2. Culture shock is a set of phases that any individual may
go through both mentally
and emotionally as they
relocate to and stay for a
long time in another
country. Needless to say,
this is one of the most
difficult parts of moving
overseas. But according to psychologists, you will not
fully adjust to a different environment or culture until
you actually encounter culture shock.
If you have plans of working abroad, how you should
overcome this stage is one of your main concerns.
Before looking for work in Canada, for instance, it is
recommended that you first learn about their culture
and how it would compare to your own. Having some
level of familiarity with the phases of culture shock will
also help you be prepared for it.
Stage 1 – EXCITEMENT
This stage is where you will probably feel so curious and
excited as well about the new place. In this phase, you
will just be amazed by the fact that you are meeting
new people, speaking a different language and
experiencing a different culture.
Stage 2 – REJECTION
As time goes by, you’re likely to feel isolated and that
you are still not familiar with your surroundings. As a
result, you’ll feel rejected and angry. It is during this
stage that you’d feel as if everything you do and
everything you say just doesn’t seem right and
appropriate. Because of this, you could feel distant from
everyone else and rejected by the society.
Stage 3 – DEPRESSION
Feeling depressed and extremely sad is the next phase
of culture shock. Here, you will be so homesick and the
more you think about it, the more hopeless you feel
about yourself. The good thing is that as time goes by,
you will slowly get used to not being with your loved
ones. But then again, there will be this feeling of
sadness within you that you may not easily run away
from.
Stage 4 – ACCEPTANCE
What’s good is that eventually, you will naturally
reconcile with the fact that you are in a different
country with a different culture that you should get
accustomed to. It is also at this point that you will
realize that you had better look for the good things
around you rather than drown yourself with sadness
and homesickness. Accepting your situation is vital
especially if you are overseas to fulfill your career
pathways. Once you have totally accepted your real
situation, you will feel more liberated and assured.
Diversity in a workplace has proven to be one of the
vital ingredients of a successful business. Apparently,
groups that include
people with different
background are more
creative in coming up
with solutions and
analysis. Thus,
companies are now
beginning to realize how beneficial it is to promote
diversity in the workplace, just like in the case of
Canadian companies. Of course, there are many
challenges to this, and if they are not addressed
3. properly, there is a possibility for people to be treated
insensitively. And so, it is important for company
owners and managers to know how to deal with them.
Acknowledgement
The very first step towards properly dealing with
diversity in a workplace is to acknowledge how different
people are, in terms of their physical appearance or
culture. You cannot keep assuming that such barriers
have been dealt with and don’t exist anymore. What
you should do is encourage your employees to let their
differences show. Also, you have to let everyone feel
comfortable in their own skin.
Being Fair
Don’t think that treating everyone the same way is
being fair. What you should learn is how to be fair to
everyone and how you should respect the differences of
the people you are running. Be sensitive to the needs of
everyone and make sure that your decisions will not
offend anyone in any way so that nobody will feel left
out and isolated.
Employee Evaluation
Before you hired your new Canadian workers, you
would have conducted assessments and reviews of their
applications. This time is crucial because it is when you
should take a closer look at your workers’ attitudes,
especially how they treat their coworkers. If you notice
that there is some sort of unfair treatment happening
among your workers, it is your job to address it. Don’t
forget to mention these instances to the employee
during their assessments.
Promote Interaction among Your Employees
Once you have identified the issues in the workplace
related to diversity, try talking about it to your
employees. Be sure that the way you do it is non-
confrontational. Keep the discussion casual, so that
everyone will feel comfortable and they will be
encouraged to speak up and express how they feel
about the issue. You would realize through this that
some of your workers are having a hard time adjusting
to life and work in Canada, whereas others are enjoying
it. You should encourage them to talk more, just so they
could build a better relationship even outside of work.
The hard skills that you have in relation to your field can
certainly help you land a good job in no time.
Meanwhile, it is your soft
skills that will enable you
to earn great value in the
global market. So what
are soft skills? Well, these
are the skills and abilities
that you don’t learn in school through textbooks and
lecture.
Companies are now putting so much importance on
developing the soft skills of their employees, and they
now prefer applicants with such skills as well. This is
especially true for those companies that hire workers
from foreign countries. So if you are thinking of moving
abroad to find good employment there, it is a must that
you develop these skills. As a matter of fact, these are
the skills that you should focus on more than the hard
skills that you already have.
A good example of a soft skill is a person’s ability to
adapt to and collaborate in a diverse multicultural
setting. As a new Canadian worker, for instance, you
should be able to understand and get used to the
business practices and work culture in Canada. There is
no way you could survive in this country without
learning how to be one of them.
What many of us don’t realize is that not being able to
enhance our skills according to new cultures is a huge
mistake. In fact, this can affect not only your career, but
the performance of your team as well. If you are part of
a team and you fail to recognize the adjustments you
4. have to make, the other members of your team are
likely to feel uncomfortable working with you as well.
There is a huge possibility that you may be doing
something that’s offending others in your group. For
their part, it isn’t that easy to tell you about it because
they know you haven’t quite adjusted to their culture
yet.
Fortunately, there are many ways you can improve your
soft skills. Taking part in language training programs is a
good start. As you know, language is a very important
tool in communication, especially if you are not a native
English speaker looking to work in Canada. It is not
enough that you know what to say in various situations.
More importantly, you need to learn how to interpret
the deeper meaning of the words being said. This is why
language barriers are always so hard to overcome. It
takes a lot of time to learn the nuisance of a language,
but the rewards are definitely great.
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