facilitation

Before you send one of your L&D high performers into a complex new training environment, encourage them to use the following best practices in:

Creating an environment of connection and comfort

The day before the session:

• Arrive a day early

• Walk the streets, ride the subway, read a local newspaper, watch local TV, learn the local map