Compass International | Cross-Cultural Support

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us,
it goes an equal distance into the world within.”— Lillian Smith

Cross-Cultural Support

We all encounter cultural differences every day, whether they be international, domestic, or organizational differences. Our consultants can help you leverage the opportunities and overcome the challenges of today’s diverse work environment, whether you need to manage and lead a diverse team or reach a global clientele. Our consultants come from many different backgrounds and share a strong commitment to staying abreast of the latest approaches to inclusion work. Training courses, dialogue group facilitation, and coaching services cover concepts such as:

Managing Diversity
Privilege, Rank, Power, and Identity
Challenging Personal Assumptions, Biases and Stereotypes
Valuing and Capitalizing on Differences
Handling Cultural Collisions

For our clients working internationally, we offer seminars and coaching services that ensure employees have the cross-cultural skills they need to communicate, work, and manage across cultures. Our consultants have extensive experience living and working internationally and know what it takes to thrive in the worldwide workplace. Training sessions and coaching services focus on expatriate staff and family concerns and culture-specific information on the expatriate’s country of assignment.

Areas of Focus

Inclusive Leadership
Leveraging Diversity
Managing and Leading an International Staff
Adaptation to Foreign Cultures
Cross-Cultural Communication
International Stress Management

“My CI consultant has assisted us in developing a preferred workplace culture and increasing our diversity understanding. She is able to understand, very quickly, the needs of an individual and then to work with that person to develop a plan for self-improvement. Our people are more aware of their impact on the organization and more importantly the people within the organization. This has allowed us to better perform as a team.”

– Rick Evans, former President, CrownCen Marketing, Crown Central Petroleum

One of my CI mentor coach’s most outstanding qualities is the ability to create a very safe and trusting space for inner exploration and creativity. Within this space she offered different perspectives, questioned my assumptions and challenged me to step into the change I was seeking. As a result I was able to move forward in a steady manner and leave the stuck state I had been living in. Reading books and attending classes are very helpful for a quick fix, but for lasting results, working with a remarkably gifted coach like mine is what will create a lasting change.

Julie Hodack
Business Analyst, Swett & Crawford
My CI supervisor understood and appreciated who I was as an emerging coach. She was intent upon supporting me to become my best coach. She was also able to go back and forth between coach and mentor, drawing on her many years of experience of using different tools and approaches.

Gale Thompson
Leadership and Resiliency Coach
My CI consultant and coach provided executive coaching and office-wide consulting which improved individual managerial skills and organizational effectiveness by improving communications and helping to set individual and office-wide priorities. She has tremendous interpersonal skills combined with vast coaching knowledge, assisting those being coached to evaluate and learn about their strengths and tendencies. Her knowledge of and work with the private and government sectors enhances her effectiveness to those she coaches.

James K. Gallahan
Staff Chief, EPA
My CI consultant assisted us in developing a preferred workplace culture and increasing our diversity understanding. She is able to understand, very quickly, the needs of an individual and then to work with that person to develop a plan for self-improvement. Our people are more aware of their impact on the organization and more importantly the people within the organization. This allowed us to better perform as a team.

Rick Evans
Former President, CrownCen Marketing, Crown Central Petroleum
I would, without qualification, recommend my CI Mentor Coach because she is both an experienced professional as well as being an individual that is able to guide coaching conversations in a very human way that allows and encourages getting to core issues that effect performance and development. I would without question employ my CI coach again.

George West
former Senior Manager at the World Bank
My CI coach has helped me identify approaches to managing staff and dealing with superiors that have resulted in successful completion of projects and improvements in interactions with colleagues and superiors that would not have occurred without the coaching relationship and her unique support. This coaching experience with my CI coach has been one of the most significant growth experiences of my entire 23-year career with the Federal government. I believe that executives can perform at even higher levels when assisted by the coaching experience, particularly one that is facilitated by such talented coaches as my CI coach.

Bob Politzer
Sc.D., DHHS Office Director
My CI coach's coaching style made me feel at ease discussing difficult topics and concepts, and I appreciated her gentle candor and willingness to push me to think more profoundly about what my strengths, weaknesses, desires, and fears are. Our meetings and the supplemental materials she provided have helped me identify the underlying causes of my feelings and attitudes, have validated some of my concerns, but also helped me step outside myself and rationally re-approach issues in a healthier way.

Nora Ryan
Program Manager - LMI/Logistics Management Institute
After completing 6-months of supervision with my CI supervising coach, I am a more confident and competent coach, evidenced in the results I am able to achieve with both my organizational and individual clients. My CI coach’s deep understanding of the ICF core competencies, her approach to helping me identify my blindspots, and her ability to engage me in developing creative practices that I could immediately use, were nothing less than amazing. From one session to the next, I could see and feel growth, which was not only satisfying, but inspiring.

Angela Cusack
PCC, Managing Principal, Igniting-Success, Inc. and former Senior Vice President, SunTrust Bank
The CI consultant we work with has a unique blend of content expertise, facilitation skills, and flexibility to appreciate and adapt to unique cultural aspects of our company. Her work in augmenting our delivery team to support the organization-wide launch of a new capability – combined with her offers of micro-innovations and improvements of that offering - led to resonance with participants and significant organizational results in a short period of time. I would recommend Compass International for any organization who needs a true partner that combines deep expertise and highest quality facilitation and coaching skills with their ability to create cultural resonance within an organization.

Casey Wilson
Senior Director, Learning and Development, Evolent Health
The small group work was most beneficial to me—I was surprised at some of the responses from those of different backgrounds. The course helped us realize how managers must be willing to confront the issues and make some changes in order to have a more productive staff. It also helped us realize how important it is for everyone to understand the issues of diversity.

Participant
Inclusion Training Program
This is the most practical course I have taken—application of theory was emphasized.

Participant
Management Training Program
Innovative and imaginative approach to covering the topic.

Participant
Leadership Training Program