Welcome to Our New Intercultural Content Creator and Virtual Programme Manager, Tut Ma!
We’re extremely happy to welcome our new colleague, Tut Ma, who starts at C3 on 1 December 2021.
Tut is employed in a completely new position where she will be responsible for the operation and development of virtual learning programmes, write blog posts on intercultural topics, and further develop C3's page on LinkedIn.
In our mini-interview below, first with Tut Ma and then C3’s CEO and Chief Trainer, Annette Dahl, you can read more about our new colleague and the background to the new position.
Three questions for Tut Ma, our new Intercultural Content Creator and Virtual Programme Manager
1) What part of your background is relevant to working in the intercultural field?
I came to Denmark with my Chinese family, and I am a wheelchair user due to polio.
Life has taught me that even though we’re all different, we can become part of a community if we remember to be curious about the differences and similarities between us – instead of focusing on what’s right and wrong.
I studied sinology as part of my undergraduate degree and did an exchange in Jinan, the capital of the Shandong Province. My time in China was extremely educational. It was a huge advantage that I had previously learned about the Chinese language (Mandarin) and culture before encountering Chinese people in all their diversity.
Sometimes I get asked where I’m from, and I like to answer: ‘From Funen’ (Denmark's third largest island), even though I know that the question relates to my country of origin. Humor, an interest in understanding others and cross-cultural insights bring people together.
2) Can you say a few words about your passion for language and communication?
Language, word choice and target audience are of great importance for how a message is perceived. The nuances make an important difference, and it’s that difference that makes working with language and communication interesting to me.
Cantonese (a Chinese dialect group) and a bit of Vietnamese were spoken at home when I was growing up, and my multilingual background clearly plays a big role in my interest in other languages.
I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing and learning foreign languages. As a child, I was often in the library or in my room, where I enjoyed learning new words and writing essays.
I still have a passion for writing and communicating with others.
I use it, among other things, on my personal profile on LinkedIn, where I network and post about my experiences with communication and management as a wheelchair user with a small team of personal helpers.
I’m conscious that my audience must get something out of what I write on LinkedIn – whether it’s creating posts on my personal profile or when I’m writing posts for C3's company page.
3) What motivates you in your work with virtual learning platforms?
As the manager of C3's virtual learning platforms, I can use my knowledge of user-friendly IT systems from my master's degree in information science and my experience from previous jobs as a project manager in a web department and IT supporter.
I find it motivating that I can support learning and knowledge sharing between participants in C3’s virtual learning programmes through user-friendly design. I will focus on making sure that C3’s virtual learning platforms continue to be intuitive to interact with and to navigate.
I'm really looking forward to being part of C3 Consulting. The distance around the Earth is roughly 40,000 km where intercultural insights and learning bind us together across cultures and boundaries.
Three questions for Annette Dahl, CEO and Chief Trainer at C3 Consulting
1) Why has C3 chosen to focus even more on developing virtual learning programmes?
We’re experiencing a clearly increasing demand for virtual, intercultural learning programmes.
Therefore, it’s important for us to have a specialist, like Tut, who can be responsible for the operation of our virtual learning platforms and manage the development of new learning concepts.
In the last year and a half, a lot of training and development activities that have previously taken place face-to-face have been held virtually. Often more out of necessity than choice.
For us at C3, however, virtual learning programmes are far from being new.
We developed our first 100% virtual learning concept GLOBAL STEPS back in 2015. Since then, hundreds of managers and employees from companies such as Danfoss, Grundfos and BEUMER Group have used the programme to strengthen their global business skills.
GLOBAL STEPS is a 6-week facilitated learning journey where participants work on 3 specific challenges – and in each challenge they become more effective in their communication and collaboration with global business partners.
The programme includes synchronous learning elements in the form of webinars and Q&A sessions and asynchronous learning elements such as videos and other online resources.
We experience very clearly that learning programmes that are born virtual, like GLOBAL STEPS, create far better results than just transferring face-to-face programmes to the virtual space.
And now we have several new learning concepts in the pipeline – both 100% virtual and blended learning programmes, where we combine online activities with face-to-face training.
The latest addition is a Train-the-trainer Programme – with a group of managers from Nilfisk as the first C3-certified Global Mindset Trainers. The programme is so new that it’s not even featured on our website yet. But please contact us if you want to hear more!
2) Why does C3 have a blog about intercultural topics?
Our vision is to build an online knowledge base full of inspiration and practical tools for people who work and live across cultures.
Over the last 10 years we’ve published blog posts that have included content such as:
- Tips and advice on how to best communicate, negotiate and manage globally
- Inspiration on how to get the most out of an international posting
- Answers to typical questions about how to best collaborate with colleagues and business partners from specific countries and cultures
Many of our readers work in companies that are headquartered in Denmark but operate globally. Therefore, many of our blog posts have a Danish-global angle and most of them are available in Danish and English.
With Tut onboard, our readers can look forward to even more insightful and thought-provoking blog posts – many of them written in collaboration with our vast network of intercultural trainers who specialize in countries and cultures around the world.
Would you like to be notified as soon as we publish a new blog post? Then sign up for our newsletter here.
3) What's the idea behind C3's LinkedIn page?
The goal of C3's LinkedIn page is to inspire the steadily growing number of global leaders, team leaders, project managers, HR staff, global mobility managers, expats, coaches, trainers, organizational developers and interculturalists who follow us there.
And now that Tut’s onboard to give us a boost, we want to kick our inspiration up a notch!
In addition to sharing C3's own cultural advice and tools, we have several new series in the pipeline.
For example, every month we recommend a book that can provide new perspectives on cross-cultural communication and collaboration.
We will also research and share news about what’s happening in the broader intercultural field:
- What can we learn from global first-mover companies?
- What are the latest trends in DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion)?
- What does the research say – and how can new research be translated into concrete tools for people who have cross-cultural cooperation as part of their everyday life?
We look forward to it!
