Culturally

We were hired to facilitate a training session following a recent merger. On one hand, we had the new group who needed to be shown the explicit and implicit rules, and on the other hand, we had to work on the skills of those already there to welcome their new colleagues.

We randomly divided the attendees into several tables. They memorised some rules based on a dice game. The objective was to win the most chips. We then removed the rules and speaking was no longer permitted. After a first round, we asked the winners to change tables, but nobody knew that each table had one or two different rules. That’s when we observed the participants“ reactions. Unable to speak, they had to reach an agreement in such a strange situation, for example, by learning the new rules or ”importing" their own.

Culturally is a tool with which, in addition to intercultural communication, common rules are developed and established, new strategies are deployed, and guidance is provided in a new situation of difficult circumstances. This “cultural” clash is a true revelation. Participants perceptibly experience what it feels like to be in a new environment and what they need to find their way.