Coaching intercultural competences

You can be coached in your intercultural competences when you think you could enjoy more the international collaboration with your colleagues, partner or clients. Also when you bump into difficulties, misunderstandings or confusion, coaching could help you to shift your perspective. 

Intercultural Readiness Check 

We can use the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC) from IBI as a tool for coaching. As certified coach and having coached 200+ internationally working people - using the IRC- , I can assure you that this self-test helps you to get a better understanding of your own preferences. It provides you practical suggestions to enhance your intercultural skills. It is always linked to a coaching session in which your main goals will be discussed as well as a step-by-step action plan to reach your goals in your daily work .

The Intercultural Readiness Check compromises of 4 main intercultural competences, which are needed to work abroad effectively. Each competence has two facets, as you can see in the picture below and the handout attached:

Protective jackets

Other tools are also available, for example creating a family overview (genogram) to get more clearness of inter-family dynamics and the influence on your performance today. This tool is derived from from Kitlyn Tjin A Djie's model of 'Protective jackets' (in Dutch Beschermjassen) that especially migrants sometimes need in times that they are vulnerable. See an example below:

The Work

Sometimes, also the tools of Byron Katie's The Work can be used to questions our judgmental thoughts and feelings and become more free to take up other perspectives.