Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom

Tag: leadership

LEAD YOUR TEAM!

On Tuesday, 21st May, we were proud to host the “Leading Multicultural Teams” seminar, part of the “Leadership in Focus Forum” series, which was led by Mr. David Solomons from International House. As revealed at our Launch Event in May, this event is the first of a series of sessions which will focus on honing leadershi skills for global businesses.

Attendees enjoyed this revealing seminar about cross-cultural communication and how to deal with diversity within an international team. Mr. Solomons started by pointing out that everything in people’s behavior is relative and depends on their background and culture.

As he said, “statistically we have more negative judgments on individuals than positive ones” when we observe people around us. We tend to think that what we believe is right, and what others believe is wrong, which can lead to misunderstandings and there can be a real problem when each person’s belief conflicts with others’ opinions.

Mr. Solomons during his talk engaging all the attendees.

For this reason, the first step to efficient communication is to be open minded and receptive. By using Mr. Solomons key tip of being interested in others it is possible to avoid most judgments that are unfair and improper. Instead of assessing people immediately, we must take some time in understanding their situations and core values, which is essential when speaking about multicultural teams.

We come from a wide range of backgrounds and have different beliefs based on our education, nationality and attitude to life, amongst other factors. Good leaders should first understand their team-members’ points of view before expressing themselves. In order to achieve this, they must show an interest in everyone, and not only about their hobbies or personal interests. They should also do some research on their religion, history and characteristics about their countries of origin.

In doing that, we can then use the second piece of advice Mr. Solomons gave us and build a human relationship. According to his words, “the more we know about the individuals, the best results we get from them”. If leaders are not interested in their teams they will find resistance instead of cooperation, as our speaker highlighted.

Attendees also had the opportunity to take part in a practical exercise to understand their own cultural preferences and communication style to discover how to adapt better to others and overcome cross-cultural communications misunderstandings. After this training, all guests could enjoy a productive networking breakfast while sharing thoughts and discussing further all the ideas covered in the talk.

Participants had a chance to enjoy the networking breakfast.

If this seminar has appealed to you, do not miss the second session of the Leadership in Focus Forum, “Presenting with Impact” in collaboration with Avocets Consulting. It will take place on 20^th June and you can find more information about it in the Upcoming Events section on our website!

24/05/2013
THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

We were thrilled to kick off our Leadership in Focus Forum with the launch event on 2nd May. The event was hosted at the International House premises in Covent Garden and was organised by the Spanish Chamber in collaboration with them, as well as with Avocets Consulting and Hill Networks, all of whom are members of our Chamber.

The event provided guests the opportunity to get a good insight on the areas of expertise of the companies working with us for the sessions.

This activity gathered a good number of attendees interested in learning more about our forthcoming series of events on leadership and what they could expect from the sessions. Mr. Igor Urra, Secretary General of the Spanish Chamber, welcomed all participants to the event and introduced the speakers from these three member companies. The first to step on stage was John Waterman, from Avocets Consulting, who proposed a warm-up exercise which made guests think about what a real leader is and showed them how to become a good one.

Next in line was Chris Moore, from International House, who introduced David Solomon, an expert in cross-cultural management also from IH. David went on to explain how managing diversity in teams goes beyond languages skills and highlighted that leaders are made, not born, although this learning process may be a difficult mission when we talk about leadership in teams within a fast-moving environment.

Andrew Weale, from Avocets Consulting, got everyone’s attention when he explained how to create the perfect pitch.

From Matthew Hill, of Hill Networks, we gained confidence in leading international projects thanks to his coaching experience overseas. Leadership is not only about being courageous and addressing actions, but also about empathy and understanding people, and therefore, as he pointed out, we need to know our team before managing it.

Last but not least, Andrew Weale, from Avocets Consulting, explained how it is possible to improve your presentation skills and show confidence when speaking in public. Thanks to him guest were able to discover new ways of expressing themselves in the context of international communication and take advantage of every challenging situation.

Guests had the chance to mingle in a relaxed atmosphere.

The speakers captured the attention of all the participants and succeeded in both creating anticipation for the forthcoming sessions and encouraging guests to engage with each other. Our attendees had a lively chat in the Q&A round with the speakers, followed by a jovial period of networking to conclude this inspiring evening.

We thank all the participants for coming and making this interactive experience a successful way to create better leaders working beyond borders. We take this opportunity to remind you that it is possible to register here for the first session of our leadership forum on Tuesday 21st May about Leading Multicultural Teams.

07/05/2013
Leadership in Focus Forum: Introducing an exciting new series of events

On 2^nd May we will be launching an exciting new series of events in collaboration with three members of the Chamber: International House, Avocets Consulting and Hill Networks, which will bring together business representatives to discuss best practices in leadership.

‘Leadership in Focus Forum‘ is aimed to create an open discussion and to debate skills that professionals should foster in their teams and companies and to encourage and share best practices for today’s leaders.

They will run over 6 months, and the launch event is going to be held at the International House Premises , next 2^nd May, so save the date in your calendar. The evening will kick off with some ice-breaker activities, giving the participants the opportunity to get to know each other in a fun and informal way. This will be followed by an introduction to the members who will be hosting the sessions, so they can share a little information about themselves and what they do. Finally, the attendees will have the opportunity to network before the evening reaches its conclusion.

This series will also explore, among some others, topics such as: the importance of leaders understanding an international audience, managing multinational teams and incorporating key soft-skills into their leadership style. Each session will be chaired by the Chamber’s Secretary General and one of the collaborating members which include:

International House

An established and well-known language school and cross-cultural training centre that provides a wide range of courses from Executive business English courses to bespoke training programmes in 20 languages, delivered by native speaker trainers. Based in a spacious and fully-equipped school building in Covent Garden, they are a founder member and flagship school in the International House World Organisation.

Avocets Consulting

A management training and consulting firm specialising in training business professionals to communicate internationally. They offer training in presenting and pitching to international clients, international leadership skills and international team building.

Hill Networks

A cross- cultural training company who offers courses on leadership and working in an intercultural team, in addition to executive coaching. They also established the New Leader’s CLUB, a mentoring group for new and experienced managers and leaders who wish to enhance their leadership soft skills.

The first two sessions within the Leadership in Focus Forum will take place on May 21st and June 20th at the Spanish Chamber premises and they will focus on international team building and presenting with impact respectively. Further information about the sessions and how to book your place will be posted soon in the UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website, newsletter, LinkedIn group and this blog .

In the meantime, join us for the launch event of this brand new forum and find out more about what good leaders are made of.

16/04/2013

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