Global Mindset Train-the-trainer Programme Helps Nilfisk to Train 100 Global IT Employees In-house

We asked Marcus Faber Kappendrup, Project Manager at Nilfisk, 5 questions about why he wanted to become a Global Mindset Trainer and what he thinks about the Train-the-trainer programme.

C3’s Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme is a new service for companies that want to offer employees global mindset training taught by their own staff.

Participants get access to an online learning platform with almost 50 tutorial videos about C3's global mindset training concept. In addition, they get a copy of C3's book ‘Global Perspectives’, a series of joint online workshops, and individual coaching and supervised training – with certification awarded upon successful completion of exams.

Nilfisk is one of the world's leading manufacturers of professional cleaning equipment and is headquartered in Denmark. Nilfisk asked C3 to help it implement such a programme by training four of its managers in the global IT department to train the department’s 100 employees.

Marcus Faber Kappendrup is one of the four managers at Nilfisk’s global IT department who piloted the programme to become a certified Global Mindset Trainer. Originally from Germany, Marcus worked for Nilfisk Germany before moving to Denmark 15 years ago to work at the headquarter office.

We asked Marcus why he wanted to become a Global Mindset Trainer and what he thinks about the Train-the-trainer programme.

I work in global IT at Nilfisk’s Danish headquarters where I'm an IT project manager and scrum master for some agile IT teams.

C3’s Annette Dahl trained a group of international managers in Nilfisk last year. The training was very interesting and I really liked Annette’s approach.

For example, we used the Double Iceberg model to reflect on what cultural values are visible above the water and what ‘cultural baggage’ is not visible below the water, e.g., your education, where you grew up etc.

By analyzing our own iceberg and then that of our communication partner from another culture, we realized that we all have different cultural drivers that give us a unique perspective on things.

There were a lot of eye-openers where we said, “Ah, okay, I thought it was like that all over the world. But obviously, it's only like that in my little world!”

Given Nilfisk’s international profile, I suggested to my manager that everybody in the global IT office should be trained in this – and not just the managers, but all our employees. He thought this was a nice idea and we worked with Annette to develop the Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme so that a number of Nilfisk employees could train their colleagues.

The videos in each chapter are short – just a few minutes long – so you can complete each lesson relatively quickly.

We watched the videos a few times to learn Annette’s approach so we could incorporate these techniques into our training, e.g., how to start training sessions, how to use the whiteboard etc. In fact, the virtual whiteboard, Jamboard, has really helped me – not just as a Global Mindset trainer, but also in project meetings as part of my day-to-day work too.

Much of the content in the Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme was familiar from when I took part in the training last year. But it was a good exercise to dig deeper into the tools and techniques and gain more in-depth knowledge about cross-cultural communication and collaboration.

The great thing about completing the programme as a group of in-house trainers is that we could discuss the different tools and models among ourselves and choose the ones that we wanted to be ‘ambassadors’ for.

For example, we leaned more towards practical tools such as the Double Iceberg, and chose to focus on Risk and Relationship in the 4R Model rather than Rank and Responsibility as we felt this was better suited to our needs.

The training sessions for the global IT department were virtual and we made sure there was a good mix of nationalities in every group.

We made an effort to break the ice at the start of each training session, e.g., by asking participants to share an image that illustrated “How do you feel today?” or “What does working in a global company mean to you?”. This helped to make things a bit more natural and reduce the psychological risk, as some people might be a bit reluctant at first to share personal reflections with a colleague based at the headquarter office.

One of the things that people in my department still talk about when we’re in online meetings is the virtual chocolate – a technique we learned from Annette.

If somebody said something really nice during the training, we’d hold up a piece of chocolate to the camera as a reward even though we’re not in the same room. And it’s really nice in meetings today when people say, “Look Marcus, I'm having chocolate!” It makes me realize that they’ve remembered the things we discussed in the training and we get to have a bit of fun with it too.

Another great tip that Annette shared with us is to refrain from using PowerPoint presentations so much, but work with a real whiteboard instead.

Switch off the PowerPoint, switch off screen sharing, and then have physical props such as cardboard cards with key points on them. This is something that I now use in my day-to-day work to make meetings a bit different, and to move away from the typical hour-long PowerPoint slideshow.

One of the most valuable techniques we learned during the Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme was to give real-life examples based on our own personal experience of working globally. Not only did this help bring the tools to life, it also gave us trainers a bit more credibility because we could be authentic in our experience of understanding another culture from the outside.

Nilfisk is a large organization and we have colleagues all over the world – in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In the global IT department, we realized that, e.g., the Hungarians don't work in the same way as the Danes, in that they tend to be more hesitant to speak up in meetings. This meant that we were missing out on hearing their opinion about areas that they were involved in, which made it difficult to move forward on some projects.

Through us providing our colleagues with global mindset training, the Danes realized why their Hungarian colleagues might be hesitant to share their thoughts (e.g., it might not be the right moment), and vice-versa – the Hungarians understood why the Danes appear to dominate meetings (e.g., they prefer direct communication). And, more importantly, our global IT colleagues understand each other better because they have the tools to collaborate better.

Knowing how to collaborate with people from other cultures forms the entire basis for people being able to experience a better day.

I think global mindset training also helps people to develop themselves. For example, it encourages people from higher-context cultures to be more open and to speak up.

As Global Mindset Trainers, we trained 100 global IT employees. I think that the benefits we’re beginning to see in our department will be felt in other areas of the business when the global mindset training is rolled out to the rest of the organization.

I would encourage people to move to another country and settle down.

I have experience of living in two different countries and can reflect on these two cultures. This is an aspect that gave me an advantage in the Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme. I understand what it means to do things in a different way and did not realize before that it was a different way, e.g. how to conduct meetings etc.

So, live and work in another country. For example, experience going to the doctor and describe your problem in a language that is not your own. This can give you a lot of power because you think: If I can do this, I can do anything.

Want to know more about the Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme?

The Global Mindset Train-the-trainer programme is a new service for companies that want to offer employees global mindset training taught by their own staff.

Sounds interesting? Contact us so we can have a chat about how your company could benefit from having your very own in-house Global Mindset Trainers.