Living and working in Bolivia

View inter-company dates View inter-company dates

Summary

Target audience

Employees preparing for an assignment in Bolivia and their partners

Prerequisite

No prerequisite

Objectives

This seminar aims at significantly improving the ability of the participants to meet the challenges of living and working abroad. The objective is to enable them to identify the stumbling blocks that lie ahead and to be able to adapt and integrate in Bolivia.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired the necessary skills to:

  • Be aware of their own cultural baggage
  • Understand Bolivian context and culture
  • Analyze situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating more effectively
  • Reduce and manage the symptoms of culture shock
  • Understand Bolivian mindset, different work practices, decision-making processes and negotiating styles
  • Strike the right balance between personal and professional life

Added value

ACCESSIBILITY

All our training courses are accessible to people with disabilities. Each training project will be the subject of a case study by our teams, in order to adapt the training program.

Program

Module 1 : Successful personal integration in Bolivia

1. Cross-cultural awareness : the key to a successful expatriation

  • Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
  • Culture shock and the integration process
  • Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of Bolivian culture

  • A Latin American enclave crossed by the Andes
  • A patchwork quilt of peoples
  • The richness of the country’s  pre-Columbian heritage
  • Conquistadors, Bolivar and the army:  a history of dictatorship
  • A fragile economy helped by international aid
  • Political renewal: a source of hope

3. Bolivian values and behaviour patterns

  • The private sphere: a jealously guarded aspect of Bolivian life
  • The importance of appearances
  • A Catholic tradition and spiritual fervour
  • Passion and emotions: a tradition of expressiveness
  • The value attached to status and qualifications
  • Clearly defined social classes
  • A flexible view of time

4. Practical day-to-day information

  • Focus on the host town
  • Transport, administration, housing, security, hygiene and healthcare
  • Social life, leisure activities, schools, extracurricular activities, sport
  • Learning the language

Module 2 : Successful professional integration in Bolivia

1. The Bolivian corporate world

  • Well-entrenched hierarchical corporate structures
  • The importance attached to performance faced with the scourge of inactivity
  • The influence of political parties in the labour field
  • The prevalence of corruption

2. Effective communication with the Bolivians

  • Formality, small talk and politeness
  • A direct but moderate communication style
  • The importance of networks and networking
  • Bolivian Spanish, regional dialects and English for business

3. Working with Bolivian teams

  • Effective management: discipline, experience and leadership
  • Building trust and confidence: kindness, an open mind and accessibility
  • Managing and supervising: moderation, fairness and coherence
  • Avoiding jealousy. Dealing with touchy and sensitive people

4. Successful meetings and negotiations with the Bolivians

  • Identifying and defining strategies
  • Giving relationships that personal touch to improve feedback and dialogue
  • Paying careful attention to contractual documents
  • Maintaining and developing contacts

5. Final handy tips

  • Caution, patience and humility
  • Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
  • Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion

Intra-company coursesDuration: to define
Interested in customizing this training to your needs ? Contact us.

To check that you are not a robot, this form uses reCAPTCHA and is submit to the Google Inc. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Akteos website uses cookies to offer you a personalized browsing experience.

We have also published our data protection policy.

More information

ACCEPT