Dubai Women's College (DWC), a Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) flagship institution, recently hosted a Cultural Mapping and Accreditation Program run by Marco Blankenburgh, International Director and Beth Yoder, Senior Consultant, of KnowledgeWorkx. Participants included leaders from trade, NGO, public sector and consultants, in the train-the-trainer course in order to lead several worthwhile initiatives.
DWC aimed at integrating Inter-Cultural Intelligence into their curriculum as well as design the first Inter-Cultural Intelligence course, giving their students greater skills. Dr. Howard Reed, Director of DWC said, "We want to share this content with the faculty and staff of DWC, so that they in turn may share it with our young ladies, who will be able to become part of the culturally intelligent leaders that Dubai needs to participate in a global community."
This is an area of importance and much needed development, enriching the lives of the participants and giving them the tools that will help them to take this knowledge to those around them. Wael Al-Sayegh, Founder and Director of Al GHAF HRC added, "Inter-Cultural Intelligence is very important. It has always been in our culture and in our society and our religion but has been forgotten. We have a lot to offer the world, and we invite people from all over the world to help us grow. The ladies of the DWC will raise sons and daughters that will be intercultural learners and this week we have taken a step that will support them in doing this. It is a privilege for me to be playing a small part in spreading this knowledge."
Participants felt this week was instrumental in helping them move forward in their roles. Nicholas Labuschagne, Strategic Department, BrandDubai stated, "The course has been particularly useful in helping me better understand our multicultural target audiences and more importantly, how to develop specific messages that will resonate with each of them. I intend to share what I have learned with the rest of my team so that we collectively can benefit from these insights."
Adela Acevedo, Project Manager for Institutional Management & Governance at the Executive Council said, "KnowledgeWorkx provided valuable knowledge and skills that empower us to derive strength from our different approaches and perspectives. Being able to anticipate and adjust to people's personal cultures and understanding how people's cultures might influence their thinking and behavior, will enable us to relate better to counterparts and partners, creating a third space within which we can play to our strengths."
DWC will host the second course for a leading group of professionals from 16-20 January 2011. The mission of KnowledgeWorkx is to empower people and transform organizations to fulfill their purposes through intercultural excellence. They aspire to be the global preferred choice for intercultural excellence development. They are committed to values that encourage mutual understanding of other cultures and perspectives in the workplace.
