Welcome to our new Cross-Cultural Workshop facilitator!
Signe Ørom from Connecting Cultures joins our Cultural Awareness Programme.
This Autumn, International Staff Office will feature 2 providers for the Cultural Awareness Workshop Programme. ISO has been offering Cultural Awareness workshops for several years with over 400 AU staff attending, both International and Danish. In addition to the popular Danish Living Crash Course facilitated by Kasper Jelsbech Knudsen from the Living Institute, Signe Ørom from Connecting Cultures will now be facilitating our Cross-Cultural Workshop.
Signe has a Ph.D. in Culture and Language and is the owner and founder of ConnectingCultures. She has extensive practical experience and theoretical knowledge about cross-cultural encounters and how to work effectively in diverse teams. Her passion is to help teams and organisations achieve the diversity bonus through inclusive leadership and inclusive mindset training, as well as creating awareness about unconscious biases.
ISO Cultural Awareness Programme Workshops:
The Cross-Cultural Workshop was developed specifically for Danes and internationals working together in culturally diverse departments across all AU faculties. These workshops provide an environment for exchange and reflection. Winne Grynnerup, Department Secretary at Ecoscience, commented on the workshop’s value for Danes: “Why do Danes, for example, have such high trust in each other? How do we view disciplined meetings and adherence to time in general? Are Danes harder than other people to get to know and why? These are questions we Danes need to ask ourselves too. It is an eye opener for everyone.”
Assistant Professor Tina Šantl-Temkiv adds that “the workshop delved into how different ways of building trust and different approaches to time management can lead to miscommunication. We also discussed useful strategies of how to avoid this. I would recommend the workshop to everyone at AU, as I am convinced that it can help one enhance fluent communication and empathy across cultures.”
The Danish Living Crash Course is offered once a semester and targets newly arrived staff and their partners. The course provides essential information and perspectives on starting a new life in Denmark. Associate Professor Edward Payne noted that “the Danish Living Crash Course has had a long-lasting impact on my transition to living and working in Denmark. Not only did it offer invaluable insight into Danish culture as well as my own, but also it provided me with the tools to negotiate different situations both in Denmark and abroad. I often refer to the workshop when discussing Danish culture with colleagues and friends. It is rare that a single program has made such an impression and been so useful for so long.”
The next Cross-Cultural workshops will be held on September 26th and November 28th and the next Danish Living Crash Course will be held on October 30th. You can read more about the Cultural Awareness Programme and sign up for all workshops here.