Bridging Distances

Do you interact with people who work in different locations? Do you have to rely on virtual team tools to communicate and collaborate with them? Do you want to reach common objectives despite the geographical distance?

Our blended-learning course helps you to overcome these challenges in 3 steps:

Step 1: Learn how to interact online

Introduce yourself to the other course participants and reflect on how this experience is different from a face-to-face meeting. Get familiar with recent research and understand how you can create a collegial working environment without physical proximity.

This learning step helps you to:

  • Introduce yourself online and define your role
  • Choose the right communication tools
  • Establish a common information flow and decision making process
Step 2: Get individual online coaching

Look back and reflect upon your personal experience with a dedicated facilitator, who helps you to elaborate adapted solutions for your specific needs. Discuss about communication, project coordination, leadership or management issues that are characteristic for your own working environment.

This learning step helps you to:

  • Gauge your interlocutor’s well-being and state of mind, online
  • Announce difficult messages in a bilateral setting
  • Explore means to compensate for the absence of physical proximity
  • Find answers for your personal challenges
Step 3: Exchange with other course participants

During a workshop at cinfo in Bienne, reflect upon your ability to communicate with, to inspire and to guide your partners who are located in a different geographical and cultural context, experiment with new tools and technologies (Webex, Zoom, etc.), discuss and review study cases from the field and exchange good practices which help you to clarify your role and to refine your competencies while interacting with your partners.

This learning step helps you to:

  • Get more familiar with online communication
  • Facilitate collective brainstorming and decision making processes
  • Cope with socio-cultural differences
  • Choose your communication strategy
  • Adapt your communication and management style to diverse interlocutors 

Building bridges across cultures and distance requires a new mindset as well as developing specific skills and attitudes.

Learning programme

  • Kick-off group webinar (1-2 hours) with introduction of participants and theoretical inputs, including pre-reading material
  • Individual online conversation (45') with the facilitator to discuss specific issues
  • One-day face-to-face workshop at cinfo in Bienne
  • Individual online coaching session (45') with the facilitator
  • Closing group webinar (1-2 hours) to discuss and exchange best practice

For whom

Generalists, technical experts, HR managers, programme coordinators, project managers as well as team leaders who regularly interact with geographically dispersed teams or individuals.

Language

English

Facilitator

Daniel
Glinz

Coaches and advises you in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch

After his first 8 years as a newspaper correspondent in East Asia, Daniel...

Registration

Register now

Host
cinfo
Type
on-site and online
Place
Bienne and online
Register

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA

Family Office

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