References from Commercial Organisations
“Thank you Joost, your outstanding professionalism, patience, dedication, and insightful guidance throughout the program has been exceptional. Your flexibility and willingness to pivot to meet our ever-evolving needs, along with those of the participants, is truly commendable. The program on a whole has been an enormous success, and the valuable content and topics presented will significantly enhance our cultural awareness, interactions, and communications. We are confident this will strengthen and build our relationships moving forward. Thank you.” Luerssen, Australia
“Many thanks for your session/workshop. It was very well received by all and feedback has been extremely positive. We were trying to use some of learning in the following day session(s). Thanks for sharing slides… I will recommend you to other teams in Cisco and they can leverage this or similar session for their leadership/team building activities” Cisco Services APJC
“Thank you again Joost for the very informative and engaging sessions you provided to Pawsey staff” CSIRO Pawsey
“The workshop in Singapore was really timely; it is great to see that many of the communications have been altered so that they reach their target audience in a way that will be well received. There is also lots of discussion related to how best to align objectives. We have been able to see some real differences in the last couple of weeks.” HR Director, Gartner
Thank you and congratulations for a job well done. My team definitely benefited from the Workshop in Tokyo. I will strongly recommend any manager who has responsibilities across regions to have the workshop for his/her team”. Program Manager, IBM Asia Pacific.
“I must say I found the lessons I learned from your course very useful – they helped me to understand the dynamics of the communications, and I believe the outcomes were very positive” Manager, Suncorp
After 15 years of working and dealing with the Japanese the country orientation finally provided me with an understanding of what was going on. I have recommended this program to my Managing Director”. Export Manager, Sara Lee Asia Pacific.
“I truly do find the knowledge I gained in the day long course to be very valuable in my daily interactions across Asia Pacific’s myriad of cultures. I very often find myself thinking about the hierarchical cultures and modifying my response or expectations accordingly – hasn’t failed me yet” HR Director, Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific
“I will be able to use this knowledge to help build an operations area that performs but also feels comfortable with management and team here”. Project Manager Infosys
“It provides me with some excellent tools to understand me and my approach and look for the differences in someone else from a different cultural approach. Look for differences before they become conflicts and develop a strategy to deal with the differences” Project Director – Hong Kong Macquarie Group
“The training provided me with a better awareness and understanding of cultural differences in the Asian Region. The cultural management implications could be applied directly in my business dealings, both internally and externally. I immediately noticed a difference for the better in my relationships with people from different cultures”
Senior Sales Manager, Avaya Communications.
“Excellent course – a real eye opener. I would like to consider further sessions for other staff members”. Senior Executive, Microsoft.
“I have found this course beneficial in my People Mgt role as well as for Customer interaction. From the PEOPLE perspective I have found being aware of “cultural” differences has helped me address performance issues with individuals more effectively as the approach can be tailored. With Clients the same is said. If there are “reactions” “actions” during visitations being aware of cultural differences can give the upper hand.” Customer Services Manager, IBM Australia.
References from Government, Health Care and Not-for-profit organisations
SOHQ conducted a Force Prep Course and the Cultural Awareness package was provided by Culture Resource Centre. The presentation was extremely well received by the course and the trainer was able to answer all the varied queries put to him by course members. The presentation was commented on favourable by members of SOHQ who attended it. ADF Coordinator, SOHQ B1-1-H008 JOC ADF
“I have attended many cultural awareness packages, both within Defence and across Government, and am pleased to note the recent Cultural Awareness and Cultural Intelligence package provided by Culture Resource Centre to Special Operations Command was by far the best I have seen. I was sufficiently impressed to strongly recommend his services to the Defence Intelligence Training Centre”. Policy Adviser to Special Operations Commander – ADF
“The workshop was excellent and I thought that bringing in the interactive class activities was very effective – might be good for INSEARCH to schedule a follow-on session to spend time and monitor ongoing situations and work through strategies. Staff, UTS : INSEARCH”
“I really enjoyed this training. I feel the content was interesting with lots of excellent examples and strategies that I will take with me”. Manager, Anglican Retirement Villages
“Best cross-cultural awareness training I have ever been to, because it was soundly researched and sociologically based instead of providing the usual anecdotes and generalisations.” HR Manager, Whitlam Library, Fairfield City.
“Although I have dealt with many and various situations the information received gives me a stronger insight to analyse and apply the information for a good solution” Customer Services Manager, Willoughby Council
“The training was excellent! The trainer kept us engaged and really prompted our thinking about cultural issues. Thanks so much!” Teacher, Sydney Institute TAFE
“Very interesting and thought provoking. Would like to have my whole team complete it”. Senior Manager, Reserve Bank of Australia.
“Fascinating, relevant and well presented. A great set of tools to help me approach situations, structure meetings and help provide clarity to deal with frustrations – both mine and the team’s”. Senior Officer, Austrade
“Cross Cultural training is vital in today’s legislated world. I have noticed many people, some of them managers, misunderstanding the basics of diversity. Once provided with cross-cultural training, I am sure that a third of the diversity issues will disappear. I strongly support the program.” People Manager, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
“I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. Although I deem myself well-travelled this program has explained many of the mysteries I encountered during my travels. I have also learned much that I had no previous knowledge of. A well prepared and presented activity”. Manager, Australian Federal Police
“Fantastic workshop which was very interesting, insightful and relevant within our role and organisation: train all international teams!” International Marketing, Tourism Australia
Our Clients:
Testimonials
“Having spent much time overseas experiencing foreign cultures, I was wondering what culture resource centre’s trainer would tell us over the allotted three hours. In fact I have to be honest and say that I was wondering why you would need three hours to deliver your message. I left her presentation wondering if three hours was actually sufficient time. I was very pleasantly surprised at how interesting, animated and relevant your presentation was, I believe that you held the attention of the vast majority of our very large group effectively. Your wealth of experience and passion for your subject matter were obvious and made the presentation all that more interesting. Importantly your highly developed and skilful sense of humour made this presentation one of the most enjoyable I have seen in my considerable time in the ADF. The valid points you made reinforced what I have learnt about the essential nature of being culturally aware. I would have no hesitation recommending your services for any group seeking to expose their members to the necessity for and benefits of cultural awareness while in a foreign country”. ADF – 92 Wing Avn Safety Officer, 92WG HQ RAAF Edinburgh
“I was managing an international cross cultural engineering team for a multi-billion dollar oil and gas project. The head office is based in Queensland & our primary contractors were based in Asia. During FEED development significant challenges to project success were identified, including those based upon the cultural differences in work attitudes and behaviours between ourselves and our contractors. Culture Resource Centre was requested to provide direction and assistance to our engineering & project management team to address these cultural challenges. Culture Resource Centre easily addressed these concerns through practical workshops & individual consultations, when required. Furthermore, the workshops created a clear awareness within the team of cultural work differences & provided practical tools that were able to be utilised immediately in the workplace. The benefits of CRC’s approach was demonstrated through the improved communications and engineering designs that emerged after the workshops. I would not hesitate to recommend CRC to assist with overcoming project issues that originate from cultural differences”.
Karen Logue – SANTOS, Deputy Eng Manager.
“Hitachi Rail is a culturally diverse and dynamic organisation with global coverage, the Culture Resource Centre has been a valuable provider of training to my resources. The trainer and the team have developed and delivered high quality courses based on the scope we provide him. Culture Resource Centre doesn’t just do cultural awareness but provides pathways to build cultural competence and cultural intelligence that improves and develops our teams’ communication, productivity and efficiency. I am happy to recommend the work of Culture Resource Centre.” Janelle Healey Stewart – Hitachi Rail Training Manager – Asia Pacific
“We value the expertise and professionalism Culture Resource Centre bring to the training they run on our behalf. Their cultural competence training has benefited our professional workforce as it has both a multicultural flavour locally in Australia, whilst also assisting our people managers consider their actions when interacting with a culturally diverse workforce who are located offshore virtual teams. Cultural Resource Centre consistently receive positive and congratulatory feedback from our participants. Participants report being able to take away key skills, knowledge, and frameworks that they can readily apply back on-the-job”.
Senior Manager L&D – Macquarie Bank, Global Investment Bank
“Culture Resource Centre has delivered sessions to North Coast TAFE twice in recent years. Recen through our General Education and Employment Services Faculty, on behalf of the Adult Migrant Education Program Skill, to 40 or so participants. Previously, through Organisational Workforce Development and International Services, to administration staff and teaching staff. Sessions ranged from half to full day. The experienced trainer whose passion for the subject material is imparted to the participants. The feedback from all sessions was very good to excellent. Participants felt the trainer had extensive knowledge presented in a fresh, dynamic way. It is worth noting that Culture Resource Centre has taken Cultural Awareness Training to a level whereby the dynamics of cultural competencies has cultural awareness as an underpinning skill. The training reveals those dynamics and gives participants a pathway to understanding and utilising those necessary for cultural competencies. I would have no hesitation in recommending the Culture Resource Centre to other organisations”. Sandra Moon -NORTH COAST TAFE, AMEP Project Support Officer