Unlocking Cultural Agility with Marco Blankenburgh
Explore the diverse stories of some of the most advanced Intercultural practitioners from around the world with Marco Blankenburgh, who has been equipping people with cultural agility for 25+ years. Along the way, you will gain cultural insights that will help you find relational success in our globally diverse world.
Unlocking Cultural Agility with Marco Blankenburgh
Navigating the Global Hospitality Landscape: A Journey Through Intercultural Agility
Stephanie shares her journey from growing up in a culturally diverse Lebanon to becoming an intercultural coach in Saudi Arabia, highlighting how travel and exposure to different cultures shaped her worldview and professional approach.
• British-Lebanese background with extensive experience in hospitality and learning & development
• Set a personal goal to visit 30 countries by age 30, which sparked a lifelong passion for cultural exploration
• Believes travel and cultural exposure challenges judgment, understanding, and personal worldviews
• Completed certification in intercultural coaching to better serve diverse teams in hospitality
• Currently witnessing rapid cultural change in Saudi Arabia as the country develops its hospitality industry
• Values cultural assessment tools that help people understand their own worldviews and biases
• Navigates the balance between international hospitality standards and local cultural practices
• Advocates connecting with people beyond cultural labels while respecting different beliefs
• Building her coaching business "Step by Step" focusing on leadership and intercultural coaching
If you'd like to learn more about getting certified in intercultural intelligence, check out the links in our show notes. Share this podcast with someone you think would benefit from these insights.
-- Looking for a book to take your cultural agility to the next step, check out the Ultimate Intercultural Question Book brought to you by KnowledgeWorkx.com
Welcome to the Unlocking Cultural Agility podcast, where we bring you insights and stories from some of the most advanced intercultural practitioners working around the world to help you become interculturally agile and succeed in today's culturally complex world. I'm your host, marco Blankenberg, international Director of KnowledgeWorks, where every day, we help individuals and companies achieve relational success in that same complex world. Welcome again to the unlocking cultural agility podcast and I'm really glad that, stephanie, that you were able to fly in to join us today. Live in person and welcome thank you really good to have you.
Marco:It's a pleasure and I was trying to think back. You know when did we first meet and I think we first connected more deeply on the certificate in intercultural coaching. Correct, that was 2023, right.
Stephanie:I think that was 2023.
Marco:And at that time you were still in Oman, yes, and then you also joined our high performing intercultural teaming certification. We'll talk a little bit more about that later on but thank you for joining and I'm very much looking forward to this conversation.
Stephanie:Me too.
Marco:Maybe if you could start off, just tell a little bit more about yourself. Who is Stephanie?
Stephanie:So I'm a new mom, I mentioned I'm an lnd professional and I'm also a certified coach specializing in intercultural coaching, among many other things, but these are like the three main things that I'm focusing on.
Marco:yeah, and I have my own podcast excellent, excellent journeys by steph, and you also have your own business yes, so we'll come back to that as well. What about a little bit of history from when you were little? Where did you grow up? Where have you been?
Stephanie:So I was born and raised in Lebanon, but we're British Lebanese and then most of my time was in Lebanon. I lived in oman for quite some time and recently moved to saudi um, but I've also been to a lot of different places, a lot of different countries, um, it started off as like a passion for traveling and then grew into so much more, which which led me to this world right right but an interesting thing is I I had goals to how many countries I wanted to visit right, this is how it all started.
Stephanie:Oh wow I said okay, you know what, I'm gonna visit 30 countries by the time I'm 30, and so obviously I achieved that and went far beyond but this is. This is a big part of you know what shaped me and who I am in general.
Marco:So it almost sounds like you were attracted to different discovering places, people from a younger age already. That's true, yeah. So if you could just wind back the video and think about when did that start? Is there a place where you were exposed to differences differences of culture, of ethnicity, of rituals, practices?
Stephanie:I think all of this really kind of started when we were young. Lebanon is a very diverse place, right Right, but still it's kind of separated. However, I think because of my parents, we kind of grew up in a place where we were exposed to everything and everywhere at a very young age, so we did things like celebrate Christmas, for example, and the Eid at the same time.
Stephanie:Right, we used to go to different areas in Lebanon that maybe not everyone used to go to at a very young age. So my dad lived also in the UK for quite a long time, so there were some of those rituals that were somehow brought in as well. Yeah, and so the mindset growing up was, I mean, we probably didn't even know the difference in religion until the issues started happening, right. So I think that's when it kind of started in terms of blending in. But then when I went into university, that's when my, that's when I I think I traveled alone for the first time.
Stephanie:And that's when it all kind of opened up.
Marco:Wow, that's great. And when you when you think about the fact you wanted 30 countries in 30 years, I don't know how that happened.
Stephanie:I don't know why I even put that as a goal.
Marco:And you said you kept going afterwards. I did. So what makes that so attractive?
Stephanie:I think the idea of I love the idea of really exploring new places that's one. I think a part of me likes that in general, not specifically countries, but just exploring new things. Meeting people is something that I love to do, um, and I consider myself to be someone who loves to take on different things, and I thought of it as an exciting thing to do so what started off again as something fun turned into something that I actually work towards.
Marco:Right, right. So if I can ask you a coaching question, yes. What does it do to you? How does it impact you?
Stephanie:It challenges my brain. It challenges my understanding of things. It challenges my judgment. It challenges how I view things. It challenges my judgment. It challenges how I view things, what is my understanding of things, how I grew up to see things and how understanding the different types of people, cultures, places brings you this awareness of how impactful it is to be raised in a place that's quite different, right.
Marco:Right Almost. Sounds like a little bit of a drug. Yeah. I don't know Could be right. I mean, we all chase something somehow, so maybe that's my thing.
Marco:Yeah, yeah, I can relate to it because I never stopped traveling since the 80s. We all chase something somehow, so maybe that's my thing. Yeah, yeah. I can relate to it because I never stopped traveling since the 80s and I love it, I love it, I think it does become like something that you crave, right yeah, if you're in it the same place for too long, you say you know.
Stephanie:I need to do something.
Marco:Yeah, that's true you know I need to do something. Yeah, it's true. Now it almost seems that that, that that desire that, that the joy and the, the the adventure of, of exploring new places, new people, new ways of doing life. Um, you've now been 15 years or so in in hospitality.
Stephanie:Almost yeah.
Marco:So that move into the hospitality world? How did that come about?
Stephanie:My background is HR and I kind of randomly ended up in hospitality. It was just an opportunity that presented itself and I just became part of the hospitality world. So it just kind of went on. You know, when you start in a certain field, you kind of somehow continue. So my career path was quite good, but also I wouldn't say boring. But I would say it's like a predictable path in a good way.
Stephanie:I didn't change a lot of industries or or move around different fields. It was one field which I continued in which I consider myself lucky to have done that yeah um and I continued in hospitality, because it's also a very dynamic industry overall, yeah, yeah and uh.
Marco:When you think about you sort of drifted into it. It wasn't initially saying I want to work in hospitality uh, how has that shifted the way you think about your work, but also the world of hospitality in and of itself?
Stephanie:in general, I think the hospitality world is a. It's a beautiful world because it has everything in it. So all the industries are somehow within the hospitality industry in one way or the other right it's just how you I mean, you're connected to a lot of people. It's a very big world, but also super, super small world, if that makes sense. Um, and you kind of just grow as you, as you go along yeah, um, in 23, you ended up joining our certification for coaches.
Marco:So there's a certificate in intercultural coaching, and you were at that point in the HR team in a big hotel. So how did you? Why did you think that was something that would be of value to you? How did you decide to join the program?
Stephanie:two things. I would say. One again, the the passion for the intercultural world. When, when this program kind of presented itself, I thought it was, you know, when some things are just meant to be it was like like, oh, that's the program that maybe I've been waiting for but didn't really know that existed. But two, when it comes to maybe my job or the hospitality world, it helps a lot because we work with so many different nationalities in one place, right, regardless of the country. But when you work in such an environment, you also want to be able to understand who you're working with.
Stephanie:In my role when it comes to learning and development, you're also working to develop people right right when, whether it's juniors or whether it's, you know, the leadership team or c-suite level, so on and so forth. So you always are in a situation where you're sitting in a meeting and you have so many different people. So this is where that role kind of came in right to be that person to, to understand how each one, or what each one is bringing to the table and how you can somehow make that connection with everyone to reach the same goal or the company's vision.
Marco:Yeah, so it's almost like having an ability to understand at a deeper level where people are coming from culturally. Now, you know that with our certifications may it be the general certification, the ICI certification or the one specifically for coaches like yourself the certificate. In intercultural coaching, we always try to have sort of an inside out approach. So, if it impacts you, it becomes so much easier to bring it to other people.
Marco:True, you it becomes so much easier to then bring it to other people, true? So I'm curious, um, in your case, when you think about the, the tools that you learned during the certification, the way you were taught to coach using those tools, um, how has that shifted? How you see yourself, maybe even, or your life's journey? Or, uh, you said the family is partially lebanese, partially british. Um, you live in jeddah at the moment oh, that's another topic on its own.
Marco:Yeah, but yeah, how has that, that deeper knowledge, impacted you? What does it do to you?
Stephanie:I mean as any coach or anyone in this kind of field. The first thing you do is you reflect on yourself right and you try to build that awareness in order to understand yourself better, and that's still an ongoing journey right, I don't think it ever stops no, never. You always need it and you always sit back and reflect yeah so, internally, I think the first thing is I started evaluating my worldviews as a start.
Stephanie:You know, we we had those assessments that we did together yeah and so these kind of opened up my eyes to a lot of things, but they also made sense, yeah, so so I understood. It's kind of like I made the link between what I know I am and, at the same time, the result that came out. So, it was like, okay, that makes sense now that I can label it. So for someone like me, it was very important to be able to label things, and that's what this assessment kind of did in that sense and then moving forward.
Stephanie:it also played a role in in the way I coach in general right Just to understand, maybe, where I'm coming from, where my biases lie or where my judgment is. And then how can I avoid that when I'm dealing with someone, or how can I accept that I have that judgment? Or I have that bias for example right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stephanie:And another big thing that also played a role internally is that, because I'm someone who is generally very flexible, at one point I thought that maybe that wasn't an identity. Am I being too flexible with things in life? I don't know. Let's say a simple example oh, do you like pasta or do you like Indian food? Oh, I like both. I don't know. Let's say a simple example oh, do you like pasta or do you like indian food?
Stephanie:oh, I like both, I don't mind yeah, right so sometimes that might seem as someone who's indecisive for example, and I think after taking the certifications, I realized that no, that is part of who I am right and part of who I am is being able to be flexible right because I know what I want and I know what I like. But this is just the way I've come to kind of present myself if that makes sense, yeah, yeah.
Marco:So taking it from your own discovery yeah into the workplace. Um, what? What would be an example? I don't know if you can recall a story where, either um, using tools like the three colors of worldview or the 12 dimensions of culture or some of the perception management tools, where you were able to to not just say, ah, now I understand what's going on here, either in the moment or maybe afterwards. Any examples that come to mind?
Stephanie:about myself or about someone else?
Stephanie:yeah, it could be someone else as well, yeah okay, um, I do have an example of someone I used to work with, so she used to be on my team. She's from the philippines, um, but she had been in oman for quite some time and she's married to an omani. Okay, she had recently joined the learning and development field. She comes from a completely different background and I remember when we were doing those assessments, I gave her one and we ended up I mean, she ended up doing this assessment and the discovery that came after was very interesting because she worked with an Omani and so the way they did things or the way they performed were completely different, purely due to their different worldviews or their different perceptions. And once we were having that conversation, following the results that she got, it was interesting for her to understand how she does things as one part but at the same time, how she can start maybe dealing with and she had just started dealing with the leadership team as well.
Stephanie:Okay, so that was good to see how you can, let's say, deal with. She was dealing with a Malaysian person, and then she was also dealing with another Omani person and she at the same time was dealing with I think it was a German person at that time, so just to kind of understand how each one thinks was kind of eye-opening for her but also for me through the coaching. So I started discovering how I can also coach people into that intercultural world.
Marco:And I think you've brought up two things world, and I think you've brought up two things previously just talking about the tools, like the three colors of worldview. They give you a language that maybe you knew it, but you didn't have the language to articulate it, and I think that's what we see over and over again. That's a power of of the tools that it gives the language is, it's non-judgmental.
Marco:But the other thing in the example you just gave is also that the way we look at it is. You know, not all Germans are the same, not all Malaysians are the same 100%. So learning to recognize that we're all unique as cultural human beings. We have connections with being German, being Lebanese, being Dutch, but it doesn't define all of who we are as cultural human beings no.
Marco:It sounds like the example you just gave, that in hospitality especially, you know, there's not the average Brazilian walking up to the counter, oh no, it's a person that's your customer and you need to figure out very quickly how to come alongside them. So how is that idea of treating every person in your mind as uniquely psychological human being, unique cultural human being? How does that translate into being the best in hospitality?
Stephanie:that's a tricky one. That's a tricky one because you want to treat everyone as uniquely as possible. But you do also have the prejudgment is not the word but you also have, like your, your kind of let's say perception. You have that in the back of your mind right yeah, and a lot of what we do is based on analysis and feedback from guests, and most of the time, you do receive a certain set of feedback from the same culture let's say right.
Stephanie:So I think we use this in a way that helps us understand other people, but also we try to I mean, in the hospitality world, a guest is a guest, right. Regardless of where they come from, regardless of what they do, regardless of how much they're paying, whether it's them or their company or whatever, it is, a guest is a guest. Yeah, right, regardless of where they come from, regardless of what they do, regardless of how much they're paying, whether it's them or their company or whatever it is a guest is a guest, yeah, and so when we kind of work with the team or when we train the team, it's usually linked to the concept of a guest.
Stephanie:Not, we don't bring in the cultural concept. Yeah, the cultural concept only comes in if you have certain challenges, or I would say it comes in the other way around. So it comes in internally, not towards the guests, but it comes in to understand who your team is, what their culture is and what you need to do to get them to work with everyone else yeah yeah, that's, that's how it works right.
Marco:Hmm, so very much um when among staff and people working at the facility, um, but possibly also external stakeholders that you're dealing with yeah, um, and of course, you know every brand brand has their own philosophy around how guests should be treated, so that also plays a role.
Stephanie:I assume. That's another culture on its own right.
Marco:Right right Now. Hospitality has always been an intercultural world, inherently, because people travel and end up at at a hotel or at a resort, but then also more and more in, I would say, in the last 20, 30 years, hospitality has staffing has become a global game. Yes, um, do you? How? How would you see the, the role of being interculturally agile in a hospitality setting? How important is that?
Stephanie:Super important, really really super important. One, it gives you a clear vision of how it works. Two, because you do deal with so many different types of people. You're much more agile, right, you're much more flexible, um, and it's it becomes easy to to navigate through that world, or it becomes easy to deal with all these people. I think the challenge would be how to get everyone to become that agile as well. Right yeah.
Stephanie:And when you're working in an organization, everyone can say oh, you know, I've traveled a lot, for example, or I've worked in so many different places. But working in different places doesn't necessarily mean you're understanding or you're adapting.
Marco:Right.
Stephanie:You don't need to change yourself we keep saying that but you need to learn how to adapt well enough to to get to the middle ground, basically. So I think that would be the challenge in that sense.
Marco:Now, globally, there's been a lot of change happening. Correct Still is today.
Stephanie:Yeah.
Marco:We've had COVID, we've got artificial intelligence, we've got new geopolitical challenges. You are in Saudi Arabia. Yes, saudi is going through a lot of change. A lot. How is that impacting your work in the hospitality world?
Stephanie:Hospitality is quite new in Saudi. When we say hospitality, I mean they're recently looking at the 2030 vision when it comes to the tourism sector right.
Stephanie:So you have a lot of new and upcoming hotels opening up within the next couple of years. Yeah, but the team is still quite new when it comes to the hospitality industry in general, and so the challenge is one getting them to understand how the hospitality industry works when it comes to, you know, the guest perspective, or when it comes to certain standards, because, also, you're implementing international standards in a local country that probably operates a bit differently.
Stephanie:So, getting them to understand that concept as a start. And also there are small examples, like maybe the sense of urgency sometimes right, this is an example. That probably exists in other places, but it's still quite new in Saudi.
Marco:Right right.
Stephanie:Because of the shift, I would say, but also because people have a different way of doing things right or understanding things. Another concept, maybe can be time. You know when everyone says oh okay, you know, the morning meeting is at 9 nine and you're there for like 8.58, for example and you're the first one and everyone comes at like nine.
Stephanie:Or when everyone says nine, it means maybe 9.10 or 9.15. So these are small things that you know, you get adapted to, but at the same time, the industry is new, so people are still grasping the concept of how that works and the country is moving so fast and this is what I noticed over the past couple of months that I feel the country is moving much faster than maybe the people. Just because you need time. Change needs time right.
Stephanie:And so, in order to get people on board with you when it comes to certain concepts like hospitality, that requires time and effort, and so it's moving a bit faster than the speed of a human being, I would say.
Marco:And I think that's something in and of itself that we've seen with countries like Saudi Arabia Incredible amount of change, incredible amount of investment that changes the fabric of society, literally. In hospitality you already mentioned earlier on there's a lot of intercultural connection. That happens all the time. One of the tools that we use often is the three colors of worldview. So is it about doing it right? Is it about doing it in an honorable fashion? Is it about doing it in a way that people feel empowered, the guest is still the guest, but also the authority of the hotel is maintained. Any examples where those three colors of worldview either clash or how you might have maybe handled that in the past?
Stephanie:that in the past. I want to start by saying definitely, in Saudi, one of the important worldviews is the power fear worldview, and hierarchy plays a very big role there. Right.
Stephanie:However, some interesting things is one relationships is what it's all about in Saudi, you, you know the concept of connecting with people is so important. So, if I have built a connection with you, we have so many cases where, oh, because I know that person in the hotel, I can just pick up the phone, give them a call and say hey, you know, I would like two rooms and I want them now. And now means I'm at the front door right and. I'll be there in two minutes.
Stephanie:And if I'm there in two minutes and my room is not ready, I'm going to complain, and we do get a lot of this, and this is one of the challenges that the hotel tends to face. Another challenge would be, you know, the concept of check-in and check-out time for example, it's a standard in a lot of places.
Stephanie:You know check-in is at maybe two or three, check-out is at 12. In Saudi, I know you, so you know check-out time is at 12, but at 12 you call me. I'm still enjoying my time. I'm down by 3, 4 pm and nothing's wrong you know, so there's that kind of concept where I don't know, if they went outside, would it still be the same? Is it because they're in Saudi and they're used to this kind of culture, this kind of concept, that it's okay? Yeah.
Stephanie:Or is it part of who they are, wherever they go?
Marco:Yeah, and that last example, that would pull in the 12 dimensions nicely, because then one of them talks about how we make decisions. Is it based on the rules, so if checkout time is 12, the rule says it's 12. Or is it based on relationship, where you know, if I know you, we can find a way to make it flex. It's interesting what you mentioned. Would they do it in the same way if they would be outside their country? I don't know, and that's a very interesting concept in intercultural work because we talk about in-group, out-group effect. So the in-group effect, if it's people from the same country who grew up there, the in-group effect is quite predictable that's true.
Marco:So if decision making is more on the relationship side, you can expect in the country that they will try and negotiate for staying longer or that it's okay. Yeah, it was 12, but you know it's three o'clock now not a big deal the outgroup effect. You never know. Now they leave the country, are they gonna switch to the the way it's done over there, or will they take what they're used to and transplant that and that? That is fascinating.
Stephanie:Nobody actually can predict that, to be honest no, but if you think about it from a personal point of view, I'll I'll give an example. Let's say driving, right, driving in lebanon is crazy. Well, so is saudi as well. So, with a bit more rules, right, but driving in lebanon is crazy. So when, when we're in lebanon driving, you drive the way everyone, I, I'm a crazy driver right, but as soon as you put me somewhere where the rules are just rules or you get fines for certain things, like the UAE, for example, then you're following the rules. So, also, it depends on the place that you're in and what you feel you're entitled to. Maybe, yeah, um, and what you like, the, the connection that you have with the people, or what you think you're allowed to do in that area, versus, yeah, somewhere else but this is a classic example of what you mentioned earlier on where you, you naturally are, a person who adjusts you, you, you, you scan the context and you start to adjust.
Marco:So it's it.
Stephanie:It's something that you, anyway, do yeah, maybe someone else would get frustrated, for example, going back to lebanon and driving yeah agreed yeah, yeah, I just kind of go with the flow
Marco:it is what it is right.
Marco:You can't you can't change that uh, one of the things that we often use is we call it the litmus test of the three colors of worldview. So you can't always 100% sure understand where a person, culturally, is coming from. What are they going to bring into the conversation? That's true, they're going to bring into the conversation. So, playing it safe and saying, okay, if I at least try to do right by you, if I try to use language that's honorable, and if I don't steal your position of authority, if I don't step on your toes, your roll toes, or what you think you should be getting as a as a, as a guest, is, is there a way to use that litmus test to try and do all three at the same time? Is other any examples you could give, potentially? Or?
Stephanie:I feel like you always need to be aware hmm, I was.
Stephanie:I can can give a recent example. In Saudi I was sitting in a restaurant with my husband and my son, and a colleague of mine walks into the restaurant, so we greeted each other, but he didn't approach the table and I thought, okay, maybe that's fine. Few moments later I saw him sitting at the table next to us. So then I got up, because that's what I'm used to doing, and I went there and I greeted him. He said you know, are you here by yourself? I was like no, my family's with me. He said okay, so where's your family? He's like no, they're sitting inside in the like, in the you know like.
Marco:The family section. Yeah, yeah.
Stephanie:I don't know, like couches that aren't very maybe seen, and my first reaction was like why, like, why is your family sitting alone? He's like yeah, because I have like my wife and my wife's sister, and so that's where it hit me. I'm like okay, I probably need to say something that doesn't sound too maybe offensive, because I'm not used to something like this, but he was also smart enough to say that's my culture. This is exactly what he said. This is my culture. I said okay that's my culture.
Stephanie:This is exactly what he said. This is my culture.
Stephanie:I said okay, that's nice and is that normal in your culture? This is how it happens. You don't usually sit with your wife, sister. He's like no, no, no, they sit alone. I'm here and I'm okay sitting here alone having my meal. I said that's interesting. I'm not used to this, but I respect you for saying this and that was another eye opener. Even though I've been in the country for some time, I've met a lot of different people, but this was new to me and I think this is where the litmus test somehow came in to say okay, don't say anything that might be offensive, don't say anything that isn't right. Give them the respect that they need and just kind of understand the situation.
Marco:Yeah. So one thing I want to come back to. You sort of alluded to it earlier on, and in the hospitality world you have a lot of people who once they're in, they stay and they typically move around different hotels, different countries, different continents. And it can easily get to the point. I remember one of my friends who was a GM of multiple hotels and every time I spoke to him he had lots of stories to tell about intercultural engagement and he was pretty good at it. So he would say, well, for more training, I don't need that, I have 20 plus years behind me. But then it's like, okay, he's really good at it, what about the others Passing it on? So what would you say to people who say, no, I've done interculture, I've been an expert for 20, 25 years. I don't need any training, I don't need a coach like you. What would you say to them?
Stephanie:I would say if you probably don't need it, that's one thing. But you knowing it and understanding it doesn't mean your team knows how to deal with you right, and if you come in with a lot of experience, it means you're quite agile. But the people you're working with I think the question that you need to ask yourself is you know the people that you're working with? Are they also as aware and agile and understanding as you are? Yeah, right, and so when you want to look at it from like a holistic point of view, you shouldn't just be looking at yourself, because at the end of the day, you're working with quite a big team towards a certain goal.
Stephanie:Yeah, so you might not need all the trainings, but maybe look at some specific trainings that would help people work together like the high-performing intercultural teams, for example, if not necessarily coaching, and then maybe look at coaching for specific roles, specific key roles of people coming in in leadership positions to work with the local culture.
Marco:Yeah, yeah yeah, and the other thing I've always find is that explaining why you do something is hard. You alluded to it earlier on. Yeah, um, especially if you have a lot of experience that's true and for. For somebody like that, it just makes sense that this is how you approach your colleague, this is how you approach your guest, but if you can't explain the why the skill is not transferable, that's true, yeah, and so that's true for sports, that's true for people working in firefighting.
Stephanie:Yeah, everything basically.
Marco:Yeah, it becomes transferable if you can explain the why and I think that's an important gift that, as an intercultural coach or as a as a team facilitator using high performing intercultural teams, being able to pass that on and on and on, becomes really important. Now, uh, you've, you're also quite. You're not just adventurous in terms of travel, you're also a bit adventurous when it comes to business. Trying to. You have an entrepreneurial streak, so tell me a bit more about that. What have you done on the side besides working in hospitality?
Stephanie:I think this was a concept that was always there. The concept of step-by-step has always been there and the reason behind it is doing things really one step at a time. So it kind of has like a nice ring to it basically um, but what the vision for that is?
Stephanie:to be able to, to take everything that I do and kind of pass it on, but through in in my own way if I want to say that right In my own way or in my own style, and so I still have my full-time job and at the same time, I'm building that side thing to eventually be able to lean on that right, because I do have a lot that I want to bring to the table, develop my own programs or develop my own style, and now it's just like a transition phase between building that and, at the same time, gaining the knowledge and experience that I need to eventually be able to do it on my own Right and in step-by by step what?
Marco:what is the main focus at the moment if people want to get in contact with you?
Stephanie:uh, so the main focus is, well, three main things one um learning and development consulting. Two, facilitating workshops. And facilitating workshops slash team building, of course. And then three. The coaching aspect and the main focus when it comes to coaching is the leadership coaching and the intercultural coaching.
Marco:Great, and we'll make sure that your contact details are in the notes of the podcast, so people want to reach out to you.
Stephanie:Yeah, of course.
Marco:And I assume you're not bound by geography.
Stephanie:You're not just working at some? No, not at all. That's the whole point of step by step right To eventually venture out globally.
Marco:Yeah Well, as we wrap up, looking into the future you already sort of touched on, you know you will stay in hospitality for the foreseeable future, but at the same time, you're building something that allows you to continue, even if that happens beyond hospitality. As we wrap up, thinking about the super intercultural world that we live in, having been exposed to certificate and intercultural coaching, the journey you've been on as a human being, what would be a key nugget that you want to leave our listeners with or our viewers with?
Stephanie:I always say this Just you know, enjoy the new things that come along. Don't change what your beliefs are, and that's, I think that's the most important thing. Do not change your beliefs if you're not convinced, but be open to connecting with people beyond the labels. That would be my input, Because once you remove all those labels, you'd really really be surprised and I don't need to say this, everyone knows this, but you'd really be surprised by what comes out from people and how connected you can feel to those people without those labels.
Marco:Absolutely, and peeling off labels is really hard, so better to not put them there in the first place, and we still put them, of course, but just being aware that you have those labels is important. Well, thank you so much for joining.
Stephanie:Thank you, Marco.
Marco:It's been a joy to have this conversation and, yeah, if people want to reach out to you, we'll make sure that they can get in contact with you via the notes in the podcast. So thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Cultural Agility Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, share it with someone. The best way to help us out is by leaving a review on your favorite podcast app or channel, or forward and recommend this podcast to people around you. If any of the topics we discussed today intrigue you, you'll find links to articles discussing them in greater depth in the podcast notes If you'd like to learn more about getting certified in intercultural intelligence. Thank you to Jason Carter for composing the music on this podcast and to the whole KnowledgeWorks team for making this podcast a success. Thank you Shelley Reinhardt, rajita Raj, anita Rodriguez, karen Condon, and special thanks to Matthew Blankenberg for audio production, rosalind Raj for scheduling and Caleb Strauss for helping produce this podcast.