At the Service Quality Centre in Singapore, we use the phrase ‘Never Settle’ to mean ‘strive for continuous improvement’. But when we first took this phrase overseas, it was translated into Mandarin like this: ‘never agree in a negotiation’. And the phrase became ‘don’t sit down’ in Indonesia!

10. Mix up the group to increase participation.

Sharing experiences is one of the best aspects of international training. But don’t count on participants to do it by themselves. Give the process a boost by mixing the group in various ways. Suppose you have 32 participants. You can combine them at various times into smaller teams of 2, 4, 6, 8 or even 16.

Do a random split by having them ‘count off’ with numbers around the room. Or have a bit more fun! I often divide my groups by date of birth, number of siblings, seniority with the company, first letter of their family name, length of hair, color of socks, you name it!

11. Assure talk time for all.

Some nationalities are naturally more outspoken than others. Be sure everyone gets a chance to speak up by structuring the sequence of participation. Once everyone is in small groups, have the most senior member of the group speak first, or the most junior. Ask the women to talk first, or those who have traveled from farthest away.

Acknowledge outspoken participants, but don’t let them overwhelm the conversation. I often do this by having small groups nominate a spokesperson, then having that person nominate someone else in the group to speak on their behalf!

12. Bring them back together at the end.

Mixing everyone up is great for sharing new ideas. But be sure you bring everyone back together at the end to prioritize key points and generate new action steps. Have real work groups (whether by function, country, customer or project) explain the relevance of their learning to the job and state their plans for improvement and implementation.

Whether you have training to bring, a session to present or an important meeting to facilitate, these time-tested techniques will help bring out the best in your participants – and you!