S1/E24: #Cultures Don't Meet, People Do with Arjan Verdooren

Show notes

In today’s interconnected world, many individuals navigate international and multicultural environments in their daily lives, education, and work. As a result, intercultural communication has gained prominence across various professional and academic domains. However, due to the complexities brought by globalization, simply understanding cultural norms and differences often proves inadequate. The focus shifts to interpersonal communication, emphasizing the interaction between individuals rather than solely between cultures.

Culture Chat In this episode, Frauke and Marie-Christine welcome Arjan Verdooren, a consultant, lecturer, author, and speaker about intercultural communication and diversity & inclusion. Arjan outlines what is meant by diversity competence, highlighting the processes, challenges, and skills that are crucial in navigating a "superdiverse" world. He explains how the TOPOI model—a structured framework designed to focus on key aspects and interventions for diversity-sensitive communication—provides an inclusive and communicative strategy for analyzing and resolving potential miscommunication.

As co-hosts who have lived, worked, and navigated diverse cultural environments ourselves, Frauke and Marie-Christine have seen firsthand the challenges and rewards of intercultural communication. This episode with Arjan Verdooren is particularly meaningful to them because it offers practical insights and tools that resonate deeply with their own experiences.

In this episode, you’ll gain valuable insights into:

• Shifting from cultural differences to personal connections: Discover how real communication happens between individuals, not just across cultures.
• Mastering diversity competence: Equip yourself with essential skills to thrive in today’s multicultural world—whether you’re living abroad or working in an international team.
• Applying the TOPOI model: Learn how this powerful tool helps expats and international professionals avoid miscommunication and build stronger, more inclusive relationships, especially in high-stakes environments like mediation, business, and healthcare.

Our Guest Arjan Verdooren: Arjan is a consultant, lecturer and researcher in the fields of Intercultural Communication and Diversity and Inclusion. He is a long time associate of the Royal Tropical Institute, a knowledge center in Amsterdam. He has provided courses and consultancy for a variety of organizations within e.g. government, education, finance, healthcare, police and even professional football. In addition, he has been a lecturer at several universities including the University of Gothenburg and the HTW University in Berlin, as well as a guest lecturer at many other universities. He is the author of several publications in the field, most prominently the book Diversity Competence- Cultures Don’t Meet People Do (with Edwin Hoffman, PhD). Arjan divides his time between Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Gothenburg (Sweden).

Connect with Arjan: linkedin.com/in/arjanverdooren

Book: Hoffman, Edwind and Verdooren, Arjan (2019): Diversity Competence: Cultures Don’t Meet, People Do. CABI Publishing.

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