“Any time we meet someone different from us, we need to start by looking at ourselves”
Truly intercultural project took place for Sumy State University students between 4th -16th of December: “Intercultural Communications & Leadership: a Dialogue for Successful Cooperation”. The 4 session workshops were designed & conducted by Tetyana Mayboroda – lecturer of Oleg Balatsky Management Department, Vice-director of ARI FEM for coordination of collaboration with foreign institutions and for work with international students, who implements social projects in collaboration with Lifelong Learning Centre. The projects was also supported by the Department of Youth & Sports of Sumy Regional Administration.
The intercultural team was presented by 20 participants: 4 Ukrainian students & 16 international students from Zambia, Nigeria, Turkey, Ghana, Angola, Namibia & India. Moreover, it was interdisciplinary team: students majoring in Medicine, Management, Law, & International Economic Relations.
The workshops were aimed at developing intercultural competences such as cultural sensitivity & cultural intelligence (CQ). The participants learned & experienced in icebreakers and teamwork how:
- to identify and value cultural differences & critically reflect upon their own cultural values compared to those of others;
- to understand the way culture influences individual attitude, behaviors and decision making strategies;
- to manage their interactions in intercultural groups and leadership situations;
- to realize intercultural leadership challenges in the global world, which moved now from stability (as a normal thing) to change (as a normal thing).
It was truly exciting experience and open-minded communications, where students gained new knowledge in intercultural communications & leadership, met new friends and gained new skills on building a successful dialogue in diverse teams. Such team work creates more synergy, effective communication and mutual understanding, as participants are focusing more on similarities than differences.
Such projects and workshops give us a hope of bringing up the leaders who will make the world coherent and, in particular, will make this way the community of Sumy city & Sumy State University, building mutual understanding in our intercultural environment.
