Training in cross cultural skills
In 2003 Valuing our differences was launched – a half day workshop teaching generic cross cultural skills for application throughout the Rio Tinto Group. The idea is to help build an organisational competence in managing cultural difference. The course is part of an emerging suite of initiatives that aim to create a workplace environment that reduces the likelihood of discriminatory behaviour and creates one that values different backgrounds, abilities and perspectives. Valuing our differences is run in addition to Group businesses’s individual courses on getting to know other cultures.
Valuing our differences features interactive role play and discussion designed to help employees to be sensitive to the needs of other cultures. Consistently the key highlights are identified as:
- Introductions – meeting people from other departments and hearing everybody’s different cultural background and experiences, and their thoughts on working at Rio Tinto.
- The mix of participants
- Most people believed their behaviours were aligned with the model – listen, learn, engage and reflect – but reinforcement of these behaviours is always useful
- The fact that this topic is recognised as an area that attention needs to be focused on, is a highlight in itself
To date, 18 workshops have been held in London with 17 nationalities represented. In 2005, the course was adapted to form the basis of the Valuing our diversity workshop for Murowa Diamonds in Zimbabwe, where the workshop targeted a wide range of employees and contractors across different levels.
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