Being able to communicate and collaborate across cultures is crucial for many of today’s professions; engineers included.

However, a Japanese-led research team suggests that the intercultural communication skills being taught to today’s engineers are not fit for purpose.

As an international cross-cultural training company, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive is how individuals can become intercultural trainers.

Unlike with many other professions, there is no simple answer.

'Active listening' is a communication skill crucial to doing cross-cultural business.

As a skill, it requires the listener to become attuned with the speaker in order to confirm what they have heard and moreover, to confirm the understanding of both parties.

A report undertaken by Ipsos called "Culture at Work" throws some interesting light on intercultural skills in the international workplace.

The intercultural skills most commonly reported by these business included: 

A new report from Ipsos finds that businesses need and want people with intercultual skills.

John Worne agrees, stressing the importance of knowing your foreign languages and being culturally aware as a company.

As a training consultant, one of the best aspects of my work is seeing how different industries approach employee training.

I'm lucky, I get to meet HR, L&D and Training Managers from across industries and businesses and to them about their work. In my last visit to Paris, I was blown over by the proactivity and dedication to training by a natural resources company. 

You might think cultural training is only useful for people and businesses that are associated with global business - for example, international sales teams or global managers.

You would be wrong! Raising cultural awareness is useful for everyone and anyone.