Hey! Hej! Huh? Using Storytelling to Inspire International Teams

Did you notice how you become more sociable in Italy and more reserved in Switzerland? Even as a passing visitor, you pick up on social queues and amplify them, trying to fit in. Or are you someone who exaggerates their behaviour in order to stand out?

These are all strategies to adapt or to standardise in intercultural settings, which we can apply more intentionally, by using storytelling.

Stories store our knowledge, foster connections, and make us grow and evolve. But how to apply storytelling in international settings, where you don't know what others expect? How can someone use these techniques if they are introvert or if the context requires high precision or facts-only? Is storytelling helpful for everyone, or just for those that have speeches to deliver? Is there a connection between storytelling and emotional intelligence?

I teach storytelling and intercultural competence at the Applied Science University of Lucerne, in Switzerland. As a Romanian scholar, I have spent my professional career between universities and start ups, strongly influenced by the American culture. But in Swiss culture, I encountered a different set of values and I had to learn how to share my story, again.

Georgiana Bigea is the founder of StorytellingArchitect.Com, where she delivers creative works, workshops, and consulting for public and private purposes. She has a degree in Journalism and is currently completing her PhD research on workplace conflict. Her experience includes being a social trends analyst at an international think tank, a storytelling architect in international IT start ups, and a teaching assistant at Babes Bolyai University (Romania) and University of Fribourg (Switzerland).