Five ways to use the Global Integration video competition for learning and development

Five ways to use the Global Integration video competition for learning and development:

1.    Set an exercise related to global working – maybe it’s cross cultural issues, maybe it’s the use of the technology. Whatever it is you’ve been training, it’s a good way to see how much has sunk in – with the added incentive for participants that they might win a cash prize and will gain extra awareness for what they do just by having the video online

2.    Encourage your teams to share tips on dealing with a specific culture – for example English people, despite a shared language and shared history, have a different lexicon to Americans, and holidays are celebrated differently (think Christmas and Thanksgiving). The differences are bigger in other cultures, and having that ‘kiss, bow or shake hands’ insight is all part of global working.

3.    Has your senior management team considered some of the challenges faced by those who deliver internationally? Could some of the departments use the video to send a message to the management about their challenges in a fun format, or the management articulate some of the things that they are doing/planning to make it easier?

4.    Who’s travelling a lot? Could they share their travel tips for others moving into global roles?

5.    Getting people to share their funny stories can be a really powerful way of sharing learning: the times we’ve said something accidentally – asking for fleas instead of fish for lunch in France (the two words are very close) or English people telling the world they’re pregnant instead of embarrassed in Spanish (embarasada and embarrassed); the politics of asking directions in different countries (who do you ask, and what response you might get?).

The videos become great learning tools as well as potentially winning the video competition and some could become ongoing learning tools held on an intranet.

It’s great exposure for you and your teams, and the winnings can be paid to a company, individual or charity. And of course if the team create it for charity and there’s a company policy of fund matching, that $15 thousand (or £10k/12,000 euros) could go a very long way.